CFN – Today if you make the rounds in Cornwall media there is a respite from Rob Ford stories as South Stormont Deputy Mayor Tammy Hart has contacted area media and tried to get ahead of a report that was tabled to come out on the November 27th meeting of her council.
Ms Hart was spanked in that report like a naughty child. She complains about the cost of the services of the integrity commissioner but what was her council’s options in light of her public statements and actions in and out of camera?
Ms Hart gave a radio interview to Corus Radio in Cornwall.
In the name of Transparency which seems to be tantamount to Ms Hart we are releasing the Report from Mr. Swayze.
If you read that and then listen to some of Ms Hart’s clips and interviews to get ahead of the report it really feels odd? After all why is she chastising Mr. Swayze if he in fact did not suspend or penalize her? What did she expect in light of what she herself has admitted to?
As for the cost to the Township shouldn’t she have to reimburse South Stormont when the Investigator has clearly found in favour against her? Isn’t her actions; the ones she laments the cause of the Township having to go to the degree of bringing in Mr. Swayze?
In fact to capture some of the flavour of Ms Hart here is an excerpt of a complaint letter regarding her behaviour in front of an investor for one of the largest potential projects South Stormont has seen in awhile. (We whited out the name of the investor and company present)
While it’s important to stand for one’s principle’s and transparency and accountability are crucial in this day and age is this really about those issues or does Deputy Mayor Hart have some issues to deal with herself?
While there may be a need for Transparency and Accountability in South Stormont it might need to be focused on the Deputy Mayor rather than her council.
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What we seem to have here is someone who upon hearing of a damaging report tried to get some spin and traction to message the story in her favour? Someone who in spite of reading the report that gave her a near free pass with the proviso of not essentially lashing out and accepting results, ran out, leaked the report out before other councilors had read it and violated the trust of her council.
What do you think dear CFN viewers? You can post your comments below.
(Comments and opinions of Editorials, Letters to the Editor, and comments from readers are purely their own and don’t necessarily reflect those of the owners of this site, their staff, or sponsors.)
Ms. Hart definitely has some personal issues to deal with, herself. That has been obvious for quite some time.
What would it be like if all politicians behaved in the fashion she does? The Integrity Commissioner was very kind to her. What would it be like if he had reviewed all of her activities? She said she could change but what does she do?
This Tammy is starting to act like Tammy Faye Baker after the PTL club was exposed as a giant religious scam
Most people get into politics because of a desire to serve the public and contribute to the community. A few get into politics because of a desire for attention. When a particular politician is regularly observed scrapping with their fellow council members, and showboating for the media, it’s a good indication of why they chose to be in politics. Most successful long term politicians have the ability to persuade, compromise, and show respect for the other members of the team. Using an elected position on council to feed a personal desire for the spotlight might work for a while, but people see through that BS without looking too hard.
Tammy Nation must be getting fired up in South Stormont by now. Hey, I’ve made mistakes… Nobody’s perfect… I’m moving forward… I have a trainer… I’m going to be nicer…. Ya know what?… I can’t take back the past… You might be perfect… but I’m not…. You just wait… There’s only one Tammy Hart… I’ll show you… This means war!
I basically agree with your observations Furtz. Perhaps this poor wannabee politician is suffering from a form of big head syndrome. Whatever her problem is, next term she will likely have all the time in the world to get help. Sooner if she has the wherewithal to call it a day and do the right thing and resign with what little dignity she has still intact.
let me see everyone here wants transparency yet here we shoot a person who fights to gets thing out into the open . Often these people fight a lonely battle its worse when they are behind closed doors where there are no witnesses to both sides
As far as the integrity commissioner its quite obvious Mr. Swayze is easily swayed by hear say as his statements on the pellet plant tend to validate without digging for the facts he makes statements about the pellet plant and how Tammy Hart was against it from the start! I did a little digging and spoke to a good friend in the township who is up on many of these matters and he sates that in fact Tammy Hart was actually for the Pellet plant for quite some time but as time progressed she became quite concerned and started to question this project but he told me most of the deal went on behind closed doors so the reason it went sour may never be know . Mr. Swayze made very damaging statements on the pellet plant that you have printed here and then backed away from them and said leave it up to the electorate who because of In Camera meetings will never know the truth. so really Mr. Swayze how can an electorate make a educated vote on this matter or any matter that went on behind closed doors and covered under IN camera rules
Hopefully admin you will delve into this more fully and find out as much as you can on the principals in this story their business history etc maybe even talk to the man referred to in the letter I been around business long enough to know when a investor makes a negative decision the person making the pitch often looks for a reason other than there proposal so as not to scare away other investors maybe they felt threatened that someone was asking very valid questions so they needed to have her silenced just a thought . I am one not quick to condemn even when the facts are stacked heavily against someone. In Criminal law we see every day where a person was overwhelmingly convicted of murder and rape only to have years later thanks to DNA testing the truth comes out .
To me once again the commissioners statements on the pellet plant and my conversation today clouds the whole report as to bias conclusions which was just more a record of statements except for maybe one thing she released one report early thats it .
Too bad the most recent comments feature is no more. Makes it pretty much impossible to follow discussions.
Oh well.
It’s still on the home page Furtz.
Here is a excerpt from a local publication followed by some links
(MODERATED because it a heck of a lot more than an excerpt was posted}
Editor’s note to author – please note length of excerpts, especially from media we are currently in litigation with.
Thanks
If you can respect or tolerate elected officials that lack integrity, etc, knock yourself out.
Another Conservative politician melt down perhaps?
The issues that revolve around Deputy Mayor Hart have their origins with the McGuinty government’s misguided green energy policies in Ontario. Without such misguided policies and misguided allocation of tax dollars, there would have been zero funding allocated for a bio-pellet plant, nor for the ill-fated ethanol plant that had previously been slated for Cornwall. CBC News actually aired a documentary about companies that show up in smaller, economically challenged communities with business plans that depend on government funding.
For over a decade beginning during the mid-1970’s, Cornwall had literally become a revolving door for such companies that stayed only for a while, then left town and literally turfing dozens of Cornwall and area residents out on to the street when they closed their doors. During that time, Cornwall’s MP was also the federal industry minister . . . and Cornwall voters eventually turfed him from office, dismayed over the revolving door of companies that came to town with business plans that depended on government funding.
The CBC documentary left no doubt that these are NOT the kinds of businesses to which smaller municipalities would want to open their doors . . . . Cornwall had wisely rejected the bio-pellet plant. Its presence would have fouled Cornwall’s industrial park . . . the combination of a bio-pellet plant and an ethanol plant in the same industrial park, both partially financed by government funding, would likely have discouraged logistics businesses from opening at Cornwall.
Its is sad that Mayor McGillis and the rest of South Stormont Council were NOT aware of the deplorable history of business that depend on government funding, in smaller communities. I would however commend him and his council, deputy mayor Hart included, for ‘going-to-bat’ for the land at Long Sault, between Hwy 401 and the CN Rail line, to become a future industrial park. The proposal for that land to be re-designated for future industrial use goes back many years . . . . I have some ‘inside knowledge re this’ . . . . the fact that this land was NOT available at an earlier time, perhaps discouraged a logistics business from opening there.
I am of the view that Deputy Mayor Hart may have seen the CBC documentary that exposed companies that show up in smaller communities with business plans that depend on government funding. I would therefore commend her for the efforts to turf that pellet plant from her township . . . . it showed up as a result of a badly misguided provincial government energy policy. Ontario actually pays outside power companies to take delivery of Ontario’s excess off-peak nuclear-electric power . . . somebody finally came to the senses at Queen’s Park to make the utterly brilliant announcement suggesting that perhaps Ontario needs some capacity to store large amounts of energy.
Deputy Mayor Hart’s run-in with the integrity commissioner is the result of events around the pellet plant . . . few people can accept that she actually acted in the best interests of South Stormont to oppose and reject that plant.
The pellet plant people kept changing their story . . . . first they were going to supply pellets for Ontario’s coal-to-biofuel conversion of power stations (Atikokan and Nanticoke), then the pellet fuel explosion occurred at Atikokan in Northern Ontario and very close to a source of wood. Then they were going to supply pellets to the home heating market . . . plants at Cardinal ON and St Isidore ON do exactly that.
Then they were going to export pellets overseas . . . the politically very sacred forestry sector of Quebec does export wood fuel overseas, from the Port of Quebec City that is the main port to export bulk cargo that includes corn, soy, wood chips and bio-pellets from wood. (Port of Montreal is the major container terminal and with limited capacity to handle bulk cargo . . . most of Quebec bulk freight is exported via Quebec City).
While Deputy Mayor Hart once opposed a pellet plant, Ontario is actually replacing some coal-fired electric power generation with more costly diesel powered electric generation . . . and pumps out as much CO2 as the coal-fired power plants. The upheaval at South Stormont is a very direct result of misguided policies from Queen’s Park.
Sure is dead around here lately. No letters from Timmins?
Furtz………I am feeling very lonely lately. There are three people that I truly miss. My life feels empty without them.. Hoping that they are well and that they are still fighting for all Canadians.
Perhaps had the integrity commissioner looked at the (deplorable) history of government funded start-up companies in Canada, then he and the Mayor of South Stormont may have understood the deputy mayor’s eventual opposition to the pellet plant. An online internet search of the Stasko brothers reveals nothing of any past business success while a search of the webpages of the leading energy-sector venture capitalists reveals nothing to link any of them to the Stasko pellet plant proposal. They literally showed up in the area with a business plan that depended on government funding and nothing on any of google, yahoo, MSN or webcrawler to indicate any previous business success.
Area elected officials literally presented them to the public as emperors wearing the finest of robes . . . except that an internet search reveals a very bare business posterior. Perhaps we may put things into perspective by reminding the public of the Ontario government’s E-Health scandal, where a friend of the premier got a plumb appointment as head of E-Health, subsequent to which politically-favoured consultants were paid plenty for doing next-to-nothing. Many years earlier, Cornwall had a revolving door episode of companies opening on government grants . . . these were marginal companies that were literally teetering on the brink of bankruptcy when government grants became available . .. . other companies relocated to Cornwall on government grants to get away from Quebec labour unions.
None of those companies remained in Cornwall for very long, except that area politicians did the news media photo-ops as they toasted and feted the new government-funded business arrivals in Cornwall, introducing them as emperors with fine business clothing. Except that in more than one case, the business trousers were quite literally split wide open at the back to reveal the true nature of the entrepreneurial strategy, while local politicians generously lavished praise and accolades on the wearer.
There was a time when a previous Cornwall mayor wanted to develop a high-tech economy in the Seaway City . . . and the federal government generously distributed grant money to almost any monkey’s uncle who had even half of a hair-brained high-tech or information sector business proposal. When the financially overheated high tech sector began to unravel, some 98% of the government funded high-tech start-ups went POOF . . . . even the almighty high-tech politically-favoured sweetheart, Nortel, went bankrupt. This long-term history of government funded start-ups is an economic disaster.
A government-funded pellet plant start-up embodied the negative traits of a long list of other government funded start-ups. Not having learned any lessons from an earlier round of government funded companies that arrived in this area, area politicians were once again duped when a government funded pellet plant start-up cam calling. Perhaps Cornwall’s mayor realised what he was dealing with and said, “No Thanks!” And except for the deputy mayor, the rest of South Stormont council and administration perhaps did not realise what they were dealing with.
OK, so the deputy mayor told a few people off . . . . perhaps some of the fine gentlemen of South Stormont get old off by their wives in exactly the same way . . . . and the neighbours may even get to hear the fine lady express herself at full volume and full emotional intensity.
Hang in there Stella. They’re probably just catching their breath and regrouping for the next onslaught.
I will present the perspective that the deputy mayor is the scapegoat for and not the cause of the failure of the government funded start-up pellet plant proposal for South Stormont. There was no way that a pellet plant at Ingleside could have provided pellets for a 120MW power station located near Thunder Bay . . . there are other pellet plants located much closer. The transportation cost between Ingleside and Atikokan would have been lunatic.
Ontario government is shutting down Nanticoke power station in Southern Ontario, so no wood pellets needed from Ingleside.
With regard to exporting wood pellets overseas, Canada’s largest wood pellet plant that exports overseas is located in Quebec . . . and the forestry sector is politically very sacred in Quebec, including the production of wood pellets, see webpage:
http://www.quebecwoodexport.com/en/wood-pellets
The wood pellet supplier to Atikokan power station has negotiated to sell some of their production overseas, shipping to the Port of Quebec City via the CN Rail line that passes through Hearst ON and along the northern most railway route that also passes north of Rouyn Noranda in Northern Quebec . . . then through La Tuque to Quebec City. That is a low-density railway line with competitive rates . . .the Montreal-Toronto line is a high density railway line with higher transportation rates. The webpage of the company that supplies Atikokan and that also exports via Quebec City, a division of a long established American company, makes NO mention whatsoever about Ingleside or anyone even remotely associated with the Ingleside pellet plant proposal . . . . they are the ONLY non-Quebec Canadian wood pellet company exporting through a Quebec maritime port.
Several months ago, The Brockville Recorder and Prescott News both carried a story about a wood pellet plant that was supposed to establish near the Port of Prescott, to export overseas via the docks at the Port of Prescott. Then the company quietly disappeared.
The Ingleside wood pellet plant proposal began as a government funded start-up . . . . . a long record proves that almost all government funded start ups fail, except in this case where a deputy mayor is being blamed for the failure of a government funded start-up. That start-up quite literally did not have a hope and a prayer in a long-established industry that the Ontario government ‘screwed around with’ for misguided political reasons.
Within 6-months of McGuinty government $1-billion ‘investment’ in Samsung wind energy, Hydro Quebec bought wind turbine blades that were made in India . . . . another misguided political ‘investment’
ON November 23, 2013 at 7:08 pm Furtz wrote,
“Sure is dead around here lately. No letters from Timmins?”
Aww, here ya go Furtz. Since, you and Stella gave the impression that you were bored I put together this nice little video
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tmQsPnhRA-c
which details some ACTUAL news stories happening in Canada right now in the year two thousand and thirteen..
Watch it or not, it means nothing to me as i am sure there are many visiting that will benefit from knowing about this cr@p
FYI – Nycol Turmel wins the assho!!e of the century award. At least my GF = Marois does this kind of cr@p
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wBxA4tilxMA
in Quebec only.
There, this outta keep ya going till the next load of beetle dung trickles down the pipe. Your welcome 🙂
Oh and remember, have yourself (you too ** S **) a …
— this is from ACTUAL NEWS in Canada — kind of day eh 🙂
Sorry for being off topic admin but, the natives `seemed restless.
Good to know you’re still alive and kicking, Kilroy. I was a little concerned about your bile pressure levels. It’s never good to let it build up too much.
Carry on.
Ah but even YOU must admit that it`s a bit disingenuous for the French to push for the right for Canadians to be able to — CHOOSE — what language they speak in their own parliament and then turn around and condemn the English people for actually choosing to speak English in that very institution — which btw (just in case people were not aware) just happens to be the common MAJORITY language in Canada —
Just sayin…
Guys please stay on topic. I’m sure there are some language threads to play in 🙂
Thanks Harry For a very educational report, it would be very interesting to see a full dollar for dollar cost to the township report if any including all costs around the property deal, development costs , and income received from this group over the several years they were in town developing their plan at least the township would have realized some significant taxes on the property and interest on the Mortgage they held to off set these costs its hoped . These cost should not be hidden by in camera rules as they should be a matter of record in the financial books. But I bet no one will want to take up that challenge because of the roadblocks they would encounter. .