There’s probably a lot of different ways in which to view somebody like Lisa Robinson, and I have made that attempt, but in the end, it’s always pretty much the same for me. That is to say that, if I were to ever meet the woman, I’m fairly confident I wouldn’t like her. And I’m equally confident she wouldn’t be lining up to join my fan club either.
Lisa Robinson is a councillor for the City of Pickering, just northeast of Toronto. When I see or hear about people like her, it makes me want to offer up prayers of thanks for the elected members of Renfrew Town Council that we have. As critical as I can sometimes be, there is nothing on offer here in Renfrew that can be considered as approaching what Robinson is to Pickering.
In a charitable rendering, I’d put her on the same footing as your Marjorie Taylor-Greenes, or your Lauren Boberts, Sarah Palins, or Kari Lakes of the political universe. Maybe even a Cheryl Gallant type of figure, although that’s cruel.
A mean-spirited, sneering, and unnecessarily provocative human being bent upon one thing and one thing alone, that being the political chaos she sews that serves as her preferred working environment. There is nothing sacred when it comes to these women, in that they’ll attack you at the drop of a pin yet cry indignant persecution if ever confronted or challenged.
Remember that horror movie that had the line “The call is coming from inside the house?” That’s what’s happening in Pickering as the mayor there searches for ways to protect the decorum of council meetings in the face of right-wing threats made against council and staff, as well as having fringe groups from outside the city crashing council meetings and overwhelming them with conspiracy-driven nonsense statements.
It’s Robinson that’s whipping these people up. She is the “torch-bearer” for these types who woke up one morning and found out they don’t live in Alberta or the 613 area code, and it threw them off balance when it came to their behaviour.
Any attempts to use procedural guidelines against these people have been met with the typical resounding “freedom of speech” bullshit these types trot out every time somebody looks at them sideways, which is a lot, because they’re tough to take in full-on. Since these people don’t respect rules or order or decorum, or anybody daring to tell them what to do, they can be a handful, and they can be disruptive. They also represent a direct threat to the democracy of the City of Pickering.
In the past week, Pickering’s mayor, Kevin Ashe, has mandated that all further council meetings will be streamed online only, with no in-person attendance possible for the public. So right there, a bunch of out-of-town loudmouths have impacted democracy in an Ontario city. As well, the mayor has released a 13-minute video “educating” the population of Pickering on the antics of their elected councillor Robinson.
To say Robinson is pissed is an understatement, and now she’s threatening to run for mayor in opposition to Ashe. But I say let ‘er go for it, because that would solve a lot right there once Ashe destroys her at the polls. And having run for mayor and lost, she couldn’t then be a councillor either, and so her presence at council meetings, and her platform of misinformation, threats, intimidation, and general slander would come to an end from that point of view. You can’t kill off rats completely, but you can fight back every once and awhile and drive them out of the basement, even if only briefly. But it’s something you gotta do.
Robinson’s presence on the current council is a perfect representation of the dangers inherent in a divided, disinterested, or ambivalent electorate. The most important point to make is that she was elected to council. Asking who in their right mind would vote for something like that is a moot point, because obviously enough people did to put her over the top and get a seat. And this is what you sometimes get when people stay at home and don’t vote, for whatever their reasons may be.
Look at Renfrew’s last municipal election where roughly half the eligible voters took a powder on election day and stayed at home in their blissful ignorance, an ignorance that has the potential to cost them collectively millions of dollars if the “wrong” people get elected.
And how do the “wrong” people get elected? By drawing enough attention to a single issue, a negative issue usually, where they can galvanize enough support and then successfully get that support to show up and vote on election day. It’s that simple.
These single-issue anger types can either get enough support to win a seat, or they can pull votes away from other, more respectable and legitimate candidates, causing them to narrowly lose, sometimes to these less than attractive types. Voter apathy is an election tool for anyone with the smarts, the wherewithal, and the motivation to use it. That goes both ways, good and bad, but unfortunately, it’s usually the bad guys who exploit it most.
For the record, I’m one of the good guys. And when I do it, it’s usually to get in the way of the bad guys. It drives them nuts, they hate me for it, and it gives me purpose.
If we had a Lisa Robinson on our council, I’d have enough to write about so that I’d never have to go fishing for a story ever. But that’s selfish. Because if we had someone like this on our council, we’d have a different type of dysfunction than any we might currently have or have recently experienced. We have significant problems here in Renfrew, but so far as my own personal experience can determine, none of it is as a result of the people being bad people, or people intent on hurting others. Obviously, in the past, we’ve had people with significant failings of a degree that has and will cost us millions of dollars. As bad as that is, none of the majority of people, past or present, represent the same level of repugnance as the Lisa Robinsons of the universe.
I can’t imagine any member of the current council regularly sitting in on a podcast hosted by a pathetic right-wing loser currently hiding out in Panama to escape charges that would likely have him rocking the prison-sex lifestyle. Kevin J. Johnston, a shit-disturber and ball of snot that got away, called the members of the Pickering council a bunch of “pedophiles” and “fascists” and displayed their contact information, with Robinson on-screen nodding and smiling. Johnston went so far as to suggest a baseball bat to the face of these other councillors and mayor would be just the ticket.
Johnston’s right, to a degree, but he has the wrong faces in mind. But we needn’t worry in any event, because losers like him can’t produce the deliverables, and they often crumble when stood up to. It’s why he’s in Panama.
And so, in closing, I just want to say that I’m thankful that I cover a town council that has nobody of this sort at play, or even in the wings, at least that I’m aware of. If they did, or if there was, I’d be drawn to that person like a moth to a flame, since it’s these types that tend to motivate me to come out of hiding and involve myself in the discourse of the day.
People like this are a distraction, and often a caricature. They offer nothing of any practical value, and can only find traction when they tap into the anger or fear of others, which they shamelessly and recklessly stoke for their own ends.
I’d do well to remember this the next time we get knee-deep in a discussion on parking, or wrestle with the enormous task of writing a letter to the County enlisting support for something with the Warden of the County seated right there in the room.
When the minutiae of a meeting agenda makes your eyes bleed, or the labyrinthine nature of a local bylaw twists us into a contortion of inaction or procedural disbelief, there’s always the spectre of a Lisa Robinson to get us all back on track and remind us of how beautiful a discussion on parking can be.
NEWSMAGRENFREW 