In a municipal announcement, led with a screaming all-caps headline like a toddler in a toy store tantrum, the Town of Collingwood published a short statement from Mayor Hamlin about her recent meeting with Premier Doug Ford. Wait, you didn’t know about that meeting? Apparently, few in Collingwood did (and
Continue readingTag: secrecy
Accidental Deliberations: Wednesday Afternoon Links
Miscellaneous material for your mid-week reading. – Sameer Elsayed offers a primer on what people need to know about current COVID-19 risks. Mary Van Beusekom discusses the likelihood that long COVID is being underdiagnosed in children who may not have either the same symptoms as adults, or the vocabulary to
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Wednesday Morning Links
Miscellaneous material for your mid-week reading. – Ewen Callaway writes about the current state of the COVID-19 pandemic – with both a high baseline of cases, and frequent “wavelets” in comparison to seasonal diseases as new variants develop and spread with little resistance. – Tina Yazdani and Meredith Bond report on
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Sunday Morning Links
This and that for your Sunday reading. – Tara Kiran et al. examine the use of virtual care in Ontario, and find no evidence to support the anti-public-health claim that interactions being pushed back in person served any purpose in avoiding emergency room visits. And CBC News reports on a
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Thursday Afternoon Links
This and that for your Thursday reading. – Andrew Nikiforuk writes about the need for a revolution in ventilation practices to limit the spread of COVID-19 and other illnesses. Emmanuel Heilmann et al. study the risks of relying on antiviral drugs rather than preventative measures, as it fuels the evolution
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Wednesday Morning Links
Miscellaneous material for your mid-week reading. – Madeleine Ngo discusses how Americans (particularly with lower incomes) have been forced to spend any nest egg they managed to build up from pandemic supports, while Jeremy Nuttall interviews Jim Stanford about the drag household debt is placing on the economy. Jeremy Appel contrasts the
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Wednesday Afternoon Links
Miscellaneous material for your mid-week reading. – Jon Henley writes that COVID is surging across Europe as governments and people alike ignore desperate warnings not to let their guard down. And Eric Topol writes about the reality that reinfection produces even worse outcomes than initial exposure – even as governments
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Thursday Morning Links
This and that for your Thursday reading. – Pam Belluck reports on a new study showing that people who weren’t initially hospitalized for COVID make up over three-quarters of the U.S.’ long COVID cases, while Andrew Romano discusses the likelihood that people will face constant infection absent better vaccine protection
Continue readingScripturient: What is Council Doing to Our BIA?
Last week, the chair of our BIA (Business Improvement Area: our association of downtown merchants and businesses) resigned from the organization he has served on for the past seven years. In his letter (quoted in CollingwoodToday) of resignation, David Conning wrote (emphasis added): Following last evening’s council discussion, I continue
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Tuesday Morning Links
This and that for your Tuesday reading. – Andrew Nikiforuk discusses how the pandemic denial of Boris Johnson, Jason Kenney, Scott Moe and others is only ensuring that more people suffer avoidable illness and death. And Merlyna Lim and Brandon Rigato examine how Canada’s far right has become a fertile breeding
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Monday Afternoon Links
Miscellaneous material to start your week. – Alexandra Hutzler reports that even a majority of Americans seeing mask mandates lifted aren’t prepared to buy the line that it’s safe to stop taking basic precautions – particularly given the likelihood that the amount of one’s initial exposure has a substantial impact
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Burning question
Where could Scott Moe have possibly developed the idea he’s entitled to dictate what questions the media is allowed to ask?
Continue readingScripturient: Power Play Behind Council’s Closed Doors
In the recent meeting of the Strategic Initiatives Standing Committee, last Tuesday, one of the issues discussed was the replacement of Deputy Mayor Hull during his unexplained absence, as well the “potential” (nudge, nudge, wink, wink) “Mayoral Vacancy” coming soon (readers will recall that Mayor Saunderson sloughed off his mayoral
Continue readingScripturient: Why is Our Mayor Being Sued?
Ontario civil court records found online show our Mayor, Brian Saunderson, is listed as the first defendant in a recent lawsuit, along with his allegedly former employers. The lawsuit is for $150,000 and was filed Sept. 17, 2019. The plaintiff is Grand Mortgage Investment Corporation, which the Financial Services Registry
Continue readingScripturient: Council Votes to Waste More Tax Dollars on Personal Vendetta
Just when you thought our council could not get any more petty or puerile, they lower the bar again. Last night, in a 7-2 vote, our punishment-obsessed council voted to spend yet more of your tax dollars on the Saunderson Vindictive Judicial Inquiry (aka the SVJI). Yes, that’s right: they
Continue readingScripturient: Yet More Secrecy From Council
A “special” council meeting has been called for May 19. Now, when this council says ‘special” they almost always mean they scurry behind closed doors to avoid public scrutiny of their machinations. And, yep, they’re at it again: locking themselves away from the public eye, and sending a clear message
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Sunday Morning Links
This and that for your Sunday reading. – Peter Lozinski discusses the confusing and conflicting messages from Scott Moe which are making it difficult for well-intentioned residents to know what exactly they’re supposed to do. Christo Aivalis weighs in on Doug Ford’s choice to attack civil rights rather than taking
Continue readingScripturient: Does Collingwood Mislead its Citizens?
The town’s “engage” page for the upcoming “public” (virtual) meeting about the Saunderson Vindictive Judicial Inquiry (aka the SVJI) contains a deception (emphasis added): “The original estimated budget for the Collingwood Judicial Inquiry was $1.6 million. To date, the Town has processed and paid over $7 million. The costs will
Continue readingScripturient: Quidnuncs on Council
A quidnunc is “a small-minded person, focused on petty things.” That’s how Gord Hume describes them in chapter five of his book, Taking Back Our Cities (Municipal World, 2011). Hume adds, “We have far too many of them on municipal councils across Canada.” I wonder what he’d say if he
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Monday Morning Links
Miscellaneous material to start your week. – Paul Krugman notes that hostility toward basic public health protection such as masks represents a stark example of conservatives sacrificing human lives to identity politics – though it’s far from the first or the last one. And James Downie writes that the Republicans
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