New Mississauga South MPP Charles Sousa earned major Brownie points last night by showing up at City Hall to listen to Lakeview residents’ complaints about the proposed 21-storey Queenscorp condo on the gas station site at Lakeshore and Deta Rd.
The Lakeview Ratepayers’ Association which was leading the charge against the application, is headed by Jim Tovey. He enraged more than a few Sousa supporters by publicly endorsing Tory Tim Peterson in the Tory’s last piece of campaign literature.
Tovey, as straight-ahead a guy as you’re likely to meet in these parts, has no regrets about his stand.
“I knew Peterson was going to lose but I’m a bit of a loyal guy,” he says. “Tim was wonderful for Lakeview,” and really supported residents in their opposition to the power plant.
“The fact Charles showed up to support us last night was really nice,” says Tovey. It will be even nicer, he says, if Sousa goes to bat for the community when the inevitable announcement comes that a new gas-fired power station will be built at the Lakeview site. “We are the only ratepayer association that opposed all three of the power plants (Greenfield South and Sithe, as well as Lakeview,)” says Tovey. “If anybody in Mississauga knows what power plants are like, it’s Lakeview.”
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Former Prime Minister Brian Mulroney has been in town a lot lately, although he hasn’t been making any public appearances per se. Mulroney has been developing writer’s cramp at the Mississauga offices of Random House Canada in the Airport Corporate Centre, signing thousands of copies of his new bestseller, Memoirs 1939-93.
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Isn’t it interesting that the most pressing issue for our brand new provincial government is approving regulations to pave the way for a brand new holiday in February?
Now, of course, there will be a debate about what to call it. There are the usual suspects, of course, Simcoe Day, Heritage Day or maybe Winter Blahs Day.
How about honouring the man who had the political courage to make it finally happen?
What do you think of calling it Dalton’s “I Told You I Could Keep A Promise” Day.