Scandal Amok

The Well Still Runs for Nestle

Much to the dismay and disappointment of environmentalists and anti-corporatists in the Royal City, the Ministry of the Environment approved a five-year renewal of the Nestle’s water taking permit at its Aberfoyle bottling plant. The good news is that the approval wasn’t for the 10 year stretch that Nestle applied for, but the bad news is that Nestle will be permitted to continue taking the allotted 3.6 million litres per day. Reaction was swift, but local advocates only have a limited time to make their appeal, primary among them the Wellington Water Watchers.

With a limited window to appeal, 15 days from when the decision was announced the Friday before the election, the Watchers quickly sprang into action forming a subcommittee to meet last Wednesday for a strategy session about the matter "The Wellington Water Watchers had made submissions to the Ministry of Environment and it looks to us that a great extent these submissions were almost ignored by the Ministry of Environment in the decision that they made," said Andre Hueniken, a Board Member of the Water Watchers.

The MOE for its part, seems to think that they have been conciliatory to concerns about the aquifer, limiting the permit to five years over ten “to allow a fulsome and ongoing review of monitoring data in a shorter time frame,” according to MOE regional director Carl Slater in the Wellington Advertiser. “It also allows for consideration of the water taking to be re-evaluated depending upon the local conditions and development in the area.”

John Challinor, the Director of Corporate Affairs for Nestle Canada, says that his company has no interest in draining the well, as it were. “When you invest millions of dollars in your plant like we do, you don't want your water source to be impacted,” he said to CTV. “You don't want it to go dry, you don't want to see a reduction, you don't want to harm your neighbours.”

This issue’s unlikely to go away, so stayed for more developments on the water front. (Get it! Oh, never mind. Next issue…)

  

Cam Says Bygones

From a bit of controversy of elections past, Ward 4 Councillor Cam Guthrie posted to the Mercury’s 59 Carden Street blog last week an apology to readers of the blog for posting comments using pseudonyms. “As most of you here are aware, up until last fall I had used other names to represent myself and I was wrong to do that,” Guthrie wrote. “I took swift steps to apologize to those I hurt outside of this arena, but I couldn’t do it individually to people here because I don’t know many of your real names. I want to rejoin you in the conversations here, but before I do that, I owe all of you a heartfelt apology and I wanted to ask for forgiveness.” Forgiveness seems to be what Guthrie has received, so we can now return to our regularly scheduled tirades.

Wanted: New Treasurer and Details

It was a bit under a cloak of secrecy last Tuesday night when, in an in-camera session of city council, mayor and council were informed that Chief Financial Officer and City Treasurer Margaret Neubauer had been terminated after nearly three years of service to the City of Guelph. Chief Administrative Officer Hans Loewig made the announcement to council, but said that there were few details he could release about the reason for the termination. “It is very difficult for us to say anything more than making a basic statement,” Loewig told the Guelph Mercury in a quick interview.

So what’s the story here? As of deadline, we’re still not sure. What we do know is that Neubauer will, according to Mark Amorosi, the city’s executive director of corporate and human resources, “receive an exit package in accordance with the Council approved Non-Union Termination Policy.” What does that mean? I refer you to the City’s termination without cause policy, which is defined as a termination “as a result of the employer’s decision to end the services of an employee for reasons including, but not limited to: reorganization, position elimination, inability of the employee to fulfil the expectations of their position.” So it’s possible that Neubauer was downsized, but a report in January said that her department was understaffed.

Neubauer is one of a number of City employees to leave their high-level positions in the last several months. I think at this point we can officially certify it as a mass exodus, but as to the cause, right now, that remains a mystery.

Burke Still MIA, and Cam Wants a Gun

The Curious Case of Marty Burke

Not to keep beating a dead horse (may Animal Alliance Environment Voters Party candidate Karen Levensen forgive me), but Conservative candidate Marty Burke once again made news last week for not showing up some place. The stage was Guelph Place Banquet Hall, the event was the Guelph Mercury-sponsored all candidates debate. Sure, maybe the 100 or so people, there, at the hall, in person, might have been the only one’s that noticed, but then the whole thing was broadcast live over the internet, and the dreaded press themselves were hosting the darn thing…

Burke’s sudden, last minute bow from the Mercury debate, brought his attendance record for all-candidates forums in the 2011 federal election down to a staggeringly bad two to four count. Burke, the man who would help Prime Minister Stephen Harper secure his majority government, at the time of this writing, couldn’t be bothered to show up for two-thirds of the public debates he was invited to, and that doesn’t seem to care to respond to press requests unless they’re from major local media outlets and by e-mail. Are you still planning on voting for Marty Burke? The question you should be asking is why.

Sure, he had a pretty good reason why he couldn’t come to the Mercury debate. An old back injury incurred during his time in service with the Canadian Forces flared up and on the advice of his doctor and his chiropractor, he avoided the possibility of further injury by sitting in a chair for two straight hours. Just 24 hours later, Burke let the Mercury (and their readers) know that everything was alright and he was back to campaigning, knocking on doors and attending campaign events 12 hours a day. Either Burke has Wolverine-like healing abilities, his back wasn’t that big an issue, or he was just looking for out from another unfriendly debate situation.

But no matter who you vote for, remember to vote on Monday May 2nd. To learn more about where and how, go to elections.ca and for all the latest election news got to my blog at http://guelphpolitico.blogspot.com/
 

Help Cam Guthrie Buy a Gun (Not Like That)

A couple of Guelph politicians are teaming up to bring home a piece of Guelph history. At auction this weekend, a handgun owned by Nathaniel Higinbotham will be put on the block at F.J. Corring in Toronto in a sale of militia artefacts. Ward 4 Councillor Cam Guthrie is leading the charge to buy the vintage Smith and Wesson firearm that was presented to Higinbotham, a prominent developer in the early days of Guelph and later its Mayor and Member of Parliament, in 1866. The estimated value of the gun is between $5,000 and $6,000 but it could go for a much as $10,000.

This where Guthrie’s efforts come in. Gerald Austin, the owner of the firearm in question, has said he was called about a year ago by both the Canadian War Museum in Ottawa and the Guelph Civic Museum. “We tried to work out a deal, but it just didn’t work out,” said Austin, adding: “I always thought it should be in the Guelph Museum. I just wasn’t in the position to give it to them.” In other words, there wasn’t enough cash on the table, which isn’t surprising considering that the acquisitions budget for the Civic Museum is $1,000 per year.

But there is support for Guthrie’s efforts. Fellow councillors Todd Dennis and Gloria Kovach have already pledged $100 each, and Guthrie himself pledged $500 to get the ball rolling. Paul Schmidt, owner of Winmar Restorations, has also stepped up promising to match donations dollar-for-dollar. “If we can bring something from Guelph back to Guelph, I think that’s an awesome thing,” said Schmidt who’s a self-described history geek said. “I came to this city 15 years ago, and it’s been nothing but good to my family and my staff. I just want Ontario to recognize how great our city is.”

If you can help out, get in touch with Councillor Guthrie at his City Hall number 519-822-1260 x2513, or his e-mail Cam.Guthrie@guelph.ca

Better Know a New City Councillor Part 1 of 2

The October 25th election brought four new city councillors to the horseshoe in Guelph’s City Hall, and on December 6th, the new Gang of 13 will be sitting down together for the first time and begin to sketch out what they’ll accomplish over the next four years. But before they start, I decided to get to them first, beginning with the new councillors for War 4 and 6: Cam Guthrie and Todd Dennis.

Meeting with Guthrie and Dennis last Friday night at the Red Brick Café downtown, it was easy to see their exuberance about their new responsibilities. Both men have talked with Mayor Karen Farbridge, exchanged chats or e-mails with their colleagues and are looking to the immediate concern of the next council: the 2011 budget.

“The main promise is to maintain low taxes,” says Guthrie adding that he made a point of never campaigning on zero tax increases. “I’ve always been taught that if you mind the pennies, you’ll find the dollars, so I can’t wait to get my hands on that 2011 budget so I can start looking for those pennies.”

Dennis is also eager to see the budget. “We know that Fire, EMS, and Police can’t be touched,” he explains, “so we have to get those pennies, as Cam was saying, and figure out how to do things more efficiently. There are some interesting things coming up in conversations with constituents and staff about finding inefficiencies and looking at the whole process, it’s going to be a challenge going in.”

One budget item that has already gotten some traction is Guthrie’s campaign promise to not except the planned pay increase for councillors next year. “No matter what happens, I will be refusing that salary increase. Period. That’s the end of the discussion,” says Guthrie. “I think that’s being effective and I think that’s showing the people of Guelph that I’m looking for efficiencies and if that starts with me, then so be it.”

Dennis, meanwhile, is seeing a change in something he pointed out in his campaign, the perception of his ward as an example of negative growth. “I know it’s a lovely thing to say in the paper, but saying ‘urban sprawl’ and ‘cookie-cutter houses’ you know what? You’ve just offended a whole pile of your population.” observes Dennis who adds that he wants Guelphites to know that Ward 6 is not just commuters, and he says that attitude is changing. “People moved here for a reason, they bought their homes her for a reason, they moved their families here for a reason and you’re insulting them by putting a label or a tag on them.”

Along with that is changing perceptions about the city as someplace unfriendly to business, something that was referenced by both candidates during the campaign. “What I saw in reports was backed up from what I heard from businesses,” says Guthrie, whose day job is selling insurance. “It’s about making sure that the companies we already have here feel welcome to stay, it’s about making them feel welcome when they want to expand, and then attracting new businesses by getting employment lands up and running, and they are, so I’ll give [the City] that credit.” Guthrie also says that we need to rebrand the city and promote business success stories.

Dennis agrees saying that much of council is on the same page in terms of attracting business to the city as a major goal in the next term, and Dennis has some big ideas on how to do that. “We probably have more commercial land in the bank than Kitchener-Waterloo and Cambridge does, so were in a really good position,” he explains. Dennis says that he’d like to see the tri-cities become a “high-tech triangle” like Raleigh-Durham in North Carolina. It maybe be naïve, he adds, but “Why aren’t we sitting down with Kitchener-Waterloo and Cambridge, leveraging our land and creating a high-tech corridor?”

In the meantime, Dennis and Guthrie will be making their committee selections and doing other orientation-related items. Guthrie has also begun to realize another campaign promise by turning his website into “Ward 4 News,” which will be dedicated to keeping people informed about what’s going on in the west end.

Tune in next week for an interview with Jim Furfaro (Ward 1) and Andy Van Hellemond (Ward 2).

Election ’10: Lessons Learned

Due to the deadlines for Echo Weekly, I had to submit this piece without knowing the results of the 2010 Municipal Election on Monday, but to get all that be sure to take a peak at my blog, Guelph Politico, at http://guelphpolitico.blogspot.com/ So in the void of not really knowing what the new council now looks like, I look back as I look forward to try and gleam some meaning out of the election that was/is. I will share some of those meandering thoughts now.

1) I Know Who I Am; Do You Know Who You Are?

One of the major minor issues of the election had nothing to do with how council is spending our money, or how mad everybody is at the endless construction, but has everything to do with anonymity on a blog. Cathy Downer, a campaigner for Mayor Karen Farbridge, was caught for posting multiple times, under multiple names on the Guelph Mercury’s 59 Carden St. blog. Later, Ward 4 candidate Cam Guthrie admitted that he was also guilty of multiple personality disorder on the blog. While I think there was something important to say here about the nature of the blogosphere and the blanket comfort of saying what you want and not having to put your name on it, it seems that a lot of that got lost in the conversation. Of course, the human drama over the perception of sneakiness is easier to grasp then the larger issues of how one conducts themselves on the digital soapbox. I suppose discretion has always been half of the internet, but creating imaginary people to agree with you seems a little too All the President’s Men for me.

2) Facebook May Work on Film, But…

When it comes to electioneering on a local level, the results are decidedly mixed. A quick glance on the social networking site shows that the candidates with the most “friends” (or “supporters” I guess), barely top off at about 530. While it’s certainly admirable that many of the candidates went signless and focused on the paperless campaign on the internet, there’s still, obviously, a huge emphasis on traditional communication forms like signs, pamphlets and newspapers. Perhaps it’s because of the enthusiasm gap on a municipal level, but the internet’s still yet to be lit up by the campaign, and even signless proponents like Ward 1’s Allan Boynton had banners in storefronts downtown. For my money, I did find several candidates more responsive to media requests from blogs and websites, that is unless that candidate’s name was David Birtwistle. (Inside joke, sorry.)

3) Sometimes, the “Kooks” Are Right.

The thing about local politics is that it brings out the people that lack the spit and polish of a national-level campaign and it gives them the spotlight. On the Politico blog, a poster called mayoral candidate Ray Mitchell “this is one craaaazy dude,” and said of Mitchell’s fellow nominee Scott Nightingale that he “sounds like he sent his intern application to the wrong department.” Now unless Mitchell’s packing a four-leaf clover, or if Nightingale’s been hording horseshoes, they’re probably not the Mayor-Elect right now. Still, it’s a very rare person that is completely able to write-off Mitchell and Nightingale. Were they unpolished? Sure. Did they take rather non-mainstream perspectives on key issues? Absolutely.

Last week, the internet became fascinated by Jimmy McMillan, a retired postal worker running for the Governor of New York for The Rent’s 2 Damn High Party. While I’ll submit that McMillan’s insistence that cutting rents in New York would create three to six million new jobs and $6 trillion in surpluses is out there, there is a kernel of truth there not really considered: Paying less for rent means more money for other things. You Tube “Jimmy McMillan” and you can see for yourself, that he’s nearly a studio audience away from being an SNL sketch, but his ideas are interesting, and say what you want about him, but he’s engaged. And that’s something you can’t say about the mass majority of people on a municipal level in the City of Guelph. Of course I could be wrong. I’m right now looking at the election as a future event.

Run Cam, Run? And Water Day

Cam’s Thinking about Running, Not there yet though

An internet movement’s begun over the last few weeks to push a certain well know Guelphite and politico into the recently initiated mayoral race, but Cam Guthrie says that no final decisions have been made yet. “It’s weighing heavily on me right now because of all the phone calls and e-mails and people stopping me on the street,” Guthrie told me by phone last week. “Whatever decision it is it will be in the best interest of my city and my family.”

The buzz comes from a Facebook group called “Cam Guthrie for the Mayor of Guelph”, which was started barely a week after the city’s present mayor, Karen Farbridge, announced her intention to run for re-election in this fall’s municipal contest. Guthrie calls it an encouragement page, but one that he had nothing to do with. Instead, credit for the group can be given to Karl Morant. “The first time I ever met him was in the [2006] municipal election,” Guthrie recalls. “I’ve probably had four conversations with him on passing over the last four years.”

As of last Wednesday, Morant and his group have collected 239 members and counting. Guthrie admits that he’s recognized a few of the names that joined the group, but there’s also a great many he doesn’t. “I am very humbled by the encouragement and support that’s sprung on this thing in the last couple of days,” he says. “It’s just amazing.”

The question now is whether or not that encouragement is going to translate into a bid for the City’s highest elected post, Guthrie’s still mulling the possibilities and gauging his support. Guthrie says he’s seeking “wise council” in order to make the right decision for himself, the city and his family.

As for a timetable, Guthrie told me that his decision will be coming soon, if only out of practical consideration in running a mayoral race. “Unfortunately, these types of campaigns require money to run, and, of course, the sooner you declare yourself the sooner your able to start bringing in money for the campaign. So I can’t let it go too long.”

You can check out the Facebook group by searching “Cam Guthrie for the Mayor of Guelph.” And for late-breaking news, you can visit my Guelph Politico blog at http://guelphpolitico.blogspot.com/

Celebrate World Water Day with Wellington Water Watchers

Do you like water? Do you think the ubiquitous clear liquid should be celebrated and protected throughout the land? Then you’ll definitely want to take note of the Wellington Water Watchers’ festivities for World Water Day on Monday.

The events unfold at the E.L. Fox Auditorium at J.F. Ross on 21 Meyer Dr starting at 7 pm. On the docket is a youth submission project, some spoken word performances and the party-hardy music of Royal City’s own Dancehall Free For All. The main attraction though, entertainment-wise speaking, is a screening of the as-yet-unreleased documentary Tapped. Tapped, made by the producers of the popular Who Killed the Electric Car doc, is a behind-the-scenes look into the unregulated and unseen world of an industry that aims to privatize water resources. You can learn more about it at http://www.tappedthemovie.com/

The WWW will also be unveiling a pilot project called Blue W. Blue W is a not-for-profit program dedicated to promoting municipal tap water as a healthy and waste-conscious alternative to bottled drinks, according to a press release. The project will include a web site and smartphone app that people can use to locate places in the community where you can fill your reusable bottle with tap water. Participating establishments will have the Blue W decal at their entrance. For more on Blue W check out their website at http://www.bluew.org

The Candidates – By the Issues Part 4

This week we reach the fourth and final question from the Candidate Questionnaire.

Question #4, Candidates choice: What issue, aside from the three previous, do you consider a matter of importance for the city, the region and the country?

Tom King: I am extremely concerned about the growing number of people living in poverty. In a country such as ours, where there is an abundance of resources and riches, how can Canadians be poor? When the House of Commons voted to support Ed Broadbent’s motion calling for urgent action to end child poverty by 2000, many Canadians had a renewed sense of optimism. The Conservatives and Liberals made a commitment to the poor and vulnerable in our country but when it came time to take a principled stand, they chose Bay Street over Main Street.

Gloria Kovach: Building Canadian competitiveness and keeping the economy strong.

In just two and a half years our Conservative government has reduced the federal debt by $37 billion dollars, we have made many changes to personal taxes to aid in improving the fiscal health of Canadians including: Increasing the basic personal exemption, tax credits for public transit, sports, textbooks, tools and apprentices; income tax eliminated on student scholarships and bursaries; introduced the most important savings vehicle since the RRSP, a savings account for up to $5,000 per year with a tax free exemption on interest or capitol gains.

Mike Nagy: Poverty. Martin Luther King wrote that, “The solution to poverty is to abolish it directly by a now widely discussed measure: the guaranteed income.” We are such a rich country with a beautiful history of democracy, justice and social responsibility. The fact that 15 per cent of Canadians live in poverty, including children, is a national tragedy and utterly unacceptable. We have solutions to eradicate poverty, provide every Canadian with housing, introduce the guaranteed liveable income, ensure that education that isn't a debt sentence by forgiving 50 per cent of student loans upon graduation, and remove taxes from the people who earn the least.

Frank Valeriote: In my mind, the most important issue for Guelph and Canada as a whole is health care. The Liberal Party is committed that our health care system remains public and accessible to everyone, especially the least privileged. Our first priority in terms of health care is to reduce wait times. The Harper government has not moved forward on this issue, and the Canada Health Council and the Canadian Medical Association have both criticized this government for not meeting former Liberal targets on reducing wait times. This is unacceptable, and the Liberal Party will change this in government.

Debate On!

It was announced that the candidates’ debate, which was cancelled out of anticipation of the calling of General Election back on September 3rd, has been rescheduled for October 7th. The debate will still be hosted by the Guelph Place Banquet Hall on Michener Road, and will still be carried live on Rogers Cable. Two days later, on October 9th, another debate will be hosted at Guelph Place, but with a more unusual set-up.

It’s being organized by Cam Guthrie, who was a public Kovach supporter until recently. He says on his website that he “cannot stand typical debates.” On debate night, each candidate will get a half-hour on stage, alone, to answer questions while the others wait in a secluded room, where they’ll be unable to hear the questions, as they await there turn. The questions will be taken from those submitted to him online from the public. King, Kovach, Nagy and Valeriote have all been invited to participate, but it seems that Valeriote has already turned down the offer.

Anyone wanting to send Guthrie a question can e-mail him at cam@camguthrie.ca, just make sure your questions are about vision, accountability and leadership. And for more information on the Guelph Election, visit my blog at http://guelphbyelectionbeat.blogspot.com/