billonlogan
Active Member
Well put Muse... these glossy pr campaigns do nothing but insult our intelligence.
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Barber: Hazel Takes Up Charge for Municipal Funding
- Thread starter unimaginative2
- Start date
The Mississauga Muse
Active Member
My problem is I'm not at all sure when "spin" slippery-slopes to "lies" and slippery-slopes to "fraud".
That's what the "investigator" provision in Bill 130 is. A freaking slippery-slope that will surely help explain to GTA'ers 50 years from now what the hell went wrong.
Just found this --National Post:
"The difference is the city and the mayor championing the idea. “Hazel McCallion actually scares politicians. The public will listen to her and perhaps even vote the way she would like them to,” Brian Ashton, a veteran Scarborough councillor, said. “She’s able to challenge the federal government by saying the prime minister or God himself could not come down here and run this municipality any more efficiently.”
About "God himself could not come down here and run this municipality any more efficiently.”
Yes, and God himself could not prove otherwise. That's because Mississauga has a By-Law 537-96 called "Records Retention" when in reality it outlines a schedule of when records can be erased, deleted, shredded and otherwise history-rewritten. So if Mississauga says it's run efficiently, try proving otherwise.
However.
I have video of McCallion admitting she has no idea how a certain department is even financed. I have video of her at Peel Council the other day admitting how disappointing the Braeburn Golf Course results were. (I don't want to go on memory on how much its operating expenses are but it only made $57,000 profit last year) I'll check out the video and get back on this.
Back to the National Post:
Mississauga’s iconic 86-year-old Mayor, a life-long small-c conservative, has earned a reputation as a solid city manager. Her city is debt-free. She has an iron grip on her council and faces much less media scrutiny than Mr. Miller faces daily.
re: "She has an iron grip on her council and faces much less media scrutiny than Mr. Miller faces daily." I mean seriously. Iron grip on her council --no opposition. "much less media scrutiny" don't get me started.
Iron grip. No opposition. No media shining a light on government practices. I'll add some. Policies/Bylaws written to stifle and even prevent opposition. Example, council presentations limited to 10 minutes. And they really stick to that time if they know they don't want to hear from you.
The real Mississauga can't get out. Iron grip. No opposition. A lapdog media. An uniformed citizenry given spin not what's really happening... And if opposition ever gets too pointy, there's always the security guards.
If Mississauga were a country we'd look down on it as oppressive.
Back to the National Post:
“Toronto is a write-off for the Tories in the next election. Mr. Miller, a left-leaning leader, cannot shake the perception that his city is poorly managed, largely because his own councillors keep insisting it could do better. “Hazel McCallion runs a tight ship. David Miller’s ship has leaks all over the place,” said Councillor Denzil Minnan-Wong, a frequent critic of the Mayor."
Miller's ship has media paying attention to the leaks. Mississauga? Oh it's leakin'. I have all kinds of video to prove that. But it's just me here observing.
And cripes, I just can't get the message out. And if The Best Managed City in Canada is this bad.... NO, I don't want Fed and Provincial money going down this unaccountable duplistic municipal-HOLE.
Or --the money comes with 80-kabillion strings attached including unfettered Ontario Ombudsman oversight.
HAHAHAHAHA... wouldn't THAT be something. Mississauga books and practices truly OPEN to an independent agency....
Never happen.
AlvinofDiaspar
Moderator
Mississauga Muse:
No doubt "leaks" exist at the municipal level - but I wouldn't be so quick to say that's an issue unique to this level of government. Beyond that, even if one adds up all these leaks - does it makes that much of a difference, i.e. with regards to the need for additional funding to deal with service delivery and infrastructural needs? Probably not.
To argue otherwise is just distracting from the issue - insufficient funding; and that's a tactic we've seen used time and again by the senior levels of government.
AoD
No doubt "leaks" exist at the municipal level - but I wouldn't be so quick to say that's an issue unique to this level of government. Beyond that, even if one adds up all these leaks - does it makes that much of a difference, i.e. with regards to the need for additional funding to deal with service delivery and infrastructural needs? Probably not.
To argue otherwise is just distracting from the issue - insufficient funding; and that's a tactic we've seen used time and again by the senior levels of government.
AoD
The Mississauga Muse
Active Member
Hi there, AlvinofDiaspar,
Oh, I agree that "$$leaks$$" aren't unique to the municipal level. But at both the Federal and Provincial level you have opposition parties hounding the party in power.
And agreed the need for additional funding for municipalities is REAL. And I hope you didn't interpret my previous two messages as me trying to argue otherwise.
There IS insufficient funding. In some areas of municipal governance that lack of funding is scandalous.
But jeeze to re-open the spigot to Ontario municipalities now more unaccountable than they were even in pre-Harris days. And at a critical time --when the GTA is building this GTTA inititiative. Vast sums are needed. At the Future Mississauga speakers series, we're constantly reminded we're at a critical time for cities.
That we can't afford to fail! We can't afford to fail.
And yet, the bandwagon is trumpeting to give money to municipalities that have no accountability mechanisms in place except the one day every four years when the voting booth is open.
That's irresponsible. It's obscene-perverted to do that. We failing The Future right now by supporting the tossing of $$$$ to municipalities that --cripes, their accountability mechanisms are all over the map.
And who we got leading the charge? The Master of Media Manipulators, Mississauga's Hazel McCallion.
I know how important cities are. And some are just Big Black Boxes in which we're poised to toss Federal and Provincial money back in. B'in there. Done that.
This money not only would need strings attached but with industrial strength CHAINlinks.
TrickyRicky
Senior Member
"Dion really needs to attach himself to this. I know that the Libs werent for it under Martin, but it could be a cause where people actually see him take a stand on something. He would get the mayors on his side, he would get all the premiers on his side (after all, it would mean they dont have to fund cities more)...... Everyone would stand behind Dion in opposition to Harper."
I think this is a very astute observation. It would have made a distinct counter point to Harper's tax cut and only tax cut mantra. Sadly the federal Liberals are completely rudderless and void of strategic thinking at the moment. A strong infrastructure policy focusing on transporation and public transit would both appeal to voters and re-focus Dion's former image as an environmental advocate.
I think this is a very astute observation. It would have made a distinct counter point to Harper's tax cut and only tax cut mantra. Sadly the federal Liberals are completely rudderless and void of strategic thinking at the moment. A strong infrastructure policy focusing on transporation and public transit would both appeal to voters and re-focus Dion's former image as an environmental advocate.
ShonTron
Moderator
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Muse:
You can be so refreshing. It certainly helped when Hazel decided to speak out, because she's the teflon mayor - nothing sticks, whether it be blatently racist comments about the Emergency Room at Credit Valley Hospital, or her dominance of politics, or the Enersource gravy train (though three councillors are being tarred and feathered, especially Nando), or the spent energy over that selfish Peel separation debacle. The media loves her unconditionally.
At least she's using her powers of political invincibility for good this time around.
You can be so refreshing. It certainly helped when Hazel decided to speak out, because she's the teflon mayor - nothing sticks, whether it be blatently racist comments about the Emergency Room at Credit Valley Hospital, or her dominance of politics, or the Enersource gravy train (though three councillors are being tarred and feathered, especially Nando), or the spent energy over that selfish Peel separation debacle. The media loves her unconditionally.
At least she's using her powers of political invincibility for good this time around.
syn
Senior Member
I think that's what's really benefiting her here, aside from having much more experience than Miller. She can pretty much do anything and get away with it.
I wonder why her and Miller don't team up instead of doing complementary campaigns. It would make more sense to have one unified CitiesNOW-One Cent campaign instead of them running two seperate things.
The Mississauga Muse
Active Member
Wouldn't THAT be something --"strong infrastructure policy". The only thing I'd like to see if a city-citizen-friendly policy to boot.
Like that someone be honest and acknowledge the massive imbalance between City/Corporate SpinMeisterism and the few citizens who know what's going on and simply can't get that message out there.
Ontario cities need to be saved. But the despicableness is that some Ontario cities have to be saved from the mayor, councillors AND staff skulking around in the guise of public service.
Hey, I'll even vote for Harper at this point --just SOMEone please... just don't bullshit... no, let's call it what it is... LIE to us-citizens.
P.S. You can tell I've had it because I'm loathe to use words like "pissing" and "bullshit" but there just comes a point. And Hazel McCallion being touted as Canada's city saviour?
Pushed me over the top.
strong infrastructure policy... and liveable city... and the message we got from the Mississauga Speaker Series is, THIS time we-in-the-present can't bobble the ball. If we do, The Future will grind on about what @$$****s we-all were.
And I sure won't blame them.
The Mississauga Muse
Active Member
That one's easy. She'd have to share the limelight. And if the CITIES NOW thing is successful, also the credit.
Mississauga, as has been amply demonstrated, ain't strong on bein' a team player.
'sides. You're talking about a social dominator here in McCallion. Miller doesn't do "iron grip" well.
ShonTron
Moderator
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Oh so true. Hazel rejected the "One Cent Now" campaign when Miller was pushing it. Now she comes up with her own campaign, and gets full credit. The media really has to rethink all that worshipping the ground she walks on, but it's not going to happen. I'm just bracing myself for the non-stop coverage that will be inevitable upon her "retirement".
The Mississauga Muse
Active Member
My 85 year old father has voted for McCallion, as had I for decades. He and my mother were both resistant to my revelations about her and Mississauga. Originally I couldn't believe it myself --what Freedom of Information was showing me.
But my father finally believed me --and here's what he offered. That it was the media that created Hazel McCallion. It was the media that gave her unqualified support and ra-ra-rahhhh. And the media isn't about to shine a genuine light on her form of governance. Or as my dad put it, to tear the iconic image down.
I guess we-here in Canada are so hard-pressed for icons that we have to manufacture them and hold fast to that pretense as stubbornly as the best municipal spin department.
I'm not even sure that we really have media anymore. That's why I don't watch TV news at all and don't bother with radio. All news is from newspapers all over the Net. And Blogs --and here.
I'm so HUNGRY for REAL NEWS. Like investigative journalism instead of this pathetic CITIES NOW churning where the national newspapers are now just an extension of McCallion's Communication Department.
That lapdog route isn't going to help people 50 years from now living here in the GTA.
It's such a helpless feeling when you KNOW and you can't get your message across...
billonlogan
Active Member
It's disconcerting when our political leaders take us for granted and expect us to believe thier b.s. all the time. Keep up the fight and expose them for who they are and your message will be heard.
doady
Senior Member
Damn Quebeckers are racist and really have too much power in this country, and Hazel is no exception.
Observer Walt
Senior Member
Comments like this are not necessary, doady.
theman23
Active Member
I hate Hazel as much as the next guy, but is it really necessary to call her a Quebecker?