CORNWALL Ontario – Mark MacDonald had called a meeting this morning at his new fave breakfast spot, Napoleon’s, in Cornwall Ontario.
Candidates were invited to come down, speak, talk to media, and the focus was the report being voted on Monday night regarding a steep pay hike for council and the mayor after nearly $10K was spent on a consultant.
That in and of itself is crazy. If I want a raise I ask for it. If you don’t have the testicular fortitude to do so then you really should go back into your rat hole.
Sadly though, and typical of this Kilger council, who have shown an utter disregard for the public purse because too date they have not been held accountable.
The only candidates to show up were Mr. MacDonald who is running for council, Roland Besner, also running for council, and yours truly who is running for mayor. Many did not even send their regrets to Mr. MacDonald.
Eric Healey, the new Summer guy from the Freeholder showed up. He had some insightful questions. With only three candidates available there was plenty of time to be thorough. Todd Lihou from the Seaway News was invited according to Mr. MacDonald, but was probably busy ….um….
Frankly it’s been a pattern of apathy from those who have put their hats in the ring in Cornwall as the race too date has been all but silent.
The only action in the morning was Mayor Kilger fleeing after I said good morning to him. Bob is odd that way; or nervous about the latest Stephen Fournier closed door meeting about to come out regarding his voting to move into an in camera meeting of the Waterfront Committee. This would be the second or third time Mr. Fournier would rule against the Mayor this term.
Bob walked in and zoomed away. It was bewildering. The Mayor has also not responded to my challenge after he announced his candidacy to a one on one debate on the future of Cornwall.
I guess he’s not that focused on our future what with the secret behind doors meetings regarding our waterfront, which frankly I find very scary if you care about the future of our city. We really can’t afford to screw this one up.
Mr. MacDonald has a document for candidates to sign asking that zero increase be given to council and the mayor. I appreciate the political sentiment and have no issue with it personally.
I wrote about this subject recently suggesting that the issue should be decided by voters as a ballot question. LINK
Councilor Andre Rivette made it official and put his name on the list of candidates recently. So far only one current councilor has stated that they are not running publicly, Denis Thibault.
Well Cornwall; do you care about the upcoming election? Who would you like to see run or get elected? Do you think our elected officials deserve a raise? Did you get one this year?
You can post your comments below.
Photo: Marc MacDonald at previous event
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Yes, I care about the upcoming municipal election.
Who would I like to see elected?
Mayor
Leslie O’Shaughnessy
Councillor
Todd Bennett
Roland Besner (to represent seniors)
Brock Frost
Carilyne Hébert
Gary W. Samler
Gerald E. Samson (to represent the average Joe who doesn’t follow / understand politics)
Geoff Stephenson
Maurice Dupelle (has challenged admin a few times)
André Rivette
A raise? Yes, but not the obscene one suggested.
I’m retired. I received a .9% increase, based on the CPI, in my pension this year.
Leslie O’Shaughnessey should be the mayor of Cornwall and Mark MacDonald should be on council. André Rivette should return to council as well. Gerry Samson should come back and he is good at helping the little people. Mr. Samler should be on that list as well. I don’t know the rest of the gang that Hugger mentioned but this Caroline Hébert would not be good as a councellor at all. Brock Frost may lend more light on things since he is in business and maybe a few others. As for a raise “WHEN HELL FREEZES OVER” anything to do with Bare Ass is a complete and utter failure.
I think what Mark MacDonald and others fail to realize is that if this raise in city council pay is approved it is NOT fore the current council. It would be for the incoming council in November.
yes/ i care about the up coming election.I still believie the city Mayor and councillers should be paid even more than what the concultants came up with.Only then do i believie we will get the best people to run our city.But this bunch i,d lower their pay.(unbeilivable)
I would only approve of a raise in pay if it had to do with Leslie O’Shaughnessey or Jamie as mayor and their council BUT NOT FOR BARE ASS AND COMPANY AT ALL WHATSOEVER – WHEN HELL FREEZES OVER FOR THEM. When you think of the horrible things that this present administration has caused to the taxpayers and to people in general this is completely and totally unacceptable. So much about who is related to whom (conflicts of interest) where they get away with their crimes and corruption. No tanks.
I think what everyone fails to realize is that if this raise in city council pay is approved it is NOT fore the current council. It would be for the incoming council in November.
In these hard on the taxpayer times a raise tied to the CPI would be appropriate anything else simply smacks of entitlement. I would actual prefer merit increases, however the concept that people be rewarded based on performance seems to now be archaic.
There are few individuals on the current city council that I could honestly endorse or more importantly vote for.
As for Kilger’s about turn at the breakfast meeting I believe that it was indicative of the possibilities of having an open debate in the future. I have no idea how this individual could deflect the questions that would come his way as a result of his past actions and the costs passed onto the taxpayers of Cornwall as a result.
Yes David. It’s akin to keeping me from being on any city committees and then having friends criticize me for not contributing or helping at the municipal level. Same for some area charities and organizations I’ve tried to volunteer for.
I would personally like to thank the people who have shown confidence in me to represent Cornwall in this fall’s municipal election. It is appreciated a lot my me.I would like to say sorry to everyone because I was unable to attend this breakfast meeting personally but unfortunately I had previous commitments made that day but I did send regrets to Mr. MacDonald for the invite to this event. My wife did attend the meeting and was there on my behalf to answer any questions for me on this important issue. For Hugger1 I also strongly feel that if this raise were to go through and it most likely will by the way this current council has voted on other spending issues this term and the last that this year’s election outcome will probably be the same as the last having Mr. Kilger and his friends reap the rewards of this decision. Only the voters can make a change happen. My plan if elected will be to focus on our future for everyone in our community and not be there just to fill my pockets and only agree with the sitting Mayor as most of this council has been doing over the years.
Mr. Samler I hope to God that Bare Ass is kicked out before anymore disasters happen. I think that if Bare Ass gets in again there will be more and more people leaving Cornwall. I do hope that you get in under a much better administration like Leslie O’Shaughnessey or Jamie Gilcig but Leslie has a much better chance of winning than Jamie. Jamie can be a councellor who can offer a lot but only under a much better administration and not under the present disaster and nightmare.
There is nothing unusual about Bare Ass fleeing since he cannot take the heat of anything and leaves other people to deal with problems. I have to put out many milk cartons around Ottawa asking where Bare Ass is located since he is wanted in Cornwall at City Hall.
@ Hugger 1……….Wow…You got it on the head…..and Jules ……love the cartons of milk……great t-shirts…hope all of ontario gets one……maybe a rotten egg t-shirt to represent Counsel……..heheheheheh….
Yes a rotten egg T shirt is an excellent idea and I remember the old Sealtest milk factory on Cooper Street or was it Lisgar Street in past years when we first lived in Ottawa and it stunk badly. It reminded me so much of the stink of Cornwall’s mills. Bare Ass and the present council stink to high heaven. Very few of the council are worth their weight and too much yes man to a no good for nothing loser of a mayor. In order for Cornwall to change for the better the people themselves have to change. I sure changed and was never one to follow others and always independent. I grew tougher in my old age – mom was right when she said as we get older we get tougher and how very true that is. People will watch many of Cornwall’s young people leave this September for other cities and towns and will not return because there is nothing to return to. Under this present administration it is much worse than what most people are aware of.
It continues to amuse me how you can compare the stench of a dairy to Domtar to city council.
First up, I too would like to apologize for not being there, but I was in Ottawa on a contract that day. I did however send a message to Mark. I am very clear on this issue. When I threw my hat into the ring for a seat on council, it was not to run to the trough but to hopefully help to make Cornwall a better place. When I signed on, I knew what the benefits & the pratfalls would be & I readily accepted them. When I see people around me averaging raises of 1 to 5% & this, if they happen to be employed, I have a hard time with 18 to 43% bantered about. At first I thought it was a typo. Who gets that kind of raise for doing the same job as before?