Mississauga Musings

(You may need to click twice or if you wish Go Directly to the clip on YouTube or Google Video)

(You may need to click twice or if you wish Go Directly to the clip on YouTube or Google Video)

This- is Mississauga.

From the June 12, 2007 MISSISSAUGA NEWS article, "Health issues sideline Enersource CEO"

"Citing health concerns, Gunars Ceksters has resigned this morning as President and Chief Executive Officer of Enersource Corporation, which has come under increasing scrutiny from City Hall in the past few months. “I have a chronic health problem which deters how much work I can do,” Ceksters said this morning from his Etobicoke home."

“I have a chronic health problem which deters how much work I can do.”

As one clever reader observed, "'chronic health problem' all right --originating from Ward 6."

So that inspired this cartoon.

Having sat through all save one Council discussion on Enersource (videotaped for posterity) the reality is, had Councillor Parrish not raised questions --or let's just say there was no Councillor Carolyn Parrish, Enersource would likely just keep on operating as it always had.

I'll let the reader decide whether "Same Old Same Old" is a good thing or not. OK. First. Lots of videos today --mostly from Google Video. You need to click once, sometimes twice on the "arrow" in the bottom left corner of each clip. For YouTube, just click on the arrow inside the video itself.

Regarding remuneration of Enersource Board members --quoting a May 14, 2007 Toronto Star article:

"The citizens and politicians who sit on the board, including McCallion, used to earn $32,000 to $50,000 a year to attend about 16 two-hour meetings".

Citizen reps for 2007 are now paid $15,000 for serving on that board. And get this. There was no shortage of excellent candidates who were prepared to serve the people of Mississauga on 50% less than previous Enersource board members had been paid --for years.

But it goes further than just remuneration.

Had Parrish not raised concerns, the "Trust, Quality, Excellence" People would be trumpeting the Trust, Quality, Excellence of Enersource when many Councillors simply didn't feel that way.

Had Parrish not raised concerns, it's unlikely that any of the Incumbent Councillors would've spoken up. Clearly there were concerns about these salaries (although it came out in discussion that at least one Councillor was surprised at how high the remuneration was and couldn't recall how those amounts were decided!)

In addition, there were concerns about how other Councillors had to fill in on no-extra-pay committees and duties so that Enersource (highly paid) Councillor-Board-Members could to do their Enersource thing. That finally came out in discussions as well --a kind of chronic and certainly unvoiced malaise.

Next. Had Parrish not raised concerns, it's unlikely that Incumbent Councillors would have revealed their disappointment in the performance of Enersource.

For example, during a May 9, 2007 Council discussion on Enersource, Councillor Eve Adams stated that:

"Council and certainly myself has been disappointed in the returns and dividends that Enersource has produced for the City over the years. We haven't necessarily gone out into other business ventures as many of us thought we might..."

Here's video of her saying that.

(You may need to click twice or if you wish Go Directly to the clip on YouTube or Google Video)

In the same meeting, Councillor George Carlson had this to say about Enersource:

"I don't think it's much of a secret that most members of Council were not satisfied with the management of the Hydro -at least I'll speak for myself..." and then he continued:

"and we wanted to take a strong stand --at least speaking for myself that we want a strong Council presence on that Board and to deal with the issue of perhaps selling Hydro or perhaps putting back into its proper focus of delivering and distributing Hydro at a reasonable rate for our citizens."

(You may need to click twice or if you wish Go Directly to the clip on YouTube or Google Video)

Ah what the heck, here's the entire May 9, 2007 Enersource discussion:

(You may need to click twice or if you wish Go Directly to the clip on Google Video)

Bottomline from discussion of Council.

Enersource remuneration "totally out of whack". (Councillor Pat Saito)

Disappointing returns and dividends over the years. (Councillor Eve Adams)

Disappointment in communication with Council and attempts to expand the business into other areas (Councillor George Carlson)

I've other clips that should be posted so people have access to all Enersource debate at meetings but haven't had the time (I've been scuffling with my own Municipal Demons...)

Yesterday Mayor McCallion had to leave General Committee early and before she left, she wanted Council to know that while in Toronto, she'd been approached and asked if Enersource was up for sale. She added that someone had expressed interest in buying it. McCallion commented on how disappointed she was that the word about Council entertaining the sale of Enersource was now "on the street".

(You may need to click twice or if you wish Go Directly to the clip on YouTube or Google Video)

Regardless of what happens, Mississauga citizens do know one thing. Selling Enersource today will bring "hundred of millions" less now than a few years back when Councillor Iannicca urged its sale --as he put it "screaming on top of my lungs" to sell Enersource "before de-regulation became re-regulation."

(You may need to click twice or if you wish Go Directly to the clip on YouTube or Google Video)

Had Parrish not raised concerns, it's unlikely Mississauga citizens would have been told about any of these issues. We'd have the same Ol' Boys as Board Members being paid "totally out of whack" remuneration, still not communicating much of anything to Council, still delivering disappointing returns and dividends and we'd STILL be hearing about "Trust, Quality, Excellence" of Hydro delivery to Mississauga citizens.

That's the reality.

It's worth quoting Councillor Carlson again.

"and we wanted to take a strong stand --at least speaking for myself that we want a strong Council presence on that Board and to deal with the issue of perhaps selling Hydro or perhaps putting back into its proper focus of delivering and distributing Hydro at a reasonable rate for our citizens." Councillor George Carlson (May 9, 2007)

Sale of Enersource isn't inevitable. However, it seems clear (at least to me) what Councillor Carlson is saying. If the City of Mississauga (90% ownership) can't get Enersource back to its proper focus "delivering and distributing Hydro at a reasonable rate for our citizens" and better returns and dividends for shareholders (which is Us), then perhaps it's time to hand it over to an Entity that can.

Had Parrish not raised concerns, citizens of Mississauga would read this (posted to the Enersource website on "Thursday, 27 July 2006, 8:28pm GMT" which is currently up at Enersource.com)

and not have the insights that we do now. Reminds me of a quote...

TRUTH:

"Most truths are so naked that people feel sorry for them and cover them up, at least a little bit." --Edward R. Murrow

Truth --citizens yearn for it. See Mississauga News Craig MacBride's Blog regarding truth. (And thank you, Mr. MacBride)

Signed,
The Mississauga Muse

All "Antonio Batista Pothole Poet Trial" Blog entries:

THEIR MISSISSAUGA, yes, and ever increasingly --THEIR MISSISSAUGA (May 27, 2007)
Hypocrisy Democracy (May 28, 2007 7:27 am)
"What would Edward R. Murrow do? What would he want me to do?" (May 28, 2007 11:55 pm)
"We have to send a message to the public" Crown Attorney. (May 29, 2007 2:51 PM)
A pothole never loomed so large (John Stewart's "Random Access") (May 30, 2007)
"The government must not silence its critics by force." ---Clayton Ruby (May 29, 2007) (May 31, 2007)
"she does not think how you feel" Antonio Batista (June 4, 2007)
"Mrs. McCALLION what is wrong with the City of Mississauga?" (Antonio Batista) (June 5, 2007)
"Reasonable Person Test" --Crown Witness (June 6, 2007)

"We must employ every possible tactic to dissuade those who try to silence us with fear"
---The Mississauga News Editorial (2007-03-24)

Click here for John Stewart's Blog
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