Tag: renfrew-ontario

SMISHING IS THE LATEST LOCAL SCAM

This is a bit of a heads-up regarding a scam operating in Renfrew and surrounding areas.

Smishing is a term that applies to an unscrupulous type gaining access to a phone number and then using it to fraudulently dupe people out of their money, in this case falsely reaching out to people to inform them that they have unpaid parking tickets in the Town of Renfrew.

Smishing will also target an individual’s personal information.

Both the town and the Ontario Provincial Police are aware of the scam and are encouraging people to spread the word so that this practice can come to an end in this area.

For the record, parking tickets are either issued directly to the “offender” or are left on the windshield of the vehicle.  If there’s any follow-up connected with the issue of a ticket, that can only be done in person or through the mail.  The Town of Renfrew will never request a payment for an unpaid parking ticket via phone or text message.  Never.

If anyone receives any kind of suspicious communication involving a parking ticket, they’re encouraged to contact the town’s by-law enforcement officer directly for confirmation or verification.  In fact, if in any doubt whatsoever, make this call.

613-432-4848 EXTENSION 121

613-504-2878

COVER PHOTO”. Photo by Sander Sammy on Unsplash

TENURED POLITICIANS

There are two types of politicians that walk the floors of town halls, city halls, legislative halls, or agency halls.  A third type frequents the boards constituted by the first two, giving us a full compliment of three very different forms of political figures.

The first, and most obvious, are the elected politicians, the ones who got to where they are the old-fashioned way, by doing all the grunt work, working the phones, knocking on doors, hammering in lawn signs, kissing hands and shaking babies.  The ones who are up front-and-centre when the public gets its dander up and is looking for answers to difficult questions.  The people who have all sorts of things thrown at them, whether it be criticism, profanity, rotten tomatoes, any of it or all of it.  These are the people elected by the other people, the public, and are the forward-facing tier of democracy.  They have something called legitimacy.

And then there are the tenured politicians.

They’re the ones who got hired by the first group, probably with educational credentials out the ears, plucked out of nowhere to be given the task of steerage, of keeping the ship both afloat and headed on the desired course as directed by the captain and other ship’s officers.  They are the ones with their hands on the wheel.

Perhaps the best way for me to make my point is to use Granny, the most wonderful woman in the world, as an example.  Always a warm and encouraging smile, thoughtful to a fault, spoils the grandkids shamelessly to their delight, a member of her church and volunteer for numerous church and civic causes.  She is the apple in the apple pie.

But put her behind the wheel of a car.

This beatific human being becomes something completely different while she navigates the Costco parking lot.

So it can often be with tenured politicians.  They start as one thing, but inexorably make their way up the ladder, in competition with others, but with no need for term limits and things like elections to get in the way.  They become entrenched.  

They aren’t part of the system.  They become the system.

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THE CONE OF SILENCE

What is it about the Town of Renfrew that makes its representatives so rude?

I mean, I don’t know if all of them are, but I can definitely say that any I’ve tried to contact officially are.  So, to be fair, that would be the Clerk, the former CAO-Acting, the mayor, and every single councillor.

It appears I’m not the only one to feel this way or experience this phenomenon.  I just wonder how long it goes, or how many people are rubbed the wrong way, before the pitchforks come out and the mob storms Town Hall.

Actually, that’ll probably happen on its own once people get their property tax bills.  Or lose the front undercarriage of their vehicle in a municipal tank trap that advertises itself as a street, and that’s after it’s been “reconstructed” by Renfrew’s default road construction specialists.

But back to the rudeness.

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BEWARE THE GENERALS

I promised myself that I wouldn’t write anything about Donald Trump.  After all, what could I possibly add to any commentary about that man and his MAGA movement?

So far I’ve managed to steer clear of anything to do with the guy, and that’s saying something, since he’s talking about absorbing Canada into the United States, which on most days would filter its way into the pile of things that might grab my attention. 

It’s January 20th, and I’m watching a home-building show on Global, totally because every single other channel is covering the gong show that Trump has managed to morph the presidential inauguration into.  I understand that, sometimes, it’s okay to stray a bit from the iron rigidity of tradition.  But to turn something like an inauguration into another form of a Trump MAGA rally is tough to watch. Elon Musk, as well, is entirely difficult to watch.

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BIA SEEKS TO EXPAND ITS BORDERS

Renfrew’s downtown Business Improvement Area is expanding, pushing its borders outwards into the ancillary streets, or streets secondary to the main drag of Raglan Street.

This is no small thing, especially if you happen to live, and/or do business within this tertiary area that is now to be annexed by this entity that derives its authority through Renfrew Town Council, and through them from the Municipal Act of 2001.

My assertion that the Municipal Act is a deeply flawed piece of legislation is not abated by recent events, and this is just another one of those recent events under discussion. It makes me wonder if the authors of that piece of legislation had drafted it while at their local pub, since it causes as many problems as it sets out to solve, and satisfies the argument that the crafters were either egregiously distracted, had agendas to satisfy, or were just functionally incompetent.

The BIA invasion into the surrounding environs is another one of those seemingly endless staff-driven things that appears before a somewhat perplexed Council for approval, almost after-the-fact, because the timelines tend to be pretty tight.  I wonder what the actual reasoning is?

Is the tax levy that members pay into the organization not enough to fund their projects?  Is it an attempt to broaden their tax base to beef up their financials?

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SAY GOODBYE TO THE CHERRY BLOSSOM

News arrived this morning that Chocolate maker Hershey will be discontinuing the venerable Cherry Blossom candy from its lineup.

This is like Santa Clause retiring.

I haven’t had one of these things in a long while, a good long while, but I can still remember the sheer luxury of flavour associated with this confection.

Packaged in its iconic yellow box, the Cherry Blossom was the top branch of the candy tree, as it featured the kind of chocolate you’d find on a really good Easter Bunny and combined it with a Maraschino cherry to deliver a gooey, syrupy, explosion of, well, chocolate and cherry.

This was the apex predator of chocolate treats.  A person would have one, and only one of these before requiring an angioplasty.  Even as kids, we showed an appropriate level pf respect for what it could do to you, and like I said, we were kids, who had no problem stuffing ourselves with candy until we puked.  Yet we respected the Cherry Bomb.

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RENFREW WEATHER

When it comes to weather in Renfrew, I’d have to say that we’re kind of blessed in a way, even though I’m looking outside at a sky that seems determined to drop something I’m not really looking for.

Sure, Renfrew is about as one could expect, weather-wise, from a community that can be classified as occupying a central, southern, eastern part of the province.  We seem to go the way others around us go, but then again, not perfectly so.

If the southern province is getting rain, then we’re getting rain.  If they get snow, we can expect snow as well.  When it’s hot it’s hot, and when it’s cold it’s cold.

That said, we seem to exist in a bit of a weather sweet-spot, or niche zone, where despite weather similarities with our neighbours far and wide, we seem to experience the same things as they do, only to a degree, and that’s not a weather pun.

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RECUSALS AND LAME DUCK COUNCILS

Comments made by Councillor Andrew Dick in a previous council meeting resulted in an investigation by the town’s Integrity Commissioner, an investigation resulting in a recommendation that the councillor offer a public apology and receive a censure from Council.

I’ve seen Councillor Dick’s comments in text form, but have not reviewed the YouTube record of the meeting in question.

In question at the time was a contract tendered for renovations undertaken at the Town Hall, a project that ballooned in cost and went significantly over budget.

At issue was the fact that a councillor at the time, one Arlene Jamieson, owned a decor business in town, Venture Interiors, that had put a bid in to undertake some of the work on the Town Hall.  It’s important to point out that Councillor Jamieson declared herself to be in conflict, and did not participate in any approvals specific to her business. It should also be noted that former Councillor Jamieson did nothing wrong, nor anythng illegal or untoward.

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INTEGRITY COMMISSIONER REPORT

I’m going to hate writing this.

Mostly because it will fly in the face of what everyone else likely thinks.  It’s not like I’m looking to be contrary for the sake of being contrary.  And I don’t do it lightly.

This has been percolating in my mind for 36 hours now, and I know I could have left it alone and see it wash downstream, but then again, I also knew I couldn’t.

No offence intended towards anyone.

Tuesday night, Integrity Commissioner Tony Fleming attended Council via Zoom and delivered his findings on two separate complaints filed under the Council Code of Conduct.  His presentation was professional and coherent, and everything you’d want to see from someone tasked with the resolution of these complaints.

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THIRD PARTY REPORT: SCRATCHING THE SURFACE

In a previous article I referred to the Third Party Report by WSCS Consulting into the Ma-Te-Way situation as a flawed document.

I should be clear that in no way am I questioning the integrity of the authors of the document, nor am I diminishing the level of rigour, depth, and detail that was put into what was, essentially, a very difficult job.  I want to make sure that I come across as applauding the work done, and the report proffered.

There can be no such thing as a perfect document because there’s no such thing as a perfect investigator, author, or subject matter, all involving three heavily involving human elements.  In the case of this report, it’s the third part, the subject part, that made the compilation of information and the cobbling together of that information more than just your average challenge.  It made it virtually impossible to get down to the absolute brass tacks of the issue, although the authors did successfully pull back the curtain on much of what transpired in what has to be the Town of Renfrew’s biggest debacle ever.

One needs to be careful when bandying about allegations regarding others, and that need for care can often lead to an extraordinary level of caution when attempting to report on items that may involve measures of incompetence, negligence, and malfeasance.  And sometimes that can lead to a report that hovers around the periphery rather than drilling into the potentially dangerous areas.  This report navigates those difficulties about as well as one might hope for.

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