Confusion & Corruption Erupt from Cornwall Over National Post Spanking & Seaway News Corrects Defamatory Slur of CFN. By Jamie Gilcig 110719

We live in a community that sadly discounts truth and integrity. Where terms like “fake news” get bandied around by people that truly have no understanding of news or how news works. Some of whom get elected to office.

If you live in a community with little accountability this is how circus behavior occurs. Blow the official personal spending election limits like Mayor Bernadette Clement did and it’s all good. Just appoint a committee of friends and affiliates to give you a free pass while blaming the clerk.

Don’t know the difference between a Naturopath and actual Doctor of Medicine? Not a problem in Cornwall.

Looking at a 7% raise in taxes. Give out $45K to a Naturopath Clinic that is outside of the area of a program which doesn’t have the funds, and just take them from reserves. Nero would be proud.

You really can’t make this stuff up, but if you read some of the desperately panicked spin from City Hall that’s exactly what’s happening. After the National Post dropped the hammer down on this bizarre act, which blew up on twitter after our story went live; with some major doctors confronting the city via that platform, the NP wrote a very clear article which lived up their proven standards which are of the highest level.

Both we at CFN and the Nat Post asked Mayor Clement for comment before publishing. You can’t complain if you refuse to partake in a story. What Councilor Glen Grant was quoted on was not disputed by Grant; at least publicly. He clearly didn’t appear to understand the difference between people in White Coats offering services not covered by OHIP and actual Medical doctors.

And while it’s great that Cornwall just attracted ten new doctors thanks to the amazing Chief of Staff at CCH; the reality is that we had a shortage of ten doctors for far too long.

This clinic is not a solution. And not a single councilor voted against granting the $45K even though the property was only listed for sale for $249,000.

Regardless of what it sold for; that’s a pretty good grant to get from the city. (The city has not confirmed that the monies would be a loan)

Isn’t that crazy? I mean it’s like spending $300K on a study of a $450K building that you want to spend $6M on to renovate to become a black box theatre to compete with the three other theatres in Cornwall; one of which you already donate about $100K to. Is it any wonder we’ve been facing runaway taxes?

Mayor Clement posted this gem.

“I am disappointed the media did not do their homework before publishing inaccuracies,” said Mayor Bernadette Clement. “Let me be clear – while the City of Cornwall encourages medical doctors to establish practices in our community, this project was approved through a completely separate program which aims to revitalize our downtown.”

Councilor Towndale dropped down even lower:

Facts matter. Ms. Theriault is receiving funding for her building. That’s all. And, she qualifies for this funding. To suggest that we are looking to replace medical doctors with naturopaths is patently false, and is the result of drawing an uninformed conclusion. In this era of fake news I would expect better. How disappointing.

Justin Towndale
Councillor
City of Cornwall

Facts do matter which is why it wouldn’t be surprising to see the City sued by Post Media for defamation. Inferring “fake news” to a media outlet is akin to suggesting a priest is a pedophile. If they aren’t, you’ve lost. The only question is how much.

Again, this is a city that when ranked at the bottom of most rankings has historically suggested flaws in the ranking and even more idiotically sued MPAC which meant that MPAC either made a systemic mistake or had treated Cornwall differently than any other municipality. One wonders how much the city had to pay out on that recent settlement?

True to its historic dirty politics the City went to the media outlet it pumps the most cash into. It slurred CFN and tried its best to spin the situation.

In Cornwall the city’s lawyers used the term “Blog” to spin its conspiratorial boycott and refusal of services to this newspaper. Oddly enough Rick Shaver of the Seaway News took yours truly out for meetings to purchase this newspaper and hire me as editor several years ago. Our letter to him saw a quick change to the story.

At the end of the day you have two city managers, who between them nearly earn $500,000 recommend this hot mess to a council that clearly is corrupt, incompetent, and for the most part ignorant, which they unanimously rubber stamped.

When confronted by reality outside of the city their defense was to suggest terms like fake news and inaccuracies. It’s one thing for a milquetoast like Mr. Towndale to say such rubbish, but Mayor Clement is a lawyer and should actually understand defamation law.

At the end of the day this is $45K that should be not be spent and this program should be rolled into the city administration or closed. It simply makes no sense to have a separate agency administering City Funds and having extra staff to simply rubber stamp what PAC and and Council vote on.

4 Comments

  1. Trained for years in his parents’ basement, council’s little “soldier” is hunkered down in his trench, claiming fake news while firing off fake views — bandaging another councillor’s dumb claim of addressing a shortage of medical practitioners; ducking a quack claim that funding would address Cornwall’s need for medical care; and lastly, engaging in an inappropriate diversion of taxpayer money.

  2. City is a joke! Glad I moved!

  3. Simon, bang on response. Funny how our part-time Mayor had no response to today’s response pointed out in the Freeholder, also, Councilor Todd Bennett and Emma Meldrum both quickly attached a link to David Murphy’s social media and yet neither had anything to say today. Looks good on ya! Que all the dislikes. I feel the click is pissed off now 😉

  4. If it were not for Jamie Gilcig and his paper there would be no news at all and that is the truth. I remember the Freeloader paper being tossed on people’s verandas and it was a comic book and no news just garbage about who was who in town and doing what. Jamie has the better paper in town. People with intelligence and drive left Cornhole and we packed faster than a squirrel gathering nuts.

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