CFN – An odd sequence of events Monday as Cornwall City Council created a special meeting to review infrastructure – IE get reports on its buildings. Certainly not an emergency issue. Bewildering why it could not be added to the agenda of the next meeting.
What was even more curious was why Mayor Robert “Bob” Kilger decided to personally deliver a document to each councilor yet not share with the media in attendance.
Not only that the city has rebuffed initial requests as to the contents of that document which Mayor Kilger made a point of stating was a report/letter by Economic Dev’s Bob Peters.
Speaking to exec assistant Diane Brown this morning she suggested it was the letter that the mayor sent to Mr. Harper over the Passport contract leaving Cornwall that was released this morning.
October 16, 2012
The Right Hon. Stephen Harper, P.C. M.P.
Office of the Prime Minister
80 Wellington Street
Ottawa, ON K1A 0A2Dear Mr. Harper:
There has been a strong negative reaction to the Government of Canada’s recent decision to award a contract for the production of Canadian Passport covers to a new company, one that will see production shift overseas. Canadian Passport Covers are currently being manufactured in Cornwall by Columbia Finishing Mills, a Canadian company owned by Canadians. It is my understanding the loss of the passport contract will result in the loss of jobs at Columbia Finishing Mills, and potentially mean that machines will sit idle and the production capability might eventually be lost.
While the City of Cornwall respects the objective nature of any tendering process, in this particular case we would respectfully ask for a review of this particular decision.
Canadian Passports are more than a necessary legal travel document. Passports are, to many Canadians, the only concrete and physical evidence of their citizenship, and their inclusion in what many people consider to be the best country in the world. As such, the Passport should be produced in Canada, and Columbia Finishing Mills has been a key partner in ensuring that Canadian content was there in the past. A review of the tender decision should consider this question, and take into account the expectations of Canadians. Most would agree, we believe, that a few cents is more than an acceptable price to pay for Canadian Content, especially when costs of production can be covered in the document fee itself.
Sincerely yours,
Bob Kilger
Mayorc. Mr. Guy Lauzon, M.P.
Columbia Finishing Mills
Again if that was the document in question why not give it to the media that was present in the council chamber? Why would the mayor personally deliver the document instead of the clerk who normally delivers hand outs at council?
The core issue is transparency. We have no way of knowing what was in that document. None. The mayor made a point of saying that he could not add to the agenda and it was pointed out that he delivered the document in the council chamber prior to the commencement of the meeting; but is this simply a tactic to avoid in camera meeting procedures?
If the clerk had no access to the document and therefore could not deliver it herself was the mayor circumventing the rules of order and if so why?
Again, when you try to play footsies with reality and the rules of conduct a lot of red flags and questions arise.
We will most likely never know what was on that paper. If it’s not in camera then it should be available to the public via we the media. By hiding it from the public it again discredits council as a whole and the Mayor in particular.
Maybe it’s time for Mayor Kilger to realize that he is in fact not the Emperor of Cornwall Ontario; but simply the man currently chosen to represent the interests of the Corporation of the City of Cornwall; IE all of we taxpayers…
And maybe it’s time for council and certain staff to start calling our government on procedural issues like this?
As for the Mayor’s letter – well, when you’re politically slower than Rick Shaver that says a lot…. It smacks of cheap politicking and trying to illicit some support from the public instead of showing leadership.
You can post your comments below.
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Maybe these bozos should ask Mr. Lumley how to encourage the federal government in leaving the manufactruing here.
Both Guy and Bob lack the ability and political connections along with the fortitude to carryout such an act of standing up for thier constituents
See Transport Training Center.
Thank You Mr Lumley
why would council invite speculation about something so straightforward as passport printing? Leaving people to their imaginations is something politicians should know better than to do. Plus, the tremendous trifle of handing out secret documents becomes “the news.”
I hope none of these people play chess.
dear Hailey…are u nuts
Ed lumley left us with the huge green building littering the St Lawrence between cornwall and long sault..suppose to be hundreds of jobs…now an empty ugly barn
and lets not forget the cornwall civic complex and the rinkydink named after Ed…its not a money maker…and when the real infastructure report comes out…the building probably needs millions in renovations.
and the Nav centre…is a shadow of its former self..suppose to be students from around the world coming to cornwall and spreading the word…not just a swimming hole for rich town folks
Rightwing
Ed brought us the building and the opportunity, it’s the people of eastern Ontario that left him out to dry and brought in Mr. Warner. Once Warner was elected we had different people with different directives and agendas.
No one politician can make the people work they can only provide the opportunity.
Former complex is only named after Ed, the rinky dink is courtesy of local construction groups and self-serving entities not wanting Cornwall to succeed. Lumley continually fought battles from local members which were nothing more than mill workers with no education beyond what was given them in the union manuals.
Combustion Engineering, are you blaming Mr. Lumley for its closing, or the revenue it earned the city while being one of the highest paying employers in the city?
The building now houses some other form of metals shop. The original idea was to have access to the ST Lawrence so they could transport reactors and such along the river. Something many other cities seem to be able to accomplish.
Perhaps you do not like the fact that former swamp land was converted to something profiting the people of Cornwall…
I am unsure what you mean.
Nav can is a shadow due to poor management and no local politicians with the ability to tell their boss “If you don’t build it in Cornwall….You lose eastern Ontario”
I think that picture is sooooooooooooooooooo funny, the perfect comedy with the best cast.
This picture reminds me of “the emperor has no clothes” which is exactly what suits these characters under Kilger’s bare ass administration. They all run away with the loot and have no solutions for the people except that they run away with the tax money and all. People will be hungrier in the new year that is for sure.
Ha! Nav Canada indeed.
The recent facelift is little more than whitewash, and not surprising if the corporate branding and other contracts are given to relatives of those running the place. And not a surprise that almost all major contracts are awarded to out of province (try to trace the money) operators.
“…all major contracts are awarded to out of province “. Do you mean Quebec? Ha! Did Quebec mafia infiltrated the Nav Canada and/or parliament du Cornwall?
Pretty nice ass for an old “Guy”!
Well, maybe not.
Who is the bare-assed fellow he’s leading by the hand?
Reply to Hailey Brown,
You have to realize that many mill workers had a great education.
I being one of them with a University degree.
Many also didn’t have an education, my Dad being one of them.
After serving overseas, losing a leg, recovering with a prosthesis,
and not even grade eight education, he went on to work at Domtar for 43 1/2 years. Not even once did he miss a day of work, even stayed overnight because he didn’t have a ride and he had a family of seven children to provide for. He provided well for us giving us the chance for college or university. So just maybe by him doing heavy manual labour and not sitting on his ass like most people in this City, he is another person that provided in a special way.
I don’t know what education you have Hailey, but you should get a degree in thinking before you open your mouth.
With respect cornwallhockey, if your dad was a young man today, where would he work? The mills are all closed as are pretty much all of the manufacturing plants. He was very fortunate to live and work at a time when long-term good paying jobs were available for anyone willing to work. The world has changed big-time since then.
Yes Ed, the world has changed big time but I can guarantee you that my Dad would have done heavy manual labour somewhere so he could raise his family. Sounds like you might be one of those who sits on his ass and gets a monthly cheque unlike what my Dad would have done. My point was, that even though you don’t have an education, if you have the strength and will there are ways to provide other than a welfare cheque.
Well Cornwall is backward as I would say we lost all our stores on pitt st many years ago because we lacked the foresite to see what was ahead, the folks who ran the city were not bright either. We listened to George and tore up the the street then but it all back again at what cost. We have lot all our industry , not a thing was done to save a one, sure times have changed. We elected Mp,s and Mpp,s but what have they done all they is yes men and do as they are told, get there picture taken for store openings and little more.
Well we voted for these folks not much that we can but suck it up and get along as best we can till we smarten up.
@cornwallhockey. I’ve done a fair bit of heavy manual labour, and was employed steadily for almost fifty years. Don’t make assumptions about me. Even you should realize that job opportunities are pretty limited now that most manufacturing plants have disappeared from eastern Ontario.
I apologize for the assumption Ed. Yes jobs are limited but they are out there if people want to work instead of drawing a welfare cheque. I too have worked for 36 years and I’m still employed. Only thing is we had to go to a two income family when Domtar closed and found myself unemployed. Goes to show you there are jobs because my wife was able to find full time work in only a matter of days after making the decision to go back to the work force. Things are too easy in this country and that is why people would rather sit on their ass and draw that monthly cheque. With the looks of our City, some of these people drawing welfare should be picking up garbage before they are handed their cheque…..Enough said!
I liked to read what you wrote Cornwall hockey and your dad was very strong and a devoted family man that you rarely ever see today. He sure had a hard life indeed.
I want to tell everyone out there that Ottawa has a lot of construction on the go and if anyone is interested they can inquire about it and try to get hired. There are condos going up downtown here in Ottawa, the west end, etc. There are shopping malls being built, some torn down and rebuilt into separate stores instead of malls. Construction pays very good money.
Many years ago when one of my BIL’s worked in construction back in the 50’s abd 60’s he had to travel all over Ontario and Canada (even out west) for work. Isn’t work much better than a lousy welfare cheque. When you work nobody can ask you where you got your car, your house, or your TV or whatever you buy you are free and not a slave to the system. You have pride in what you do and it is healthy for body and mind. Sitting around is not healthy at all. Only people who are disabled mentally and physically can do this but those who are healthy should be out there doing whatever they can to support themselves and their families. If one really wants to work they can find work somewhere if they really put their minds to it. It may take time but they will find. When the economic depression really kicks in then all of us will have a good reason for loafing but not just now folks.
cornwallhockey
There are many good people in Cornwall. However these people rarely have the time to run for politics. Thus the reason they are a good people.
I meant no disrespect for your dad or anyone of his caliber. However the people Mr. Lumley had to work with did not share the same level of civility.
You will notice I made strict mention of those with no education. Luckily enough I have a college degree in the engineering field. However it has no bearing on my statement.
Education also is not just something you earn in school; you must also take into account a more global approach. Look at the people having served when Ed was mayor. The people like council today was made up of old people unable to see past their own retirement and ensuring there was just enough low middle class pay for their tax evasion.
lets get it right Combustion Engineering is in the township of South Stormont the land is hi and dry and was never swamp land bush maybe so imagine if this area was instead developed as a residential area the tax income to the twp would be substanstial but no this land was not suppose to even be developed ever former residents of the lost villages where all shaking there heads yes someone reversed the policy its time a policy again be changed this area and should be rezoned to allow development that would generate property tax, these higher income families would buy locally for Mr Lauzon and his government that means since CANADA BANK NOTES IS OWNED BY A CHICAGO FIRM IT IS AMERICAN LIKE WALMART SO THESE MORE AFLUENT PEOPLE IN THIS NEW RESIDENTIAL COULD PURCHASE CANADIAN MEANING AT WALMART AN AMERICAN FIRM LIKE CANADA BANK NOTES AND THAT MAKES BUYING CHINESE OVER CANADIAN THERE BLESSED BY MR LAUZON AND HIS GOVERNMENT AFTER ALL SAVING PENNIES IS THE NAME OF THE GAME LOL SEE HOW EVERY THING IS MINGLED
Reality Check, I know neatness or proper grammar isn’t really necessary here but Dude, YOUR LAST POST WAS ONE LONG SENTENCE. Please give us poor readers a break and punctuate so we can better understand your message.
Jules…Thanks for appreciating my dad.
You speak of disabled people and yes there are many who deserve that monthly cheque. Ears open for this one? I know one young punk in his early twenties who is drawing a disability cheque because he can’t read or write. It’s okay for him to sit on the computer on facebook for half the day then play his video games the other half. Something wrong with this picture? I would say so.
Get this lazy puke off his ass, send him back to school to learn reading and writing and put him in the work force. But again, if they did this he would probably just go from a disability cheque to a welfare cheque.
There is something wrong with this country and the social service program.
realitycheck
I have to agree with Reg Coffey. Punctuation helps.
Your comment about not developing the land has a bit of a hole in it with respect to lost villages. Why are lost village allowed to build a museum of what was and yet you complain when they build something to sustain tomorrow?
Lost villages were built only for people wanting to remember their childhood. A good portion of them have pensions and many are the very reason we have zero growth in the area.
I think you need to research the original intent for that area. There are a few economic reason for Combustion Engineering’s move, but the main loss to this are alone was people trying to save the land for something, or the water for something. That could have been a milestone for industry in the area but like so often happens here in eastern Ontario, nothing ever comes to pass..Now we have no industry, and even less people able to pay taxes
Swamp land it is was and always shall be. I am not sure if you remember the pilings it took before foundations and footings could be set. But it has the potential of being a future metals mine beneath the building
Oh Hailey
So young so pompous…an engineer by trade..is that with CN or VIA…they are both late into the station in any case.
You probably hadn’t been born when fast Eddie held the combustion engineering news conference trying to score political points…there was so much confusion..The announcement of how many JOBS created started over a thousand..panic broke out before the press conference…and the numbers kept dropping like a stone…so even before liftoff…the plant was a sham.
Are you by chance working at getting a senate appt thru lumley
I mean a guy who would roast SF retired pinhead scribbler BigMac would do just about anything.
PS…are u named after one of the cornwall hockey COMETS
I am with you Cornwall hockey. When we had our house in the north end of Cornwall some young guy came on a bicycle collecting a welfare cheque out of my mailbox. I didn’t know what was going on until the mail man told my husband and I about it. As soon as we found out we called the welfare office and reported the person doing this and after that there was no more picking up welfare cheques at our address.
There are jobs out there and people will be forced to move out of Cornwall with the time and go anywhere in the country looking for work. Times are going to get mighty hard and I am not saying this for nothing. What is happening in Europe, the US and around the world is going to happen here. People are too spoiled and have things too easy and this has to stop.
People of your dad’s era were the greatest generation and they went through the great depression of the 30’s and they went overseas to fight wars. These people were not on the drugs and alcohol the way they are now and not wanting to work. Those people were workers and supported their families and they always found ways of getting around. People didn’t go hungry then and there were no benefits the way they have today. In those days there was no free health care and it was like the US where you paid big money or else you did without. That is the generation that I greatly respect. Take care.
Jamie thought of you and your struggles against the cornwall power elite while reading this toronto star
storyhttp://www.thestar.com/news/gta/article/1275576–former-aurora-mayor-phyllis-morris-must-pay-critical-website-s-21-000-legal-bill
On Oct. 8, 2010, days before the Oct. 25 municipal election, the mayor launched a $6 million “notice of action’’ against Johnson, William Hogg, a former two-term member of Aurora council who has been a moderator on the website, and five others.
Morris said postings on the website subjected her to “ridicule, hatred and contempt’’ and damage to her reputation.
The defendants countered that the postings were consistent with language, thought and sentiment that is regularly made during political elections, and that such expression “must be protected against the backdrop of safeguarding democracy.”
The lawsuit raised questions about limits to free speech online, and whether a website and its moderators can be held responsible for commentary posted by anonymous bloggers.
Morris lost that election, but the case continued.
But about a year after filing her court action, she served notice she was discontinuing it. She didn’t indicate why.
So Hogg and Johnson decided to seek their legal costs up to that point. Johnson claimed Morris launched her original notice of action in October 2010 to silence him prior to the election.
Morris didn’t file a responding affidavit.
In awarding a total of $21,275 to Johnson and Hogg Monday, the Ontario Superior Court in Toronto said Morris wanted to hit her opponents “quickly and hard,” so as to silence critics “sooner rather than later in the weeks leading up to the October 2010 elections.”
The court found that by launching her original motion, Morris engaged in “strategic litigation against public participation” — an action often referred to as a SLAPP suit.
rightwingNutt
Your attitude is exactly why so much has failed in Cornwall!!
Dear Hail Storm Brown
I think your engineering ring must be too tight cutting off oxygen to the brain.
Team Cornwall /Team Lumley..you all wear rose colored glass and can’t see the “elite class of your town” has made it a dumping ground for toxic waste like the Big Ben domtar sludge ski hill
If it wasn’t a top smuggling hub…even the RCMP would pull out.
Domtar/CIL/Courtaulds/Combustable Engineering have all vanished..but I know…its my fault…Even Eddie’s Coke Plant fled your town
Ed’s friend George led a charge to turn YOUR downtown into a mini spark street mall that worked well
Nav Canada…just a shell….
Benson centre needs money
and last but not least Project Truth
But maybe if i get all giddy and ignore the weekly scandals coming out of City Hall
then poooff….Cornwall will be all better.
Your comment is like Cornwall liftoff….all hot air
TimHetheringtonRIP
You may want to review timelines, Ed and Roger and the Denton’s were well out of Coke before it left Cornwall. Once it became Valley Bottling Ed was in politics.
Big Ben was opened by Domtar in 1970, two years before Ed was elected.
Ed was paramount in opening the Industrial Park in the east end. If anyone could be held responsible for messing the Industrial Park it would have to be Gerald Parisienne. He gave prime land and location to a storage facility.
I am not sure how you can fault Ed’s ideals. He had plans for Cornwall but so many and I say again, “Mill workers and bus drivers” consistently fought the plan to grow.
I really think you are too stuck in the old boy’s club concept that you are not seeing who really did what.
I would really appreciate you or anyone for that matter to explain how you can blame any politician/government for loosing businesses?
Nav Can is a shell for the same reasons, ask Bob.
Benson center like any new business and will operate in the red for years. It is the nature of business, and with all the negative self-serving attitudes here it will probably take longer than most areas.
Project truth, is a result of many broken systems. That was a very unfortunate situation. However look at it now, we have a multitude of special services helping people. Services running free with an open cheque book, and the very same type of services that put people in the situation in the first place…odd isn’t it.