Yesterday, on CFRA’s municipal panel with Rob Snow, his guests were Councillors Allan Hubley, Tim Tierney and Rick Chiarelli. One of the topics was their office budgets which are now made public monthly and in some detail.
Councillor office budgets are $234,000 per year for councillors to spend on staffing, office and community related expenses. AS CFRA notes, they highlighted that Councillor Doug Thompson had the lowest expenditures to date at $59,000 and Councillor Mark Taylor the highest at $142,000. The issue discussed was are some councillors on …

According to David Reevely of the Ottawa Citizen and a couple of friends who called me yesterday, my previous post (2nd worst premier leads in polls), was over top.  Okay, I’ll agree begrudgingly.
I should not have said that Premier Dalton McGuinty is purposefully trying to make Ontario the worst economic performer in Canada.  I’m sure that he is not trying to do this.  But for all his programs and promises and taxes, the province is trending that way.
The tendency in politics lately has been to not fight politics on a …

CFRA radio host, Rob Snow, explained the choice Canadians face in the May 2nd federal election. The choice is either a majority Conservative government or a coalition government.
Listen here
There is nothing constitutionally wrong with a coalition government but any makeup of such a government would include, at least in support, the Bloc Quebecois. Is that what the rest of Canada really wants?
And Michael Ignatieff is a strange dude. He rejects a coalition when handed to him by outgoing Liberal leader Stephane Dion in 2009 but now when …

Multiculturalism is in the news again and the prognosis is not good.
Since German Chancellor Angela Merkel declared that multiculturalism had failed in Germany, she has been followed by British Prime Minister David Cameron and French President Nicolas Sarkozy both who have said multiculturalism has also failed in their respective countries.  And here in Canada, we have had many discussions about its level of success here.
I wrote a blog on it last November:  Not “failed” but failing by Blake Batson
Other more prominent Canadians have put in their two cents on multiculturalism:
Angelo …

Did you catch municipal panel with Rob Snow yesterday?  It featured all newbies: Councillors David Chernusheko, Scott Moffatt and Keith Egli.
If you didn’t you can catch it here:
Part 1
Part 2
Rob Snow went to town on Councillor Chernushenko on the solar panel deal but it was Scott Moffatt who made the point that he’s not a Liberal MPP and he didn’t draft the Green Energy “scheme”.  And if the Ontario government is stupid enough to give away taxpayer money at many times the going rate for energy, then it’s in Ottawa …

Here is an example of how politicians spin a bad story so they look good when they should really be the ones taking the blame.
On an article in the Ottawa Sun by Sue Sherring from January 12, 2011, Green bin contract makes no sense.  In the article, Environment Committee Chair, Maria McRae, admits that the green bin deal is a bad deal but tries to make it sound like it was city staffers that are to blame.  But I don’t believe that that is the case.  Councillor Eli El-Chantiry told Rob …

With the election of this new council comprised of some strong veterans plus much needed new blood, I was expecting vigourous debate and public discussion on the pros and cons of important motions presented to council.  In the previous council, I often complained that meetings were too long and too much time was spent debating frivolous issues.  In this council, I’m starting to see the opposite developing.  That is, no discussion at all on issues that should be deliberated.
I’m not going to rehash many of the points that Randall Denely …

I was reading an article in the EMC Maontick/Winchester edition where Councillor Scott Moffatt is talking about the proposed bi-weekly garbage pickup proposal.  This new councillor is taking the consultation process very seriously.  In the article, he is quoted as saying “I cannot stress this enough, though, that these suggested changes are merely that, suggested changes. Nothing is set in stone and everything is up for debate.”  It’s too bad that 13 of the 23 councillors already know how they are going to vote.
According to Councillor Eli El-Chantiry, in 2008, …

I presented yesterday to the environment committee.  I basically made the points in my blog from yesterday (Another 20 year mistake?).  I pointed out that the financial consideration being proposed is a shell game.  The city owns Hydro Ottawa and Hydro Ottawa owns Energy Ottawa, so any money transfers, payments or revenues between these organizations is tantamount taking money from one hand and outing it in another.  It’s all taxpayer money.
The only potentially new money injected into the system comes from the inflated rates the Ontario government will pay to …

In the early days of this new council, Councillor Maria McRae has dominated the news headlines from her pining of no wine at the swearing in ceremonies to her role in photogate to being named chair of the environment committee.  And in the past couple of weeks, she’s made the news again with her plans to reduce regular garbage pickup to a bi-weekly service and her intentions to put up solar panels all over Ottawa in the name of the environment plus $5M revenue to the city.
But are all her …