Random Thoughts – Renaming IceDogs Way, Climate Emergency and More
June 3, 2019
1. Recently, St. Catharines councilor Matt Harris introduced a motion to rename IceDogs Way, which was carried by council. If you recall, the street that encircles the arena was so named after the Burkes pledged $1 million toward the Meridian Center’s construction costs, a pledge they backed out on after much wrangling with city bureaucrats on the agreement. While it is true that the Burkes have no right to expect such a benefit without the donation, the motion came across as petty and vindictive, given that the donation was only pulled after the city reneged on terms that were verbally agreed upon beforehand. Harris and the rest of the councilors who voted in favor of renaming the street would have better served the city by introducing and supporting a motion requiring SMG to clean the seats, railings and glass. Not to mention stop shaking down customers at the Rankin Gateway for the sole purpose of bleeding every last quarter out of them at the concessions.
2. Mayor Sendzik made much noise about city council endorsing what he and his party are calling a “climate emergency,” when, in fact, the only “emergency” is how badly his party is tanking in the polls. But what really appalled me was not that Sendzik was again using his office to push partisan party politics, but that this motion was also endorsed by so-called “conservatives” Mat Siscoe and Sal Sorrento. And Siscoe continues to laugh at the notion that he’s really a Liberal.
3. Dear Doug Ford: I have been very impressed with your performance thus far as our new premier. Your job has certainly not been easy as the previous Liberal government left you and your team with quite the mess at Queen’s Park. There must be a million things on your agenda. But changing license plates and picking a fight with The Beer Store ought to rank 1,000,001 and 1,000,002 on that list.
4. Back in the Old Country, many readers know how much time I had spent at the Millennium Library doing research. It had always been ground zero for bums and the like, but according to a recent article in the Winnipeg Sun, things have gotten so bad that you now have to submit to airport-level security for the privilege of going in there. Yet another reason, as if I needed one, I’m so happy to be out of that place.
5. Also in the Old Country, transit drivers are now poised with a strike mandate after the workers union rejected the city’s “final” offer. I support the drivers in their quest for better pay, improved working conditions and increased safety measures, but on the other hand, they remain a significant part of the problem with Winnipeg Transit. I continue to hear far too many stories of drivers acting like jerks, willfully blowing off schedules, whizzing past passengers at stops and speeding away as would-be passengers madly wave at them desperately trying to catch the bus, no doubt laughing about such incidents back at the garage. These are things I’ve seen and experienced first-hand and need to be addressed alongside the drivers’ legitimate concerns.
6. Count me as one of many who don’t give a flying rat’s rear end about the Raptors. I just want them to lose so I won’t have to hear about them anymore.
7. Rumor has it the IceDogs held a big merchandise sale at their offices at the Meridian Center recently. Who knew? Don’t do anything radical like put it on your website or anything.
8. Apparently one of the favorite things tourists love to do when coming to the Falls is to stop in the middle of crowded walkways in groups of four or more and chat.
9. Dear Andrew Scheer: As you continue to push the “diversity is strength” mantra so loved by your opponents, may I remind you of the words of former Ontario PC leader Patrick Brown, who, when campaigning against a Liberal-lite rival, stated that voters will always choose the original over the knockoff. And I dare say you would not be the party’s leader today if you had been espousing such Liberal-esque rhetoric.
9a. Let the record reflect that Maxime Bernier was my first choice to lead the party. And I don’t regret that choice.
10, Speaking of Maxime Bernier, my former MP, Steven Fletcher, was recently proclaimed the candidate for Bernier’s new party in my old riding back in the Old Country. I wonder what Bernier, the libertarian, thinks of Fletcher using his time as an MLA to push his morally repugnant forced organ donation bill.
11. Why do so many dedicated Christians support political parties who openly shun and oppose Christian values?
| Previous post | Next post |