WE really need to get rid of this guy

spaminator

Hall of Fame Member
Oct 26, 2009
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Michael Ford steps away from Ontario cabinet duties, citing health
Author of the article:Canadian Press
Canadian Press
Allison Jones
Published Sep 20, 2024 • 1 minute read
Ontario's minister of citizenship and multiculturalism, who is also Premier Doug Ford's nephew, says he is temporarily stepping away from his cabinet duties.
Ontario's minister of citizenship and multiculturalism, who is also Premier Doug Ford's nephew, says he is temporarily stepping away from his cabinet duties.
TORONTO — Ontario’s minister of citizenship and multiculturalism, who is also Premier Doug Ford’s nephew, says he is temporarily stepping away from his cabinet duties.

In a statement today, Michael Ford says he informed the premier today that he is taking a leave of absence from cabinet, effective immediately.

Ford says he needs to prioritize his health and well-being over the next couple of months.

He did not provide any further details on the reasons for his leave.

Ford was elected in 2022 in the Toronto riding of York South-Weston and has held the same cabinet role since then.

Prior to entering provincial politics, Michael Ford had followed in the footsteps of his uncles Doug Ford and the late former mayor Rob Ford, and served on Toronto city council.
 

spaminator

Hall of Fame Member
Oct 26, 2009
37,473
3,269
113
Michael Ford steps away from Ontario cabinet duties, citing health
Author of the article:Canadian Press
Canadian Press
Allison Jones
Published Sep 20, 2024 • 1 minute read
Ontario's minister of citizenship and multiculturalism, who is also Premier Doug Ford's nephew, says he is temporarily stepping away from his cabinet duties.
Ontario's minister of citizenship and multiculturalism, who is also Premier Doug Ford's nephew, says he is temporarily stepping away from his cabinet duties.
TORONTO — Ontario’s minister of citizenship and multiculturalism, who is also Premier Doug Ford’s nephew, says he is temporarily stepping away from his cabinet duties.

In a statement today, Michael Ford says he informed the premier today that he is taking a leave of absence from cabinet, effective immediately.

Ford says he needs to prioritize his health and well-being over the next couple of months.

He did not provide any further details on the reasons for his leave.

Ford was elected in 2022 in the Toronto riding of York South-Weston and has held the same cabinet role since then.

Prior to entering provincial politics, Michael Ford had followed in the footsteps of his uncles Doug Ford and the late former mayor Rob Ford, and served on Toronto city council.
it will be interesting to see if the rob ford illness is hereditary. 💡
 

spaminator

Hall of Fame Member
Oct 26, 2009
37,473
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Bureaucrats spend $700K in concert, circus, event tickets
Expenses include $24,484 for tickets to Come from Away, staged in the United States, Japan and Australia

Author of the article:Bryan Passifiume
Published Sep 20, 2024 • Last updated 1 day ago • 2 minute read

OTTAWA — Between Jan. 2023 and June 2024, federal bureaucrats expensed nearly three-quarters of a million dollars on event tickets around the world, including sporting events, balls, and concerts.

According to a response to an order paper question submitted by Haliburton-Kawartha Lakes-Brock MP Jamie Schmale, $721,000 was spent — and then subsequently expensed — on event tickets by a number of government agencies.

That averages around $42,000 expensed per month.

“Just because the government is a circus, doesn’t mean bureaucrats should be billing taxpayers for their tickets to the circus,” Canadian Taxpayers Federation Federal Director Franco Terrazzano told the Toronto Sun.

“How does spending hundreds of thousands of tax dollars on tickets to events in Canada and around the world help Canadians who are struggling to afford their rent and grocery bills?”



The documents were uncovered by the CTF.

Cirque du Soleil shows were hot tickets for Global Affairs Canada, with the department expensing $7,347 for tickets to the Quebec-based troupe’s shows in Vienna and Seoul.

Another $24,484 was spent on performances of the musical Come from Away, staged in the United States, Tokyo and Canberra.

GAC’s biggest expense was $20,000 on 70 tickets for the Canadian Chamber of Commerce in Taiwan Maple Leaf Ball, held in November 2023 in Taipei.



Export Development Canada’s expenses include $25,000 for two tickets to attend the 2024 Indigenous Prosperity Forum Gala Banquet, $45,000 for eight tickets to the Canadian Gay Lesbian Chamber of Commerce’s annual Black and White Gala, and $30,000 for eight tickets to attend the Asia Pacific Foundation of Canada’s Canada-in-Asia Conference Gala, held this past January in Singapore.


EDC also spent $83,000 for 12 tickets to attend a gala thrown by Fédération des Chambres de Commerce du Québec.

Expenses claimed by the CRTC include $2,195 for two tickets to the 2024 Canadian Screen Awards, broadcast from the CBC’s Toronto headquarters.


Some departments’ expenses appeared reasonable.

The Department of National Defence expensed a number of tickets for Cadets Canada members — $480 to purchase 48 tickets to attend a “portraits of nature” concert and nature walk in Victoria, $2,120 for 44 tickets so Air and Army Cadets in Halifax could attend the Royal Nova Scotia International Tattoo, and $474 to purchase 34 tickets for cadets to attend a football game between Université Laval and the University of Sherbrooke.

As well, DND personnel expensed a little over $2,042 for tickets to three separate U.S. Marine Corps Balls in Oslo, Warsaw and Ankara, Türkiye.

“It’s outrageous that bureaucrats billed taxpayers $42,000 a month on tickets to sporting events, circuses, concerts, balls and ballets,” Terrazzano said. “Federal bureaucrats are already overpaid, so if they want to go to circuses or ballets, they can pay for the tickets themselves.”

bpassifiume@postmedia.com
X: @bryanpassifiume
 
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spaminator

Hall of Fame Member
Oct 26, 2009
37,473
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Ottawa’s $2B loan for satellites has Tories calling for Elon Musk to step in
Author of the article:Canadian Press
Canadian Press
Anja Karadeglija
Published Sep 21, 2024 • 5 minute read

OTTAWA — A $2.14-billion federal loan for an Ottawa-based satellite operator has Canadian politicians arguing about whether American billionaire Elon Musk poses a national security risk.


The fight involves internet connectivity in remote regions as Canada tries to live up to its promise to connect every Canadian household to high-speed internet by 2030.

Telesat CEO Dan Goldberg said “there appear to be some misunderstandings” about the nature of his company’s deal with the government.

A week ago, the Liberal government announced the loan to Telesat, which is launching a constellation of low Earth orbit satellites that will be able to connect the most remote areas of the country to broadband internet.

Conservative MP Michael Barrett objected to the price tag, asking Musk in a social media post how much it would cost to provide his Starlink to every Canadian household that does not have high-speed access.


“Less than half that amount,” Musk responded, prompting Barrett to conclude: “That sounds like a common-sense solution for Canada to me.”

In an interview, Goldberg rejected the comparison because his company received a loan, not a grant.

Telesat will pay the government nine per cent interest. The Quebec government is also loaning $400 million. In exchange, Telesat will give up around a 12 per cent equity stake in the company to the two governments.

“No one asked Elon, ‘Do you want a $2-billion loan from the government of Canada at a nine per cent interest rate and give up 10 per cent of Starlink?”‘ he said. “I think there would have been a very different response.”

He noted that a portion of the loan will actually end up going to Musk’s SpaceX because Telesat uses the company to launch satellites.


A spokesperson for Innovation Canada said the new loan replaces a previous $1.44-billion loan announced in 2021, which did not go ahead. The government is maintaining its commitment to spend $600 million to buy internet capacity once the system is operational.

The Liberal government has a years-long initiative to ensure all Canadian households are connected to high-speed internet, with the goal of getting to 98 per cent in 2026 and 100 per cent by 2030.

The last communities are the most challenging because they rely on satellite service. Traditional satellite internet, which uses a geostationary satellite higher up in orbit, has limitations.

Newer-generation low Earth orbit satellite systems, like the one being launched by Telesat and those used by Musk’s Starlink, use many satellites that circulate closer to Earth and can offer high-speed internet without the same issues.


Telesat’s launch plans have already been delayed by years. Goldberg said those delays, some of which were related to challenges around COVID-19, are “in the rear view” and the company plans to be fully in service with global coverage by the end of 2027.

Starlink’s coverage map shows service as available in Canada, though its parent company didn’t answer questions about service availability in the country’s most remote areas.

After Barrett’s exchange with Musk, Innovation Minister Francois-Philippe Champagne accused the Conservatives of wanting to “sell out our national security.”

“When you are in the farther north, you need a reliable network, and you need sovereignty and resiliency in the network. So to suggest otherwise to me is a bit crazy.”


He said Telesat would design and manufacture the system in Canada.

“That’s the kind of sovereignty and resiliency that we want to see, especially when you’re talking about critical military infrastructure that we need also for the defence of the North.”

In a statement, the Conservatives stuck to their argument that Musk would be a better bet. Industry critic Rick Perkins said “there’s an established, available platform that can provide high-speed internet today, and it wouldn’t require billions of taxpayer dollars going into the pockets of Liberal-connected insiders.”

The Conservatives also tried to connect the contract to former Bank of Canada governor Mark Carney, who was appointed as an economic adviser to the Liberals on Sept. 9, four days before the Telesat loan was announced.


Deputy Conservative leader Melissa Lantsman said in the House this week that Carney’s “close friend, the CEO of Telesat, got more than two billion of Canadians’ tax dollars to build a broadband network that other firms could have built for half that price.”

Goldberg confirmed Carney is a friend but said “he had absolutely nothing” to do with the loans.

In announcing the loan, the Prime Minister’s Office said Telesat would provide capacity to the defence industry and support NATO and Norad modernization.

Goldberg said the agreement doesn’t include specifics about using the system for defence. He said Telesat’s constellation can be a “key enabler” for Norad modernization.

In 2022, the Liberal government outlined a $38.6-billion plan to modernize the joint aerospace warning system for Canada and the U.S.


Musk has become an increasingly controversial and political figure in recent years, particularly since he bought the social media platform Twitter, which he renamed X. He has used his large reach to share false information.

In the last week alone, Musk shared a false report that explosives were found near a Donald Trump rally; warned that “unless Trump is elected, America will fall to tyranny”; and questioned why nobody was trying to assassinate President Joe Biden or Vice-President Kamala Harris, after a failed assassination attempt on Trump.

Goldberg suggested there are good reasons to keep such a contract with a Canadian company.

“Space is a highly strategic sector, it’s very capital-intensive. If you look around the world, governments are routinely partnering with their domestic operators,” Goldberg said.


Erik Bohlin, the chair in telecommunication economics, policy and regulation at the Ivey School of Business, noted there have always been some restrictions around foreign ownership in telecoms, including in Canada, but the satellite space is “a new field where so many things are happening.”

Adam Lajeunesse, an associate professor at St. Francis Xavier University focusing on Arctic and maritime security, said the government has some legitimate arguments when it comes to Arctic defence and national security.

He said there’s no reason to doubt that Starlink could meet the Canadian Armed Forces’ needs today, but it’s important to look at what may happen with the company in a decade or two.

“Strategic communications is simply vital for all safety, security, defence activities across the North, not to mention civilian activities,” he said. “Having one supplier, particularly when that one supplier is outside of the government’s control, is a dangerous situation to have.”

James Fergusson, a senior research fellow at the Centre for Defence and Security Studies at the University of Manitoba, said Musk is “a Trump guy” who has “said things which conflict with American foreign policy as it now exists.”

But he pointed out the U.S. Defence Department uses SpaceX, Starlink’s parent company.

“To the Americans, he’s not a security problem.”
 

spaminator

Hall of Fame Member
Oct 26, 2009
37,473
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New Brunswick Liberals ask Higgs to apologize for ’joke’ about dead supporter
Author of the article:Canadian Press
Canadian Press
Hina Alam
Published Sep 21, 2024 • 4 minute read

FREDERICTON — New Brunswick’s Progressive Conservative leader disrespected the province’s residents by presenting the death of a Liberal supporter as funny, the party said as it called for Blaine Higgs to apologize.


Higgs drew the party’s ire during remarks made at his Thursday campaign kickoff event in Quispamsis, N.B., held hours after he dissolved the legislature and officially triggered the campaign leading up to the Oct. 21 provincial election.

His speech to party faithful included a second-hand anecdote of a conversation that purportedly took place in 2014 between a party volunteer canvassing for votes and a newly minted supporter. At the time, Higgs was seeking re-election as the legislature member for the Quispamsis riding, which he has represented since 2010.

The conversation, the story went, began when the canvasser was leaving the home of a woman who had just voiced her intention to vote for Higgs.

“(The volunteer) said: ‘Thank you very much. That’s great.’ Then she started walking next door, and the lady said: ‘Oh, you don’t need to go there. She passed away a few weeks ago,”‘ Higgs said in his retelling of the story. “This campaigner — you know, very passionate individual — said: ‘I’m so sorry. Was she sick long? Or what happened? And the lady just said, ‘Oh, don’t feel too bad. She was a Liberal.”‘


“I know that’s not an appropriate joke, but it was funny and it is true,” Higgs concluded.

Hannah Fulton Johnston, executive director of the New Brunswick Liberal Association, condemned Higgs’s anecdote in a statement issued on Friday in which she called the joke distasteful.

“The New Brunswick Liberal Association is calling on Blaine Higgs to apologize for this comment,” it reads.

“Making light of the death of any New Brunswicker is highly inappropriate for anyone and completely unacceptable for the premier of the province.”

Green Party Leader David Coon described the anecdote as disgusting and questioned whether the comment could be passed off as a joke.

“It’s a very dark comment,” he said on Friday.

Higgs, 70, has so far stuck to broadly populist messages as he seeks a third term as New Brunswick’s premier. His key issues so far have included lowering the harmonized sales tax from 15 to 13 per cent and requiring teachers to get parental consent before they can use the preferred names and pronouns of young students in class.


When asked about the Liberals’ request for an apology, Progressive Conservative party executive director Doug Williams shifted the focus back to past remarks from Liberal Leader Susan Holt and tried to draw a parallel between her and her unpopular federal counterpart.

“If Susan Holt is truly concerned about offensive comments, will she apologize for saying that concerns of parents about their children are ‘BS’? … Will she apologize for saying the Premier acts like a fascist?” the statement reads.

“The media have not paid any attention to these remarks, despite Progressive Conservatives raising them publicly. Just like Justin Trudeau, Susan Holt wants apologies for things that other people have done, and never wants to apologize for her own actions.”


Meanwhile, on the campaign trail Saturday, the Liberals promised to construct 30,000 housing units by 2030 and to eliminate the 10-per-cent provincial sales tax on new multi-unit housing builds.

Holt said the elimination of the tax was a policy followed in Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island.

“The Higgs government has been dragging its feet for far too long, leaving people in precarious housing situations. Our population is growing, and we welcome that, but it can’t happen without a solid plan to tackle the housing shortage,” she said.

“The price of rent and home ownership is skyrocketing because Higgs doesn’t have a plan to build more homes.”

Jill Green, Progressive Conservative candidate for Fredericton North, responded that the Tory government’s Housing for All strategy already includes a goal of building 6,000 homes per year, and will have 30,000 units constructed by 2030.


“Liberal leader Susan Holt is simply promising to do what’s already being done,” Green said in an email.

“She’s not promising anything that’s not already happening in the province.”

Green also questioned how much the Liberal pledge to remove the tax from multi-unit housing builds would cost.

David Coon, leader of the Green Party, promised to restore rural services such as courts that were cut by past Liberal and Conservative governments to Charlotte County — the most southwestern county of New Brunswick — and to the Acadian Peninsula.

“Part of improving services for rural residents is ensuring those living on our islands have good and reliable connections to the mainland,” Coon said in a statement Saturday. “That is why I am committed to year-round ferry service for Campobello Island and a suitable bridge to connect the island of Lameque to Shippagan.”
 

spaminator

Hall of Fame Member
Oct 26, 2009
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Vermont politician, wife, stepson massacred in bizarre triple slaying

Author of the article:Brad Hunter
Published Sep 19, 2024 • Last updated 3 days ago • 2 minute read
Join the conversation

Brian Crossman Sr., 46, his wife, Erica Crossman, née Pawlusiak, 41, and her son were murdered at their home in rural Vermont.
Brian Crossman Sr., 46, his wife, Erica Crossman, née Pawlusiak, 41, and her son were murdered at their home in rural Vermont.
Cops are trying to unravel the bizarre triple slaying of a politician, his wife and their son in bucolic rural Vermont.


According to cops, the trio were shot to death in their home over the weekend.

The dead have been identified as Brian Crossman Sr., 46, his wife, Erica Crossman, née Pawlusiak, 41, and Colin Taft, 13, who is Erica’s son and Brian’s stepson.

“That house is like my great grandfather(s), so everybody congregated there,” one neighbour told the Bennington Banner. “There were five brothers, so it’s a big family.”

Brian Crossman Sr., 46, his wife, Erica Crossman, née Pawlusiak, 41, and her son were murdered at their home in rural Vermont.
Brian Crossman Sr., 46, his wife, Erica Crossman, née Pawlusiak, 41, and her son were murdered at their home in rural Vermont.
Brian Crossman had recently taken over the family’s farm on the property where he was murdered. The farm had been in the family for generations.

“He was cleaning it up and working the farm,” the neighbour added. “I think he was just trying to make a new start and trying to run the family farm. And, yeah, this just is, like, the last thing I expected.”


Earlier this year, Crossman was elected to the select board in Pawlet in Rutland County, about 136 km south of Burlington.

Vermont State Police initially called the slayings “suspicious deaths” but are calling it a homicidal incident.

According to cops, police received a call about a “suspicious person” Sunday around 3:45 a.m. Subsequent investigation led officers to a residence where they discovered the victims.

State Troopers would only say at the time that the deaths were “suspicious.”

The medical examiner said late Tuesday that Brian Crossman died from a slew of gunshot wounds to his head and torso; Erica Crossman died from a single gunshot wound to her head; Colin died from “multiple gunshot wounds.”

As for the suspicious person, investigators have not identified — or charged — the man. However, cops said there is no threat to public safety.


“There was a report of a person that had some blood on them,” Vermont State Police Maj. Dan Trudeau told WCAX. “That they saw on the roadway.”

He added a second phone call — and the blood-soaked individual — led troopers to the crime scene. Neighbours said the “person of interest” was waiting for troopers at a nearby elementary school.

“We ended up detaining this person,” Trudeau said. “Described getting to the house, and finding deceased bodies inside.”

The chairperson of the Pawlet Selectboard hailed Crossman’s commitment to public service.

“Brian Crossman was a friend and neighbour, a hardworking community member who just this year stepped up to join the Pawlet Selectboard,” Mike Beecher told New England Cable News.

“This tragedy that struck him and his family has also hit our community hard, and we are shaken and grieving. Our hearts go out to everyone affected by this devastating loss.”

The investigation is continuing.

bhunter@postmedia.com

@HunterTOSun
 

Ron in Regina

"Voice of the West" Party
Apr 9, 2008
25,928
9,435
113
Regina, Saskatchewan
That’s an NDP thing (at this point anyway) so far.
 

spaminator

Hall of Fame Member
Oct 26, 2009
37,473
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Pickering councillor gets most severe pay penalty for 'unacceptable behaviour'
It's the latest in a series of penalties levelled against Lisa Robinson

Author of the article:Canadian Press
Canadian Press
Rianna Lim
Published Sep 27, 2024 • Last updated 22 hours ago • 3 minute read

A Pickering councillor has been issued a 90-day pay suspension — the most severe penalty possible under current rules — after the municipality’s integrity commissioner found she has been demonstrating a continued pattern of “unacceptable behaviour” that risks hurting marginalized members of society.


It’s the latest in a series of penalties levelled against Coun. Lisa Robinson, and a situation that the mayor has said underscores the need for changes to the province’s Municipal Act to allow stricter sanctions, up to the removal of a councillor from office.

Robinson, for her part, denied the integrity commissioner’s findings, called his report “full of lies” and accused the council of conducting a “witch hunt” against her.

The situation in Pickering is one that has been developing since last year.

The city’s mayor said he isn’t optimistic Robinson’s latest pay suspension — her third since last September — will have much of an impact.

“I hope that the distraction of Coun. Robinson’s behaviour will hopefully be put in the rearview mirror. I’m not confident that will happen,” Kevin Ashe said in a phone interview.


“Our path forward is cloudy.”

The mayor and councillors wrote a letter last month urging Premier Doug Ford and the municipal affairs minister to close what they call “a glaring loophole” in the Municipal Act by strengthening sanctions that can be levelled against councillors who engage in harmful actions, including the potential for removal from office.

“I think it should be a legislative priority,” said Ashe.

“I’m hopeful that the minister and the government will, in short order, do something so that councils have a stronger tool to deal with this egregious behaviour.”

Municipal Affairs and Housing Minister Paul Calandra has said he wants to consult more and seek advice from the province’s integrity commissioner before tabling legislation.


Robinson, meanwhile, said any city official who asks for changes to the Municipal Act should step down, saying it would bar “dissenting opinion.”

“If the constituents don’t like what I have to say or how I’m representing them, then the decision will be up to them during the next election,” she said in a phone interview.

Robinson, who was elected in 2022, first received a 30-day pay suspension in September 2023 after social media posts identifying some Pickering residents triggered an integrity commissioner investigation for cyberbullying and intimidation. She was then condemned by council for referring to herself as a “modern day slave” as a result of the docked pay.

In October last year, she received a 60-day pay suspension after another investigation by the integrity commissioner into remarks she made about drag queen story time events, universal washrooms and the raising of Pride flags. The commissioner found Robinson had “promoted attitudes which are homophobic and transphobic,” which she denied.


In November 2023, she suggested in a social media post that the inclusion of an LGBTQ+ advocacy organization in the city’s Santa Claus parade would be inappropriate for children. In February, she wrote an op-ed denouncing Black History Month.

Those public comments were among what formed the basis of the latest complaint investigated by the integrity commissioner, which was based on concerns from the public, the mayor and fellow councillors.

The complaint detailed multiple allegations of Robinson’s breaches of the council’s code of conduct, including several social media posts that allegedly showed a “lack of respect” for the commissioner and the council, and op-eds penned by Robinson that allegedly “erode public trust.”


The commissioner’s report found that Robinson refused to recognize the impact of her actions, and that they “demonstrate an arrogant self-righteousness” rarely seen in municipal leaders.

Robinson came under fire again last month after councillors condemned her for appearing in an online show they said promoted hate speech and extremist views.

The mayor and other councillors said she appeared on the Kevin J. Johnston show hosted on Rumble, which they called a “far-right video platform.” They said the show host called councillors “pedophiles” and “Nazis” and said they “deserve a baseball bat to the face,” asserting Robinson smiled or nodded.

Robinson said she has denounced the host’s comments and apologized to her colleagues.

She criticized the commissioner’s latest report and said she has “much support” from constituents.

“I am literally OK with a pay suspension. I knew it was coming, because I know how vindictive the councillors are that I work with,” she said.

“I wouldn’t even treat an enemy the way that they treated me.”

Ashe, for his part, said he hopes the future brings better discourse.

“Never in my wildest dreams would I think that this would happen in my city,” he said.
 

Ron in Regina

"Voice of the West" Party
Apr 9, 2008
25,928
9,435
113
Regina, Saskatchewan
The killing of students is fake..
People died then, including at residential schools. TB & Spanish Flu blew through. Burials where not necessarily divided by indigenous & non-indigenous, or settler & whatever that other Marxist term is, but by the the living above the ground and the deceased below it, generally with wooden crosses as markers not designed to last for centuries, etc…
I'm sure there was abuse, however no bodies were found, no mass graves.
There’s going to be bodies, both indigenous & non, but perhaps not in the context currently being sold.
She is trying to pass a law that if you say there was no Residential School mass murder then you could be in jail for 2 years.
That is a poor way to get your way without debate or proof of a claim.
 
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pgs

Hall of Fame Member
Nov 29, 2008
27,644
7,483
113
B.C.
People died then, including at residential schools. TB & Spanish Flu blew through. Burials where not necessarily divided by indigenous & non-indigenous, or settler & whatever that other Marxist term is, but by the the living above the ground and the deceased below it, generally with wooden crosses as markers not designed to last for centuries, etc…

There’s going to be bodies, both indigenous & non, but perhaps not in the context currently being sold.

That is a poor way to get your way without debate or proof of a claim.
Where are the native cemeteries prior to the arrival of the white man ?
 

Taxslave2

House Member
Aug 13, 2022
3,601
2,156
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Pickering councillor gets most severe pay penalty for 'unacceptable behaviour'
It's the latest in a series of penalties levelled against Lisa Robinson

Author of the article:Canadian Press
Canadian Press
Rianna Lim
Published Sep 27, 2024 • Last updated 22 hours ago • 3 minute read

A Pickering councillor has been issued a 90-day pay suspension — the most severe penalty possible under current rules — after the municipality’s integrity commissioner found she has been demonstrating a continued pattern of “unacceptable behaviour” that risks hurting marginalized members of society.


It’s the latest in a series of penalties levelled against Coun. Lisa Robinson, and a situation that the mayor has said underscores the need for changes to the province’s Municipal Act to allow stricter sanctions, up to the removal of a councillor from office.

Robinson, for her part, denied the integrity commissioner’s findings, called his report “full of lies” and accused the council of conducting a “witch hunt” against her.

The situation in Pickering is one that has been developing since last year.

The city’s mayor said he isn’t optimistic Robinson’s latest pay suspension — her third since last September — will have much of an impact.

“I hope that the distraction of Coun. Robinson’s behaviour will hopefully be put in the rearview mirror. I’m not confident that will happen,” Kevin Ashe said in a phone interview.


“Our path forward is cloudy.”

The mayor and councillors wrote a letter last month urging Premier Doug Ford and the municipal affairs minister to close what they call “a glaring loophole” in the Municipal Act by strengthening sanctions that can be levelled against councillors who engage in harmful actions, including the potential for removal from office.

“I think it should be a legislative priority,” said Ashe.

“I’m hopeful that the minister and the government will, in short order, do something so that councils have a stronger tool to deal with this egregious behaviour.”

Municipal Affairs and Housing Minister Paul Calandra has said he wants to consult more and seek advice from the province’s integrity commissioner before tabling legislation.


Robinson, meanwhile, said any city official who asks for changes to the Municipal Act should step down, saying it would bar “dissenting opinion.”

“If the constituents don’t like what I have to say or how I’m representing them, then the decision will be up to them during the next election,” she said in a phone interview.

Robinson, who was elected in 2022, first received a 30-day pay suspension in September 2023 after social media posts identifying some Pickering residents triggered an integrity commissioner investigation for cyberbullying and intimidation. She was then condemned by council for referring to herself as a “modern day slave” as a result of the docked pay.

In October last year, she received a 60-day pay suspension after another investigation by the integrity commissioner into remarks she made about drag queen story time events, universal washrooms and the raising of Pride flags. The commissioner found Robinson had “promoted attitudes which are homophobic and transphobic,” which she denied.


In November 2023, she suggested in a social media post that the inclusion of an LGBTQ+ advocacy organization in the city’s Santa Claus parade would be inappropriate for children. In February, she wrote an op-ed denouncing Black History Month.

Those public comments were among what formed the basis of the latest complaint investigated by the integrity commissioner, which was based on concerns from the public, the mayor and fellow councillors.

The complaint detailed multiple allegations of Robinson’s breaches of the council’s code of conduct, including several social media posts that allegedly showed a “lack of respect” for the commissioner and the council, and op-eds penned by Robinson that allegedly “erode public trust.”


The commissioner’s report found that Robinson refused to recognize the impact of her actions, and that they “demonstrate an arrogant self-righteousness” rarely seen in municipal leaders.

Robinson came under fire again last month after councillors condemned her for appearing in an online show they said promoted hate speech and extremist views.

The mayor and other councillors said she appeared on the Kevin J. Johnston show hosted on Rumble, which they called a “far-right video platform.” They said the show host called councillors “pedophiles” and “Nazis” and said they “deserve a baseball bat to the face,” asserting Robinson smiled or nodded.

Robinson said she has denounced the host’s comments and apologized to her colleagues.

She criticized the commissioner’s latest report and said she has “much support” from constituents.

“I am literally OK with a pay suspension. I knew it was coming, because I know how vindictive the councillors are that I work with,” she said.

“I wouldn’t even treat an enemy the way that they treated me.”

Ashe, for his part, said he hopes the future brings better discourse.

“Never in my wildest dreams would I think that this would happen in my city,” he said.
So, essentially the mayor and some far left councillors want a law that says "If you don't agree with our position, you can not be elected."
 

Taxslave2

House Member
Aug 13, 2022
3,601
2,156
113
Where are the native cemeteries prior to the arrival of the white man ?
That actually depends on the individual cultures. Some west coast tribes buried their dead in trees overhanging the ocean. No idea where they put the headstones.