The Diary volume Seventeen; up to March 31st  2003

last updated 30th March 2003

The Boundaries Commission has spoken, and the report it produced (here) has made the local Federal MP very happy. Essentially he got what he said he asked for - a united Northumberland County. But others asked for the same thing to so the credit should be spread around!
    If the readers have been following the saga of the 'fighting liberals' they will note that one of the reasons the liberals are alleged to be disunited is the future of the riding for the next Federal election. Hopefully now that the boundary has been set then the liberals can now concentrate on winning the next Provincial election, but I bet they don't - too many knives out in this one.
    When the report was published a copy was sent to a local commentator, he has replied with his usual thoroughness:

This result should, by rights, cause some protest.

Northumberland - Quinte West is 10.46% above the provincial norm.  No other rural riding is so large.  Only five other ridings in the whole province are larger: 3 in Peel, and 2 in Hamilton-Niagara, all urban.

And it's not just us. The huge riding of Lanark-Frontenac-Lennox & Addington, stretching from Napanee to Smiths Falls, should have a smaller population than most ridings, to compensate for the low population density.  Instead, it's 5.05% above the norm.  Similarly, the huge riding of Haliburton - Kawartha Lakes - Brock, stretching from Beaverton to Cardiff, has 3.44% more people than the provincial norm.

And the rest of the district from Lindsay to Kingston is similar. Kingston is 7.61% over normal.  Peterborough is 3.01% above norm. Prince Edward - Hastings is 1.64% above norm.  In this entire sparsely populated region, not one riding is below average population.

This happened because Toronto stole half a riding from the area between Lindsay and Ottawa.  Toronto, which was to have 22 ridings, now has 22 and a half ridings.  This solved the problem of Durham, which has enough people for four and a half ridings.  Instead of sharing the fifth riding with us, they share it with Toronto.

The first complaint should come from Scott Reid of the Canadian Alliance, whose Lanark-Carleton riding, which he won by only 2.9%, disappears into most of Hastings--Frontenac--Lennox and Addington which Larry McCormick won for the Liberals with an 8.6% margin over the Alliance. And the new Lanark-Frontenac-Lennox & Addington is, as I said, 5.05% above normal population, despite its size. So unless Scott Reid runs in the new Carleton-Lanark, which is mostly in Ottawa and not good Alliance territory, he's dead.

But we should all complain that we are being under-represented for Toronto's sake.
Rumours abound about the identity of the new Cobourg Police Chief. Starting with 32 names the Police services Board has now got down to one, but in typical PSB fashion they cannot even get this right - they won't tell the public who it is. This has led to speculation about almost everything including the PSB's competence and motives (yet again). Those folks who are speculating are putting their money on a 30 year veteran of the RCMP from Ottawa. This would be par for the course. The last Chief came half price and maybe this one will too. Despite their assertions to the contrary the PSB will not be getting a person who can stay here for the long term because of the age of the candidate. Also as the previous chief was subsidising his own wages with his substantial pension the PSB was faced with a choice: bump up the budget by paying the going rate for a Chief or get another guy who can work on the cheap!  Whatever they do the PSB can't win on this one as they are being profligate, hiring a Chief when the structure of policing is being studied. It just means that when we come to make major changes, as we will we now have a greater liability for severances. In a related topic what can we make of the fact that within the last few days both the Mayor of Cobourg and Port Hope have visited the OPP HQ. Was it really a puff trip with the local police volunteers or was it to conduct discussions of a more serious nature?
The Fair Vote Canada meeting this week got away from itself, but was still successful even if it confused the majority of people present. Approximately 100 people met in the Cobourg Public Library to hear hear a local steering committee introduce Wayne Smith, a FVC staffer try to explain the concept of proportional representation. After admitting that he hadn't prepared a speech for the meeting he tried to wing it by explaining in detail a system of voting. Duh! all the folks present wanted to know was the general theory of PV not the intricacies. As one well known politico said to me as he left, "this guy has just set the cause back ten years!" Despite the confusion the steering committee did well to adopt bylaws, elect an executive and set up a series of further meetings. A good start, but will the rulers do anything about it. As Wayne Smith said, "In 1985 Jean Chretien told the country that, "If elected I will implement PR"" Oh well we have heard that before - GST anybody.
It is heartening to hear (I guess) that the Strathy Rd. area 'is hot'. I just hope that in his zeal to fill the Strathy Rd area with commerce, Joe Sheffer and the Economic Development department won't put the boots to downtown. Talking to a local developer this week I heard the tale of a failed effort to locate the LCBO to a new place on the waterfront. Not wanting to assign blame this guy just told me the story as he lived it and in his words "things didn't come together at Town Hall fast enough to meet the LCBO's timelines". Now we have the spectre of Royal Cobourg offering both the LCBO and the Beer Store exactly what they need to move to the Strathy Rd area. This potential move sends shivers up the spines of those who want to keep the downtown alive. Any fool can see that the LCBO is the key to a vibrant downtown. I just hope that Council can see that it is time to become political in the application of zoning bylaws. Allowing the LCBO to relocate out of downtown would be the kiss of death for the place. Council has the power to stop it by applying the zoning bylaws; whether they will have the 'cajones' to so is another thing.
Like many others these days I have been looking at the internet for news about the War. Intrigued by the images shown by Aljazeerah, the Arab news source, I went looking for it. Here it is, this news source was supposed to be 'hacked' and down for the count, checking on a daily basis it has been up whenever I visited. Try it you may like it.
Odds & Sods
Reading the local paper yesterday I was struck by the lack of Quality Control by the editors. In a column written by the local man entrusted to comment on the financial scene, John Meyer, it is noticed that not once but at least four times the name of Ontario's Finance Minister was misspelled. Janet Ecker became Janet Eckert, only in Cobourg!! One of the complaints leveled against the papers during the strike was shoddy workmanship, obviously they haven't done much to dispel that complaint since the strike ended.

    This one is for those keen observers of the Provincial scene. We have a copy sent from another keen observer:
The Ontario government has set what may be a new record as it made the sixth re-announcement of a tiny rent supplement program that is funded with surplus federal housing dollars. The rent subsidies for 10,000 low-income households were first announced on November 19, 1999, but the province has had trouble convincing landlords to take the money. The scheme was announced again on January 14, 2000, November 2, 2000, May 2, 2002, and August 20, 2002.

Ontario Finance Minister Janet Ecker announced the rent supplements yet again in a presentation at a corporate media studio on March 27, 2003. However, the overall number has shrunk to 8,000. The Ontario government says that the rent supplements will be funded to the year 2023, all using federal housing dollars. For its latest announcement, the province has re-christened the program as New Tomorrow Rent Supplement Program.
It goes to show that only constant monitoring can bring bad publicity to the government, on the other hand perhaps they think that they can fool all of the people all of the time.

    In the last week there was a very strong rumour from all political parties that Mr Eves was going to call the election last friday. Maybe Doug Galt knew something his election signs, once strewn around the downtown office, are now neatly taped to the window and look half decent.

 A couple of Bush pictures received this week


To respond to this column click here

I found time to write a quick one!
Last updated 21st March 2003

A peculiar letter came into my possession this week. Unsigned (as expected) the letter (read it here it is a scanned image and may take some time to download) lays bare the divisions that are occurring in the local Liberal party. It naturally grabbed my attention when the opening paragraph read, "Below is a copy of an email that "certain Liberals" in the Rinaldi camp were petrified that might find its way to the 'BurdReport'.  From what this writer is hearing on the street I can certainly see why some Liberals are concerned."
    So here's my analysis of the situation, but first read the email:
Here's the Email in Question it was sent to MP Paul Macklin's office and copied to certain other Liberals:
From: Darlene Warner [mailto'darlene@durham.net]
Subject: RE: Joint Media Release
Firstly, this notice really comes at a disadvantage to Lou as you can well imagine, in the midst of a Provincial Election call. I don't politically understand why Paul would have anything to gain by sending out a joint media release with Doug's name on it. If your intention is to try and make sure the County knows that Paul is not working hard to get Lou elected this release may just do that. Just a note for you, don't under estimate the Tory's. They will use you and laugh behind your back fellows. I am disheartened and disappointed with this move, it is certainly not a very bright political move at this point in time. I don't expect that Paul will have an opportunity to read this response but would hope you would give it to him.
Darlene Warner,
R.R.#5
Cobourg ON K9A 4JB
    Background for those of you not following this "inside the baseball park" stuff. Last week both the MP and the MPP jointly announced a Fed-Prov Task Force to study "Opportunities for Youth" and chose the Previous Provincial Liberal candidate, Ms Carolyn Campbell, to chair it. Now the conspiracy theorists and angry Liberals get to speculate the reasons behind this effort and the possible consequences of it.
    The letter, slipped into my mailbox, was written by a person who is obviously supportive of the Task Force and sees it as a non-partisan effort trying to serve Youth. Ms Warner, who is Mr Rinaldi's campaign manager, sees the Task Force as an effort to undermine Mr Rinaldi's campaign. She thinks that cooperation with the enemy is hindering a fellow Liberal up against the enemy. Others have much more of a Machiavellian slant. They seem to think that some people in Paul Macklin's camp (you should be aware that this tribal warfare is being conducted between two Liberal Parties, Federal and provincial) are lining up the ducks in anticipation of a boundary adjustment and are looking forward to the next election.The next election Paul Macklin will be fighting will be in either the East of Northumberland County and Quinte or the West of the county and Clarington. The jockeying for position now reflects the feeling that in either situation his powerbase will be small and he has to reach beyond his normal Liberal friends to get the nomination and subsequent election. How better to do this than use his "Liberal Tory" friends, you know the ones he will make by appearing to be reasonable and cooperative with them before he has to use them.
    In any case the whole issue of the splits in the local Liberals is bewildering and amusing to local pundits and observers. It seems they would rather fight themselves than the other candidates. Speaking of which, it would appear that it is illegal to display election signs outside of campaign times (when the writ is dropped up to election day). So howcum Liberal energy isn't being expended exposing the illegality of Doug Galt's signs in the windows of a downtown store!
Cobourg Council missed a big fat chance to do the right thing last week.  Faced with a resolution that asked Council to both pay for a commercial inventory study and award the job to the Dalvay group. Keith Oliver stood, once again, in front of Council (at a moments notice because of agenda posting problems) and asked that two things not happen. One, do not give the job to Dalvay (because they had produced shoddy work on the last study), and, two if they did get the job they should pay for it. The response to these requests produced more questions than answers and Council just moved on to the next order of business. On the first point, the Dalvay group was awarded this contract because they were the only company that submitted a tender. Under questioning Rick Stinson, the Director of Administration admitted that only two companies were invited to tender because only those two companies were recommended by the company doing the peer review - Malone Givens and Parsons (MGP). The other company was too busy to tender and therefore Dalvay got the job.. Very incestuous yet no questions from any councilor about this cozy setup. The other point, asking that the Town not pay for the study, produced a very interesting situation. The official reason for the Town paying was given as proper because the original commercial inventory figures came from a study completed by a person, who has since retired, as part of the Town's Official Plan Policy background documents. Because they have since been proven to be wrong, the argument goes, the Town now needs proper baseline information, so they should pay for it.
    But here's where it gets stinky, if all the studies completed as part of the planning processes since the OP was adopted have been based on faulty figures then just how reliable has the decision making been by this Council in the last two years. An even more importantly, just how true were the figures used to justify the largest expansion of commercial space in Cobourg's history. This was the crux of the case that never made it to the OMB - no wonder the Town and the developer fought like cats and dogs to defeat the objectors!
Ooops I goofed last week, I obviously wrote the date of the Fair Vote Canada meeting without looking at a calendar. Right day - Tuesday, wrong date - it is on the 25th at the Cobourg Library.
Last week's email from a person supporting more money for the local Police brought this response:
I thought the article that you quoted rather hurt than aided your argument.  "Job Snobs" are usually people who deal from ignorance and pettiness.  I think that the vast majority of people who work in factories are under-paid and under appreciated.  Where would Canada be without automobiles?  The stone age would look good. CAW was, at one time, a very strong union and the workers were lucky enough to reap hay while the sun shone. However, the repititious work has many wondering about SRI.  Without a doubt, you have to have a strong mind because I know that I would cave under the unrelenting monotony of the work.  Maybe the ones at the top should take a "cut" but, that could only happen in an ideal world.  Policemen may be needed by our society but, who really makes society work? Everyone is quick to point out (with green eyed envy) how much the lowly uneducated GM worker makes but how many could do his job?  How many pour back a huge percentage of the wage they make into the economy in the form of taxes which pay for the police force?  "Job Snobbery" only hurts the argument.

Here's another  about the bad figures:
Well, Council has taken the baby step and decided that some of the information cited by our friends RCCL may, in fact, be "questionable"! How can we make good decisions if we don't have good information. I guess this brings us to the point we should have been at about two years o. (OMB hearings) Now we get to see some interesting posturing and a erious lesson in "spin the numbers" to show `it all don't make no difference anyhow'. But then we show 'em how it affects the rest of the stuff they've tried to make us swallow. There's more gold in those reports than what they suspect, methinks! Anyway, one small step for the good guys,--- for now.

And a picture from one of those people who send out jokes:
This comes from an email entitled "sights to see if they win!"

To respond to this column click here



















Last updated Sunday 16th February 2003

The Peace March in Northumberland took place at Victoria Hall on Saturday 15th at 1230pm. the march to the courthouse Attended by about 300 people marchers listened to five speakers and were entertained by lively drumming from enthusiastic youth drummers. Although he wasn't expected to be there, because of a scheduling conflict, MP Paul Macklin did accept the petition from the organizers.
The march left Victoria Hall and went to the Courthouse on William St. and then came back for a Prayer Service at St. Peter's Anglican church on King St. Organizers were pretty pleased with the turnout considering the cold weather. What was surprising and encouraging to me was the makeup of the crowd, lots of people of all ages and a very big youth contingent. All in all plenty of people were pleased with the day and thanks should go to the Town for accommodating such a march on short notice.
    The petition against the war is ongoing and can be signed at Furby House in Port Hope and The HumanBean in Cobourg. It has been noted that over two hundred signatures were collected in the first hour of the demonstration. An email address has been established for anyone needing more information.  Email all enquiries to IragWar@eagle.ca The last word on this topic goes to the sign seen duct tape and plastic wrap being carried by local artist Morris Hummell. The sign, entitled Duct Tape and Plastic, is a statement about the USA advise for everybody to build their own toxic war shelter.
Despite the secrecy of the process rumblings are being heard about the selection process being used to find a new Police Chief. Over 30 people applied to be the next Chief and the selection committee winnowed the list to six. Interviews that took place with the six. Amongst the six were some local boys, one from Port Hope and two from Cobourg. The early money was on the guy from Port Hope for a couple of good reasons: he was the Chief of a Police Department already and he was from Port Hope. The the thinking for this handicapping was that in the atmosphere of amalgamation it would make good sense to have a Port Hoper on the list and perhaps in charge to smooth the political process. Well! the punters lost their shirts - Earl Johns never made the short list! So now the conspiracy theories start up. The two local boys are in: Terry Stanley and Paul Sweet as well as a high-ranker from Durham and one from Toronto, the other two are just good guys to swell out the list. The fear is that the influence of the previous Chief is still strong amongst some of the selectors and feeling runs high that he will push the Durham chap. Personally I think the fear of an outsider is giving the boys in blue conniptions. My money is on the local guy (Paul Sweet) he is good, knows the job, easy to get along with and here. If the PSB wants to shake things up they will go with an outsider, But that will disruptive and can they handle a couple more years of disruption?
A response to the points about the Market Square renovations, an email from the Chair of the committee in charge; Malcolm Wardman.
Hi Ben: As my father used to say a lie travels all around the world before
truth can put on its shoes As Chair of the Victoria Square Enhancement
committee I wish to advise that the work the Town Works dept. is carrying
out behind the Market building is being paid for out of the $60,000.00
account resulting from the sale of pavers. This course of action was taken
when my committee found difficulty in locating a private contractor who
would undertake this small and tricky job. It provides work for Town staff
during slow periods and we are able to use the offer of using free labour
provided by graduate students of the Lifetime Learning Centre for this
community project without using Municipal tax revenues. thank you for your
interest. By the way do we have a "Burd" brick yet? Malcolm W. 
In an answer to him I did say that the Burd family has a brick but haven't been able to find it, well perhaps after the snow has gone.

In another response from Bob Haynes, the developer of the "West Village", it was pointed out that Max LaMarchant is not connected, nor is he the spokesman for the New Amhearst developers, he is only a part owner of the total development. And it is no wonder he is asking the Town to build him a road to his land (18% of the total) he is land-locked. So without support from the other landowners and Town Council I guess Max is still pushing rope uphill!.
In a report, and one that will probably be refuted by email,  came to me this week It appears that some of the Cobourg/Port Hope supporters of MPP hopeful, Lou Rinaldi have had some doubts about his commitment to the West End of the County. Supporters not being present at executive meetings and a couple of fence mending phone calls make up this story. This ties in with the stories that the local king makers (read local Mayors) haven't seen any public payback from Lou yet so again his commitment to the West End is being questioned.
The new Heritage District for George St. was published  this week and lo and behold the St Michael's religous complex has been excluded from the area. A neat little jog around the boundaries destroy a mighty fine rectangleon the map. The upshot is that as a result of the huge debate, and corresponding legal struggles about the demolition of the Rectory building it now appears that the Council has decided to avoid any further problems with the Catholics by excluding them from any planning area.
A poem was given to me this week by a veteran of the Last War, and local poet - Jack Allin. So here is the first cyberspace publishing of Jack's poem: The Price of War.

THE PRICE OF WAR
By A.J. Allin Cobourg

A father sits alone all night
He knew they told him lies
They said his son would be all right
But now see how still he lies

A mother morns her only son.
Who was her pride andjoy.
She has given up her only one,
A strong and helpful boy.

This is an awful price to pay.
Fighting for a cause in which he had no say.
He was taught only to serve and to obey
And for this alone, he must pay.

Let those who's oil and wealth we must save,
Follow the bugle to an early grave.
Mother's sons and daughters too
They die for the likes of you.

When will we learn, that all war should end.
And that our children we should not to send,
Why should they fight and die
While mothers weep and cry.

Where is the good this war brings,
Why can't we let others live.
Share with them the good things.
A loving GOD does give.

Let the planners of this strife,
Be first to offer up their life.
Those who have the most to gain
Let them come home all racked in pain.

There is lots for all in this fair land.
Why should they die for rocks and sand
Rather than share for all it's worth
Bounties here on GOD'S green earth.
The only reference to the paper strike comes in an email received last week:
Hi Ben; While you were away, Osprey put together an almost $200million financial package to buy four more 'small town' newspapers in Ontario along with a bunch of trade journals.
This news item did appear briefly in the CDS, but I'm sure they don't want the connection made to CDS management's plea of poverty as the principle reason they can't sweeten their offer. But your newsletter can make this connection.
 
The other interesting wrinkle to the Osprey proposed newspaper purchases(not totally finalized yet) is that the Teachers' Pension Fund has loaned a good whack of this $200million to Osprey, blissfully unaware (?) of labour problems at Osprey-owned publications. This is happening while the teachers are voting (strongly in Northumberland) to give their leadership a strike mandate - presumably the teachers will be asking for solidarity from other sectors if they do go out, but what about teachers showing some consideration for striking CDS members by phoning their Pension plan burocrats and demanding that they not finalize this deal with Osprey until the Cobourg situation is settled?!
to respond to this edition click here

Last Updated 9th February 2003

Back to Work


First up an observation about the Queen's Jubilee medal. Some people in the UK have been agitating for the Honours system to be abolished because of its politicization. In other words Civil Servants, bureaucrats and political flunkeys have been getting the majority of the honours, so the argument goes get rid of them the system has become medals for the faithful. I happen to agree. And if you want more indications that the system is out of whack look at the way the Queen's Jubilee Medals have been distributed this year.
    MP Paul Macklin gave out, in a very demographic way (one or two per community in his riding) Jubilee medals to 19 people. The insiders then chortled and tried to guess who of the 19 were not good Liberals and immediately sussed out the awards as low level political patronage. Then guess what? Not wanting to be left out the Province got its hands on some Jubilee medals and MPP Doug Galt awarded his (why did he only get 12?) and guess what; those same insiders are now wondering who on the local PC executive didn't get one.
Also in the past two weeks it has been reported that the developers of the 'New Amhearst' project want to change the Official Plan. Why not it is only a few months old? To his credit Councilor McCaughey finally said something that I can give him credit for - No!
    This will be the big battle behind the scenes in the next few months: how can we (the Town) accommodate the builders? The plan is that the developers want a road that will cost up to $7 million (because a bridge is needed) and how can the Council ease their way into doing it without letting too many people know. This subject is quite complicated as the OP mandates that future development has to pay for the new services. These guys (LaMarchant and Haynes) have picked a very expensive place to build houses, they should either accept the costs or build elsewhere. The Town should stick to its plan.
Checking out the Frank magazine Forum yielded an interesting nugget. In journalism circles there exists a Professor called John Miller. He has been teaching at Ryerson Polytechnic for years and many students have passed through his class. Not surprisingly opinions about his opinions and attitudes are varied from Pompous to Brilliant. In the 'Port Hope Paralysed' thread two people posted an article that he had written about the strike at the local paper. For those who are wondering what this is all about is the the fact that JM has taken a sabbatical from his tenured lecturing position and signed on as a cub reporter with the Brighton Independent (he wanted to get back to his roots) and one of his first stories from the West End (of the County) is the  one about the strike.  Then the criticism started, it was as if the former students are now marking his grade papers, amazing!
    In another part of the story the "I never slow down for a picketer" award goes to a former Manager of the Chamber of Commerce for being the fastest entrant into the Lions' Club parking lot at last week's Bridal Show and information picket.
    Still on the subject of the strike, some thoughts about the latest offer the workers voted on. One provision was a layoff and severance package for some of the workers. I guess if they had voted for that provision then the accusation that they would be voting to put some of their own out of a job would be true. So the mailroom workers will be gone as soon as the strike is over one way or another. On the money issue how can any employer that hasn't moved any more money into the package since before the strike, claim that they are bargaining in good faith?
    The latest wrinkle is that the Union has written to the Company asking for binding arbitration to be imposed. I am sure that a Company like Osprey would want to jump at a chance like that, all the work done for them and they can settle for peanuts, in the big scheme of things.
How about that Jack Layton guy! First ballot victory, who would have thunk it?
So the fact that some people have had the audacity to question the latest market study has some councilors a little rattled. Never mind when they (the Council) get the latest memo from the Royal Cobourg people that will show that the original data was misrepresented by the opposition who claim that the original data was faulty all will believe and the waters will become muddier. Just what the Royal Cobourg people want: "Show the public that the same old bellyachers are against Walmart" Sorry Mr Wong but Walmart has been built already and now you have to show why you want to get bigger!
So now the debate of the parking spaces, one which has galvanized the Town, has entered the sphere of battling pens. Gary Sharpe, he of downtown merchant fame, has waded in and said that Lloyd William's figures are wrong and LW published the list he gave to council. You know the one that extended downtown by a block and a half and then he had the audacity to say that if one walked a block and a half there is plenty of parking. I don't know who is going to win this one but I do know that Lloyd is looking pretty silly in the eyes of most observers on this.
    Also one issue that needs looking into is the statement that this extra parking and the improvements that Lloyd are so proud of isn't costing us anything because it is being paid out of the parking reserve. Well a large part of that money was put there by the DBIA and if they are not getting the spots they thought they had paid for ($25,000 per year) then they are getting ripped off. Also how much money is being given back to the operations department, in the form of revenue, for the work, behind the Market building and the site around the new fountain, that is being done with Town staff and equipment?

Don't forget the Peace March this Saturday at Victoria Hall 1230 pm click here for details
to respond to this post click here