Tag: renfrew-ontario

BONNECHERE TRAIL PROPOSAL MAY BE READY BY CANADA DAY

To me, it seems that this is the first, or opening phase of a really good idea that provides a ton of value without needing a ton of cash.

The Bonnechere Trail will be an addition to the trail network here in Renfrew, but with significant differences that separate it from the existing Millennium and Algonquin Trails.

First, it’s not going to be a ready-made former railway bed leftover from the halcyon days of rail here in this part of the County.  Second, it will be a more winding trail, less an affair of straight lines that trains love, but more in the way of bends and curves and elevation changes.

And third, it will be people-only.  Not to people on snow machines, or people on four wheelers, or people on bicycles or dirt bikes.  It will people-only in the sense that it will accommodate foot traffic only.

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THE BAFN MYSTERY

Who are the Bonnechere Algonquin First Nation, or BAFN?

To the uninformed or less-informed eye, the title suggests an aboriginal group of some sort, more than likely a First Nation.  The word Bonnechere suggests a group who calls elements of, or the entirety of the Bonnechere River watershed their home, their ancestral home.  And if you’re from around this part of the 613, you might understandably conclude that they have some affiliation with, or are actually part of the Algonquins of Golden Lake, or Pikwakanagan.

And although BAFN and Pikwakanagan are both listed as members of the AOO, or Algonquins of Ontario, the two barely talk to one another, if at all.  Phone calls to the Band leadership in Golden Lake were initially warm and friendly, until I mentioned BAFN as my point of enquiry.  

There’s been no communication since.

So who are these mystery people and what’s the reason for my interest in them?

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COUNCIL EXHIBITING HR PERPLEXION

Town Council has been struggling with the composition of an HR — Human Resources — committee, or panel, or tribunal, or whatever other term they might come up with to adequately describe a small group of people tasked with representing the town in grievance procedures involving town employees.

There are a plenty of big-ticket, red-seal, five-alarm topics and issues that our seven elected politicians can grapple with, and disagree over, some involving millions of dollars, even tens of millions of dollars.  But it’s this HR issue, a veritable fart in a mitten, that has them contorting themselves with lines of reasoning that shift as easily as the tall verdant grass in a jaunty spring  breeze.

Ma-Te-Way, the Town Hall renovation, construction overages, lights for ballfields, integrity investigations, demands for resignations, demands for defenestration from committees, all of this pales in comparison with the steep and rocky slope that leads to the top of Mount HR.

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CANADIANS SHOW DISPLEASURE WITH TRUMP

You may have noticed recently that there are a fair number of people expressing their displeasure with U.S. president Gotfried Schitzinpantz and his whole gang down in Mar-A-Lardo, Florida.

Displeasure is too polite of a word, of course, but we’re Canadians and being polite is supposed to be a national trait.  That said, it appears Canadians are really really mad with the president, and rightly so.

And we seem to have our own way of exhibiting this anger, unique to us, and somewhat Canadian to a core.

I was driving along the highway last week and saw a black flag fluttering from a flagpole along the side of the road.  It looked to me to be one of those F**k Trudeau flags, although it did cross my mind that maybe the owner of the property hadn’t heard yet that Trudeau had stepped down.  Maybe he was just being prudent and attempting to get the full value for the flag, since he paid good money for it on Amazon, and by Christ he was gonna fly it nevertheless.

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BUILDING HOMES TO BEAT TARIFFS

Ontario’s municipalities want to build houses.  Lots of them.

They also want to tackle the problem of housing by taking existing buildings and infrastructure and bringing them up to speed so as to enhance efforts to add to affordable and supportive housing in the province.

All of this is ambitious, and all of this costs money, plenty of it.  And in the face of an economic downturn brought about by reckless and negligent trade policies originating south of the border, it may seem to be a hill with a slope that’s too tough to climb.

But that’s the point.

The Association of Municipalities in Ontario, or AMO, believes that this is precisely the time to beef up investment in housing starts and housing completions, along with upgrades to existing stock and buildings that seem to be lacking purpose.

The municipalities feel that this proposed injection of stimulus money, over and above current levels of funding, is just what the province and its citizens need in the face of troubling economic times.

It’s not a new concept, and it has worked before.

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THOSE DAMNED CAMERAS

I was right, in that I knew I was wrong.

At least partially.  Maybe even more than partially.  But even with the tiniest sliver of potential accuracy, I still seemed to be way out in front of just about everyone other than staff when it came to those bloody cameras.  I have no idea about the car, as in how many, what type, where it/they might be, and what the plan, if any, might be moving forward.

To me, it was almost as if most of council had no idea about much to do with these cameras, certainly already purchased, and that car(s), almost as if they were hearing about it for the first time.

It’s disconcerting.  After watching in disbelief as they waded through a can of crushed armpits on the HR Liaison issue, another treat lay in front of me, as well as the edge-of-the-couch crowd watching live on YouTube, a number that may well have approached the teens.  Not the kids, but the numbers.

Along came the the cars and camera thing.  And while the discussion was much more lucid, it was a discussion where there was a dearth of information available for Council to make a responsible decision.  And I get that.  There’s plenty of detail not included, or not forthcoming, or just plain not there.  So on this point, I’ll grant them a political mulligan, just out of a sense of trying to be a good sport.

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HR LIASON: A PIÑATA THAT ISN’T THERE

Oh my God.

I can’t think of anything better to really say as the HR Liaison issue came up a third time, and for a third time it was like wading in a pool full of absolute muck.

I’ve never encountered brick-think on such a scale as I witnessed Tuesday night at the Renfrew Town Council meeting.

These people seemingly have a huge degree of difficulty when it comes to determining how Stage 3 grievances are to be heard.  It’s not the most complicated of things, but you’d never know it from sitting in this room for what seems like hours talking about the same thing over and over and over again, all the while cancelling out options with votes as the back-and-forth debate rages, and heads shake.

All of the very worst things that come to mind when criticizing Council come to the forefront on this particular issue.  Add to that the usual ambiguity and imperfection from certain staff by way of explanations that don’t address the question.

It’s like watching a blind-folded kid swinging wildly at a piñata, only there’s no piñata.  Or if you prefer, taking a bunch of cats for a walk without a leash. Walking through a cornfield?

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CARS AND CAMERAS: AGAIN

I’m going to get some of this wrong, I’m sure of it.  But I’m going to go ahead and report what I can, and if anyone out there wants to educate me, I’m easy enough to find.  I’d ask the official types for verification, but they don’t have a strong history of returning messages or email enquiries.

If I was to wait for them to help me along, I’d be left stranded without a guide.  So as best I can, the story moves forward.

In a previous article, I mentioned something about surveillance cameras and cars left in storage, the product of a provincial grant worked out between the former Police Services Board and the province to provide Renfrew with equipment to be used to combat car theft, both here in Renfrew and in the province at large.

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THE ROAD TO 2035

“Seventy-five percent of this job is half mental.”

I think it was that great American thinker Yogi Berra who came up with that line, in all seriousness, when asked a question by a reporter.  This from a man who said when you come to a fork in the road, you should take it.

It’s why, maybe, we shouldn’t hang our hats on philosophy laid down by tobacco-chewing baseball players, although Berra himself was more of a cigarette and cigar kind of guy.

Yogi is my inspiration today, although I’m not sure his utterance is a true fit for my commentary, but honestly, any time you have the opportunity to quote such a sage person as he, you go for it, whether it fits or not.

The Town of Renfrew, at least the administrative side of it, is in the middle of a journey, as all corporations are, along with other institutional entities, like schools, hospitals, prisons, etc.

Entities cannot remain static, that much is true.  They are living beasts that need to keep abreast of, or remain relevant to the ever-present requirement for change and nimbleness against a backdrop of near universal and enduring uncertainty.  In English, that means that things are constantly changing, and to remain relevant in the face of that fact, corporations like our town need to respond and adapt.  

So standing still is not an option.

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COUNCIL TO PICK UP COY SLACK FROM CHAMBER

My congratulations in advance to the winner of this year’s Citizen of the Year Award.

Whoever it may turn out to be, the selection for such a prestigious award, and I mean that, is reflective of the fact that you’ve had a tremendous positive impact in your community, and for your community.  And unlike hockey rinks where you can just “buy” your name recognition, the Citizen of the Year accolade is awarded by others, hopefully objective others, who see and witness the impact of your efforts on things, movements, and people.

It represents positive recognition to a person who wasn’t hell bent on getting the recognition in the first place.  And so, in that sense, it’s a terrific and legitimate honour.

But it won’t have the stamp of approval from the local Chamber of Commerce.

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