Mississauga Musings

THIS STEVE NEASE ED'TOON COULD USE AN ALTERNATE CAPTION:

"IT'S A GOOD THING YOU DIDN'T CALL YOUR WARD 9 COUNCILLOR!"

Hey there, check out the Mississauga News Editorial, "You speak, Region charges"

It's about this.

(Click here to go directly to the clip on YouTube or Google Video)

OKAY, IF YOU'VE WATCHED THAT VIDEO, YOU'RE READY.

The Mississauga News Editorial will be "in bold emphasis quotes" and [The Mississauga Muse comments inside square brackets]

MISSYNEWS - "Canada might be a free country, but, apparently, Peel is not a free region."

[And the blame rests squarely on $Brampton$250, Caledon and Mississauga who are, after all, Peel Region]

MISSYNEWS - "In this country, residents and visitors alike are free to ask questions, free to challenge injustices, free to try to right wrongs."

[Ummm... "this country" has an Ontario-Province that has allowed each municipality to do its municipal own thing. Its own free-caring-community-municipal-thing. Or --180 the other way --its own not-free-evil-empire-despotic-contemptuous-of-the-public-municipal-thing.]

MISSYNEWS - "But, within the Region of Peel — the corporation, not the geographic area — residents will have to be prepared to pay to ask their questions."

[To repeat: And citizens can put the blame squarely-and-exclusively on "lower-tier" $Brampton$250, Caledon and Mississauga who approved this by UNANIMOUS VOTE.]

MISSYNEWS - "Peel has decided to charge residents who complain about closed meetings $170 for the privilege of being heard."

[That $170.00 charge was moved by none other than $Brampton$250 Mayor Susan Fennell. Don't blame "Peel". It was $Brampton$250, Caledon and Mississauga Mayors and Councillors who unanimously rubber-stamped the $170.00 so that Peel could deny its residents a legitimate and free "closed meeting" investigation by the Ontario Ombudsman. ]

MISSYNEWS - "Big-hearted as that governmental corporation is, however, it will refund the fee if the complainer’s concerns are upheld — by a regionally-appointed and compensated investigator."

["by a regionally-appointed and compensated investigator." Yep. Trust Quality Excellence Working For You--hoooo]

MISSYNEWS - "A regional staff report explains the pocket-picking decision is meant to deter “frivolous, vexatious or speculative complaint.” What rubbish!"

["rubbish"? Now where's my Hershey Centre pic?... AH! Here it is!]

MISSYNEWS - "Complaints, by their very nature, are vexatious.".

[Not mine. My complaints are all thoroughly researched through Freedom of Information --and therefore by their very nature, are so UNvexatious that they have been and will continue to be --ignored by Mississauga City Hall.]

MISSYNEWS - "And how could a complaint about a closed-door meeting be anything but speculative? Without public access to a meeting, residents have no choice but to speculate about the meeting’s content and outcome."

[Frankly I don't know why there's all the fuss about "closed-door meetings" here in River City. THIS IS MISSISSAUGA after all! Why just last week, Mississauga Council held a "Special Additional Council" meeting without bothering to announce it to the public. Not announcing a public meeting? What is an unannounced "Special Additional Council" meeting but a "closed door meeting"? And one you can't complain about! Yep. Far as I know, a Council can call "Special Additional Council" meeting without actually "calling" it to the public! Now that's a 2001 Municipal Act/Bill 130 loophole that you can drive a 18-wheeler through --sideways!]

VIDEO: MISSISSAUGA UNannounced Special Council Meeting (March 5, 2008)

(Click here to go directly to the clip on YouTube or Google Video)

[Not even The Mississauga News was there for this one. And the beauty of these "Special Additional Council" meetings is even if by pure luck a member of the public is present, there's no Public Question Period. Then again, there's never been Public Question Period for Peel Regional Council meetings so it all balances itself out. Anyway. Moving Forward...]

MISSYNEWS - "Peel’s decision to impose this ludicrous fee is little more than an attempt to stifle efforts to find out what elected officials and voter-paid staff discuss behind closed doors.

["Peel's decision"? Repeat the Repeat: It was Unanimous Silent Consent by $Brampton$250, Caledon and Mississauga Mayors and Councillor-reps. And the "attempt to stifle" isn't the $170.00. $Brampton$250, Caledon, Mississauga and therefore Peel not just "stifled" but snuffed-out residents' rights to a free investigation by our Ontario Ombudsman. And they knowingly ducked the Ontario Ombudsman by hiring their own "appointed and compensated investigator." Knowingly --and shamelessly.]

MISSYNEWS - "The $170 fee, which the report’s authors claim shouldn’t “deter a meritorious complaint,” is not the nominal charge Peel suggests: For individuals who struggle from paycheque to paycheque, $170 is well outside their reach.

["individuals who struggle from paycheque to paycheque"? Nobody cares! NOBODY CARES! All anyone need for proof is the "Our Future Mississauga" Visioning Charrette. "Transit" "Waterfront Parks" "Green Spaces" "Vibrant Downtown Core" "Lakeview Legacy" "The Arts" ... "individuals who struggle from paycheque to paycheque"? NOBODY cares in Our Mississauga "caring community" because if they did, there'd be evidence of it.]

MISSYNEWS - "So, not only do residents have to pay to inquire about the validity of a closed meeting, only those with a wad of extra cash in their pockets will have the financial means to do so.

[Not to mention a vast gaping hole where one would logically expect brains to be.]

MISSYNEWS - "Residents, however, have little to fear, according to the report. If the Regionally-paid investigator agrees with their concerns, complainers will get their money back.

["according to the report"?.... I mean what's there to say?

THAT REPORT BLOWS!

$Brampton$250, Caledon and Mississauga unanimously passed it in a record 14 seconds knowing that report blows!]

MISSYNEWS -"The Region’s new charge follows on the heels of the City of Brampton’s decision to charge its residents $250 for the right to complain. It’s little more than a cash grab."

["cash grab" That's not what it is at all. $250 or $170 is one $effective$ $way$ to $slam$ $down$ the $In-House$ $Municipal$ $lid$ so no one's $tempted$ to $peek$ at $what's$ $bobbing$ $inside$ $Ontario$ $Municipalities$. Believe it. Plus. Both the Mayors of Caledon and Mississauga are AMO Board of Directors. Going with the AMO subsidiary corporation "Local Authority Services" to avoid the Ontario Ombudsman was a decision made by those AMO Directors and then "sold" by AMO to member-municipalities. Gee, if it only were a "cash grab"... I can forgive a "cash grab". Cripes, we're used to "cash grab"s]

MISSYNEWS - "The City of Mississauga has refrained — wisely — from instituting a similar fee in this community."

(Click here to go directly to YouTube)

MISSYNEWS - "Now, that was a good decision.

(Click here to go directly to YouTube or Google Video)

Signed,
The (It Never Ends) Mississauga Muse

P.S. Thanks to that Other "Anonymous" for that other tip...
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"But other councils made their decisions quickly and with little public interaction. Just this past week, Peel Region set a new speed record. It reportedly voted to go with an LAS investigator, and according to a citizen blogger who videotaped it, they did it in just 14 seconds. According to the same blogger, Mississauga council had the previous record, when it did the same thing in 16 seconds."--Address by André Marin Ombudsman of Ontario (March 6, 2008)

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

Want (or worse, need) to learn more? Link to MISSISSAUGAWATCH.CA
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