Fair Play

Up-date on Fair Play Blog

2009-11-05T05:17:00.002-05:00

Well, it's been 6 months or more and 150 posts later since I started Fair Play Blog. My initial thought was to write one or two stories a week or maybe none at all, on some weeks. I am happy to say that is not how it has turned out, and the stories and information pieces have been posted for the most part daily. It has been fun.

I am rethinking Fair Play and what to do with Fair Play. To me this is important since I have a very loyal and sizeable group of readers. Blogs today are more important than ever since the main stream media continue to fail.

Anyway, I am going to take the next couple of weeks at least to figure out what to do with Fair Play. In the meantime I may post a story or two, so stay in touch.

Thank you Ian Connerty

2009-11-03T08:13:00.000-05:00

Based on the feedback I have received I know my readers have enjoyed guest columnist Ian Connerty. Ian is a big talent and I am proud to say a very dear friend of many years.

If the local Windsor Star could find 2 or 3 writers like Ian, the newspaper might be interesting again, but don't hold your breath.

Kyoto’s son, Copenhagen, will also be a failure

2009-10-30T10:58:00.000-04:00

By Ian Connerty, guest columnist

Back in December 1997 a United Nations protocol was signed in Kyoto, Japan to reduce world wide emissions of greenhouse gases as a way of fighting global warming.

The Kyoto Protocol, as it came to be called, took effect in February 2005 and by October 2009, 184 countries had ratified the treaty.

But since Kyoto was signed, greenhouse gas emissions have actually gone up, not down.

That’s because the United States, the county that produced the most greenhouse gases at the time, accounting for 36% of all emissions in the world, refused to sign Kyoto.

US President George W. Bush felt that so-called developing countries like China and even Russia were given an unfair advantage because they had zero reduction targets under the protocol.

He was right. By August 2008, China passed the US as the world’s biggest emitter of CO2. And since 2000, greenhouse gas emissions from China have increased by 120% as their economy has come to life. China now accounts for 20% of all worldwide emissions.

Kyoto is a failure.

In order to “save” Kyoto, the United Nations will be pushing for a new and tougher emission reduction protocol this December in Copenhagen. It would come into force after Kyoto expires 2012.

As far as the United Nations is concerned, Kyoto was only the beginning, asking for modest reductions in emissions. For European Union countries the reduction target was 8%, for Canada it was 6% and for Russia and China it was zero.

The Copenhagen targets will be much higher. The UN wants to cut global emissions by 60 to 80 per cent by 2020.

And fighting climate change will very, very costly.

While Kyoto is estimated to have cost Europe $23 Billion to comply, by way of funding clean technology projects in developing counties, Copenhagen sets the price tag at $250 Billion PER YEAR by 2020.

On the positive side, the UN also says there will be new markets for low carbon energy products of around $500 Billion by 2050.

However the biggest polluters, the US and China must sign on for Copenhagen to happen. China says it will only consider signing if the US does.

And that doesn’t seem likely, even under a new President who is more committed to fighting climate change than his predecessor.

The US Senate is stalling legislation which would make it easier for Mr. Obama to sign Copenhagen.

As a result, both President Obama and the UN are down playing expectations for this December. In fact, Mr. Obama is now saying he may not even attend.

Without a commitment from the United States to a new international climate change Protocol, China will also say no. And so will Russia, and so on and so on.

Kyoto is dead, and its beginning to look like Kyoto’s son is on life support.

Ignatieff turns to key Chretien advisor for answers

2009-10-29T10:12:00.000-04:00

By Ian Connerty, guest columnist

Michael Ignatieff took over from Stephane Dion as leader of the Liberal Party of Canada just 10 months ago after a revolt by Liberal Members of Parliament that ousted Mr. Dion

Mr. Dion lost his job because he led the Liberals to their worst election result since 1867 in the 2008 election when the Liberals got just 26.2 per cent of the popular vote.

Most of the Liberal Members of Parliament, fresh from that election, rallied around Mr. Ignatieff and installed him as leader of the party last December.

However, last week, after 10 months under Mr. Ignatieff, a nationwide opinion poll showed that the Liberals had dropped even further to just 25 per cent public support.

Last month was a particularly bad one for Mr. Ignatieff - highlighted by having his hand picked Quebec lieutenant resign in a very public manner saying that the Party was being run by too many advisors from Toronto.

Under renewed pressure from the same Liberal Members of Parliament who ousted Mr. Dion and installed him as leader, Mr. Ignatieff took drastic action.

He fired his chief of staff, Ian Davey, from Toronto and replaced him with Peter Donolo, from Toronto.

But unlike Mr. Davey, Mr. Donolo has worked on Parliament Hill before, as Director of Communications for former Prime Minister Jean Chretien from 1991 to 1999, helping him win three majority governments.

Prior to that he was a communications advisor to Toronto Mayor Art Eggleton and in 2003, he co-chaired the successful Toronto mayoral campaign of David Miller.

Firing Mr. Davey must have been difficult for Mr. Ignatieff because Mr. Davey is the reason that Mr. Ignatieff is in politics in Canada.

Four years ago, Mr. Davey went down to Harvard University in Boston to convince Mr. Ignatieff to quit his job as a professor there and return to Canada. They have been close political friends since then.

The firing is being touted as an example of Mr. Ignatieff’s ability to make the tough decisions demanded of leaders in both politics and business.

Mr. Donolo is being called a political magician because of his success in helping to get two Mayors of Toronto elected and for doing the same with Mr. Chretien nationally.

He better bring his best bag of tricks back to Ottawa with him if he hopes to have the same success with Mr. Ignatieff.

Failed H1N1 flu strategy is killing children

2009-10-28T10:04:00.000-04:00

By Ian Connerty, guest columnist

Worldwide scientific studies show that the average age of patients admitted to hospital because of H1N1, the so-called swine flu, is 18 and the largest number of deaths is among teenagers and young adults.

But the Canadian and Ontario governments have decided, in spite of the mounting evidence that they are not at high risk of getting this flu, so they can’t even get vaccines yet.

Instead, a policy directive posted on the Ontario government website on September 24, 2009 says the following are on priority lists to get the scarce shots of the H1N1 flu vaccine:

people with chronic medical conditions, under age 65,
pregnant women,
healthy children from six months to five years old,
persons residing in remote and isolated settings or communities,
health care workers involved in pandemic response or the delivery of essential health care services, and
household contacts and care providers of persons at high risk who cannot be immunized or may not respond to vaccines.

Meanwhile, an 11 year old girl from Cornwall died two days ago in an Ottawa hospital and a 13 boy from Vaughan, a suburb north of Toronto, died yesterday at home in his father’s arms. Both died from H1N1.

They were not on the government’s priority list and therefore couldn’t even get the H1N1 vaccine.

And no one on the government’s priority list has died. What is going on here?

If children are dying, and no one in the priority groups is dying of H1N1, how can government officials stand by their decision to withhold a life-saving vaccine from Canadian children?

If parents did this, they would be arrested for child abuse and if the child dies, they might be charged with homicide.

How can health officials sleep at night knowing that their ill-conceived policies are targeting the wrong groups to get the vaccine and that their tardiness in delivering the H1N1 vaccine is resulting in dead children?

Wake up government.

Change your policies NOW in the face of the stark and uncomfortable facts. You were wrong. This disease is killing children, not seniors and care workers.

Another scientific study released just yesterday shows that older people have more immunity to this disease than young people. Back in September the Ontario government knew this saying: “data shows that infection from the pandemic H1N1 virus does not typically occur in persons over age 60, probably as a result of residual immunity from exposure to H1N1 prior to 1957.”

Most times governments are just wrong-headed and dumb. This time they are endangering your children’s health.

The slow and painful death of newspapers

2009-10-27T08:29:00.000-04:00

By Ian Connerty, guest columnist

In the six months ending Sept 30 2009 circulation of daily newspapers in the U.S. fell another 10% compared to one year ago. This comes on top of a 5% drop last year.

The biggest losers were the Dallas Morning News, the San Francisco Chronicle and the Newark Star Ledger which all had declines in paid circulation of more than 20% in just six months.

The Los Angeles Times dropped 11% and the Chicago Tribune was down 9 percent. Even the New York Times lost 7% of its readers. The only US daily with a slight increase was the Wall Street Journal which was up by 0.6%.

Canadian media is also feeling the pinch. Recently we witnessed the sad demise of the now bankrupt $4 Billion CanWest newspaper and TV chain and the closure of local affiliate TV stations.

This loss of readers and viewers is a problem for the mass media because advertisers look at paid circulation and viewer numbers to decide if, and how much they will spend with these media outlets over the next six months.

As a result of these reduced numbers, advertising revenues will now be down for most U.S. newspapers over the next six months and they will have to lay off more staff, further reducing the quality of their product.

And then they will lose more readers, and then they will lose more advertisers, in an endless cycle.

There is no end in sight to the bleeding.

Sell your media stocks now, if you still own any. Take your loses now, because the future will be more of the same.

This problem for the media is not just as sign of the global recession that is hitting newspapers and network TV hard, it’s because of the new competition – free news and commentary on the internet that has become a daily experience for former subscribers.

As for future customers - young people. They don’t even read newspapers – never have. They grew up on TV “Info-tainment news” and have now graduated to internet chat rooms.

The future is here on the Internet on blogs like this, and you are the proof that they work.

Informed commentary has been dropped by many mass media outlets in order to save money in their downward spiral and that is what the Internet is all about, as well as some real news, if you know where to find it.

OPSEU gets ready to fight “Dalton Days”

2009-10-26T09:46:00.000-04:00

By Ian Connerty, guest columnist

The 115,000 member Ontario Public Service Employees Union is getting ready to fight the McGuinty government if it tries to make up some of its $25 billion deficit by laying off OPSEU members or forcing them to take unpaid days off.

“We are already planning a bold strategy to fight the coming attack,” said Warren ‘Smokey’ Thomas in a letter to all OSPEU members. “The Liberals’ plan is to make us pay. Premier Dalton McGuinty would not rule out unpaid days off for the million Ontarians who earn their bread in the provincial public sector. And the spectre of privatization now looms over every public service worker,” he continued.

This came in response to Premier McGuinty saying last week that he has not ruled out forcing Ontario Public Servants to take days off without pay and other suggestions that the government might look to privatize some of the work it does now.

Given that 80% of the $113 Billion provincial budget is spent on salaries, the Premier may have to embark on the biggest political fight of his life - against his own employees.

OPSEU responded; “As for more layoffs, they can only weaken local economies, destroy the services people need, and generate headlines the Liberals really don’t want to see.”

OPSEU has concluded that the Premier’s plan is to threaten layoffs and privatization of public service jobs to “force public employees to agree to the wage cuts or “Dalton Days” he wants.”

However, according to OPSEU such an arrangement, that was called “The Social Contract” by the Bob Rae government back in the 1990s when they forced OPSEU to take unpaid days off, would be struck down by the courts today.

They cite the case of BC Premier Gordon Campbell who attempted, in 2007, to legislate an end to collective agreements of BC health workers. The Supreme Court of Canada ruled against BC and as far as OPSEU is concerned, “collective bargaining has been recognized as a protected right under the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.”

Ouch.

Watch out Dalton, OPSEU will take you to the Supreme Court if you try this. And remember what happened to Bob Rae. He ended up being humiliated and took the NDP to a third place finish in the next election after he instituted his infamous “Rae Days.”

Mr McGuinty looks poised to go down the same road as Mr. Rae in order to cut government spending. If he does, he risks facing the same result as Mr. Rae at the next election.

Ontario economy hits the wall

2009-10-23T11:27:00.000-04:00

By Ian Connerty, guest columnist

Back in April 2008 the Ontario government projected a balanced budget and a surplus of $800 million.

Eighteen months later, Ontario Treasurer Dwight Duncan says the provincial deficit will be almost $25 billion this year and the accumulated deficits over the next three years will total $65 billion.

Wow. What a difference 18 months can make.

One the major bond rating agencies, DBRS was quick to react to the news, lowering the province’s bond rating from AAA to AA, a move which will increase the cost of borrowing money to finance the deficit.

DBRS also said it will take at least a decade for the province to reduce its debt burden to a more manageable level without tax increases or sharp cuts in government spending.

This huge downturn is the result of the global recession which hit Ontario’s economy and especially its auto sector very hard. More than 200,000 jobs were lost in Ontario this year including 25% of all jobs in the auto sector - gone and not likely to return.

At the same time, because of business loses and closures, corporate tax revenues have dropped by almost $6 billion, a whopping 48% less than last year. Other tax revenues are also down.

But government spending continues to grow. Spending is up almost $5 billion to $113 billion, mainly on health and education which account for more than 65% of all government spending.

Another $32 billion has been allocated for infrastructure projects to create short term jobs to replace the ones that have disappeared.

Treasurer Duncan indicated that cuts in spending are coming, but not right away. So far, cuts have been put off in favour of three years of continued deficit spending. But that might not be possible if the economy remains in free fall.

Mr Duncan announced a review of all government spending and Premier McGuinty has not ruled out forcing public servants to take days off without pay, a move that is being compared to the infamous “Rae Days” which led to the downfall of Ontario’s only NDP government back in the 1990s.

Given that 80% of all provincial government spending is on salaries, the government may have no other choice. Either lay people off or cut back their salaries with forced days off.

The options facing the government are very limited – keep spending and borrowing, cut program spending or raise taxes. Two out of these three will be very unpopular with voters in the run up the next provincial election slated for October 2011.

Premier McGuinty, who is nearing the end of his second majority government mandate is facing the biggest political challenge of his career and is obviously hoping for a miraculous economic recovery before the next election.

New Ontario law will protect Caregivers

2009-10-22T09:25:00.000-04:00

By Ian Connerty, guest columnist

In the wake of the widely reported “nanny-gate” affair which saw Federal Liberal MP Ruby Dhalla get in trouble over the caregivers she hired to help her mother, the Ontario government has introduced legislation to protect the rights of the 21,000 people across the province who are part of the federal Live-In Caregiver Program.

The need for this legislation has long been promoted by Liberal backbencher and former Citizenship and Immigration Minister Mike Colle. He succeeded in convincing Premier McGuinty to go ahead with the new law, giving hope to backbenchers who are promoting other issues.

The new law will protect foreign nationals who are live-in caregivers by:

Prohibiting recruiters from charging fees to these employees;
Prohibiting recruitment fees or fees for related services, such as resume writing;
Preventing employers from recovering recruitment and placement costs from caregivers;
Prohibiting employers and recruiters from taking possession of a caregiver's personal documents, such as passports and work permits; and
Allowing live-in caregivers up to three and a half years to make a complaint - an increase from the current two year period under the Employment Standards Act.

Obama reaches out to Russia but abandons Eastern Europe

2009-10-21T12:03:00.004-04:00

By Ian Connerty, guest columnist

This week US President Barack Obama sent Vice President Joe Biden on a whirlwind tour of Eastern Europe to do some serious damage control.

Biden will meet with political leaders in Poland, the Czech Republic and Romania in a vain attempt to reassure them that the US will continue to protect them against a newly emboldened Russian Bear.

This follows an earlier trip by Biden to Ukraine and Georgia who are also nervous that Russia is ending its long hibernation that began when the Berlin Wall famously came down in November 1989 heralding the break up of the USSR.

Since then the United States has expanded its influence in these former USSR satellite states, while Russia was licking its wounds and very nearly went bankrupt.

Former President George W. Bush developed strong ties with all of the former satellite states by, among other things, promoting NATO membership for Ukraine and Georgia. Then came the ill-fated hostilities in Georgia last year backed by the US. Russia quickly moved its armed forces into Georgia and told the US in no uncertain terms to get out of their home turf. Bush backed down and Russia is now re-exerting its influence on neighbouring states.

President Obama has reversed Bush’s policies of confronting Russia and is trying to improve relations with the former Superpower.

Last June Obama went to Moscow to cement the new relationship by agreeing to cancel the Missile Defence system that Bush promised to Eastern Europe. Bush said the system was needed to aim missiles at a hostile Iran. Russia did not agree and felt that Moscow was dangerously in range of the proposed missiles in Poland and the Czech Republic.

Not surprisingly, the day after Obama cancelled the proposed missile defence system, Russia said they would help the US in dealing with Iran.

That was the deal. A chance for peace in the Middle East now and put Eastern Europe on the back burner. As a result, Eastern European countries that until very recently enjoyed US support in standing up Russia, quite rightly feel betrayed.

Today Russia is no longer the economic basket case it was in 1989. It is piling up huge profits from oil and gas resources thanks to a National Energy Program put in place by Prime Minister Vladimir Putin.

And Mr Putin found some very eager customers for his natural gas reserves in Western Europe not Eastern Europe, notably Germany, France and Italy. In fact, Germany is a financial partner in a new pipeline that will deliver Russian gas under the Baltic Sea directly to Germany, bypassing Poland.

Therefore, it’s not surprising that Germany, France and Italy don’t seem to care that much about Eastern Europe and their new concerns about Russia. They want Russian gas and are prepared to treat Russia as an ally in order to get that gas.

As a result, the newly emancipated Eastern European countries will to be left on their own, once again, to deal with the Russian Bear.

And we all know what happened the last time the Bear got hungry – Eastern Europe became a tasty morsel to be swallowed up. This time President Obama has offered them up on a platter as he tries to play nice with his new found friend Vladimir Putin.

Ian Connerty - Special Guest Columnist

2009-10-20T13:46:00.003-04:00

A very dear associate of mine, Ian Connerty will be writing for Fair Play Blog over the next week or two. Ian is very talented, very thoughtful and very articulate. I know you will enjoy reading his opinions.

Thanks very much for doing this Ian.

Remo

What to do with Enemy Combatants and Terrorists?

2009-10-19T01:24:00.001-04:00

The U.S. President, Barack Obama has made it clear that the Guantanamo Bay prison now holding enemy combatants captured on the battle field will be closed. What is to happen with these people, some of whom are terrorist masterminds and very very dangerous.

In a very well written piece just published in the Wall Street Journal, former United States Attorney General Michael B. Mukasey challenges us to think about what to do with enemy combatants and terrorists.

This is a lengthy article, but I strongly encourage you to take the time to read it.

OPINION OCTOBER 18, 2009

Civilian Courts Are No Place to Try Terrorists

We tried the first World Trade Center bombers in civilian courts. In return we got 9/11 and the murder of nearly 3,000 innocents.

By MICHAEL B. MUKASEY
The Obama administration has said it intends to try several of the prisoners now detained at Guantanamo Bay in civilian courts in this country. This would include Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the mastermind of the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, and other detainees allegedly involved. The Justice Department claims that our courts are well suited to the task.

Based on my experience trying such cases, and what I saw as attorney general, they aren't. That is not to say that civilian courts cannot ever handle terrorist prosecutions, but rather that their role in a war on terror—to use an unfashionably harsh phrase—should be, as the term "war" would suggest, a supporting and not a principal role.

To continue please click here.

Ontario Budget Update Next Week

2009-10-16T06:48:00.004-04:00

The "Great Recession" continues to make budgets and deficits major political problems for all governments. The Ontario government will provide its fall economic update next week. Finance Minister Dwight Duncan has his hands full dealing with expenditures as a result of falling corporate tax revenues, 48% last year. Boy that is a big number.

The 2009-2010 deficit was projected to be around 14 billion. This past June the number shot up to $18.5 billion. We will see how big the number is next week.

The Ontario Liberal government cannot be fully blamed for this, but politics is unfair, so they will get plenty of blame. Minister Duncan, who is a smart political operative will have to use all his skill to navigate around the scary size of the deficit and then figure out how to get things back under control.

I cannot predict what Duncan will do, but it will be interesting.

Update on Bankruptcy Protection for Owners of the Windsor Star

2009-10-15T08:19:00.001-04:00

CanWest Global Communications Corporation, the large media company and owners of the Windsor Star is moving quickly to restructure. The company filed for protection under the Companies' Creditors Arrangement Act (CCAA) in the past week or so. I thought for sure we would have seen a feature story on this on the front page of the Star, but I couldn't find it.

CanWest's lawyer, Lyndon Barnes, was before an Ontario judge on Tuesday October 13/09 asking for a very tight time line to restructure the company. He was also there to fight with lawyers representing Goldman Sachs whose lawyers have claimed their interests are not being protected. This fight is just starting, my bet is that Goldman will play hardball with CanWest. I think they see an opportunity here.

The big problem with CanWest is debt and more debt. Most of the huge debt piled on by CanWest came from the $3.5-billion purchase in 2000 of the Hollinger Inc. newspaper chain, and later the $2.3-billion buyout of Alliance Atlantis Communications Inc. in 2007.

There are very few ways to get rid of debt. You can pay it off. CanWest cannot do that. Everybody takes a haircut. Which is what CanWest would like, but people like Goldman don't like. Or the company is sold off in pieces and creditors agree on how to divide up the spoils.

Anyway this is all very interesting, I will try to keep you up to date.

The "Nobel" Prize

2009-10-14T01:13:00.001-04:00

Given all the controversy over U.S. President Barack Obama being awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, I thought my readers might like to have some independent information about the person who created the Nobel prizes.

I found a short but good piece in an online Swedish paper called "The Local".

Alfred Nobel's last will and testament
Published: 5 Oct 09 11:32 CET

Swedish inventor and scholar Alfred Nobel created the Nobel prizes in his will, written in 1895, bequeathing his fortune to a fund that would honour "those who, during the preceding year, shall have conferred the greatest benefit on mankind."

Click here to read the rest.

Very Thin Skin Over at the Windsor Star

2009-10-13T03:34:00.003-04:00

I had to chuckle, not very loudly of course, but chuckle I did.

In the Saturday, October 10, 2009 edition of the Windsor Star, feature opinion writer Chris Vander Doelen (whom I confess to knowing and liking) did a piece about the City of Windsor and County of Essex, doing some "fence mending". The story had little to do with the City-County feud or with any real fence mending. It was just a cover for the Windsor Star to slip in another piece on the Windsor Essex Development Commission (WEDC) and, of course, to take a shot at yours truly, and the previous WEDC Baord. Readers of my blog know I pull no punches when talking about the failures and antics over at the Windsor Star, especially this past week. Star management was very quick to show some very thin skin.

Back to the details of the Vander Doelen story. Chris always tries to be polite and careful, which he was in this article. But he did give this story a certain slant. That is okay; I have always said that is one of the perks given to an opinion writer. But what I don't understand is, why do it under some kind of false cover? Hey, just say what you have to say.

Okay, let me see if I can summarize Vander Doelen's main points:

the previous Board was paid an honorarium
when the WEDC was left without a CEO, the Board appointed me via my company
I was paid $1200 a day (Chris claims this is my standard rate)
the previous Board received bad legal advice
the result of the bad legal advice was that some monies had to be donated to charities to resolve a Revenue Canada issue
and new Board Chairman Lindsay Boyd, with a big sigh, just doesn't know where and how the old Board went wrong

Let me deal with Lindsay Boyd first. Lindsay, the entire previous Board is aware that you pretended to support us when you talked to me, but often ran to City Hall to slam us behind our backs. Every time you did this, my phone rang from multiple sources. Anyway, I wish you and the new Board lots of luck. I don't think any of the previous Board members will be slamming you and the new Board in public or behind your back.

Yes, the previous Board received an honorarium, just like the Board at the Windsor Airport and the Board over at the County of Essex Power Corporation. I wonder, who is the Chair of that Essex Power Corpoaration? The City and County, via their own transition Board, approved the policy of honorariums for the WEDC Board. Chris forgot to mention that.

Yes, I was paid $1200 a day plus reasonable expenses. Chris, just so you know, this is far below my private sector market rate. And in the private sector when I negotiate rates, I usually, not always, get stock options as well. And, oh Chris, I know you would want to know that I and my company donated 2 days per week to the Commission for a period of 18 months. This was a promise I made to the Board, which I kept in full. I will let the wizards at the Windsor Star calculate what all of that was worth, and while they are at it, they might want to consider a factor for lost opportunity and add that to the calculation.

Chris, please let me know when any of the new WEDC Board members decides to forgo 2 days per week of pay or income for a period of 18 months to support the WEDC effort. I am not a rich man, but I was happy to be able to do it. I thought the cause was worth it.

Chris makes no mention of the fact that the previous Board inherited an operational and legal mess. We did not make a big deal about it because we knew our job was to fix it up, and for the most part we did just that. The previous Board was very competent, did a good job, and got a lot done. Those are the facts.

Yes, maybe we did receive bad legal advice; I don't know as I don't have access to what the new Board is dealing with.

If the consequences of the so-called bad legal advice is that some Windsor-Essex charities received donations, well I accept full responsiblity for that, and I know the charities will use the money wisely.

In closing may I recommend:

that all Board meeting packages, initiatives, and documents of the previous Board be made public. Please black out the names of any and all clients, as we promised clients their names would not be made public unless they chose to do so;
make public all Board packages, initiatives and documents of the new Board since March 2009;
and please make public the Board orientation packages prepared for the new Board, which I am sure were prepared under the guidance of new Board Chair Lindsay Boyd, so we can get an appreciation of his knowledge, skillset, and leadership style;
oh, and please make public all the advertising and joint initiatives the previous Board undertook in partnership with the Windsor Star. From my understanding Star management was exceptionally pleased with our joint effort. And if the Star made some money on those joint efforts, that is good, too.

I am sure an objective comparison of all the obove documents would be interesting. And you know, there is no better person to do that than Chris Vander Doelan.

Again, my readers will know that I have pulled no punches when talking about the Windsor Star. A couple of close Amherstburg friends have asked me if I am worried the Star might go after me. Let me say this: I know the Star has a lot of resources, including Chris Vander Doelen, and yes I expect them to go after me. The Star folks are not used to real scrutiny, and when they get some, they react poorly. Everyone should know that I really appreciate the Star folks visiting my Fair Play Blog daily. Thanks for the support.

And I say to my Amherstburg friends, no, I am not worried about it.

Happy Thanksgiving

2009-10-09T02:01:00.000-04:00

Enjoy Canadian Thanksgiving weekend, be safe, see you next Tuesday.

The End for Canwest Global?

2009-10-08T04:31:00.002-04:00

CanWest Global Communications Corporation, owners of the Windsor Star, filed for bankruptcy protection on Tuesday October 6, 2009. This was expected, as the company is under a mountain of debt.

The Globe and Mail did an excellent piece; read below.

CanWest assets likely to be sold after company files for creditor protection
Struggling under $4-billion in debt,
media company strikes deal with creditors

Grant Robertson, Tavia Grant and Andrew Willis
Tuesday, Oct. 06, 2009

CanWest Global Communications Corp.'s (CGS.A-T0.19----%) television and newspaper assets will likely be sold separately as Canada's biggest media company moves to satisfy its lenders.

Buried under billions in debt, CanWest filed for bankruptcy protection Tuesday, telling a judge in Toronto it was now insolvent.

Click here for the entire story.

Ontario Health Minister Forced to Resign Over "eHealth" Scandal

2009-10-07T08:27:00.009-04:00

As my readers will know, I have been writing about the problems over at eHealth for some time. This is the organization that is supposed to put all medical records in electronic form for easy use. Once this is done it should lower the cost of health care management and make it easier for practitioners to deliver service to the patients. So, in theory, eHealth is a good thing and should be worth the money.

However, the implementation of the work being done over at eHealth is another matter altogether. It has run into lots of problems and has emerged as a major scandal. In political terms the scandal has given the Ontario Progressive Conservative party a big boost in their chances in the next provincial election. Because of this scandal, its size, the fact that it deals with health care, and the amount of attention it has received, all future criticisms of the McGuinty government will be taken more seriously. This may not be fair, but that is politics.

The following is the big story in the Toronto Star today.

eHealth scandal claims health minister

Premier scrambles to shuffle cabinet as David Caplan quits on eve of damning report on eHealth scandal

Published On Wed Oct 7 2009

The eHealth Ontario spending scandal has claimed one of the most powerful people at Queen's Park – Health Minister David Caplan, whose resignation forces Premier Dalton McGuinty to revamp his cabinet.

But McGuinty has one hand tied behind his back as he struggles to reshape his embattled Liberal government because Deputy Premier George Smitherman, who is planning to run for Toronto mayor next year, does not want to quit his energy and infrastructure post just yet.

"Things are chaotic," an insider said as worried Liberal MPPs held a late-night conference call to demand answers about the confusion at the highest levels of the provincial government.

To read the entire story click here.

Windsor Star - Poor Attempt to Apologize

2009-10-06T07:27:00.009-04:00

Yesterday I wrote about the awful reporting featured in Saturday's October 3, 2009 edition of the Windsor Star, our daily regional paper. Anyone who takes the time to read the statistics will know this paper has monopoly-like control over the news given to our residents.

In my post of yesterday, I pointed out several blatant errors in the story written by famous reporter and super snooper Dave Battagello. He also gave the story a special tilt, just for good measure. Normally I wouldn't bother to comment at such length, but snoop was over the top. Battagello weaved a fairytale about a hoard of senior city employees being forced out of city employment. He pointed the finger at Mayor Francis.

The story was so bad, his list even included people who were not city employees, and some who were not forced out.

Assistant chief honcho Marty Beneteau should have done the right thing. We all make mistakes, and I am being kind here to Battagello: a real apology, retraction and correction was in order. But what do we get from our near monopoly news source?

It appears as if opinion writer Chris Vander Doelen (I confess to knowing and liking Chris) was dispatched to do some damage control. In today's October 6, 2009 edition, Vander Doelen calls the Battagello list "padded" and gives an example or two, or maybe seven, of some folks who were not forced out but left for various reasons. He also tries to give some balance to the Battagello fairytale. But you know, a fairytale is a fairytale.

I thank Chris for his efforts. But this looks like a poor attempt by Windsor Star management at an apology, retraction and correction. What a way to run a ship.

I repeat what I said yesterday: the Windsor Star is the most negative and harmful institution we have in our entire region.

Are there any Standards at the Windsor Star?

2009-10-05T06:20:00.011-04:00

Boy, super snooper Dave Battegello really outdid himself in this past Saturday's October 3, 2009 edition of the Windsor Star. He went a long way to make my point--that standards at the Windsor Star are not what they should be. You wonder just how much embarrassment Chief Honcho and publisher Jim Venney and assistant chief honcho Marty Beneteau can take.

Super snooper Dave Battegello and whoever runs the Saturday edition dedicated almost the entire front page, and, if you can believe it, all of page 5, to a story regarding professional staff, who have left Windsor city employment. This story, or maybe fairytale, titled "The Revolving Door" with a sub-headline "High turnover costs city hall money and reputations, critics say" deserves to be looked at closely, at least in my opinion.

You guessed it, this is another one of those stories where Star reporters appear to want to be opinion writers. They go out and find "critics" to fit nicely into their story line, gosh how convenient. By the way, is it true that super snoop Battegello no longer covers the municipal scene? And if so, why? Maybe in the interest of transparency, management will tell us why?

Anyway, back to the story, or fairytale. On the front pages of the Star, there are photographs, lots of them, 27 in fact, mine included. My post of today for Fair Play blog will focus on comments made about me and the Windsor Essex Development Commission (WED,C) since I am familiar with the facts and details about the Commission. As my readers will know, I served as Chairman of the WEDC for more than two and a half years and as acting CEO of the Commission for about one year. I was initially appointed to the WEDC by the then Essex County Warden and Mayor of LaSalle Mike Raymond. Mike did a top notch job during his time.

Others talked about in the Battegello story-fairytale will have to speak for themselves, since I, unlike Battegello, don't know their facts or circumstances. But I do know super snoop Dave did not call me for this story.

This is how the story-fairytale is framed for the readers:

"Since November 2003, when Mayor Eddie Francis was first elected, more than 30 senior managers have either been terminated, taken other jobs or disappeared into the sunset."

Then our super snooper goes on to say:

"Nearly every municipal department, from public works to economic development, has been affected by a steady stream of departures among its highest-ranking bureaucrats."

The above is a serious mistake, in fact. The Windsor Essex Development Commission (WEDC) is not a municipal department. Far from it. It is a corporation and has a legislative framework to follow as a corporation to satisfy the law of the land. Wow, that this important fact was misrepresented to Windsor Star readers is unbelievable.

Super snoop Dave goes on to write about the WEDC as follows:

Both Paul Bondy and Roman Dzus were shown the door before Fischer arrived. After Fischer was fired, board chairman Remo Mancini took over, but he was eventually forced out as well.

Another serious factual mistake. I was not forced out as Board Chairman, nor in my role as acting CEO of the Commission. I and my 9 colleagues on the Board all resigned at the same time. We did so because City Council and Essex County Council indicated they wanted elected officials on the Board. This was contrary to policy they established for the WEDC, and totally inconsistent with how we had been recruited. Super snoop Dave obviously doesn't know this and it looks like he never read our resignation letters. The letters were made public and given wide circulation by the Board. Maybe snoop just forgot about them. Hey, he had a story to write, and I am sure time was limited...

At the same meeting where the entire WEDC Board resigned, I informed the Board that my company, Sandstone Strategies, would be concluding my contract as CEO effective with my and all our resignations. Again we all resigned together, and we resigned because the elected officials indicated they wanted Board seats. No problem for us if that is what they wanted, but we certainly did not sign up for a political Board. As a matter of fact, we signed up for exactly the opposite, and I am proud that we, the whole Board, stuck to our guns. I believe time will prove us right.

By the way, if super snoop Dave has any documents that proves I was forced out, he should make them public. Ok Dave, let's have it.

If the Battegello story-fairytale has this many factual errors about the WEDC alone, then I wonder how many other mistakes, misrepresentations, or errors there must be?

Let me say, to the best of my knowledge, neither Mayor Fancis nor Warden Santos interfered with the work of the WEDC. Other elected officials certainly did. I may write more about that in the future.

And finally, nobody did a greater disservice to the WEDC than the Windsor Star; please take full credit for what you have done. Saturday's fairytale effort to put all the blame on the shoulders of Mayor Francis would be laughable if the damage done to the community by the Windsor Star were not so great. To put it bluntly, the Windsor Star is the most negative and harmful institution in our entire region.

China to Pass Japan

2009-10-02T06:50:00.013-04:00

It has been predicted for some time, but it appears China will pass Japan as the world's second largest economy sometime next year.

Yesterday, October 1, 2009 was the 60th anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic of China. My congratulations to the people of China. I attended celebrations at Queen's Park, seat of the Provincial Parliament for Ontario in Toronto. The event was hosted by Premier Dalton McGuinty, and several cabinet ministers were present including Minister of Trade and Economic Development Sandra Pupatello. A number of Chinese dignitaries and business people were present.

Twenty years ago, such an occasion would probably have passed without notice. Things have changed. Today China is a powerhouse, with a huge population, 1.4 billion. Militarily, it is modernizing its forces and increasing defense spending, and economically it is big, with a gross domestic product (GDP) of 4.4 trillion U.S. dollars for 2008.

Below is the best broad definition I can give you for GDP:

"Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is the broadest measure of a nation's total economic activity. More specifically, GDP represents the monetary value of all goods and services produced within a nation's geographic borders over a specified period of time.

GDP includes all personal consumption, all government expenditures, all investments in plants, equipment, inventories all residential investments, all exports, minus all imports."

Also remember that technically when the GDP declines for two consecutive quarters or more, by definition the economy is in a recession. And of course, we here in the West are currently in the "Great Recession".

I guess the big question is "why is China growing so fast"?

In 1978, after decades of strict state control over all productive assets, the government of China embarked on a major program of economic reform. As a matter of fact, it was a revolution in thought and practice. This revolution awoke a sleeping economic giant. It fostered rural enterprises and the formation of private business. This rewarded human ingenuity, hard work, and entrepreneurship. The Chinese government liberalized foreign trade and investment, relaxed state control over some prices, invested in industrial infrastructure, and made the education of its workforce a priority. Last but not least, a significant increase in worker efficiency has played a big role.

A very informative story in the New York Times (read below) shows there is lots to celebrate in China.

Chinese Economic Juggernaut Is Gaining on Japan
By HIROKO TABUCHI
Published: October 1, 2009

TOKYO — For years, Japan has been readying itself for the day that it is eclipsed economically by China. But as a result of the global slowdown, Japan’s difficulty in managing its economy and China’s rise — on vivid display Thursday as Beijing celebrated the 60th anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic — that day may come sooner than anyone predicted.

Read more, click here.

Cell Phone Numbers go public October 31, 2009

2009-10-01T12:08:00.005-04:00

Just a reminder, and a big one.

Cell phone Numbers go public October 31, 2009

All cell phone numbers are being released to telemarketing

companies and you will start to receive sales calls.

I am told - YOU WILL BE CHARGED FOR THESE CALLS

Use the Canadian Radio Television Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) "Do Not Call List Canada" website, and register your phone there to block these unwanted calls. The National Do Not Call List (DNCL) is great for consumers who want some privacy.

The address below should take you to the government site so you can register. Pass this information on to family and friends.

https://www.lnnte-dncl.gc.ca/index-eng

or you can always google "crtc do not call list"

A Billion Dollars is a Lot of Money

2009-09-30T06:58:00.002-04:00

I have written numerous stories about the "eHealth" scandal. This sad story just keeps getting worse as more details are made public.

An important update from the Toronto Star.

EHealth operation bled $1B

Auditor's report slams
Ontario's bungled push
for e-records and cash
it threw at the problem
Sep 30, 2009

Tanya Talaga
Rob Ferguson
Robert Benzie
Queen's Park Bureau

The cost of Ontario's bungled push toward electronic health records for every patient ballooned to more than $1 billion as successive Liberal and Progressive Conservative governments scrambled to bring the system online, says a critical new auditor general's report into the eHealth Ontario spending scandal.

The Star has learned Auditor General Jim McCarter's probe, slated for release next week, blasts Premier Dalton McGuinty's Liberal government for exacerbating problems that began under the previous Conservative administration and continuing a legacy of failure to modernize health records.

"It ain't pretty. This is not a happy tale," a senior official said Tuesday.

For the whole story click here.

Ontario Deficit for 2008-2009 Bigger than Projected

2009-09-29T00:21:00.004-04:00

The fiscal year for the Province of Ontario runs from April 1 to March 31st. It then takes a number of months before the Finance Minister is able to close the books and give a final accounting. This year is no different. On Friday, September 25th, Minister Dwight Duncan finally closed the books on the 2008-2009 fiscal year.

Minister Duncan had projected a deficit of around $3.9 billion, but the number came in $2.5 billion higher by the time the books closed on March 31st 2009. The total provincial debt now stands in the neighbourhood of $113 billion. I agree these are all very big numbers.

Projections for the 2009-2010 fiscal year are also out of whack. Earlier this year in his budget statement the minister told Ontarians to expect a $14.1 billion deficit. After the first quarter the minister changed his projections. The following is a statement from the ministry website:

In the 2009 Ontario Budget, the government projected a $14.1 billion deficit for 2009–10. Since then, a weaker-than-expected economy and further steps to support the automotive industry have increased the deficit projection to $18.5 billion in 2009–10.

This $4.4 billion increase to the deficit for 2009–10 is primarily due to an approximately $2.8 billion deterioration in the Province’s revenue outlook as a result of a weaker economy, combined with an increase in total expense of $1.5 billion to support the automotive sector and $0.1 billion in higher interest on debt expense.

A strong political argument can be made to defend these very big deficits, and why minister Duncan has been so wrong with his projections. But I have to admit, the minister is going to have a hard time shaking the "Duncan Deficits" label.

The financial update regarding the 2008-09 deficit, like the TD Bank report on the impact to consumers of the new Harmonized Sales Tax (HST), was conveniently made public after the St Paul's provincial by-election. I know some political adviser or advisers must have thought delaying this information was a stroke of genius. However, in reality, the Liberals would have won the by-election anyway and the political manipulation of this public information needlessly harms their reputation.

German Voters Select Merkel

2009-09-28T06:38:00.005-04:00

German voters went to the polls on Sunday, September 22nd 09 and voted to end the "Grand Coalition". For the past 4 years, Germany has been governed by an uneasy coalition made up of the Christian Democrat Union (CDU) and the Social Democratic Party (SPD). The Christian Democrats represent the conservative right of the political spectrum, while the Social Democrats represent the left wing of politics.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel has governed very competently and carefully over the past 4 years. She showed herself to be quite astute in dealing with the Social Democrats, who had half the cabinet positions as part of the "Grand Coalition". Voters rewarded Mrs. Merkel and her CDU with a big win; she will be Chancellor for another 4 years.

Germany, with a population of 82 million people, has the richest and largest economy in Europe. Germany is the world's largest exporter and a big investor in Canada, making what happens in Germany important to all of us.

During my time as Chairman of the Windsor Essex Development Commission, we at the Commission made a significant effort to get to know our German investors. In fact, for the very first time ever, the Board of Directors and Commission staff held a "German Investor Day" to acknowledge the importance of German investors in the Windsor Essex region and our very special relationship.

The makeup of the new Bundestag or Parliament will have a decidedly conservative flavour. Results show the Christian Democrats winning 33.8 percent of the vote. The very pro-business Free Democrats are poised to win almost 15 per cent of the vote. The two parties will be able to form a majority government.

The Social Democrats won only 23 per cent--their worst showing since the second world war. Their political allies, the Left Party (who are very far left, by the way), won 11.9 percent.

Other smaller parties, such as the Green Party, will also be represented in the Bundestag. Voter turnout was just over 70 per cent.

Canadian House of Commons to grow by 34 Seats?

2009-09-25T09:18:00.005-04:00

Speculation is rampant that the current 308 seat Canadian House of Commons could grow to 342 seats before the next federal election. Democratic Reform Minister Steven Fletcher, a member of the Harper government, is working on legislation which would greatly increase the number of MP's in Ontario, British Columbia, and Alberta.

One would think that allocating constituencies for the House of Commons is a relatively simply task. In theory, in a liberal democracy like Canada, it should be one person one vote, and therefore all constituencies should be of similar size. But the history of Canada and past agreements with Provinces has created a cumbersome mechanism.

For example, since 1915, the senatorial clause has guaranteed that no province would have fewer members in the House of Commons than it has in the Senate. The Representation Act, 1985, created a new grandfather clause that guaranteed each province no fewer seats than it had in 1976 or during the 33rd Parliament. Legislation like this gives more power to smaller provinces and guarantees Quebec 75 seats.

Let's for a moment assume all federal ridings were equal. If this were the case, each riding would have about 108,000 people. However, this is not the case. For example, as things stand today, the average Ontario riding has about 107,000 people, in British Columbia the number is about 108,000 and in Saskatchewan it is about 69,900. Therefore, the principle of one person one vote is modified for different parts of the country.

The proposed changes to increase the number of MP's will be an attempt to address this issue. However, past agreements will prevent a true one person one vote situation. Using 2001 census figures, if the number of MP's in the House of Commons is increased from its current 308 to 342, you can expect the average riding population to be as follows:

Ontario 89,800
British Columbia 90,800
Alberta 87,500

The numbers for smaller provinces will not change. For example:

New Brunswick 72,900
Prince Edward Island 33,800

(All above numbers have been rounded for ease of use.)

The new situation will not be perfect, but it will be better and more fair than it stands today.

New Details about the New Tax

2009-09-24T06:04:00.007-04:00

My readers will know that I have written several times about the new Harmonized Sales Tax (HST). Today's online version of the Toronto Star has quite a story.

Take your time; it's worth the read.

Ontario can't drop new tax
Sep 24, 2009
Robert Benzie
Queen's Park Bureau Chief

Ontario's controversial harmonized sales tax is here to stay – no matter who wins the next federal or provincial elections, documents confirm.

Buried in the fine print of the accord signed last March between Ottawa and Queen's Park is a clause that ensures the new 13 per cent tax, which takes effect July 1, remains at that rate until at least 2012.

Premier Dalton McGuinty said yesterday he was not up on the minutiae of the four-page memorandum of agreement, which also stipulates the HST must be in place through 2015.

"I'm actually not familiar with that stuff," McGuinty said. "I'm sure that (Finance Minister Dwight Duncan) will be of help."

For the full story click here.

King of Cheap Politics

2009-09-23T10:30:00.001-04:00

Boy oh boy, some people just don't know where bottom is.

In today's Windsor Star a well written article touches on the ongoing feud between the Town of Tecumseh and the City of Windsor. The feud is very wide ranging and in my opinion is constantly stoked by Tecumseh Mayor Gary McNamara and his sidekick Deputy Mayor Tom Burton.

McNamara was crowing about the Dragon Boat Festival being moved to the Tecumseh waterfront from Windsor. Festival organizer Gerry Orum, a very good guy by the way, made the official request to Tecumseh, which of course, was accepted.

What is most disgusting about this article are the comments made by McNamara regarding some recently public news about Sue Whelan, the former Essex MP and cabinet minister. For McNamara to bring attention to himself by talking about Ms. Whelan's health challenges, and somehow inserting her situation into this controversial matter is unspeakable.

Talk about a big mouth and a tiny brain!

Windsor City Council Way too Big

2009-09-22T08:04:00.010-04:00

I have written several stories about the recent ward changes approved by Windsor City Council. Just a quick recap for my readers: Windsor has gone from 5 wards with 2 council members each, to 10 wards with 1 council member per ward. In this change, the number of elected officials stayed the same and Council designed most of the wards to be similar in size. The ward system had not been changed for over 30 years, and due to population growth and shifting neighbourhoods, some of the wards were quite large.

Council last week started to reduce the size of its executive management; the number has gone from 5 to 3. This is a big change! Some Council members have also indicated that the size of government for Windsor is too large and not sustainable due to slow population growth and the fundamental change that has taken place in Windsor's economy.

But when it came to their own members, Council made sure that 10 equals 10. At the time, my recommendation was 6 council members plus the mayor. The reporting by the Windsor Star on this issue was half-hearted at best. Where was super snoop Dave Battegello when we needed him? He seems to be able to do a lot of important research when it interests him. Just look at his terrific and skilled reporting regarding the recent departure of Windsor CAO John Skorobohacz. As an important side note, Skorobohacz is one of the most capable public servants I have ever worked with and that includes my time as an Ontario cabinet minister, where I worked directly with 3 Deputy Ministers in various portfolios.

Back to the size of council. I wrote about Edmonton, which has a population of almost 800,000. They have 12 council members. I would like to add another comparison a little closer to Windsor and very similar in size. Let's look at Kitchener with a population of 205,000. Guess how many council members there are in Kitchener? Indeed: 6 plus the mayor. They had no trouble dividing Kitchener into 6 wards. The city seems to be well run.

This information was too difficult for the Windsor Star to find. And I don't remember it being talked about at Windsor City Council during the "great ward debate".

Ontario Liberals Win By -Election

2009-09-21T06:58:00.003-04:00

Dr. Eric Hoskins, a 48-year-old family physician, easily won the wealthy midtown Toronto riding of St. Paul's. The recent well publicized government spending, contract and expense scandals seemed to play no part in the vote.

Hoskins replaces former cabinet minister Michael Bryant, who left provincial politics in June, to become CEO on INVEST Toronto. Mr. Bryant recently resigned from his new CEO position due to his involvement (and being charged) in a tragic automobile incident.

St. Paul's was supposed to have been a hotly contested race. The Progressive Conservative (PC) candidate Sue-Ann Levy, 52, a columnist at the Toronto Sun, finished second, and NDP candidate Julian Heller, a lawyer, came third. The vote wasn't even close. So much for the pundits!

The standings in the Ontario Legislature now look like this: Liberals have 72 of the 107 seats, PC's 25 and the NDP 10.

What a Difference a Few Months Make

2009-09-18T06:42:00.011-04:00

Last year then Liberal leader Stephane Dion took some very bold steps to remove Stephen Harper and his Conservatives from power. Mr. Dion with great fanfare held a media conference where he and the leader of the Bloc Quebecois along with the leader of the New Democratic Party signed an accord to defeat the Conservatives. The accord would have created a Liberal-NDP coalition government supported by the Bloc, but with no Bloc members as part of the government.

The accord included the following:

Stéphane Dion will be prime minister until May 2, 2009, when a new Liberal leader is chosen. The new Liberal leader will then become PM.
The Liberal Party and NDP will sit together as a coalition government until June 30, 2011.
The Bloc will support the new government until June 30, 2010, with an option to renew their support at that time. They will not be part of the government, and will not hold any seats in cabinet. The Bloc’s support is based on economic concerns, not the issue of Québec independence.
The cabinet will consist of twenty-four members, plus the prime minister. Sixteen ministers will be Liberals, six will be New Democrats.
The deputy prime minister and finance minister will be Liberals.

Prime Minister Harper and his Conservatives went to work!!

Harper said "the highest principle" of Canadian democracy was to have a mandate to govern via an election. He went on to say anything less was a "betrayal" of our democracy. Boy, pretty strong words. But anyway, Harper and the Conservatives were just warming up.

Time and again Harper accused the Liberals of creating an alliance with the "separatists". And he accused the Liberals of trying to win power "through the back door". Referring to the NDP as "socialists" was about the nicest thing the Prime Minister said.

After a nation wide campaign to vilify the Liberals, Prime Minister Harper realized he was going to be defeated anyway, and took the extraordinary step of asking the Governor General, Michaëlle Jean, to close down Parliament, in order to avoid a vote. This is truly breathtaking! Parliament had been in session for only 2 weeks. But it happened. Parliament was prorogued or closed, the Harper government survived, Mr. Dion resigned, and the rest is history.

Yet today on Friday, September 18, 2009, there will be a non-confidence vote in the House of Commons. The Liberals will vote to defeat Prime Minister Harper. The "separatist" Bloc Quebecois and "socialist" NDP will vote to keep Harper and the Conservatives in office. I guess we are supposed to believe that there have been no backroom deals between the Conservatives, the "separatists" and the "socialists"...

You can't make this stuff up.

Interesting Changes at Windsor City Hall

2009-09-17T08:08:00.010-04:00

Windsor CAO John Skorobohacz did not renew his contract with the City of Windsor. I understand from media reports that this decision was mutual. Mr. Skorobohacz was quoted as saying "every CAO has a best before date". I believe this to be very true, especially in Windsor, where city officials have to work with people like Councillors Alan Halberstadt and Bill Marra. Halberstadt only throws curve and spit balls. Bill Marra is not reliable when he gives you his word and never knows what he wants.

I have known John Skorobohacz for some time and worked closely with him over the past 3 years as we both served on the Windsor Essex Development Commission Board of Directors. I have seen him in action in other forums as well. My up-close observation is that he did great work and his outstanding leadership will be missed by all in the Windsor Essex region, especially by those who want to get things done.

This week, Windsor City Council also reduced the number of top level administrators from 5 to 3, in an apparent cost-saving effort. The city unions see this as a prelude to job cuts in their ranks. This may or may not be true. Job cuts can also be achieved by attrition or retirement. With an election 12 months away, we will have to wait and see which route this Council takes.

The really interesting thing about reducing the size of government in Windsor is the recent exercise Council went through to alter the ward system for electing councillors. Windsor had 5 wards with 2 councillors in each ward, that makes 10. And after the changes, Windsor ended up with 10 wards and 1 councillor per ward. Gosh, that makes 10.

As I have said in the past, there is no justification for such a large Council.

Messy Details for Duncan Over at OLG

2009-09-16T06:17:00.002-04:00

I said in my post of Monday September 14 that the anticipated law suit by Kelly McDougald, the fired CEO of the Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation (OLG), was sure to be messy. Sure enough, details of the 18-page statement of claim have begun pouring out. The alleged conversations between McDougald and Ontario Finance Minister Duncan are messy, to say the least.

The Toronto Star seems very interested in this story. In today's online editions we read:

OLG chief: I'm the scapegoat
Kelly McDougald says she was axed amid scandal
after refusing government order to fire underlings

Sep 16, 2009 04:30 AM
Rob Ferguson
Robert Benzie
Queen's Park Bureau

The Liberal government knew months ago that an expense scandal was brewing at the Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corp., but kept a lid on it while searching for a political scapegoat before settling on lotto boss Kelly McDougald, her $8.85 million lawsuit against the province claims.

For the whole story click here.

As I said on Monday, it is very difficult to prove cause in such a firing. McDougald wanted 400 grand to go away quietly. My prediction is the Ontario government will spend far more than $400,000 just in legal fees.

All Eyes on Ottawa

2009-09-15T07:16:00.000-04:00

You can hear the Liberal McGuinty-Duncan government in Ontario breathe a sigh of relief from Queen's Park all the way here in Amherstburg. Liberal political appointments both at eHealth and the Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation have caused immense damage to the McGuinty and Duncan Liberals.

Why the sigh of relief? Well, federal politics has taken centre stage and all eyes are on Ottawa. Less than 3 weeks ago, federal Liberal leader Michael Ignatieff finally decided to be full-time opposition leader. No more "Mr. Nice Guy" and no more support for Stephen Harper and his very conservative Conservatives.

Ok, now the real political maneuvering begins. The Harper Conservatives have scheduled a non-confidence vote for Friday, September 18th. Will the separatist Bloc Quebecois and the socialist NDP, as Prime Minister Harper calls them, embarrass themselves and support the Conservative government? My money says yes.

It will take the Bloc and NDP leaders weeks to explain how this is possible and in the process eat up all valuable media space. And by the time they explain this vote, they will have to do it again. Oh boy, sore backs and joints for everyone. By the time Christmas rolls around, both the Bloc and NDP members will be signing up for the International Contortion Convention, where they will no doubt ably compete with world famous contortionist Daniel "Rubberboy" Browning Smith.

I know, I know, the Bloc and NDP leaders will say Canadians don't want an election. Then they will trumpet all manner of government announcements (the ones they like) as something they forced on the Harper Conservatives. And then they will conclude by saying, 'You see, it was worth supporting a government we don't support to get these great programmes and policies for Canadians'.

It is enough to make everyone want an election right now.

Duncan and Fired Lottery Boss in Big Battle

2009-09-14T07:24:00.005-04:00

Just a short 15 days ago and with great fanfare and indignation, a very serious looking Dwight Duncan, finance minister for the province of Ontario, fired with cause Kelly McDougald, the CEO of the Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation (OLG). The same day, the OLG Board Chair and the rest of the Board all resigned or were pushed out.

Minister Duncan, who only 2 months ago got responsibility for the OLG, exposed all the dirty laundry in a Toronto media conference filled with tension. The tension comes from what appears to be poor oversight by the Board of Directors of the OLG management and some interesting spending habits. There is lots of political sting here as this is fresh on the heals of the spending and contract scandal over at eHealth.

Premier Dalton McGuinty even got into the act by announcing new rules for the people who receive these political appointments. McGuinty announced that workers at the largest 23 of Ontario's 600 agencies, boards, and commissions will have to submit their expense claims to the integrity commissioner rather than having them approved in-house. Things must be pretty bad.

The 600 or so agencies, boards, and commissions (ABC's) do all sorts of things from running lotteries to managing environmental hearings, to the LCBO. The ABC's are so numerous and so influential they could be considered a government within a government. Most of them do good and important work and stay out of trouble.

The ABC's report to one government minister or another, so there is direct political accountability. As well, the legislature has an all-party committee that has oversight responsibility for these agencies, boards, and commissions. When I served as MPP for Essex South, I was for several years a member of this legislative committee. We would hold public hearings and have several of these ABC's before the committee each year and then issue a report.

Media reports indicate that Kelly McDougald, the fired CEO, was handpicked by the Liberals for the $400,000 per year job. This makes the whole fiasco doubly embarrassing for Duncan and the Liberals.

"I am disappointed about what has been brought to my attention," said Duncan during his media conference. He went on to outline some of the spending: $7.70 pen refill, a $1.12 cloth grocery, a $30 car wash claim submitted without a receipt, $487.50 for a nanny to be paid so a worker could attend meetings from September 2006 to December 2006 - no receipts, but the expense was allowed anyway.

All of the above is small but rotten potatoes. So we have got to believe that more--and the worst--is yet to come. You don't fire a CEO with cause on the stuff we have been told so far.

McDougald, according to Toronto media, will soon file a $9 million lawsuit for wrongful dismissal. This is bad news for Duncan, McGuinty and the Liberals, as all sorts of damaging political information is sure come out. In fact, one of the members of the OLG Board of Directors who resigned said she quit because the Liberals failed to act on the board's advice to strengthen accountability. Stuff like this will be used against the Liberals both in the court of law and the court of public opinion.

Stay tuned.

Remembering the Canadian Victims of September 11, 2001

2009-09-11T06:19:00.003-04:00

Please click here.

What to do with Afghanistan?

2009-09-10T06:38:00.007-04:00

The current War in Afghanistan officially began on October 7, 2001, when the United States launched Operation Enduring Freedom in response to the attacks of September 11th. The then-stated aim of the mission was to find Osama Bin Laden and to find and destroy Al-Queda. And, finally, to remove the Taliban government which gave protection and safe harbour to the terrorists.

The American and coalition forces were able to defeat and depose the Taliban government within a few weeks, but have never found Bin Laden or destroyed Al-Queda. The war grinds on.

We as Canadians have invested heavily in Afghanistan, both in blood and treasure. Since 2002, 129 Canadian soldiers have died as part of the Afghan mission. In 2008, Parliamentary Budget Officer Kevin Page reported that the mission would cost $14 to $18 Billion by the time it ends in 2011. That works out to about $1500 for every household in Canada.

As we all know, the people of Afghanistan recently participated in a vote. Current President Hamid Karzai is the 12th President of Afghanistan. Mr. Karzai was made Chairman of the Transitional Committee in December 2001. In 2002, he was named Interim President, and in 2004 he was elected President.

Governing has been difficult for President Karzai. He is surrounded by warlords who have their own armies. It is speculated that some of these warlords and maybe some senior officials in the Karzai government are involved in the heroin trade. As Canadians, we read on a regular basis of the interference from Pakistan, and media reports tell of safe havens for the Taliban on Pakistani soil. We hear horror stories of schoolgirls being attacked and brutalized for attending class. Indeed it appears to the outsider that in general very little has changed for women in Afghanistan.

Anyway, everyone keeps trying to build infrastructure and institutions in order to make Afghanistan a stable member of the international community. Without a doubt, it is in our interests to do so.

The whole Afghan mission is now in jeopardy, at least in my opinion, due to the recent Presidential elections. President Karzai's main challenger, Abdullah Abdullah, and his supporters have claimed massive fraud in the voting. So far it looks like Mr. Abdullah may be correct. The Electoral Complaints Commission (ECC) is investigating more than 2,500 allegations of fraudulent activity. Media reports talk of fictitious voting stations and ballot box stuffing by the thousands. In fact, the ECC called on Afghanistan's Independent Elections Commission (IEC) to conduct an audit and recount because of "clear and convincing evidence of fraud in a number of polling stations." This does not bode well for Afghanistan's future.

Given the scale of this controversy, the best result might be a mandatory runoff between the two top vote-getters, Mr.Karzai and Mr. Abdullah.

All of us have too much at stake to allow the election to turn into a fiasco.

Can Venice be Saved ?

2009-09-09T01:25:00.008-04:00

The city of Venice has a great history (and that is putting it mildly) as an financial power, maritime power, trading power and as a world centre for culture and arts. Over the centuries, Venice has played all these roles, while its main focus today is tourism, culture and arts.

I have traveled to Venice several times, with each I visit I am drawn closer to and further appreciate Venice.
Like many people from all parts of the world, I am worried about the future of Venice, one of the great wonders of the world. In fact, Venice and its lagoon is a UNESCO World Heritage site.

Venice is located in the north-eastern part of Italy, in the wealthy Region of Veneto. Veneto is one of 20 regions in Italy and has a population of 4.8 million people. To better understand the situation, you should know that in Italy, a Region is similar to a Canadian Province or U.S State, and a Province is similar to a Canadian County. Their are 7 provinces in the Region of Veneto. The City of Venice itself has a population of some 270,000 people. Only 30% live on the Venetian Islands in the lagoon (which we all presume to be Venice), some 70% of the city residents residing on the mainland part of Venice.

Thre are two big things going on in and around Venice that we should know and be concerned about. One is the "Moses Project". As we all know, Venice is subject to flooding or "acqua alta", as they say in Italian. In December 2008, Venice experienced the deepest flood in over 20 years, which put 95% of the city under water.

The simplest description of the "Moses Project" I have found is the following:

"A huge structure (composed of 79 steel dams) is being strung from thousands of steel stakes where the floodwaters enter the lagoon from the Adriatic Sea. These dams are each 30 meters high and 20 long, and they will be raised into position every time a high tide threatens the city. The project is expected to cost in excess of 5 billion Euros, with annual maintenance at about 9 million Euros after completion in 2013. Obviously the intention is to hold back the water – but there is concern about the effect this will have on the fragile ecosystem."

The "Moses Project" is proceeding, albeit very slowly, and is now scheduled for completion in 2014. Hopefully, this will stop the flooding and any environmental consequences from the massive construction of the dams will be minimal.

The other big situation is the proposed mainland port expansion. Italian governmental authorities have plans to expand Venice's port into a huge shipping hub. In the opinion of many, this will endanger the fragile lagoon which the slowly sinking city is built on. This port expansion calls for significant dredging of the lagoon and will allow for more and bigger ships.

The British organization, "Venice in Peril Fund", which was founded in 1966 and is one of many international organizations working to preserve Venice, has issued a report and sounded the alarm bells over what is proposed. In 1951, around 1 million people per year visited Venice, recent statistics indicate the number is now 15 million per year!!

The proposed expanded port will bring in more cargo ships and more cruise liners with more people. None of this should happen without proper studies and management systems to enusure Venice and the lagoon are not further degraded.

Happy Labour Day

2009-09-03T22:18:00.002-04:00

Following the Great Canadian Tradition, I don't plan on working leading up to and over the Labour Day Weekend!

See you all next Wednesday September 9th, 2009.

Be safe and enjoy the great weather.

Thank you very much for supporting "Fair Play Wins" Blog!!!

How About Full Disclosure on the Internet

2009-09-02T10:26:00.010-04:00

If you write an opinion for others to read, you should give your name. This is a basic principle that should be followed, no exceptions.

So, you want to write a letter to the editor of the local paper. What a great idea, more people should do it. And if you do, there is accepted protocol for you to follow. For example, this is the protocol at the Windsor Star:

"Letters to the editor must include your full name, address and a daytime phone number. The Star reserves the right to edit, condense or reject letters. Letters must be fewer than 300 words."

If your letter gets published, your name and town gets published as well. So if I wrote a letter, my name and Amherstburg would appear.

So there you have it. A good policy as far as I am concerned. The same or similar policies hold true at other publications as well.

My question is, why no such policy for online stories by the Windsor Star and other publications? Why the veil of secrecy? Why allow anyone with a throw-away email address and some goofy moniker to spout his or her opinion? What opinion can be of value or fair under such circumstances?

Let me give you an example.

On September 2, 2009 someone named Tumble Weed wrote the following:

"people in Windsor are sick of unions. be gone with you. i wish you into the corn field"

in response to an online article titled:

"Labour Day parade hits wrong note with musicians' union"

Now I know this "letter" by Tumble Weed is pure genius and Tumble Weed is certainly within the 300 word limit. So good so far. And, of course, this is what you get when you have no standards.

Banking will Never be the Same

2009-09-01T10:35:00.005-04:00

Technology is changing many things we do and how we do it. Banking is no different. The TimesOnline did a really interesting story of how you might be banking in the year 2020, not that far away, really.

From The Times August 29, 2009

What high street banking will look like in 2020

Banking technology is developing so swiftly that soon you’ll be able to buy things without your PIN or plastic

Imagine a world where, when you walk into your bank, messages and adverts pop up that address you by name. A world where debit and credit cards are extinct and business is done by a swipe of your mobile phone. A world where you make payments using an iris scan and do not have to remember those pesky PINs.

It might sound like the premise of the futuristic 2002 film Minority Report, based on the novel by the science-fiction master Philip K. Dick. But the technology to make all this possible is already being developed. What sounds far-fetched now could be the norm in just a few years.

For the rest of the story click here.

Revolution In Japan!

2009-08-31T02:28:00.018-04:00

For only the second time since World War 2, voters in Japan have chosen a political party other than the Liberal Democratic Party to lead their government. Japanese society is very careful in all endeavors, and such change does not happen easily.

I made an official visit to Japan around 1988 in my capacity as Minister for Disabled Persons. I was rather very young looking at the time, and can still remember the surprised looks I received as I was introduced at formal gatherings. I also remember a private meeting with the Canadian Ambassador, who was startled when I told him he could be more ambitious in defending Canada's car sector.

What I noted first in my visit to Japan was how hard working and industrious the people seemed. The next thing I observed was how orderly and clean everything appeared. To this very day I marvel at how something as simple as taxi service is so well managed in Japan. Just think, to have a taxi driver who has taken a bath and picks you up in a clean car! This happens only on occasion in Toronto, at least from my experience.

For a society where saving face and being orderly is important, change in political leadership is worth noting. Yesterday, Japan's voters opted massively for change. Voters stampeded to the Democratic Party giving them a projected 303 seats of the 480 seats in the powerful lower house or Diet. This result far surpasses the 112 seat held by the Democratic party before the vote. Early reports indicate that voter turnout may top 70%, the highest in 2 decades. Yukio Hatoyama is leader of the Democratic Party and will soon be sworn in as Prime Minister.

So here we have it: for only the second time in 60 years, voters have turned away from the Liberal Democratic Party. The only other time was in 1993-94, and only for 10 short months.

Why this big change?

This is my theory. The people of Japan are faced with high unemployment, a huge national debt, and, most disturbing for Japanese society, media reports claim that one third of all workers are in low-paid, vulnerable jobs. Obviously, in my view, such a situation will not be tolerated by a society that prizes civic order and hard work.

Is there anything that our Ontario or Canadian governments can learn from this big change? I think there is. While we in Canada are more free-wheeling than the Japanese (and by this I don't mean the Japanese don't have fun--they do, and they do it well), we would still like to be able to plan a future.

Here in Canada the unemployment rate is hovering around 8.5%; in Ontario the number is closer to 9.3%. In Windsor the unemployment rate is 15.2%. Compare this to Japan, where the unemployment rate is 5.6%--very, very high by their standards.

Japan's debt is the size of Mount Fuji! It is closing in on 10 trillion US dollars. We, of course, are a long way from this fiasco. However, the Ontario debt is growing fast: a projected 14 Billion will be added to our debt this year alone. The Canadian national debt is also rising quickly and is somewhere near 500 Billion. Yes, this is a long way from Japan, but may I suggest that our level of debt is making Canadians uncomfortable. And sooner or later, we the taxpayers will have to pay this down.

I was unable to find statistics for Canada on vulnerable, low-paying jobs. But my instinct tells me the number could be very big. Take a test; just talk to your friends and neighbours. Ask them what their children are doing.

In Ontario and Canada, those who enjoy political power and wish to keep it, and those who don't have political power but want it, will have to have a salable plan in answer to these 3 very sensitive issues: current unemployment, massive debt, and vulnerable underemployment. Let's start the political debate now.

Remembering Ted Kennedy

2009-08-28T04:39:00.004-04:00

"The Lion of Liberal Politics in America"

Edward M. Kennedy, 1932-2009

Harmonized Sale Tax

2009-08-27T06:51:00.005-04:00

The new Harmonized Sales Tax (HST) is going forward, set to start July 1, 2010 according to Premier Dalton McGuinty. The 13% tax will without a doubt take money out of the pockets of consumers. How much, and on what items is what we would all like to know.

I have written numerous stories about the HST and have asked some fairly simple and straight forward questions. I have implored our local daily paper, the Windsor Star to do a real in-depth analysis of this tax. For starters the Star should publish a complete list of products that will cost more because of this new tax. The Federal and Provincial governments may have studies on how this tax could impact the job market. If so lets see them. The other big question for me is whether this tax will impact the cost of health care and education. If so how?

Why can't we get the answers to these questions? Windsor Star Chief Honcho Jim Venney and assistant chief honcho Marty Beneteau have all the resources they need to write endless stories about the Ambassador Bridge. They can devote huge resources and space to tell us about the pay and perks of the new General Motors Board of Directors. But for some reason they just can't seem to assign supersnoopers Dave Battegello and Grace Macaluso to give us the real goods on the implications, good or bad, about the biggest tax change since the introduction of the GST.

And finally those proposing the tax should be given the chance to tell us why its good for us.

In today's online edition of the Toronto Star we read the following:

McGuinty battles grumbling on HST
Full steam ahead for 13% blended tax, premier says

Aug 27, 2009
Rob Ferguson
Robert Benzie
Queen's Park Bureau

The 13 per cent harmonized sales tax is set in stone, Premier Dalton McGuinty has warned Liberal MPPs in a special caucus meeting on the controversial new levy.

For the full story click here.

This is How You Play Hardball Politcs

2009-08-26T06:42:00.003-04:00

As my readers will know, for 11 years, I worked for the companies that own, manage and operate the Ambassador Bridge. I am very proud of my time there and helped the companies and their bottom line a great deal. In the fall of 2004, I retired but launched a new career from scratch, not many people would have left such a secure well paying job to start all over again. But I wanted to do new things, you can catch up on my new activities by visiting my website.

For the record, I have maintained, always and to this very day, that the owners of the Ambassador Bridge face opposition to their plans for a variety of reasons. Sometimes these reasons are not honourable. The Windsor Star opposition being the most dishonourable.

The opponents to the Ambassador Bridge plans have without a doubt played hardball politics now they are getting some in return.

In yesterdays online edition on the Detroit Free Press, I found this article.

Detroit legislator faces recall efforts over 2nd Detroit-Canada bridge

BY KATHLEEN GRAY
FREE PRESS STAFF WRITER

A series of three recall petitions were filed Monday against state Rep. Rasihda Tlaib, D-Detroit, for her stance on a second bridge across the Detroit River.

Click here to read the entire article.

General Motors Should Keep Opel

2009-08-25T07:59:00.006-04:00

General Motors (G.M.) is now safely out of bankruptcy. All investors in G.M. have taken a "haircut" to trim its financial obligations. It has received billions in aide from both the U.S. and Canadian governments (including billions from the Ontario government). In fact, the United States government is now the largest shareholder. The company has new cost cutting contracts with both the United Auto Workers and the Canadian Auto Workers. So the G.M. of today is not the same company it was a mere six months ago.

I think it is very prudent for G.M. to take its time and even reconsider, as the company is doing, the sale of its European entity, Adam Opel GmbH. Opel is a substantial company with approximately 50,000 employees in Europe, 25,000 of them in Germany.

There are 2 serious bidders for Opel. One is the Belgium holding company RHJ International and the second is a joint bid by Magna International and Russian bank Sberbank. I am sure both would do a very good job. I favour the Magna bid because Magna is a large Canadian company. My readers will remember that Fiat also made a play for Opel as the company was closing its deal on Chrysler. The Opel deal is very political, and politics played a big role in Fiat/Chrysler being ruled out.

Right now there is an election going on in Germany. So saving Opel and all these jobs is a big election issue. The German government led by Chancellor Angela Merkel is willing to provide 4.5 billion euros ($6.9 billion Canadian) in loan guarantees.

There are big German car companies doing well in North America, Mercedes and Volkswagen come to mind. Nothing wrong with this. In the interest of Fair Play and if G.M. decides to keep Opel, the same funding should be offered by the German government to the new G.M. After all, the U.S. 3 billion "cash for clunkers" programme was offered to all car companies.

For the North American auto industry to survive long term it must have global reach and Opel provides part of this for G.M.

Mixed Messages?

2009-08-24T09:15:00.006-04:00

Ok, let's see if I understand this right.

U.S. President Barack Obama is upset that the British Government released the convicted Lockerbie Bomber. This mass murder was horrific! On Wednesday, December 21, 1988, a Pan American World Airways jet travelling from London's Heathrow Airport to John F. Kennedy Airport in New York exploded over Lockerbie, in southern Scotland. Everyone on board, all 243 passengers and 16 crew members, perished. Innoncents, all of them, murdered. The carnage continued on the ground, killing 11 townspeople in Lockerbie, as large sections of the plane rained down on the community.

Pan Am flight 103 will not be forgotten.

In 2001, Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed Al Megrahi, a Libyan, was convicted of involvement in this brutal massacre and got life in jail. On August 20, 2009, the Scottish Government released the convicted killer and allowed him to return to Libiya. The release was based on compassionate grounds as Al Megrahi is suffering from terminal prostate cancer.

The bomber received a hero's welcome upon his return to Libya. Boy, what a message that was.

All of this has upset the Obama administration and rightfully so.

There is a problem with all of this indignation from Obama. He wants to close the Guantánamo Bay Detention Camp. The camp houses prisoners captured in Afghanistan since early 2002. The prisoners are classified as "enemy combatants". They wear no uniforms and mix in with the civilian population. As of January 2009, some 220 prisoners remained in the camp. Some of these prisoners are dangerous for sure, and if released will go back to the theatre of war and may even participate in the mass killing of innocents. We read about these bombings which take place in mosques, schools, and outdoor makets everyday. The word horrific does not adequately describe what is going on, and what some of these folks can do and have done.

I agree with Preident Obama: the Lockerbie Bomber should not have been released. But how does he justify the release of those at Guantánamo Bay?

Warren Buffett Speaks

2009-08-21T00:15:00.006-04:00

Yesterday I informed you about the International Monetary Fund and their view that new tax hikes are coming because of all the recent government spending. Today as a follow-up I thought you should hear from one of the greatest investors of all time.

Take your time and enjoy the read.

The New York Times

Op-Ed Contributor
The Greenback Effect

By WARREN E. BUFFETT
Published: August 18, 2009

IN nature, every action has consequences, a phenomenon called the butterfly effect. These consequences, moreover, are not necessarily proportional. For example, doubling the carbon dioxide we belch into the atmosphere may far more than double the subsequent problems for society. Realizing this, the world properly worries about greenhouse emissions.

The butterfly effect reaches into the financial world as well. Here, the United States is spewing a potentially damaging substance into our economy — greenback emissions.

Click here to read the rest of the article

New Tax Hikes on the way says International Monetary Fund

2009-08-20T00:01:00.008-04:00

According the their website:

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) is an organization of 186 countries, working to foster global monetary cooperation, secure financial stability, facilitate international trade, promote high employment and sustainable economic growth, and reduce poverty around the world.

What the IMF Does

The work of the IMF is of three main types. Surveillance involves the monitoring of economic and financial developments, and the provision of policy advice, aimed especially at crisis-prevention. The IMF also lends to countries with balance of payments difficulties, to provide temporary financing and to support policies aimed at correcting the underlying problems; loans to low-income countries are also aimed especially at poverty reduction. Third, the IMF provides countries with technical assistance and training in its areas of expertise. Supporting all three of these activities is IMF work in economic research and statistics.
In recent years, as part of its efforts to strengthen the international financial system, and to enhance its effectiveness at preventing and resolving crises, the IMF has applied both its surveillance and technical assistance work to the development of standards and codes of good practice in its areas of responsibility, and to the strengthening of financial sectors.
The IMF also plays an important role in the fight against money-laundering and terrorism

Below is the first 3 paragraphs of a story from the Toronto Star online edition of August 19/09.

OTTAWA–The International Monetary Fund says most countries will need to raise taxes to pay off the trillions of dollars they spent fighting the global recession.
IMF chief economist Olivier Blanchard says in an article to be published today that governments acted properly in ramping up spending to stop the worst slump since World War II.
Soon, he says, nearly all countries will have to raise taxes to pay the recovery bill.
Canada's Finance Minister Jim Flaherty has rejected the idea he will have to raise taxes to pay off about $47 billion in stimulus spending.

-------------------------------------------------------------

It will be interesting to know how Canada's Finance Minister Jim Flaherty intends to pay for the huge deficits he himself has forecast. If new taxes are out, what cutbacks are in?

Airports and Small Cities

2009-08-19T03:41:00.006-04:00

Small cities like Windsor have no chance without a viable airport. The entire Windsor Essex region should be supporting the efforts to improve and expand service at our local airport.

Below is a good read published online in the New York Times.

By ELIZABETH OLSON
Published: August 17, 2009

Small Cities Pay to Keep Air Travel

With airlines cutting back service in a weak economy, some cities that are too big to qualify for federal help but too small to keep the planes flying in have stepped up with ways to hang on: paying the airlines, either directly or indirectly.

The cities, like Myrtle Beach, S.C., and Duluth, Minn., have tried various strategies to keep their lifeline to the outside world.

Myrtle Beach, for example, has reduced landing fees, terminal rents and other fees. In addition, the city’s convention and visitors bureau plans to spend $8 million — in money raised from private businesses and in state tourism promotion money — on a marketing campaign to attract more visitors, particularly golfers from northern states, said Bradley Dean, president and chief executive of the area’s visitors bureau.

Officials in Duluth are weighing whether to guarantee an airline that a certain percentage of seats will be filled. Once those targets are met, the city will profit.

“Anymore, the airlines don’t want to take the risks,” said Brian Ryks, executive director of the Duluth Airport Authority. “But they want all the rewards.”

While many of these cities have struggled for years to keep their airline service, the issue has become more acute in recent months. Airlines have been cutting capacity sharply for much of the last year — first as their costs rose with skyrocketing oil prices and then as the economy slowed, reducing demand for air travel. To save money, the airlines either eliminated service or significantly cut back on routes.

But some airlines have been willing to resume service if cities agreed to shoulder most — or all — of the financial risk.

The airlines confirmed their arrangements with cities, but declined to discuss the guarantee programs. Many of the cities are not part of the federal Essential Air Service program, which subsidizes service to about 150 communities.

Henry H. Harteveldt, travel industry analyst for Forrester Research, said changes in the airline industry had begun to change the financial relationship between the carriers and the cities.

The airlines have a right to ask for revenue guarantees, Mr. Harteveldt said. “There is no responsibility to serve a market that loses money.”

But, he said, some towns might have a hard time rounding up the support for guarantee programs. “At a time when basic services are being cut back, it’s hard to justify paying airlines for service.”

The cities left behind feel the economic pain, even beyond the sting of the broader economic downturn.

Roswell, N.M., for instance, lost airline service in 2002, said Bill Armstrong Jr., a board member of the Roswell-Chaves County Economic Development Corporation, and “it hurt us terribly.” He added, “We were like nomads in the desert looking for water.”

It took five years for Roswell to regain service, and that was only after the city offered a minimum revenue guarantee of $2.4 million over two years to American Eagle to fly from Roswell to the Dallas-Fort Worth Airport, Mr. Armstrong said.

The service has been so popular, he said, that $700,000 in community pledges have not been touched and the deal is being renewed next month.

Roswell has assembled a $360,000 fund to underpin a second program: a six-month tryout of American Eagle flights to Los Angeles International Airport. The city plans to use $40,000 from that fund to pay for a marketing campaign to persuade businesses and the public to buy seats, Mr. Armstrong said.

“This is the name of the game in weak economic times,” he said. “Communities have to do more. Airlines are hesitant to start a new service without economic support.”

Wichita, Kan., was a pioneer in the business of paying airlines to continue service. It acted after one of its biggest businesses, the headquarters of Pizza Hut, moved away more than a decade ago, and the city was looking for a way to assure service, recalled Valerie Wise, the air service and business development manager for the Wichita Airport Authority.

Through a combination of federal, state, local and private money, Wichita was able to guarantee revenues to some airlines to continue flights. Competition from low-budget airlines, in turn, pressured other carriers to lower prices, she said, to the benefit of business travelers, who had been paying walk-up fares of as much as $1,000.

The city now guarantees AirTran $6.5 million a year to assure flights to the airline’s hub city of Atlanta.

The airport in Latrobe, Pa., is trying a different tack after losing its only air service last month. Delta Air Lines had flown twice a day from Latrobe to Detroit.

The community is small but does not qualify for federal Essential Air Service subsidies, which underwrite service in rural areas, because it is within 70 miles of a large airport, in Pittsburgh. The Senate recently voted to fund the program for $175 million next year, a $39 million raise.

So Gabriel Monzo, executive director of the Westmoreland County Airport Authority, which operates the Latrobe airport, said the authority was considering whether to offer a complete service package to attract a carrier. It is looking, he said, at “handling ticketing and everything over and under the wing, including de-icing.”

He added, “We’re telling carriers: ‘Put up your kiosk, hang up your sign and we’ll do the rest.’ ”

But such partnerships do not always work out. Duluth, for example, has already been burned once in trying to entice an airline to serve the manufacturing, iron ore mining and medical enterprises in and around the city. In 2004, Mr. Ryks of the airport authority said, the city put up a $1 million minimum revenue guarantee in a deal with American Eagle for flights to Chicago O’Hare.

But after six months, O’Hare, which was having trouble handling all its scheduled flights, required the carrier to end flights from some destinations, and Duluth was one of them.

“The revenue guarantee was spent and then they were gone,” Mr. Ryks said.

So Duluth officials are considering a different sort of arrangement, this time with ExpressJet, a regional partner of Continental Airlines, to fly between Duluth and Chicago twice a day at a cost of $5.4 million for the first year.

“The plus is that with conservative figures factored in for revenues and expenses — and a 70 percent load factor,” he said, referring to the percentage of seats sold, “it is estimated there would be an $800,000 profit, and that would come back to the community.”

He conceded, though, “the wild cards are the load factors, the fare levels and the fuel costs. And the community takes the upfront risk.”

But if the airline can sell more seats, the city could make a profit on the deal because the carrier’s profits and expenses are already built in. “This way,” Mr. Ryks said, “we also get to share in any rewards.”

Chrysler to Build Fiat Cars in Mexico

2009-08-18T15:20:00.000-04:00

Boy oh boy, talk about being naive--I was going to say boy scouts, but I have too much respect for them. This news is not surprising, but I still feel like we in Canada, and Windsor-Essex in particular, have been run over by a Mack Truck--no excuse me, a Fiat 500.

Over the past few months, I have written numerous stories of the Chrysler give-away to Fiat. Time and again I pointed to circumstances not well explained. Time and again I implored our local newspaper to do an in-depth analysis of this deal, the Fiat balance sheet, and what we would get. The response from the Windsor Star, nothing, on occasion, an embarrassing piece of journalism. Senior management at the Windsor Star chose to deploy their staff and resources elsewhere.

Below is an article published online Monday August 17, 2009:

AP Source: Chrysler to build Fiat 500 in Mexico
By TOM KRISHER (AP)

DETROIT — Chrysler Group LLC, now being run by Italian automaker Fiat Group SpA, is planning to build the Fiat 500 minicar at a factory in Mexico, according to a person briefed on the company's plans.

The automaker also is considering building a compact car in the U.S. that could be larger than the 500, according to the person, who did not want to be identified because the plans have not been made public.

Chrysler spokesman Gualberto Ranieri declined to comment Monday. But news of the Fiat 500 decision disappointed several members of the United Auto Workers union who had hoped that the minicar would be made at a U.S. factory because of UAW cost-saving concessions and the fact that Chrysler has received $15.5 billion in U.S. government aid.

It was not clear which Mexican factory would get the 500, but it likely would be a plant in Toluca that builds the PT Cruiser sedan and Dodge Journey crossover and employs more than 2,100 workers organized under a Mexican union. Chrysler also has a truck assembly plant in Saltillo, Mexico.

Even though the UAW has made concessions to reduce labor costs, workers still make far less per hour at Mexican factories. Since small cars generally fetch lower prices than larger vehicles, the profit margins are narrower, making low costs important. Also, Mexican factories are closer to Brazil, a key market for Fiat.

Turin-based Fiat's management is trying to turn Chrysler around. The Italian automaker took a 20 percent stake in Chrysler earlier this year as part of its exit from bankruptcy protection. The U.S. government owns an 8 percent stake in the Auburn Hills, Mich.-based Chrysler, which lost $8 billion last year.

Fiat, as part of its purchase, had announced plans to bring the hugely popular 500 to the U.S., along with the Alfa Romeo brand and Fiat-designed compact and midsize cars. The Italian automaker also plans to bring engines, transmissions and other technologies to Chrysler.

UAW members were hoping that Fiat would build the 500 at an assembly plant in Sterling Heights, Mich., which is slated to close by the end of 2010.

"We want to keep as much work as we can in this country and in Michigan," said Bob Stuglin, president of a UAW local at the Sterling Heights parts stamping plant which is close to the assembly facility.

Stuglin, who said he had not been told of the decision by the company, said that UAW workers have given up a lot in an effort to keep work at their factories.

The Wall Street Journal reported Chrysler's decision on Monday.

AP Auto Writer Dan Strumpf in New York contributed to this report

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Given all the concessions made by auto workers, all the taxpayer money invested, and given our capacity and capabilities in the US and Canada, and right here in Windsor-Essex, this move by Fiat should at the very least be up for review.

Oh, and by the way, I wonder how much Mexico invested to save both Chrysler and Fiat?

Which Goods Will Cost More Under New HST Tax?

2009-08-17T00:40:00.011-04:00

On April 14, 2009, I challenged the top management over at the Windsor Star to do a better job covering important issues, especially in the areas of finance and business. As a matter of fact, I strongly suggested more information was needed about the new Harmonized Sales Tax (HST). Read my post.

I am sorry to say, other than one or two editorials (written by John Coleman?), I have not seen much about the HST on the pages on our daily paper. Oh, I forgot. Top honcho Jim Venney and assistant top honcho Marty Beneteau have been busy with the CUPE strike. And business writer and super snooper Grace Macaluso has been busy attacking the pay and perks of the new General Motors Board of Directors.

Like other Windsor-Essex residents, I have to search elsewhere to get the information we need.

Below are some paragraphs from a Toronto Star online article of August, 15 2009, written by Steve Lambert of the Canadian Press.

The Canadian Taxpayers Federation is calling on Ontario and British Columbia to release a full list of goods that will cost more when the two provinces enact a harmonized tax next July.

Ontario has given reporters a partial list of goods that will cost more under the HST. Heating fuel, electricity, gasoline, tobacco, taxi fares, lawyers' fees, haircuts and other items will be taxed at 13 per cent instead of five. But the opposition has been pulling out other examples, such as funerals and maintenance work on condominiums, almost daily.

Rather than providing a website or other location listing all goods that will increase, Ontario is suggesting that people call the department's general line with questions.

"The Ministry of Finance ... has an information line that people are free to call, and are encouraged to, because these are significant tax changes and we are happy to take people through them," said Alicia Johnston, a spokesperson for Ontario Finance Minister Dwight Duncan

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The proposed tax, which will merge the PST and GST into a flat 13% rate, is set to be introduced on July 1, 2010. So the Windsor Star still has a chance to do a real, in-depth story, laying out pros and cons of this tax, and letting consumers know what goods will be more expensive.

I have three big questions. Has an analysis been done on how many jobs will be lost (or not) because of this new tax? How much if anything will this tax cost our health care system? And how much will this tax cost our education system?

"eHealth Scandal" Won't Go Away

2009-08-14T00:16:00.018-04:00

My readers will know that I have written about the "eHealth Scandal" on more than one occasion. I have done so because results of public opinion polling usually put health care issues at the top of any list regarding voter concerns. Our elected officials know this and respond accordingly, usually by spending lots more of our money on "health care".

eHealth is the Ontario government organization mandated to put all medical files in electronic form. This involves big money! According to the Ontario Ministry of Finance, website eHealth allocations for 2008-2009 fiscal year is-- $522,847,000. Wow! How many cancer treatments, how many hospital beds, and how many nurses can be paid for with half a Billion Dollars every year? As you can see, the reason I write about eHealth is because there is a lot at stake.

Read my post of August 6, 2009 as a refresher.

And my post of June 18, 2009.

And my post of June 8, 2009, where I wrote about some of the management and spending practices over at eHealth, such as:

"The Ontario Conservatives have alleged these untendered contracts have gone to "Liberal Friendly Firms". Oh boy!

"Ms. Kramer was hired last November (2008) at an annual salary of $380,000, according to documents obtained by The Globe and Mail through a freedom of information request. As well, documents show, in March (2009), after just 5 months on the job, Ms. Kramer was awarded a bonus of $114,000."

Now, everyone makes mistakes. I have made many. Government is a big operation, and that mistakes occur should not be a surprise. But what has surprised me is how my old friend and colleague, Premier Dalton McGuinty, has allowed himself (according to Toronto media reports) to be dragged into this whole mess.

Shortly after these management and spending practices became public (it is now claimed that $16 million in untendered contracts were let) we saw the resignation of the CEO Sarah Kramer and Board Chairman Dr. Alan Hudson. In my opinion these resignations were more forced than voluntary.

Up until recently, Dr. Alan Hudson had been a personal favourite of Premier McGuinty. So you can imagine my surprise when I read in the Toronto Star on August 12/09 (unfortunately the Windsor Star has been missing in action on this one) the following quotes by McGuinty:

"Obviously, Dr. Hudson was a strong influence in all of this; I relied heavily on him," said McGuinty.
"He made it clear to me that if he was going to take on an additional responsibility with electronic health records, he thought that Sarah Kramer would be indispensable in helping us to achieve our objectives."
In hindsight, he added, "it's obvious that we made a mistake, but at the time the best advice that we had was that Ms. Kramer ... was performing very well, and based on that advice and the strongest recommendation, I thought it was the right thing to do, we all thought it was the right thing to do."

When McGuinty says "it was the right thing to do" he is referring to hiring Ms. Kramer as CEO on the advice of Dr. Hudson.

Records show Ms. Kramer was hired by "order in council"--a fancy term for a political appointment. This means the political opposition and others will be able to claim McGuinty had a big hand in hiring Ms. Kramer.

I know my old friend and colleague Premier McGuinty to be a stand-up guy, and will accept his share of responsibility for this whole thing without qualification. But it is now obvious he has to move this out of the political arena, and the sooner the better.

The provincial Auditor General, as I understand it, will early this fall have a report for public consumption. During my last years as MPP, representing Essex South, I served as Chairman of the Public Accounts Committee. The provincial Auditor General works for this committee and I know first hand they love this stuff. McGuinty needs to be more proactive, and get ahead of this report. He needs to establish a panel with authority to review everything that happened, and recommend solutions for the future. If not, this whole thing will end up being just one big political fiasco.

"Three Amigos Summit"

2009-08-13T00:30:00.003-04:00

The Presidents of Mexico and United States along with the Prime Minister of Canada, have a formal once a year summit now commonly referred to as the "The Three Amigos Summit". This of course, is to further the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). A host of other current issues, such as swine flu, drug gangs, labour rights, climate change etc received attention as well.

The Summit held over the weekend of August 8th, 2009, in Guadalajara, Mexico did not seem to garner the type of media attention, especially here in Windsor Essex, as deserved. If there is one region of Canada that needs all the information it can get regarding trade with Mexico and the United States it is Windsor Essex. They have to start doing a better job over at the Windsor Star on these matters.

Below is the full text of a joint statement released by the White House briefing room. It makes for very interesting reading.

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THE WHITE HOUSE

Office of the Press Secretary
___________________________________________________________________________
For Immediate Release August 10, 2009

JOINT STATEMENT BY NORTH AMERICAN LEADERS

Guadalajara, August 2009

We, the leaders of North America, have come together in Guadalajara to promote the global competitiveness of our region, foster the well-being of our citizens, and make our countries more secure. We build our collaboration on the understanding that our deepening ties are a source of strength and that challenges and opportunities in one North American country can and do affect us all. North American cooperation is rooted in shared values, complementary strengths, and the dynamism of our peoples. We are confident that working together we can help our societies thrive in the challenging, competitive, and promising century ahead.

North America’s coordinated response to the initial outbreak of the H1N1 flu virus has proven to be a global example of cooperation. We set an example of a joint, responsible, and transparent response, enabling other regions to react quickly to protect their populations. Through planning and foresight, we were quickly able to put effective health measures in place. We will remain vigilant and commit ourselves to continued and deepened cooperation. We will work together to learn from recent experiences and prepare North America for the upcoming influenza season, including building up our public health capacities and facilitating efficient information sharing among our countries.

Promoting recovery from the current global economic crisis is a priority for each of us. By working together, we will accelerate recovery and job creation, and build a strong base for long-term prosperity. We look forward to the coming G20 Summit in Pittsburgh and will join efforts to ensure that the G20 continues to advance effective global responses to the crisis, including working to strengthen international financial institutions that are vital to assisting countries to restore economic vibrancy. The Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) plays a crucial role in mitigating the effects of the crisis in the Americas, particularly for the most vulnerable citizens of our Hemisphere. We support an accelerated review of the IDB to ensure it has sufficient short-term lending capacity.

Our integrated economies are an engine of growth. We are investing in border infrastructure, including advanced technology, to create truly modern borders to facilitate trade and the smooth operation of supply chains, while protecting our security. Building on these investments, we will work together to strengthen the resilience of our critical infrastructure, which transcends borders and sustains the well-being of our communities and economies. We will cooperate in the protection of intellectual property rights to facilitate the development of innovative economies. We commend the progress achieved on reducing unnecessary regulatory differences and have instructed our respective Ministers to continue this work by building on the previous efforts, developing focused priorities and a specific timeline.

North American trade is a vital component of our economic well-being and we pledge to abide by our international responsibilities and avoid protectionist measures. We reiterate our commitment to reinvigorate our trading relationship and to ensure that the benefits of our economic relationship are widely shared and sustainable. We will seek to promote respect for labour rights and protection of the environment with a continuing dialogue to address the functioning of the Labor and Environmental side agreements. This dialogue must result in mutually agreeable and cooperative activities with the aim to enhance the well-being and prosperity of our citizens and the economic recovery of our countries.

We recognize climate change as one of the most daunting and pressing challenges of our time and a solution requires ambitious and coordinated efforts by all nations. Building on our respective national efforts, we will show leadership by working swiftly and responsibly to combat climate change as a region and to achieve a successful outcome at the 15th Conference of the Parties of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change. We also recognize that the competitiveness of our region and our sustainable growth requires a greater reliance on clean energy technologies and secure and reliable energy supplies across North America. Today, in agreeing to the "North American Leaders’ Declaration on Climate Change and Clean Energy", we reaffirm our political commitment to work collaboratively to combat climate change.

Transnational criminal networks threaten all three of our countries. To dismantle them and to make our populations more secure, we will continue to deepen cooperation built upon the principles of shared responsibility, the strengthening of national institutions, and respect for our respective national legal frameworks. Canada and the United States recognize the commitment and the sacrifices of the Mexican people and Government as they confront the cartels threatening society, and we pledge to them our continued support. Our three governments recognize that we cannot limit our efforts to North America alone, and we have agreed to instruct our respective Ministers to strive for greater cooperation and coordination as we work to promote security and institutional development with our neighbors in Central America and the Caribbean.

We are deeply committed to helping strengthen democratic institutions and the rule of law throughout the Americas. We support a leading role for the Organization of American States (OAS) as we work together to strengthen implementation of the Inter-American Democratic Charter. We have thoroughly discussed the coup in Honduras and reaffirm our support for the San José Accord and the ongoing OAS effort to seek a peaceful resolution of the political crisis - a resolution which restores democratic governance and the rule of law and respects the rights of all Hondurans.

We recognize and embrace citizen participation as an integral part of our work together in North America. We welcome the contributions of businesses, both large and small, and those of civil society groups, non-governmental organizations, academics, experts, and others. We have asked our Ministers to engage in such consultations as they work to realize the goals we have set for ourselves here in Guadalajara.

President Calderón and President Obama welcome Prime Minister Harper’s offer to host the next North American Leaders´ Summit in 2010. We will continue to work through this North American Leaders’ Summit process, in an inclusive and transparent manner, for the common benefit of the people of Mexico, Canada, and the United States.

Modest Electoral Changes Approved at Windsor Council

2009-08-12T00:01:00.003-04:00

Windsor city council members must be breathing a sigh of relief. As a matter of fact, I can hear it all the way here in Amherstburg. Under curious political cover, from our very own Windsor Star, the council members voted to maintain a bloated city council. Surprisingly, the Windsor Star gave their blessing to a continued bloated council via recent editorial comment.

Read my post of July 30/09.

For those readers outside the Windsor Essex region, you should know that the Windsor Star mantra has been for more regional government. Translated this means fewer politicians and less government. There is merit in this, although for rural communities and small towns, regionalism has usually translated into distant government, loss of history/community and little to zero tax savings.

So it came somewhat as a surprise to me that the Windsor Star put their political weight behind such modest electoral reform. More than 3 decades ago, Windsor created a ward system with 5 wards and 2 council members per ward. Council was perfectly willing to keep it this way until a citizens group collected enough names to send the whole matter to the Ontario Municipal Board (OMB). The OMB for sure would have made wholesale changes. This risk was to great for Council, they had to do something.

So on Monday of this week Council opted for the safest change possible, a 10 ward system 1 council member per ward. This way every incumbent will have a good chance for re-election. But really, that is not what concerns me.

The City of Windsor has just gone through a 101 day strike. Two Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) locals and the city were in a fierce struggle. The Windsor Star weighed in heavily and often against CUPE. In my opinion the lines between editorial and straight reporting were shamelessly blurred. It is also my opinion that this happens often at the Windsor Star to the detriment of our entire region. All one has to do is look at the reporting about the new proposed border crossing. If that is not shameless I don't know what is. I fully disclose that for 11 years I was a senior corporate executive at the companies which own, mange and operate the Ambassador Bridge.

For the Windsor Star to support more regional government, and a less costly administration for the City of Windsor (during the middle of a strike) and then support and maintain a position for a bloated council for Windsor, makes no common sense. What is the reason or reasons for such a significant about face? We will see their hand much more clearly as the next political contest (2010) unfolds.

The problem with most readers is that they believe newspapers and reporters have no bias and just report the news. I wish it were so.

The Detroit River

2009-08-11T01:35:00.009-04:00

The Detroit River or "Rivière du Détroit", which translates literally as River of the Strait, is 51 km long and serves as a natural boundary between Canada and the United States. A Strait is a waterway connecting two large bodies of water. This beautiful waterway is one of the busiest in the world and travels south from Lake St. Clair to Lake Erie.

Kissing the shorelines of many small communities, it also flows past South East Michigan, one of the largest metropolitan communities in the United States. For those who live outside the Region where this great River flows, it is hard to imagine its size and beauty.

The French were the first non-natives to navigate this River and to land on what would become the shores of Detroit. The first sailing ship on the Upper Great Lakes was the Griffon, 1679. On board was Robert Cavelier LaSalle, who would become one of the most celebrated explorers and builders of New France. As LaSalle passed through on the Griffon in 1679, he used these words to describe the scene at the mouth of the Detroit River:

"The islands are the finest in the world. They are covered with forests of nut and fruit trees, with wild vines loaded with grapes. From these we made a large quantity of wine. The banks of the Straight are vast meadows and the prospect is terminated with some hills covered with vineyards, trees bearing good fruit, and groves and forests so well arranged that one would think that Nature alone could not have laid out the grounds so effectively without the help of man, so charming was the prospect...The country is well stocked with stags, wild goats, and bears, all of which furnish excellent foods."

During the 20th century, mass urbanization and reckless industrial pollution took its toll on the Detroit River. However, mandated government initiatives have improved the situation. In a 2007 interview, John Gannon, a senior scientist with the International Joint Commission, stated "It's a lot better than people think". Mr. Gannon went on to give the Detroit River a B- for its recent improvements.

Check out a recent presentation Mr. Gannon made on Great Lakes Urban Habitat.

While improvements to the condition of the Detroit River is good news, a great deal more needs to be done. Currently, the United States and Canadian governments have allocated hundreds of Billions of stimulus dollars for various sectors of the economy. I may have missed it, but I have not seen significant allocations for further rehabiltation of this great natural resource and wonder.

As we have already seen, both the U.S. and Canadian governments continue to move around already allocated stimulus dollars as priorities change. A strong economic case can be made for some of this stimulus money to be used on further improvements to the Detroit River.

I am afraid that if it's not done now, governments will be too broke to do anything after all this stimulus spending.

"Cash for Clunkers" Update

2009-08-10T02:44:00.006-04:00

On August 4th I wrote about the U.S. "Cash for Clunkers" program. Read my post.

I promised my readers a follow-up. On August 6th the U.S. Senate voted on:

Senate Vote 270 - H.R.3435: On Passage of the Bill. A bill making supplemental appropriations for fiscal year 2009 for the Consumer Assistance to Recycle and Save Program.

In plain English the above is the "cash for clunkers" program. The bill carried by a vote of 60 to 37 and added $2 Billion USD to the existing (now depleted) fund. Dealers in the United States claim that 250,000 sales have been made using the rebate for the first $1 Billion USD. So, if that claim is correct, dealers can expect the progam to help sell another 500,000 cars.

Published statistics indicate 45% of cars being sold are from American manufactures and the improved mileage is approximately 9.6 miles per gallon.

A Very Interesting Story From BusinessWeek Magazine

2009-08-07T09:43:00.005-04:00

A very interesting story from BusinessWeek magazine.
--------------------------------------------------------------

INVESTING IN RENEWABLES

European Green Energy Chases US Stimulus Cash
By Mark Scott

European renewable-energy players such as Enel Green Power and Iberdrola Renovables look to take advantage of stimulus spending with US projects.

As the White House hammers out how to spend some $80 billion in stimulus money aimed at kick-starting investment in renewable energy, the race for a piece of the action is on. And while plenty of Americans are on the starting line, many winners are likely to come from across the Atlantic. "The stimulus package is a big incentive to invest," says Francesco Starace, president of Enel Green Power, a new subsidiary of Italian utility Enel.

REUTERS
A solar park near Seville, Spain. The Europeans have a substantial head start. Iberdrola Renovables, a unit of Spanish energy company Iberdrola, is the world leader in renewable power and already No. 2 in U.S. wind generation (behind Florida's FPL Group). Portugal's EDP Renováveis is third in U.S. wind and a growing force globally. In manufacturing, Denmark's Vestas is the world's biggest wind-turbine maker, and Spain's Gamesa is No. 3, behind General Electric.

Although the details of the stimulus plan aren't yet finalized, developers will get tax credits or grants worth 30 percent of the cost of renewable-energy projects started by the end of 2010. That has the Europeans planning big investments for years to come. Iberdrola expects to spend $2 billion-plus annually in the U.S. through 2012, up from $400 million in 2007. EDP Renováveis says it will invest $5 billion in the U.S. over the same period, while Enel Green Power plans U.S. spending of $1.5 billion by 2013 -- a figure that could jump to $7.5 billion if financing costs fall. As much as $33 billion could be invested over the next two years, at least a third of it from Europe, estimates consultancy Emerging Energy Research.

Some spending already under way may benefit from the incentives, too. Enel Green Power on Apr. 15 unveiled two geothermal plants in Nevada, built at a cost of some $200 million, which use the earth's heat to generate electricity for 40,000 homes. And on Apr. 17, Iberdrola opened a $400 million wind farm in Texas that will power 70,000 households. Both plan to file for stimulus money.

While there's sure to be opposition to funding Europeans, they will put plenty of Americans to work. Vestas, for instance, in November opened a $100 million turbine-blade factory in Windsor, Colo., creating 650 jobs in the town 60 miles north of Denver. The company plans to invest a further $1 billion by 2010 at three more plants across the state and on sales offices nationwide, employing an additional 4,000 people.

Funding Edge
The Europeans are helping put some wind back into a sector that has been slowed by the credit crunch. Spending on clean energy projects in the U.S. fell 91 percent in the first quarter vs. the same period in 2008. Much of the investment had been funded by sales of tax credits for green energy, but as corporate profits have plunged, fewer companies need to buy them. Falling energy prices have also cut the incentive to invest in green technology.

One big advantage for the Europeans is their financial health. They tend to be subsidiaries of well-funded utilities, while American rivals are typically smaller. And the Europeans are sitting on a ton of cash. Iberdrola Renovables raised $5.9 billion in Spain's largest-ever initial public offering in 2007. Last year, EDP Renováveis pocketed $2.1 billion by selling a minority stake. Now, Enel plans to sell 40% of its shares in an offering analysts expect will fetch $4.5 billion. Says Rui Teixeira, chief financial officer at EDP Renováveis, "Our funding provides us with a competitive advantage."

Scott is a reporter in BusinessWeek's London bureau.
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I wonder if Canadian companies will take advantage of all this U.S. stimulus money.

Update on "eHealth" Scandal

2009-08-06T06:26:00.002-04:00

On June 16, 2009 I wrote my second post about the eHealth scandal. Read my post.

On August 4th the Toronto Star had an excellent update. Have a read.

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Scandal-plagued eHealth gets third CEO in 3 months

Tanya Talaga
Queen's Park Bureau

Liberal government go-to man Rob Devitt is the new interim chief executive officer of scandal-ridden eHealth Ontario.

The electronic health agency's board of directors announced today that they have appointed Devitt, currently the president and CEO of Toronto East General Hospital, effective immediately.

Devitt will fill the eHealth top job until the end of this year as the board searches for a permanent CEO.

He replaces Ron Sapsford, the deputy health minister, who was appointed June 9 after former CEO Sarah Kramer left the agency on June 7.

Kramer parted ways with eHealth after a spending scandal involving nearly $16 million in untendered contracts and rich consultancy fees.

Devitt's appointment is part of a shakeup at the agency as the Liberals try to restore public confidence in eHealth Ontario. The scandal emerged after freedom of information documents requested by the Progressive Conservative party this spring showed the agency gave out $16 million in sole source contracts and relied on consultants who charged between $2,750 and $3,000 a day.

Yet these consultants also nickel-and-dimed taxpayers for small expenses such as a $1.39 muffin or a $4.45 cream cheese bagel.

The McGuinty government has relied on Devitt's expertise in the past. Recently, he was supervisor of The Scarborough Hospital. The troubled hospital had years of back-to-back deficits, bitter community relations and some of the highest death rates in Toronto, but Devitt is credited for helping to turn the hospital around.

"I am eager to meet the staff and stakeholders and help the agency deliver on the province's vital ehealth strategy," Devitt said in a release.

Ontario's Auditor General Jim McCarter is expected to release his investigation into the agency in early September.

What's in a Name?

2009-08-05T06:22:00.003-04:00

The New Democratic Party (NDP) is thinking about changing its name. My advice is, don't do it.

The NDP has already changed its name once. In 1933, the Co-operative Commonwealth Federation (CCF) was formed.

In 1961, a founding convention was held for the New Democratic Party. Out with the old CCF and in with the new NDP.

For all of these years the CCF - NDP have occupied the left of centre, the left, and the far left of Canadian politics.

The CCF and NDP have had some modest electoral success over the past 7+ decades. The biggest success for the party has been in the Province of Saskatchewan, were it was first elected as a CCF government in 1944 under the leadership of Tommy Douglas. The CCF - NDP have been dominant in Saskatchewan politics ever since that first victory.

The NDP has also elected governments in the Provinces of British Columbia, Ontario, Manitoba, and Nova Scotia and in the Yukon. However, the party has never been successful at the national level.

A name is symbolic. The name of a political party is very symbolic and many thousands of party members are heavily invested in the name. After all, it means something, or at least is supposed to. A name change causes disruption at the very least, and at worst, alienation. Has anyone done a risk-reward analysis behind this idea, if so I would like to see it.

My second point, just as important as my first point, has the NDP forgotten we are in the middle of "The Great Recession"? Of all the important things political parties have to worry about, why would anyone expend any time or energy at this time on a name change?

What a spectacle this will be. While Canadians continue to lose jobs and homes in record numbers, and while the economy and industry continue to shrink, the NDP, they are focused on their name. I know the NDP probably don't like taking advice from a card carrying Liberal like me, but honestly, you are making a big mistake.

What's the Deal on Clunkers?

2009-08-04T05:03:00.000-04:00

Lots of news these days about the success of the U.S. "cash for clunkers" law.

Back in late June, President Barack Obama signed into law the "cash for clunkers" provision. As is sometimes the case when laws are being drafted in the United States Congress, the "cash for clunkers" provision was written into and became part of a totally different piece of legislation. The way this works is that members of the House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate add or insert language into legisation which is already making its way through Congress. The reason for this tactic is that members especially like legislation which has a very good chance of passing and being signed by the President.

If you can believe it, as noted by the Associated Press, the "cash for clunkers" language was attached to "a measure keeping the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan from running out of money". The "cash for clunkers" legislation is no small potatoes, as it provides $1 Billion USD in funding.

Clunker qualifications:

Here are the basics:

• Vouchers of either $3,500 or $4,500 will be given to people who trade in an older vehicle to buy a new one.

• The trade-in, or clunker, must be no older than 25 years, have average gas mileage of less than 18 miles per gallon, and have been owned by the seller for at least a year.

• The new car must cost less than $45,000 and get more than 22 mpg. To get the higher voucher, the new vehicle must also average 10 more miles per gallon than the old one.

• Trucks—SUVs, pickups, and minivans—have different rules. An improvement of at least 2 mpg between the old and new vehicles qualifies for $3,500; 5 mpg or more entitles buyers to $4,500.

• There are no income limits on voucher recipients, nor restrictions on where the new cars are made.

The program came into effect on July 27/09 and has been so succesful that last Friday, July 31/09, the program was deemed to have run out of money. Wow, $1 Billion--gone just like that.

Anyway, American consumers need not fear. Last Friday, the House of Representatives passed a new meausure adding $2 Billion to the program. The legislation is now before the Senate for consideration.

I will keep you posted.

Celebrate Emancipation Day Weekend

2009-07-31T10:00:00.002-04:00

Emancipation Day, which is celebrated on August 1st in Canada, has special meaning for me. Please read below the following legislation, passed by the Province of Ontario:

Emancipation Day Act, 2008
S.O. 2008, CHAPTER 25
Preamble
The British Parliament
abolished slavery in the British Empire as of August 1, 1834 by enacting an Act
being 3 & 4 Will. IV, chapter 73 (U.K.) on August 28, 1833. That Act
resulted from the work of abolitionists who struggled against slavery, including
Lieutenant Governor John Graves Simcoe who promoted the passage of an Act
restricting slavery in Upper Canada, being 33 Geo. III, chapter 7 (U.C.) enacted
on July 9, 1793. Upper Canada was the predecessor of the Province of Ontario.
Abolitionists and others who struggled against slavery, including those who
arrived in Ontario by the underground railroad, have celebrated August 1 as
Emancipation Day in the past.
Ancestors of Ontario’s Black community were one
of the founding communities of Ontario and Canada. The Black community has been
present in Ontario for more than 300 years.
The year 2008 marks the 30th
anniversary of the founding of the Ontario Black History Society, which is
dedicated to the study, preservation and promotion of the history of Ontario’s
Black community, and the 40th anniversary of the martyrdom of Dr. Martin Luther
King Jr. in the United States of America.
It is important to recognize the
heritage of Ontario’s Black community and the contributions that it has made and
continues to make to Ontario. It is also important to recall the ongoing
international struggle for human rights and freedom from repression for persons
of all races which can be best personified by Lieutenant Governor John Graves
Simcoe and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Accordingly, it is appropriate to
recognize August 1 formally as Emancipation Day and to celebrate
it.
Therefore, Her Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the
Legislative Assembly of the Province of Ontario, enacts as
follows:
Emancipation Day
1. August 1 in each year is proclaimed as Emancipation Day. 2008, c. 25,
s. 1.
2. Omitted
(provides for coming into force of provisions of this Act). 2008, c. 25,
s. 2.
3. Omitted
(enacts short title of this Act). 2008, c. 25, s. 3.

Windsor City Council will Try Again

2009-07-30T02:28:00.003-04:00

Members of Windsor City Council have indicated they will try again to establish a new electoral ward system in time for next year's vote.

The Council members embarrassed themselves while discussing a consultant's report which they themselves commissioned. Read my post of July 13 and my post of July 14, 2009. It was reported some 2 weeks ago that Council members spent three hours debating and voted down at least ten different motions before they finally gave up--with the current system intact, of course.

While Council allocated $50,000 for the report, I understand that only $20,000 was spent.Whether the report cost $20,000 or 20 cents should make no difference. The issue before Council is one of an outdated ward system. The current 5 wards, 2 Council members per ward system has significant population imbalance. But more importantly, the size of Council is too big. And it looks like some Council members are leaning towards a new, 10 ward system with one Council member per ward.

Given the fallout from the just ended 15 week strike involving nearly 1800 city workers, and the need for smaller, more effective, and more affordable government, to maintain the status quo with council numbers should not be an option.

Yesterday, I called the Mayor's office in Edmonton, Alberta and had a very helpful conversation with one of the staff members. The reason I called Edmonton is that I had heard that they, too, were changing their ward system. I was told that last week Edmonton City Council approved a new, 12 ward system with one council member per ward.

I was also told the City of Edmonton has a population of around 780,000. OK: 780,000 divided by 12 equals 65,000 residents per ward. Let's assume Windsor has 220,000 residents. If you divide this by 10, you get 22,000 residents per ward.

And oh, by the way, in Alberta, members of municipal councils are elected for three-year terms and not the four-year terms we have here in Ontario.

It would be unreasonable for Windsor City Council to move forward with a new ward system, which includes 10 wards and one Council member per ward. What is reasonable for the current time and circumstances in the City of Windsor is 6 wards, with one council member per ward.

Each Council member would represent approximately 36,000 residents--a far cry from the 65,000 residents represented by Edmonton City Council members.

Michael Vick the Football Player

2009-07-29T05:45:00.014-04:00

Micheal Vick is famous, very famous.

He was born Michael Dwayne Vick on June 26, 1980, in Newport News, Virginia to struggling teenage parents. Brenda Vick was just 16 when she became pregnant with him. His father, Michael Boddie, was only a year older. The very young parents already had a girl, Christina.

Michael's father served three years in the army and bounced around from job to job before he settled in as a sandblaster in the Newport News shipyards. His mother, Brenda, became the mainstay in his life and that of his three siblings. Obviously, the children were very close to Brenda as they all took her last name.

Very early on, Michael showed great promise as a football player. He eventually chose to attend Virginia Tech University and arrived at the campus in Blacksburg in the summer of 1998. Michael did not disappoint the Virginia Tech fans, leading his team to the national collegiate championship game in 2000. Although Virginia Tech lost to Florida State, Vick made a great impression. The very next year, Vick lead his team to a Gator Bowl victory over Clemson, 41-20.

In 2001, and only in his sophomore year, Michael Vick turned pro after being drafted by the Atlanta Falcons. Soon thereafter he signed the largest rookie contract in NFL history, $62 million over six years. This was followed up by the signing in 2005 of a 10-year $130 million contract extension. The new contract made Michael Vick the highest paid player ever in pro football.

However, all of the above is not the reason Michael Vick is so very famous. Unfortunately for Vick, he became famous outside football circles after a U.S. federal investigation linked him to a vicious dog fighting ring called the Bad Newz Kennels. Vick pleaded guilty to funding the operation and killing some of the dogs after the fights. Bad Newz indeed.

This past week, the 29-year-old quarterback finished his 23-month federal sentence (18 months spent in a minimum security facility in Leavenworth, Kansas), when an electronic monitor was removed from his ankle early on July 20th, at his home in Hampton, Virginia.

While in jail, Vick went bankrupt; it has been claimed he owed anywhere from $10 million to $50 million. Wow.

I don't usually do sports stories, and this is not a sports story. It is about a successful person, who has run afoul of the law, pleaded guilty, and spent time in jail; he paid the price for his mistakes. I am writing this story because so many voices are calling for Michael Vick not to be reinstated in professional football. In plain English, many don't want this man to work at his job.

I think Michael Vick deserves a second chance. Below is his just released statement.

"I would like to express my sincere gratitude and appreciation to commissioner Goodell for allowing me to be readmitted to the National Football League," Vick said in a statement released by his agent, Joel Segal. "I fully understand that playing football in the NFL is a privilege, not a right, and I am truly thankful for the opportunity I have been given.

"As you can imagine, the last two years have given me time to reevaluate my life, mature as an individual and fully understand the terrible mistakes I have made in the past and what type of life I must lead moving forward."

I sincerely hope Michael Vick can become famous again, and this time for all the right reasons.

The Windsor Star and Useful Reporting ?

2009-07-28T01:30:00.008-04:00

This past Saturday July 25/09, on the front pages of our very own Windsor Star, we were treated to banner headlines which read:

On GM board? You get $200,000 and a car

The story is a critique on pay and perks for new members of the General Motors (GM) Board of Directors. The account, written by super snooper Grace Macaluso, is typical Macaluso. She immediately validates the spitball she wants to throw at the new GM Board by quoting "critics" of the GM policy on pay and perks. This lets her say what she wants, but gets her off the hook, as she can attribute the comments to "critics".

Wow, and you have to go to journalism school to learn this?

While I have to admit the pay for a GM Board member sounds pretty good, it is a multi-billion dollar company, there are great personal, financial, and reputational risks to sitting on Boards these days, and it is not the cakewalk some would have you believe. Board members are expected to bring significant knowledge, experience, and leadership to their duties.

But back to Macaluso, who, I am sure, is a corporate governance expert, along with being a key business writer at the Windsor Star. She was able to track down federal NDP opposition Member of Parliament Joe Comartin, who represents Windsor-Tecumseh. I guess Ontario finance minister Dwight Duncan was not available. Anyway, Mr. Comartin says "this is a part-time job" and "there is no way the average citizen would say that is fair compensation". I am sure if Mr. Comartin or super snooper Macaulso, for that matter, were to ask voters in Windsor-Tecumseh their opinions on pay and perks for federal M.P.'s, some might say it is a little excessive. I definitely would not say that, but some "critics" might.

On a personal level, I would like to add that Mr. Comartin is a very nice person and has always been polite to me. On a political level, he is definitely hard left: the perfect "critic" to validate Macaluso's point.

This page 1 story is long and carried over to page 11. Way down on page 11, if you read that far, we finally hear from Joseph D'Cruz, a professor at the University of Toronto Rotman School of Management, who says that the GM compensation was reasonable within the corporate boardrooms of North America.

I guess this is another technique they teach you at journalism school: if you have to give two sides to a story, make sure the opinion you want to least accentuate is way down the story line and on a different page.

As my readers will know, I am a graduate of the Corporate Governance College, which is at the Rotman School of Management, and I have experience on private sector and not-for-profit Boards. One of my current colleagues was recently approached to sit on the Bank of Montreal Board. This is big time. He turned the invitation down. The time commitment needed too great, the reputational risk too significant, with a compensation level not matching either.

The truth of the matter is--and we did not get this from the Macaluso story--attracting good board leadership is very difficult. The Macaluso story would have been more valuable if we had been given a real sense of the experience and leadership qualities of the new GM Board, instead of a cheap story on pay and perks. After all, some "critics" think Windsor Star reporters are overpaid.

Windsor Star Declares Victory ??

2009-07-27T01:13:00.000-04:00

The strike by nearly 1,800 Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) members against the City of Windsor taxpayer is over. It seems the Windsor Star has declared victory. And good for them, I say. I am sure Chief Honcho Jim Venney and co-chief honcho Marty Beneteau, the editorialists, opinion writers, headlines writers and all the plain old reporters who participated in the Windsor Star policy of "polarization" are proud of themselves, and must certainly be celebrating this big victory. Just look at the cartoon on page A6 (Saturday July 25/09). The truth of the matter, in my opinion anyway, is that the Windsor Star as an institution sees itself as "the community".

Some of you might say I am being a little hard on the good folks over at the Windsor Star? No, I don't think so. In my post of July 16th, I wrote:

Recently, a Windsor Star Editorial admitted that sometimes "Polarization is not always bad and it has often been a necessary step in important causes and movements." That sums up their position, clear as day

Now, they want all of us to move on. Let's not dwell on this 101-day-old strike and how it was reported. How convenient: you can write the stories, write the opinions, publish the cartoons, and then decide we don't need to talk about this anymore.

The main editorial (Saturday July 25/09) on page A6, titled "Back to Work", laid it all out.Terms like we have to "move forward" or "move on" or such sentiments are everywhere. The last words in the editorial are "time to embrace a spirit of good will and co-operation". That's it--discussion closed.

In my opinion, the Windsor Star threw a bundle of spitballs at CUPE workers in their operation "polarization". This performance would have made Gaylord Perry--the famous baseball pitcher and modern king of the spitball--proud.

The big difference between Gaylord Perry and the Windsor Star: Mr. Perry wrote a book and gave a full confession. Maybe Jim Venney and Marty Beneteau can do the same thing. And when they do, we will forgive them and then "move on".

Via Rail to Go on Strike

2009-07-24T08:20:00.005-04:00

Below is an updated story on the Via Rail situation found in today's online Toronto Star.

Majority of trains cancelled

Jul 24, 2009 08:08 AM
Precious Yutangco
staff reporter

Via Rail Canada has begun cancelling trains this morning ahead of a noon strike deadline set by locomotive engineers after talks between union representatives and the company broke down.

Early this morning, the company said unless a last-minute resolution is reached, it will be cancelling all trips at noon.

However, according to their website, trips on the Jasper-Prince Rupert, Montreal-Toronto, Ottawa-Toronto, Montreal-Quebec, Toronto-London, Toronto-Sarnia, Toronto-Niagara Falls, Montreal-Ottawa, Montreal-Jonquiere, Montreal-Senneterre, Montreal-Gaspé and Montreal-Halifax lines have already been halted.

Some routes are offering alternate transportation although most only offer refunds.

According to Amtrak, connections to Buffalo or Niagara Falls, New York, will also be affected.

Although some trains were still running this morning, the majority have been cancelled.

Riders are encouraged to check their exact trip to find out more details.

Via had already cancelled some departures this week in anticipation of a walkout.

According to Teamsters Canada Rail Conference, the union representing Via locomotive engineers and yardmasters, their members have been out of a contract since Dec. 31, 2006.

Following a 21-day "cooling-off" period, its members voted 91.2 per cent in favour of a strike.

Some of the outstanding issues include job security.

In a written statement released last week, the union claimed that Via has been demanding the implementation of an antiquated crew utilization procedure, which they say, creates uncertainty about when a locomotive engineer would be scheduled to work.

Wage and benefits are also a major request.

Intense negotiations have been underway for the past four days with the assistance of a federally appointed mediator.

Talks continued overnight but ended around 1 a.m., when Via Rail said that both parties had reached deadlock.

The union, which represents some 340 locomotive engineers, earlier issued a strike notice indicating its intent to go on strike as of noon today.

Trains on the Sudbury-White River and Victoria-Courtenay routes will remain in service, as they are operated by third parties on Via's behalf.

Affected passengers may obtain a refund of any unused tickets.

For more information, call Via at 1-888-VIA-RAIL (842-7245).

Some 12,000 passengers travel routes across Canada daily.

Fiat Posts 2nd Consecutive Quarterly Loss

2009-07-23T02:46:00.003-04:00

Yesterday, I talked about the problems and challenges at Toyota, mainly because Toyota is so important to the economy of South-Western Ontario. Today, the discouraging news is about Fiat. Living in the Windsor-Essex region means being up-to-date on all things Fiat, since the Italian automaker was handed 20% of the new Chrysler, including senior management responsibilities and pay.

Our local paper, the Windsor Star, and business reporter Grace Macaluso have done an embarrasing job covering this important story. Not once, in my opinion, has a serious story been written about the Fiat balance sheet. Over the past months, I have written a number of posts about Fiat/Chrysler; listed below are some, but not all. Have a read.

This Fiat-Chrysler merger was driven by U.S. President Barack Obama and supported by the Canadian and Ontario governments and paid for by the grateful taxpayers. I agree that we had no choice but to support the bailout. However, it would have been nice to see some real in-depth work from the Windsor Star and super snooper Grace Macaulso. Windsor-Essex needs all the information we can get on this deal.

This week, we learn from Bloomberg news that Fiat lost 410 million Euros in the first quarter and 168 million Euros in the second quarter. In plain English, this means that Fiat lost approximately $910 million dollars CDN, so far this year.

Maybe the Windsor Star management can assign someone, who can get busy, and tell Windsor-Essex residents what this means going forward.

Toyota Losing Money in North America

2009-07-22T01:56:00.011-04:00

For the past 30 years, Toyota the car company has been slowly but surely inching its way to the top of the auto world. Until recently, it has been a symbol of a company making all the right decisions.

The company actually made its first car in 1936, while still a division of Toyota Industries. Toyota Motor Company was established in 1937, after being spun off from Toyota Industries, and over the past 70 years, via other mergers and changes, the company finally became Toyota Motor Corporation.

Toyota's first presence in Canada was a plant in Delta, British Columbia (1983), making aluminum alloy wheels for the North American and Japanese markets. In 1986 the company built a huge facility in Georgetown, Kentucky and in 1987 opened a very large operation in Cambridge, Ontario. Today, the company has operations in numerous locations throughout North America.

In 2006, Toyota became the world's most profitable auto company, earning $11 billion that year. And in 2008 it surpassed General Motors as the world's largest automaker.

According to the Toyota Canada website, the company has manufacturing facilities in Woodstock and Cambridge, Ontario. Total investment since inception is $5.6 Billion, and employment as of January 1, 2009 at these plants stood at 5,700. So this company is very important to the Ontario economy and in particular to South Western Ontario.

As we all know, in September of 2008, we started to feel the serious effects of "The Great Recession" and since then, virtually all news for the North American car industry has been grim. Without billions of taxpayer dollars--we will get the full count someday--Chrysler and General Motors would no longer exist. The bad news continues, as we learn that Toyota may close its 25-year joint venture operation in Fremont, California, where 4,700 people are employed. General Motors, the joint venture partner, has already pulled out, leaving Toyota holding the bag.

Just this week, Yoshimi Inaba, CEO of Toyota Motor Sales USA, said that Toyota continues to lose money in North America despite cost cutting efforts. According to reports in the Detroit News, Toyota's sales in North America have fallen 38 percent in the first six months of the year to 770,000 cars and trucks--from nearly 1.25 million vehicles in the first six months of 2008. These are very big and scary numbers.

It should be obvious to all observers that Toyota will look everywhere for more cost cutting initiatives, which usually means fewer jobs. I am very concerned about Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty's new program to give Ontario consumers $10,000 in a provincial handout to those who purchase a General Motors Volt. This program won't be in effect until 2010 as there are no Volts to purchase right now; this is a kind of stimulus in waiting.

The Volt is a very expensive car and may retail at the $40,000 mark. May I suggest to Premier McGuinty, my former colleague and friend, a program to get clunkers off the road and geared towards cars people can afford to buy. Just a thought.

When is the Right to Strike Wrong?

2009-07-21T01:18:00.003-04:00

Early yesterday afternoon while working away in my Windsor office, a fax arrived. The fax, sent courtesy of the Canadian Federation of Independent Business (CFIB), was short and to the point.

In a nutshell, Catherine Swift, the CFIB President said she was "angry" and "WE ARE FED UP AND ARE NOT GOING TO TAKE IT ANYMORE". All of this, of course, referring to the 15-week-old CUPE strike against the City of Windsor taxpayers.

The CFIB President wants us to sign a form and send it to Premier McGuinty, who is to then legislate an end to this strike via arbitration. This arbitration would have limits, of course. The arbitrator would render a settlement according to what taxpayers could afford. Oh boy!

First, let me say that I think Catherine Swift does a very good job. Now, let me say that I don't agree with her proposal. For starters, we expect too little out of our politicians already, especially municipal politicians: think City Council member Halberstadt. They were elected to do a job which includes budgets and managing employees. If we start chopping this up, the grateful taxpayer will never know whom to hold accountable. This is a difficult enough problem now.

Secondly, no legislation will ever be constructed with an acceptable clause regarding ability to pay. How could it--who would validate a formula against every possible economic circumstance? It would be open-ended and we would be right back were we started, with arbitrators deciding. As far as I know anyway, no one in this strike other than CUPE is up for an arbitrator deciding.

No Catherine, there is no Santa Clause, who will come and solve this difficult problem for us. This is something the Windsor City Council will have to do in the full light of day. And they will have to wear the results. In truth, that is how it should be. It's something about responsibility.

Now if we could only hold the Windsor Star management responsible, that would really be something.

Blueberry Season is Here

2009-07-20T06:12:00.005-04:00

With the opening of Klassen's Blueberry Farm to the public on July 18, you know that we have reached the half-way point of summer. I both dread and cheer this event. I know very few people in Windsor Essex who like to acknowledge that Labour Day and the onset of cool weather is only 7 weeks away. However you can drown you sorrow away with an orgy of blueberries.

The Klassen Farm is located on County Rd. 50, East of Harrow and just West of the Arner Townline. Through thoughtful planning, Klassen's is conveniently located in the middle of the Essex County wine route. So you can plan a real day trip. After a few tasters of wine, go right to Klassen's, you can pick your own blueberries, buy ones already picked (which is what I do), have blueberry ice cream, blueberry sundaes, blueberry milkshakes, blueberry tarts, blueberry pie and last but not least, you can sit at the picnic tables and enjoy the ambiance.

I don't want to spoil this, but blueberries, like wine, are good for you and only 82 calories for a full cup. Some researchers say blueberries can slow the aging process--that's why I eat them!

Blueberries are flowering plants or shrubs. According to Foodland Ontario, there are basically two kinds of bushes in Ontario, lowbush and highbush. Low bush grows wild but can be cultivated, and highbush plants can grow up to 6 or 7 feet tall. They are long-lived plants and have a lifespan similar to fruit trees. Blueberry plants like lots of sun; that is one of the reasons they do so well in Essex County.

Most cultivated blueberries are found in British Columbia. In fact, 95% of Canadian cultivated blueberry production comes from B.C., where more than 650 blueberry producers are located farming approximately 17,000 acres.

My favourite blueberry recipe:

half a bowl of chilled blueberries
topped with real fresh whipped cream (it only takes 4 min. to make)

After dinner blueberry drink:

Pour 2oz. of lemoncello over ice in a tall chilled glass
add six blueberries
sip very slowly

Windsor CUPE Workers Reject Contract Offer

2009-07-17T08:31:00.016-04:00

I have been saying for some weeks now, including my post of yesterday, that CUPE workers in the City of Windsor have been taking a real beating from our friendly news folks over at the Windsor Star. The orchestration of these attacks has been, in my view, so blatant, one would think Windsor Star management is part of the Windsor City Council. CUPE workers had no real way of fighting back until yesterday. I, along with many others, underestimated their deep-seated anger.

Yesterday, I said CUPE would accept the City offer by a vote of 64%. I ran into a couple of my readers while grocery shopping in Amherstburg yesterday afternoon, who thought my number was very low. My reply was "64% may be a bit high." Well, obviously the no vote carried the day, and the contract offer went down in flames.

There were some odd things about the vote, though. No real count was made public, and nearly 700 of the almost 1800 strikers did not bother to vote.

The big question this morning: where do we go from here? If CUPE will not accept signing bonuses, more than 6% in wage increases over 4 years, pension and holiday protection for the time on strike, and more, then what is their bottom line?

The answer to that question is easy: CUPE workers want to overturn the obviously successful Windsor Star campaign, to polarize and vilify. Unfortunately for the Windsor Essex region, this is not the first time the Windsor Star and its management have overplayed their cards to the detriment of our community. A lot of unnecessary poison has been created.

Will CUPE Windsor Vote to End Strike?

2009-07-16T07:11:00.012-04:00

Well, it's been over 100 days since CUPE Locals 82 and 543 went out on strike. In retrospect, for CUPE workers, the strike was lost before it started. You could call this "the Battle of the Little Bighorn".

I have written several posts about this strike, and have kept my neutrality throughout, as I wanted to see this strike with clear vision. I especially wanted to understand the "politics" of this strike.

Right out of the starting gate, CUPE was attacked by the Windsor Star. Star opinion writers, editorial writers, headline writers (if that is what they are called) and news reporters, boy, they all piled on. Every real or imagined mistep by CUPE leaders and workers was amplified on the pages of the Windsor Star; believe me, they went all out. This is not to say that CUPE leaders were error free--they were not--and some CUPE members did some real goofy stuff.

Recently, a Windsor Star Editorial admitted that sometimes "Polarization is not always bad and it has often been a necessary step in important causes and movements." That sums up their position, clear as day.

As I have said many times, the Windsor Star and other such papers have a right and duty to publish strong opinions via editorials and opinion writers; they have several of them, and they get lots of space. But for management to use the news reporters and the full weight of the newspaper itself to attack and vilify an organization is wrong. In case we had forgotten, the Windsor Star reminded us (by their actions) that strikes are not only about about money, benefits, and working conditions, they are also about power.

With political cover from the Windsor Star, it was easy for council members like Alan Halberstadt to jump on board as the train left the station. CUPE has promised retaliation against such council members next election. My advice to CUPE: "speak softly and carry a big stick".

There will be a strike vote today on the City of Windsor offer to CUPE workers. CUPE workers will vote to go back to work, my guess 64% in favour.

Former Prime Minister Jean Chrétien Honoured

2009-07-15T01:13:00.001-04:00

The "little guy from Shawinigan", as former Prime Minister Jean Chrétien is affectionately known, was recently honoured by Queen Elizabeth II, receiving Canada's highest civil honour, The Order of Merit.

The Order of Merit, is a British and Commonwealth Order given by the Monarch. Canada is one of the 53 independent members of the Commonwealth. The Order was established in 1902 by King Edward VII. It is the Sovereign's personal gift, and ministerial advice is not required. This means that the current Prime Minister Stephen Harper need not be consulted. However I would guess and it's just a guess, Prime Minister Harper was advised and or consulted.

The Order is a reward for distinguished service in the armed forces, science, art, literature, the promotion of culture and public service.

Chrétien practiced law in Shawinigan until he was first elected to the House of Commons as a Liberal from the riding of Saint-Maurice–Laflèche in the 1963 election. He would represent this Shawinigan-based riding, renamed Saint-Maurice in 1968, for all but eight of the next 41 years. Four of those years were spent in retirement, 1986 to 1990, four more were spent representing the riding of Beausejour, New Brunswick, as he made his comeback.

I first met Jean Chrétien during his visit to Amherstburg, Ontario, in 1976 or so, when he was a cabinet minister and I was a newly elected MPP. This was the first of many meetings with the former Prime Minister. My most memorable visit with Prime Minister Chrétien was around 1988, in the privacy of his hotel suite in Toronto, just he and I. During this meeting he told me of his planned comeback, which was already public knowledge, and I pledged to him my support.

Chrétien was elected Prime Minister in 1993 as he lead the Liberal Party to victory. He was elected Prime Minister two more times before retiring in 2003.

Prime Minister Chrétien's very long and successful political career included many highlights. He was justice minister during the repatriation of the Constitution and the introduction of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms in 1982. He stopped Canada's big banks from merging, read my post dated of May 21, 2009. But most importantly, he fought for one united strong Canada.

Windsor City Council Fails to Change Ward System

2009-07-14T06:49:00.017-04:00

According to a report in this morning's Windsor Star, Council members spent 3 hours and nearly a dozen failed motions, before happily giving up on changing the current bloated and numerically distorted ward system.

I am sure the Council members were exhausted, and the reporters too, but at the end of it, every Council member position and chance for re-election was preserved.

This whole thing started out well enough. Council admitted that the 30 year old system was outdated, they hired a consultant, allocated $50,000 from the grateful taxpayer, and said a new ward system should be in place before the next election. Read the paragraphs below which I copied from the City of Windsor website.

Ward Boundary Review
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Introduction

On December 8, 2008, City Council approved CR497/2008 with a recommendation for a full comprehensive ward boundary review to be undertaken in the City Windsor with the assistance of a consultant.

CR497/2008,

That the City Clerk BE DIRECTED that a full comprehensive Ward Boundary Review BE UNDERTAKEN which could result either in the creation of new ward boundaries or the dissolution of the existing ward boundaries for the 2010 election, and a possible change in the representation of council members. Such a review would be undertaken with the assistance of a Consultant and the project would have an allocated budget of $50,000.00 to be funded from the unallocated 2009 balance as a pre-commitment to the 2009 Budget. In this option, the City Clerk would be directed to engage a Consultant pursuant to the provisions of the Purchasing By-law, and, the Chief Administrative Officer and General Manager would be directed to execute a contract for such consulting services satisfactory in technical content to the City Clerk, in financial content to the City Treasurer and in legal form to the City Solicitor.

Since that time, CAO report #1084 authorized Council Services Department to engage the services of Dr. Robert Williams, Professor Emeritus, Department of Political Science, University of Waterloo to provide the consulting services required to direct an independent review of the City’s ward boundaries. Dr. Williams specializes in municipal affairs, Ontario politics and electoral systems.

Objective

To conduct a comprehensive review of the municipal ward boundaries in the City of Windsor in order to arrive at an effective and equitable system of representation. Insofar as possible, the review should accommodate for growth in the City for at least the next 10 years. The revised ward structure is to be in place for the 2010 municipal election.

Parameters

The review will be conducted within the following parameters:

Respect the principle of "effective representation" as enunciated by the Supreme Court in its decision on the Carter case;
Build from the experience gained through other municipal ward boundary reviews and the outcome of OMB hearings in those cases where a review has been appealed (Best Practices);
Insofar as possible, develop a ward structure that will accommodate growth and population shifts for at least 10 years;
Conduct all steps in the work program including research, public consultation, review of options with the public and provisions for a final report and recommendations to Council no later than July 2009.

Guiding Principles

Subject to the overriding principle of "effective representation" as set out in the Carter decision, the following criteria will be referred to for guidance in the conduct of the review:

Communities of interest and neighbourhoods: It is desirable to avoid fragmenting traditional neighbourhoods or communities of interest within the City;
Consideration of representation by population: To the extent possible, and bearing in mind the requirements for effective representation, wards should have reasonably equal population totals. Given the geography and varying population densities and characteristics in the City of Windsor, a degree of variation will be acceptable;
Consideration of present and future population trends: Insofar as possible, the ward structure should accommodate growth for at least 10 years;
Consideration of physical features as natural boundaries: Wards should have a coherent, contiguous shape and the boundaries should be straightforward and easy to remember.

Contact:

Dr. Robert Williams, Consultant: windsorwardreview@hotmail.com
Windsor City Clerk's Office: clerks@city.windsor.on.ca
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

In my opinion, there is only one thing that stopped the Council from moving to a new ward system, reflective of current population trends and the need for fewer elected officials: self interest.

Let's see if the Windsor Star polarizes the community over this issue. After all, what could be more important than how we are governed?

Windsor Mayor Eddie Francis should not let this stand. He should show the same determination on this important issue as he has shown while debating the Canal Project, the new Windsor Arena and the current CUPE strike.

Let me repeat what I said yesterday. The City of Windsor could get along just fine and very efficiently with 6 Wards, one elected official per Ward and a Mayor. As a matter of fact, City Council proved my very point last night.

Windsor City Council and the Ward System

2009-07-13T10:02:00.014-04:00

There will be lots and lots of politics tonight at Windsor City Council. According to the Windsor Star, the Council will be dealing with a $50,000 consultant's report on the overhaul of the current "Ward System".

It goes without saying that the current way Windsor citizens elect councillors is outdated, but not for the reasons some Council members will tell you. Yes the 5 wards, with 2 council members per ward is unbalanced as far as population numbers are concerned, but that is a pretty easy fix.

The current system is outdated primarily because we have too many Council members, who basically make full-time wages when committee pay is factored in. Yes, and don't forget one third of their wages is tax free. That is why Council members like Alan Halberstadt, who basically has no other work, other than one column a month and some scuttlebutt (which is a Halberstadt specialty) in Biz X magazine, continue to favour a large council.

A Mayor and 10 Council members for a medium sized Canadian city like Windsor is too large a body to be effective. My bet is that Halberstadt will support 8 wards and one Council member per ward. However in my view that is not the right balance, is wrong for Windsor, and self-serving.

The City of Windsor could mange just fine with 6 wards and one Council member per ward plus the Mayor.

News, Bias, and the Windsor Star

2009-07-10T07:11:00.018-04:00

If you took a look at our very own Windsor Star, both yesterday and today, you would not know that world leaders had gathered, and were meeting in L'Aquila, Italy, for the 2009 G8 Summit. One would think, that for such a major event with possible significant business consequences, assistant chief honcho and editor Marty Beneteau would have dispatched supersnooper Grace Macaluso to do a real, in-depth story about the whole summit. Something may still be reported in tomorrow's paper; we will have to wait and see.

So far, I guess, the news reporters are too busy beating up on City of Windsor striking CUPE workers and polarizing the community. Yes, I know CUPE has behaved badly, wrong strike at the wrong time, public sector wages and benefits have to be in line with the private sector. I agree with all that. That is not the issue with me, and never has been.

The real issue is how the Windsor Star has reported all this, and the ethics behind it.

This is what I think: Chief Honcho and Publisher Jim Venney should write a front page editorial and build on the recent admission from the Windsor Star editorial pages that sometimes it is good to polarize the community. He should explain further, and tell us what he really means by that.

You see, the more readers understand, in my view anyway, that normal operating procedures at the Windsor Star are all about editorial and management opinion driving the news, the better able readers in Windsor-Essex will be in detecting bias. What could be more important when trying to understand a subject matter or the news of the day??

The G8 Summit in L'Aquila Italy

2009-07-09T05:57:00.007-04:00

The G8 Summit started yesterday in L'Aquila, which is located in the central Italian region of Abruzzo. The summit includes more than 8 countries, but more on that in a moment.

L'Aquila, the beautiful medieval city, which is near Abbateggio, the small mountain village where I was born, was recently devastated by a series of earthquakes; surrounding towns were also smashed. In L'Aquila alone 294 were killed and more than 50,000 left homeless.

L'Aquila, which means the eagle in Italian, was initially completed as a city in 1254. It is the capital of the region of Abruzzo and the cultural centre as well. L'Aquila is home to the Spanish Fort (Forte Spagnolo),which was constructed in 1534, and the church of Santa Maria di Collemaggio, built in 1270. The church is a magnificent structure, and it is also where the hermit, Pietro del Morrone, was consecrated as Pope Celestine V.

In 1989, as Minister of Revenue in the David Peterson government, I assisted Premier Peterson on a trade mission to Italy. We brought more than 200 business leaders from Ontario on this important trade mission, and the entire delegation spent time in L'Aquila. As well, over the years I and my family have made several trips to L'Aquila.

The G8 Summit was originally planned to be held on the beautiful island of Sardinia. However, Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi moved the location to L'Aquila, so Italians and others around the world would not easily forget the devastated city.

I have to tell you, I am getting a little sick and tired of all the protesters at the G8 and other world summits. Protesting, and strongly protesting, is one thing, no problem with that, but trying to stop these meetings from taking place is something else. If all of us stopped every meeting we didn't like, not even the protesters would be able to have a meeting.

Anyway, the G8 Summit was originally started in 1975, as a conference of the world's industrialized democracies, and includes, Canada (which joined in 1977), France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom, the United States, and Russia, which formally joined the group in 1997. The G8 is informal in structure and does not have a permanent secretariat. But when leaders get together, important ideas are discussed and some of these ideas move forward, that is why non-member countries request invitations to these meetings. After all, G8 countries represent 49% of global exports, 51% of industrial output, and 49% of the assets in the International Monetary Fund.

The leaders, of course, get all the attention, but the agenda includes ministerial meetings, and ministers responsible for various portfolios discuss issues of mutual and global concern. The topics include health, labour, energy, terrorism, trade and much more.

The G8 has kind of a sub group, which includes Mexico, China, India, South Africa, and Brazil. Speculation is that the G8 will formally grow in size to anywhere from 13 to 16 members. Anyway, at this year's summit, 39 countries were invited, which in my view makes for a logistical nightmare and takes away from the original intent of the group. Democracies in the Northern Hemisphere do have common issues and concerns that they as a group should deal with. There are many other forums where other countries are included.

Some of the main topics for the 2009 G8 Summit are: the economic crises, how to boost international trade, climate change, development in the poorer countries, and for a complete agenda please click here. Whatever we think of these conferences, let's hope the results improve our world.

Where is Your Car Made??

2009-07-08T09:37:00.003-04:00

So you think you know where your car is made? Maybe not.

Essex County Council recently passed a motion supporting a buy Canadian policy. The motion was loudly supported by the two weakest performers on the County Council, the Mayor and Deputy Mayor of Tecumseh. These two have recently become famous over dog poop, read my post of June 25/09.

The "dog poop duo" were promoting a resolution that was making the rounds at the behest of the Windsor and District Labour Council. So it wasn't even their idea, just playing to the grandstands. Canada is an exporting country: we sell more than we buy, so we need to be very careful about stuff like this.

The United States Congress passed the American Automobile Labeling Act, in 1992. This legislation requires automakers to disclose the percentage, by cost, of U.S. and Canadian parts in most cars and light trucks. In the U.S. you can find the numbers listed on the window stickers. The Americans are running huge trade deficits, so I understand their motivation, and it's nice that they include Canada as part of U.S. content. But the legislation in my view is a nightmare.

The folks over at the Center for Automotive Research (CAR) in Ann Arbor, Michigan, are focused on the auto industry, world wide. While serving as Chairman of the Board of the Windsor Essex Development Commission (WEDC), I and the Commission staff worked very closely with the Center for Automotive Research. They are an important group, both on a regional and international scale. I hope the new WEDC board, when appointed, continues to foster a close working relationship with CAR.

The Center for Automotive Research recently stated that things like research, design, and assembly and where these things are done is also important information for consumers. Currently this is not factored into the content rules. So, in addition to research and design, excluded from this U. S. legislation, is something as basic as the value of the labour of autoworkers assembling the vehicle. This is not Fair Play, if the goal is to do a comparison, and for sure gives a distorted view of where the car is made. So, as you can see, trying to figure out where your car is made is complicated.

Just one more thought before I conclude. The Honda Accord, is built in Ohio, for a company headquartered in Japan. The Ford Fusion is built in Mexico for a corporation based in Dearborn, Michigan. Both cars are similar in size, quality and price. Under the new rules passed by the Essex County Council, which car must be purchased??

Buy Local Food Initiative Wins Support

2009-07-07T00:03:00.008-04:00

I was very happy to see the provincial government announce a $47,000 grant to promote local food. This initiative was brought forward by the Windsor Essex Development Commission (WEDC) some months ago. At that time, I was serving as Chair of the Board and Acting CEO. The work in preparing this initiative was done by the Agricultural Sector Committee, one of four Sector Committees established by the hardworking and dedicated members of the previous Board. The WEDC Board member who served on this committee, with community volunteers, was local greenhouse farmer and businessman Anthony Cervini.

With strong leadership from the previous Board, strategic and innovative ideas such as this were encouraged, advanced, and promoted for implementation.

The Basic Facts about Olive Oil

2009-07-07T00:01:00.001-04:00

Three recent stories in the Windsor Star, one about the new Windsor Farmers' Market, another about Locavore, a group promoting the importance of fresh local products, and today's story announcing provincial government support for the local food industry, got me thinking about "healthy food products".

As some of my readers will know, I was born in a small mountain village, in the central Italian region of Abruzzo. The village is near the city of L'Aquila, which sustained terrible earthquakes just this past April. Probably because of my heritage, I am a big fan of olive oil. Not only is this a healthy food product, it is also very tasty. Hey, so let's learn a little more about olive oil, and let's use it with freshly grown Essex County products.

The olive is a fruit produced by a Mediterranean evergreen tree. This tree spread from places like Syria and Iran to Southern Europe about six thousand years ago, and is one of the oldest cultivated trees in the world. The Romans loved olive oil, and as they spread their domain, they brought the olive tree with them. In my travels through Spain, Greece, and Italy, I loved driving past olive groves--the trees looking majestic and the farms well cared for. My favourite olive groves were in the Italian region of Puglia, just pure music.

My youngest daughter Bianca spent about six months in Italy some years ago, attending a private school in the beautiful city of Lanciano, in Abruzzo. One of her fondest memories is attending an olive farm, and watching the production of olive oil.

Greek mythology tells us that Athens is named for the Greek Goddess Athena who brought the olive tree to the Greeks as a gift. If it is good enough for a Greek Goddess, it should be good enough for us.

Olive oil is like wine: it comes in many different types of bottles, different varieties and different pricing. You can go upscale very fast: $30 a bottle is common for very good olive oil, but there is lots of good stuff at $12. Although olive oil can be broken into many sub-categories, for my personal use, and ease of explanation, I find the main types are:

Premium and Extra Virgin - is oil from the first pressing and with very low acidity at 0.8% or less. It is fruity and with nice flavour. This oil should be used on salads, fresh Essex County tomatos, as a condiment, or for dipping bread, which you can buy fresh every morning from the bakeries on Erie St. in Windsor.

Virgin - also from the first pressing, must have good flavour and the acidity rate must be less the 2%. This oil is also good for uncooked foods.

Pure or Plain Oil - is a blend of Virgin and refined oil. Refined means it has gone through a chemical process. It is low in acid but has very little if any flavour. This oil is good for cooking.

Light or Extra-Light - does not refer to calories or fat content. These oils are refined and should be used for cooking only.

Finally, olive oil should always be stored in a cool, dry, dark place and should last for up to one year.

Oh, and don't forget, it should be used primarily on Essex County products.

Michael Jackson: The Glove, The Love, and the Genius

2009-07-06T07:49:00.021-04:00

GUEST COLUMN by Michellyne Mancini

The very first time Itzhak Perlman's wife heard him play the violin, the two of them did not know each other; indeed, they had never met. Toby happened to be backstage at a concert Perlman was giving, and after the concert was over, she walked straight over to him and promptly asked him to marry her. They began dating, and the rest is history. (Toby, a classically trained violinist herself, married the renowned virtuoso. They have five children and still live very happily ever after.)

Michael Jackson, the great King of Pop, who passed away on June 25th at the age of 50, was unfortunately not as lucky in love. A shy person off-stage, he struggled all his life in attempting to find an appropriate partner, eventually, at age 38, deciding to have children on his own, with the help of a friend who had agreed to marry him and bare children for him as part of an arrangement. And it seems that in the end, those things that Michael Jackson really had were his children and his fans.

But Michael Jackson was not simply the Itzhak Perlman of his time. No: he was the Bach, the Mozart, the Beethoven. He changed--and improved--the face and the course of pop music and pop culture in such a way that it would not be recognizable today had it not been for his influence.

Among his colossal accomplishments, Michael managed to bridge black and white music in a way that no other artist has been able to do; indeed he fused the two, so that we no longer kept track of whether we were listening to black soul or white pop, and we didn't care. For those like me, who were born around the time of the Thriller album release in 1982, we never even knew any different: by the time we were listening to music, he had sufficiently affected the pop genre so that the music of our youth was colour blind.

In a world obssessed with all things cool, Michael Jackson epitomised the very essence of it, inspiring an entire generation the world over with his songs, his voice, his dancing, his videos, and his fashion. This was a cool not of superficiality, but a cool of substance.

For among the sequins and the shades, Michael Jackson was not a typical pop superstar: Michael Jackson was different.

His idols included Fred Astaire, Gene Kelley, and James Brown, and he studied their moves until he had perfected them and innovated beyond them, incorporating the highest level of dancing into his own performances and videos. His work ethic was legendary. He was soft spoken and disliked profanity. On his own time, he listened primarily to classical music. And while he cared deeply about his image, there were a great many parts of himself that he refused to conceal: even at the height of his sex appeal in the 1980s, he never allowed himself to be boxed in to a "tough guy" image off-stage--he wore his heart on his sleeve, and he was never too immodest to accept a hug from a loving fan, much to the ire of his bodyguards.

This love that Michael exuded for his fans was probably in a symbiotic relationship with the love they had for him: after giving so much of himself to his music from the early days of his childhood, he needed them as much as they needed him. On June 25th, 2009 and in the days since then, spontaneous outpourings of grief and commemoration have broken out on every continent of the world, mourning the music genius who wore a single, sequined glove. Perhaps Michael Jackson wasn't so unlucky in love after all.

Michellyne Mancini is a freelance writer based in Windsor, Ontario, and the president of Mancini Communications. She can be reached at michellyne@mancinicommunications.com.

Happy Birthday U.S.A.

2009-07-04T04:44:00.000-04:00

Our U.S. Neighbours are Celebrating

2009-07-03T07:15:00.003-04:00

A great list of July 4th weekend activities in Michigan, click here.

It was a Great 1st of July

2009-07-02T07:07:00.016-04:00

Canada Day, a time to celebrate and enjoy. We are really lucky in this "Great Country". Yes we have our challenges and they are many. From the cab drivers strike in Windsor, Ontario to our brave men and women in uniform fighting in Afghanistan. But more than any other place in the world, we have peace, order and stable communities.

Yesterday, throughout the country millions celebrated, some with family gatherings, some playing golf, some at the cottage, some worked in their flower gardens and there were lots of fireworks to end the day.

Right here in Amherstburg, a small beautiful town on the Detroit River, many residents gathered along the shoreline as dusk signaled the end of the day. When darkness finally came, the multi-coloured flashes in the sky lit up the river, and filled the airwaves with delayed thunder. This went on for nearly 30 minutes, all the while you could see ice cream being enjoyed and hear the giggle of children and adults. When it was all over everyone gathered up their belongings and families and headed home.

It was a Great 1st of July.

Happy Canada Day!

2009-07-01T05:41:00.000-04:00

New Strike Tactics by CUPE Windsor Won't Work

2009-06-30T06:24:00.014-04:00

As we move towards week 12 of the "Endless Strike", CUPE strikers in Windsor are changing their tactics. From now on they are playing hardball!

According to very recent accounts in the local Windsor Star, CUPE workers are blocking city buses, invading city hall in large numbers to confront council members, challenging carnival workers picking up debris and just being, well..... much more visible.

Dear Striking City of Windsor Employees:

These tactics won't work! You don't need to be more visible, the folks over at the Windsor Star have taken care of that for you. With few exceptions, your every move will be reported with negative connotations, and in some cases you will be made to look foolish. Why do you think council members like Halberstadt are not on your side?

The Windsor Star has really raised the stakes, by running a story in today's paper, of a Muslim woman, accusing CUPE workers of making "rude and bigoted" comments. The matter was reported to police and of course the offending people are nowhere to be found. I don't know what happened, and I certainly don't support such activity. However, if the Windsor Star ran a story over every such allegation, there would be no room in the paper for anything else. And as everyone knows, it is impossible to defend yourself, when such allegations are given considerable space in the media. The folks at the Windsor Star know this quite well.

Fair or unfair you lost the strike 12 weeks ago. Read my post of April 28 and my post of June 1st.

My advice again, cut the best deal you can and get back to work.

Yours truly,

Tim Hudak Elected New Leader of Ontario P.C. Party

2009-06-29T12:05:00.005-04:00

Tim Hudak MPP for the riding of Niagara West - Glanbrook was elected Leader of the Ontario Progressive Conservative Party late last evening. Hudak takes over from Interim Leader Bob Runciman. As you may remember, Runciman stepped in as Interim Leader after John Tory flamed out badly in the last Provincial Election.

I first met John Tory in the early 1980's. I was a very young MPP, and John Tory (who was also very young) was Principal Secretary to Premier William G. Davis. Tory had a great reputation, was considered very smart and I kinda liked him.

Not only did Tory lead the P.C. Party to defeat in the provincial election of 2007, by his ill advised support of funding for any and all religious schools, he also lost his bid for re-election as an MPP. If you can believe it things then got worse for John Tory. On March 5, 2009, Tory lost his chance to re-enter the Legislature, losing a provincial by-election in the riding of Haliburton-Kawartha Lakes-Brock, a safe conservative riding. The next day Tory quit as Leader.

Tim Hudak was first elected to the provincial legislature in 1995, and served as Cabinet Minister for both Premier Mike Harris and Premier Ernie Eves. Experience in opposition, experience in government, experience as a cabinet minister. So today at only 41 years of age, Hudak is a skillful and proven veteran.

Hudak is a big C conservative, in the mold of Mike Harris. Hudak will take very strong positions on the right of the political spectrum; his policies will be very divisive. He will give voters a real choice in the next election. For political observers, he will make watching Ontario politics interesting again. My guess, the person watching the most right now is Ontario Finance Minister, Dwight Duncan.

Will The Windsor Star be Dragged into Bankruptcy?

2009-06-26T00:39:00.009-04:00

CanWest Global Communications is a Winnipeg based media company whose assets include the National Post, Global Television and the likes of our very own Windsor Star.

CanWest Global, the owners of the Windsor Star, continue to face severe financial pressures.I checked globeInvester.com on Thursday June 25, 2009, and CanWest stock was trading at less than 15 cents. The company debt is somewhere near 3.9 Billion dollars, that is Billion with a B. Wow, talk about trouble.

Read my post of June 5, 2009 for some background on a missed interest payment of some $10 million.

Recent news indicates that CanWest management is asking employees to take a 5% wage cut. We know how difficult the Windsor Star headline writers, editorial page writers and opinion writers have been on the CAW regarding wage rollbacks. And, we know how badly the same folks over at the Windsor Star, have treated striking City of Windsor CUPE workers. I guess my question is, when are we going to see a headline or two, maybe a editorial or even a story about this concession request?

As well, maybe the business section of the Windsor Star can do an information piece on the financial situation at CanWest Global, and how it might effect the Windsor Star employees, and paid subscribers. The Star has managed to find time and space to write about CBC cutbacks, the layoffs at AM 800, and the problems over at A Channel.

Windsor Star readers should be kept informed.

Town of Tecumseh Gone to the Dogs

2009-06-25T00:05:00.007-04:00

Boy you have to hand it the co-chief honcho, of the Town of Tecumseh, Deputy Mayor Tom Burton, he knows the important issues of the day. If he and his side kick Mayor Gary McNamara are not:

raising taxes, more than 17% over the past 3 years, read my post of April 16/09

or taking expensive taxpayer funded trips to Banff and Whistler

or insulting fellow County Councillors, or just about anyone else for that matter, for a few cheap headlines; recently even Windsor Councillor, and Tom Burton buddy, Allan Halberstadt referred to the Tecumseh Mayor as "petty"

If and when co-chief honchos McNamara and Burton are not doing all of the above and more, they are occupied with the big things in government, right? Good thing Burton is in charge of that landfill committee.

You could write a book about these two guys and their exemplary practice of hypocrisy. Ahh, but time doesn't allow. So for right now, this article in the Windsor Star will have to do.

While watching this video, if you look real close, you just might be able to see, co-chief honcho Burton and McNamara in the background. You gotta love those two "Hound dogs".

Summer is Finally Here! Drive the Wine Route

2009-06-24T05:06:00.004-04:00

June 21st has come and gone. Summer has arrived, and it looks like warm weather is here to stay, I hope. The beauty of Essex County is everywhere. No more so, than along the scenic south shore of our lovely County.

The Detroit River flows past Amherstburg, and right past my home for that matter, just before it links up with Lake Erie. You will know when you have arrived in Amherstburg, as you will drive past the world bottling headquarters, of my favourite whisky, "Crown Royal". During my tenure as Chairman of the Windsor Essex Development Commission (and for 1 year Interim Executive Officer) I and the WEDC Board of Directors, and staff, worked very closely with the management of this very famous, (originally) Canadian whisky company. Ah! back to the wine route.

The water vistas along Amherstburg are not only lovely, but without parallel, so make it your start point or home base, for your excursions into Essex County. Drive the wine route. Get acquainted with the beauty of Essex County and our very fine wineries. You will be glad you did.

The "Great Recession" Just Won't Go Away

2009-06-23T00:04:00.010-04:00

The World Bank released some very glum news yesterday.

The World Bank is an International Financial Institution funded by member states (governments). It's more formal name is the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development. The World Bank was originally established as a vehicle for reconstruction of Europe and Japan after World War II.

Over time the role of the bank expanded to include poverty alleviation and and support for developing world countries. Money given out by the World Bank is guaranteed both by the lending countries and the receiving countries.

In March of this year the World Bank predicted a 1.7 percent decline in the global economy. Yesterdays updated forecast warned of a 2.9 percent contraction. More specifically the forecast for the big economies are scary, with a 3 percent drop in the United States the world’s biggest economy. Japan’s gross domestic product will shrink 6.8 percent. The European economy may tank by 4.5 percent

These are all macro numbers, but in plain english, it means continued high unemployment, sluggish consumer spending and very high government deficits.

While not specifically mentioned in the World Bank report, the continued contraction of the world economy means something else as well. The value of homes, and property, will continue to decline. Many home owners with good credit are now under water, that is the value of their homes are less than the outstanding mortgage.

In the United Kingdom fully 10% of mortgage holders with good credit are under water.

We Should do More to Support Regime Change in Iran

2009-06-22T00:28:00.006-04:00

It is a long time ago, January 16, 1979, but I well remember the images on T.V. The ruling Monarch of Iran, Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi and his family grim faced and fleeing, after having lost control of the country.

Shapour Bakhtiar, a former opposition leader, is made Prime Minister by the departing Shah, in order to quiet things down. Bakhtiar quickly makes plans for a more inclusive Majlis or Parliament. Bakhtiar lasts a grand total of 36 days. He made some big mistakes during his premiership, the biggest miscalculation was allowing Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini to re-enter Iran. Khomeini, in 1964, had been forced out of the country by the Shah and spent more than 14 years in exile, mostly in the city of Najaf, Iraq.

Ruhollah Khomeini was forced to leave Iraq by then Vice President Saddam Hussein. We all remember him. It is hard to believe but Khomeini ended up in France on a tourist visa. However on February 1, 1979, Khomeini returned in triumph to Iran.

Ruhollah Khomeini adamantly opposed the provisional government of Shapour Bakhtiar, and appointed his own government. In fairly short order Khomeini was in complete control of a new and radical Islamic Republic. In November 1979, the new constitution of the Islamic Republic was adopted, and Khomeini himself became the Supreme Leader. A scary title if I do say so myself. Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini remained Supreme Leader until his death in 1989.

Three decades have passed since the installation of a radical cleric lead government in Iran. The current President, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, whose re-election is in serious dispute, really reports to, and gets his support from, the current Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and the Council of Guardians, all of whom are clerics.

Today, Iran is a dangerous, socially repressive, economic basket case.

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's Islamic Moral Brigades, are famous, for roaming the streets of major cities, to enforce the government's crackdown on "immodest dress." President Ahmadinejad and the clerics who rule Iran are very busy. When not occupied with enforcing dress rules on women, they are busy:

building a nuclear weapons capability
supporting and funding Hamas and Hezbollah terrorist activities
saying that Israel should be wiped off the face of the map
denying that "gay" people exist, if you don't exist, you don't have rights
the government admits that inflation is at 23%
Iran's unemployment is 25%, and 1 out of 4 Iranians live in poverty according to the Council on Foreign Relations, (a highly regarded think tank headquartered in New York City)

I should note, that while serving as Executive Vice President at the Ambassador Bridge, I collaborated with Dr. Stephen E. Flynn of the Council on Foreign Relations, on borders and border security.

Given all of the above, and more, much more, Iran could use a regime change. A new regime could usher in the most basic of freedoms, human rights for all, the separation of Church and State and institutions to protect and enhance civil life.

I have to tell you, it is very sad watching leaders of democratic countries, especially the United States acting like timid puppies regarding this near revolution in Iran. If our leaders can't forcefully and with passion speak out for basic freedoms, they should be ashamed, and then step aside.

Good luck to the people of Iran.

10 Highest Paid Political Leaders?

2009-06-19T01:00:00.009-04:00

I was reading the business section of the Times of London, England, and found their list of the highest paid politicians.

After some further research, I found a press release from the Government of Singapore. This document (page 7) indicates, the 2008 salary of the President of Singapore at 3.87 million and cabinet ministers at 1.94 million in local currency per year. On another website, it indicates, the 30 top paid politicians in the world, all come from Singapore! I am not making this up! Also missing from the Times of London list, is the King, and cabinet ministers from Saudi Arabia?

None the less, the Times of London list, found below, is very interesting. The salaries are listed first in U.S dollars and then in the currency of the home country.

Our own Prime Minister, Stephen Harper comes in at a respectable 8th place.

1. Lee Hsien Loong - Singapore

Salary in dollars - $2.47 million

Salary in local currency - S$3.76 million

2. Donald Tsang Yum-Kuen - Hong Kong

Salary in dollars - $516,000

Salary in local currency - HK$4 million

3. Barack Obama - United States

Salary in dollars - $400,000

4. Brian Cowen - Ireland

Salary in dollars - $341,000

Salary in local currency - €257,000

5. Nicolas Sarkozy - France

Salary in dollars - $318,000

Salary in local currency - €240,000

6. Angela Merkel - Germany

Salary in dollars - $303,000

Salary in local currency - €228,000

7. Gordon Brown - UK

Salary in dollars - $279,000

Salary in local currency - £194,250

8. Stephen Harper - Canada

Salary in dollars - $246,000

Salary in local currency - C$311,000

9. Taro Aso - Japan

Salary in dollars - $243,000

Salary in local currency - Y24 million

10. Kevin Rudd - Australia

Salary in dollars - $229,000

Salary in local currency - A$330,000

"eHealth Ontario" Chairman Resigns

2009-06-18T00:01:00.008-04:00

Premier Dalton McGuinty, finally makes his move, with the removal of Dr. Alan Hudson, as Chairman of eHealth Ontario. My readers should know, that I first met Dr. Hudson around 1991 or so, during my tenure as Chairman of the Ontario Legislature's Public Accounts Committee.

This scandal has been brewing for several weeks. The Liberals, were very much hoping the whole matter would go away, with the closing of the Legislature for summer recess, and with last weeks firing of eHealth CEO, Sarah Kramer. Read my post of June 8, 2009.

As I said last week the firing of Sarah Kramer "may not be the end of the story".

There are two fundamental issues here that McGuinty could not sustain.

very large contracts awarded (in the millions) without tender
Ontario Progressive Conservative Party members have said, some of these contracts were given to "Liberal friendly" firms

So as you can see, the Ontario Liberal government had an administrative, and a political problem. This is a toxic mix for Liberal MPPs, and they wanted very badly to be rid of it.

McGuinty, has fixed the administrative problem, by announcing new rules on tendering. By firing Dr. Hudson, whom, according to media reports, he personally appointed, McGuinty may have fixed the political problem.

Again, this may not be the end of the story. The Conservatives smell blood, and they are after Health Minister David Caplan, (a good chap by the way). The Conservatives can't believe Caplan did not know, CEO Sarah Kramer got a $114,000 bonus after only 5 months on the job, or that he was unaware of the contracts to the "Liberal friendly" firms.

Boy, and if he did know, he has a lot of explaining to do.

Windsor Star Cover-Up?

2009-06-17T06:23:00.015-04:00

The Windsor Star has played a very active role in portraying the City of Windsor strike, and CUPE strikers, in a certain fashion. As I have said in the recent past, (read my post of June 1, 2009), the Windsor Star has been very hard on CUPE strikers. This stance has moderated slightly since June 1, but the damage was already done.

In today's Windsor Star print edition, on page 3, and in the lead editorial, the Star hammers Mayor Francis, for his handling of City Council members post retirement benefits. As a brief explanation, City Council members receive post retirement benefits, but not many really get to collect. No post retirement benefits, for any city hall workers, hired after January 1, 2009, is the mantra. That is what this 9-week-old and very bitter strike is all about. So, as you can see, there are some red faces around the City Council chamber.

To me, the most interesting part of this whole story is not Mayor Francis, but how each City Council member voted, and why. But, we will have to leave this matter for another day.

It is obvious, in my view, that this minor pummeling of Mayor Francis is more for the Star's benefit than anything else. Now the Windsor Star folks can defend themselves over any accusation of unfair and biased reporting during this strike. You could call this move, a fake to the left.

I wonder, does Windsor Star assistant chief honcho Marty Beneteau really think this little cover-up will fool readers?

Biz X Magazine the Playground of Halberstadt

2009-06-16T00:01:00.011-04:00

Windsor City Councillor Alan Halberstadt has, for some time, published stories on the pages of Windsor-based Biz X Magazine. In fact, he says on his City of Windsor webpage, that he "writes the feature column and freelances for Biz X Magazine". The councillor continues to do so. It also looks like he contributes to the page titled "Around Town".

A lot of the stuff Halberstadt writes about is really information and/or his take on "Council business". In the recent past, he has even written about some of his "council travel". If this travel is paid for by the grateful taxpayers of Windsor, Halberstadt in my view, should disclose this fact.

Halberstadt should also fully disclose his financial relationship, if any, with Biz X Magazine.

Canadian Sacrifice in Afghanistan

2009-06-15T00:01:00.004-04:00

We must not forget our men and women in the military, who are engaged, in a very dangerous mission in Afghanistan.

On Sunday, June 14th we learned of the death of Cpl. Martin Dube, 35, we know his sacrifice saved the lives of others.

Canada, has and continues to pay a big price, both in $$$$ and in blood, as we to do more than our share in Afghanistan.

See my post of April 30, 2009.

Historic Win for Nova Scotia NDP

2009-06-12T00:01:00.001-04:00

The New Democratic Party in Nova Scotia has won a majority government. After a decade of Progressive Conservative rule, the voters made the big switch. Liberals barely formed the official opposition while the PC's fell to third place.

The campaign, which officially began on May 5, was precipitated by opposition MLAs voting down a finance bill. This vote caused the fall of the minority Progressive Conservative government.

The Conservatives wanted to spend $260 million, on roads, schools and infrastructure, instead of putting the money toward the province's $12-billion debt as required by law. Progressive Conservative Leader Rodney MacDonald gambled and lost.

Since the start of the "Great Recession" we have had two provincial elections in Canada. The Liberal government in British Columbia, re-elected. The Progressive Conservative government in Nova Scotia, defeated.

Although there have been noteable exceptions, I believe, there are two common circumstances, which cause the defeat of governments. Length of time in office, and the economy. The economy translates for regular folks, as the unemployment rate.

Does this theory hold up for B.C. and Nova Scotia? Does there appear to be a threshold? You be the judge.

B.C. Liberals in power for eight years and re-elected
Nova Scotia PC's in power for ten years and defeated

B.C.unemployment rate is 7.6%
Nova Scotia unemployment rate 8.9%.