Is Kilger Using City Resources To Game Campaign for Re-Election After Saturday City Release? CAG

CITY CAG releaseCORNWALL Ontario – It’s very unusual for the city of Cornwall to issue a press release on a Saturday.   In the rare exceptions it usually has to do with an emergency of some sort, but yesterday the City released a statement repudiating the message from the Community Action Group which is allegedly focused on controlling taxes.

Sadly there is a lot of misinformation being thrown back and forth and even more sadly people like Roy Perkins & Sandy Cameron are playing petty politics.

CAG is asking candidates to sign a pledge while refusing to meet with other candidates even though they have stated a desire to not just hold the line on taxes, but actually cut them.

It’s small town petty politics as CAG is about to place ads, except that CAG boycotts the largest newspaper in Cornwall even though its owner is a member of CAG and is a candidate that wants to cut taxes by 5% over the next four years.

It comes down to what happens to a community when private agendas take over.   Further irony is that members of CAG have come to City Hall to get their own pet projects funded and of course this funding would not lower taxes.

CAG itself has been quite mysterious with members like Gerry Benson in, then out, and almost no public gatherings of the group or any other actions except at election time or budget time.

Lip service rarely gets results and if the members really wanted change they have the power to help make those changes.   It should be interesting to see how this current election drama plays out.

Council Candidate Mark A MacDonald wants to have a public meeting to talk about the CAG pledge.

Greetings: For those of you who are interested — we will be meeting at the Benson Centre on Tuesday

 

night at 6:00 pm to discuss the issue of the CAG document.  A recent media release (propaganda) from the city regarding the budget will also be discussed.

Please be aware that there is a (lame duck) Council Meeting the same night and it starts at 7:00 at City Hall.  It does not really matter that the old council members are present at our meeting, the city press release was clear regarding their position.
The 40% raise for the new council is not in line with the position of the CAG and this will be an opportunity for the candidates to discuss the budget process and how the 40% raise will set an example for other city departments.
I have invited representatives from the City and the CAG to attend.
See you Tuesday — 
This is turning out to be one of the dirtiest elections in memory as the future of our waterfront is at stake.   How much did it cost tax payers for staffer Kevin Lajoie to work on a Saturday?   Economic Development’s Bob Peters worked on the mayor’s campaign in 2010 during office hours in the last election as well.
Is it fair for Mayor Kilger or any candidate  to benefit from city resources during an election?
What do you think dear CFN viewers?  Is this smoke?  Will anything be done to address the high taxes in Cornwall?     You can post your comments below.

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5 Comments

  1. Kilger is trying not to talk for fear of what can be asked,if he just shuts up he won,t be able to tell you any lies. He is very afraid of debating with you as you have been on to his corruption & lies for a very long time.Cornwall is indeed very lucky Jamie for all the info that you as a great journalist have uncovered

  2. I find it strange trying to compare tax rates, etc between Cornwall and the surrounding municipalities. The CAG says the city tax rates are higher. Well duhhhhhhhh. The city has more services (water, sewer, bus services just to mention a few)/ Of course a city with these services will have higher tax rates. It’s not rocket science.

    Now, as for if Bob Kilger was using city resources to gain an advantage on his fellow mayoralty candidates probably. But the fun part would be proving that he ordered the press release be issued on a Saturday.

  3. @Hugger1…Comparing a town or city taxes to a rural situation I agree is meaningless. Comparing one city to another is fair game. My research leads me to conclude that Cornwall is comparatively higher than most other communities in Canada. To be realistic about this conclusion one only has to consider the large welfare population, the large over 55 population and the poor municipal decision making and lack of planning that has and continues to plague our community. Evidence of this is the negative population growth within the boundaries and the positive growth just beyond.

  4. Author

    David I tend to look at it as “Bang for the Buck”. In this last term for example the city under Mayor Kilger & his council spent more money on legal bills having city lawyers monitor CFN (for months!) than they paid for advertising with us in 2011! In 2012, from old archived ads, while the city was boycotting CFN, we supplied more traffic to their website than the advertisers they were paying. Those facts are from the city and are not disputable.

    Under Bob Kilger the City has burnt through millions of dollars in legal fees, pay offs, and settlements. None of those actions provides a service to the city. None of them. It’s abusive, and frankly some areas I believe are criminal.

    For example it has been noted that mail from one of the whistle blowers was held back from council not once, but twice with the Mayor at an in camera meeting apologizing to council.

    Why weren’t the police called? All of council chose to give the mayor and management a free pass.

    Tell me that something similar hasn’t happened with the lies about the Chem tanks on our waterfront?

  5. Jamie you said it all. 40% raise for council and mayor? Where in heavens name did they come up with that figure? Most of the people in Cornwall are unemployed and it is known as a welfare town. Everything that was left in Cornwall (which wasn’t much) has gone overseas. Don’t expect anything beyond minimum wage if you are lucky enough to get that. Cornwall’s reputation is so mighty black that it can never be changed at all not in my lifetime. The fish rots from the head down and Cornwall is one stinky rotten fish for sure. The administration and the clique what more do you want to stink up a place so bad than what exists in that town. In my opinion like it always has been Cornwall is finished unless by some miracle that the people wake up and make the changes and one of the changes is taking Bare Ass and his entire clique and showing them the rails.

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