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by Fred Kirby                               May 3, 2006

I remind readers again that candidates who are successful in the November election will serve for four years. This is the result of a stupid idea conceived by the liberal government in Queen’s Park. It may well have fitted Metropolitan Toronto with a budget greater than that of most provinces but in other municipalities the people ought to have been allowed to vote on the issue.

Four years is far too long to wait to rid a municipality of an incompetent mayor or councillor and four years will discourage many good and competent people from seeking office.

As said last week, the workload for councillors is too great for them to give the time to make informed decisions and stay in touch with the concerns of citizens. To attract new people we need changes to involve more citizens in municipal affairs and to reduce the workload of council. Last week I recommended an elected Board of Directors to Bruce Telecom listing among its advantages that it would reduce the workload for councillors. Today I offer another recommendation.

When Westario Power Holdings Inc. was formed (replacing the former Public Utilities Commission, each participating municipality (8 in all owning 90% of Westario plus one private company, Fortis Ontario, having a 10% share) was requested to send a representative for the new Westario Board. Council decided to send the mayor. Once again Council ignored a golden opportunity to improve the democratic climate and openness of municipal affairs. Furthermore, it simply added to the mayor’s workload. I recommend that all qualified citizens be allowed to vote in November for the Kincardine representative on the Westario Board. When council members cannot return phone calls, reply to emails or meet the public (the recent sewage spill comes to mind) then they do not have time for Boards when there are others capable to carry out the reponsibilities.

Bruce Telecom and Westario Power are not private holdings. They are public. Citizens are stockholders with rights and responsibilities. Citizens are not mushrooms to be kept in the dark, fed whatever council condescends to give. Council must quit their usual stonewalling and pave the way to have direct elections in November for the Westario and Bruce Telecom Boards. If this does not happen then it should be an election issue.

A postscript to the water intake pipe: The notice in the paper last week, “Dispelling the Intake Pipe Myth,” speaks to a non-existing myth. The notice says Google Earth and the municipal GIS computer program were used to map the location of the intake pipe and the purpose of this mapping was to dispel this non-myth that the pipe does not extend past the breakwater. Why would the municipality bother with such mapping? Surely the information is already available at the Water Treatment Plant. Furthermore, the intake pipe is clearly shown on the Canadian Marine Chart – Bayfield to Douglas Point. (Click Photo to Enlarge)  It is public knowledge.

The issue regarding the intake pipe is the fact that, with the lake receding, the pipe does not go far enough into the lake to pick up clean water. Council muddies the issue with its notice just as its refusal to extend the pipe muddies the drinking water. Please, no more nonsense.

 May 10, 2006

While working and active in clubs and organizations, I heard people say they will not participate because of the politics or that there is too much politics. This, of course, is a pure cop-out. Rather than giving a specific reason, people condemn all with a broad brush by saying politics keeps them from participating.

It is wrong to use the word, ‘politics’ in those situations and, even if one could stretch its meaning to embrace its use beyond government, such people use the term incorrectly. Politics has prestigious bloodlines going back 2500 years, referring to the art of governing since the genius of ancient Athens developed the concept.

Politics is the activity of governing in a democracy. Those not concerned with politics are the best friends of tyrants. Despots do not want anything to do with politics. Stalin never felt the need to consult with the people or negotiate with others to move his ideas forward. The modern age has witnessed a peculiar corruption of politics where the people have gladly elected a dictator, believing a strong man would protect them from all harm, but discovered too late that whatever democratic institutions existed were then destroyed.

We saw it with Hitler and Mussolini; we see it today in the countries of Central Asia, and recently in Belarus. I remember a lady who had been to Italy in the late 30’s saying how much good Mussolini had done for the country; he got the trains running on time, people working, and law and order throughout the country. She forgot to mention the ruin he left the country in and the hundreds of thousands killed by his whims. Today in many modern democratic countries we are witnessing what has been described as “an elective dictatorship.” We see it in the centralizing of power, in the changing of laws under the guise of security and in the use of non-elected lobbyists to shape policy.

Politics requires the involvement of citizens if we are to have government accountable to the electorate. It calls for vigorous debate during elections where there are real choices among candidates. It calls for citizens to be active during the term of office of those elected. If citizens do not vote or do not hold those elected accountable then citizens have only themselves to blame for the results.

Tom Axworthy, author of The Accountability Ladder – Five Steps towards Democracy, wrote, “Government…rests on the ethic that people in position of power take responsibility for those actions. Accountability is about responsibility.” Dr. Axworthy further states, “…improving accountability systems is a precondition for democratic governance.” In the years I have observed Kincardine Council, I have never seen Council or the mayors take responsibility for their actions or inactions. When the recent and predictable sewage spill occurred, the mayor, Glen Sutton, and councillor Hewitt, chair of the Works Committee, ducked all responsibility and avoided meeting with the residents affected by the incident. When the Medical Centre building turned out to be a fiasco, Glen Sutton, then a councillor and head of the Medical Centre Committee, has never acknowledged the mistakes or sought to correct them. When the employees of Westario were on strike last year, Mayor Sutton, our representative on the Board, would drive by the picket line when he could well have stopped to listen to the strikers’ reasons for striking. It took the mayor of the Municipality of Brockton to break the deadlock.

When Larry Kraemer, our previous mayor, broke all the rules of fairness and procedures in the Heisz affair and took the floor himself, he never apologized for his behaviour and, equally important, not one councillor brought him to task. This winter, as head of the Chamber of Commerce, Mr. Kraemer demonstrated his total lack of understanding a basic tenet of democracy when he failed to see that the widow paying a small amount of taxes had the same rights as those who paid more. If one does not grasp basic principles of democratic government, how can one ever conceive of being accountable?

Accountability is an excellent measure of character. It was not seen in Larry Kraemer and it is invisible in our current mayor. The lack of accountability in elected officials coupled with a non-involved and uninformed electorate is a recipe for poor, if not rotten, government. It can happen at all levels. It is a shame that it happens in the Municipality of Kincardine.

May 17, 2006

In previous columns I have written of how politics and accountability relate to democracy. Today I write of the Rule of Law without which democracy becomes a tyranny of the majority. The Rule is fundamental to democracy, assuring us that all citizens and governments are subject to law.

The charge that democracy is being perverted by law comes from those who do not understand the Rule of Law or, worse, do understand its purpose and want it abandoned. This was witnessed during the days of the Reform Party and during the days of that party’s successor, the Alliance Party. Recent statements by members of the current Conservative Party suggest the attitude still exists in those who would ride roughshod over all rights but their own.

Majority rule without limitations gives no guarantee that all citizens will be treated equally

Democracy without the Rule of Law reminds me of the early monarchies. The ancient “Divine Right of Kings” was a great idea if you were a king, for as king you were the law. The wives of Henry VIII had a problem with that.

The recent controversy over same-sex marriage demonstrated the lack of understanding of the Rule. The issue had nothing to do with a church giving or withholding its blessing to a marriage. That right was never challenged though listening to the clamoring and the howls of distress, an innocent by-stander might have thought differently. In my lifetime, science has shown there is more than just one simple classification of male and female in the natural world. With this understanding, laws were slowly changed to recognize the new reality. Homosexuals sought and received the same rights as heterosexuals, with the right to marry one another being the last major barrier.

This issue was a clear and contemporary example of how democracy by itself would deny giving equality to a minority of our citizens. Democracy under the Rule of Law guarantees those rights.

The Rule of Law would be a failed instrument if it were not for one key element. An independent judiciary is essential for the Rule to function. Many politicians have chafed under an independent judiciary for the same reason independence is not tolerated in many countries. We undermine that independence at our peril.

The independent judiciary makes the Rule of Law possible and the Law changes mob rule into civil government. We may be irked by court decisions; we want the government we voted in to do what we want; but we should never forget that we, as a people, are the envy of millions of people because we are guaranteed equality under the law. That truly is democracy for all.

May24, 2006

The Municipality of Kincardine is an odd little place. The basic governing manual must be Alice in Wonderland with references to Gilbert and Sullivan because “Things are seldom as they seem…”

A little village, Tiverton-of-Kincardine, is permitted to say “no” to housing development. And while their stores fade into history the municipal taxpayers pay to tart up the village sidewalks with bits of brick.

Approaching the town centre, signs still welcome the traveler to Kincardine. This confuses the weary traveler who foolishly thought he entered Kincardine many kilometers back. We drive through Underwood but surely that is Underwood-of-Kincardine. It is as if we scrambled down the rabbit hole with Alice and we find ourselves in Wonderland.

In the Kincardine town centre, as in Tiverton-of-Kincardine, at no cost to anyone (except taxpayers), more bricks are replacing the cement sidewalks; new street lights are being installed. It is all rather exciting. And, like a young lady’s party dress, while it is exciting and tantalizing to see, it is also expensive and not very practical. A remark by a citizen with a disability summed it up when he said that with the money spent the municipality could have repaired or rebuilt all the sidewalks in town making it easier for all of us to use those sidewalks. But then, as Gilbert said in HMS Pinafore, one can become admiral of the British navy without ever going to sea. Why, then, in Kincardine, should one need to know about the ease of walking or wheelchair mobility when choosing sidewalks?

A member of Council told me, in respect to the Medical Centre, that the planning committee had to proceed with their chosen architect because otherwise the architect would sue. That was yesterday. Today, the same member of Council says that he enjoys receiving threatening letters from lawyers. Sandy, where was your bravado when the Medical Centre needed it?

Why would we expect developers to rush here when the rules or costs may change at any time? Perhaps a court case is required to sort out the truth of the Hartwick property agreement. Mayor Sutton knows the truth; he should tell us. Retroactive rulings, by the municipality or by the SVCA, erode confidence. Business is discouraged in such a climate.

As for the aborted Reid Heritage development east of Highway 21, it may well be that no one particularly blameworthy but we should be told the truth so citizens can judge for themselves. It is difficult to believe that the firm was put off by the OMB challenge especially when the decision was at hand. Did they quit because they were not being able to attract commercial business as anchors to their development? If that was the case, what role did Council play or not play in attracting business to the project? Did new costs for the developer arise that suggested enough was enough? What was Council’s response to these new costs? Did the new costs involve the sewage hook-up and, if so, why could not it be resolved by Council considering the taxes garnered if the project had gone ahead?

Glenn, if citizens cannot expect integrity in their municipal government, where can they expect it? If the mayor will not tell us the true situation where is the integrity that comes with openness and transparency? Does it lie withered in the womb, choked by a shiny chain too heavy for its bearer? I suspect so. I wish I were wrong.

May 31, 2006

On the Victoria Day holiday Sylvia and I enjoyed a special treat and were reminded once again how precious our volunteers are to our town. It started with a gem of an event – “A Victorian Tea” at the Lighthouse.

This is the fourth year that the Kincardine Yacht Club has hosted this Victorian Tea as a thank-you to the community. The setting was elegant with artifacts on display and pictures of past pioneers peering sternly down on our casual dress while we sipped our tea or coffee and sampled delicious cakes and squares. The pleasant 19th Century ambience did not discourage children stares at mouth watering goodies on the sideboard. Susan Alves, Cathy Cooper and Janice Chalmers looked smashing (as Albert said to Victoria) in their colourful gowns. Thank you, ladies, for hosting a delightful afternoon for landlubbers and sailors alike. It’s a great idea.

Crossing Harbour Street, we entered the Walker House, another 19th Century treasure. Here we met two charming ladies, June Daniel and Eleanor Smith, who, in addition to developing the displays of artifacts and crafts, volunteer to welcome visitors. They explained the restoration project and June took us on a tour.

The quality and variety of work accomplished since the project began in 1998 is astonishing when one considers that it was done by a small cadre of volunteers. The skill and artistry of the late Wilfred Mahood can be seen everywhere: in the windows, staircase, flooring and many replica pieces. Every summer there are activities for children and adults. The House is a living museum.

The goal is to have Walker House fully restored by 2007 ready for the 2008 Reunion but without an influx of volunteers with woodworking and related craft skills the work will not get completed. Without an increase of patrons contributing financially, the necessary materials will not be purchased. Volunteers are also required to do the myriad of tasks that accompany such a project: fundraising, publicity, greeting visitors, the list is long. Get in touch with Brad Kirkconnell, 396-1850 or go to their website: walkerhousekincardine.com. You, too, can be part of an historic project.

As one who has been volunteering since high school, I have learned two things: when you want a job done ask a busy person and, secondly, there is always something we can do no matter how minor or how limited are skills are. Martin Luther King Jr. taught us that.