More Windsor Stories

My take on some news stories that I have been saving up until now:

FLIP FLOP FLIP

Glad to see Councillor Halberstadt's consistency on his views of Edgar (aka Eddie). Mike Burton will have a field day

• "Your arrogance knows no bounds"
  
  
• "Halberstadt acknowledges he and Mayor Eddie Francis haven't always seen eye to eye.
  
  "There have been some conflicts with the mayor and council ... and myself in particular," he said. "I'll be the first to say Eddie works very hard ... he's brought a lot of money into the city," he said."
  
  
• "Coun. Alan Halberstadt says the city should create a deputy mayor position to loosen the mayor's grip on how council meeting agendas are set...
  
  Mayor Eddie Francis determines the agenda for each meeting and Halberstadt has alleged there have been times where councillors have had their issues put on hold or sidelined.
  
  "I would say yes that's happened, plus there are issues on timing when matters do come forward."

EDGAR'S CELL NOT WORKING

RE the Deputy mayor issue

• "Francis was en route Tuesday from a conference in Chicago and could not be reached for comment"

But it did work in this case:

• "Coun. Bill Marra is upset that the mayor’s office released attendance records without providing context.
  
  “The part that most offended me was that when the information was released, there was every opportunity for the mayor and the mayor’s office to say, ‘We should tell you that in November of ‘08, Coun. Marra told us what was going on,’” Marra said Wednesday, a day after attendance was made public, while Mayor Eddie Francis was on vacation.
  
  “To sit on a beach in Mexico and lob grenades my way, and drag my family into this, is offensive. And it’s very, very bad politics.”
  
  Francis said by phone Wedesday that his office was merely responding to requests from the media and other councillors"

EDGAR'S COUNCILLOR CAMPAIGN PROMISE FORGOTTEN

• NEW STYLE OF GOVERNMENT
  -We must establish a new style of government in Windsor by:
  -Developing a clear and understandable Citizen’s Bill of Rights
  -Improving the way we work at City Hall
  -Empowering Council
  -Improving the way we Communicate with our citizens
  -Becoming more Accountable.
  
  EMPOWERING COUNCIL
  Portfolios
  
  City Councillors must become active participants, with the Mayor, in governing our City. Our Councillors come from diverse backgrounds that are rich in different life experiences. Many will have previously served as Councillors. We must leverage the depth and breadth of their knowledge and expertise to the City’s advantage.
  
  Each Councillor has a vision of the City that encompasses more than just their immediate ward obligations. Councillors who chose to accept additional responsibilities will be assigned portfolios that suit their experience and skill set. These portfolios will include duties above and beyond their local ward responsibilities, including Social Services, Fire and Police Services, Community Services, Infrastructure Services, Finance etc.

EDUCATING THE STAR

You may have seen this story

• "Ontario OKs full-day learning legislation
  
  Ontario passed legislation Tuesday that moved the province closer to having kindergarten-aged children placed in full-day learning programs by next fall.
  
  The full-day learning program -- comprised of half-kindergarten, half-daycare -- will see four- and five-year-old children in a school setting between 9 a.m. and 3:30p.m., as part of policy aimed at strengthening Ontario's school system and easing the childcare crunch."

What it did NOT say as was set out by the Minister and was crucial to the daycare debate we had here was:

• "This morning, the Legislature passed the Full-Day Early Learning Statute Law Amendment Act, 2010. This act amends the Education Act to mandate that all school boards offer full-day learning for four- and five-year-olds, including the integrated before- and after-school programs...
  
  In addition, the government will provide funding to help stabilize child care. To address the movement of four- and five-year-olds into the full-day learning system, our government has committed stabilization funding that will be phased in over the period of implementation, growing to $51 million annually at full implementation to help stabilize child care centres as four- and five-year-olds move into the full-day learning program. We have also committed $12 million over five years in new capital funding to help non-profit child care centres with retrofits and renovations to serve younger children."
  
  As Dr. Pascal stated in his report, to fully benefit from full-day learning for four-and five-year-olds, we must also have a co-ordinated child and family support system that offers a continuum of services for children from birth to age 12."

But in Windsor, we are in too much of a hurry to destroy the public system without consultation with anyone. Why?

Someone needs to ask Jean Fox why she has not acted using the legal system to stop what has happened here. There was an obvious way to do so.

TALKING ABOUT THE BIRDS AND THE BEES

I trust that the Minister of Education did not talk about this subject when she visited Windsor:

• "Education Minister Leona Dombrowsky celebrated Earth Day at Dr. David Suzuki Public School in Windsor with the future students of the school. Currently under construction, the new school will be a Canadian leader in using green technologies and environmentally-friendly design, including a wind turbine, solar panels, a green roof and geothermal heating."

After all, sex-ed changes are dead

I wonder why the Star did not report her visit.

CAR HITS POLE

Interesting Star story:

• "Driver hits pole, faces charges
  
  A 44-year-old woman is facing charges after a single-vehicle crash on Highway 77 Wednesday.
  
  At around 10:30 a.m. a red Hyundai Elantra that was driving on Highway 77 struck a hydro pole, Essex County OPP said.
  
  The driver was taken to hospital with minor injuries, but hydro workers attended the scene to replace the pole."

Imagine instead if that was a politician. The fun we could have with it. Was the person drunk, did the spouse have a golf club in his/her hand a la Tiger Woods, were there infidelities, what would the charges be, who pays for the pole? It would enliven a dull election campaign.

With our luck, if it happened on a cold day, the politician might have a perfect defence---skidded on black ice. Darn!