CORNWALL Ontario – One of the reasons why I feel we need a stringent conflict of interest policy at City Hall in Cornwall is what I call the Elaine MacDonald factor.
Ms MacDonald frankly is the most corrupt councilor we currently have. She has long ago sold out her NDP principles in favor of her own political aspirations.
Example one would be two Provincial elections ago when she said she wouldn’t participate in the Five Day food challenge for Poverty Awareness while campaigning. Of course the other candidates said they would because frankly; that’s what you’re supposed to say. Rarely do any of the politicians actually do it!
Ms MacDonald actively stumps for Agape in open council even though she’s on the board. She also has inveigled the mock arts council we have in Cornwall and somehow has taken control of the art gallery terrorizing poor Sylvie Lizotte in the process.
Asked about good long term union jobs being lost in Quebec and moving into a non unionized plant in Ontario and she sounds like she had been a minister in Mike Harris’ former government.
Elaine has had a long grip as President of the Labour Council here in Cornwall and of the local Provincial NDP riding associations. One member of her team, Ian Wilson, said that if you weren’t a woman or gay you didn’t have much opportunity within her circles. And of course the President of the Labour Council having access to city staff and confidential information when the city staff are unionized also seems like a gross conflict of interest.
As each election municipally occurs in Cornwall the Labour Council invites candidates to speak.
This year the call was put out before the closing date for candidates who had to submit answers to a questionnaire as the Council then endorses individuals. They don’t put out a press release for the winners, but the circulate the names to their members and invite them to attend events.
That to this writer feels like gaming an election. You can of course decide what you think it was; but sure enough the list of those endorsed was leaked to CFN.
Those endorsed were Ms MacDonald herself, Mayor Kilger, Syd Gardiner, Andre Rivette, and her minions Carilyne Hebert & Alyssa Blais (who did not even attend the event) as well as newcomers Heather Megill and Guy St. Jean. Mary Ann Hug, a PSW who knows a thing or two about Labour; was left off of the list. At least one of those chosen allegedly didn’t even reply to their questionnaire.
Asked for a copy of Mayor Kilger’s answers CFN was told by Louise Lanctot that they shread the entries after they decide who they pick.
Holy Watergate! You’d think that those answer would be published, no? Did Mayor Kilger even submit answers?
Here is the video from the three mayoral candidates who attended the Labour Council event.
Gilcig
Kilger
O’Shaughnessy
Insanity or corruption?
We emailed all candidates this morning offering them an opportunity to post a comment in this story. As of press time only Gary Samler had replied. Mr. Samler is no stranger to labour politics being a long time NDP activist himself.
Two days before the CDLC debate at the Legion I wrote out a list of who I thought they would choose and be endorsing for this election and I placed my list in my lunchbox.
I was 100% right on all my guesses.
It is hard for me to understand how this group of labor minded people who run around screaming all year for fairness for our workers and blatantly be so unfair to most of the candidates in this election?
Their partisan glee list was already made up days before Sept 12th the deadline date for candidates to register. I attended this debate knowing full well who I believed had already been given their blessing and that this event was another shameful, disgusting display of partisan corruption going on by this biased band of hypocrites in our community and I would wish for this type of attitude and bad schoolyard behavior to stop if we are ever to grow as a community.
I also strongly believe in honesty, fairness, social justice and inclusion.
This endorsement was anything but fair to the candidates. Winning an endorsement from this group for me now is like winning Best leper at a Leper Colony.
And that is another nail in the coffin in why so many are calling this the dirtiest election of this century. A local politician in Elaine MacDonald using her position with the Labour Council to game who wins an election. If that doesn’t reek like an extra on The Walking Dead nothing else does.
What do you think dear CFN viewers? You can post your comments below and candidates that didn’t see the email prior to the deadline this Saturday can post a comment 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.)
Comment policy reminder
CFN suggests you post comments using your real name. If you wish to post with a pseudonym you can register that user id by emailing info@cornwallfreenews.com with your name, address, phone number and user id you wish to register.
Holy Toledo! Something is mighty rotten in Denmark. Thank you William Shakespeare. Rotten you want to believe rotten when they let go the human resources manager from Hamilton without just cause, then they hired another and didn’t renew his contract and now looking for another HR Manager. Something is mighty wrong in Cornwall’s administration and like I said numerous times before the entire system from the top managers down to mayor and council have to go. There is so much hidden doo doo swept under the carpet and many people are finding out the truth. So much stink that it makes the stink of Domtar like it has never left. The entire stink is at City Hall.
When I first moved to Cornwall I was shocked at what Elaine MacDonald was doing. She continually ignores common sense conflict of interest when it comes to her continual pushing for the Agape Centre. She just doesn’t get the CoI rules. That may say that to be in CoI you have to have a financial gain. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out legally she is not in CoI in regard to the Agape Centre. But there is more to CoI than the legal interpretation. There is the moral one as well, which she is constantly crossing. Then you have her as head of the local NDP chapter and labour council. If either one of those don’t cause CoI when it comes to dealing with city employees, etc then I don’t know what does. There needs to be minimum CoI laws set by the province and then beefed up by local situations. Hopefully come Oct. 28 she won’t be an issue we’ll have to deal with. I voted at one of the advance polls, as the regular voting day just gets too busy at the polling places. Needless to say Ms. MacDonald was not one of my seven choices for city council.
Wow , They are as corrupt as the days are long.Isn’t it a conflict of interest for Elaine to be a part of this crap list.She did not get my vote today.Jack Layton must be turning in his grave, wondering WTF is this that is going on ,these actions are a disgrace and do not look good for any rep of the NDP.They are all a bunch of capitalist dippers
What weight if any does the local Labor Council Endorsement make?
I suggest very little, they don’t control their Union Members minds except perhaps the weak ones, how these Union members vote should be their own business that policy was made very clear with the ONT Teamsters Union when I was there.
Endorsing our current Mayor now by these so called Labor leaders is Pathetic.
It’s time for the voters to once and for all stand up against this current council and show them we have had enough and vote them out. Kilger went on record just this week supporting Dr. Paul and to keep fluoride in our water, well guess what Cornwall? he just raised your taxes another 1% because to update the plant it will cost $300.000 plus an annual operating cost of another $50.000 just so Dr. Paul and his crooked click get their fare share. Why is no one raising this as an issue??
Trailblazer I did; but I’m not seeing enough public support and the other media like the Seaway News are not covering my campaign fairly.
The most transparent component of this current council, for me, has been Elaine MacDonald. I see right through her thinly veiled sincerity and concern for this community. Enough said. I cast my votes yesterday at the East Court Mall and Elaine MacDonald was not on my list.
I have no clue what kid of voter turnout we will have this election. The advance voting over a three day period apparently was less than impressive. Hopefully the likely less than 40% of voters are those that know what has been going on. That understand that this dysfunctional group need to be ousted in favour of a team that truly reflects the desires of those in the community that care about the future of Cornwall.
Please vote with thought and not name recognition.
David I am predicting a low turnout because of the city pressing down on exposure for this election. There are two media outlets that get the bulk of the city ad dollars and one in particular has done very little to cover the election and most of that coverage has been to hide my own candidacy or attack it.
The entire town of Cornwall is mighty corrupt and nothing surprises me in the least. Cornwall will never improve one iota because of the clique (the mob squad) and those useless idiots who follow them over the cliff. I can never live in such a horrible society like that and honest I have never seen such a thing like this happen in past years. Bare Ass is the head of the mob and you know Jamie what I have referred to him in past posts. Never, ever again it is a mighty dangerous and lawless place to live in. I feel sorry for the good people who are stuck down there.
I tend to agree that voter turnout may hit a record low.
Suppression of election issues, attempts to control any negative aspects of the last four years only places a shroud over the reality of Cornwall’s plight. The illusion I believe being created (controlled) for the majority of the uniformed electorate is that everything is moving along just fine.
The sad truth is that the 25-30% of individuals that vote may well veto the 10% of voters that truly know what they are voting for. I am very concerned about the outcome and whether I will in the future want to call Cornwall my home. That is my reality.
Why would it matter if the other 2 media sources are barely covering the election, as you say….when the Largest, Most read, best media source in the city (your words) is in your control. You can have ad after ad extolling your virtues, page after page. Surely you must believe your own words, that you are the most read?
Mr. Oldham, Jamie and folks I am mighty worried about the outcome of the vote and yes many are not informed about the realities of what is going on in Cornwall and I am afraid that Bare Ass can get in again and down goes the town into hell. I have been fretting for a long time now but more and more as the polls become a reality things are not looking good in my mind set. Many people will leave Cornwall for good and will go where they have to but will leave. Good people will not put up with anymore of the BS going around town. There are many places for people to go when they want to and Cornwall is not the end of the road for anyone. Forty years ago it took my husband and a few friends to talk me into leaving and I never regretted it at all and was anxious to leave again when mom passed away. All I see today in Cornwall is nothing but corruption, drugs, welfare and the rich people stomping on the poor and middle like they are dirt under their shoes. Cornwall is being made for the rich and soon the rest will have no other alternative but to leave and this I guarantee to all of you.
It matters quite a bit. As for ads I have purchased ads with the same offers given to all candidates with no advantages. We have two media outlets refusing me ads, one giving Mr. Kilger a grossly unfair advantage as he was allowed to buy first with other candidates getting left overs.
As for most read I’d be happy if the other media would post their real stats as we do. They choose not to. Maybe you should ask them about numbers?
FYI Elasine (BigMac)MacDonald did NOT support the group of city security guards which were terminated by the city. They were casual city employees make a minimum wage and were terminated for joining the union. All other city employees are unionized except the security crew. The hired a contractor (capital security) and city maintains they are saving money. ALL contractors make a profit, so there’s no savings at all. Think about it..
Someone mentioned about keeping fluoride in the water and taxes going up. One day this doctor Paul Ramiliotis had a disagreement with me about the shots given to girls to prevent cervix cancer and there is a tons of evidence that many girls were paralyzed and died over those shots. Just recently in the country of Columbia in South America a number of girls had the shots and again paralysis and death. I would love to see the doctor’s degree where he got it and what he studied. My daughter and I went to a foreign doctor about a year ago because we wanted a second opinion and she knew absolutely nothing and could hardly speak English. We backed out of that office and never looked back. It is a good thing that all that so called doctor did was take a few notes. The clique is what is bringing down Cornwall and I want people to wake up. If Bare Ass and his gang of thugs get in again God help you all.
@Truth Seeker. Your sarcastic question speaks volumes about your cognitive abilities. Why would it matter you pose, most can comprehend that individuals that truly seek the truth look to obtain information from as many sources as possible in order to reach a meaningful conclusion. Let me make it plain.
If in a court of law, say during a murder trial, only counsel for the defense provided evidence for the jurists consideration, the likely outcome would be that few defendants would be found guilty. Therefore the fewer sources of information or coverage leading up to an election potentially alters the voting outcome.
Bottom line, anyone that uses, or only has one source of information is not likely able to reach a meaningful conclusion. This is the reality for the majority of voters in Cornwall due to irresponsible practices by certain media sources. We will all likely therefore pay the price for their actions, or should I say inaction.
I am afraid that is true Mr. Oldham. Most of the elderly people in Cornwall are not computer savvy and not just in Cornwall but everywhere where they are used to hard copy news and only one or two papers. Most seniors read the toilet paper of record – SF including the free piece of toilet paper that is imposed on them at their doors – SN and doesn’t give them the real scoop about what is going on around town. The only paper that has spilled the truth around Cornwall and area is Jamie’s CFN and Jamie gets hurt mighty badly and kicked around and with horrible insults. The clique is running the show and I am afraid that Cornwall is going to hell in a handbasket this time if people don’t wake up.
I agree with some of Jules’ opinions. We all know how Jules feels about the CSF and CSN. But limiting your news sources to one newspaper limits the news you receive and the perspective / views put out by other news sources. I read the CSF, CSN, CFN and other news sources to get a full and proper outlook on what is happening in Cornwall.
I just saw the list of “approved” labour council candidates. They are Bob Kilger, Alyssa Blais, Bernadette Clement, Carilyne Hebert, Syd Gardiner, Elaine MacDonald, Heather Megill, Andre Rivette and Guy St-Jean. What a joke this list is. For the most part either Bob Kilger or Bob Kilger yes men or Elain MacDonald clones.