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Charity fraud
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Charity Fraud is the act of using Deception to get money from people who believe they are making donations to charities. Often a person or a group of people will make material representations that they are a charity or part of charity and ask prospective donors for contributions to the non-existent charity.
It seems I uploaded Sharing place 2008 Financial twice. Please see 2009
Click Here
What do we then say about the Packet? This paper fancys itself as the great Orillia informer but where was it the day after Rod Young gave his presentation. Yes I complained about this facility not so much for location but about the sheer waste of $350,000 for a facility that was and is not needed. Why? Because the old one could have been added to at a fraction of the cost. I voiced my opinion that there was nothing wrong with this block building and it was wrong to waste money on a new one. The reply to me was that it would cost too much to fix it up. For God's sake it is a block building being replaced by a block building I said.
Now that the poop has hit the fan the Packet along with others try to lay blame anywhere but on themselves. Why! one commetor in these pages wants a new bylaw to have disclosure of the citie's plans. Even at this late date this individual has still not looked to see what the plans are or that they actually exist and have been going on for years.
As for Teviah trying to make a silk purse from this sows ear, using the "convenient for parents" argument is really stale. For 40 or more years parents with a lot more kids than families are having had done it so what is your point? Most little ones pee in the water anyway and will continue to do it whether the washrooms are close or not.
Come on Packet it's never too late to change. Starting now become pro-active not reactive to these boondoggles.
jim tolnai
July 29, 2010
Time to Rev Up Speaking Out Once More
Over the last few months I have made an attempt to inform via the Packet comment section below their articles. Over this time I have posted dozens of comments and was disappointed many times when the Packet just simply deleted not only mine but other's legitimate and genuine comments. You see I started Speaking Out back in 2002 first in print and then on the web in 2004 because of what I saw the Packet was doing to this community.
Under the guise of being a news organization the Packet has consistently been on side with the powers first by giving great space for their harebrained schemes as being legitimate public service and by dismissing those who dared question these schemes. I have always said that if the Packet were ever to become a reliable impartial source for the benefit of the people I would gladly cease Speaking Out. This site/publication is not nor has it ever been a commercial venture. It has always been a passion to inform people of the truth.
So in early may I decided to cut back my activity and in June I stopped writing except for my comments on the Packet site. As I have stated there has been disappointment building on disappointment of how the Packet has treated not only mine but other's comments as well. Here is my comment today on the HRC Lawsuit that was posted a few minutes ago. http://www.orilliapacket.com/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=2690105&#postbox
"It never ceases to amaze me how much information is covered up by this newspaper. Yesterday I comment on this item only to have it removed. It was truthful and not defamatory to any individual but it was disturbing. It supported the victims and their families in their quest for justice. It gave one example of just one went on with abuse of residents by the minority of staff.
The Packet instead of allowing discussion and valid information to it's readers simply deletes. I have been saying for years that Orillia's news organizations are the major impediment of our progress. That is why I began publishing www.speakingout.biz. I have tried to give the Packet another chance to change their ways but it seems there is no intent for them to become anything but an exclusive tool of the backroom boys network. Too bad but reality is not pretty."
jim tolnai
Why I am upset is that yesterday under the same story I wrote a comment that the Packet and the backroom boys would rather not become widely known. You see it disrupts that cozy toasty feeling that they have of themselves, so here goes.
"The night before Jack White was to appear before the Appeals Court on his wrongful conviction he and his friend Mark from Owen Sound came for supper. Mark who was a resident of the HRC and had left like Jack had made a good life for himself in that community. Mark has recently retired from working in the Owen Sound Hospital looking after their operating rooms and other duties.
Mark like Jack had been deposited at the HRC for less than legitimate reasons 60 or more years subjected to a life there of abuse by the few. After upper Mark and Jack related stories of horror and I want to share only one of these but by no means the worse. Mark confirmed by Jack talked of one particular humiliating abuse that should shock any decent human being.
If a resident or a number of residents needed punishment one of these punishment went like this. A number of residents were either stripped of their clothing or were ordered to strip themselves. They were made to lie on the floor face down naked. Then those requiring punishment were forced to get down on all fours and cheeks were ordered spread while the punished had to put their noses into the cracks and smell the asses."
This folks according to Jack and Mark was a standard punishment. It was because Jack helped police with this type and worse abuse investigation is why he has paid such a huge price over the last 20 years."
Now I would be surprised if the Packet didn't know of this going on back then as it was common knowledge according to Jack and Mark. So let's say the Packet didn't know back then. So let's give them the benefit of doubt. But much of this must have been known after the police investigation which was not only of abuse like this but even suspicious deaths.
Did the Packet ever report such matters? I don't recall it and many whom I have spoke to and shared this with who are lifelong readers don't remember any Packet reporting of this type of goings on either.
It was this comment that the Packet has made disappear since yesterday. I had hoped that since the departure of Mark Bissett and others the Packet would maybe change even slightly. But imagine my disappointment when it became clear that nothing has changed. It doesn't matter who the publisher is as there is a new one only last year (John Hamill). Nothing changed. Mark Bissett left nothing changed. Colin McKim left nothing changed. So who runs this publication and calls all the shots? Whose interest is it in to keep the people ignorant?
This is why I will continue to publish this site as people should know what is happening to them and who is doing it. People have a right to know about questionable deals and spending and who made the decision to do so. Let all your contacts know that Speaking Out is back to inform you of happenings that Orillia's news organizations won't tell you about. Make sure you let the Packet and Orillia Today know that you want your news straight up and not censored and reported honestly.
I would also like to ask any of you who want to Speak Out to submit letters and even articles of public interest and benefit. If you see it, know it and is the truth we want you to share it with all our readers. Since 2004 we have had almost 8,000,000 visitors and is widely read not just by this community but from the West Bank to the Phillipines, Great Briton and many other countries around the world. We are monitored by news organizations like the CBC and TV Ontario along with others. So write it, get it off your chest and we will make sure it will get wide distribution. But always bearing in mind that it be factual, honest and truthful. It's great to be back.
jim tolnai
We Still Need a Forensic Audit
We Still Need a Judicial Inquiry
We Need to Audit the Library Project as Well
We Need to Impeach Mayor Ron Stevens
June 03, 2010
Stevens' Civitas Award Cost Orillia Taxpayers 10's of Millions $$$
Lake Head gives Mayor Steven's an award they call Civitas. Seems Lake Head is grateful to Stevens for his hard work in getting them to move to Orillia. But the truth is getting Lake Head here took no more effort than to sign a huge cheque. It turns out there wasn't much competition in the courtship battle to persuade them in the first place. It all came down to one thing and one thing only.
If Brechin had of offered $10 more than Orillia, it would be Billy Duffy mayor of Ramara who would be honoured. The Lake Head move to Orillia was made possible by Orillia being the highest bidder.
Here is what Tim Lauer writes on his web-site.
Anyone who portrays the partnering of Lakehead and the City of Orillia as a romance, filled with tales of subtle seduction, nuance and clever strategy, is misguided. In fact never was there a more pragmatic courtship. Essentially President Gilbert was invited to our dance, he arrived, liked the lay of the land, noted our not-too-well-concealed dowry and said ?lets dance?.
It was all about the size of the Dowry as Lauer calls the real reason why Lake Head located here. It is the people of Orillia who deserve this presentation for coughing up ten million as a down payment and the many tens of millions this project will cost in the next few years and decades to follow.
Now that Orillia has been reduced to a financial basket case for the next generation Stevens is packing up his tent and following the development that will take place outside our boundaries. "Stevens said he looks forward to "renewing a lot of relationships" with Ward 4 residents." He then goes on to say "That's where my priorities will be," he said of the ward." His astuteness then shares with us this. " The recent introduction of water and sewer services has made it more conducive to development, Stevens said, noting there are subdivision applications before council." He then goes on to proclaim, ""The sewer and water systems have brought this on. (development) The system and the area can handle that, but not at the inconvenience of the people who already live there," said Stevens, who vowed to be "a front-running watchdog on the issue." He fancies himself a "Watch Dog"? All I can say is the people of Severn need to watch this guy who never met a developer with a fat wallet he didn't instantly fall in love with. Just like those camp whores who follow army's around during war picking up the spoils.
jim tolnai
We Still Need a Forensic Audit
We Still Need a Judicial Inquiry
We Need to Audit the Library Project as Well
We Need to Impeach Mayor Ron Stevens
jim tolnai
June 01, 2010
Open Letter to Right Honorable Prime Minister Stephen Harper concerning Sunday's Israeli attack against humanitarians:
June 1, 2010
As Canada’s elected leader, why have you not publicly expressed your indignation and condemnation of Sunday’s horrific Israeli attack on the civilian humanitarian ships in the international waters of the Mediterranean? It sickened many Canadians to see you, Mr. Harper, our country’s spokesperson, supportively smiling and nodding beside Netanyahu as he glibly twisted and spun to rationalize the inexcusable atrocities of his ‘brave Israeli soldiers’ who on Sunday added to their long list of incidents of ethnic cleansing and more war crimes by gunning down unarmed humanitarians desperately defending their lives with slingshots, sticks and hoses, killing 9, wounding scores of others, and kidnapping over 600 foreign nationals and confiscating their six ships and precious cargo. The earlier so-called Israeli ‘offer’ to deliver the humanitarian aid cargo comprising food, medicine, cement and piping for repair of infrastructure ruined two years ago by Israeli bombs and missiles, was a farce. Only people practicing willful ignorance could let themselves be fooled into thinking that the international humanitarian shipments would reach the Palestinians intact – only those few items not under the draconian Israeli embargo would be allowed into Gaza; so there would be very little the Israeli occupiers would allow to transit onwards to ease the suffering of the impoverished inhabitants of the Gaza – the largest open-air prison in human history. Canadians once identified themselves as citizens of a nation of peace-keepers but, under your leadership Mr. Harper, our country’s international image has become more and more odious as you spinelessly pander to the inhuman Israeli aggressors and tarnish Canada’s reputation as a fair minded people. It is surely time that you began showing compassion for the Palestinian people starving and dying like animals in a trap that Israel made for them – a prison that is getting smaller day by day as Israel seizes or destroys the Palestinian’s diminishing land-base? This latest Israeli atrocity has evoked international government outrage and fury that is palpable to all humans everywhere... Have you not noted the reaction from other world leaders, such as condemnation today from the UN Security Council and leaders in Turkey and Europe? If you can muster any human decency, Prime Minister, perhaps it is time for even you to set aside your photo-op yarmulke and show Canada’s citizens a human side – by speaking up for the oppressed Palestinian people and against the tactics of a rogue Israel possessing hundreds of undeclared nuclear weapons; an Israel that - day by day – has become more dangerous to everyone on the planet, as the American VP Joe Biden recently complained when on a state visit to Israel.
Concerned Canadian Voters
Keith and Marlene Elliott
47 Clifford St.
Orillia, Ontario L3V 1C7
705-325-3592
May 30, 2010
The Perfect Storm Has Arrived
It sure looks like all the warnings about what politicians have been doing to us in order to keep power are coming to bite us in the ass. In order to get elected and to keep power political parties and politicians have given into the greedy who paid for their elections.
The financial industry in their quest for more and more paper profits drove our financial system into the ground. They packaged junk investments and then sold them to all us suckers who believed that they were people of honour. I mean these are the people who have gained huge wealth. Over the last hundred years we as a society have been conditioned to believe that rich people are to be admired and believe that they are some how special. We have been discouraged from questioning how they are actually making their money and at whose expense.
Today we know how these special people have actually made their wealth and whose wealth it really is. Truth is these people are nothing more than crooks and thieves. Bernie Madoff until his fall was sought out by investors and considered a hero by those whose money he was actually stealing. Ken Lay and Jeffery Shilling were considered financial geniuses until their con game collapsed. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trial_of_Kenneth_Lay_and_Jeffrey_Skilling
Then we have the mortgage melt down along with the auto industry. Here we have a man like Michael Moore who over 20 years ago warned of GM's meltdown is still reviled even though he was right. The same is true for the mortgage industry. How on earth can a mortgage broker justify many thousands of dollars in fees for filling out a form? Some brokers were making over a million dollars in fees per year working out of their cars in the US. Where do you think these fees came from and who paid for them?
Here in Canada while not as bad we too have paid the price. Lehman Brothers http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lehman_Brothers a respected banking name before the collapse is but one example. Now other respected banks are being investigated criminally. Yup! those people who took millions and some hundreds of millions annually and the masses admired, turn out to be nothing more than crooks.
If any of you think that our Canadian bankers are any different think again. Our banks were saved by you and I. The Conservative government purchased $75 billion dollars worth of bad paper from Canadian banks in order to tidy up their balance sheets. So in short the banks here were saved by you and I. Only thing is that we weren't even asked. http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=12007
World wide this crisis has been in the making for years. Politicians and political parties have been bought by these men/women who have brought us to the brink of financial ruin. Politicians and political parties have been mesmerized by the promise of money for their election to power and once in power by the promised jobs and wealth when they leave office. For proof just look at Ottawa. http://www.spinwatch.org/-news-by-category-mainmenu-9/181-canada/4579-lobbying-alive-and-well-in-ottawa
There are 1367 lobbyists registered for MP's alone. That my friends is 3 lobbyists for every MP. Why? Are companies paying lobbyists because they are not effective? Even more onerous is that there are 977 lobbyists registered to the Prime Ministers office. Are tens of millions being spent by business on lobbyists even though it is not working? Yea! and pigs can fly.
On Friday, Harper bragged how GM had paid back the loan made to them and in full. Wow!!! But what he failed to say was that the loan was peanuts compared to the shares you and I bought of bankrupt??? GM stock to keep them afloat. Those billions of dollars don't seem to exist in Harpers lexicon?
Now we have the financial crisis part duex over in Europe. A further trillion dollars have been dumped into this bailout on top of the $140 billion dollars given to Greece in order to stop it's default. But what people don't seem to realize that the default was only postponed not stopped. This is the same method used in the mortgage meltdown to fool people into thinking they were solvent. Drive up the real estate prices and have people borrow ever larger amounts against this supposed asset but never checking whether they have the ability to pay it back. Bankrupt Greece is no different. It was going to default because it couldn't afford to pay it's obligations. Lending it more money to make the payment does not improve their balance sheet. Only difference is they now owe this money to 200,000,000 people instead of a few banks. Banks are off the hook people replace them. Only thing more people will feel the pain.
The third part to this Perfect Storm is what is going on down in the Gulf of Mexico. As this toxic sludge keeps growing destroying in days what nature has taken tens of thousands of years to create, we have come to Part Three of the Perfect Storm. Even today there are tens of millions of meals everyday that has to be replaced. Yes that's right tens of millions and it hasn't really spread very far. As it moves to the Florida Keys and catches a ride on the Gulf Stream http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gulf_Stream The entire East Coast of North America is in jeopardy. But it does not stop there as the Gulf Stream keeps going towards Europe and back down to Africa and once again turns towards South America and back to the Gulf of Mexico.
The fishing grounds affected represent hundreds of millions of daily meals for mankind. Where is this food going to come from? Or will we be forced to eat contaminated food simply to survive daily and forgetting about longer term toxic effects? Folks as BP struggles to stop the flow which they and governments have lied about, things will simply just get worse. But people are short term thinkers for the most part and the rich will buy their way through while the masses pay for their greed.
During the Ward 4 candidates debate in the last Municipal Election, Kelly Clune did a show and tell presentation. She tried in vain to get people's attention to the environmental disaster that Orillia Mayor Ron Stevens and his councils have wrought on Orilla. As I watched people's eyes glaze over, I and a handful in the room knew Kelly was right. But as I said, most people are short term thinkers if they can think at all? They went on to elect the present councilors and mayor who have done nothing in addressing our problems only adding to them?
Only when the last tree has died
and the last river has been poisoned
and the last fish has been caught
will you realise that you can't eat money
Start caring folks because what has come before is chump change to what is coming tomorrow. Our way of life whether financial, social or environmental will be changed by this Perfect Storm and for sure you won't like it.
jim tolnai
We Still Need a Forensic Audit
We Still Need a Judicial Inquiry
We Need to Audit the Library Project as Well
We Need to Impeach Mayor Ron Stevens
May 28, 2010
Toxic Oil Rains Warned Could Destroy North America
A dire report prepared for President Medvedev by Russia's Ministry of Natural Resources is warning today that the British Petroleum (BP) oil and gas leak in the Gulf of Mexico is about to become the worst environmental catastrophe in all of human history threatening the entire eastern half of the North American continent with "total destruction". Russian scientists are basing their apocalyptic destruction assessment due to BP's use of millions of gallons of the chemical dispersal agent known as Corexit 9500 which is being pumped directly into the leak of this wellhead over a mile under the Gulf of Mexico waters and designed, this report says, to keep hidden from the American public the full, and tragic, extent of this leak that is now estimated to be over 2.9 million gallons a day The dispersal agent Corexit 9500 is a solvent originally developed by Exxon and now manufactured by the of Naperville, Illinois that is four times more toxic than oil (oil is toxic at 11 ppm (parts per million), Corexit 9500 at only 2.61ppm). In a report written by Anita George-Ares and James R. Clark for Exxon Biomedical Sciences, Inc. titled " Acute Aquatic Toxicity of Three Corexit Products: An Overview" Corexit 9500 was found to be one of the most toxic dispersal agents ever developed. Even worse, according to this report, with higher water temperatures, like those now occurring in the Gulf of Mexico, its toxicity grows. The United States Environmental Protection Agency in discovering BP's use of this dangerous dispersal agent ordered BP to stop using it, but stating that their only alternative to Corexit 9500 was an even more dangerous dispersal agent known as The main differences between Corexit 9500 and Sea Brat 4 lie in how long these dangerous chemicals take to degrade into their constituent organic compounds, which for Corexit 9500 is 28 days. Sea Brat 4, on the other hand, degrades into an organic chemical called Nonylphenol that is toxic to aquatic life and can persist in the environment for years. A greater danger involving Corexit 9500, and as outlined by Russian scientists in this report, is that with its 2.61ppm toxicity level, and when combined with the heating Gulf of Mexico waters, its molecules will be able to "phase transition" from their present liquid to a gaseous state allowing them to be absorbed into clouds and allowing their release as "toxic rain" Even worse, should a Katrina like tropical hurricane form in the Gulf of Mexico while tens of millions of gallons of Corexit 9500 are sitting on, or near, its surface the resulting "toxic rain" falling upon the North American continent could destroy all microbial life to any depth it reaches resulting in an "unimaginable environmental catastrophe" destroying all life forms from the "bottom of the evolutionary chart to the top" Note: For molecules of a liquid to evaporate, they must be located near the surface, be moving in the proper direction, and have sufficient kinetic energy to overcome liquid-phase intermolecular forces. Only a small proportion of the molecules meet these criteria, so the rate of evaporation is limited. Since the kinetic energy of a molecule is proportional to its temperature, evaporation proceeds more quickly at higher temperatures. As over 50 miles of the US State of Louisiana's coastline has already been destroyed by this spill, American scientists are warning that the damage may be impossible to repair, and as we can read as reported by the Associated Press News Service: " The gooey oil washing into the maze of marshes along the Gulf Coast could prove impossible to remove, leaving a toxic stew lethal to fish and wildlife, government officials and independent scientists said. Officials are considering some drastic and risky solutions: They could set the wetlands on fire or flood areas in hopes of floating out the oil. They warn an aggressive cleanup could ruin the marshes and do more harm than good. And to understand the full import of this catastrophe it must be remembered that this disaster is occurring in what is described as the "biologically richest waters in America" with the greatest amount of oil and toxic Corexit 9500 set to come ashore in the coming days and weeks to destroy it completely for decades to come. Reports are also coming from the United States that their government is secretly preparing to evacuate tens-of-millions of their citizens from their Gulf of Mexico States should the most dire of these scientific warnings start to come true. To the greatest lesson to be learned by these Americans is that their government-oil industry cabal has been just as destructive to them as their government-banking one, both of which have done more to destroy the United States these past couple of years than any foreign enemy could dare dream was possible. But to their greatest enemy the Americans need look no further than their nearest mirror as they are the ones who allowed these monsters to rule over them in the first place.
jim tolnai
We Still Need a Forensic Audit
We Still Need a Judicial Inquiry
We Need to Audit the Library Project as Well
We Need to Impeach Mayor Ron Stevens
May 26, 2010
Done With Stupid
May 26, 2010 at 6:50 am
I received the following yesterday from Kelly Clune re: well contamination over by Midland. Reading this drivel makes me sick to my stomach. My answer to Kelly follows.
“Contaminants nothing to worry about: Downer
> Two out of 16 private wells tested come back positive for minute levels of
> TCE
>
> Jim Downer. MIDLAND
> – Tests of private wells ordered by the Town of Midland show residents
> have no reason to fear for their health, says Mayor Jim Downer.
> Two
> out of the 16 wells tested came back positive for small amounts of the
> chemical trichloroethylene (TCE), which is known to cause skin diseases
> and is suspected of causing birth defects and cancer.
> Nonetheless,
> Downer said he would be comfortable drinking water from either of the
> two private wells where the chemical was detected.
> “I have
> to rely on the people testing these wells,” he said. “I looked on the
> chart and it’s well below (the level considered harmful).”
> The
> tests were carried out after TCE and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs)
> were detected in water from the town’s Sundowner well site at Balm
> Beach and Sundowner roads.
> The town sent letters to 14
> residents last week indicating that testing done by Golder Associates
> had found no detectable traces of either chemical in their private
> wells.
> However, the tests did find minute traces of TCE in
> two wells. One tested at 0.6 micrograms per litre, while a second
> tested at two micrograms per litre. The provincial limit, noted Downer,
> is five micrograms per litre.
> Felix Cappella lives on
> Sundowner Road and owns one of the 16 wells that underwent testing on
> May 8. He received a letter May 21 from the Simcoe Muskoka District
> Health Unit indicating his well was not one of the two that tested
> positive for TCE.
> He said if he had learned otherwise, he would have been uncomfortable
> drinking the water, regardless of the low levels.
> “I
> wouldn’t feel very good,” he said, adding he’s never had issues with
> his water before. “We’ve been here for 26 years and never any problems
> with the well.”
> Cathy York, another Sundowner Road resident,
> said she was also relieved to learn hers is not one of the wells that
> tested positive for the chemical.
> “TCE is pretty dangerous,” she said. “I wouldn’t want to drink
> it.”
> Reading
> from the letter sent to the owners of the wells where the chemical was
> detected, Downer said the level of TCE in their wells is below
> regulatory standards and is not known to have any adverse impact on
> health.
> “The medical officer of health is not advising users to take any special
> measures,” he stated.
> Downer told The Mirror he was extremely pleased with the findings.
> “I
> am very relieved, and I think it was the right thing to do to have them
> tested in light of the (Sundowner) well,” he said, adding he is not
> certain what the town will do if the chemical continues to show up in
> that well.
> “That well was not servicing any public at this
> time… (but) if it’s not safe we won’t use it at all. We will have to
> stand by as there is still some preliminary work to do on it before we
> make a decision.”
Kelly this is a very good example of how evil these people (Downer, County
Health and the newspaper) are and how stupid these well owners turn out to be.
These chemicals travel in clumps. Sometimes it might be 3 parts sometimes it might be 50 parts. One does not know from day to day. That is why well owners need to filter their water even if the test comes back zero in their well but other wells come back positive as that could change
tomorrow or even hours.
Kelly I am done with stupid. It seems to me people can not be saved from their own stupidity. Why people can not understand such a simple fact I
simply can not comprehend. For all these years trying to educate whether on the MURF contamination, city water contamination, Coldwater
contamination and now Midland contamination, people just don’t give a rat’s ass until they become ill themselves. I now realize that this whole stinking effort has been a waste of my time. Looks like they don’t care so why on earth should I?
jim
May 22, 2010
MP Expenses Controversy Not New
Here is what I wrote way back in Feb.. 2003 about MP Sheila Copps. What is happening today with the MP's refusal to allow an audit of their expenses is just more of the same bull crap that has gone on for many years. Too bad people weren't paying much attention back then. Today's scandal could have been avoided and many tens if not hundreds of millions of dollars could have been saved over these past 7 years. This is a good lesson for people to learn. What is ignored by we the people today will come back to haunt us down the road. Make sure you let Bruce Stanton know you want to see all his expenses line by line. You want to know exactly what these monies are spent for. One thing is for sure. He and all politicians who say trust us, can not be trusted.
Expensive
An article concerning the Minister of Heritage Sheila Copps, caught my attention. It was concerning her expenses
and her unwillingness to provide details under an Information request by Sun Media. The article states that she has not
provided receipts or other documents to completely explain how she spent tens ofthousands of taxpayers. dollars on travel,
hospitality and other expenses. Last spring the Prime Minister ordered his ministers to hand over detailed expense
accounts when requested through the Access to information. This order came on the heels of weeks of criticism that
ministers were hiding their high-flying ways behind privacy rules. I guess Jeans. power is over as Copps is ignoring his orders.
In a short 22 month period Copps spent almost $180,000 in travel, hospitality and other expenses. Almost $81,000 of that
was classed as other unspecified expenses. So let.s take a look at what this means. In order to spend this $81,000 on non
receiptable expenses she has to spend $122.72 per day. or $3681.81 per month or $44,181.72 per year. I can only assume
because she does not show any receipts it went for coffee, donuts, etc. Now remember this was in addition to receipted
expenses of almost $100,000. Folks, there are families living on less than half of the money this woman spends
on unspecified items! I don.t understand how this unaccountability can be allowed.
Ms. Copps earns a salary for her work like all of us. If I buy a meal it comes out of my salary. If I buy a cup of coffee and
donut it comes from my salary. Why are we responsible to feed and clothe these people and still pay them a salary? I can
see paying for travel expenses and
certainly accommodation while away from home, but certainly not personal items which she is embarrassed to divulge.
I believe all expenses should be scrutinized and receipts provided.
Ministers are given the title Honorable, so prove it by being honest, up front and transparent. It doesn.t matter what party is
in power they all believe that power is like winning the Super7 Jackpot. And she wants to be Prime Minister?
jim tolnai
We Still Need a Forensic Audit
We Still Need a Judicial Inquiry
We Need to Audit the Library Project as Well
We Need to Impeach Mayor Ron Stevens
May 13, 2010
C.R.U.S.H.
Dear News Editor, Reporter, Columnist,
C.R.U.S.H., Canadians Rallying to Unseat Stephen Harper, was formed by a group of members of the Facebook group Canadians Against Proroguing Parliament .(CAPP) who were concerned about the general condition of democracy under the Harper Government, and who decided to do more than deplore the second ... See Moreprorogation of Parliament by simply chatting on Facebook. Their aim is to raise awareness of the current dangers to democracy. They are doing so by placing ads in Canadian newspapers so that the political discussion can be brought to a wider audience than that on the internet social networking sites. Their main goal is to have Canadians see that there is a need for them to exercise their right to unseat Mr. Harper by democratic means in the next general election.
According to an article published on Monday in a national newspaper, the Conservative Party of Canada in "a series of talking points underlining their view" called C.R.U.S.H. "a radical anti-Stephen Harper group”.
The application of a term such as "radical" is generally subjective in nature and that word is usually used as a term of disparagement.
It is true that the C.R.U.S.H. ads raised Stephen Harper's actions as being negative for Canada and Canadians. It is left up to you to decide whether stating the following as being Harper’s offenses against our democratic traditions and institutions constitutes a reasonable basis for being called publicly "a radical anti-Stephen Harper group”:
Proroguing parliament to avoid facing a non-confidence vote (2008)
Proroguing parliament to avoid answering questions about the government’s handling of Afghan detainees (2009)
Muzzling ministers, members of Parliament, and government watchdogs; stacking committees with political operatives
Politicizing federal institutions and programs that should represent all Canadians
Avoiding questions by the media; restricting or denying access to information
Using obstructionist tactics; employing American “spin doctors”
Showing contempt for Parliament by refusing to abide by a duly passed motion to turn over documents.
Canadians Rallying to Unseat Stephen Harper's more than 3,090 members are multi-partisan in composition. They are not radical, as the Conservative Party of Canada would have the public believe, but rather they are concerned citizens of Canada who have joined together in response to the anti-democratic direction in which they see Stephen Harper as having been taking our country.
If opposing the policies and practices of the current government is the action of a radical that would imply that the more than 62 percent of voters who opted for parties other than the Conservative Party of Canada in the last election are radicals and continue to be so when polled. That is a harsh assessment of the majority of Canadian voters.
Yours truly,
Joe Hueglin
May 12, 2010
HST Petition
Hello Everyone, We need signatures of 10% of Ontario’s population to call a referendum, please show your opposition to HST. And forward to your contacts!!! http://www.hstpetition.com/petition/sign.php Please add your electronic signature to this petition. I don't know if it will do any good, but it only takes a minute or two and it could save you having to pay a LOT more tax.
May 09, 2010
An Open Letter to Stephen Harper
Mr. Prime Minister,
What, exactly, are you trying to achieve? I suspect that your goal is not to be seen as a misogynist or a bully, or to alienate any voter who happens to have a uterus – which is too bad, really, because if that was the case, you’d be wildly successful. Is this some kind of show of power? Are you trying to sneak your religious beliefs into policy decisions without anyone noticing? Or did you really just want to tell the women of the developing world to drop dead? Whatever your intention, Mr. Harper, you’re not doing yourself, or your party, any favours.
Let’s start with the basics: According to a Conservative party spokesman, “Canada’s contribution to maternal and child health may include family planning. However, Canada’s contribution will not include funding abortion.” [http://www.thestar.com/top%20stories/article/800755] First off, may include family planning? Maternal and child health are nearly impossible without family planning of some kind. Women’s ability to take care of ourselves and our families depends on our ability to control our fertility. Second (and listen closely, Mr. Harper, because I get the feeling you weren’t paying attention the first 500 or so times you were told this), abortion is family planning. It’s not a separate category. Like contraception, it allows women to decide whether to have children. I think what your MPs were trying to say is that Canada’s contribution will involve the types of family planning that you approve of, and that aren’t too expensive, and that don’t upset your delicate conservative sensibilities.
Abortion is a last resort. It’s used only when something has gone wrong, when other methods have failed, or weren’t available in the first place. No one – least of all low-income women in the developing world – is having abortions just for fun. We have abortions because it is absolutely necessary, for us or for our families. When abortion is legally, geographically or financially inaccessible, women die. This is what you have committed yourself to. You and your party are allowing women to die because a necessary medical procedure doesn’t sit right with your ideology. I hope you’re proud of yourselves.
You know what? I dare you. Make this an election issue. Ignatieff would love that. Your stance on reproductive rights has held you back from gaining a majority in Parliament so far, and if you push it any further, you won’t even have a government. Personally, I’d be fine with that.
You know this, of course, which is why you’ve always stopped short of an attack on Canadian women’s reproductive rights, and which is why you’re cutting funding left and right instead of engaging in any sort of debate. Senator Ruth, for all her lack of tact or compassion, was right about another thing: this isn’t about Canadian women’s health. It’s about the health of women who are far less fortunate, and far more vulnerable. Unfortunately, it turns out that women don’t just get angry when our own rights are being violated. We get angry about human rights violations, like, all the time! Even when the people affected are in other countries! You made this an issue, and the Canadian people are going to hold you accountable.
As a Canadian, I’m ashamed to have a prime minister who thinks women matter less than the contents of our uterus. I’m ashamed to have a government that thinks it can intimidate women into submission. I’m ashamed that, with Canada’s reputation for humanitarian work, you think that it’s acceptable to pick and choose the types of medical care that disadvantaged women are allowed to receive. This is a disgrace. Feminists around the world are beginning to hear about it, and you continue to dig yourself deeper and deeper.
If there’s one thing I can promise you, Mr. Harper, it’s that we will absolutely not shut the fuck up.
Sincerely,
Brett K
April 24, 2010
Pharmacy's make lots of money, too much infact
Here in Orillia a town of 33,000 we have 12 pharmacy's. That's if I didn't miss one or two which I might of. Everyone of these pharmacy's makes a good chunk of change. In fact one pharmacy an indecent claims in the paper to dispense 50,000 prescriptions per year through the government program alone. Imagine how many are dispensed by the Wal mart and shoppers? The problem with this system there is too much money being made as new pharmacies are opening all the time. In fact a new one will be opening when the new clinic on Memorial Ave. opens this fall.
There are lots of jokes about Orillia having a Tim Horton's on every corner but there are actually twice as many pharmacy's. When a pharmacy can mark up Lipitor 300% and other drugs by as much as 5000% they should stop crying about getting only $7 to count out 30 pills plus a markup.
Give me a break and give your heads a shake.
Scroll down to Mar. 28, 2010 and check out my investigation of this industry. While I did it 5 years ago it is still relevant.
I have more choice where I buy my medications than I do to buy groceries. More choice to buy medications than to buy cars or just about any other product. So spare me the tears. Pharmacy's have the volume and they have extra ordinary markups on a huge variety of product that is sold. Not to mention the $700,000,000 they share just for being in business.
jim tolnai
We Still Need a Forensic Audit
We Still Need a Judicial Inquiry
We Need to Audit the Library Project as Well
We Need to Impeach Mayor Ron Stevens
April 17, 2010
Bingo! Every County Councillor Carries the Stink
Month after month I have been telling people about what is happening in Simcoe County. Back last August 28 I wrote two stories trying to get people's attention. It was obvious that the Guergis clan who held so much power here in Simcoe County had gone out of control. Tony had betrayed his constituents on Site 41 without a twinge of conscience. Tony's brother was attempting and still is to destroy Nottawasaga Valley Conservation Authority claiming it wasn't working. Why? It could have had something to do with his wife not being able to develop some flood plane land that the Conservation Authority was stopping.
Even today a conservation authority review sub-committee has been formed to study these environmental safety mechanisms which is nothing more than a precursor to shutting them down. Members of this group includes Warden Cal Patterson, Ramara Deputy Mayor Basil Clarke, Essa Mayor David Guergis, Oro-Medonte Mayor Harry Hughes, Collingwood Deputy Mayor Alicia Savage, Severn Mayor Phil Sled. Tiny Mayor Peggy Breckenridge. The group is led by David Guergis and Harry Hughes mayor of Oro/Medonte. There is no doubt in my mind that a large majority of county councillors are in favour of the plans this group has for these environmental safety groups as they are of most scams.
Today the Toronto Star finally looked at a letter that we had knowlege of which Helena had written to her cousin Tony as Warden and county council flogging a company called Wright Tech Systems Inc. as being one that the county might want to do business with. This letter was in the public domain and I had been questioning along with others why she would be involved.
Guergis_Letter.pdf
Today we know why. Her husband was involved with this company in some capacity. I tried to let people know that public business in Simcoe County is run for the transfer of public monies to private pockets. My attempt to show how organized crime works seems had fallen on deaf ears. Well, today people will have to turn up their hearing aides or get new batteries. The stink is getting worse and it will not be long before we will have those Forensic Audits and Judicial Inquiry's. I have point blank stated how the tentacles of organized crime reaches every corner of Simcoe County. I post many thoughts on the Site 41 blog and have been very critical of them censoring my posts. But it was not just me they censored as I began to find out. So even the good guys have been compromised by the tentacles. Here is what I wrote to one person who asked a question on her post. The gatekeeper at the blog didn't like my answer so it was not allowed.
Her question was, how to go about lodging a request for Forensic Audits and Judicial Inquiry.
Read Issue 10, 11 and 12 about an investigation I initiated and my complaint was swept under the table back then. But I didn't give up and still believe this complaint will bare fruit. Years later this same mayor has been forced off the Police Services Board and is under investigation for his attempt to interfere with a police investigation. As that investigation proceeds they will look at this land deal. As the Guergis connection is investigated it will lead back to this same mayor as well. That will open other doors and one day in the not too distant future we will have action. The fall of Guergis, Guergis and Guergis will topple their underground organization that the likes of our mayor belongs to along with a majority of other mayors in Simcoe County.
If you are serious about making change then you need to organize. We need to defeat the dragon which really has 32 heads. Cutting one or two off will do nothing because the dragon can live very nicely with 17 heads. We can't pick or choose simply because the heads have all played good guy at one time or other. We need to get a clear majority on County Council and then let the honest members deal with the 15 left. Sorry long story but I would be pleased to speak with you or anyone else who is genuine in making change happen. No one says it's easy but most worthwhile things are not.
speakingout@speakingout.biz 705-327-5717
jim Tolnai
If I gave you a 77 unit apartment building completly paid forand infact even some spare change would you be willing to lower the rent you collect by 20% from market value? And to pay some of your operating costs like property taxes on top of the FREE building for say 10 years would you think that was a good deal? So how would you feel if I gave it to someone else and had you pay for it? Well folks that is exactly what this deal is all about. I equate this deal to winning a $10,000,000 lottery. Wonder what the ticket cost????
Folks pay attention. Tens of millions of dollars of your hard earned money and more is gone on many of these deals that make no sense. Here is an example of one deal that made no sense nor makes sense for taxpayers. This deal is one of the last ones that involved Tony Guergis as County Warden in partnership with the Orillia branch of the Organization. Read it again in the context of what you know about Helena her husband the Guergis clan today and mayor Stevens record over the last 10 years.
Dec. 22, 2009
I Smell a Rotten Deal for Taxpayers
Last weeks announcement of a $9,200,000 windfall for a developer who will be building what is referred to as Affordable housing some say is a good thing. But when one does the numbers on what taxpayers are getting for their money it smells real rotten. The owners of the Barrie Rd. property a former industrial site which has yet to be cleaned up have managed to score a gift of $9,200,000 from federal and provincial taxpayers. They also have scored up to another $1,540,000 from Orillia taxpayers over the next 10 years. But when you do the numbers it is one of the most blatant giveaways of taxpayers money I have ever seen or heard of. This my friends is of Pinocchio Scandal quality tax money waste.
The proposal is to build 77 apartment units that will be leased at 70% of current Orillia rents. This reduction amounts to a saving for the tenant of
$150.. mo. 1 Bedroom
$176 mo. 2 Bedroom
$182 mo. 3 Bedroom
For the $9,200,000 the landlord will keep the rent ratio for 20 years at which time who knows what will happen as these units while paid for by tax dollars remain privately owned. I suppose in 20 years the owner will receive another subsidy as poverty will not be eradicated and indeed might even be worse by then. Much is being said about how wonderful this gift to a single developer is for the poor but I disagree. One only has to do the numbers to see how the only people who lose are the needy and of course taxpayers. Once more the poor and taxpayers are carrying the burden for the greed of the rich.
So let's do some calculations. Forty of the 77 subsidized units will be dedicated to seniors, 25 for the disabled and 12 for individuals and families of limited means. The average reduction in rent for each apartment from market cost will be a mere $169.00 per month. If you take 20 years which equals 240 months and multiply that by 77 apartments times the $169.00 that equals a mere $3,123,1200 in subsidized rents for the poor. But the cost to the taxpayer is $9,200,000. Three times more than what the poor receive in rent subsidy.
So how on earth can this be construed as a good deal for the poor, disabled or seniors ??? Not to mention for the taxpayer??? Sorry folks but this is a terrible deal. This represents a transfer of public money for nothing on a scale unseen in Orillia to date. For $9,200,000 we could have three times the units for the next 20 years by simply subsidizing market price rents for 231 units. Don't forget that the developers obligation for this rent ratio ends at the end of year 20 years. At which time he can put his hand out for more tax money or start renting at market price while dislodging the poor anyway. For anyone to call this a wonderful deal they obviously did not do their homework. But the subsidy doesn't end there for the landlord. You see, he will realize another windfall of $20,000 times 77 units which is another $1,540,000 in forgiven property tax which will be paid by Orillia taxpayers over the next 10 years. Simply put this deal does very little to address the need for affordable housing while reaping huge unwarranted profits for the developers and their friends????
So let's recap. $9,200,000 plus $1,540,000 equals $10,740,000 of taxpayers money poured into a privately owned development. A very poor use of public money. Once more folks we need a Forensic Audit of this deal. It is a poor excuse for public spending. But hey i guess Santa came early for this developer if this happens???? Wonder if it's too late to stop this outrage????
I did a bit of digging to find out what a project like this could be built for when I saw the $15,000,000 to $16,000,000 price tag. Here is a project that was built in Ottawa. I know it was back in 1995 but the cost per square foot is what is important.
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Synopsis
The Conservation Co-op located in downtown Ottawa is an example of a “green” multi-unit building. But unlike many other buildings using energy efficient technology, the Conservation Co-op was constructed within the confines of strict social housing guidelines and budget, and did not use overly complex technology. The final cost of the Conservation Co-op was $645 per square metre ($60/square foot), and included such energy efficient features as: low wattage fixtures, exterior site lighting using photovoltaic lamps, building orientation for maximum solar gain in the winter, summer solar shading using sunscreens and fin-walls on balconies, double-glazed argon filled lowE windows, above normal wall and roof insulation levels, separated balconies to eliminate thermal bridging, use of heat recovery units for all suite ventilation, and, individually metred in-suite high (90%) efficiency gas heating units.
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Please visit the web-site for this project and see what social housing is really all about.
Nothing that happens in Orillia ever makes any sense. If this mayor and city management have a hand in it, one can automatically assume there is something wrong with it and the numbers prove that indeed that is the fact. This is another project that simply stinks.
On top of all this evidence that this project is not in the best interest of the poor or taxpayers I have heard or seen nothing which shows that the site is being cleaned of any hazardous materials. You see folks when the first building was built by this developer, council allowed for the property to be divided. At that time all contaminated soil was pushed over to the eastern lot. For the first 3 years almost nothing could grow on this land and now they want to build on it??? Will this former industrial property be cleaned to a standard that allows residential???? Where is the MOE in this story???? Are they allowing this building to be built on a former industrial site without cleanup???? Don't believe me, but please believe what you find if you check out this project. Make yourself heard as someday one of you or many of you might end up living there. So why are the politicians doing this deal???? Can't they do the math??? Follow the money folks.
jim tolnai
This deal is a prime example of Stevens' and at least some councillors along with senior city managements involvement with the Guergis/County branch of the organization. This is a deal that the RCMP along with the Auditor General of Canada and the OPP will be now obliged to investigate. The time has come for Orillia couincil's honest members to demand an explanation publicly for all that has gone on and is going on right now. Any councillor who doesn't take what is going on seriously will be painted with the same brush. I said in these pages over six years ago that the truth will come out one day. Skeptics didn't listen so the road has been lonely. But today this story is so huge that the authorities will not be able to sweep it under the carpet any longer as they did with the land behind Walmart deal. There is a wealth of information for investigators in these pages and I welcome them using it. I will also welcome them if they wish to have my help. I will be happy to direct them not only to funny deals but people who have more information than I have been able to use here. Yup! it won't be long now before the rocks will be turned over exposing the slime that has ruled for way too long.
jim tolnai
We Still Need a Forensic Audit
We Still Need a Judicial Inquiry
We Need to Audit the Library Project as Well
We Need to Impeach Mayor Ron Stevens
April 16, 2010
"All we want are the facts, ma'am"?
In todays Orillia Packet and Times
MICHAEL DEN TANDT writes "Guergis affair derails any real debate".
After reading this story and scratching my head the only reasonable and sensible reply is:
Dear Michael
But the cocaine found in Jaffer's pocket is first hand confirmation of the fourth hand information giving this story gams up to the whazooo. Sorry but this little story can only grow as the entire credibility of Harper and his Reform crowd has been shown to not exist.
The dinners with Gillani and company which Rahim and Helena have admitted to does make the fourth hand information more believable. And the trip to Belize by the Ex-minister and her husband now being connected (Snowdy) to bank accounts by the crooks they wined and dined with becomes if nothing else interesting.
After Mulroney and Karl Heinze can we simply ignore this story for years as the Mulroney saga was? Let's get to the bottom of this today when the cost would be a mere couple of millions instead of the many tens of millions it cost to clear up the Mulroney story. Which by the way is yet to be cleared.
Sorry Michael but this is a Sponsorship only by another name. It is about corruption, drugs, blackmail,secret bank accounts and hookers.
The truth is that Guergis and Jaffer are or were involved with some unsavory characters which they have admitted to. Are we to believe that Jaffer couldn't find honest people to do business with in all of Canada and therefore was forced to deal with these "wiseguys"?
Snowdy the PI's credibility is now being called into question because he is in bankruptcy or bankrupt. Just to point out Helena's cousin Tony Guergis County Councillor and former Warden of Simcoe County and mayor of Springwater Twshp. is also a bankrupt whom Helena has defended. As Joe Friday says: "All we want are the facts, ma'am"?
jim tolnai
We Still Need a Forensic Audit
We Still Need a Judicial Inquiry
We Need to Audit the Library Project as Well
We Need to Impeach Mayor Ron Stevens
April 14, 2010
Garbagegate and all those Stupid Decisions
Organized crime dynamics
In order for a criminal organization to prosper, some degree of support is required from the society in which it lives. Thus, it is often necessary to corrupt some of its respected members, most commonly achieved through bribery, blackmail, and the establishment of symbiotic relationships with legitimate businesses. Judicial and police officers and legislators are especially targeted for control by organized crime via bribes. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Organized_crime
Organized crime loves the garbage business and will do just about anything to keep the status quo.
It's Mob Economics 101: Find a business that's easy to enter and lucrative to control. Criminal organizations make lots of money from drugs, human trafficking, and counterfeit goods, but creating a monopoly on garbage collection is attractive because the business itself is legal, and public contracts return big profits. Compared with something like running a casino or grocery store, the logistics of taking trash from Point A to Point B are a no-brainer. Anyone with a truck and a couple of strong guys can make good money, and there's always a demand for the service.
Criminal organizations elsewhere in the world also find profit in trash schemes. In parts of Taiwan, gangs dig into the riverbank for gravel and sell it to construction companies. Then, they fill up the holes with waste they've collected.
Do I really need to say more? Wake up folks a spade is a spade . Garbage is just the tip of the iceburg in Simcoe County/Orillia. Don't forget the most dangerous part of an iceberg is not what is above water but what lurks below. Let's all embrace a thorough investigation of the goings on in Simcoe County and Orillia these last ten years. Truth is there are no stupid decisions being made. The decisons are made knowingly with one objective in mind by those who push for it. There are only desicions that some one gains from and others lose. Unfortunately because of weak councillors in Orillia and County wide, we the people seem to be on the losing side more often than not the last ten years. Without weak and lazy councillors the minority on council, those responsible for pushing could not succeed in passing these (stupid ) desicions. See March 30 and April 09 stories below.
jim tolnai
We Still Need a Forensic Audit
We Still Need a Judicial Inquiry
We Need to Audit the Library Project as Well
We Need to Impeach Mayor Ron Stevens
April 14, 2010
Seems Charities Pay Big Money
Today's Globe and Mail had an interesting piece on charity CEO compensation. I wrote about three charities right here in the sunshine town last month. I have been livid about how the Sharing Place, Community Foundation and a home based charity called the Native Children's Foundation of Canada pay themselves for operating. It is a disgrace what these outfits do not spend on charitable giving. It is a disgrace when the Foundation spends $799,000 to give away a mere $200,000. It is a disgrace to see hundreds of thousands being spent on salaries and questionable expenses while the needy get a fraction of what is given.
I was pleased to see the Globe article Six Figure Compensation. It is time that these people were outed so that people's generosity will no longer be taken for granted. The Heart and Stroke spends 50% of donations on salaries. This is outrageous. In fact Sick kids hospital paid it's former CEO 2.7 million dollars for 2008. There are some who defend this practice.
"I have yet to be convinced [excessive compensation] is a serious problem within our sector," said Mark Blumberg, a Toronto lawyer who specializes in charity law". Well surprise! surprise! that this guy defends high salaries. Wonder how much he dings charities for representing them as their lawyer who specializes in "charity law"?
Folks read the Globe story that I have left a link for. And make sure that before you give do your due diligence. Remember if you give a dollar in many cases the needy will be lucky to end up getting as little as 10 cents. I hope that the private members bill before parliament will pass and there will be more reporting on what money is actually going for. Hundreds of millions have been donated for Haiti relief with very little actually going for the people. But we can be assured that those running these so called charities are being looked after. I for one am very selective as to whom I give to. When I check out a charity that asks for support I ask questions. It's amazing how quickly they hang up and move on hoping to find a sucker.
Next time you meet Don Evans from the Sharing Place ask him to show you his pay stub and expense account. If he takes exception then you take exception by finding a different way to help those who need it. For people like Evans it seems charity begins at home. Don claims being on council is a full time job because he works so hard?? So his $50 plus thousand must be for part time work for the Sharing Place then? Nice work if you can get it. Disgraceful.
Our family as of last Christmas now purchase food and make boxes for people in need. They do not have to go through embarrassing questioning and get rejected for no reason. We go out into the community and find people in need. Not hard to find as almost everyone knows a hardship case. Believe me it is a wonderful feeling. Instead of paying the Don Evans we save our money and buy prepaid grocery cards and give them along with the groceries to those who need the hand up. That gives the people the feeling of independence and if they want to treat themselves, then good on them. So folks look into being a direct doner and make every cent count.
jim tolnai
We Still Need a Forensic Audit
We Still Need a Judicial Inquiry
We Need to Audit the Library Project as Well
We Need to Impeach Mayor Ron Stevens
April 11, 2010
Helena Guergis demands a byelection
An excerpt from Bill C-408, a Private Members' Bill co-sponsored by none other than the Honourable Member for Simcoe Grey:
21.1 (1) If a member of the House of Commons leaves the political party to which that member belonged when the member was elected to the House of Commons, that member shall sit in the House of Commons as an independent for a period of 35 days.
(2) Once the period of 35 days has elapsed, the member’s election to the House of Commons shall become void, the seat of that member shall be vacated, and a writ shall be issued for the election of a member to fill the vacancy.
(3) The vacating member may run for the seat as the candidate for another political party or as an independent
Now that the Honourable Member has left the political party to which that member belonged when that member was elected, I wonder if she still feels the same way?
After all, in the words of the Honourable Member, "It's about democracy, it's about integrity (and) restoring voter confidence."
Let's see if this woman will do as she says others should do or do as she pleases? I bet she will do what Conservatives do best and be a hypocrite.
jim tolnai
We Still Need a Forensic Audit
We Still Need a Judicial Inquiry
We Need to Audit the Library Project as Well
We Need to Impeach Mayor Ron Stevens
April 09, 2010
One Guergis Down Now for the Rest
Today's big story out of Ottawa is the resignation of Helena Guergis from cabinet. Harper came on TV and announced that she had resigned. But he also added that information he supposedly had just received last night had been handed over to the Parliamentary Ethics Commissioner and to the RCMP. I have been critical of Helena and her political dynasty family. I have made it abundantly clear that she along with her cousins on County Council do not pass the smell test. Lat year I wrote about how this woman was trying to stiff our own area with the help of Bruce Stanton. Here is what I wrote last Aug.
Aug. 30, 2009
Guergis Family Politics Affect Orillia and Ramara
There was a very good story written by Joe Friesen in the Globe and Mail. http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/site-41/article1269368/
Joe writes about the Guergis Family Simcoe County political Dynasty.
"The Guergis family is the closest thing to royalty in Simcoe County politics. Tony is the mayor of Springwater and the thrice-elected warden of the county. His brother Dave is the mayor of neighboring Essa Township, a member of county council and a loyal dump supporter. Their cousin Helena Guergis is the local MP, and her sister Christine is a town councillor in New Tecumseth".
For those in Orillia and immediate area who think the political welfare of the Guergis' doesn't effect you think again. If you think that our very own Bruce Stanton under orders won't put the self interest of Helena Guergis ahead of his own ridings' interest then you would be wrong. The reach of this family is deep and goes North, South East and West in Simcoe County. Their grip on the local Conservative Party is so tight that if you are a Conservative and have any desire to move up the chain you know to ask how high when asked to jump????
Here in Ramara Township. we have had for over 50 years Lake St. John Airport. It has served Orillia and area's aviation industry and served it very effectively. Thousands of flights land annually every year from destinations far and wide. International flights from as far away as Mexico but mostly from the USA. For as long as anyone can remember including MP Bruce Stanton , Orillia's airport has been a Custom's Clearance facility. Planes could leave the USA and fly directly to Lake St. John and be cleared by customs right here at Orillia's very own international airport. When a flight plan is made or via radio once in the air customs agents can be notified on the planes ETA and will come out to clear it through Customs. For the 50 or so years the airport has been in operation this has worked quite successfully. This service has allowed a convenience that the many customers of Orillia Aviation who bring their planes for service from the States or bring all those US cottagers, fishermen and hunters who fly in for recreation and holidays to clear customs right here. Wonderful service and much appreciated by those who use it.
A few weeks ago Bruce Stanton sent out one of those political flyers which is paid for by taxpayers but is really campaign literature by another name. In this flyer Bruce tells us how his government will be investing hundreds of millions in Canadian airports and what wonderful job he and the Harper Conservatives are doing. Now it is important to note that Lake St. John Airport has not and does not receive federal funding. It is privately owned and operated. It either makes it on it's own or will go out of business. For over 50 years it has done it quite successfully.
But the airport in Collingwood which is in the riding of Helena Guergis has other ambitions. Helena whose political star is fading fast in Simcoe County due to what her cousins are doing on the County and municipal level needs a boost of fortune. Helena's fortunes are also waning because of money's authorized by her Ministry that was granted for recreation fields for a private school in Collingwood. To add insult to injury Collingwoods request for funds for public facilities was turned down. So it is not surprising that her fortunes needed a boost. But how does one boost those fortunes???/
Well you see along comes the Collingwood Airport which wants to have that which Orillia's Airport has had all these years. But there is a problem. Problem is that there is only one Airport with this customs clearance allowed in Simcoe County. But Helena needs the boost so the orders go out to Bruce to act in the interest of Helena and her riding to the detriment of his own riding??? That folk's would be us. You see Bruce approached our airport and asked it to give up it's customs designation voluntarily in favour of Helena's riding. Hmmmm! He was turned down in no uncertain terms and he left empty handed. But for how long???? What happens now that the power of the Guergis' is being denied???? I suppose push will be coming to shove but we will have to wait and see. For now the customs designation stays but I am sure Bruce is feeling the Guergis pressure not unlike those people who are opposing Site 41.
What I am so disappointed in, is Bruce Stanton. Clearly he put the political interest of Helena Guergis ahead of the economic interest of Orillia and area. So, for those who think that Guergis family politics don't affect us here think again. Their tight control of Simcoe County Conservatives is spread throughout the County. Of course it's not all the Guergis' fault as there are lined up those paying homage to them. Guys like Bruce and other Conservative wanabees ready to do their bidding. Too bad. Come on Bruce you work for us not for the Guergis' or do you?????? What other local businesses have been undermined for the benefit of the Guergis political dynasty or other high ranking Conservatives in other ridings?????
jim tolnai
I also wrote in a very clear story about Tony Guergis her cousin. When one looks at her behavior and her family members behavior it is obvious at least to me that things are not right.
Aug. 28, 2009
Tony Guergis the Man Who Would be King?????
Throughout history men like Tony Guergis dream of ultimate power. Many a restless night is spent dreaming of untold riches and power over their domain and everyone in it. Men like this will do and say anything to get it. They are without conscience and can get physically aggressive if they feel threatened with losing their power. Men like these simply don't care who they hurt in their quest to get control with power and money being their god.
So I decided to do some digging into this man Tony Guergis, who fancies himself as King and ruler of all before him. Is Tony a smart man??? Is Tony a caring man??? Is Tony an honest man??? Is Tony capable of love??? Is Tony capable of caring for anyone but himself and his own interest??? What I have found was a man who seems to be incapable of caring for those in his community and one who is incapable of accepting disent to his autocratic rule. I found a man who so easily lies, that one must watch him with extra care in order to glimpse the tell tale signs in his body language. The signs are there but I must admit he is good at fooling most. Tony is incapable of being honest and a square shooter as his behaviour and lies have proven over and over again. He is self centered and in his universe there is no one that even comes close in his thoughts and feelings for himself. Tony's biggest fan is Tony. Power and money are his real love and he manages to squander both. In short the man can not be depended on or trusted.
So it amazes me that he managed to get himself elected not only as mayor of Springwater Township but as Simcoe County Warden twice. For you see Tony is a personal walking financial mess. He is a man who has stiffed creditors to the tune of $389,842. That's right this man who would be King couldn't handle his personal finances and in 2004 he went bankrupt. This man whom all the mayors and Deputy mayors of the 16 municipalities which make up Simcoe County entrusted our cookie jar to. Not once but twice. Simcoe County has an annual budget of some $450,000,000. To put Tony Guergis in charge of that seems to me a disaster looking for a place to happen. I can't for the life of me understand why these people would choose a man to run our financial affairs when he can not run his own????? Did these people who made Tony King know of his financial prowess or lack of??? Surely of 32 sophisticated politicians who voted for him some must have known. After all one of them was his own brother. Was this vital and crucial information withheld from our representatives???? Or did they simply ignore the info and voted for Tony for some other reason. This makes no sense at all????? Or does it????? Here are the documents for your information.
Now for this list of creditors and amounts people were stiffed for.
It is beyond belief that these people who hold so much power over us would simply put such a man in charge unless there were deep dark reasons and they needed someone like Tony to do their dirty work. The following document is a list of contributors to Tony's election war chest for mayor of Springwater. You will notice the most generous contributors are from Toronto, Grimsby, Brampton, Innisfil and Barrie????? Hmmm! Now wouldn't it be interesting to see if any of the same contributors to Tony's campaign also gave sizeable donations to any of the other 31 mayoral candidates in Simcoe County. What would be even more interesting is if we find that those who actually voted for Tony to be Warden were the benefactors of campaign contributions themselves from Tony's contributors as well?????. Anyone up to finding out??????
Simply put this seems somewhat surreal doesn't. What I don't understand is why would these sophisticated politicians put their trust in a man who is a proven liar. Why would they put their trust in a man who betrays his supporters without a second thought???? Why would they put their trust in a man who has proven that he can not handle his personal finances??? Finally, why would they put their trust in this man who does not seem to have much of a conscience??? Are their numbers so lacking in good honourable people who can handle finances and has a conscience that Tony is the best of the lot????? But it goes on as Tony's wife also went bankrupt two years after him . But unlike Tony who claimed to have only $1,200 in assets his wife managed to claim well over $100,000 in assets and debt of about $250,000?????? Hmmm!
I wonder if any of these honourable????????? ladies and gentlemen would care to enlighten us on their thought process and reason for picking Tony Guergis as their leader. I wonder if those who voted for Tony knew that he would betray his constituents whom he promised, that if they elect him he would never vote to proceed with site 41???? Here is the you tube link for the video and audio where Tony Guergis makes his pledge to those who ended up being betrayed. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J8oAXNzl0WY When you watch and hear what this guy says and hear the applause there can be no doubt that Tony was lying knowing full well he was going to betray the suckers, who had the misfortune of believing him or that politicians can be taken at their word. For many thousands, Tony has proven that our political system must be made accountable for the blatant liars like him.
It looks to me like politics in Simcoe County and Orillia are mirror images of the other. Here in Orillia we have our very own Mayor Pinocchio and councillors like Lying Lauer. Here in Orillia millions of dollars of strange transactions happen that simply can not be explained. Cover up, lies, backroom deals are the norm for our politicians, the same as at the County level. It is obvious that we need a Forensic Audit and a Judicial Inquiry as to how our millions are being mishandled????? Like here in Orillia where we have a growing movement to Impeach Orillia Mayor Ron Stevens there is a growing movement in Springwater Twshp. to remove Tony Guergis. We see a growing movement to have Simcoe County council remove Tony as Warden, who will no doubt be sacrificed at the alter of greed, money and power. As the truth becomes known throughout Simcoe County municipalities, more and more citizens will demand investigations into the goings on within their own administrations and the connection of it to County Council. What is going on is simply not right and these people can no longer defend their behaviour.
I started looking into local Orillia politics about 8 years ago because of Ron Stevens. He accepted illegal campaign contributions from Orillia's largest developer. When caught he quickly wrote a cheque to the city refunding the illegal funds. He claimed he didn't realize it was illegal and had made a mistake, but since he paid out the funds everything was fine. Orillia's new council decided that indeed it was an honest mistake and would take no action. Imagine a man with 20 years of political experience being able to make an honest mistake???? Anyway that is how I began what has turned out to be a career of turning over rocks and finding useless slime under everyone of them. Site 41 is just the latest rock and it has way more slime under it but it is still the same slime DNA. There is a pattern and as I have connected the dots the picture has formed of just exactly how and why we are governed like we are.
New Jersey mayors, legislators, rabbis arrested in connection with money laundering, corruption
Think these kinds of things only happen elsewhere???? Well! folks, welcome to Elsewhere. As each decision made by County Council took on a more and more erieeee! look of stupidity, it was showing more than dumbness on the part of our leaders. What it shows is the unraveling of control. You see these people have lost their scripts and forgot their lines. I don't believe for a minute that there isn't some form of collusion among at least a majority. Their campaigns for office and voting patterns don't make sense and prove that theory correct. Their holding to the script even though it was poorly written doesn't make sense. Tony's anger and surprise at losing the vote on the Moratorium is interesting to see. County Councillors non reaction to the arrest of protestors and lack of outrage is interesting. Why, one councillor claimed that Tony and management are allowed to carry on because council only meets once a month???? Using that as an excuse for their incompetance?????
It's too bad that here in the political warm and fuzzy true north, strong and ????FREE???? we do not have an FBI. The stench that comes from the Site 41 decision as with the stench from so many municipal decisions throughout the county is becoming unbearable. The stench from the MURF / Molson deal in Orillia or the stench from the building of a $6,000,000 road to nowhere is becoming too much for many to bear. Yet the rot goes on aided and abetted by the courts, police and Queens Park. The vested interests who started Site 41 more than 25 years ago when the process was deemed to be wrong want their payday. Think about this. There were 70 days of environmental hearings back at the begining and the site was found to be unsuitable. David Peterson a Liberal decided that he would over ride the hearings by issuing an Order in Council (another word for Dictatorship). From then on each and every government occupying Queens Park no matter what party claimed it was OK. Truth is it doesn't matter who is in power. All that matters is that the payoff takes place as planned.
People say to me they can't believe how stupid this or that politician is. I voted for him and he wasn't that stupid when he asked for my support???? Folks they aren't stupid. They are like actors in a play or motion picture. They are given a script and then directed in their performance. In Orillia the script writers are those who meet regularly at the law offices on Coldwater Rd. The director and the man who makes sure the script is stuck to is Boss Hogg Ian Brown. The same scenario is true for each of the 16 municipalities of Simcoe County. Each is assigned their parts and the County CAO brings the play together. But as in show business when there is a flop, so too is this Site 41 a flop. The backers, writers, producers and directors thought that the audience would hold their noses as they have so many times in the past. But instead, enough of us got up and walked out to disrupt the actors flow. As each of us left and the actors lost their place the show just got worse. As the show got worse more realized that they should ask for a refund. That is where we are today.
Organized Crime
Organized crime or criminal organizations can be defined as a transnational grouping of highly centralized enterprises run by criminals for the purpose of engaging in illegal activity, most commonly for the purpose of generating a monetary profit. The Organized Crime Control Act (U.S., 1970) defines organized crime as "The unlawful activities of [...] a highly organized, disciplined association
Organized crime has been officially defined by the Canadian police as "two or more persons consorting together on a continuing basis to participate in illegal activities, either directly or indirectly, for gain"; it has been defined by a former US organized crime boss as "just a bunch of people getting together to take all the money they can from all the suckers they can.
Here is what the RCMP say on their web-site.
Organized crime is one of five strategic priorities established by the RCMP. It is defined by Canada's Criminal Code as crime committed by any group of at least three people that has as one of its main purposes or activities the facilitation or commission of one or more serious offences where the primary motive is profit. The organized crime network is an international problem that ignores national boundaries. This is why we are focusing on a philosophy that advocates partnerships with the public and other Canadian and foreign law enforcement organizations to carry out our investigations. We are keeping an eye on organized crime for you...
If what is written by the RCMP is true, then I can assure them that here in Simcoe County there is plenty to keep an eye on. I can assure the RCMP that there is an army of partnerships for them to hook up with. The people of Simcoe County don't need the RCMP to keep an eye on Organized Crime for us. We have been and are doing that just fine. What the almost 10,000 people of Simcoe County who are outraged at Site 41 and are waking up to reality need is the power and resources of our Federal Police to do a proper investigation. Site 41 is just the tip of the iceberg. There are endless leads that connect the Organized dots throughout our County. It has become so blatant that the investigators can leave their magnifying glasses at home. Will it ever happen???? Do pigs fly?????
For all those who have woken up and smell the stink you are right. You have made a difference and if you stick together, you will be responsible for cleaning up what can only be seen as a corrupt system of government. It won't be easy, but through increased numbers of people who will no longer accept the norm we can help elect good people with clean hands. We can force the truth from under those rocks into the light of day. Be a participant in your own governance and stop being a victim of it. Our time has come with the advent of the INTERNET. Site 41 is only the begining.
jim tolnai
With yesterday's Toronto Star revelation of Helena's husband Rahim and the announcement that the Prime Minister had called in the RCMP let's hope they will pay a visit to Simcoe County and investigate the shenanigans that have and are going on right here. Whatever Helena is being investigated for most certainly is centered here in Simcoe County. So let's hope this investigation will be a good start on cleaning up the stink that permeates all Simcoe County politics including Orillia and area. I am confident that there is going to be a garbage connection to this story. Don't forget that Rahim is connected to a solid fuel from garbage scheme which Helena had been flogging. The Star article and subsequent news reports had made that connection.
So it is not surprising to me that right here in the Sunshine Town we have going on our own Garbagegate. The tentacles are everywhere when people like Stevens are involved. Why it was only two days ago I was asking for an investigation of Stevens in regards to the Police Board and his involvement in trying to influence police, the courts and now will have the RCMP coming to look into corruption of one kind or another. I will say it again and again until people get it. Organized crime is alive and doing very well in Orillia and Simcoe County.
jim tolnai
We Still Need a Forensic Audit
We Still Need a Judicial Inquiry
We Need to Audit the Library Project as Well
We Need to Impeach Mayor Ron Stevens
April 09, 2010
Tortious interference of contract
When an individual uses "tort" (a wrongful act) to come in between two parties mutual contract
It is about time that this council took control of city business once and for all. A simple majority of 5 councillors can end this tragic comedy once and for all. I have learned that Stevens has refused to sign the Mid-Ontario contract which was legally authorized by a majority of council. Yes I was assured from the highest levels that Stevens, whose signature is needed because of current rules refuses to sign a dully, legally binding order of council (he's prorouging???). Seems as with his participating in the Gay Pride flag raising which Stevens refused to participate in, council will have to order him with threat of or actual removal.
Stevens is claiming that he won't sign because of the threat of this non existing law suit. It is time for council do two things.
One: Order the mayor to sign. If he doesn't? Remove him from the chair to be replaced by one of the eight. Yes it can and should be done.
Two: Ian Brown and senior staff must be removed from this file. Council needs to hire an independent party to take over this mess which was created by staff and mayor in the first place. I have been informed that council was not informed nor voted to allow this insane tender document which tried to break up the collection of garbage into two parts. For 39 years the tendering process was working well. Staff/mayor decided to pull a fast one on council by putting out this tender form which makes no sense. Because the tender made no sense council legally refused to accept it. So blame has to be put not on councillors but on the mayor, Ian Brown and other senior staff. I know the reason why this fast one was pulled and it was not for honourable purpose. This was done simply to open the garbage cookie jar for other parties.
Council has but one choice. Get the contract signed and stop playing games. The person hired to clean up this mess be given authority to sit down with Mid-Ontario to present a united front with the city becoming co-plaintive's in a multi-million dollar lawsuit against Miller Waste as defendant. Miller's behavior of threatening legal action is unacceptable to the independence of our governance and whom the City of Orillia chooses to do business with. Miller has crossed the line as there is law dating back to the 1400's Tortious interference of business . The same law also should apply to mayor who wants to put the city in harms way by refusing to sign the contract and senior city staff who are advising the contract not be signed. They belong in the action as they have failed to get this matter dealt with to date and are now interfering with this legal duly awarded contract themselves as would any councillor who would vote to reverse this decision. Council must go after a very high punitive amount and 100% of costs. This nonsense that mayor and Brown have put this town through these long ten years must cease and desist once and for all. To date these people (mayor and senior staff) have cost Orillia taxpayers tens of millions of wasted taxes on their harebrained schemes. If council follows this route they will go out in a blaze of glory at the end of their term. If they dick around with this they will go out as bums.
I believe that if this contract is not honoured by these councillors the people of Orillia have a very good cause of action against every councillor personally who votes against signing this legally awarded contract. Mid-Ontario has a much more solid case for damages against the city than Miller Waste could ever have.. So Joe Fecht, mayor, Speers, Lauer and which ever councillor decides to be #5 & 6 and cause the Tortious interference of business, you will be held financially accountable personally by 30,000 very disgruntled citizens. Any damages will be directly and knowingly caused by yourselves which could be construed as malicious as well. I have consulted with a class Action Law Firm and am told that we the citizens of Orillia will have a legitimate and winnable case for damages not only against Miller Waste but against each and every councillor, mayor and staff who would knowingly bring such harm on us. Enough is enough. Get back to work and finish your terms with at least one sane decision.
jim tolnai
We Still Need a Forensic Audit
We Still Need a Judicial Inquiry
We Need to Audit the Library Project as Well
We Need to Impeach Mayor Ron Stevens
April 08,2010
Organized Criminals Connected to Jaffer/Guergis???
Well! well! well??? What a surprise. Looks like Rahim Jaffer was at dinner with some unsavory characters on the night he was caught speeding with over the limit alcohol and cocaine in his pant pocket. Wow! and for some reason which, may just be coming to light was offered a deal. Local police are still scratching their heads who were involved in this case as to why the crown dropped charges which according to them was a slam dunk. Now it seems that there might have been another reason for Rahim's good luck?
Last year I wrote about how we are governed by the mob. So here we have the husband of Conservative Minister Helena Guergis cutting deals with some pretty bad folks. By extension Helena as wife and Harper as her boss who is protecting her are now tied to a known wise guy who is facing a battery of criminal charges for a number of frauds across Canada. Is anyone surprised? I know I'm not.
So here we are in Orillia having a mayor who tried to intervene in a police investigation and getting away with it? Our own Police have done nothing and is doing nothing not unlike the Halton OPP whose hands were tied with Jaffer. Come on folks, don't let Stevens and his puppets get away with this. Don't forget that Lauer and Speers are on the board two Stevens yes men. This is not right. One can only assume collusion and closed door deals have been made to let Stevens off the hook. As the air clears on the Guergis and Jaffer matter we need to pressure our own law enforcement to arrange for an investigation of the Police Board and it's members. Not by them but by an independent police service with civilian over site to make sure it is done properly. Just because Stevens resigns from the board does not exonerate him from what he did. The lack of action by the board and police just does not pass the smell test. Only in Orillia???? Not only, but it seems always in Orillia???
jim tolnai
We Still Need a Forensic Audit
We Still Need a Judicial Inquiry
We Need to Audit the Library Project as Well
We Need to Impeach Mayor Ron Stevens
Mar. 30, 2010
Council Paints Us Into Corner??? Not
Last night saw council pull from it's bag of tricks a classic Three Stooges skit. It would be funny but it is we who will actually be poked in the wallet and pay the price of financial pain. I have been watching this comedy but there is little to laugh about. Garbagegate has hit the fan.
Miller Waste came before council last night asking that they change their mind about changing their mind with the threat of litigation. You see city management setup council to fail on the garbage collection tender. For some hair brain reason the tender was drawn up separating solid waste from recycled collection. It didn't make sense and still does not make sense. That leaves me to believe there is skullduggery taking place.
Miller waste has been trying to break into the Orillia garbage market for years. Local boy Doug Rowe whose father first started collecting city trash almost 40 years ago has been doing a good job. Miller Waste has never been able to grab the contract simply because Doug has his infrastructure already in place locally. He simply can bid less because his setup on Kitchener St. has long been paid for. Miller would either have to truck recyclables a long way or build their own facility. Now can you imagine any neighborhood allowing a waste facility in town? Of course not. So that begs the question of which of these geniuses in city management proposed the splitting of the tender? But even a better question is why???
If anyone cares to check there is much controversy surrounding Miller Waste and the County of Simcoe. Speak to people about Miller Waste involved with stopping site 41 and you will get a totally different picture of this company than the one presented last night. Miller Waste and the Association they belong to but, which Mid Ontario does not want council to change their mind and take the contract away from Mid Ontario which, has already been awarded. That's right folks, two weeks ago council awarded the contract. Doug signed it and his surety was accepted. Only formality is that staff have not bothered to sign it as yet. Wonder why they have not signed this contract? Did Brown's pen run out of ink? Look how fast they sign deals like the library and MURF.
This Garbagegate looks like a setup, smells like a setup and is most likely a setup. This deal stinks more than the garbage does on the hottest summer day. Lauer yapped on last night about all the back seat lawyers on council. He wants a meeting with city lawyers because they are the authority that should be listened to. I must point out that these are the same lawyers who according to Lauer advised on the Molson land transfer deal should be accepted. These are the same lawyers who advised the city that our Coalition could never win in court on the MURF and lost (costing $125,000 in legal fees?). These are the same lawyers who advised that the city appeal the decision the Coalition won on the same case and lost once more (costing ????). Now folks when I say they lost it actually means the taxpayer lost as this same law firm was still paid regardless. This is the same law firm that has advised the city there is nothing to worry about with the DOMB challenge. Finally, this is the same law firm who advised the city on the Allan Millard defamation case. When all Allan asked was for an apology and that would have been the end of it. Sure Ian Brown would have been embarrassed, but it would have cost nothing (except the fees they collected for the advice). These lawyers assured Brown and the mayor that Millard would never prevail. Brown's attempt to save face ended up costing you and I $27,000 plus whatever these front seat lawyers were paid. Makes one wonder who the real backseat lawyers really are?
So if Miller Waste has a case against the city (which they don't) for not awarding this tender to them, then imagine how good a case Mid Ontario has after being awarded the tender and it is pulled from them? Like always the sneaks at city hall are trying to nail the door shut in that painted corner claiming that Mid Ontario has no contract because staff have not signed it as yet. One more of many great examples of behavior that needs the scrutiny of a Judicial Inquiry and Forensic Audit going all the way back to day one that Ron Stevens planted his ass into the chair as head of council. This man has been a disaster for taxpayers and a boon for those who benefit from our public monies. I compliment those councillors who held to their convictions and were not scared off. You have been setup by city management and mayor, not unlike all the other setups whether it be the MURF, library, Second Last Call and dozens of others. Stick with this and de-throne Stevens and the real power behind him Ian Brown. Call for an investigation on this outrageous matter along with all the tens of millions that has been wasted in the last 9 years and you will find paint under their finger nails and behind their ears. I use the politically correct word "wasted" but you know what I mean don't you?
jim tolnai
We Still Need a Forensic Audit
We Still Need a Judicial Inquiry
We Need to Audit the Library Project as Well
We Need to Impeach Mayor Ron Stevens
Mar. 28, 2010
Drug Price Gouging
I was watching the news show W5 today on CTV. Their lead story was about Pills, Patients and Profits W5 Link . I was pleased to see that finally
a News Organization decided to expose the drug industry for their gouging. Way back in Nov. of 2005 I did some investigating of drug prices at the retail level. You see I had bypass surgery in the summer and left the hospital with a mitt full of prescriptions. While we have a drug plan it is limited to $1,000 per year. Even with the limit I need to pay the first 20% and once the thousand is used up within a calendar year I have to pay the balance.
Anyway I questioned why these drugs are so expensive. In answers to my questions I was told that some drugs cost as much as a billion dollars to R&D. Naturally I didn't believe that and today's W5 story confirmed my belief. Folks after you read this story please watch this show either on line or when it is re-broadcast. My research back in 2005 proved that not only are the drug manufacturers gouging but the drug stores are no slouches themselves. After doing my due diligence I suddenly understood why the owners and pharmacists are always in such a good mood. It's because they see big dollar signs tattooed on your forehead.
After seeing this show today I decided to bring back my story for you to see not just what the drug companies are doing to us but what the dispensers (gatekeepers) are getting away with themselves. Now I don't know much about the illegal drug industry but I would bet that no self respecting corner dealer would ever have the nerve to mark up his product to the tune of thousands of percent like the pharmaceutical industry does. I am sure most of you missed this story back in 2005 but I urge you to please read what I found out. While people right here in Orillia are literally dying financially and some physically because they can not afford needed medication the industry makes obscene profits. The figures below are from 2005 but pricing has become even worse since then, according to W5. You will notice in my story from back then I put the blame on the likes of Mulroney and even wrote of as yet unelected Bruce Stanton being complicit. After today's story I now know that Bruce did not give a rat's ass back then, nor does he today.
If any of you have some stories about your own drug cost nightmares please let me know and I will post them here. While the politicians and civil servants are fully covered most people right here in Orillia are not. I can't imagine how a parent who has a child with cancer feels when the drug which would help his/her child is up to $4,000 per month. Yes there are many life saving drugs which are many thousands per month. Please read the story and then watch the W5 show. Don't forget that right here in Orillia SMH now has a full time cancer clinic for children. Don't wait to become outraged until you yourselves are victims of this industry.
Nov. 27, 2005
Election Thoughts
Well it looks like a winter election is imminent brought on unnecessarily by Harper and Layton along with their "separatist" ally's. I certainly don't understand the reason except that these two leaders think they will somehow gain a political advantage. Claiming the people are wanting an election which is far from the truth and polls taken neither one of these two or their caucus gives a "rats ass" about what you want. They smelled blood and we now have to have a winter election even though Martin has said he would call an election in March.
Our local Conservative (Reform) candidate Bruce Stanton wrote a letter to the editor to try and get some "free press" claiming the coming election is the fault of the Liberals because they (Liberals) would not be blackmailed. You see the spin they want you to believe is that because Martin wouldn't agree to call an election for a date chosen by the "unholly" three they were then forced into calling for a non confidence vote to force the election. If this behaviour is an example of Bruce Stanton's and the Conservative (Reforms) honesty then do they really deserve our trust???
The coming election has now prompted me to take a closer look and write on issues that have bothered me for a long time. Today I will call to your attention an issue that affects every man woman and child in this riding. I am talking about prescription drugs. You see the cost of prescription drugs here in Canada is a disgrace. I have been doing some investigating because the Conservatives (Reform) want your support and I believe that it was the Conservatives under Brian Mulroney and their ministers like Doug Lewis who are responsible for these outrageous costs. Of course Bruce Stanton was a supporter of the Mulroney government so the following is his shame as well.
You may remember Mulroney and his government changed the generic medicine laws and gave drug manufacturers extended years to protect their patents. This has added billions of dollars worth of profits to these companies. No generic knock offs and they can charge whatever they want. In many cases people who can not afford these outrageous prices either go without doing more harm to themselves or in some cases even dying prematurely thanks to the former Conservatives. Of course other parties have plenty of blame to share as well but Mulroney's government was the leader.
What many people don't realize is that pharmacies also share the blame for high prices. You see pharmacies work on several hundreds of percent markups and in some cases even thousands of percent. This past week there was a CBS news item about a pharmacy that refused to sell drugs at list prices. Instead the owner marked the products up a reasonable amount. He showed an example of a drug who's list price was $185 for the bottle. His cost was $10 and he sold it for $15. Now that is reasonable. I will give links for you to see this story and other information that I guarantee will "shock" you. The following is an example of active ingredients cost for some popular drugs prescribed by the millions monthly.
Brand Name
of Drug
|
Consumer Price/100 tabs
|
Cost of General
Active Ingredients
|
Percent Markup
|
|
|
|
|
Celebrex 100 mg
|
$130.27
|
$0.60
|
2,171%
|
Claritin 10 mg
|
$215.17
|
$0.71
|
3 030%
|
Keflex 250 mg
|
$157.39
|
$1.88
|
8,372%
|
Lipitor 20 mg
|
$272.37
|
$5.80
|
4,696%
|
Norvasc 10 mg
|
$188.29
|
$0.14
|
13,446%
|
Paxil 20 mg
|
$220.27
|
$7.60
|
2,898%
|
Prevacid 30 mg
|
$44.77
|
$1.01
|
3,413%
|
Prilosec 20 mg
|
$360.97
|
$0.52
|
6,941%
|
Prozac 20 mg
|
$247.47
|
$0.11
|
22,497%
|
Tenormin 50 mg
|
$104.47
|
$0.13
|
8,036%
|
Vasotec 10 mg
|
$102.37
|
$0.20
|
5,118%
|
Xanax 1mg
|
$136.79
|
$0.024
|
56,993%
|
Zestril 20 mg
|
$89.89
|
$3.20
|
2,809%
|
Zithromax 600mg
|
$1,482.19
|
$18.78
|
7,892%
|
Zocor 40mg
|
$350.27
|
$8.63
|
4,059%
|
Zoloft 50mg
|
$206.87
|
$1.75
|
1,182%
|
Of course these costs reflect only the active ingredients but how can anyone justify a 56,995 % markup for manufacturing and distributing any product. If the oil industry worked with the smallest markup (2,809%) on the above list a $60 barrel of oil after being refined into it's different products would sell for $1,685.40. Now a barrel of oil is 157 liters. If there was one hundred percent recovery that would put the cost of 1 liter of gasoline at $10.73 US. So do you get the idea???? At the Xanax markup a liter would cost $2177.96. WOW!!!
My 90 tablets of Lipitor last week cost me $230.00 dollars not really much cheaper than the US. Costs of manufacture here would be comparable so we may think that we are some how superior to the US but not by much. Of course our pharmacy also charges a dispensing fee. Incredible isn't it. For those of you who are on prescriptions do a bit of research on your drugs and you will find basically the same. So what I am saying is, it is time to Speak Out about this atrocity. I wonder what Bruce Stanton has to say on this subject??? Here is a link for you http://www.snopes.com/medical/drugs/generic.asp and from there you can certainly follow other links. If this doesn't get your bile going when you read it then I am afraid you don't need drugs as you must be dead??This election be sure to thank Bruce and of course Doug Lewis for all this prosperity for Pharmacies and Drug companies. Even if you have a drug plan, in the end you are the one who really pays so don't be too smug.
Check out the chart below and note the last four stores are Canadian. Just look at their markups.
Generic Prescription Drug Price Comparison Chart
This chart accompanies Steve Wilson's 7 On Your Side Investigation available at:
BRAND NAME IS>>>>
GENERIC NAME IS >>>>
DOSE/NUMBER OF PILLS IS >>>>
|
VASOTEC
Enalapril Maleate
10 mg/60
|
%
Markup
|
PROZAC
Fluoxetine HCL
20mg/30
|
%
Markup
|
XANAX
Alprazolam
.5mg/60
|
%
Markup
|
VALIUM
Diazopam
5mg/60
|
%
Markup
|
PEPCID
Famotidine
20mg/60
|
%
Markup
|
ZANTAC
Ranitidine HCL
150mg/60
|
%
Markup
|
HYTRIN
Terazosin HCL
5mg/30
|
%
Markup
|
TENORMIN
Atenolol
50mg/30
|
%
Markup
|
MEVACOR
Lovastatin
20mg/30
|
%
Markup
|
DARVOCET
Proposyphene Napsylate
100mg/60
|
%
Markup
|
DYAZIDE
Triamterene & Hydrochlorothiazide
37.5+25mg/30
|
%
Markup
|
CARDIZAM CD
Diltiazem
180mg/30
|
%
Markup
|
Average Markups
On These Generics
|
|
WHOLESALE COST /1 mo supply/Wholesaler 1
|
$2.99
|
|
$1.16
|
|
$2.28
|
|
$1.42
|
|
$3.96
|
|
$2.70
|
|
$3.89
|
|
$1.20
|
|
$14.60
|
|
$3.26
|
|
$1.40
|
|
$12.10
|
|
|
WHOLESALE COST /1 mo supply/Wholesaler 1
|
WHOLESALE COST /1 mo supply/Wholesaler 2
|
$3.34
|
|
$0.82
|
|
$2.40
|
|
$1.73
|
|
$3.11
|
|
$2.33
|
|
$3.60
|
|
$1.31
|
|
$14.00
|
|
$6.60
|
|
$1.43
|
|
$19.50
|
|
|
WHOLESALE COST /1 mo supply/Wholesaler 2
|
Beacon Hill Pharmacy, (248) 645-2242
|
$15.34
|
413%
|
$8.82
|
976%
|
$14.39
|
531%
|
$9.41
|
563%
|
$9.76
|
214%
|
$18.50
|
694%
|
$15.88
|
341%
|
$9.20
|
667%
|
$30.59
|
119%
|
$15.26
|
368%
|
$9.39
|
571%
|
$28.10
|
132%
|
466%
|
Beacon Hill Pharmacy, (248) 645-2242
|
Clarkston Pharmacy, (248) 625-8030
|
$27.89
|
833%
|
$29.59
|
3509%
|
$29.99
|
1215%
|
$23.49
|
1554%
|
$26.79
|
761%
|
$23.99
|
930%
|
$26.49
|
636%
|
$22.69
|
1791%
|
$39.99
|
186%
|
$27.39
|
740%
|
$22.99
|
1542%
|
$39.99
|
230%
|
1266%
|
Clarkston Pharmacy, (248) 625-8030
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
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|
|
Ehardt #1 (Lexington), 810-359-5322
|
$34.00
|
1037%
|
$35.00
|
4168%
|
$14.68
|
544%
|
$16.80
|
1083%
|
$85.29
|
2642%
|
$45.50
|
1853%
|
|
|
|
|
$40.38
|
188%
|
$17.74
|
444%
|
$11.43
|
716%
|
$32.91
|
172%
|
1285%
|
Ehardt #1 (Lexington), 810-359-5322
|
Ehardt #2 (Croswell), 810-679-3900
|
$28.47
|
852%
|
$21.62
|
2537%
|
$17.01
|
646%
|
$18.67
|
1215%
|
$40.38
|
1198%
|
$38.76
|
1564%
|
$50.03
|
1290%
|
$10.14
|
745%
|
|
|
refused
|
|
|
|
|
|
1256%
|
Ehardt #2 (Croswell), 810-679-3900
|
Ehardt #3 (Port Sanilac), 810-622-9631
|
$25.63
|
757%
|
$36.72
|
4378%
|
|
|
$17.74
|
1149%
|
|
|
$42.21
|
1712%
|
|
|
$10.14
|
745%
|
|
|
$16.86
|
417%
|
|
|
$53.37
|
341%
|
1357%
|
Ehardt #3 (Port Sanilac), 810-622-9631
|
Ehardt #4 (Brown City), 810-346-2637
|
$28.47
|
852%
|
$40.80
|
4876%
|
$15.64
|
586%
|
$18.67
|
1215%
|
$42.50
|
1267%
|
$33.58
|
1341%
|
32.92 or 35.92
|
|
$17.13
|
1328%
|
$36.80
|
163%
|
$18.67
|
473%
|
$12.56
|
797%
|
$36.69
|
203%
|
1092%
|
Ehardt #4 (Brown City), 810-346-2637
|
|
|
|
|
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|
|
|
|
|
|
Independent 1: Heritage Pharmacy 313-386-1200
|
$34.99
|
1070%
|
$29.99
|
3557%
|
$20.63
|
805%
|
$18.99
|
1237%
|
$110.83
|
3464%
|
$53.12
|
2180%
|
$52.49
|
1358%
|
$13.29
|
1008%
|
$76.24
|
445%
|
$24.21
|
643%
|
$14.58
|
941%
|
$47.91
|
296%
|
1417%
|
Independent 1: Heritage Pharmacy 313-386-1200
|
Independent 2: Blmfld Phar B-H 248-333-1130
|
$23.57
|
688%
|
|
|
$23.50
|
931%
|
$14.20
|
900%
|
$29.65
|
853%
|
$29.50
|
1166%
|
$12.78
|
255%
|
$13.50
|
1025%
|
$39.18
|
180%
|
27.11/20.00
|
|
$15.50
|
1007%
|
$48.81
|
303%
|
731%
|
Independent 2: Blmfld Phar B-H 248-333-1130
|
Independent 3: Birm'ham Drug 248-644-3214
|
$48.10
|
1509%
|
$11.90
|
1351%
|
$15.59
|
584%
|
$14.20
|
900%
|
$25.10
|
707%
|
$23.60
|
913%
|
$18.00
|
400%
|
$19.40
|
1517%
|
$20.39
|
46%
|
$17.60
|
440%
|
$20.59
|
1371%
|
$47.60
|
293%
|
836%
|
Independent 3: Birm'ham Drug 248-644-3214
|
Independent 4: Mills Ph 248-644-5060 Sr Discount -10%
|
$43.29
|
1348%
|
$22.90
|
2693%
|
24.75/22.27
|
|
$19.40
|
1266%
|
$28.50
|
816%
|
$34.80
|
1394%
|
$29.50
|
719%
|
$14.70
|
1125%
|
$55.40
|
296%
|
$31.00
|
851%
|
$19.50
|
1293%
|
$38.40
|
217%
|
1093%
|
Independent 4: Mills Ph 248-644-5060 Sr Discount -10%
|
Sav-More Warren, (586) 751-7979
|
$14.99
|
401%
|
$15.99
|
1850%
|
$19.99
|
|
$25.99
|
1730%
|
$14.99
|
382%
|
$15.99
|
586%
|
11.99
|
233%
|
$9.99
|
733%
|
$81.99
|
486%
|
$37.99
|
1065%
|
$17.99
|
1185%
|
$50.99
|
321%
|
816%
|
Sav-More Warren, (586) 751-7979
|
Sav-Mor Trenton, (734) 676-6622
|
$26.99
|
803%
|
$29.99
|
3557%
|
$15.99
|
601%
|
$11.99
|
744%
|
$39.99
|
1186%
|
39.99
|
1616%
|
22.99
|
539%
|
$7.99
|
566%
|
$62.99
|
350%
|
$21.99
|
575%
|
$11.19
|
699%
|
$36.99
|
206%
|
953%
|
Sav-Mor Trenton, (734) 676-6622
|
Sav-Mor Northline, Southgate (734) 285-9496
|
$48.89
|
1535%
|
|
|
won't give
|
|
|
|
$39.99
|
1186%
|
$34.49
|
1380%
|
$41.99
|
1066%
|
$24.99
|
1983%
|
$62.99
|
350%
|
ref
|
|
$12.99
|
828%
|
$41.99
|
247%
|
1072%
|
Sav-Mor Northline, Southgate (734) 285-9496
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Loveland Drug Store & Pharmacy (313) 928-5678
|
20
|
569%
|
$24.00
|
2827%
|
$23.99
|
952%
|
$23.99
|
1589%
|
$12.99
|
318%
|
$13.99
|
500%
|
$14.99
|
316%
|
$11.99
|
899%
|
$34.00
|
143%
|
$16.99
|
421%
|
$11.99
|
756%
|
$44.00
|
264%
|
796%
|
Loveland Drug Store & Pharmacy (313) 928-5678
|
Canton Sav-Mor (734) 737-9040
|
14.99
|
401%
|
$9.99
|
1118%
|
$44.99
|
1873%
|
$19.99
|
1308%
|
$14.99
|
382%
|
$24.99
|
973%
|
$14.99
|
316%
|
$9.99
|
733%
|
$29.99
|
114%
|
$23.99
|
636%
|
$7.99
|
471%
|
$29.99
|
148%
|
706%
|
Canton Sav-Mor (734) 737-9040
|
Phils Pharmacy Mt Clemens (586) 468-0597
|
$33.90
|
1034%
|
$21.00
|
2461%
|
$10.00
|
339%
|
$11.00
|
675%
|
$31.90
|
926%
|
$15.95
|
585%
|
$13.20
|
267%
|
$6.90
|
475%
|
$47.00
|
236%
|
$14.40
|
342%
|
$6.90
|
393%
|
$34.00
|
181%
|
659%
|
Phils Pharmacy Mt Clemens (586) 468-0597
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Walgreens/W Blmfld 248-538-8373
|
$45.99
|
1438%
|
$44.99
|
5387%
|
$15.99
|
601%
|
$17.39
|
1125%
|
$44.79
|
1340%
|
$57.19
|
2355%
|
$33.99
|
844%
|
$12.59
|
949%
|
$46.79
|
234%
|
$25.59
|
685%
|
$13.69
|
878%
|
$42.89
|
254%
|
1341%
|
Walgreens/W Blmfld 248-538-8373
|
Walgreens 2/Oak Park 248-548-4236
|
$45.99
|
1438%
|
$44.99
|
5387%
|
$16.39
|
619%
|
$17.39
|
1125%
|
$44.79
|
1340%
|
$57.19
|
2355%
|
$33.99
|
844%
|
$12.59
|
949%
|
$46.79
|
234%
|
$25.59
|
685%
|
$13.69
|
878%
|
$42.89
|
254%
|
1342%
|
Walgreens 2/Oak Park 248-548-4236
|
CVS/Sterling Hgts 586-983-4210
|
$52.59
|
1659%
|
$46.69
|
5594%
|
$16.59
|
628%
|
$18.39
|
1195%
|
$81.59
|
2523%
|
$55.99
|
2303%
|
$34.59
|
861%
|
$9.99
|
733%
|
$50.99
|
264%
|
$33.29
|
921%
|
$12.29
|
778%
|
$42.09
|
248%
|
1476%
|
CVS/Sterling Hgts 586-983-4210
|
CVS 2/Dearborn 313-274-7651
|
$52.59
|
1659%
|
$46.69
|
5594%
|
$16.59
|
628%
|
$18.39
|
1195%
|
$81.59
|
2523%
|
$55.99
|
2303%
|
$34.59
|
861%
|
$9.99
|
733%
|
$50.99
|
264%
|
$33.29
|
921%
|
$12.29
|
778%
|
$42.09
|
248%
|
1476%
|
CVS 2/Dearborn 313-274-7651
|
Rite Aid/Taylor 734-946-6887
|
$52.00
|
1639%
|
$25.00
|
2949%
|
$18.99
|
733%
|
$16.99
|
1096%
|
$56.00
|
1701%
|
$32.99
|
1316%
|
$44.99
|
1150%
|
$13.99
|
1066%
|
$45.99
|
229%
|
$27.99
|
759%
|
$15.99
|
1042%
|
$41.99
|
247%
|
1160%
|
Rite Aid/Taylor 734-946-6887
|
Rite Aid 2/Rochester 248-652-0900
|
$59.99
|
1906%
|
$25.00
|
2949%
|
$18.99
|
733%
|
$16.99
|
1096%
|
$56.00
|
1701%
|
$32.99
|
1316%
|
$44.99
|
1150%
|
$13.99
|
1066%
|
$45.99
|
229%
|
$27.99
|
759%
|
$15.99
|
1042%
|
$41.99
|
247%
|
1183%
|
Rite Aid 2/Rochester 248-652-0900
|
Costco Website
|
$14.84
|
396%
|
$7.09
|
765%
|
$7.67
|
236%
|
$8.27
|
482%
|
$11.59
|
273%
|
$14.15
|
507%
|
$10.79
|
200%
|
|
-100%
|
$22.09
|
58%
|
$11.99
|
268%
|
$4.89
|
249%
|
$21.09
|
74%
|
284%
|
Costco Website
|
Meijer/Royal Oak 248-280-1800
|
$29.75
|
895%
|
$19.36
|
2261%
|
$17.92
|
686%
|
$13.43
|
846%
|
$41.37
|
1230%
|
$39.49
|
1595%
|
$34.15
|
849%
|
$8.62
|
618%
|
$44.97
|
221%
|
$28.69
|
780%
|
$14.72
|
951%
|
$42.60
|
252%
|
932%
|
Meijer/Royal Oak 248-280-1800
|
Meijer 2/Waterford 248-682-7200
|
$29.75
|
895%
|
$19.36
|
2261%
|
$17.92
|
686%
|
$13.43
|
846%
|
$41.37
|
1230%
|
$39.49
|
1595%
|
$34.15
|
849%
|
$8.62
|
618%
|
$44.97
|
221%
|
$28.69
|
780%
|
$14.72
|
951%
|
$42.60
|
252%
|
932%
|
Meijer 2/Waterford 248-682-7200
|
WalMart/Center Line 586-582-0967
|
$17.40
|
482%
|
$18.72
|
2183%
|
$12.62
|
454%
|
$12.19
|
758%
|
|
-100%
|
$53.54
|
2198%
|
$35.46
|
885%
|
$4.99
|
316%
|
$50.78
|
263%
|
$24.62
|
655%
|
$7.98
|
470%
|
$38.68
|
220%
|
732%
|
WalMart/Center Line 586-582-0967
|
WalMart2/Ypsilanti 734-434-7950
|
$26.46
|
785%
|
$19.36
|
2261%
|
$12.88
|
465%
|
$15.88
|
1018%
|
$41.78
|
1243%
|
$39.32
|
1588%
|
$35.46
|
885%
|
$4.99
|
316%
|
$57.98
|
314%
|
$24.88
|
663%
|
$17.46
|
1147%
|
$43.68
|
261%
|
912%
|
WalMart2/Ypsilanti 734-434-7950
|
Kmart/Mt. Clemens 586-949-6150
|
$22.60
|
656%
|
$28.99
|
3435%
|
$19.99
|
777%
|
$15.59
|
998%
|
$41.99
|
1250%
|
$40.99
|
1659%
|
$39.99
|
1011%
|
$9.99
|
733%
|
$76.15
|
444%
|
$22.99
|
605%
|
$16.26
|
1061%
|
$48.37
|
300%
|
1077%
|
Kmart/Mt. Clemens 586-949-6150
|
Kmart2/Livonia 248-474-8813
|
$18.69
|
525%
|
$28.99
|
3435%
|
$16.49
|
623%
|
$11.99
|
744%
|
$41.99
|
1250%
|
$37.99
|
1530%
|
$37.79
|
950%
|
$8.29
|
591%
|
$54.39
|
289%
|
$21.99
|
575%
|
$11.59
|
728%
|
$33.99
|
181%
|
952%
|
Kmart2/Livonia 248-474-8813
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
-100%
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Kroger/Livonia 734-422-3784
|
$39.79
|
1231%
|
$39.69
|
4740%
|
$18.59
|
715%
|
$12.19
|
758%
|
$38.99
|
1154%
|
$40.59
|
1642%
|
$31.39
|
772%
|
$7.49
|
524%
|
$32.29
|
131%
|
$25.69
|
688%
|
$11.49
|
721%
|
$42.39
|
250%
|
1111%
|
Kroger/Livonia 734-422-3784
|
Kroger2/Lake Orion 248-393-0765
|
$39.79
|
1231%
|
$39.69
|
4740%
|
$18.59
|
715%
|
$12.19
|
758%
|
$38.99
|
1154%
|
$40.59
|
1642%
|
$31.39
|
772%
|
$7.49
|
524%
|
$32.29
|
131%
|
$28.79
|
783%
|
$11.49
|
721%
|
$42.39
|
250%
|
1118%
|
Kroger2/Lake Orion 248-393-0765
|
Farmer Jack/Rochester 248-853-0106
|
$16.01
|
435%
|
$11.29
|
1277%
|
$16.79
|
636%
|
$11.89
|
737%
|
closing
|
|
$22.09
|
848%
|
$15.99
|
344%
|
$7.09
|
491%
|
closing
|
|
closed
|
|
$8.99
|
542%
|
$32.99
|
173%
|
609%
|
Farmer Jack/Rochester 248-853-0106
|
Farmer Jack 2/Linc Park 313-381-1158
|
$16.01
|
435%
|
$11.29
|
1277%
|
$16.79
|
636%
|
$11.89
|
737%
|
closed
|
|
$22.09
|
848%
|
$15.99
|
344%
|
$7.09
|
491%
|
closed
|
|
$23.99
|
636%
|
$8.99
|
542%
|
$32.99
|
173%
|
612%
|
Farmer Jack 2/Linc Park 313-381-1158
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Canada 1/Name-Brand drug/Drug Basics, Windsor,519-948-2121
|
$55.52
|
1757%
|
$47.10
|
5644%
|
$15.06
|
561%
|
$12.45
|
777%
|
$53.79
|
1630%
|
$62.12
|
2566%
|
n/a
|
|
$19.60
|
1533%
|
$50.42
|
260%
|
2 pills
|
|
N/A
|
|
N/A
|
|
1841%
|
Canada 1/Name-Brand drug/Drug Basics, Windsor,519-948-2121
|
Canada 1/Generic Price (Both prices are in U.S. Dollars
|
n/a
|
|
$30.12
|
3573%
|
$7.92
|
247%
|
$9.43
|
564%
|
$34.10
|
996%
|
$24.92
|
970%
|
$19.95
|
454%
|
$13.68
|
1040%
|
$32.09
|
129%
|
2 pills
|
|
$6.87
|
391%
|
$31.45
|
160%
|
852%
|
Canada 1/Generic Price (Both prices are in U.S. Dollars
|
Canada 2/Name-Brand drug/Hunters, Windsor, 519-945-4333
|
$55.74
|
1764%
|
$47.90
|
5741%
|
$16.00
|
602%
|
$15.44
|
987%
|
$59.00
|
1797%
|
$71.00
|
2947%
|
$39.69
|
1003%
|
$24.00
|
1900%
|
$55.00
|
293%
|
n/a (2 pills)
|
|
N/A
|
|
$50.01
|
313%
|
1735%
|
Canada 2/Name-Brand drug/Hunters, Windsor, 519-945-4333
|
Canada 2/Generic Price (Both prices are in U.S. Dollars)
|
n/a
|
|
$33.11
|
3938%
|
$11.00
|
382%
|
$8.23
|
480%
|
$40.00
|
1186%
|
$31.00
|
1230%
|
$27.93
|
676%
|
$18.00
|
1400%
|
$38.00
|
171%
|
n/a (2 pills)
|
|
$9.10
|
550%
|
$34.44
|
185%
|
1020%
|
Canada 2/Generic Price (Both prices are in U.S. Dollars)
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
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|
jim tolnai
We Still Need a Forensic Audit
We Still Need a Judicial Inquiry
We Need to Audit the Library Project as Well
We Need to Impeach Mayor Ron Stevens
Mar.26, 2010
Why are mayor, councillors and management Surprised????
Why is anyone surprised about what is going on environmentally here in Orillia? I have been hitting a brick wall trying to make sure that what is happening was mitigated for years. The first time I wrote about leachate at the dump was back in 2004. Armed with a camera I toured the shoreline and then wrote of my find. It was totally ignored by people who today seem surprised. Ok! I thought maybe they missed reading the report so in 2006 I made the issue part of my election platform. But again few listened and those sitting on council for the last 3 1/2 years are today acting surprised. Acting surprised also is city management. Well folks I they all ignored me as surprise! surprise! did the MOE. That's right as I informed the MOE of my personal knowledge years before 2006. Why I warned Mayor John Palmer during his time in office. Only to be ignored. Here is what I wrote on Sept. 17, 2010.
Sept. 17, 2006
Election Platform Explained #3
(Orillia Dump)
Here is my third installment explaining my concerns and vision. Most people are not aware of just how serious problems Orillia faces. For years previous councils have ignored an environmental disaster in the making and if elected I will work to mitigate the damage that is happening now and will be even worse in the future if we do not address it. I am talking about our Dump located on the shores of one of the world's most magnificent lakes. Lake Simcoe is under siege from over development, agricultural runoff, leaking septic systems, chemicals and of course the Orillia City Dump. Now many refer to it as our Landfill which gives one a different picture than the word Dump which is what we are really doing there. We take stuff that no one wants around their house or business because it would pollute their own environment and they send it down to the lake shore and Dump it. Then bury it and pretend it does not exist because we really don't see it anymore. We falsly think of it as gone.
Since the 1960's we have been hauling not only household garbage but for a number of years industrial wastes as well to this site. Back in 1966 and 67 I worked for a company called P&M (Porcelain & Metals) located where our City Hall is today. As a 17 year old I was asked from time to time to load the garbage truck (an old flatbed with wooden sides) with all sorts of industrial materials. Back then very few if any of the workers knew just what a terrible thing we were asked to do. A Dump was there to be dumped on and we did as we were told. We dumped everything that was left over from the industrial process. But what has bothered me for years and I have tried in vain to get authorities attention about was the 45 gallon barrels of solvents that were dumped.
You see P&M had paint lines which used not just paint but degreasers and thinners. There were thousands of pounds of rags used over the couple of years I worked there which were soaked with degreasers and when dirty thrown in the garbage to be taken to the dump. Chemicals were used to degrease sheet metal before painting. When these chemicals were dirty they were put back in their drums and sent off to the dump. Same was true of spoiled paint and paint thinners and that, was just from the Fiat Department. The Silk Screening, Sheet Metal Department and the Chalkboard department added their own poisons and all went to the dump as P&M had no land on which to bury it like Otaco did. As a 17 year old I admit that not once did I question why we were dumping these materials and not once were we told the stuff could pose a danger. Like all other factory workers of the day we lived in ignorant bliss. Well today we do know better and I believe it is our duty to make sure no harm or as little as possible is done. Simply it is our duty. I can not turn the clock back but I can make sure we do the right thing today and face our environmental responsibilities.
Way back when John Palmer was mayor and the Dump was being assessed I went to him and tried my best to convince him that the bomb was down there. He dismissed me and would not believe my story of these full drums of spent chemicals (like this council and mayor dismissed me about the drums at the West St. site) that I along with others personally rolled off that truck. For over two years that I worked for this company I was sent on that truck at least a dozen times and each time it was the same. Of course in the same time frame there were many more trips I didn't go on so you get the idea of the huge amount of toxic garbage from this one company alone. Anyway in trying to convince John Palmer that I wasn't some Kook I relayed a story that was provable and he could check. You see it was the summer of 1967 I believe and a truckload of garbage was sent out for disposal. The load contained the contaminated rags and other garbage plus some of the 45 gallon drums filled with dirty degreasers and solvents. I wasn't sent on this truck but will never forget what happened on that trip, never the less. You see the boys backed up to the dump area where there happened to be a bit of a garbage fire smoldering. They tossed off the garbage and rolled the barrels off. As one of the barrels hit the ground it either cracked or the plugs weren't done down tight and the chemical spilled out. Fire and flammable chemical makes quite a combination and thankfully as the drum erupted in flames everyone got away without getting hurt. The same could not be said for the truck. It burned to the ground. Even the tires burned. All that was left was the frame. The Packet did a story and the fire department attended the scene so that there is plenty of evidence if one was to just look. It turned out that John Palmer either looked and decided to pretend he knew nothing or didn't bother looking at all?
About three years ago I related the story to one of the MOE people we were dealing with over the MURF site. I believe it was Ian Mitchell who came to one of our Coalition meetings to hear our concerns. MY hope was that he would check out the information and once confirmed they (MOE) would be more apt to listen to our story on what went on at the West St. site (chemical dumping and barrels). I heard nothing for months until the battle got nasty and the MOE was starting to look bad. At that point I was contacted by one of the MOE officers and asked in a voice mail to meet them at the dump to identify the area as best I could remember. Unfortunately I didn't get the voice mail until later in the day. I called and ended up leaving him a voice mail describing the area. Somehow either they dropped it or went ahead from a sketch I also provided by fax with the search to try and find these barrels. I have never heard from them again and even though I wrote about the incident in Speaking Out to my knowledge those barrels are still there. By the way P&M was only one of a number of companies who dumped their waste there. So for all you curious people and nay sayers the proof of what I am saying is there in the Packet archives and in the Fire Department records. The exact date I do not know but I am confident it was in the summer of 67.
Back in 92 the hearing on the Dump found that a Leachate Capture System must be built around the Dump as 78,000,000 liters was leaching out annually. This has been ignored by council after council and today that totals one billion one hundred seventeen million (1,117,000,000) liters having leaked since just 1991. The result is easily seen with a short boat ride off the shore of the place. I have taken the ride a couple of years ago and published the pictures of the dead lake bottom. You can actually see bubbling from the bottom with no sign of vegetation or life in large areas. Sort of like at 95 Barrie Rd. except under water. But mayor, council and city management say "don't worry we know what we are doing". Well unfortunately that is the problem. In spite of the horrendous harm being done to the environment these people are knowingly ignoring it.
If you choose to elect me your representative I promise that a Leachate System which was supposed to be installed 20 years ago and should have been installed from day one that the Dump was put there will be on my list. I will pull out all the stops to make sure we mitigate the damage that is being done as I write this. This incessant environmental harm has gone on far too long and must be attended to. After all where do you think your drinking water comes from??? The dump is up stream from the water intake pipe isn't it?????? These people on council now and in the past have ignored what is plain to see, claiming it would cost too much money. Well folks the Dump is a money making proposition for the city. Where has all the money gone that the facility earned when the townships were using it???? Where has all the money gone that is collected for all those loads of waste people take there not to mention business and contractors and pay for the privelage???? Where has all the money gone that is earned from recycling???? Where has all the money gone that we paid and pay in property taxes for waste disposal ?? Shouldn't it have been used to build a Leachate Capture System????? Shouldn't it have been used to protect your environment and drinking water???? Where is all this money??? It sure didn't go for road repair.
One of many dead zones you will see if you take the tour.
What part of what I spoke Out about does not make it clear that the future holds dire consequences if this leachate is not addressed. Macmillan and all candidates knew what I wrote back then. So did the mayoral candidates along with city management. All have ignored it over the last 3 1/2 years and are responsible for the 214,000,000 liters of leachate that has flowed into Simcoe and our drinking water since. Nothing has been learned as new future environmental disasters are being promoted all in the name of putting public money in private pockets. Will no one stand and stop this insanity. We are shitting in our own nest. Is everyone planning to leave this place and simply don't care for those who stay? Will this mess be left to these same shallow selfserving people to fix? Most likely as Orillians seem to prefer heads tucked in the sand than people with real ideas, concerns and solutions. Welcome back to the future.
jim tolnai
We Need a Forensic Audit We Need an Election
We Need Honest Representation
Mar.19, 2010
West St. Site Must be Cleaned
In Yesterday's Orillia Today there is a must read story tucked away on page 9 by Frank Matys "Public works tests water quality". Looks like city management has finally decided that my concerns for water contamination years ago was llegitimate. I have been Speaking Out about the foolishness of squeezing contaminants off the site down on West St. for years. Only to be totally dismissed by these people for years, it now seems they themselves have boarded the good ship Contamination.
Public works has installed a monitoring well at Lawrence Park. Peter Dance claims that this well "will offer an early indicator of water quality as it travels through the ground to the municipality's lakeside wells". I predicted back in 2005 that what this mayor, council and city management had done would lead to contamination of our aquifer. Here is what I wrote right here on Dec. 03, 2005.
Agracom_Report.pdf
that shows contamination is all the way down to the bedrock. Now at this level there is a very good chance that the "aquifer" maybe compromised. You see if there are any cracks or crevices in the bedrock contamination can seep through. Unfortunately for those of us on wells, that would compromise our safety as once this stuff is in the "aquifer" it can travel for miles. More testing will need to be done and done quickly to ensure residents in the townships that the "aquifer" has not been compromised. Agrecom recommends that cleanup of the source is necessary at the deep level in order for proper remediation to happen. Yet council is "Mickey Mousing" around hoping against all hope that you will be dumb enough to accept their garbage. They are only going to deal with a very small area and only to the shallow and intermediate depth without even identifying the source. As we have said all along the first task is to identify what we are dealing with. This nickel and dime approach will end up costing millions more than it should. Once we identify what is on this property and off, a proper cleanup program must be begun. Councillors know the MOE has stated that the on site source must be shut off in order to deal with the off site contamination. Yet council still insists on the "smoke and mirror" approach. This is quite a Christmas present for the taxpayers of Orillia.
At the public meeting held by the Coalition at the Sundial back in 2005 I did a show and tell presentation. Took a wet sponge which represented the MURF site. I asked people to put pressure on the sponge and watch what happens. What happened was that the water was squeezed out of the sponge in all directions. Unfortunately few got it. Ralph Cipolla who attended didn't get it as council continued on their thoughtless way ignoring and refusing to believe just what they have done. The MURF site is a great big sponge as is all that land on the lower part of West St. holding it's toxic load. But once it was squeezed we now have this stuff flowing in all directions. This monitoring well at Lawrence Park is proof that even those most skeptical have finally realized that the Genie is out of the bottle. They told us last fall that they were going to put monitoring wells north to Western Ave. Now after those results which have still not been made public they are putting a well way up in Lawrence Park about 2 km. away??? They must have got some pretty bad numbers for them to start monitoring a couple of km. away in the North end all of a sudden.
In the Orillia Today article Dance says "If you see something disturbing, you have two years to panic about it before it gets to your main wells". Why is this man still working for the city? The panic should have been when they were warned not to disturb this site. The panic should have been before they squeezed this contamination in every direction.
We need to cut off these toxins from leaching off site. This site must be cleaned up a.s.a.p. Monitoring 2 km away won't stop it leaking off site and contaminating an ever larger area of Orillia. Time to Speak Out folks. Tell them you have had enough of this merry go round.
jim tolnai
We Still Need a Forensic Audit
We Still Need a Judicial Inquiry
We Need to Audit the Library Project as Well
We Need to Impeach Mayor Ron Stevens
Mar. 16, 2010
Under One Roof Clean Up Hits Reality?
As I predicted last October the Under One Roof Project at 165 Front St. has hit a very expensive environmental snag. The pretend cleanup of the property started last week? I watched earth moving equipment scrape dirt off down to about three feet and scratched my head. This was done on the back north east corner which abuts Dorr Oliver and Queen St. The dirt which looks suspiciously like the dirt from the MURF site which was trucked to the shores of Lake Simcoe. We found out later that because of dishonest testing that dirt was highly toxic. This stuff looks much the same.
Anyway, they scraped and made a very large pile and then trucked in clean fill to fill the hole. In watching what they were doing it was making no sense. You see they then loaded trucks and moved the contaminated dirt to the south side of the property and then leveled it as if they were going to use it as fill. Imagine moving contaminated soil to the other side of the property only to spread it? Say that is exactly what happened at 95 Barrie Rd. Remember when council allowed the property to be divided after the contaminated soil was moved to the eastern half for storage. Then the lot was divided and was allowed to be built. on without actually getting rid of the contamination. So naturally I thought these guys were going to do the same here. So that is why they claimed they could clean the site for a mere $500,000. They weren't going to clean it at all.
Well something happened because yesterday they started digging not 3 feet but down at least 6 maybe even 8 feet on the area directly behind the building. Obviously they hit the hotspot which I had reported several years ago. Some of you may remember me repeating a story I had heard from several people that one day some black material just started to ooz up out of the ground on this property. This was when Home Hardware was still located there. Clean fill was brought in and the oozing was covered over.
Yesterday they must have dug into the mother load and had to go deeper to try and remove it? Today there is another huge pile of contaminated dirt from this massive deep hole. Clean fill was trucked in and by this afternoon the hole was being filled. Their problem now is this contaminated dirt will have to be trucked which will cost over a million dollars if it is disposed properly. But the problem doesn't end there. This afternoon the dirt they trucked to the south side of the property and leveled was being removed. Yup! they were digging it up and starting another huge pile. But they weren't just digging out what was put there, they were actually going down about 8 feet deep as well. Looks like that not only three feet needs to be removed but possibly down to 8 feet. Wow! I predicted last October that their $500,000 cost estimate for cleaning up soil to only a depth of three feet and trucking away was a pipe dream. Here is what I wrote back then. Are the words "I told you so appropriate once again"?????
Oct. 05, 2009
Can Council and this Mayor not Think????
Newpath has asked the city for a $500,000 loan to remediate 2 1/2 acres of land at the old Home Hardware store. They want to buy this property for the Under 1 Roof project which would be built to house many of the cities' social agencies. People from Newpath went before council tonight and quite frankly I am having trouble believing them. First they claim that there is 36" of dirt which is contaminated on the 2 1/2 acre site that must be dug and dumped. Council as I write this has voted in a recorded vote to actually do this deal???
It is obvious that the majority of councillors who actually voted for this don't know how big 2 1/2 acres is. Once again council has not even bothered to do a simple calculation to see if what these guys were telling them could be the truth. One acre is 4840 square yards. If as these guys said 36" has to be removed that makes 4840 cubic yards times 2.5 acres which equals 12,100 cubic yards of contaminated material. This material will have to be trucked to the nearest site (many miles away) licensed to receive contaminated material. At even the most optimistic thinking trucking and tippage would be a minimum $175 per cubic yard. Ah!! Duh!!!! that is a cost of $2,117,500. Here is the President of Newpath telling these guys that they can do it for $500,000 which is the amount they asked for from the city. Unless the plan is to truck this dirt down to the dump on Lake Simcoe and pile it on top of the 40,000 tons of contaminated soil they already dumped there. In that case the cost would still be in the million and a half range which is still three times more than what is claimed to cost. Remember folks the cost to the city for disposing the 40,000 tons from the MURF site just for tippage fees was over $5,000,000. So how can these guys do 12,000 tons for $500,000?????
When the question was asked of their expert about the MOE having seen this site or if even he had met with the MOE the answer was negative. Yet with the lead of Fecht 5 councillors and the mayor they voted to hand over $500,000 of our hard earned tax dollars. Not only that, but they have left it up to the discretion of Half Million Dollar Bob Ripley. I know it's Bob's specialty to dally with half million dollars but sorry folks this vote was a huge mistake. Once again these guys prove that they simply can't add, subtract, multiply or think. Newpath's presentation was lousy at best and so full of holes that Swiss Cheese comes to mind. They had no numbers, they had no information, they simply have conned the councillors and mayor who voted for this???? Once again these guys have proven that they are unable to do their due diligence to protect the public purse. I can't believe they are this stupid, which only leaves one to suspect that there are other things in play here??????? Once again we need to follow the money.
jim tolnai
Now it looks like instead of 12,000 cubic yards of soil as they claimed, it could conceivably be double or maybe even triple the amount. If their plan was to simply try to divide this property and just store the toxic dirt it has surely failed. Even this council and mayor wouldn't dare to allow that would they? Needless to say they hit something in the dirt that changed the plan. If the amount of dirt to dispose of is doubled, costs could be over $4,000,000. Wow! Bruce Stanton and the Conservative Government has given New Path $2,000,000 plus for this project. If the bill for cleanup comes in at $2,117,500 as I predicted there will be no money to renovate the building. You see New Path has no money of their own. They told council that they had $500,000 in investments as collateral against the loan but when you look at their Revenue Canada Return that statement is not true. Long term investment shows only $276,000. I warned council about this but they simply ignored it and went ahead with the loan anyway. Revenue Canada Return
So why am I worried? It's because these people digging so deep they will be squeezing the toxins off site. There are houses and people living in them on Poughkeepsie St. to the south of this property. The last thing you want to do is disturb a contaminated site before you know just what is there. The activity can do more harm and really create a bigger problem that is far more complex and costly. They are now finding that out. What bothers me is there has been no lesson learned from the MURF. Remember that a short 16 months after the dig and dump at the MURF site Trichloroethylene the pure chemical found on the site showed up in our water supply from the lake. This activity could very easily push even more towards the lake and under larger areas of the South Ward. I told them it was a bad idea for the MURF site and I told them it is a bad idea for this site. Unfortunately they just don't listen.
But as with the MURF the Packet, instead of doing their due diligence came out supporting this ill conceived project. In an editorial by Teviah Moro they picked a side which looks like it has turned into the wrong one for the public's interest. Here is what I wrote about Teviah's editorial back last Oct.
Oct. 07, 2009
Arrogance of Power Breeds Scams
Looks like the Packet has slipped back into it's old mold of mis-representing and or with holding simple facts from their readers. Yesterday Teviah Moro's editorial piece " Orillia Common Roof is for everyone's benefit " is so misleading that it is up there with what the Packet did during the MURF fight. Teviah fails miserably to ask any questions about how a property with such high costs could actually save any money for participating agency's.
He writes "A community-based project such as the Orillia Common Roof will ofter stimulus to future development, a catalyst for expanded recreational and therapeutic activities and economic growth for our area." What the hell does this mean??? What has office space got to do with expanded recreational and therapeutic activities???? Teviah and the Packet should be ashamed of themselves for so willingly being a part of this gross mis-representation at the expense of taxpayers money. The Packet bullsh*t runs fast and runs deep.
Teviah goes on to tell us that "If things go as planned, it's hard to imagine how this non-profit venture won't pay off in spades for Orillia". Say! didn't the Packet say the same thing about the MURF??? Why I do believe they predicted way back that the MURF was a win, win. They claimed back then and that the MURF would be built for $24,000,000 and that council and mayor knew what they were doing and should be trusted. At the same time they ridiculed those of us who Spoke Out and predicted each and every disaster that would happen. Now the Packet has once again been leashed and barks when they are told to.
What really pisses me off is that Teviah writes this crap at all. "New Path and its partners are willing to invest in a derelict site and turn it into a vibrant social-service hub, breathing life into a moribund end of town". First off this area of town is not moribund. In fact, if Teviah would go down and have a look at what a beautiful job the Bun Center did on their building it is anything but. If Teviah would take the time to have a look at the building on 165 Front St. he would see that it is not "derelict". But it is empty. Like with the MURF, like with the library and many other counter productive schemes and scams this mayor and his councils have concocted, Orillia's Packet being the good little lap dog it is, they simply follow their orders.
Then Mr. Moro takes a lump of the crap he spews and attempts to spread it on thick. "Under this common roof, these non-profits, which depend on donors and grants to stay afloat, find relief with more affordable rent. They can also share resources". Unbelievable that he has the nerve to write this. Why even the President of Newpath said Monday night that there would be no savings on square footage rent and had no idea of what the actual rent would be as yet. What nerve Teviah has in promoting what is clearly a lie. These non profits who clearly depend on donors and of course grants which is just another fancy word for taxpayers money will not save money on rent. How can they, when the cost of this project is so expensive?????
Not one word in this editorial does Teviah show that he has done his due diligence on this project. Not a word about the clean up cost or total cost of the project. Once again the Packet has shown it's loyalty to it's own bottom line and be damned with the people. Sorry folks but this is a suckers deal with us being the suckers. Iit all has to do with you and I being taken to the cleaners and lining others pockets with public funds. Whether our donations are diverted or our tax dollars diverted through grants it is still our money and more of it will be needed to fill the pockets of Newpath Executives. Nice work if you can get it?????
I would like to know how much salary the President of Newpath takes and how much in expenses he puts through the books every year along with the entire management. Let us see those numbers and then we can make up our minds as to whether it is truly a Non Profit as claimed. Hell it's easy to not show a profit and then claim to be one????? Teviah might want to do some more homework before he climbs on board so willingly to this deal which makes no sense at all.
I'm having a problem figuring out how a landlord who is charging $12.00 per square foot for space is actually Non Profit???? Good office space around town commands about $12.00 or less with a profit component. So to pretend that money will be saved is simply not true. In fact Cipolla said he heard that in Barrie some of Newpath tenants were paying $18.00 and Mr. Newby spoke of $12.00. This does not make sense to have public money being loaned into what is actually a commercial venture?????
There is also no way that over 12,000 cubic yds. of contaminated soil can be disposed of for $500,000. Tippage alone is in the $1,500,000 range. Just the cost of the replacement soil at $300 per 16 yard truckload (750 loads) comes in at $225,000. Does anyone believe that you can dispose 12,000 cubic yards of contaminated soil for $275,000????? This deal does not add up to any savings, so mark my words these agencies will be paying a very high price for their rent if they sign a lease, which is actually our collective rent anyway. I hope they have done their homework??? Lie to me once and I believe you it is your fault. Lie to me twice and I believe you then it is mine. Throughout Newpath's presentation as I said before there were so many holes that it reminded me of Swiss Cheese.
Joe Fecht says "Why should the city do this? There's a simple reason, because we can," said Coun. Joe Fecht in support of the loan. "It will kickstart a new initiative for the non-profit sector." Unfortunately public monies must be used for the good of the community not just because we can. Clear example of arrogance of power. With renovations to the building and the cleanup this will be the most expensive real estate in Orillia after the MURF. Just do your numbers folks. They do not add up to what is claimed regardless of what Fecht says. This City can not afford to do this nor should they do it without showing us the results of their investigation that justifies the putting of $500,000 of taxpayers money at risk. Bet they didn't do any investigation or any due diligence???? The truth as to why Joe Fecht and others supported this loan is simpler than Joe's answer. It is simply to accommodate the current owners to be able to unload this contaminated property. Like the purchase of the Molson property was conceived and executed for the benefit of Molson so too is this deal. Follow the money folks and do your due diligence. It's obvious this mayor and council don't, or do they??????? Just a quick note about what Fecht said during the debate Monday night????? He told us that he had had a relationship with Newpath when he worked for the Ontario government. Say! didn't Ralph Cipolla also have a relationship with some of the Molson people and in fact brought Molson and the city together??????? Wonder if Joe did the same with Newpath?????? Hmmmmm! There will be more coming so please come back tomorrow.
jim tolnai
Teviah wrote in his editorial "If things go as planned, it's hard to imagine how this non-profit venture won't pay off in spades for Orillia". Well Teviah and all you people down at the Packet and City Hall it looks like this project has been Euchred. What a shame. There was only one reason why this project was hurried and not done right. It was because as usual they thought it could be gotten away with and pockets would be lined. They were running a deadline for the federal money which had to go into shovel ready projects. They couldn't waste time actually investigating what was really there and then having the project shutdown because it would be known what was actually involved. So they took a chance and it looks like the taxpayers will be losing once again. Only in Orillia. Will the Packet be doing a follow up story????
jim tolnai
Have a look for yourselve folks the show continues today. While your there if you see trucks leaving with this fill you might want to follow them and see where it is going to be dumped. I have been told by Ralph Cipolla that non will be taken to the Dump. Let me know if I have been misled.
jim tolnai
We Still Need a Forensic Audit
We Still Need a Judicial Inquiry
We Need to Audit the Library Project as Well
We Need to Impeach Mayor Ron Stevens
Mar. 14, 2010
Looking Back
In July 2004 I wrote about how Orillia could prosper from jumping on the Green Energy Bandwagon. Unfortunately mayor, council, city management or the OPC simply didn't listen. Here we are 6 years later way behind other communities who did listen, not just to me but others who actually have vision. Had council spent the $15,000,000 in creating green energy back in 2004 instead of wasting it on the Toxic MURF cover-up I am confident that $100,000,000 of economic activity would have been the result for Orillia. Not to mention the profits generated from all the power produced. Had these people done then what was obviously the right thing to do, Orillia's EDC would have a line up of new business vying to locate in the Green Energy Capital of Ontario which Orillia would have become. Opportunity ignored is opportunity lost and you can thank Stevens, Gardy, Lauer, MacMillan, Speers, Evans, Fecht, Fogarty and Cipolla. I want to share with you what I wrote back in July of 2004. I set out a map with clear suggestions of how to use. Unfortunately they ignored it. As I wrote yesterday these same people are still shutting down Progress Orillia so in six years it seems nothing has changed and won't change until you the voters get rid of them. Anyway here is what I wrote back then. I will let you decide on whether my suggestions back then have been legitimized ?
Issue 21 July 2004
Grid-Tied Solar
by: Jim Tolnai
Our electrical supply or lack of seems to be getting more and more press. Should we go nuclear or natural gas generation? Some lip service is being paid to renewable energy but for the most part that is all it is. Seems utilities and politicians have their brains wrapped around Mega projects even though this thinking has been proven wrong on a Mega scale. Back in the 60.s Ontario tied it.s cart to the Nuclear horse. Now we know that it was a fools paradise. Sure we have had low cost power which was artificial and imposed by politicians and yes Ontario prospered for a short time, but now it is time to pay. These Mega projects are now past their prime. Maintenance costs are huge compared to the cost of construction and we have nowhere to put the Toxic waste that has been generated. This stuff will stay Toxic for the next 10,000 years. Seems the politicians of the sixties never thought ahead to the next century and the consequence of their decisions. Now we have a new set of politicians wanting to repeat their predecessors mistakes. So what is the answer? Mega projects are sexy because you see this giant and everyone is impressed by giants. But are giants really that awesome? Why don't we start looking at smaller scale development and act? Politicians and people who work in the industry will tell you that small scale is not feasible because of the huge need. These people are willing to squabble for years about our huge need and how only Mega projects will save us, all the while nothing is being done. Of course there is a method in their madness. Squabble long enough until there really is a Crisis and we will allow them to do anything they want. They create the Crisis only to have their way and build the Mega Project.
So how do we stop the Mega Project merry go round and actually start doing something before we are in crisis? How about a street by street solution? Yes it can be done but only with the co-operation of the very people who want to do business as usual. We need to either
convince them or force them to change their thinking. Back during the municipal election I spoke about this very concept. It was as relevant then as it is today. Orillia with it's unique position of having it's own generating capacity can be a leader in this country to promote renewable energy. We need to tackle our energy problem today not ten years from now. We need to tackle our problem first from one house to one street to one neighborhood to one ward to one city at a time. It is not that we can't do this. The fact is that people like John Mattinson and the OPC board don't have any interest in anything but large scale.
So here is the plan. With the huge profits OPC is generating let's start a Self Sufficient Energy Program. Don't think city wide. Think one house or building at a time. Let's start with city hall. Right in the center of our city sits a building three stories high. No trees, clear expanse, enough room on that roof to place, say twenty solar panels. Tie these panels into the grid and start producing energy. Sure these panels won't produce enough energy to supply city hall with all their needs, but it certainly will add to the overall supply. Does it have to be expensive? Of course not. OPC can experiment and train on this first project so that they will have the expertise to move to the next challenge. Take the huge OPC profits and subsidize people to install their own panels and make it affordable to tap into the grid, but only if the householder makes every effort possible to keep their consumption as low as possible. With a few basic changes like energy efficient light bulbs, household loads can be decreased by 10%. OPC is in the business of renting water heaters. This profitable business should invest into systems that will use solar to pre-heat water before it goes into the actual heater. Hot water is one of the largest users of power. We heat water all night long when we don't use it just so that it will be there for us in the morning. OPC should be making on demand water heaters available to rental customers. This would most likely cut 5% from a house hold's energy bill. With preheating the water there would be another 5% savings equaling 10%. So we can cut consumption by 20% plus add at least 30% more power generation to the grid if a household would install 2 or 3 solar panels to their roof. Let's multiply this by just 25% of house holds in Orillia and all commercial buildings. Looks like we could increase available power by at least 30% with out burning any fossil fuels or building nuclear plants. Folks this is doable and it does not have to cost huge dollars. The technology is there, the money is there. The only thing lacking is the will by people in power. There are countless places on the internet where success stories prove what I am saying. Go to http:// www.homepower.com and read about a town called Ashland Oregon http://www.ashland.or.us/Index.asp where the local utility and town fathers encourage people to do just what I have written about.
Do a search for on demand water heaters and check the stats. The energy savings are huge. Yes we can fix our energy crisis before it even starts. But only with your pushing and shoving of the people we put in power. Don't be fooled by OPC's line that it is not economical. Of course it's not economical for them to lose their monopoly. Of course it's not economical for them to sell you less power. Their self interest of bigger and bigger profits at your expense is definitely in their interest as is the building of Mega Projects. This country was built one building, one road, one farm, one village at a time. We can build our renewable energy system one rooftop at a time. The so called self serving experts will dazzle you with figures but never with facts. Do your due diligence and then get pro-active. We have left our children with a huge debt and virtually nothing to show for it. Don't let this happen to the next generation.
Orillia has the opportunity to become the Renewable Energy Centre of Ontario or even Canada. Our forefathers had vision to be the first community to harness electricity generation. Let's build on their legacy and make our own. Let's partner with Georgian College to offer courses and even a research center for renewable energy. People who are working to bring a University to Orillia could entice an institution here based on our willingness to open the future using renewable energy. The benefits to our community are endless and all based on a Renewable Energy Program. What better place to locate manufacturing of Solar and Wind products than a community that offers support. Clean, secure renewable energy is reality if we are willing to follow through.
jim tolnai
We Still Need a Forensic Audit
We Still Need a Judicial Inquiry
We Need to Audit the Library Project as Well
We Need to Impeach Mayor Ron Stevens
Mar. 13, 2010
Cover-Up Un-Covered/Con Game Keeps Rolling On
For the last 8 years or more I have been Speaking Out about the environmental problems Orillia has. Unfortunately people simply didn't pay attention. I guess they hadn't been affected thinking that dumps were only put in authorized locations and surely no one would put a dump in a residential area. Problem with Orillia is that a third of the city has been compromised whether anyone wants to admit it or not. I have also tried to warn about how the MOE simply covers up reality instead of protecting public health and safety. Finally the poop has hit the fan. Because of being caught with their pants down so many times the MOE along with city politicians and management have finally had to admit there is a problem and it is big.
" ORILLIA - A series of former dumps identified by Ontario’s environment ministry could spell a mess of trouble for nearby homeowners".
Orillia Today has finally done a story on the problem. While not a complete story at least it is a start. But don't hold your breath for the Packet to do a story as they especially don't want to ruffle any feathers.
I first spoke out about the contamination of Orillia back when John Palmer was mayor. I told him about buried 45 gallon drums of chemicals along the shore of Lake Simcoe. He at first disbelieved and then assured me he would look into it. Nothing happened and then he passed away. It was another few years before I would Speak Out again. That happened when the MURF was proposed. This time I vowed not to just drop it in hopes of others looking into it. That is how I became a crusader??? Unfortunately the same people who obviously dismissed me the first time were still around and weren't about to do the right thing. That is how the MURF Wars began.
Anyway throughout the years I have written about areas in the city which are hotspots only to be ridiculed. When I questioned why housing would be built on areas known to be contaminated I was told that you are a trouble maker, wannabe, sour graper obstructionist. Once more my concerns and warnings have been legitimized.
The mentality that governs Orillia is unbelievable. At one point I had written about a large parcel of land that is highly contaminated. Long time councillor Wayne Gardy said that this contaminated area would be an ideal place for low income housing. When I took exception to it, there was barely a word from anyone. Not a word of outrage from the Packet or Orillia Today. Not even an outrage from those who today find themselves living on or next door to these toxins. Let's see the outrage when they go to sell their property and it is listed on the contaminated map of Orillia? Let's see the outrage of those who have bought their properties in the last 8 years and now find that it is on or next to these dump sites? Let's see if they will be suing their realtor or the city for withholding this information from them. You see the City of Orillia knew where these properties were located and said nothing. They did not warn realtors or the public. Simply they weren't about to Speak Out because it wouldn't be in their own best interest. So once again the public will pay the price for deceit, lies and incompetence.
I was speaking with a chap on Tuesday at the YMCA. He asked me about the MURF and whether it would be built. I assured him it would not be built on the West St. site unless it was cleaned up. Then I carried on with the fact of Orillia being highly contaminated, not just the MURF site but all over. That was Tuesday and the story came out on Thursday. I said to him that no one should blame those who dumped all this stuff back before the 1970's except the individuals who actually knew that it was toxic. Yes there were a few who knew and didn't buy their homes in the South Ward as it was known back then. But most people who located in that ward because land and homes were much less expensive because they were built on or beside industrial dumps sites didn't know. What I said to him was, we shouldn't hold them responsible because they operated from lack if knowledge. But who we should be holding accountable are the people who knew that there is a problem and have been covering it up. Once these people knew about these contaminants and covered it up they took ownership of the harm done. This is what I have been trying to tell people. There is a small group of evil in this town who worship nothing but wealth. They don't care if two headed babies are born or there is a cancer clinic for children right here at our hospital. They care nothing for long term health or welfare of people. Like Gardy who suggested that a good use for contaminated property would be low income housing no one else but myself took exception. Not the mayor, not councillors, not city management. The evil is that they knew back then where these properties were located and had been suppressing it. Even today they are pushing to build on West St. with out cleaning up the site which by the way will never happen as long as I draw breath. Clean up the site and put 2 MURFs there for all i care but nothing until it is cleaned.
There are better uses for this land and could be put to it within the next 12 months. Orillia (I hate to say this) is blessed to have this property in the heart of the city. We can turn this sow's ear into a silk purse. We can make this property pay for it's own clean up while making green energy. I have written here since 2004 about the city getting into green energy. I proposed in 2004 that every city building should have solar panels on their roofs. I proposed that the city, Orillia Power and maybe private business should partner to make Orillia the Green Capital of Ontario. With our unique 100 years of generating experience, Orillia is in an ideal position to build a whole industrial future based on Green Energy. But I have been ignored until now.
Ian Brown reported to Council Committee a couple of weeks ago about how the city should be looking into putting solar panels on all city buildings. You could have knocked me over with a feather. Six years I harped on this and was totally ignored. Now as other communities with visionary leaders are actually doing these things our own drowsy leaders are beginning to wake up. It seems it is more important to build a 5 lane road to nowhere than to create jobs and a future. But there are still those who oppose Progress Orillia. The same people who opposed me back in 2004. Those people who care nothing for the environment or the health of this community unless they can line their own pockets. I wrote here a few years ago that I believed nothing would be done by the people in power until they could figure out how to personally benefit from green energy or the clean up of Orillia's toxins. Well guess what folks? It looks like they must of found a way as all of a sudden they have had a brilliant idea to do some good and came clean on where and who owns the toxins.
I think it is wonderful that they now are willing to put solar panels on city roofs. So once again I will offer them to take my idea and turn the MURF site into an inner city Solar Farm. There is 36 acres of some of the worst contaminated land in the world that could generate enough revenue to clean itself up. The farm could be a starting point to build a green industrial base. With Orillia Power's expertise in generation and distribution along with Lake Head and Georgian College what a great laboratory. Manufacturers would be drawn to Orillia simply to partake in such an effort. Solar could lead to wind and it will. There are new wind turbines that are noise free or almost noise free and do not vibrate. These can be added to existing buildings. Then there is the Kinergy Power system which I have written here on several occasions about. But as I said there is a core who until they personally can benefit will never do the right thing and will simply promote the projects they or their friends can benefit from personally.
I received an e-mail a week ago from a chap in Welland.
Jim Tolnai
>
> Saw an article on KinergyPower on your website.
>
> Wondering if your city done anything more on partnering with KinergyPower?
>
> Look forward to hearing from you.
>
> Cheers
>
>
I had been asking for the city to have a look at this company years ago only to have nothing being done. Last year the company surfaced again when the city of Welland got involved to support them by building an Innovation Center based on this one company. So again I notified Ralph Cipolla who had contacted them about 4 years ago. Unfortunately his contact never went anywhere because mayor, management and a majority of councillors shut him down. But with the new activity Ralph asked the company if they would be willing to come to Orillia and give a presentation to council. I thought Wow! finally it looks like just maybe these guys are finally getting it. But boy was I wrong. You see I sent on this chaps letter to Ralph who replied with this.
Subject: Re: Kinergypower
Hi jim
You are right I have been trying I have been turned down as a deputation to
council by the powers to be...iam working now with the new edc manager to
have it come to the edc and get them to come up and make a presentation to
edc the power corp.. and public works I will let you know if I get shot
down on this one...
thanks
ralph
Am I surprised? Of course not. Stevens didn't become mayor to simply Progress Orilla as his record clearly shows. His job was to maximize the dispensing of public monies to private pockets as his record shows. He talks about bringing industry to Orillia. Believe me talk is not cheap for the taxpayers. While for 4 years he and the backroom boys have shutdown this company from even Speaking Out to them they have squandered tens of millions of dollars. Folks this company wasn't asking for anything else than to present their new and innovative product. Yet despite Ralph's efforts they were turned down. Not once but twice. Why? There was no cost to simply listen? So folks Progress Orillia is only for a very small group who control the agenda which is always questionable.
Now I will go out on my usual limb and take a stab at why all of a sudden Brown made his report on putting Solar on City Roofs? It is very simple. Someone has figured out how private pockets can benefit from a city asset. One of Brown's suggestions in his report was to partner with a private company and simply rent all these roof tops. Interestingly enough he had no suggestion of partnering with the Orillia Power Corp and keeping profits collectivly ours. Why not? If past behaviour is analyzed it can only mean one thing. Like the land transfer deal with Molson's on the West St. property it doesn't pass the smell test. Like the purchase of industrial land for an Industrial Park it doesn't pass the smell test. Like the Barrie Road industrial property which was allowed to be divided without clean up doesn't pass the smell test. Like this $10,000,000 gift to a private developer to build what is supposed to be low income housing on Barrie Rd. doesn't pass the smell test. Like the 5 lane road to nowhere doesn't pass the smell test. Like the new library that doesn't pass the smell test. Like the purchase of property on Market St. doesn't pass the smell test. Like the building of the fire station on Commerce Rd on land purchased for almost 3 times it's value doesn't pass the smell test. Like the purchase of the Second Last Call for the Library and it's $800,000 in renovations only to be torn down doesn't pass the smell test. If you think paying $325,000 for the lot on Commerce Dr. for the fire station was high how about the $2,250,000 cost for the land for the new Fire Hall? There is a whole list of other projects that don't pass the smell test on top of those I have already listed. So folks make sure you ask your councillors why they wouldn't allow this company (Kinergy) to simply give a deputation? Not once but twice. Progress Orillia my ass.
Now is the time to demand to know why the city as sole owner of Orillia Power could not partner with it's already partner to bring green energy to Orillia City rooftops and a Solar Farm to the West St. property with the profits to be used for clean up of the toxins, so we all will benefit?? Only in Orillia and the Con Game just keeps rolling on.
jim tolnai
We Still Need a Forensic Audit
We Still Need a Judicial Inquiry
We Need to Audit the Library Project as Well
We Need to Impeach Mayor Ron Stevens
Mar. 11, 2010
I Thought a Heritage Library Couldn't be Built?
In the past couple of years we have been told that a heritage library couldn't be built. Well at least not built by the mayor's, city management's and the 7 councillors who voted to proceed with this monstrosity favourite architects. To these people this looks like a good fit with the hundred year old Opera House. To these people this is what heritage represents. For the sum of $26,000,000 we will get this. We were told that period architecture was way more expensive than a fish tank and if we didn't like it, too bad. It looks stupid and takes away more benefit than it ads.
Anyway along comes another town in Simcoe County who not only managed to build a heritage building but actually is building it for a cost of $7.8 million dollars. Now the building is smaller than our Fish Tank by 28% that is true. But then the price is also smaller by not half but by more than 66%. Imagine that. Not only do we find that a heritage looking building can be built with today's technology, but it can be built for less money. Let's have a look at what Collingwood is getting for their .33 cents for which we pay a dollar?
Now let's have a look at some other pretty pictures from downtown Collingwood showing off their heritage town center.
Well I'll be. Just a short hour drive away here is a community located by the water,big time tourist destination and they were able to put their project together without much trouble. Now why do you suppose these people can do it and we can't? Could it be because those in power actually listened to the people? Could it be there is less or no skullduggery by town fathers compared to ours? Folks something is different about Orillia as my research has shown. Collingwood isn't the only community that has been able to achieve a library and for much less than ours. Back in 2008 I wrote about this very subject long before the final decision was made. There was lots of time for councillors to have done their due diligence. But did they? Nope. Full steam ahead and damn the torpedo's. Here is what I wrote back in Nov. 2008. Seems Collingwood listened while our squanderers simply took violin lessons for when Orillia starts burning financially.
Nov. 28, 2008
Time to be Selfish
There was an opinion piece in the Packet this week by one David Rowe director of technical services for The Library. David made what on the surface looks like an impassioned plea to Orillia taxpayers to support the new library. He talks about how important the library is to the community and who could argue against that? He gives figures about library use and again it looks impressive until you dissect the numbers. Now I have made it clear that I support a $13,000,000 library. I am very selfish that we need, should want and can afford a $13,000,000 library. But what is being proposed by mayor, council, city management, library management, Shore, Tilby and the vast minority of taxpayers is nothing short of Glutinous. While communities, colleges, universities around the world are building excellent, functional state of the art new libraries for $13,000,000 these people are wanting a $26,000,000 facility. This makes no sense at all. From a design concern which could have been addressed with simple courtesy to those who asked, to only see a concept drawing more in keeping with downtown traditional we now have realized that our opinions or desires account for nothing. Anyone actually surprised????
David goes on to tell us that Orillia's library is not a proper facility. But he then defeats that argument by telling us what wonderful results this facility has been and is providing. But then he tells us that all over the world cities large and small are building libraries as civic pride projects. But at what cost per square foot is the question that statement begs. Anyway, the contradictions continue. David then states " The Orillia Public Library's heritage does not reside in any physical space. A new library building is merely a means to a greater end". So if all the successes David claims that this old library has had in spite of the building's draw backs then why couldn't a New, building twice the size of the present one and at a reasonable cost of $13,000,000 be as successful and more than the old one. What would the additional cost of $13,000,000 provide??? In David's own words "The Orillia Public Library's heritage does not reside in any physical space". So which is it? Is the libraries successes and continued success based solely on the building, whatever it looks like???? David used other communities as examples for us to emulate so I decide to check out Whitby Ont.
In my web search I really didn't find much info but as usual a phone call found a lady by the name of Rhonda Jackson most helpful. Her information is as follows.
Building size 56,000 sq. ft.
Outside includes a civic square with water feature.
Built in downtown Whitby opened late 2005
Building is 2 stories above ground level with a 5,000 sq. ft. basement area
Project cost $19,000,000 all inclusive including Soft Costs, and very extensive landscaping.
This facility replaced a 16,000 sq. ft. facility.
The library serves a city population of 100,000 plus surrounding areas which is many tens of thousand more.
Whitby is presently in the process of building a new facility in Brooklyn which would replace the current 2,000 sq. ft. branch library.
This new project is to be 38,000 sq. ft. all inclusive including Soft Costs. 10,000 sq. ft. dedicated to library with remainder for other community uses
So without wanting to sound anti library which I am not, I need to ask, why does our price come in so high???? Same architects. A building that is 39% smaller with much less landscaping and no water feature which is very expensive. Unfortunately Rhonda didn't have the separated cost for the water feature but she did offer to find it if I really needed it. Rhonda then invited me or anyone else from Orillia to drive down hwy. 12 for a tour. She offered that if any groups were interested she would arrange a guided tour. Wonderful lady who obviously likes her job and facilities she works in.
Even if construction costs have gone up our proposed building is 39% smaller (15,000 sq. ft.), which based on $451.00 per square ft. cost presented by Shore Tilby should reduce the price by $6,768,292.
Whitby Orillia
I guess the argument that Shore Tilby needs to be paid for all their design work doesn't seem to be holding water. Judging by the pictures, the Whitby library looks very much the same as proposed for Orillia. Our design is not unique by any means is it. Looks to me Whitby got a fish tank and that is what Darcy wants to give Orillia, only for more money and no outside water feature. As I have said this deal makes no sense.
So David please, could you write again and this time do some research into what other communities are actually spending and what they get. If you are going to use other projects to justify what is happening here then please do your research. I am sure that if I were to phone any of David's other examples the same scenario would be found. Simply put, let's get on with telling Shore Tilby to either come up with an affordable project that suits our needs, our pocket books and compliments the surrounding architecture. If they can't, then hand Darcy his hat and wish him Adios. It is not too late to change some very poor decisions that were based on incomplete and misleading information. It should never be too late to change decisions that were based on lies and cover up.
jim tolnai
Sorry folks but it's not like these people hadn't been informed. For almost two years I have been ranting to non listeners. Today we might be stuck with something few want because quite frankly it's ugly. It destroys the downtown instead of complimenting it and we are paying twice as much for it than it is worth. We need a court challenge to simply stop this insanity that has overcome Orillia since Ron Stevens became mayor. We need a Forensic Audit to find out where all this money actually ends up and in whose pockets? None of this makes sense yet the likes of Stevens, Fecht, Speers, Evans, Cipolla, McMillan and Lauer ram it right up our collective asses. The largest petition in the history of Orillia signed by 5,000 people and all they did was stick their middle finger in the air to us. Only in Orillia Eh!
jim tolnai
We Still Need a Forensic Audit
We Still Need a Judicial Inquiry
We Need to Audit the Library Project as Well
We Need to Impeach Mayor Ron Stevens
Mar. 10, 2010
Is Library Challenge Going to Court?
Last night council in a recorded vote passed the acceptance of the construction tender for the Fish Tank Library. Despite opposition from a large majority of Orillia taxpayers this mayor and councillors who voted to proceed at any cost flipped them the bird. These guys are so desperate to waste our money that nothing would deter them from their squandering round. But if what I am hearing is true there maybe a holdup yet if the planned court challenge goes on. Once more mayor, councillors and city management have misread people's resolve to oppose their misguided decision.
The wide range of issues are all legitimate concerns that found no sympathy with the likes of Fecht, Lauer, McMillan, Spears, Evans, Cipolla and of course Stevens. These people ignored the majority to curry favour with a minority. According to Patrick Kehoe even a petition with 5,000 names couldn't sway them from their squandering rounds. "In addition, the voices of almost 5,000 petitioners who expressed concerns about location and the threat to our cherished cultural institutions were silenced without consideration." writes Mr. Kehoe. Wow! if there were 5,000 signatures on this petition that represents more than 50% of actual votes cast in the last election. Has there ever been a petition in this town of even close to 5,000 signators?
In his letter Pat very eloquently explained what this fight is not. "So what exactly is the issue? Let me first establish what it is not. Many to this day still believe this to be simply a clash between the forces for and against a new library but this is, and never has been the real issue. In fact, all stakeholders in the downtown have, from Day 1, supported a new downtown home for our library". While the likes of Evans claimed the issue was about people not wanting a library, Pat explains why he is wrong. There are many reasons people have given why they are not in favour of this project but I have yet to hear anyone saying they don't want a new library at all.
While it's true the people Speaking Out are against this project it is for very legitimate concerns which people like Fecht, Evans, Cipolla, Lauer, McMillan, Spears and Stevens didn't even bother to consider. Most people don't like the Fish Tank design. It is completely unsuitable for a downtown with a heritage theme. It is a monstrosity that belittles the efforts of most Orillian's to preserve our history and build our future prosperity on it. A large majority of taxpayers are against the $27,000,000 cost. It's easy to see that money is no object to the squanderers but it is an issue for those who are forced to pay for it. Pat Kehoe writes "Both Orillia and the Town of Collingwood had identical library budgets in 2006 of $9 million. Collingwood is nearing completion of a LEED gold, heritage-inspired, 30,000 square-foot downtown library, 13% below budget at $7.8 million ($260 per square feet) while Orillia, without a shovel in the ground is expected to exceed $25 million ($609 square feet) or almost 300% more than the original budget". So why does a our project a mere 30% larger command a price tag 300% higher. How is it that Collingwood can build for $260 per square foot and our squanderers need $609 per square foot? Oh! I guess I answered my own question. Why it;s because they are squanderers.
Mr. Kehoe goes on to explain another reason why people are against this project. "This issue is about heritage and how the heritage initiative could have established downtown Orillia as a relevant destination to the more than six million people within a 90-minute drive of our city. This downtown heritage initiative was to be furthered by the possibility of establishing downtown Orillia as a heritage conservation district as was detailed by Dr. Carl Bray in his presentation last week". Once built I don't believe that the downtown can be protected from other Fish Tanks being built. How could the city on the one hand defend heritage while on the other hand being responsible for destroying it? That my friends is an oxymoron very heavy emphasis on moron.
Patrick goes on "This issue is about community involvement. No other stakeholder, other than the library, had a seat on the planning team including neither the DOMB nor the farmers' market". Of course no one else was consulted. Had people been aware earlier there would have been more opposition and earlier. The library issue has been handled exactly the same way as the MURF was. Same sh*t different day but always the same set of squanderers. While there were two excellent options to the Fish Tank and the destruction of 80 some odd prime parking spaces neither of them were considered for even a moment.
Last but not least but what actually should be the first reason why people should be against what these people are doing. Pat puts it in no uncertain terms.
" This issue is about proper planning and process or in the case of this project specifically, the absence of either. Not in my 30 years in the construction industry and the literally billions of dollars of projects in which I have been involved, have I ever witnessed a project so recklessly mishandled from the outset. This project goes against every common sense rule of proper urban planning from symbiotic
institutional/commercial relationships, preservation of open space for revitalization initiatives, architectural consistency as well as the successful repurposing of vacant building assets. We've managed to break just about every rule known in our quest to construct the ultimate "do as we say, not as we do" edifice to ignorance".
In closing congratulations to Mike Fogarty and Wayne Gardy for not allowing themselves to be intimidated by the squanderers. I for one hope that there will be a court challenge based on what looks like pretty good arguments. I hope there will be community support for those who will make the effort to save our heritage and our wonderful downtown and farmer's market. The new library is a smashing idea. The design, cost and execution of the project deserves to be smashed.
jim tolnai
We Still Need a Forensic Audit
We Still Need a Judicial Inquiry
We Need to Audit the Library Project as Well
We Need to Impeach Mayor Ron Stevens
Mar. 09, 2010
I really hate Dalton McGuinty
Lesley says
This arrogant man actually has the audacity to pontificate that increasing taxes in a recessionary economy will be good. I wonder what, if anything, is going through his mind.
To be clear: under this latest scam we are going to pay an extra 8% on almost every purchase we make that doesn’t already have 8% PST on it, paying money that we have already been taxed on.
This includes purchases that we don’t have a choice on whether or not to make, such as groceries, gas for the car, and home heating fuel. Stats Can has estimated that the average Ontario household will be forking over $600 more every year. That is the AVERAGE, which means your household has just as much chance of paying MORE than that as paying less.
You have an extra 50 bucks per month lying around the house serving no good purpose anyway, don’t you? Sure you do!
So, in an economy where people are losing their jobs; where hydro rates, insurance rates and the price of just about everything from groceries to fuel has increased, Dalton McGuinty thinks it is a good idea to suck some more money out of every consumer. What a genius.
His pathetic lie this time is that businesses will save hoards of money and so they will pass the savings on to the consumer, and everything will be jolly good.
Besides, he has decreased income taxes by 2 or so whole dollars every week (for those who are still lucky enough to have a job)! Wow, that will more than compensate for the 8% increase in heating fuel which is several hundred dollars per month.
I will breathlessly await the notification in my hydro bill that my rates are going down because the Gliberals saved them so much money last quarter.
No doubt the banks will be rushing to lower the outrageous fees they charge people, because the Gliberals have saved them so much cash. Ditto for the insurance companies. Surely Esso and Sunoco have already sketched out forecasts of how much they will be reducing the price at the pump.
Remember how the ‘Health Care tax’ was going to save the Health Care System in Ontario?
Geez, I wonder what happened?
We have doctor shortages, burnt out nurses, long waits for appointments, people scheduled for surgery who discover on their arrival at the hospital that their procedure has been cancelled because there isn’t a bed for them, hospitals that constantly ‘fundraise’, yet can’t balance their budgets: the ‘care’ is atrocious, the food is an abomination, they charge for parking, and by the way, they could not function at all if it were not for the army of volunteers who work in them.
And yet, the beacon of salvation, the Health Care Tax (cough cough) lives on.
Money has not and will not solve that problem because money is not the problem. The approach to health care is the problem. Our approach to health care is drugs, radiation and surgery, which are just polite words for poisoning, burning and cutting/mutilation.
The ‘health care’ system is not about health and it is not about care: it is about money, power and control, which is why, despite truckloads of evidence that the system is a train-wreck, nothing is done by the ‘powers that be’ to try to change it.
Recently it has been reported that there is a risk that outpatient services will be reduced, beds closed, nurses laid off and emergency rooms closed in hospitals throughout Ontario!
Hello??? Anyone notice the system isn’t working???
Moving on.
Lest we forget: $1 Billion dollars wasted on the E-Health scandal. That’s a BILLION dollars, folks; a thousand million dollars of your money, my money, and our neighbours’ money that WE worked for – wasted by a bunch of greedy, despicable politicians and their ‘friends’, while people who paid the money suffer and die, victims of a largely useless system that, at best, focuses on managing the effects of illness rather than removing the causes. Heads should roll, starting with McGuilty.
We also recently experienced the little OLGC scandal – where more of our money was spent frivolously by executives.
Two years ago, there was a larger scandal at the OLGC regarding inappropriate prize awards and inadequate supervision.
In 2006, the OLGC spent somewhere between $4 and $6 million dollars to drop the ‘C’ from its name and become the Ontario Lottery Corporation. What a disgusting waste of money that could have been spent on schools or hospitals that the Corporation supposedly supports.
Has everyone read up on Bill 150, the ‘Green Energy Act’? What a total farce this thing is!!
Basically, folks in Ontario will end up paying about $1,200 per year more for hydro, natural gas etc. Oh, did I mention that is BEFORE PST/HST?
Furthermore, an independent study found that the promise of 50,000 new jobs is bunk, a lie. Actually, the study found that the higher costs will likely have the opposite effect; jobs will (surprise!!) be lost.
So, again, we have the Gliberal, Fiberal, McLiars in Queen’s Park jamming their filthy, grubby, greasy fingers deeper and deeper into our pockets.
Oh, and how about that new Trillium logo? Now, there is an impressive accomplishment. Come on, you know it is. It was a bargain, too! It cost a paltry $219,000 to design. What a deal. Besides, it gave the people in the Ministry of Developing and Implementing Useless Projects (MDIUP) something to do.
One last thing – I’m sure most people in this area will remember McGuilty’s recent visit to this area. You know, the one where he refused to talk to Site 41 protesters and told a reporter at a Tim Horton’s coffee shop that ‘the best advice’ he was given was ‘that (Site 41) is viable’.
What a stupid thing to say. Why is ‘advice’ that the site is viable better than ‘advice’ that the site is not viable? That the site is viable is ‘better advice’, because that means all the greedy politicians, bureaucrats and corporations get their pockets lined with more of our money!
I really hate Dalton McGuinty.
Did I mention I really hate Dalton McGuinty?
We Still Need a Forensic Audit
We Still Need a Judicial Inquiry
We Need to Audit the Library Project as Well
We Need to Impeach Mayor Ron Stevens
Mar. 08, 2010
Back to Square One
The following is an item from http://stopdumpsite41.ca/. Frankly I am fed up. I am more angry at those who claim to care and to fight for our children's future, water and environment than I am with the likes of MaGuinty, Gerretson, Orillia's mayor, council, County council or the MOE. I am upset with those who I thought was on the same side. Read the following and read my frustrated reply to those who I now see as the biggest impediment to protecting our children, water and environment . It is those whose names have been associated with the battles of the last 20 years. If something hasn't worked for 20 years don't you think it is time to play this game with a different strategy? Not these people. They like the action of bus trips to protest. They like signing petitions and holding signs which are ignored. They like getting nowhere and being the whipped, while never ever doing any whipping themselves.
jim tolnai
Loss of Bill 32 unnecessary and disappointing
The following news release has been issued by Judith Grant of FOTTSA and Ann Ritchie-Nahuis of the Site 41 group.
Bill 32 has been consigned to oblivion with Premier Dalton McGuinty’s prorogation of the Legislature. This is a matter of great regret.
Bill 32 could have been included in a House Leader’s motion that allowed government bills – and some private members’ bills – to be carried forward to a new session. It could have put an end to a divisive issue in Simcoe County by revoking the Certificate of Approval that allows Site 41 to be operated as a landfill site.
“I’m appalled by the hypocrisy of the County and of the Province,” said Judith Grant, chair of the Federation of Tiny Township Shoreline Associations, whose members played a key role in persuading MPPs from all parties to get Bill 32 past second reading. “The Province passes the Clean Water Act that sets standards that this landfill would not meet, then supports an outmoded decision. County Councillors vote to ‘halt’ work on the dumpsite under huge pressure from residents, then refuse to ask to have the C of A withdrawn.”
Dump Site 41 has been a source of contention for nearly 30 years in Simcoe County. Its environmental assessment is the only one in Ontario ever to have been turned down by the Environmental Assessment Board. That was in the 1980s. But the then Liberal government overrode this by Cabinet order.
After decades of protest and wrangling. not to mention the advent of new schemes for waste reduction and management, Simcoe County Council finally voted last fall not to proceed with their mega-dump on Site 41 in Tiny Township. But they left its Certificate of Approval in place.
Grant questioned whether the work has been truly halted. “The mothballing has not been complete. Many key engineering elements — the pond, the berms, the roads — are still in place.”
“We followed the rules, we played the game and then they moved the goal posts,” said Anne Ritchie-Nahuis of the Site 41 group. “This has happened time and time again. The political process is not here to serve the people.”
Ritchie-Nahuis said the experience was very disappointing for the thousands of people who worked so hard to get Bill 32 to the point where it had been referred to the Standing Committee on Justice Policy.
She regretted that Simcoe County councillors had not supported Bill 32, as it would have provided compensation to the County, something that Environment Minister John Gerretsen has opposed.
My reply / my vent
There was never any intention to actually shutdown this dump site by government or the MURF site in Orillia. The County and the Ontario government represented by the Liberal Party does not want to lose these issues to the people. Just like the Mike Harris Conservatives didn't want to lose to the people. Way too much is at stake. If Simcoe County or the people of Orillia win that would set an example and precedence for all the other trouble spots in Ontario to see and that can not be allowed.
The same scenario is being played out here in Orillia. After years of fighting for a clean up of the MURF site before it is built on, the MOE all of a sudden claims it is safe to build on? Not one ounce of contaminants have been cleaned from this site. The only toxins not there today are the ones that have been squeezed off into our ground water and both Lake Simcoe and Lake Couchiching spreading the toxins farther and farther a field.
The MOE or the provincial government never had any intention of making sure this site, which is more contaminated with TCE's than Love Canal would be cleaned up. Orillia City council has pissed away $15,000,000 so far in an effort to not clean it up with not even a hole to show for it. So if anyone thinks that either Orillia or County council will do the right thing you can forget it. If anyone thinks that your health, environment or water is being protected and looked after forget about it. We don't have anyone in power who can be trusted, on these or any issues if it means that they will lose their control over the people. Looks like we can look forward to another 20 years of fighting with tens of millions more dollars wasted.
I am getting sick of saying this over and over again. We must start the process of change by putting in power those people whom we the people control. I have set out my thoughts and frankly even I am thinking the problem is not the politicians but us. It's almost like people want to keep fighting tanks with bows and arrows and sling shots. Some people who post here regularly still think that playing nice just might work. Please wake up people. You have been had and you are back at the begining. What part of this don't you understand. They win we lose. So play your little games while they destroy and take back everything you thought was won. It wasn't won and it won't be won unless there are at least 18 County councillors under contract to us or 5 Orillia coucillors. Otherwise take down all the rhetoric and start living your lives. Drink the poisoned water and like it. Nurse your children's and grandchildren's cancers.
Does anyone of you realize that Soldiers Memorial Hospital for more than a year now has a cancer clinic for children. Yes that's right, for children. Last report I heard, they have 61 active patients at all times and growing. Children for Christ's sake. Let's play chicken folks. Let's make it 121 children next year and 240 the following. I am sick to death as people sit around and let the suffering continue while they are wanting to play nice. Wake up, we have one opportunity this year and then it is gone for another four years. It's time for each of you to step back and look in the mirror. If you like what you see then please continue on. Keep playing your games of writing letters that go unread, signing petitions that are ignored and sit at council meetings and in the legislature. Non of it has worked and you will be still doing it 20 years from now. This mess can only be blamed on those who played nice over the last 20 years while the likes of Tony Guergis, Ron Stevens (mayor of Orillia) Premier MaGuinty, Bruce Stanton and Garfield Dunlop betrayed all of us. What has been tried doesn't work nor has it worked. Welcome back to square one.
jim tolnai
We Still Need a Forensic Audit
We Still Need a Judicial Inquiry
We Need to Audit the Library Project as Well
We Need to Impeach Mayor Ron Stevens
Mar. 07, 2010
If we change Oh! Canada then why not to this???
Eh? Canada! Our homes on Native Land,
True passionate love in hockey we command.
With glowing skies our three seas rise
The true north warm and green
From far and wide, we stand aside
For Queen that's seldom seen.
God keep this land with health-care that is free.
Aye Canada we skate and ski for thee.
Hey! Canada - Beats U.S. two-to-three.
jim tolnai
Mar. 02, 2010
Another Local Charity????? Exposed
I thought maybe a good way to go on was to let people see why it is so important to do due diligence before parting with your hard earned money. When I first started to look into charities it was because of the treatment dealt to a woman by a Barrie charity. I was outraged and decided to see if Orillia charities might be different. What I found was it isn't. Huge amounts of money are collected with very little actually getting to those that donors think their gift is for. Two examples so far show how needed resources for those who are supposed to be the beneficiaries gets used up with very little ever going to those in need.
This will be the last charity I will report on and hope that the local news organizations will take up cause to expose the many others that are no better than these three examples. All information I share is public and is available at NATIVE CHILDREN'S FOUNDATION OF CANADA INC.. As with the Community Foundation and the Sharing place this charities' numbers don't make sense and should be investigated by the authorities. When I decided to look further into charities this was the first one I picked because it's name indicates that their efforts are supposed to be for children.
My family and I have been raising money for Sleeping Children Around the World for many years. The first thing I did when we were made aware of it, was to do my due diligence. What I found is a charity that indeed is a charity with the vast amount of monies going to the benefit of those who it is raised for. Here is their web-site for those of you who might want to do your own due diligence. http://scaw.org Here also is the link to their Revenue Canada information Rev Can SCAW Check their filings out and see what a charity should be and compare their expenses vs what the 3 Orillia ones I have exposed. So here goes.
This charity received their charitable status in 2002. I will start by introducing the directors for 2002. Some of them might be people you know or recognize.
RAYMOND C SMITH PRESIDENT MISSIONARY
REV LARRY FREEMAN BOARD CHAIR PASTOR
DONALD G PIPE TREASURER RETIRED TEACHER
DENISE ANNA SMITH SECRETARY MISSIONARY
MICHAEL ASELSTYNE BOARD MEMBER BUSINESS
In 2003 they were joined by
PAUL LANE BOARD MEMBER and
DAVE MCCULLOUGH BOARD MEMBER
Now let us get on with the numbers. You will see a pattern that builds to 2008. The totals are for the 7 years these people have been operating. The first two columns are the Revenue and Expenses. The following columns are a breakdown on where these monies have been spent.
Revenue Expenses Wages Travel Office Supplies Advertising Professional Services Gifts to Donees
2002 $ 6,221 $ 1,787 $ 581 $ 0 $ 0 $ 1,206 $ 0 $ 0
2003 $ 90,935 $ 71,092 $40,299 $11,178 $ 4,767 $ 327 $1,500 $ 9,481
2004 $112,438 $ 80,626 $49,816 $18,969 $ 7,433 $ 862 $3,103 $18,626
2005 $140,566 $136,526 $52,174 $17,910 $ 6,571 $ 1,494 $2,996 $54,439
2006 $114,067 $125,355 $55,842 $18,547 $10,753 $ 2,047 $2,675 $33,752
2007 $124,963 $ 99,154 $61,092 $11,238 $ 8,301 $15,428 $1,696 $21,412
2008 $114,015 $118,606 $77,300 $13,585 $11,450 $13,922 $1,418 $14,578
Total $703,205 $633,146 $337,104 $91,427 $49,275 $35,286 $13,388 $152,288
Can anyone honestly call this a charity??? It is being operated out of a waterfront home on Couchiching Point. In my opinion it is setup for no more than creating expenses. How many of you have realized a 50% increase in wages over the last 6 years? Year two the wage was $40,299. In year 7 it had grown to $77,300. Look at the amount spent on travel. Seems excessive to me. So while people believe their money is going to help Native Children a mere 21% makes it there if indeed it actually ever gets to the children. You see in most cases when funds are said to go to Qualified Donees it means that the recipient is actually another charity. Not always, but mostly that is the fact. Now when a charity gives to another charity it means that some of the donation actually will help pay for the Donee's own operating expense. Let's say the Donee's operate their organizations the same as The Native Children's Foundation? So of the $152,288 that would actually get to native children there would only be $31,980 left after expenses. That's right. If the Donee's expenses run at 81% the same as Native Children's the children the needy would end up with $31,980. That my friends is (4 1/2 %) four and one half percent.
This scenario just goes on and on. The Sharing Place, the Community Foundation and now this one. I looked at three charities and all three of them come up with the same scenario. Coincidence or is this a pattern? Unfortuneately this is common behaviour.
Take the $208,000 that the Community Foundation donated to Qualified Donees. If the Donees overheads are the same as my three examples then out of the pitiful $208,000 handed out by the Community Foundation a mere $41,600 actually reached the needy. That is, after people and business donated $1,300,000 again a mere three point two percent (3.2%). Folks, I wish this was a sick joke. Unfortunately this whole charity business is a nightmare. It's a nightmare for all those who give from their hearts and compassion for their fellow man. But it is a bigger nightmare for those who are told that all these monies are being donated but never seem to get much of it. No wonder the needy will always be needy with these kind of people looking after their charitable interests. Makes me sick as all of you should be sick reading this. It's time to make changes. It's time to help those who need help and expose those who run these types of operations in the name of the poor, disadvantaged, aged, children, handicapped, homeless, working poor, God and all the other groups who are the most vulnerable. Yes this is the Orillia I have been seeing for the last ten years and have been trying to get you to listen. It is why I have been Speaking Out. While I will leave the Charity subject to the authorities and would be most happy to help them in their investigation, it is now your responsibility to make sure that the Packet, Orillia Today and the authorities hear your demands for justice. It's easy for them to ignore me, not so easy for them to ignore all of you. I know you are caring. I know you are generous. I know that the vast majority in Orillia and area are honest and hardworking. And I also know that with you saying Enough is Enough we can make Orillia and area the type of community we all want for our children. Do come back as there is more corruption as it seems to never end. Make sure you share this site with all your contacts, friends, neighbours and family.
jim tolnai
