Editorial - October 4, 2007 Editorial - October 4, 2007

But What if it is Broke?Editorial by Jeff Green

I support the Mixed Member Proportional Representation system and will be voting yes in the referendum next week.

I will be doing so even though I share some of the concerns that people opposing the proposal have raised. I don’t like the idea of giving the parties the opportunity to choose the 29 list members. I prefer electing an individual, who, even though they affiliated with a party, I can at least hold personally responsible for the decisions they make.

However, when I look at the way politics really work at Queen’s Park, I see that the Members of Provincial Parliament that we elect under the current system have little or no impact on provincial policy. The people who wield power at Queen’s Park are the premier and the un-elected people who work in the premier’s office.

They are the people who spend their time pouring over opinion polls and crafting political positions for the benefit of their boss. They are the people, who determine government policy.

The premier’s office staff, along with the deputy ministers and assistant deputy ministers, another group of un-elected officials, form the backbone of the government.

People who worry that list members are not directly elected, might look more closely at the way the systems works, or doesn’t work now. Our system is less than democratic. We have a broken democracy that is in need of reform.

The MMP, if successful, will shake up the system, if only because it will give more political power to the politicians by making coalition governments the norm. In a coalition government, the premier’s office would still run the province, but they will have to take the demands of their coalition partners into account.

No matter what system is in place, political operatives working for the major parties will learn how to exploit it for the benefit of the party leadership. That’s their job.

But a new system that will give each vote a certain amount of impact, and stands a chance of engaging more of the population in the political process, is something I can support.

One hundred and three Ontarians formed the citizens’ assembly that came up with the MMP. These are people who had no political axe to grind, no personal advantage to consider. Maybe I’m being hopelessly nae or hopelessly cynical, but I trust those people more than I trust the people in the premier’s office.

(There are many pros and cons to the MMP, and I have focussed on a single perspective. A google search under “MMP Ontario” will lead to a lot of information and opinions on both sides of the debate.)– Jeff Green

Editorial - November 22, 2007.class { BORDER-RIGHT: black 1pt solid; BORDER-TOP: #000 1pt solid; BORDER-LEFT: black 1pt solid; BORDER-BOTTOM: black 1pt solid } .class1 { BORDER-RIGHT: #9f5128 1pt solid; BORDER-TOP: #9f5128 1pt solid; BORDER-LEFT: #9f5128 1pt solid; BORDER-BOTTOM: #9f5128 1pt solid } .class2 { FONT-SIZE: 8pt; COLOR: #666 }

Back toHome

Editorial - November 22, 2007 Sustainability, Integration, Silos?Lets Call the Whole Thing Off. by Jeff Green

At the recent food summit held at St. Lawrence College in Kingston, there was a lot of talk about sustainable agriculture. One of the presenters at a workshop took exception to the word sustainable. She described it as a word that is so broad that it doesn't mean anything, and she used an example. "What if someone described their marriage as 'sustainable'" she asked. “If all someone could say of a marriage is that it is sustainable, it probably isn't.”

Sustainable is used on both sides of many debates. Proponents of nuclear power argue it is a “sustainable” form of energy production because the power plants do not produce green house gas emissions. Opponents of nuclear power say it is “unsustainable” because of the amounts of greenhouse gases that are burned in building the plants, mining and processing uranium, etc.

We are being asked by the federal and provincial governments to develop sustainable communities, integrated sustainable communities. “Integrated”, I suppose, is meant to be the opposite of “isolated” – sustainable, as opposed to unsustainable. Our health care system requires a dose of integration as well, that's why we have a "Health Integration Network" in Ontario as opposed to a "Health Isolation Network"

The goal of community integration and of health integration is to make sure that people working in health care and local government don't get stuck in “silos”, at least that's what we have been told.

Some of us didn't know that people were stuck in “silos”, but that's only because the silos are not real, they are metaphorical silos. Silos refer to systems that don't look out around them, but are only concerned with their own internal workings. This could be a township that isn’t sufficiently integrated with neighbouring townships, or a doctor's office that doesn't work well with other doctors or the local hospital, a hospital that doesn't work with nursing homes, etc.

Silos don't integrate, and that makes them bad. Integration leads to sustainability, which is good.

With a Liberal government now entrenched in Toronto, anyone who depends on provincial funding for anything at all, certainly knows by now that they'd best get with the program and demonstrate their ability to integrate, or at least talk about integration. Otherwise they will likely have trouble sustaining funding from the province.

The funny thing is that some of the provincial ministries are prime examples of the “silo” mentality. In rural Ontario we often deal with the Ministry of Natural Resources, the Ministry of the Environment, the Ministry of Mines and Northern Development, the quasi-governmental Conservation Authorities and the Ontario Provincial Police. None of these ministries or agencies seem to be on speaking terms with each other, and the public often doesn’t know where the authority of one begins and another ends.

They are classic silo-like, non-integrated, unsustainable entities.

But in this part of the world they are the government. The people who came up with the “integration” and “sustainability” mantras are also the government. Maybe they should focus on cleaning their own house.

Feature Article - January 10, 2008

Back toHome

Feature Article - January 10, 2008 South Frontenac Council Jan. 8/08. by Wilma Kenny Province imposes lead testing on municipal water systems

CAO Gord Burns notified Council that even though Sydenham’s new water treatment system has no lead-based piping in it, it will not be exempt from provincial lead testing requirements. (Following discovery of lead content in London’s water system, the province drew up Schedule 15.1 of the Drinking Water Systems Regulation, requiring that all public provincial systems be tested before April 08, and on a regular basis after that.) According to plant manager Kevin Riley, the ministry seems prepared to relax their position if after a year there are no significant lead levels in Sydenham water.

Meanwhile, approximately 20 residences in the village will need to have their water tested for lead: the township will be looking for volunteers. All tested properties will get prompt and detailed feed-back concerning test results. This is expected to cost the municipality about $3,000.

Ontario small waterworks assistance program

The township’s water system is eligible for $18,000 per year from the province for the next five years. This money cannot be used to lower the present water rates, but can cover the cost of lead testing, help build up a stronger reserve for long-term replacement expenses, etc. (The present water budget provides for only $60 a month to go into reserves. Burns expressed concern that this was insufficient)

Extension of Portland/Loughborough Boundary Road Approved

Council approved in principle the assumption of Boundary Road south of Rutledge, provided it meets township requirements for construction. Council had previously denied this application but agreed to reopen it at Councillor Robinson‘s request.

Public Access Defibrillation Initiative (PAD)

Council endorsed a resolution encouraging the County of Frontenac to apply to the Heart and Stroke Foundation for funding to initiate and maintain this program.

Property Acquisition

Informal discussion during the meeting confirms that the township has purchased the small property lying immediately south of the township hall and offices in Sydenham. This will facilitate any planned expansion of office and library space.

Feature Article - February 28, 2008

Back toHome

Feature Article - February 28, 2008 Support growing for jailed Ardoch leader.By Jeff GreenPlacard Waving protestors at a rally in Napanee in support of Bob Lovelace. Photo: Meghan Balogh

Bob Lovelace had already been transferred to a prison in Lindsay before a support rally took place for him in front of the Quinte Region Detention Centre in Napanee last Thursday, but that did not dampen the enthusiasm of the 300-strong crowd, which was intent on sending a message to the Ontario government.

Speakers at the rally included Craig Benjamin of Amnesty International’s Ottawa office.

In a news release published after Lovelace received a 6-month sentence and a $25,000 fine for contempt of court, Benjamin wrote “Indigenous leaders and their supporters are facing stiff punishments for doing what they feel is necessary to protect rights that may one day be upheld in court or in the land claims process. Meanwhile the provincial government is ignoring its own legal obligations without any accountability.”

Lorraine Reckmans, who is the Aboriginal affairs critic for the Green Party of Canada and a member of the Serpent River First Nation, a community that was severely affected by uranium mining at Elliott Lake, sent a letter to the rally. In it she talked about Lovelace’s decision to stand by his own conscience in the face of consequences under Canadian law.

“It is to our detriment that as a country we do not willingly seek out traditional ecological knowledge before deciding on questions of land development. I want to thank you for invoking the concepts of natural law in a very public way,” she wrote.

Grand Chief Stewart Phillip of the Union of Biritish Columbia Chiefs has also written a letter of support.

"It is a brutish and troubling precedent when companies use the courts to jail community members for protecting not only their Aboriginal title and rights but their basic human rights. Furthermore, when a provincial government chooses litigation rather than good-faith negotiations, it sends a clear message that corporate greed trumps human rights,” said Grand Chief Phillip.

Support has also come from Lanark Frontenac Lennox and Addington MP Scott Reid and MPP Randy Hillier, who submitted a joint statement, which was read out at the rally.

Their letter concludes with the following: “…it is our view that the combination of fines and imprisonment imposed by the judge is grossly disproportionate to Mr. Lovelace’s act of civil disobedience, and therefore violates his right, under section 12 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, ‘not to be subjected to any cruel and unusual punishment’.

“The government has failed in its obligation to update the Mining Act to reflect legitimate property-rights concerns, aboriginal concerns, and environmental concerns. Justice Cunningham’s decision compounds these problems, and serves to bring the administration of justice into disrepute. We will continue to voice our opposition until these wrongs are set right.”

Feature Article - April 10, 2008

Back toHome

Feature Article -April 10, 2008 Local Liberals looking forward to a federal electionby Jeff Green

At the Annual General Meeting of the Provincial Liberal Riding Association of Lanark Frontenac Lennox and Addington, which was held in Sharbot Lake on March 29, there was a fair amount of talk about federal politics.

Federal Liberal candidate Dave Remington spoke enthusiastically about Liberal prospects in the upcoming federal election, even though the timing of the election is unknown and the sitting Conservative MP, Scott Reid, received over 50% of the vote the last time around.

“We will be taking a team approach to the election,” Remington said, “It is the perfect approach, the only approach. I want to work with municipalities, and with the province to see what the programs are that we can bring to bear on municipalities.

“Our leadership has the same approach, Stephane Dion is leading a team, with people like Bob Rae and Martha Hall Findlay. It isn’t about one guy, unless you are talking about the Conservatives. Stephane Dion takes the approach that we are a Liberal team, the approach will bear us fruit in the next election.”

A certain amount of time was set aside to celebrate the re-election of the McGuinty Liberals in Ontario, who were represented by Kingston and the Islands MPP and Environment Minister John Gerretson(at left).

Gerretson pointed to some of the initiatives in the recent budget, including property tax provisions for seniors and infrastructure money for rural Ontario.

He also mentioned that the government will be “coming out with a very aggressive plan to deal with electronic waste” in the next few months.

This point was not lost on the audience, which included Jim Macpherson, who was instrumental in setting up a pilot project for e-waste diversion and recycling in Sharbot Lake a few years ago. Leona Dombrowsky, one of Gerretson’s predecessors as Minister of the Environment, was on hand at the opening of the Frontenac E-Waste Recycling Centre in 2004, and although the project garnered several awards from different levels of government, it died late in 2005 when it did not receive sufficient funding to compete its one-year pilot study.

Gerretson said that manufacturers will be responsible for the cost of recycling their products once the new regulations are in place.

MacPherson met briefly with Minister Gerretson at the end of the meeting to talk about his experiences with E-waste recycling.

John Gerretson introduced Ian Wilson, who carried the Liberal banner into last fall’s provincial election, and fell short by 900 votes to Conservative Randy Hillier.

“I actually lost by 898 votes,” Wilson said, “and we know we have a winnable riding. We now have an MPP who has no interest in any part of the riding south of Highway 7, but luckily as Liberals we have resources to help people.”

Wilson also reiterated the position that he took during the provincial election campaign regarding mining, a position that differs from the current policy of the provincial government.

“We must speak out in favour of a moratorium on uranium mining in Eastern Ontario,” he said. “As the representatives in this riding, we must speak out.”

Feature Article - April 24, 2008

Back toHome

Feature Article -April 24, 2008 "Tax free cigarettes are not legal"- RCMPby Jeff Green

RCMP Officer Walter Veenstra denied that the RCMP communicated to Shabot Obaadjiwaan Chief Doreen Davis that the RCMP had no problem with the smoke shop that the First Nation has been operating at a former gas station across from Silver Lake Provincial park since last fall.

Chief Davis told the News last week that a meeting took place in January in which all of the federal and provincial agencies involved said they were fine with the operation of the shop, which is owned and operated by the Shabot Obaadjiwaan First Nation and sells cigarettes at well below market rate.

“No one can sell cigarettes in contravention of the excise act,” Veenstra told the News this week. “The rules are the same for everyone, even on reserves”.However, Veenstra said the RCMP is not likely to investigate the smoke shop to find out if taxes are being paid.

“The rules are the same, as I said, however, it’s not the mandate of the RCMP to do inspections of stores. Most of our activities deal with the transportation of cigarettes.”

Veenstra said the Health Unit and the Ministry of finance might deal with enforcement.

The News contacted Leeds Grenville Public Health last week, and we were told that the smoke shop conforms to the Smokefree Ontario Act.

We have been unable to contact anyone from the enforcement division of the Ontario Ministry of Revenue or Revenue Canada.

Sergeant Jeff McCann of the Sharbot Lake OPP said he also attended the meeting that took place in January but he had no comment to make.

Oct 16/08 - School Bus Drivers Concerned About Contracts

Back toHome

Feature Article - October 16, 2008 School Bus Drivers Concerned Over contracts

Mimi Antoine is like many other school bus operators in rural Frontenac County. She has operated a single bus since the ’80s, and has owned her bus since 1992. When she bought her bus it came with the route.The bus would have had no value without the route.

Now a provincial initiative threatens to eliminate the practice of selling buses and routes in favour of a competitive procurement system.

Mimi Antoine sent a letter to Central Frontenac Council this week, outlining her concerns, concerns that havealso been expressed by smaller bus companies in North Frontenac about the new provincial request for a proposal process.

The process could see operators bidding for the school bus routes they have been covering for years. Drivers fear that large operators such as Laidlaw Incorporated would bid on entire regions and put them out of business

“The RFP process will render my operation of NO VALUE. There are other small operators in the same position and this market place will be flooded with depreciated vehicles,” Antoine wrote.

“The backbone of our government has traditionally been the local entrepreneur and small businesses, employing locally and spending in our community. I feel that our system has merit. I urge you to help us maintain our local transportation system.”

The Tri-board Bus Service serves the Limestone and Prince Edward District school boards as well as the Algonquin and Lakeshore Catholic School Board. Its operators range from single operators, to mid-range companies with 30 to 40 buses.

It is the bus routes of these larger companies that might be particularly interesting to larger, multi-national corporations who will answer the RFPs.

Oct 23/08 - Frontenac County Council

Back toHome

Feature Article - October 23, 2008 Frontenac County CouncilBy Jeff Green

Review praises Fairmount Home's “gentle care”, questions costs

Frontenac County Council was presented with an operational review of their signature service, the county-owned Fairmount Home for the Aged, at their meeting on October 15.

Consultants Nicholas Manherz and Melodie Zarzeczny of the Osborne Group presented the highlights of the review, which was conducted earlier this summer.

One of the outstanding features of the home, according to Zarzeczny, is “the extent to which Fairmount is on the cutting edge in long-term care. It has high levels of volunteer involvement, and plays a leadership role in service delivery in the province. By having a nurse practitioner on staff, a physiotherapy program, and the ability to accommodate emergency admissions, Fairmount is doing well.

“Our evaluation points to Fairmount as being a model for long-term care. It costs more but this is how you want to deliver long-term care to your parents, your loved ones.”

The review also made 38 recommendations for improvement. These range from scheduling issues to the range of tasks performed by nurses, personal support workers, and support staff in the home, which “is more expensive to run than the provincial average,” said Zarzeczny.

The consultants noted that salary levels for nurses at the home are 5.5% to 9.2% higher than the provincial average, and the ratio of nurses to other staff is higher at Fairmount than at other homes.

“For example, certain tasks are done by nurses at Fairmount, such as replacing batteries in equipment. That does not need to be done by nurses.”

Nicholas Manherz said “Fairmount needs to consider ways to reduce or stabilize reliance on funding from Kingston and the county,” and he pointed to two possible ways to do this. “You could cut staff or hold tight on salaries and benefits and wait for the rest of the industry to catch up. We recommend the second option.”

The consultants also said that an analysis of scheduling practices could lead to an overall reduction in absenteeism.

Julie Shillington, the Fairmount Home Chief Administrator, said that her staff are “hoping to review this report fully, take the recommendations and put together both a short-term and a long-term operational plan to bring back to council, hopefully by March.”

South Frontenac Mayor Gary Davison said, “My only comment is that I am surprised that we are at the leading edge of salaries.”

“It is a very interesting report,” said North Frontenac Mayor Ron Maguire. “We walk a fine line here, we need to put away our municipal hat at times and consider the well-being of patients, while keeping in mind that if services expand someone has to pay for it.”

$35,000 to be spent on a review of county council composition

Among the commitments County Warden Jim Vanden Hoek made for his one-year term was to take a serious look at the way county council is structured. Since it was originally set up as a management board, Frontenac County is the only county in Eastern Ontario to have a four-member council made up of the mayors of its four constituent townships. The other councils are all larger.

In line with Vanden Hoek's commitment, a request for proposal was prepared over the summer, and at this month's council meeting staff recommended accepting a $58,900 proposal from Armstrong and Associates to prepare a county council composition review. Staff also recommended that this review be paid for by dipping into the county’s reserve of federal gas tax funding.

Central Frontenac Mayor Janet Gutowski had a big problem both with the cost and proposed method of funding the review. “I can't support the gas tax being used for this. I think staff can do this, enter into consultation with township staff, and county council can make its own decision regarding its makeup. I really think we need to complete the ICSP [integrated community sustainability plan] before we spend gas tax funding.”

At its September meeting, the county refused to consider a request for gas tax funding of a salt dome that came in from Central Frontenac Council. At the time, county council said the ICSP needed to be completed before county gas tax money was allocated to the townships.

“I looked at this and I think it is a lot of money to spend on something that has already been decided,” said South Frontenac Mayor Gary Davison. I'm on Janet's page on this.”

“From a staff point of view, we thought this would dovetail with the ICSP project,” said County CAO Elizabeth Savill, “recognising that the ICSP does have a component that addresses governance.”

Warden Vanden Hoek said he understood what the two mayors were saying, but he was concerned that if something like this weren't done, then the reform of county council might not happen during this term of council.

After a short recess, Vanden Hoek proposed that the contract with Armstrong Consulting be limited to $35,000, and this was enough for Mayor Davison to support the proposal.

“I still can't support this,” said Mayor Gutowski.

The proposal was approved in a 3-1 vote.

Sept 25/08 - Transportation hits snag

Back toHome

Feature Article - September 25, 2008 Transportation plan hits a snag By Jeff Green

For the past four months a dedicated group of service providers with an interest in developing a transportation system for Frontenac County has been meeting with consultant Rob Wood in an attempt to put together a comprehensive plan for transportation in the county.

Rural Routes, a program of Northern Frontenac Community Services, and the transportation program of the Rural VISIONS Centre in Sydenham, both co-ordinate volunteer drivers to help get children, seniors, and people who receive social assistance to medical services, daycare, and other appointments.

Other agencies such as Community Living – North Frontenac, the South East Ontario Integrated Health Network, the Victorian Order of Nurses and even Land O’Lakes Community Services from Addington Highlands have been involved as well, as has Frontenac County, in trying to put together a comprehensive, efficient service.

“We have made great progress working to find the best way to bring all the interests together to develop a county-wide plan,” said Rob Wood, the consultant who was hired by Frontenac County to help develop a co-ordinated service.

The County of Frontenac has provided administrative funding for Rural Routes this year and last, and has funded rides for both Rural VISIONS and the Child Centre in Sharbot Lake for several years. The county wanted to see that there were no overlaps between services and that a level of co-operation between agencies be fostered before committing to funding the system for future years.

They were also considering seeking provincial funds to augment the service.

Rob Wood said that everything was moving forward, and the boards of both Rural VISIONS and Northern Frontenac Community Services had made commitments to collaborate on transportation, and a funding model was being developed.

Then he found out that the provincial funds were not going to be available.

“The money we were seeking was from gas tax rebate funds that are earmarked for municipal transportation by the Province of Ontario, and in August I found out that only fully accessible vehicles were eligible for support. All of the agencies in Frontenac County use volunteer drivers, who don’t have fully accessible vehicles, so we won’t be eligible for funding,” Wood said in a phone interview this week, “so we will have to go back to work on the funding.”

A preliminary presentation went to a joint meeting of Frontenac County last week, and a final plan, including funding requirements, is expected to be ready by the County Council meeting on October 15.

Sept 11, 2008 - Changing face of uranium in North Frontenac

Back toHome

Feature Article - September 11, 2008 alienated Lands and leases: the changing face of uranium exploration in North FrontenacBy Jeff Green

A seemingly innocuous statement by Frontenac Ventures President George White has touched a nerve with negotiators from the Shabot Obaadjiwaan First Nation, who have cut off negotiations with the company.

As reported in the News last week, White said his company was negotiating a memorandum of understanding with the Shabot Obaadjiwaan, which will set the stage for the company to pursue a drilling program in search of uranium deposits on property they have staked in Frontenac County.

This led to an angry response from Chief Doreen Davis and War Chief Earl Badour of the Shabot Obaadjiwaan (Click here for full statement)

Steve Reynolds, the lawyer for the Shabot Obaadjiwaan, told the News that for several months the First Nation has been involved in a consultation process with the provincial Ministries of Northern Development and Mines and Aboriginal Affairs as well as Frontenac Ventures Corporation, but that, “We never got further than talking about a negotiation framework. A memorandum of understanding was never something that we considered, and we made that clear to everyone,” Reynolds said.

In late August, the Shabot Obaadjiwaan informed the parties they would no longer meet with Frontenac Ventures, but they were still ready to talk to the province.

“We have said all along that we are willing to consult, we are willing to talk,” said Reynolds, “but that does not mean we are ready to sign anything. We are merely holding the government to their duty to consult with us.”

Throughout the summer, a committee from the 16-member Algonquin Negotiation Representatives (ANR), the group that is charged with negotiating a comprehensive land claim in the Ottawa Valley, has been participating in the talks. Shabot Obaadjiwaan Chief Doreen Davis is one of the ANRs.

While the political ground has shifted as these negotiations/consultations have stumbled along, and led to an impasse, the physical ground has shifted as well.

Several of the Frontenac Ventures mining claims have lapsed because the company failed to file paperwork with the Provincial Mining Recorder outlining the exploration work that has been done - a large number lapsed on May 12, and one more on June 27. On May 12, two claims in the Palmerston District of North Frontenac, as well as four claims in Olden and two in Oso district of Central Frontenac lapsed, and were re-opened to staking. However, much of that territory is now marked off as “alienated” or “pending alienation”, which means the lands have been withdrawn from staking by the Government of Ontario and cannot be explored for mining purposes.

According to Dale Messenger from the Ontario Mining Recorder’s Office in Sudbury, “Lands can be alienated for a variety of reasons; they can be reserved for parkland, wind generation, or other purposes. In this case the surface and subsurface rights are included in the alienation”.

The alienated lands are adjacent to the western shore of Crotch Lake. They abut a 443 hectare swath of land for which Frontenac Ventures has been granted a mining lease until 2028.

There are also mining leases pending at locations north of the Crotch Lake area and in the Lavant District of Lanark Highlands Township.