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Please see this new page  

If you want to be involved with this,  helping to find space or helping with the building of it or helping with the maintaining of a garden once it is built please contact me through the blog. 

In order for the garden to be sustained over the long run, it must be housed on public land - ideal is central in Ajax and close to transit.

I emailed the Town today and it is Saturday so they really don’t know my plan yet, I did speak to Pat Brown on the phone due to the fact the park in question is in her ward. 

If this location is not going to be available then it is on to Plan B, that land is publically owned also.

Well I am going to live up to my word that I said during the John Tory by-election.   Are you reading Mr. Lambert????

Now we have a Liberal that wants to quit on his riding and go work for the City of Toronto.

There is never enough money for hospitals and education but there is always enough money for a by-election.

Why can’t they just refer constituents to another M.P.P’s office for the duration of the term and give his Liberal vote to another Liberal MP as a proxy.   The business of Government continues with or without the M.P.P.’s .  

2011 is our next Provincial election,  voters, make sure you ask every single candidate if they plan to stick around for their full term before they consider moving on to other things. 

If you don’t plan to run in the following election that is fine,  don’t run or you move on in the last year but these mid term jumps are not fair to the people you made a commitment to in the last election. 

It may sound petty but it just re-enforces the notion that politicians are not there for us, they are there purely for themselves and their own agendas.

This was probably in the works for awhile but it would have been terrible to have John Tory run in a Toronto area by-election , no, Dalton just sat by and let Laurie Scott give up her seat.  

I guess that’s politics for ya.

I am working on another story at this time,  in the “research” phase right now.

I was reading this piece in my favourite paper I was wondering why it was focusing on Durham so much at the halfway point through the article, then I continued reading it and was agreeing with much of what I read, after I completed reading the piece, I looked to see who wrote it.   

I would like to see the area around the GO train station redeveloped to include condos, we have empty industrial land in that area and it just requires zoning changes and political will.

Whoever owns the empty, for quite sometime, Avery label place needs to look into this, it is just down the street from the GO station, it is a walkable distance.

It would be great to put a seniors residence right on top of the downtown plaza.

Ajax built from the centre of town outward and north, the centre needs serious attention and it is in the works slowly over time but radical shift in thoughts and ideas has to come to the surface.

We are not a small town anymore and we need to do what an Urban centre would do in terms of intensification.

We need employment in Ajax but are we going to get heavy duty manufacturing in downtown Ajax? I don’t think so.  The employment lands will be home to business parks.  

My grandmother moved out of her small house into a condo when I was a kid due to a Federal program that stated she could not sell her unit for 3 years,  this was to keep speculators from buying them up and driving up the price, they were kept affordable that way. 

Here is the information from the website.

 This is another opportunity to learn about the incinerator that will burn our garbage and turn it into energy, then send the ash somewhere to be buried in another host community.

People from Ajax and Pickering should try to attend , the wind does blow west. 

I hear Rick Johnson from Pickering is willing to have a carpool to get you there.

Oshawa used the excuse of the Privacy protection laws to hide behind.  She has set the record clear.

Here is the story she is referring to.

I am happy that Oshawa went the route of the Ombudsman in the first place but they need to follow the rules when an investigation is warranted.

Remember to sign the petition to extend the term of Andre Marin , lower down on the left side in the links section. 

Alan Shanoff of the Toronto Sun and Mike Bradley the Mayor of Sarnia have signed it already.  

You should also!

http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/A_Morin_Extend/index.html , I have a link on the left panel of the blog.  Disregard typo. 

Andre Marin’s term is up in April 2010, It is only April 2009 but I believe the process to either find the next person or decide to extend the term for the current Ombudsman, Andre Marin would not be left to the last minute.

Andre Marin has done so much for the Citizens of Ontario,  Children’s Aid, MPAC, OLG investigations,  some Hospital jurisdictions and LHINs.  

Ontario needs Mr. Marin to continue in his mandate,  please sign the petition and encourage friends to sign.  Who knows it could help and the Government of Ontario offers to extend the term and Mr. Marin accepts.

Spread the word. 

The office of the Ontario Ombudsman sent this to me moments ago. I will paste in the full text of the media release.   Read the rest of this entry »

I was emailed from the Town on Tuesday before I contacted them to inquire about the status of this contract which was up for renewal.   Here is the link to the Town Report-  I have not read it all yet, it is very through.   It comes down to the facts of– Ajax has not had any closed meetings complaints so why pay for an external service when the Ontario Ombudsman offers the same service, paid for by our taxes already, has educational materials available and conducts investigations in a similar manner.

I was proactively emailed by a councillor, Shaun Collier to inform me of the decision.   Shaun Collier and Scott Crawford voted No to LAS the first time around and subsequent review after the first Staff report was not in my opinion complete.

This was the right decision.  They should have done this 2 years ago but better late then never. 

This now leaves Whitby and Clarington using the services of Local Authority Services, a sub. of the AMO.   Pickering and Oshawa did not appoint closed meeting investigators and by default the Ontario Ombudsman had jurisdiction. Ajax voted at the General Governmental Committee on Thursday and will ratify the decision at council on Monday.  

I will go to witness this as I spoke on the issue 2 years ago.  

Andre Marin’s term is up in one year , the Ombudsman act states that the term can be extended.   I hope it is,  if you value the service Mr. Marin has given this province , email their office and show your support and tell them you think the Province should extend his term.    The office of the Ombudsman is truly there for “Us” - “We” the citizens. 

http://www.ombudsman.on.ca/en/contact-us.aspx    that is the contact site.

Contact your MPP and tell them you want to see the Term of Andre Marin extended.

I have no idea if Mr. Marin wants to go beyond his 5 years but I hope he does.   If you play the Lottery you owe a lot to him  and his office!
 

I received an email today to my question regarding the difference between his 3.25% raise everyone got and what I calculated in a spreadsheet from the Ontario Salary Disclosure List. 

I don’t apologize for anything, I was after information and I received it.   Remember I did not call anyone crooks or say it was Highway robbery  :)  Here are his words. Read the rest of this entry »

I emailed the Mayor of Sarnia yesterday and had a response today! , on a holiday even I will add.   Sarnia is a City of about 71,149 (2006 Census)  people but the Mayor has been in place for 20 years and before that he was involved in Provincial Government, here is his Bio.   Here is the final excerpt from lower down on the page.   I want to be sure people understand that this Mayor has an extensive background and I don’t even live in his City but he found the time to provide me a response to my question that I was seeking the perspective from someone leading a Council.  When I want to know something from a Mayor’s perspective,  He seems to be the one I go to! Read the rest of this entry »