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Breach of Trust by Public Officer, contrary to section 122 CC

Fraud Under $5000 contrary to section 380 (1)(b) CC

Uttering Forged Documents contrary to section 368 CC

These are serious allegations for anyone but for someone in public life and at the helm of an organization with a budget of 1 billion dollars it does give pause whether the Mayor still has the public’s trust in guiding the organization.

Public Service is an organization we once held in higher regard and we expected those in it to hold a higher standard. In particular those who lead such organizations should set the example. Its an important part of being leader.

I don’t know if the Mayor is guilty or not but the optics certainly do not look good and it appears to be far more the a simple issue.  As many in the community have pointed out, one should be able to contact their bank or employer and within a matter of hours or a day be able to track how and where a payment was made.

But what’s more important at this point is that this issue is a distraction council and the city does not need right now. A third year of budget deliberation is about to begin with the Mayor and his supporters on Council calling for a third straight tax “freeze”.

Which brings us back to integrity. Many people have been turned off by politics recently, saying that politicians will say anything to get into power.  But is that truly the candidates fault or our own?

We listen to the ‘promises’ like 10,000 jobs or “I won’t raise your taxes for four years” but we fail to ask them questions beyond the sound bytes.  How are they going to do this? Where will they find the funding? Do they have a specific plan?

If we continue to allow questions like this to go unanswered and we fail to hold our candidates accountable to their answers then we have only ourselves to blame for much of this.  A well informed electorate should be a goal for all candidates and those who hold public office. The politics of fear and deception should not be allowed to drive the political landscape. Those that seek to continue to go down this road should be held accountable for their actions.

The question is now what will happen next.  There is a good chance a motion will be put forth at committee to ask the Mayor to take a leave of absences penning the outcome of his case.  Under the municipal act however the Mayor does not have to step aside even if everyone else on council wanted him to do so.  Based on the news conference from Thursday he has no plans to step aside.

I think we must go in two directions; We must continue to let the Mayor know that a sizable number of London citizens are not happy with the decision he has made to stay on for now. There is a petition online that people can sign. Is this enough? In my humble opinion the answer is no. Those of us who spend a lot of time in social media have to constantly remember two things.  We are a very small percentage compared to the total population and we tend to sometimes stay in the ‘bubble’.  How does the average Londoner think of this?  How does the average Londoner express their opinion?  As Jay Menard writes in his recent blog post, a poll to get the opinion of a greater number of citizens would be interesting to see.

He is not being asked to resign, he is being asked to temporarily step aside for the good of the city he says he loves so much. The Mayor likes to talk about all the events he has been invited to and has attended. I wonder if the numbers of invitations will now decrease.

The second thing is that the work of council and the city must go on; although this is a sizable distraction, the business of the city must continue. As I’ve said previously the budget cycle for year three of council is about to start and people must focus and let their councilors know what they would like to see.  We must also remember that although the Mayor is supposed to lead council, he only has one vote, the same as every other member of council.

Despite the setbacks, London has many many good things going for it and we must continue to go in the direction to improve the city for all who live, work and play here.

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Many questions still need to be answered but in light of these allegations is it surprising people are cynical about politics? We will will wait and see what happens with this in the days and weeks ahead.

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While I’m not happy about a prorogue of the legislature, I can see why the premier would decide to do this.  16years is a long time to be leader (he is the 2nd longest serving Liberal premier in the province).  As well there are very few times a government in power can continue to do well past several terms.  There are many things the Librerals have done in the last 9 years that I’m happy about, however lately they have done some things that don’t make sense at least to me.

Having the Dummond report created and then ignoring a large portion of it.

The ongoing labor issues with teachers and public service workers.

The decision to cut funding to the Ontario horse racing community.

I should go more into detail on these as time goes on but I’m going to digest what has happened tonight and see who comes out for the liberal leadership.  Whoever it is they will have an uphill battle, and it certainly looks more likely we will go to the polls by Spring.

P.S. To those who think Dalton McGuinty resigned to run for the federal Liberal leadership, I have four words. Are you kidding me?

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In the days and weeks ahead we will hear from many people talking about gun control, mental health and Anglo / French relations in Quebec.  Let’s not forget someone died on a night when we should be celebrating the democratic process.

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This is why science is cool.

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Carmi Levy started things off with;

From some amazing pictures to folks asking questions it was great to see a natural community form during this storm.  Just like having neighbours to call, the local twitter community is an example of a group ‘watching’ out for each other.

Andrew Kaszowski summed it up best in this tweet.

I agree it’s nice to have folks watching out for each other.

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Based on some questions people have been asking me of late. I need to get this written out.

My beliefs in politicians (and of all people in general) is to be transparent, honest and acknowledge your mistakes. You will never get everyone in your riding or ward to agree with you 100% of the time, but people do value honesty and integrity.

I really get annoyed when politicians make a claim in a sound bite and then don’t follow up with details on it.  The recent municipal elections involving a four year tax freeze is one example.  Many people seem to make vague statements like finding inefficiencies and that no services will be cut. Post election we start hearing that no ‘core’ services will be cut.

When you run a campaign to get someone elected it should not be ‘at any cost’  As a voter and a citizen I’m insulted when a politician tries less then transparent means to get elected. Every other citizen should feel the same way in my humble opinion.

Glen Pearson blogged about The Myth of the Silent Majority and how many use that line to try and discourage engagement. Some people opposing some of these citizen groups have reasons to be concerned because it nullifies some of the tactics of fear and uncertainly that we have seen happening more and more in Canadian politics of all levels. It’s tactics I’ve seen in the last three elections and I’m insulted by it.

I realize that my vision of the city is not going to align 100% with other people but we have to give all citizens the true facts, without trying to mask things. In addition there is nothing wrong with coming out and admitting you were wrong. People can and will forgive if you do something wrong and try to make it right.

Question: Do you agree there needs to be more transparency in politics?

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Seeing this story in the Free Press tonight does not surprise me. The London Rippers have lost their merchandise store in downtown due to non payment of rent. I’m sure the team will blame everyone but themselves for this latest chapter in this saga. Local site AltLondon.org broke the story earlier in the evening, with a link to a photo of the store with the legal notice on.

Starting with the wrong branding from the start, then ignoring your community. Then expecting support from the same people you thumbed your nose at when you realize you didn’t check the fine print on the contract about the LCBO license.

As much as I’d love something like this to work, (and we have seen it work with the London Lightning) making your customers angry from the start is not a good strategy for long tem growth. Even the local media is starting to mention that as well.

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I was planning to write a fairly long blog about the responsibility  of media to balance getting the message out vs. giving consumers a choice in the matter. Particularly with some stories that contain gruesome details. These days with social media we have far more opportunities to engage with the media and likewise they have far more abilities to engage with us.

But as sometimes happens, two local sources, Jay Mendard and Nathan Smith have both written excellent blogs on the topic, which pretty well sums up my feelings on the whole thing. I highly suggest reading both of them.

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