45% of Winnipeg's elevators operating on expired permits.
Manitoba Post- The Manitoba Post has learned 45% of Winnipeg elevators are operating with expired permits, some of which have been expired for over two years. The Manitoba Government is in charge of elevator inspections in Manitoba, and a safety inspection is required before a permit can be renewed. The Manitoba Post found elevators with expired permits in a number of downtown office towers, as well as residential apartment buildings, including a Manitoba Housing building where the permit has been expired for over two years. The Manitoba Post contacted one inspector, who on a condition of anonymity said that Manitoba could have double the inspectors on staff and still not catch up and meet the demand to maintain the safety of elevators in Manitoba. He said they also inspect lifts and escalators among other equipment. The inspector also said they have been asking for more inspectors and have voiced concerns about safety issues, which have fallen on deaf ears. "The public can look at the permit in the elevator they are on. If it is expired, I recommend taking the stairs , because they elevator may not be safe" , the inspector said , "You won't see elevators dropping 10 stories, but you may see people being trapped in elevators, or in many cases, the elevator moving will the door is open, which is extremely dangerous and can cause death or severe trauma. "
The Manitoba Post contacted the Minister of Labor Jennifer Howard for comment, and was told by her representative that the problem is being looked into.
Thoughts on Faron Hall
By Jim Cotton - It is with great sadness I read about the attack on Faron Hall. There are many people with many opinions concerning the welfare of Faron. Some say the system didn't do enough. Some say it's time for Faron to grow up.
Like Faron Hall, I too am an addict. There are 3 outcomes for our kind..... prison , insanity , or death. That is unless we start working our program. Sometimes, sadly , for the most pathetic of our kind, even near death experiences are not enough to stop. Bottom line is he will end up dead soon , unless he starts going to meetings and working the program , one day at a time. There is very little the government can do, except put him in jail.
Faron has a CHOICE to make. Yesterday is the past, hopefully he can start fresh tomorrow and take it one day at a time.
Those who say the system failed Faron have no idea what they are talking about.
The Left just can't get it together for the next civic election.
By Jim Cotton- I had to laugh with amusement when I read that Russ Wyatt was going to seek the mayor's chair. First of all, Russ would get my vote. I like the guy and he would make a great mayor. But it will be Sam Katz laughing all the way to the bank as Wyatt , Judy Alphabet and Lillian Thomas split all the anti-Katz votes and Sammy will come up the middle. If the left wants any chance of winning , they will have to get together and pick ONE candidate and have the NDP machine get behind that person. However, that won't happen. There is too much of a divide in the NDP right now from the Selinger/Ashton leadership race. The camps are clearly divided and there is no way Judy Alphabet or Russ Wyatt will give in to each other. Both will have strong campaigns and have good teams ready to go. At the end of the day, Sam Katz will win the next election. I predict Katz will win, followed by Wyatt being a close second, followed by Judy Alphabet, and Lillian Thomas coming in last.
Back From the Dead
By Jim Cotton - It's been a while since I blogged. It's been a rough few weeks for me. I had some horrible reactions to some medication I was taking which required me to be admitted. I am still on pretty shaking ground but taking things a day at a time. I have not been following the news very much, what is going on in Haiti is just awful , and I am really disgusted with the provinces measly commitment of $100,000. We should have sent a few doctors and nurses down there, I say.
Judy W-L has been dipping her toes in the civic election , I see. I give it a 50/50 chance that she will run. She can not beat Katz, there is just no way. I think many people are telling her to run, but they have selfish interests. I listened to Judy on CJOB a while back and she had no idea what she was talking about when it came to civic issues.
The Concordia By-election has been called, and to be honest I have no energy to do anything, as much as I would love to. I have been sleeping alot and am focusing on getting my health back. So I am out of the By-election. I think the tories should lie down here and not split the vote and let the Liberals take this one, because they have a strong candidate. I imagine the NDP machine will be out in full force to make sure they dont' lose it, however. But don't you worry kiddies, I have something in store for you all during the upcoming civic election....hold onto your hats.
Judy W-L has been dipping her toes in the civic election , I see. I give it a 50/50 chance that she will run. She can not beat Katz, there is just no way. I think many people are telling her to run, but they have selfish interests. I listened to Judy on CJOB a while back and she had no idea what she was talking about when it came to civic issues.
The Concordia By-election has been called, and to be honest I have no energy to do anything, as much as I would love to. I have been sleeping alot and am focusing on getting my health back. So I am out of the By-election. I think the tories should lie down here and not split the vote and let the Liberals take this one, because they have a strong candidate. I imagine the NDP machine will be out in full force to make sure they dont' lose it, however. But don't you worry kiddies, I have something in store for you all during the upcoming civic election....hold onto your hats.
Manitoba can’t get any respect
http://www2.macleans.ca/2010/01/12/lost-in-the-west/
Recently in Vancouver, Canada’s three westernmost governments signed yet another co-operative declaration. The “Declaration on Open Skies” calls for the removal of “unnecessary barriers” to open up access to “the three western provinces,” offering “direct, unfettered” transportation links—part of a broader western strategy to create a more open, competitive and efficient regional market. In what almost seemed an afterthought, Manitoba, rather than being offered a seat at the table, was sent the paperwork for review. This came hard on the heels of another new agreement aiming, according to a Saskatchewan government news release, to create the “largest barrier-free trade and investment market in Canada.” Here again, Manitoba, the only left-leaning government in the West, did not sign on—highlighting Manitoba’s growing exclusion from the western club, a troubling trend.
It’s not the only headache facing Manitoba’s newly minted premier, Greg Selinger. He was sworn in just three days before being slammed by warnings of bankruptcy and blackouts at Manitoba Hydro, a Crown corporation owned by the province. This fall, a New York consultant-turned-whistle-blower also alleged that mismanagement has cost the public utility $1 billion. Selinger isn’t just the premier handed this mess; he was also, for years, the minister responsible for Hydro.
The province’s debt load, meanwhile, is higher than when the NDP took office a decade ago. The West’s once-in-a-lifetime boom seems to be over—before Manitoba ever had a chance to cash in. As billions churned through B.C., Alberta and Saskatchewan, it alone was unaffected—the province the boom forgot. And now, amid unprecedented regional co-operation, the province, scolded by economists for its competitive disadvantage and too-beefy regulatory burdens, is increasingly out of step with its western neighbours, who are aligning policies and political strategies, even hosting joint cabinet meetings to better act as a bloc. This creates “huge risks” for Manitoba, including being “completely isolated from major markets and population centres,” says Tory Leader Hugh McFadyen.
Even Saskatchewan, Canada’s “breadbasket basket case,” and for generations Manitoba’s pathetic sister province, has roared to life. The province has undertaken the country’s most substantive tax reform in two decades, making it competitive with B.C. and Alberta, and luring new business and investment to Regina and Saskatoon, says Niels Veldhuis, senior economist at the Vancouver-based Fraser Institute. Tax reform and belt-tightening came simultaneous to the first flow of natural resource revenue: Saskatchewan has since socked away well over $1 billion in oil and potash wealth.
Manitoba’s problem, critics say, is not a paucity of opportunity; it may not have uranium or natural gas, but it boasts a diverse economy with agriculture, manufacturing, hydroelectricity and mining. Boeing’s new fleet of 787 Dreamliner airplanes was built in the Peg, as were B.C.’s new fuel cell buses. A year ago, southeastern Manitoba boasted the country’s lowest unemployment rate. But, of late, its biggest business “by far,” says David MacKinnon, a senior fellow in the Atlantic Institute for Market Studies in Halifax, is “getting money out of other Canadians via the federal government.” Almost 40 cents of every dollar Manitoba spends is being mailed in from Ottawa—which, he adds, can lead to curious decision-making. Even as the economic crisis hit in 2008, Manitoba’s nurses were awarded a 10 per cent wage increase over the previous year, making them among the highest paid in the country. B.C., which does not receive equalization, announced a $3-billion deficit for 2009 and health care cuts totalling $360 million. Manitoba—economic “la-la land,” according to one Saskatchewan minister—was, meanwhile, one of two provinces to announce a surplus.
Whether Manitoba will continue to be showered with record levels of transfers is unclear: Ontario and Alberta, which contribute 60 per cent of this funding, have each announced record deficits for the year—$25 billion and $7 billion, respectively. Even before the recession, Ontario had begun campaigning for a new deal, arguing it makes no sense that “have-not” Manitoba can put more teachers, doctors and nurses per capita on the public payroll. On the face of it, Winnipeg looks better than it has in years, with a new airport and the spectacular new Manitoba Hydro building downtown. The Canadian Museum for Human Rights has broken ground at the Forks, and University of Winnipeg chancellor Lloyd Axworthy is almost single-handedly remodelling west Portage Avenue with a string of campus expansions. But look closer—it’s a boom funded by the public purse. At a certain point, economists warn, growing government will crowd out private investment entirely.
Posted by Nancy Macdonald
It’s not the only headache facing Manitoba’s newly minted premier, Greg Selinger. He was sworn in just three days before being slammed by warnings of bankruptcy and blackouts at Manitoba Hydro, a Crown corporation owned by the province. This fall, a New York consultant-turned-whistle-blower also alleged that mismanagement has cost the public utility $1 billion. Selinger isn’t just the premier handed this mess; he was also, for years, the minister responsible for Hydro.
The province’s debt load, meanwhile, is higher than when the NDP took office a decade ago. The West’s once-in-a-lifetime boom seems to be over—before Manitoba ever had a chance to cash in. As billions churned through B.C., Alberta and Saskatchewan, it alone was unaffected—the province the boom forgot. And now, amid unprecedented regional co-operation, the province, scolded by economists for its competitive disadvantage and too-beefy regulatory burdens, is increasingly out of step with its western neighbours, who are aligning policies and political strategies, even hosting joint cabinet meetings to better act as a bloc. This creates “huge risks” for Manitoba, including being “completely isolated from major markets and population centres,” says Tory Leader Hugh McFadyen.
Even Saskatchewan, Canada’s “breadbasket basket case,” and for generations Manitoba’s pathetic sister province, has roared to life. The province has undertaken the country’s most substantive tax reform in two decades, making it competitive with B.C. and Alberta, and luring new business and investment to Regina and Saskatoon, says Niels Veldhuis, senior economist at the Vancouver-based Fraser Institute. Tax reform and belt-tightening came simultaneous to the first flow of natural resource revenue: Saskatchewan has since socked away well over $1 billion in oil and potash wealth.
Manitoba’s problem, critics say, is not a paucity of opportunity; it may not have uranium or natural gas, but it boasts a diverse economy with agriculture, manufacturing, hydroelectricity and mining. Boeing’s new fleet of 787 Dreamliner airplanes was built in the Peg, as were B.C.’s new fuel cell buses. A year ago, southeastern Manitoba boasted the country’s lowest unemployment rate. But, of late, its biggest business “by far,” says David MacKinnon, a senior fellow in the Atlantic Institute for Market Studies in Halifax, is “getting money out of other Canadians via the federal government.” Almost 40 cents of every dollar Manitoba spends is being mailed in from Ottawa—which, he adds, can lead to curious decision-making. Even as the economic crisis hit in 2008, Manitoba’s nurses were awarded a 10 per cent wage increase over the previous year, making them among the highest paid in the country. B.C., which does not receive equalization, announced a $3-billion deficit for 2009 and health care cuts totalling $360 million. Manitoba—economic “la-la land,” according to one Saskatchewan minister—was, meanwhile, one of two provinces to announce a surplus.
Whether Manitoba will continue to be showered with record levels of transfers is unclear: Ontario and Alberta, which contribute 60 per cent of this funding, have each announced record deficits for the year—$25 billion and $7 billion, respectively. Even before the recession, Ontario had begun campaigning for a new deal, arguing it makes no sense that “have-not” Manitoba can put more teachers, doctors and nurses per capita on the public payroll. On the face of it, Winnipeg looks better than it has in years, with a new airport and the spectacular new Manitoba Hydro building downtown. The Canadian Museum for Human Rights has broken ground at the Forks, and University of Winnipeg chancellor Lloyd Axworthy is almost single-handedly remodelling west Portage Avenue with a string of campus expansions. But look closer—it’s a boom funded by the public purse. At a certain point, economists warn, growing government will crowd out private investment entirely.
Posted by Nancy Macdonald
Selinger on a spending spree.
By Jim Cotton- Over the last few days, I have heard Manitoba Premier Greg Selinger talk about being "moderate". This is in response to the massive deficit the Manitoba government is facing. He says he is taking measures like freezing salaries of MLA's and trimming the fat in various places.
First I have to ask , why are we in this situation ? Federal transfers have INCREASED , and will increase even more in the coming year, our economy in Manitoba is firing on all cylinders with lots of new big construction projects , the housing market is still hot and our population has never been larger.
Provincial revenues are at record levels, so there is only one answer ..... GREG SELINGER IS ON A SPENDING SPREE.
What could we cut in this province ? What has Selinger been spending all our money on ? Could it be the new WRHA offices his government has built ? Could it be the millions that he spent buying land near Portage ave and Broadway for a piece of greenspace that is too small for any sports field ? Don't forget the ugly new building they erected across the street from that location as well....a new welfare office , I think ? What about the hundreds of millions they are spending to run Bipole 3 down the west side of the province, when they could run it down the east side, where there is already a mile wide swath of bush cut for winter roads ?
If Greg Selinger is serious about being moderate , and being careful with our tax money, he MUST build bipole 3 down the east side. He must stop building new offices for the WRHA.
Freezing MLA salaries doesn't come close to what putting bipole 3 down the east side will save.
Selinger ran the finances for years, in this province. He failed to save anything during his time as finance minister. And he's trying to pretend that the province is short on cash right now, when it's not. The province has never seen so much money, Greg Selinger is just on a spending spree.
The Winnipeg Free Press has a dumb option for a police helicopter.
By Jim Cotton - The editorial that appeared in the Winnipeg Free Press today, just has me scratching my head.
The Free Press took their idea from Barry Prentice, and that idea is to spend $3 Million on a slow airship instead of a police helicopter.
First, speed matters. A helicopter flies twice as fast, seconds matter. Second, you need a crew on the ground everytime you want to land the thing. It has to be held down with ropes. You could need a full time crew of people on the ground just to recover the thing.
Instead of spending $3 Million on a giant airship that would make us the laughing stock of Canada, lets save a bunch of money and get the R44 police chopper for only $700,000.
http://manitobapost.blogspot.com/2010/01/something-stinks-about-winnipeg-police.html
But no, bloggers are bad, can't use or even consider any ideas they come up with.
Something stinks about the Winnipeg Police Helicopter.
By Jim Cotton - I took a bit of an interest in a Winnipeg sun article today . http://www.winnipegsun.com/news/winnipeg/2010/01/04/12336656-sun.html
Something stinks when it comes to the purchase of the Winnipeg Police chopper.
The City of Winnipeg was approached by a Private donor who was willing to donate the full cost of the chopper. This person was told the purchase cost was $1.8-$2 Million for a fully equipped chopper. This was in the summer of 2009. They wouldn't even return his phone call. Now , out of the blue the purchase cost is $3.4 Million.
Perhaps the City of Winnipeg is spending extra money for photo radar technology , and they don't want anyone to know about it .
Why would they turn down $2 Million ? Why did the cost almost DOUBLE ?
If you do a little research, you can get a brand new, fully equipped chopper for under $2 Million. You could even buy a really good used chopper for as little as $1.2 Million.
In fact, I even found a BRAND NEW Police chopper, fully loaded, for ALOT LESS.
It's the same model of chopper that is used by CJOB for their traffic reports.
Brand new, with all the bells and whistles , about $700,000 US.
Robinson is a reputable chopper. The R44 is one of the safest helicopters in the world, has a great record and can fly at over 220 kph. It can get across the city in a couple minutes. It can stay in the air for over 3 hours without refueling, and it can land on top of the new Police building where the old Canada Post office is now.
Will the city of Winnipeg get away with spending $3.4 Million on a police helicopter now this has become public ? Hello, Tom Brodbeck, I have given you something to write about.
2010
By Jim Cotton - It's been a little bit since I blogged, so I thought I would do a post. I am currently out of town, having some rest and relaxation. I am thankful the holidays are over and we can get back to "normal". 2009 was a rough year for me, but 2010 is looking up for sure. I am going through many changes right now ,and have kind of taken a holiday from everything.
On Christmas Eve, I was rushed to hospital by paramedics , and spent a little time at the Grace Hospital. I have to say that even though I was moved into the hallway after about 8 hours, the staff there are doing a great job. Being in the hallway provided me with a first hand glimpse of the nurses and doctors in action and what they put up with on a daily basis. One thing is for sure, there are not enough nurses and doctors at Grace, and there is not enough space to handle the amount of people. The nurses put up with alot of garbage from people, and from what I have seen they are earn every penny they are paid. Many patients were very abusive , and angry because of the wait. Perhaps they should make their voices heard with the provincial government instead of the front line staff. My ambulance ride was in the new "sprinter" ambulance , and according to the paramedics, it gets a failing grade. Not much space, and lots of mechanical issues and it really sucks in the winter.
One thing I am starting to notice in Manitoba is the number of people being laid off or getting their hours cut back. I think we are on the verge of major economic problems in Manitoba. It will be the big story of 2010. Housing prices are still crazy, people are losing their jobs and the government is bleeding red ink. There is little we can do to stop it. People are going to have to start being frugal , and start saving money.
I hope the government doesn't go all crazy with "stimulus" , we are living in a bubble right now, and it has to pop.
Too many people are living on credit and above their means, and it's going to bite them in the ass. I am looking at houses right now, and the prices are just stupid. It's cheaper to rent. The housing bubble has to burst , someday it will.
I was a little surprised about McNally Robinson closing it's doors at Polo Park. I have to say , I used to be a regular client when they were downtown, but never really liked the weird Polo Park store and started going to Chapters. I am a regular book buyer , too.....at least 2-3 a month.
I had the opportunity to check out the closing session of Manitoba Youth Parliament the other day, and have to say I was very impressed by the youth there. Some are future leaders , for sure. I never attended Manitoba Youth Parliament, but was Prime Minster at the Lord Selkirk Youth Parliament back in High School in Selkirk.
On Christmas Day, there was an attempted Terrorist attack on a plane over Detroit. If they can't stop someone who was on a terror watch list with explosives in their undies, who can they stop ? They will never win the war on terror, and I am sure that is the intention. No profits for the bomb builders when times are peaceful. I am also sad to hear about the 5 Canadians who died in Afghanistan. Things are getting worse over there, the mission has been a failure and I can't for the life of me understand why we don't just pull out now. We went over there to find Osama Bin Laden, not rebuild the country. Time to bring the troops home. We can't afford a war , anyway.
One thing that bothers me is people who are saying the H1N1 vaccines were not necessary. Does it ever occur to people that the flu may have been stopped dead in it's tracks because 30% of people got the vaccine and everyone started washing their hands and using hand sanitizer ? I think we are better off in the long run.
Burton Cummings and Gary Filmon are both being awarded the Order of Canada. I think both are deserving.....Burton has done a great job representing Canada , he has done alot to promote our country , and every Guess Who Concert used to open with " From Winnipeg Manitoba Canada.....THE GUESS WHO !! !"
There are many people who are upset Gary Filmon is getting the order of Canada....but this guy was the Premier of Manitoba for a long time. I think anyone who served as Premier should be considered for the Order. Really, Filmon did a good job.....it was the federal Liberals who cut health care, and Filmon got the government books in order so Gary Doer had a free ride for so many years. And selling off MTS made alot of MTS employees money when they all had the option to buy stocks ahead of time. Competition for phone services has kept prices reasonable. I am sure many people disagree with me, but I don't think phone service costs have gone up that much. MTS stills plays a huge part in our community as well.
So what are my plans for 2010 ? I intend on being a little more active promoting atheism. I really love debating politics and religion , and if I hear another " Excuse me, I'm Bruce Martin from Calvary Temple " commercial, I am going to break something. I came out of the closet as an atheist in 2009, and the more I learn the more I want to shake people out of their fairy tales. One of my plans is to start an organization in Winnipeg to put ads up on buses, billboards and other places, as they have done in other cities. It's time people start hearing the message of atheists , like they have heard messages from religion, so they can be fully informed and make a choice.
I plan to be more vocal politically , too. I have some larger plans for the ManitobaPost.com website, including a new layout. I just hired a new person to work at updating the site full time, and she starts later next week and the new layout will come next month. There will be more news, more features and more opinions. It's time to take it to the next level.
Other than that, happy new year to all my loyal and not so loyal readers. Remember, save your money and don't spend more than you earn....this year is gonna get rough.
Manitoba Newsmaker of the Year 2009 and year in review, our style
By the Black Rod - Party Hat? Check.
Noisemaker? Check.
Hot Date? Check.
The Black Rod's Newsmaker of the Year? Right here....
One individual cut a swath so wide and so deep in the political fabric of the province, that the title of Manitoba Newsmaker 2009 could go to nobody other than the person known only as the HYDRO WHISTLEBLOWER.
Slightly more than one year ago the whistleblower delivered a formal package of alleged misdeeds to the Ombudsman under the protection of the NDP's vaunted Public Interest Disclosure Act. The existence of this, the first use of the legislation, was revealed in mid-year and we still don't know the full extent of that disclosure, but that's not what earned the whistleblower the title of Newsmaker of the Year.
Rather, like Samson pulling apart the pillars of the temple of the Philistines, the whistleblower demolished the façade of checks and balances everyone thought was built into the structure of government in Manitoba. Nobody else had anywhere near the same impact.
One by one, the public processes we've been depending on to keep the government honest have proved to be useless and toothless, dependent on midgets cloaked in robes of power far and away too large for their tiny ethical frames.
Let's start with the law itself.
- The NDP never fails to take credit for the Public Interest Disclosure Act, proclaiming it to be the finest law of its kind in the entire country. The Act makes all the proper noises about encouraging people to come forward without fear of reprisals, of investigations done in private, of non-disclosure of the whistleblower's identity, blah blah blah.This first test of the law demonstrates that it's all bogus.
20(2) An investigation is to be conducted as informally and expeditiously as possible.
Ombudsman Irene Hamilton has had the whistleblower's disclosure in her hands for more than one full year. Has she so much as cracked open a dictionary to read the definition of "expeditiously"?
She sat on the disclosure for 3 months before handing it over to the Auditor General. We suspect she literally sat on it because nothing resembling an investigation, informal or otherwise, took place during those 3 months. Instead, after 3 months of scratching her head, Hamilton pawned it off on another of those public servants we used to trust.
21(2) If the Ombudsman believes that a disclosure made to the Ombudsman would be dealt with more appropriately by the Auditor General, the Ombudsman may refer the matter to the Auditor General to be dealt with in accordance with The Auditor General Act.
Auditor Carol Bellringer couldn't believe her luck. Here she was, a former member of the Manitoba Hydro board of directors, being asked to examine a complaint of mismanagement at Manitoba Hydro. What, you say? Bias?Nahhhh.
So Bellringer tucked the whistleblower's file into a closet and ignored it for six or seven months while her old pal at Hydro, CEO Bob Brennan, used the time to demonize the whistleblower and do his best to identify the daring ex-consultant, stopping just short of using an actual name.
Did the Ombudsman, who is responsible for enforcing the Pubic Interest Disclosure Act, step in to remind Brennan of the whistleblower's right to confidentiality? Nope.
Did the Ombudsman announce she was investigating Hydro for using insults and threats as reprisals? Nope.
Did the Ombudsman call the Auditor and ask "How's it going? Are you almost done?" since five months is not "expeditious" by anybody's clock. Nope.
The Ombudsman, who is responsible for enforcing the Act, did nothing. And the Auditor did nothing.
In fact, Bellringer said she was rolling the whistleblower's disclosure into a broader investigation of risk management by Hydro which she intended to do sometime or other and which would take, oh, about 18 months. When CBC asked why she hadn't done a thing in six or seven months to investigate the whistleblower's file, Bellringer haughtily told the reporter there was nothing in the Act governing her job that set deadlines.
She would, she implied, take as much damn time as she wanted and nobody could tell her otherwise---not even when the Finance Minister ordered a special and speedy audit into the whistleblower's allegations. Bellringer simply ignored the minister. Expected to have something ready in 3 months, Bellringer spent a month doing her usual---nothing.
That's when The Black Rod entered the scene.
- We revealed that Bellringer had been sending a representative to every single meeting of the Hydro board. She had been getting one-sided reports from Hydro about the whistleblower's complaints for months. Andit was clear that she had never severed her ties to Hydro after leaving to become the Auditor General.
Bias, anyone?
Bellringer returned the whistleblower file to Irene Hamilton, who, you guessed it, is patiently waiting for someone to take the damn thing off her hands.
But, but, but….isn't the Ombudsman legally bound to enforce the Whistleblower Act?
Guess what? The answer is NO.
35 No action or proceeding may be brought against… the Ombudsman, or a person acting on behalf of or under the direction of any of them, for anything done or not done, or for any neglect,
(a) in the performance or intended performance of a duty under this Act; or
(b) in the exercise or intended exercise of a power under this Act;
unless the person was acting in bad faith.
In other words, the complaints go to her, she's supposed to investigate them expeditiously, but if she doesn't, or if she screws around instead of investigating, there's nothing anyone can do about it.
Short of proving she's getting paid off by Manitoba Hydro, that is.
The law is useless and toothless. The provisions that are supposed to guarantee confidentiality and freedom from reprisals are being broken with impunity. The person named in the legislation with the responsibility to enforce the law is instead doing everything but.
She and the Auditor, people we have been told are independent and unbiased civil servants working purely in the public interest, have failed in their jobs miserably.The Auditor intended to, ahem, investigate the whistleblower despite what every sentient being except the Finance Minister could see was a giant honking conflict-of-interest. And the Ombudsman said that was okey dokey with her.
- The unelected Premier of the province, meanwhile, has his own conflict of interest by being the former minister in charge of Hydro at the very time of the whistleblower's allegations. He was last seen signalling Hydro CEO Brennan with winks and sly comments that the fix is in, don't worry old boy, it's all under control.
The Premier, the Finance Minister, the Ombudsman, the Auditor General---each and all exposed as untrustworthy guardians of the law and the public's confidence. And we haven't even seen what's in the Hydro whistleblower's packet of papers yet.
She might just be the Newsmaker of 2010, too.
*****************
The year 2009 was a year of scandal. From beginning to end, the disgrace rolled out as if on some kind of shame assembly line. We were kept Lucy-busy with it all, and, to our own regret, something had to give; for the second year in a row it was our coverage of the War in Afghanistan.
* In January, a forensic audit of the Winnipeg officer of Indian Affairs showed how Manitoba Hydro fudged the books and overcharged the federal government $7.9 million to clean up contaminated soil on reserves, and how the Fairford reserve pocketed a $1.2 million overpayment when nobody was looking, and how INAC managers broke the rules to channel more than $400,000 to the Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs.
* In February, Manitobans discovered Health Minister Teresa Oswald and the senior managers of the Winnipeg Health Authority had been lying to the public for months when they claimed Brian Sinclair was partially responsible for his own death by failing to report to the Inquiry desk at the Health Sciences Centre. When the public finally learned surveillance video showed that Sinclair had spoken to someone at the desk, Teresa Oswald, Brian Postl and Brock Wright said "Oh, right."
* In March, we learned that opinions of Winnipegers gathered at so-called public meetings to gauge opinion on a new Disraeli Bridge had been flushed down the toilet and replaced with the wishes of a private lobby group that held secret meetings with city bureaucrats.The public's preference of a new bridge was tossed and the city announced it was, instead, building two new bridges that hadn't been part of the public consultations.
* June was spent uncovering the NDP's scheme in 1999 to defraud the public through false claims for reimbursement of non-existent election expenses.
* In July The Black Rod caught Sherman Kreiner, the former CEO of the defunct Crocus Fund, channelling money through his job at the University of Winnipeg to his live-in girlfriend's anti-poverty business venture.
* In September, Marxist university professors admitted to taking crimefighting advice from former Manitoba Warriors gang members, who they then tried to get on the public payroll.
***************
What a full year it was for The Black Rod.
* We scooped the city with the news that the Canadian Museum for Human Rights was $55 million over budget. Three days on, when the "professional reporters" caught up to us, the CMHR confessed they were sinking in red ink, but claimed it was only $45 million. The Taxpayer's Federation revealed months later that the museum had actually been $58 million in the hole, worse than we reported, but had madly pared away millions to get the loss as low as possible before going public.
* We had the national news agencies chasing our January story of a strange turnabout at the The Haguewhere the accused are usually war criminals of one sort or another.
"What's a mild-mannered Manitoban like Bruce MacFarlane doing as a possible defendant at the International Court in The Hague?" we asked.
Winnipeg lawyer turned special prosecutor, Bruce MacFarlane was conducting the trial of a journalist for contempt of court when her lawyers accused him of abuses in his investigation and wanted to put him in the dock to answer their questions. We had been following MacFarlane's new job in the foreign press and broke the story in Canada.
* We proffered the first ever title of Civic Weasel #1 to North Kildonan councillor Jeff Browaty. A guest on radio's The Great Canadian Talk Show, Browaty was asked if he would vote to give more money to Gail Asper when, guaranteed, she would approach city hall to bail out her rights museum. He danced this way and that, refusing to say yes and refusing to say no. His slippery performance earned him the title.
He went back on the show a couple of days later and said he had thought it over and done some more research and now would go on record as saying No to any museum bailout. We were on the verge of rescinding the title when we heard, only days later, that he had flip flopped again and was saying that, maybe, if the evidence was there, yadda yadda yadda, he would consider a city bailout of the Aspers' pet project. Browaty earned the title Civic Weasel #1 and he'll carry that into the next election.
* CJOB news director Vic Grant offered The Black Rod first dibs on becoming the inaugural blogger to do his morning commentaries while he was on vacation. But we couldn't come to terms, so the deal went to Policy Frog.
* The Black Rod was featured in the 2009 edition of the Langara Journalism Review in a story about the power of the blogosphere.
http://www.langara.bc.ca/creative-arts/journalism/media/pdfs/LJR-2009.pdf
And in the Uniter
http://uniter.ca/view/939/
where Shannon Sampert, politics of mass media professor at the University of Winnipeg, couldn't resist taking a run at us. Unfortunately she didn't mention the story we did on her
http://blackrod.blogspot.com/2006/04/mayor-or-moose.html.
Maybe she forgot.
We finally got around to reading Chapter 10, White Noise: The Blogosphere and Canadian Politics by Curtis Brown, in the textbook Mediating Canadian Politics by Sampert and Trimble. The references to The Black Rod are tres amusants.
Also amusants, was the effort by the Winnipeg Free Press to write The Black Rod out of their "Blogs to Watch" list. When his readers insisted we belonged, Online Editor John White said "If the blog was consistently producing interesting, relevant and verified updates it would be on the list." Maybe White should be reading our year-enders and comparing our list of exclusive and original stories with his chosen. Can you dig it, John?
***************
In 2009, The Black Rod did what it does best, report the real facts when the rest of the news media acts as a pack regurgitating a script.
- In January, The Black Rod revealed exclusively how incompetence at Seven Oaks Hospital contributed to the death of an elderly woman who was exposed to the Superbug when doctors and nurses refused to isolate an infected patient.
- In April two police officers were charged with attempted murder and fabricating evidence. We dissected the case against them and demonstrated what thin gruel it was. We showed how the charges are political, motivated purely by the NDP's intent to convict a police officer any way they can to mollify a special interest voting bloc prior to the next provincial election.
- In May we went behind the knee-jerk story reported elsewhere about the death of a five-year-old boy in a house fire on the Sandy Bay Indian Reserve. You know, the usual---blame the white man for overcrowding, for the housing shortage, for the ramshackle houses people have to live in on the reserve. We reported a story we discovered in the Central Plains Herald-Leader, Manitoba's award-winning community newspaper. That story quoted reserve administrators admitting that mismanagement by the band chief and council were responsible for the terrible housing on Sandy Bay.
"Sure they're living in deplorable conditions, but 90 per cent of those conditions are their own fault," said one reserve advisor, who proceeded to give examples which went unreported in the Winnipeg press.
- After the murder of a guest at a wedding in the North End, Justice Minister Dave Chomiak announced a new anti-gang strategy. We showed it was a cut-and-paste of all the previous gang strategies announced by the NDP in 10 years of government, which have all failed.
- When Mayor Sam Katz started whining about an infrastructure deficit, we showed that the "deficit" was non-existent and pure invention. The city is spending enough money each year on fixing infrastructure to keep up with repairs and even make up ground on replacing old streets, sewers and playgrounds. The alleged deficit is entirely made up of new projects like the Human Rights Museum, a rapid transit corridor, and bicycle lanes that have never been priorities of taxpayers and which would be voted down in a second if put to a referendum.
Since when does a wish list become a deficit?
- Crime falling? In a pig's eye. We were alone reporting that Crimestat shows violent crime is up at least 7 percent this year and the only thing pulling down the annual crime numbers is the drop in car thefts. The MSM has ignored the epidemic of muggings and the slow rise in house break-ins, carjackings, sexual assaults, and shooting incidents. Maybe next year they'll catch up.
*******************
Note to readers: We have not forgotten the many tips we received that are still on the backburner, including the Brandon bridges, the University of Winnipeg apparatchiks, inside the 311 service, and our mole reports. Thanks for your patience.
And thanks to the Liberal Party insiders for the Christmas song, Bruce Vallance for his politically correct Season's Greetings, and to Krista Erickson, the CBC's new consumer reporter.
HAPPY NEW YEAR.
Noisemaker? Check.
Hot Date? Check.
The Black Rod's Newsmaker of the Year? Right here....
One individual cut a swath so wide and so deep in the political fabric of the province, that the title of Manitoba Newsmaker 2009 could go to nobody other than the person known only as the HYDRO WHISTLEBLOWER.
Slightly more than one year ago the whistleblower delivered a formal package of alleged misdeeds to the Ombudsman under the protection of the NDP's vaunted Public Interest Disclosure Act. The existence of this, the first use of the legislation, was revealed in mid-year and we still don't know the full extent of that disclosure, but that's not what earned the whistleblower the title of Newsmaker of the Year.
Rather, like Samson pulling apart the pillars of the temple of the Philistines, the whistleblower demolished the façade of checks and balances everyone thought was built into the structure of government in Manitoba. Nobody else had anywhere near the same impact.
One by one, the public processes we've been depending on to keep the government honest have proved to be useless and toothless, dependent on midgets cloaked in robes of power far and away too large for their tiny ethical frames.
Let's start with the law itself.
- The NDP never fails to take credit for the Public Interest Disclosure Act, proclaiming it to be the finest law of its kind in the entire country. The Act makes all the proper noises about encouraging people to come forward without fear of reprisals, of investigations done in private, of non-disclosure of the whistleblower's identity, blah blah blah.This first test of the law demonstrates that it's all bogus.
20(2) An investigation is to be conducted as informally and expeditiously as possible.
Ombudsman Irene Hamilton has had the whistleblower's disclosure in her hands for more than one full year. Has she so much as cracked open a dictionary to read the definition of "expeditiously"?
She sat on the disclosure for 3 months before handing it over to the Auditor General. We suspect she literally sat on it because nothing resembling an investigation, informal or otherwise, took place during those 3 months. Instead, after 3 months of scratching her head, Hamilton pawned it off on another of those public servants we used to trust.
21(2) If the Ombudsman believes that a disclosure made to the Ombudsman would be dealt with more appropriately by the Auditor General, the Ombudsman may refer the matter to the Auditor General to be dealt with in accordance with The Auditor General Act.
Auditor Carol Bellringer couldn't believe her luck. Here she was, a former member of the Manitoba Hydro board of directors, being asked to examine a complaint of mismanagement at Manitoba Hydro. What, you say? Bias?Nahhhh.
So Bellringer tucked the whistleblower's file into a closet and ignored it for six or seven months while her old pal at Hydro, CEO Bob Brennan, used the time to demonize the whistleblower and do his best to identify the daring ex-consultant, stopping just short of using an actual name.
Did the Ombudsman, who is responsible for enforcing the Pubic Interest Disclosure Act, step in to remind Brennan of the whistleblower's right to confidentiality? Nope.
Did the Ombudsman announce she was investigating Hydro for using insults and threats as reprisals? Nope.
Did the Ombudsman call the Auditor and ask "How's it going? Are you almost done?" since five months is not "expeditious" by anybody's clock. Nope.
The Ombudsman, who is responsible for enforcing the Act, did nothing. And the Auditor did nothing.
In fact, Bellringer said she was rolling the whistleblower's disclosure into a broader investigation of risk management by Hydro which she intended to do sometime or other and which would take, oh, about 18 months. When CBC asked why she hadn't done a thing in six or seven months to investigate the whistleblower's file, Bellringer haughtily told the reporter there was nothing in the Act governing her job that set deadlines.
She would, she implied, take as much damn time as she wanted and nobody could tell her otherwise---not even when the Finance Minister ordered a special and speedy audit into the whistleblower's allegations. Bellringer simply ignored the minister. Expected to have something ready in 3 months, Bellringer spent a month doing her usual---nothing.
That's when The Black Rod entered the scene.
- We revealed that Bellringer had been sending a representative to every single meeting of the Hydro board. She had been getting one-sided reports from Hydro about the whistleblower's complaints for months. Andit was clear that she had never severed her ties to Hydro after leaving to become the Auditor General.
Bias, anyone?
Bellringer returned the whistleblower file to Irene Hamilton, who, you guessed it, is patiently waiting for someone to take the damn thing off her hands.
But, but, but….isn't the Ombudsman legally bound to enforce the Whistleblower Act?
Guess what? The answer is NO.
35 No action or proceeding may be brought against… the Ombudsman, or a person acting on behalf of or under the direction of any of them, for anything done or not done, or for any neglect,
(a) in the performance or intended performance of a duty under this Act; or
(b) in the exercise or intended exercise of a power under this Act;
unless the person was acting in bad faith.
In other words, the complaints go to her, she's supposed to investigate them expeditiously, but if she doesn't, or if she screws around instead of investigating, there's nothing anyone can do about it.
Short of proving she's getting paid off by Manitoba Hydro, that is.
The law is useless and toothless. The provisions that are supposed to guarantee confidentiality and freedom from reprisals are being broken with impunity. The person named in the legislation with the responsibility to enforce the law is instead doing everything but.
She and the Auditor, people we have been told are independent and unbiased civil servants working purely in the public interest, have failed in their jobs miserably.The Auditor intended to, ahem, investigate the whistleblower despite what every sentient being except the Finance Minister could see was a giant honking conflict-of-interest. And the Ombudsman said that was okey dokey with her.
- The unelected Premier of the province, meanwhile, has his own conflict of interest by being the former minister in charge of Hydro at the very time of the whistleblower's allegations. He was last seen signalling Hydro CEO Brennan with winks and sly comments that the fix is in, don't worry old boy, it's all under control.
The Premier, the Finance Minister, the Ombudsman, the Auditor General---each and all exposed as untrustworthy guardians of the law and the public's confidence. And we haven't even seen what's in the Hydro whistleblower's packet of papers yet.
She might just be the Newsmaker of 2010, too.
*****************
The year 2009 was a year of scandal. From beginning to end, the disgrace rolled out as if on some kind of shame assembly line. We were kept Lucy-busy with it all, and, to our own regret, something had to give; for the second year in a row it was our coverage of the War in Afghanistan.
* In January, a forensic audit of the Winnipeg officer of Indian Affairs showed how Manitoba Hydro fudged the books and overcharged the federal government $7.9 million to clean up contaminated soil on reserves, and how the Fairford reserve pocketed a $1.2 million overpayment when nobody was looking, and how INAC managers broke the rules to channel more than $400,000 to the Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs.
* In February, Manitobans discovered Health Minister Teresa Oswald and the senior managers of the Winnipeg Health Authority had been lying to the public for months when they claimed Brian Sinclair was partially responsible for his own death by failing to report to the Inquiry desk at the Health Sciences Centre. When the public finally learned surveillance video showed that Sinclair had spoken to someone at the desk, Teresa Oswald, Brian Postl and Brock Wright said "Oh, right."
* In March, we learned that opinions of Winnipegers gathered at so-called public meetings to gauge opinion on a new Disraeli Bridge had been flushed down the toilet and replaced with the wishes of a private lobby group that held secret meetings with city bureaucrats.The public's preference of a new bridge was tossed and the city announced it was, instead, building two new bridges that hadn't been part of the public consultations.
* June was spent uncovering the NDP's scheme in 1999 to defraud the public through false claims for reimbursement of non-existent election expenses.
* In July The Black Rod caught Sherman Kreiner, the former CEO of the defunct Crocus Fund, channelling money through his job at the University of Winnipeg to his live-in girlfriend's anti-poverty business venture.
* In September, Marxist university professors admitted to taking crimefighting advice from former Manitoba Warriors gang members, who they then tried to get on the public payroll.
***************
What a full year it was for The Black Rod.
* We scooped the city with the news that the Canadian Museum for Human Rights was $55 million over budget. Three days on, when the "professional reporters" caught up to us, the CMHR confessed they were sinking in red ink, but claimed it was only $45 million. The Taxpayer's Federation revealed months later that the museum had actually been $58 million in the hole, worse than we reported, but had madly pared away millions to get the loss as low as possible before going public.
* We had the national news agencies chasing our January story of a strange turnabout at the The Haguewhere the accused are usually war criminals of one sort or another.
"What's a mild-mannered Manitoban like Bruce MacFarlane doing as a possible defendant at the International Court in The Hague?" we asked.
Winnipeg lawyer turned special prosecutor, Bruce MacFarlane was conducting the trial of a journalist for contempt of court when her lawyers accused him of abuses in his investigation and wanted to put him in the dock to answer their questions. We had been following MacFarlane's new job in the foreign press and broke the story in Canada.
* We proffered the first ever title of Civic Weasel #1 to North Kildonan councillor Jeff Browaty. A guest on radio's The Great Canadian Talk Show, Browaty was asked if he would vote to give more money to Gail Asper when, guaranteed, she would approach city hall to bail out her rights museum. He danced this way and that, refusing to say yes and refusing to say no. His slippery performance earned him the title.
He went back on the show a couple of days later and said he had thought it over and done some more research and now would go on record as saying No to any museum bailout. We were on the verge of rescinding the title when we heard, only days later, that he had flip flopped again and was saying that, maybe, if the evidence was there, yadda yadda yadda, he would consider a city bailout of the Aspers' pet project. Browaty earned the title Civic Weasel #1 and he'll carry that into the next election.
* CJOB news director Vic Grant offered The Black Rod first dibs on becoming the inaugural blogger to do his morning commentaries while he was on vacation. But we couldn't come to terms, so the deal went to Policy Frog.
* The Black Rod was featured in the 2009 edition of the Langara Journalism Review in a story about the power of the blogosphere.
http://www.langara.bc.ca/creative-arts/journalism/media/pdfs/LJR-2009.pdf
And in the Uniter
http://uniter.ca/view/939/
where Shannon Sampert, politics of mass media professor at the University of Winnipeg, couldn't resist taking a run at us. Unfortunately she didn't mention the story we did on her
http://blackrod.blogspot.com/2006/04/mayor-or-moose.html.
Maybe she forgot.
We finally got around to reading Chapter 10, White Noise: The Blogosphere and Canadian Politics by Curtis Brown, in the textbook Mediating Canadian Politics by Sampert and Trimble. The references to The Black Rod are tres amusants.
Also amusants, was the effort by the Winnipeg Free Press to write The Black Rod out of their "Blogs to Watch" list. When his readers insisted we belonged, Online Editor John White said "If the blog was consistently producing interesting, relevant and verified updates it would be on the list." Maybe White should be reading our year-enders and comparing our list of exclusive and original stories with his chosen. Can you dig it, John?
***************
In 2009, The Black Rod did what it does best, report the real facts when the rest of the news media acts as a pack regurgitating a script.
- In January, The Black Rod revealed exclusively how incompetence at Seven Oaks Hospital contributed to the death of an elderly woman who was exposed to the Superbug when doctors and nurses refused to isolate an infected patient.
- In April two police officers were charged with attempted murder and fabricating evidence. We dissected the case against them and demonstrated what thin gruel it was. We showed how the charges are political, motivated purely by the NDP's intent to convict a police officer any way they can to mollify a special interest voting bloc prior to the next provincial election.
- In May we went behind the knee-jerk story reported elsewhere about the death of a five-year-old boy in a house fire on the Sandy Bay Indian Reserve. You know, the usual---blame the white man for overcrowding, for the housing shortage, for the ramshackle houses people have to live in on the reserve. We reported a story we discovered in the Central Plains Herald-Leader, Manitoba's award-winning community newspaper. That story quoted reserve administrators admitting that mismanagement by the band chief and council were responsible for the terrible housing on Sandy Bay.
"Sure they're living in deplorable conditions, but 90 per cent of those conditions are their own fault," said one reserve advisor, who proceeded to give examples which went unreported in the Winnipeg press.
- After the murder of a guest at a wedding in the North End, Justice Minister Dave Chomiak announced a new anti-gang strategy. We showed it was a cut-and-paste of all the previous gang strategies announced by the NDP in 10 years of government, which have all failed.
- When Mayor Sam Katz started whining about an infrastructure deficit, we showed that the "deficit" was non-existent and pure invention. The city is spending enough money each year on fixing infrastructure to keep up with repairs and even make up ground on replacing old streets, sewers and playgrounds. The alleged deficit is entirely made up of new projects like the Human Rights Museum, a rapid transit corridor, and bicycle lanes that have never been priorities of taxpayers and which would be voted down in a second if put to a referendum.
Since when does a wish list become a deficit?
- Crime falling? In a pig's eye. We were alone reporting that Crimestat shows violent crime is up at least 7 percent this year and the only thing pulling down the annual crime numbers is the drop in car thefts. The MSM has ignored the epidemic of muggings and the slow rise in house break-ins, carjackings, sexual assaults, and shooting incidents. Maybe next year they'll catch up.
*******************
Note to readers: We have not forgotten the many tips we received that are still on the backburner, including the Brandon bridges, the University of Winnipeg apparatchiks, inside the 311 service, and our mole reports. Thanks for your patience.
And thanks to the Liberal Party insiders for the Christmas song, Bruce Vallance for his politically correct Season's Greetings, and to Krista Erickson, the CBC's new consumer reporter.
HAPPY NEW YEAR.
Kabul 40 years ago vs. Kabul today.
Sad what war and religion can do to a country. It could happen here one day, you never know.
Yes, let's not forget the true meaning of Christmas.
Yes, let's not forget the true meaning of Christmas.
December 25th commemorated the birthday of the Roman sun god-emperor, Sol. It was the first day when the amount of daylight detectably lengthened, hence it celebrated the birthday of 'the unconquered sun', Sol Invictus. When the Roman Empire converted to Christianity, they were reluctant to give up pagan party-time, so they simply exchanged one deity's birthday for another.
Shortly beforehand was the week-long celebration of Saturnalia, from whence we derive the tradition of gift exchange.
There is no evidence in scripture that early Christians in the first century commemorated the birth of Jesus Christ. In fact, in keeping with early Jewish law and tradition, it is likely that birthdays were not commemorated at all. According to The World Book Encyclopedia: "early Christians considered the celebration of any one's birth to be a pagan custom."
So, yes, let's not forget the true meaning of Christmas, and that it has nothing to do with any romanticized notions of "Christ".
