SPEED DATING PROPOSED AS A MEANS TO COMMUNICATE WITH SENIOR STAFF

Perusing the agenda document released in advance of Tuesday’s double meeting of Renfrew Town Council, I came upon what could only be characterized as an attempt by senior administration to try something bold, something new.

It appears, if you squint, that they’re going to make an effort to — gasp — communicate. Well how about that?

Perhaps the brainchild of our own senior staff, or perhaps something picked up in fruitful discussions with other municipal CAOs and clerk types at the recent AMO conference, it represents a high-water mark in terms of providing insight into the dark mysteries that swirl in the closely-guarded backrooms of Fort Renfrew.

The plan is brilliant.

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September 22, 2025

BUSTED BY THE JUMBOTRON

Having a romantic affair can be nothing short of awesome. I say this only because from the outside looking in, given the numbers of people who seem to carry on with affairs, what other conclusion is available to the rest of us? Surely a past-time with so many merits, so many selling points, would be considered a legitimate way for one to spend their disposable time and money.

Unless you get caught.

Then I think it probably sucks big-time.

Getting caught and getting exposed is probably the worst thing that can happen, obviously, because where before you were moving heaven and earth to spend time with your latest squeeze, now you have a couple of divorce attorney’s driving the essentials of your life. And when it all clears, you’ll probably have a lot less time with your kids if you have any, and more than likely a lot less cash to spend time with as well.

Even the dog stops talking to you.

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July 21, 2025

TRUMP THREATENS O’DONNELL WITH HER CITIZENSHIP

When Donny’s pissed at you, it may not end well, particularly if you value your citizenship.

Remember when Elon and Donny got into it a few weeks back when Elon started to get all lip about Trump’s BBB — Big Beautiful Bill — that had just passed Congress. Apparently, after taking a chainsaw to government operations as part of his leadership of DOGE — Department of Government Efficiencies — Musk was bent a bit out of shape by the fact that Trump’s bill actually added trillions of dollars to the national debt, something Elon felt was a bit counter-productive to his own efforts at DOGE.

He said some things. He called The Donald some names. He mentioned something about Jeffrey Epstein’s list, the most talked-about and speculated-about list in modern times.

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July 16, 2025

FEDS TO PUMP MONEY INTO MILITARY

The federal government has indicated that they will begin to spend billions of dollars more on national defence. In fact, billions and billions.

If you think that’s something that should have been done all along, you’d not be incorrect. If you’re someone who wonders about stuff like this, and further wonders where the money is going to come from, you’d not be alone. And if you’re afraid it may come at the expense of social programs or other areas of governmental involvement, and you wonder which ones?

Join the club. Get in line. Here’s your t-shirt.

I suppose there’s another category of person out there, the type that feels government should get out of everybody’s face and simply allow economic Darwinism to be the prevailing thought, then good for you, but sorry, you have no place in any reasonable discussion around the military budget specifically, or the federal budget generally. Go home and count your money, and please try to stay out of the way of the grownups. In other words, stay out of our face.

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July 15, 2025

PROTECTING THE FUTURE OF OUR PAST

Many years ago, I undertook a project that would recapture and bring to life the histories of two places I has some familiarity with, St. Thomas the Apostle School and St. Francis Xavier Church.

In order to successfully bring that mandate to a successful outcome, I had to pour over hundreds of photos, documents, and other pieces of memorabilia that were stored in dozens of cardboard boxes. These boxes, and the treasures they contained, were almost always tucked away in some out-of-sight-out-of-mind part of the building, something I suspect is the case for most places, and even families, who take the time to save the stuff for preservation then, having no plan beyond that, consign these treasures to the ubiquitous cardboard box for somebody to come along in a couple of decades to make sense of it.

But what if nobody comes along?

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July 7, 2025

BAT 365: MIXING COFFEE AND POLITICS

It didn’t take long for the BATs — Boys At Timmy’s — to go sour on Mark Carney.

That’s not entirely accurate though, because in order to go sour on something, you must first have had some, albeit grudging, degree of sweetness, although that’s way too strong of a word to apply to the hard men who hold court at Tim Hortons franchises across this great land every afternoon of the week. Long accustomed to being the primary political thinkers in their respective communities, they never really took to Carney in the first place. Instead, when they saw the political winds shift biblically from the Conservatives to the Liberals, they decided to hold their fire and seek cover, at least and until their natural instincts of baked-in oppositional thinking kicked back in.

To see them, and to hear them rise from the metaphorical ashes and begin their campaign of perpetual sour grapes is sort of like watching a healthy ecosystem re-balance itself, like a creek snaking its way through a modern subdivision. Except for the healthy part.

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July 3, 2025

GENERALLY SPEAKING

As Canada’s top soldier, the Chief of Defence Staff serves at the pleasure of the prime minister. That means that, while Canada’s top soldier, you’re not the top dog when it comes to chain of command.

And that means that when you appear in public, or comment in public, it’s a really good idea that you exercise the prudence necessary to ensure that you articulate the policies, goals, and aspirations of Canada’s military in a way that’s consistent with what the political masters are saying, in this case both the prime minister and the Minister of National Defence.

So, for Lieutenant-General Jennie Carignon, it means that she needs to keep all the ducks in the proper row, as she’s ultimately accountable to Prime Minister Mark Carney and his defence minister David McGuinty.

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June 25, 2025

A DANGEROUS WOMAN GETS MORE DANGEROUS

Alberta lost around 5,600 people to Covid-19 during the epidemic that swept the world five years ago. That’s close to 12% of the national total, not bad for a province with just about 10% of the national population.

It’s not clear what those numbers would have looked like had many Albertans not picked up their Covid vaccinations while in the heat of the battle, despite being citizens of Canada’s most vaccine-resistant province, although Saskatchewan has emerged as a bit of whack-job as well when it comes to common sense and vaccines. Alberta, after all, is the province that chased away Dr. Deena Hinshaw, the province’s chief Medical Officer of Health.

Alberta, as you may already know, exists fully a century behind the rest of us when it comes to a lot of the important stuff. As proud as they are of themselves as being the Texas of the North, that distinction only really applies to oil patches, cowboy hats, and an innate ability or inclination to just simply get everything wrong when it comes to their attitude around a lot of the important stuff, like the environment, or the basic stuff surrounding life and death. And sadly, many in that province would rather die than admit they were wrong about something.

Totally in keeping with both herself and the hatchet-job government she leads, Premier Danielle Smith has announced that, henceforth, Covid vaccinations of the future will be available only if you pay for them, and not as a result of the government providing them. The Alberta government estimates that the shots will cost around $110/dose, but Smith and her cronies will escape public discontent since everyone will blame it on the Trudeau Liberals. Or the Carney Liberals. Or any Liberals, really.

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June 19, 2025

ISRAEL STRIKES IRAN HARD

I always knew that it was inevitable. But when the Americans told their diplomatic staff in several Middle East countries to pack up and head home on Wednesday, it became imminent.

Israel attacked Iran again, and this time it was for keeps. These two countries have been in a shadow war for decades, and have recently traded blows, right around the time that Israel was putting the boots to all of Iran’s proxy terror groups like Hamas and Hezbollah.

When that it-for-tat business was happening between the two, I took note of the Israeli targets in Iran, and mostly took note of the fact that the Israelis stayed well clear of Iran’s nuclear facilities, something that most international pundits gave Israel credit for, as in credit for showing such remarkable restraint. Those international pundits have a shocking naivety.

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June 14, 2025

COUNCILLOR ADVOCATES FOR HOME OWNERS

It’s late in the third period and your team is down by three goals. Or it’s the seventh inning, and the boys are down by four, your starter has been knocked out of the game, and your best player swinging the hottest bat was injured back in the third, yet remains in the game, albeit hobbled and a shadow of his regular self.

You’re at a Renfrew Town Council meeting, your eyes are stinging, and you’re questioning all the concepts of good governance you’ve ever learned and experienced. You’re two-and-a-half hours into the meeting, and you’re convinced that if you stay any longer, it may become a police matter, or a health matter, or both.

So you leave the rink. Shut off the television. Gather your belongings and leave.

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June 11, 2025