Friday, September 26, 2008

Mouseland

Initially published in the Alliston Herald on September 26, 2008

In the 1940s Saskatchewan Premier Tommy Douglas would occasionally tell a political fable known as "Mouseland." With apologies to the late Mr. Douglas, the following is the first installment of the New Tecumseth version of "Mouseland."

There were troubles in Mouseland. The mice in the south were upset. The mice from the south often complained that the northern mice got all the shiny toys. They said the mice in the north had all the nice places to shop and play.

Mouseland had a great big hose that brought the mice fresh water. Well, most of the mice. The Tottenham mice didn't get the fresh water.

It was so bad the mice in the south didn't even have enough places to put their doo doo.

Mouseland's Town Hall was called the Mouse House. There were nine mice elected to the Mouse House.

The head mouse was a really clever and wily mouse. He had big ears that helped him listen and learn.

The deputy mouse used to be the head mouse. Although he was the deputy mouse, he always thought he should be the head mouse. He wanted to be the head mouse again.

There was a really large and noisy mouse from Beeton. This mouse always seemed to get his way.

Alliston had two mice in the Mouse House. They were very different mice. The boy mouse liked to use big words. Not the girl mouse. When the girl mouse talked in the Mouse House she liked to giggle.

Tottenham also had two mice. The oldest mouse from Tottenham mostly liked to talk about where all the doo doo in the south should go. The youngest mouse from Tottenham was sometimes tired and sleepy. That's because he often carried Mouseland's Member of Parliament from place to place on his back.

In the north there was a kingdom within Mouseland called the Briar. Many mice here had grey or white or blue fur. Some had no fur at all.

The unofficial ruler of the Briar was a mouse called Lou. Each year Lou had a party where hundreds of mice came to play on the grass. But the mouse who was elected to the Mouse House from the Briar did not like to play on that grass.

There was also a mouse from the forest. Sometimes this mouse seemed grumpy. Mostly she had smart things to say.

Outside of Mouseland were many cats and rats. The cats and rats wanted to pave all of Mouseland and build mice nests for thousands and thousands and thousands of new mice. This would make the cats and rats lots of money and help them buy more cat nip and rat treats.

The deputy mouse liked the idea of Mouseland being paved. He liked to have meals with the cats and rats. He liked when the cats and rats talked nice to him and said they would help him become head mouse again.

To be continued...

Friday, September 19, 2008

The OMB Bugaboo

Initially published in the Alliston Herald on September 19, 2008

Local developers were recently involved in a rather intense lobby effort to persuade New Tecumseth town council to defer a decision to increase residential development charges (DCs).

Initially, it appeared that the robust efforts were going to succeed. In fact, shortly before the New Tecumseth committee of the whole meeting of Sept. 9, 2008, a majority of council were poised to vote in favour of a delay.

However, in response to a question from Mayor MacEachern, CAO Terri Caron advised that a delay in the DC decision would likely result in the loss of approximately $1.7 million of revenue. In particular, a deferral would mean that developments ready for approval would proceed under the lower DC rates.

Quite understandably, this revelation led the majority of councillors who were initially prepared to defer the decision to sensibly change direction. After all, a loss of revenue of this magnitude would ultimately result in the residents of New Tecumseth taking it on the chin in the form of either higher taxes or reduced services.

Notwithstanding this disclosure, but not surprisingly, Deputy Mayor Rick Milne appeared determined to accede to the developers' wishes. Milne has, after all, a reputation of being the most development-friendly councillor and has a lengthy history of advocating on their behalf.

In support of his position Milne invoked what is perhaps best described as the Ontario Municipal Board (OMB) "bugaboo"!

A bugaboo is "an imaginary monster used to frighten children" or "an object of obsessive, usually exaggerated fear or anxiety." The OMB bugaboo is, for all intents and purposes, a scare tactic.

The tactic essentially advocates letting developers have their way in order to avoid the "horrific" prospect of a potentially expensive and lengthy appeal to the OMB. It is a form of appeasement that would undoubtedly find favour with former British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlin (the pre-WWII British Prime Minister widely criticized for his policy in dealing with Germany).

The bugaboo is, of course, counter-intuitive. The best analogy is perhaps that of an elementary schoolyard. So long as one student repeatedly succumbs to the threats or demands of another then this unfortunate conduct is almost certain to continue. It is only when the student demonstrates the absence of fear and resists the threats and demands that the conduct is likely to end.

A municipality that endorses and/or advocates the OMB bugaboo exposes itself as weak, feeble and an entity ripe to be abused.

Oddly, when Deputy Mayor Milne articulated his concern over the prospect of an OMB hearing he cited the interests of New Tecumseth taxpayers. I confess that the statement left me scratching my head as it completely ignored the lost revenues associated with the deferral. Fortunately, councillor Barb Huson picked up on this flawed logic and, in a rather lethal rebuttal, turned in Milne's direction and deadpanned that an OMB hearing would not cost taxpayers $1.7 million dollars.

To their credit, at the committee meeting councillors Dennis Egan, Barbara Huson, Richard Norcross, Jamie Smith and Jim Stone considered the negative impact a delay would have on New Tecumseth taxpayers and voted to approve the new development charges.

Mayor Mike MacEachern only votes in the event of a tie but clearly would have voted with these councillors if called upon. Councillor Christine Brayford voted against the DC's at the committee meeting but reversed her position (for reasons unknown) approximately one-half hour later at the special council meeting. Councillor Jess Prothero declared a conflict and was unable to vote.

In the category of "what was he thinking," it seems that Deputy Mayor Milne either failed to appreciate the impact of a delay upon New Tecumseth taxpayers, or didn't care, as he sat on his hands for both votes.

Friday, September 12, 2008

The Guergis Gaffes

Initially published in the Alliston Herald on September 12, 2008

With a premature federal election now upon us, I am especially curious as to the strategy that will be pursued by those who seek to unseat our current Member of Parliament, Helena Guergis.

In particular, will the contest follow Marquis de Queensberry rules or will it digress to a "down and dirty" battle the likes of which haven't been seen in this region since George McCague snagged the provincial conservative nomination from Wally Downer back in the 1970s?

One politically active friend recently mused that if he were running a campaign against Guergis he would almost certainly "go negative".

There is no question that over the course of the past year Guergis has taken a rather severe thumping in both the national media as well as the increasingly prominent "blogosphere".

Back in March Don Martin, the respected national affairs columnist for the The National Post, described Guergis as the Conservatives' "greatest lost cause" and "over her head as a Cabinet member". Remarkably, it got worse. Martin added that Guergis should be removed from Cabinet before her "...amateur antics and strange behaviour trigger an international incident."

Perhaps concerned that he hadn't yet made his point, Martin referred to Guergis' "many gaffes" and "diplomatically stunted behaviour" before concluding that the Prime Minister should return Guergis to the backbench as a place better suited to her abilities.

The national television media have not been any kinder. In a W-5 feature related to Guergis' handling of the Brenda Martin affair (the Canadian woman who languished in prison in Mexico on rather questionable criminal charges), Guergis was not, to put it mildly, cast in a favourable light. In fact, those who viewed W-5's "attempted" interview of Guergis during a press conference at a Canadian Tire store might legitimately wonder whether she was moving faster than Donovan Bailey circa 1996 in her effort to avoid the television cameras!

As the result of her "hot-foot" from the cameras Guergis did not proceed with an announcement of funding for sport for underprivileged children. Nevertheless, the botched announcement cost taxpayers in excess of $3,000.00.

Perhaps the most vicious criticism of Guergis has come from numerous internet blogs which are loaded with uncomplimentary adjectives. One individual has gone so far as to post a "YouTube" video that shows an authentic video clip of Guergis answering a "kwestion" (satirically spelled) in the House of Commons. However, the voice dubbed over the video is not that of Guergis but rather the infamous contestant from South Carolina who, in the course of 2007's Miss Teen USA, notoriously bumbled (to be kind) a question on foreign affairs.

Much criticism of Guergis relates to her apparent unwillingness and/or inability to depart from a partisan script. Those who attended the local debates in the course of the last election will recall that the Conservative policy book was never far from hand. Spontaneous she was not!

From the cynical perspective I am not particularly bothered by a politician's fervent adherence to partisan rhetoric. Guergis is not the first politician to conduct herself in this manner and she certainly (unfortunately) won't be the last.

However, my personal trepidation with Guergis relates to a concern that she is too willing to compromise her own values and beliefs if they might interfere with the advancement of "her career". Indeed, if Guergis is prepared to place personal advancement in priority to her own principles, there is no reason to believe the values and principles of the residents of Simcoe-Grey will fare any better.

Two examples in particular highlight this concern. In 2003, when Guergis was a provincial Progressive Conservative candidate in the Toronto riding of Trinity-Spadina, she was quoted at an all-candidates debate as being in support of same-sex marriage. However, as the Simcoe-Grey Conservative candidate in 2004 (a more socially conservative area) Guergis reversed this earlier position and asserted her opposition to same-sex marriage.

Once again, when Belinda Stronach crossed the floor of the House of Commons in 2005 to join the Liberals an indignant Guergis expressed her outrage and advised of her intention to advance a private member's bill to prohibit future floor crossings. However, when David Emerson crossed the floor to join the Conservatives in 2006, Guergis' indignant outrage rapidly dissipated. In a twist of irony worthy of a Monty Python skit, Guergis abandoned her previously stated beliefs and chose personal advancement as a junior minister to Emerson.

To borrow (and slightly alter) the gist of a quote from Winston Churchill: Some change their party for the sake of their principles; others their principles for the sake of personal gain.