Forgive And Forget? Never

 

There is a saying that, in many cases is a mere platitude: "Time heals all wounds." Often said to the bereaved, it is meant to impart that there are better days ahead; things will get better. Unfortunately, that is not always the case.

Take, for example the destruction wrought by a former premier of Ontario, Mike Harris. Lionized by some as a politician "who kept his promises," those without cognitive impairment will recall the reign of ugliness he unleashed in Ontario, the effects of which are still felt today. More about that momentarily.

The Star's Robert Benzie recently reported on a new book about the loathsome Harris, a collection of essays by the likes of David Frum, Terrance Corcoran and Jack Minz. When I read the article, I expressed to my wife the ardent hope that the tome finds its home in the remaindered bin very quickly.

Harris seems to have lived a charmed life, presently the chair of Chartwell's, the retirement and long-term care home chain that, amongst others, Premier Doug Ford indemnified against lawsuits related to Covid-19 deaths cause by negligence. Pays to have friends in high places, doesn't it?

In any event, as is frequently the case, Toronto Star readers have long memories and are happy to set the Harris record straight.

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Before Ford, there was Harris — and it’s still his Ontario, Oct. 10

In Robert Benzie’s interesting account of a new book of writing about the Mike Harris regime by Mike Harris’s friends, there is no mention of what many feel to be his largest legacy. By persuading Ontarians that cutting taxes, firing nurses and teachers, and downloading provincial responsibilities onto municipalities would make life better for us, he created most of the problems that we face today — including the feeling by many that governments have let them down.

It is tragic that so many lives have been made worse by these policies. It is also tragic that progressive forces have still to find a way to respond to their aftermath.

Julie Beddoes, Toronto

Harris policies still plague Ontario

Before Ford, there was Harris — and it’s still his Ontario, Oct. 10

A long list of policies implemented by the Mike Harris Government are still adversely affecting the people of Ontario.

Let’s start with the more than 4,000 people who died during the pandemic mostly in Harris privatized long-term-care homes. Harris has also profited handsomely on the board of Chartwell, one of these private homes.

Next is the privatization of hwy. 407 now the world’s most expensive toll way. That same year he privatized the Bruce Nuclear Generating Station in a long-term lease. In a deal far worse than the 407 where the profit was privatized but the debt, risks and pollution remained public.

After going fishing with Kenneth Lay of Enron, Harris had Enron and a who’s who of private investors design Ontario’s electricity market. It is this electricity market that is still to this day causing rate spikes subsidized to the tune of $7 billion a year.

Hardly a success story as claimed by editor Alister Campbell.

Much of the health-care crisis we have today came from Harris slashing of funding, which caused the loss of more than 10,000 nurses.

The Harris education funding formula is still causing underfunding and a crisis in our public education system.

The Harris legacy is nothing to celebrate and most of his policies and legislation need reversing or the people of Ontario will continue to pay the cost of his many failures.

Paul Kahnert, Markham 

Like the above citizens and many others, I shall never forgive nor forget what Harris did to Ontario, I wish him nothing but ill in his remaining years.

Great Happiness!

 

I've been feeling pretty disgusted lately with our world, given our impending climate doom and the humanitarian crises and wars going on. Those pungent testaments to our profound failures as a species (from which not one of us can be excluded) make me angry, disgusted and sad. However, something happened today that has temporarily roused me from my melancholy:

The RCMP has launched a criminal investigation into Premier Doug Ford’s $8.28-billion Greenbelt land swap scandal.

In another stunning setback for Ford’s embattled Progressive Conservatives, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police is formally on the case.

“Following a referral from the Ontario Provincial Police, the RCMP ‘O’ Division’s Sensitive and International Investigations (SII) unit has now launched an investigation into allegations associated to the decision from the province of Ontario to open parts of the Greenbelt for development,” the RCMP said in a statement Tuesday.

It was a day I feared wouldn't come, given our national police force's reluctance to delve into things that might be politically messy. The outrage of the public, however, was something it couldn't ignore. Henceforth, however, there will be a cone of silence on the investigation.

“While we recognize that this investigation is of significant interest to Canadians, the RCMP has a duty to protect the integrity of the investigations that it carries out, in order to ensure that the process leads to a fair and proper outcome. Therefore, no further updates will be provided at this time.”

Similarly, says the Ford cabal,

“[o]ut of respect for the police and their process, we will not be commenting further at this time.”

The government may think that this silence will lead to a quelling of outrage and grant them the benefit of time to do further damage control. However, given the tortoise-like pace of such probes, it will likely still be very much an active investigation at the time of the next election, which will give plenty of time for Marit Stiles' NDP to continue with their so-far effective interrogation of this corrupt regime. It will also afford plenty of time for the next Liberal leader to make her/his bones before that election.

NDP Leader Marit Stiles called the development “devastating” for Ford.

“I don’t think we can underestimate how serious it is that our current government is under criminal investigation,” said Stiles.

Interim Liberal leader John Fraser said “all roads lead to the premier’s office — there is no way that in a scandal of this size, one rookie chief of staff was the mastermind behind it.

“Where there’s smoke there’s fire, and we need to get to the bottom of why a handful of the premier’s friends and fundraisers were given the inside track for an $8.3-billion windfall,” said Fraser.

Green Leader Mike Schreiner said he was “pleased to hear that the RCMP is investigating the corrupt process that saw a few wealthy, well-connected land speculators cash in …

“The people of this province put their trust in the premier — and he chose deals for developers over everyday Ontarians,” said Schreiner.

According to Abacus Data polling for the Star, the debacle has hurt the Tories with their support dropping from 41 per cent in July to 38 per cent in August to 34 per cent last month.

And, given the latest development, they will have plenty of time to fall much, much further.

 

 

 

 

Happy Thanksgiving

 And let us give thanks that we do not live in the Benighted States of Amerika.

The Hits Keep Coming

If the Doug Ford government has any credibility left (a big IF), it has taken yet another hit, thanks to a Star investigation. Uncovered is yet another example of the cronyism that should be anathema in any healthy democracy: the weighting of The Species at Risk Program Advisory Committee with Ford's friends in land development.

The story is primarily about a a particular developer who has been ousted from the committee, after The Star started asking questions.

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The Ontario government says it’s removing a developer from an environmental advisory committee a month after appointing him.

The appointment of Sajjad Hussain to the province’s Species at Risk Program Advisory Committee was made on Aug. 31 — three months after he settled in court allegations that he and his business partner misappropriated millions of dollars in a Markham townhouse development.

The accusations were already detailed in court documents posted online at the time of Hussain’s appointment.

Apparently, Mr. Hussain and his partner, according to the  receiver appointed by the courts to oversee repayment to creditors of their company, Sunrise Acquisitions, 'misappropriated' $10 million of repayment funds.

The receiver alleged in a Dec. 2022 court motion that the directors then cooked the books, maintaining an inaccurate ledger to conceal the true nature of transactions that “only served to enrich themselves and non-arm’s lengths parties to the detriment of the company and its creditors.”

That such an unsavoury person should be on the Species at Risk Committee should surprise no one. However, in my mind the more troubling revelation pertains to the composition of the committee, whose purpose, according to a spokesperson for the Simcoe County Greenbelt Coalition, is "to ensure that government policy is protecting biodiversity and ensuring endangered species of the province have advocates".

It is not clear why the Ford government selected Hussain, a developer, for this position. In a 2021 report, Ontario’s auditor general criticized the process for appointments to the species at risk advisory committee for being not transparent. At that time, a majority of members on the committee worked for associations or companies, half of which were registered lobbyists, the report says.

I'm sure that this is business as usual in the corrupted currents of Ford World. It is not, however, normal in my world and the world of the people I know. On days like this, 2026, the year of our next provincial election, seems far away indeed. 

No Friend To The Environment

 

Readers will know that Ontario premier Ford cares little for environmental matters. One remembers his rash act upon assuming power of enthusiastically tearing up 750 green energy contracts, costing Ontario taxpayers over $230 million.

“I’m so proud of that,” Ford said of his decision. “I’m proud that we actually saved the taxpayers $790 million when we cancelled those terrible, terrible, terrible wind turbines that really for the last 15 years have destroyed our energy file.”

Now that the carbon is coming home to roost, one would hope Ford has gained insight into his monumentally stupid act. One would, of course, be wrong in that hope. Indeed, Ontario's reliance on fossil fuels has grown, seeking to meet energy demands that those torn-up contracts could have easily met, and at a much better price.

Take, for example, the gas power plants that are proliferating, originally touted for occasional use during peak-demand periods.

An investigation by the Toronto Star has found, however, that many of the province’s gas plants are operating far more often than their proponents say, effectively transforming them from rarely used peaker plants into baseload power plants that run almost all the time.

As a result, Ontario’s clean electricity is getting far dirtier, producing millions of tonnes of climate-destabilizing carbon emissions and spewing toxic pollutants into the air in some of the most densely populated urban areas in the province.

 “This will make air pollution worse, make climate pollution worse, and negatively affect Ontario’s competitive advantage in having a clean grid,” said Ontario Green Party Leader Mike Schreiner.

“And on top of that, because fossil gas is so much more expensive than solar, wind and water power, it’s going to increase our electricity bills.”

Like almost everything else this tone-deaf, environmentally-inimical cabal does, the destruction of green-energy projects fits the profile of an administration still stuck in a 1950s mindset, refusing to acknowledge the peril we collectively face.

Here is the view of two Star letter-writers:

A sweet deal for gas companies, not the Earth

• Toronto Star
• 6 Oct 2023

Toronto’s Portlands gas plant ran 21 hours a day this summer, Oct. 1 

Have I got this right? As the rest of us are trying desperately to cut back fossil fuel use, the Doug Ford government chooses to run gas plants almost full time in the GTA when cheaper and greener sources of electricity are available. And now the plan is to ramp up pollution and carbon emissions.

Who’s been having massages together to cook up this sweet deal for the gas companies?

Robin Wardlaw, Toronto

Solar power can meet the peak demand

• Toronto Star
• 6 Oct 2023

Toronto’s Portlands gas plant ran 21 hours a day this summer, Oct. 1

The Doug Ford government’s policy expanding gas-fired power generation is a far more egregious and expensive missstep than the much criticized move of a planned “peaker plant” by the former Liberal Dalton McGuinty government.

The article reveals that Ford’s current plans for expansion will cost at least an unnecessary three quarters of a billion taxpayer dollars.

Gas-fired power generation is a technology we need to minimize soon if we want to fight climate change, reduce deaths from polluted air, and save the taxpayer’s money that the government is now planning to spend on building power plants that must soon be phased out.

Gas-fired plants were originally introduced to meet themajor peaks from air conditioning demand. This peak coincides with maximum solar power generation, and experts tell us such solar generation can meet the peak demand. It is cheaper, non polluting, aids in tackling climate change, and can be placed close to demand (saving transmission costs and transmission power losses).

The Green Energy Act (scrapped by Ford) encouraged both the business and residential investments needed for growth in electrical demand, and did it without needing massive government spending, no depleting of finite natural gas resources, not polluting the air we breath, or worsening climate change.

I also wonder if the planned builders of the proposed gas generating stations are friends of Doug Ford.

Bill Chadwick, Newmarket

Still not convinced? Well, there is also the matter of the secret 95-year Therme Spa lease at Ontario Place that Mr. Ford has engineered, a contract that will cost taxpayers over $600,000 to build an underground parking lot for its customers. However, the real cost goes beyond the monetary. Building this thing will require the destruction of 1500 trees, but in the minds of the vandals, this is a small price to pay for a "world-class spa." The environment? What environment, they dismissively ask.

It is enough to almost wish that Ford's original vision of a giant ferris wheel, mall and monorail on the waterfront had come to pass.

Keeping Up The Pressure

Fires are burning in the House of Ford (not the fashion mogul's, but rather the corrupt and incompetent one that 'rules' our province). That increasing attention is being paid to the sometimes smoldering, sometimes white-hot combustions is attributable to citizen awareness, ceaseless probing by NDP leader Marit Stiles and her MPPs, media investigations, and the absolute arrogance of the now badly-wounded Ford cabal.

People feel rightfully emboldened now that the premier has promised to correct his Greenbelt 'mistake' by restoring the stolen lands. Ford, however, is sadly mistaken if he thinks that is the end of this very visible evidence of his corruption.

There are, for example, the pesky questions surrounding the provincial fiats declaring urban expansions in both Ottawa and Hamilton.

On the same Friday afternoon last November that Premier Doug Ford's government announced its plan to take certain developers' land out of the Greenbelt, it also made moves that benefited developers who own rural land on the outskirts of Ottawa and Hamilton. 

It did so by expanding each city's boundaries, instantly turning certain parcels of agricultural land from rural to urban, opening them up to future housing development and sharply increasing their potential value. 

Opposition parties believe these moves have strong parallels with what Ford's government did in selecting 15 parcels of Greenbelt land for housing development, potentially boosting their value by $8.3 billion, until ultimately reversing course last month.

That's prompting calls for investigations into the Hamilton and Ottawa boundary changes, focused on why certain land parcels were picked despite objections from each city council. 

"We see some connections … and we want to get to the bottom of it," said NDP Leader Marit Stiles. 

Stiles wrote to Ontario's auditor general's office on Friday to request an investigation into the government's expansions of urban boundaries in Ottawa and Hamilton, as well as its changes to other official land-use plans, such as Waterloo, Niagara and York regions.

Despite requests from both municipalities for a review, so far the government is hanging tight, with perennial carbuncle and toadie Paul Callandra, the current minister of housing, insisting that the expansions are needed to meet their housing goals, again ignoring all the data that show existing lands within the boundaries are adequate.

So who benefits?

The most controversial property captured by the province's expansion of Ottawa's boundaries is prime agricultural land on Watters Road in Orléans, more than 20 kilometres from the city centre. 

• In February 2021, Ottawa city council explicitly excluded that 37-hectare farm when it voted on its own plans to enlarge the city's urban boundaries. 
• In August 2021, a newly incorporated company called 1177 Watters Developments Ltd. bought the farm for $12.7 million. 
• In November 2022, the Ford government made the land part of the City of Ottawa with the stroke of a pen. 

The company's five directors donated more than $12,000 to the Ontario PC Party in 2021 and 2022, CBC Ottawa's Kate Porter revealed last November.

Liberal Party interim leader John Fraser, the MPP for Ottawa South, questions why the government put this parcel into the city's boundaries. 

"You've got a group of people who buy a piece of land in 2021", said Fraser. "This is land that you're probably never going to build on, because it's zoned agricultural. And then all of a sudden this piece of land, totally inappropriate, appears [within the urban boundary] and then the value of that land triples." 

Over in Hamilton, the stench of corruption and insider information is the same.

In Hamilton, the province ordered the city last November to add 2,200 hectares, despite council's previous vote in favour of maintaining existing boundaries. 

Among the properties that were wrapped into Hamilton's new boundaries: land owned by some of the same people whose holdings were among the 15 parcels removed from the Greenbelt last November. 

As previously reported by CBC Hamilton's Samantha Beattie, the land added to Hamilton's urban boundaries includes properties owned in part by developers Sergio Manchia of UrbanCore Developments and Paul Paletta of Alinea Group Holdings, formerly Penta Properties. 

According to the Ontario integrity commissioner's report into the Greenbelt, the two developers used the same representative to make their requests both for Greenbelt removals and for changes to Hamilton's official plan. The urban boundary changes were part of the government's amendments to that official plan.  

And earlier reporting shows that the government met with developers, giving them advance notice of expansion  before speaking to Hamilton officials. 

There is a long time to go before the next provincial election, but those four years cut both ways. Ford et al. likely hope to ride out the storm, while those who truly care about this province also have plenty of time to keep up their attacks and investigations, one of their prime motivations being the hope that the malodourous corruption enveloping this province will finally dissipate after our next visit to the polls.

 

 

 

 

 

 

John Kelly Reveals All

In addition to the blatant corruption of the Ford cabal, my other ongoing obsession is with all that Donald Trump represents for a rapidly-declining Amerika.

Here, John Kelly, his former chief of staff, confirms things we already know about the morally-diseased wannabe dictator who, by the way, recently opined that shoplifters should be shot.

Were it not for the global influence of Amerika, I would happily sit by as it destroys itself. But that's not the way things work, eh?

Never Letting Go

The uproar over the Greenbelt theft has died down to a seething anger, despite Doug Ford's promise to restore it. There is ongoing anger over the fact that he lied to us, anger over his apology for having made "a mistake," anger that he was willing to overlook the environmental depredation that his theft would have enabled, anger over his clumsy attempt to reward wealthy developers, and anger over the still extant Bill 23, which, among other things, saddles municipalities with the development charges formerly paid by those rich developers.

People know that Ford will do anything he can get away with. He has lost their trust. And, as the following letters attest, they intend on never letting go of the lessons learned about the nature of this government.

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Doug Ford cancels controversial $8.28-billion Greenbelt land swap: ‘It was a mistake,’ Sept. 21

Now that Premier Doug Ford is on the road to redemption, he should seriously consider completing the journey and resign his position, not only for himself, but for the benefit of his party and also the people of Ontario.

Patricia Steward, East York

Ford made a number of mistakes that require correction

Mistakes are made by honest, well-intentioned people. Ignorant, selfish Premier Doug Ford hasn’t an honest bone in his body.

This government wastes everyone’s energy trying to undo his destructive decisions. Next task: stop the sell-off of Ontario Place and the destruction of our Science Centre.

Douglas Buck, Toronto

Do you believe Ford?

Doug Ford cancels controversial $8.28-billion Greenbelt land swap: ‘It was a mistake,’ Sept. 21

Now that Premier Doug Ford is on the road to redemption, he should seriously consider completing the journey and resign his position, not only for himself, but for the benefit of his party and also the people of Ontario.

Patricia Steward, East York

Ford made a number of mistakes that require correction

Mistakes are made by honest, well-intentioned people. Ignorant, selfish Premier Doug Ford hasn’t an honest bone in his body.

This government wastes everyone’s energy trying to undo his destructive decisions. Next task: stop the sell-off of Ontario Place and the destruction of our Science Centre.

Douglas Buck, Toronto

Do you believe Ford?

It was NOT a mistake. It was a gambit.

Premier Doug Ford tried to get the land out for development, hoping to get away with it, thus opening the door for more removals and other donor-developer-friendly activity.

He backed down, as he has done before, because — and only because — there was press coverage, resistance, criticism, and negative polling results.

Ford has had to promise — again — to leave the Greenbelt alone. Kind of like the kid who promises this time, for sure, to keep his hands out of the cookie jar.

Do you believe him?

Keep an eye on Ford. Look around to see what else has been done in the background while this was going on in front of our eyes.

Graeme Elliott, Toronto

Are health-care privatization and highway schemes mistakes too?

There is no mistake about it, Premier Doug Ford’s scheme on the Greenbelt was deliberate not an inadvertent mistake. Just like his scheme to privatize health care and his scheme to still greatly benefit his developer friends by building highways 413 and the Bradford bypass both going through Greenbelt lands and waterways.

Ford would be well advised to reverse himself again and cancel both of these schemes.

Paul Kahnert, Markham

Bill 23 is just a new taxpayer subsidy to development companies

As Doug Ford’s Greenbelt reversal is celebrated, other ‘misguided’ planning policies remain concerns, Sept. 22

The Star rightly lists development charges supported by municipalities as “misguided.”

Development charges for roads, sewers, schools, libraries etc. were paid by developers for growth related infrastructure. Now under Bill 23 there is a $1 billion hole in municipalities’ cash flow according to the Association of Municipalities Ontario.

If municipalities and boards of education cannot pay this extra cost, development is compromised.

Bill 23 is a barrier to orderly land use planning.

Clearly this is a new subsidy paid by taxpayers to development companies.

This shows where Premier Doug Ford’s interest is allowing “folks” to pay for future growth. The development sector has the means to pay for growth related infrastructure.

David Godley, retired land use planner, Mississauga

Ford's Ongoing Legacy

Some of you, especially if you live outside of Ontario, are likely tired of hearing about the Greenbelt Scandal. Since I reside in the province, its tentacles of corruption continue to both rivet and repel me.

Global News political reporter Colin D'Mello has been providing consistently good coverage of Ford's follies and corruption. His most recent report sheds further light on the cesspool that is this government's ongoing legacy. If you watch to the end of this brief video, you will learn of Ford's admission to the Integrity Commissioner about meeting with developer Silvio De Gasperis regarding the proposed Highway 413, after which land was removed from the Greenbelt.

As John Fraser says, "All roads lead back to the Premier's office on this." If the buck does indeed stop with Ford, as he likes to say, when is payment due?

'Nuff Said

 And today's thought comes us from the mighty Moudakis:

Not In A Forgiving Mood

 

As I wrote in my previous post, I am not in a forgiving mood, now that Doug Ford, in order to desperately try to salvage his and his government's reputation, has promised to restore and never again touch the Greenbelt.

Judging by a flurry of letters appearing in the Star, I am not alone:

Ford has publicly stated his decision to take land out of the protected Greenbelt for housing development was a mistake. It reminded me of a sullen little child caught stealing from the cookie jar. But it is more than that. He has lost the confidence and trust of the citizens of Ontario. He should do the honourable thing and resign as premier. The quicker he resigns the better off Ontario will be in the future.

John Argiropoulo, Toronto

Ford resignation ‘democracy at work’

Doug Ford cancels controversial $8.28-billion Greenbelt land swap, Sept. 21

For months I’ve been writing letters to my Conservative representative pointing out my unhappiness about the Greenbelt fiasco. I was not alone. Citizens writing letters to the editor, attending demonstrations and contacting elected officials is participatory democracy at work. It makes for change. Voting also works but only when citizens fill out ballots. Ford did an about face on the Greenbelt land deals only because his caucus told him what their constituents were saying. Democracy works!

Stephen Bloom, Toronto

Thanks to the Star for keeping Ontarians abreast of the latest news of Ford’s Greenbelt debacle. Here’s hoping the stench will follow him and all Conservatives for the rest of their careers! As the old saying goes, “Fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me!” The Ontario electorate must remember this fiasco of deceit, lies and corruption in the next election!

Tom Cullen, Toronto

Premier Doug Ford walking back on the Greenbelt plan is a result of journalism, activism and the electorate making their voices heard. Cheers to those who wanted change and did the work for it to happen. The reversal has nothing to do with the premier realizing the plan was deeply flawed. His reaction has everything to do with shifting provincial Conservative support. It is time for the rest of us to keep doing the work to protect Ontario Science Centre and land at Ontario Place.

Rachel Griffin, Ancaster

Ford can’t save himself, even by sparing the Greenbelt, Sept. 21


Premier Doug Ford has decided to make Greenbelt land Greenbelt again. Watching his interview I see a man crying over his lost share of the scam. If I shoot you and later fix the wounds, does that make me innocent? Once the shot is fired, the damage is done. Sorry premier, you cannot just say “I’m sorry.”

Edward A. Collis, Burlington

Ford is humbly apologizing for breaking his Greenbelt promise. He thinks he’ll weather the continuing backlash and he quite likely will. Tell me how many billions, we the Ontario taxpayers, are going to have to cough up to settle possible lawsuits filed by the developers. Back room dealing, a bullheaded premier, possibly some criminal acts and the end result is no housing but billions of possible liability.

Wayne Milligan, Toronto

Let’s be absolutely clear, the only reason Ford reversed his Greenbelt development decision is to avoid further investigation into his obvious corruption. An investigation must still proceed, and while we’re at it, an investigation is also necessary regarding his Ontario Place development.

Al Yolles, Toronto

Premier Doug Ford’s total about face on the Greenbelt shows exactly how unethical he is. The reversal took government resignations, considerable pressure from the public, calls from the opposition and criticism from the auditor general and integrity commissioner. His developer buddies will not be happy but he wants to win re-election in 2026 and the heat on this issue was getting to be too much. His actions prove how unfit he is to be the premier of Ontario. Vote him out in 2026.

Janet Ball, Thornhill

Are We Supposed To Be Grateful?

Make no mistake about it: I am absolutely delighted that the Ford cabal has, albeit quite belatedly, seen the light and is restoring the pilfered Greenbelt lands. But, like puppies receiving scraps from the table of a master who regularly abuses us, are we supposed to submissively wag our tails, lick his hand and forget the fear and revulsion he has regularly inspired in us?

Not a chance.

I watched Ford's self-serving mea culpa yesterday. It had all the trappings of a PR event engineered by that famous crisis-management firm, Navigator. When all seems lost, people like Brian Mulroney and Michael Bryant have turned to them to try to spin things into a positive outcome. Judging by yesterday's performance, if Navigator was involved, they have missed their mark by a wide margin.

To hear Ford tell it, he has been humbled by the backlash, and apologizes to all who held him to account. However, according to his alternate-reality version of events, he did it all because of the crisis in housing, and sometimes in a crisis, one acts too quickly. But his heart, of course, was always in the right place.

Here is a brief clip of Ford's climb-down; I especially enjoy the physical (symbolic?) distance his cabinet embraces, and their stoic looks remind me of people that have been chowing down only to find something very unpleasant in their sandwich spread.

Mr. Ford, in his address, talks about earning back the trust of Ontarians. My own sense is that ship has sailed, but then, I am often wrong in my prognostications. And I do hope I am wrong in my fear that now that the theft has been reversed, the RCMP will conclude there is no need for a criminal investigation. While it might be more palatable to those in the national police force who would rather not ruffle feathers, to come to such a conclusion would only compound an ongoing erosion of faith in our public institutions.

Ford has done much damage over the past year. He has shown that corruption within his 'government' thrives; he has increased public cynicism, and he has made many recoil in abject disgust that such criminality runs rampant in Canada's largest province.

But some good has come out of it as well, primarily in the reminder to an abused public that sometimes, if we don't lose sight of a goal too precious to surrender, we can effect change.  

Well done to everyone who has been a part of this victory!

What Happened In Vegas

 ... didn't stay in Vegas. Consequently, another one bites the dust. Dean Blundell explains all:

The corruption obviously runs deep, and it runs from the top down. Doug the Slug is holding another news conference this afternoon. Given how deep the premier is in to the developers, expect only the usual misdirections, pontifications, evasions, self-serving justifications and NO reversal on the Greenbelt crime.

In other words, ANYTHING BUT THE TRUTH.