Dear Dr. David Salisbury

It has recently come to my attention that, in your capacity as Chief Medical Officer of Health for the City of Ottawa, you are actively promoting strategies of harm reduction for those suffering from addictions in the city. In particular, I note your vigorous defence of the City's free crack pipe program recently.

In that spirit, I am writing to suggest some improvements that I think could be made to the program. In particular, as someone whose parent is addicted to fine wines, I think that the City should seriously consider the introduction of a Riedel Stemware distribution program to help those in the community who find themselves trapped in the grip of unscrupulous vintners.

While on the subject, I also think that we should remember that people like my parent often over indulge in red wines the night before and therefore need help and support the following morning. To that end, I propose a Starbucks Card distribution program, supported by free Starbucks go-cups.

These strategies would go a long way to easing the burden of pain and suffering that I suffer daily.

With thanks for all that you do for this great City, I remain,

Yours truly,

Angie The Corgi
Deputy Leader, The Doggerel Party of Canada

Montague Mischief

One local mischievous commenter thinks that one of our councillors might be missing a sock - wonder what he or she could mean by that? Surely not a reference to the ever increasing duration of Council meetings? :)

Still, unlike the House of Commons, nobody's actually gone to sleep in Council yet.

Master Fire Plan

We (Montague, that is) have all heard a lot about the Master Fire Plan. How many of us have actually read it? Since some of the issues raised in this comprehensive review of the Montague Fire Department came up at the last meeting of Council, now might be a good time to take a look.

TDPC encourages all residents to download and read the full document. It's a very thorough and well-written report and it offers a great insight into the inner workings of a fire department. For reasons of space, I'm not going to go into the body of the document here, but focus instead on the conclusions and recommendations.

First off, the primary conclusion of the report is this:

This review clearly indicates that the Township of Montague is delivering fire protection services in accordance with its needs and circumstances as required by the Fire Protection and Prevention Act, 1997.

There is much else positive written about the department and its performance. In the currently charged climate, let's all keep that in mind. As the report says, any review will identify areas for improvement and this is how organizations do improve and grow. Therefore, looking at the recommendations for changes is not an indication of any major shortcoming, but rather a search for ways to do things even better. However, the report makes no less than 31 recommendations, some of which I think bear discussion.

There are several recommendations in the area of the legislative framework for the department; apparently the bylaws and regulations we have are outdated and refer to outdated Ontario statutes. Bringing them up to date would seem to be a fairly common sense idea. In the process of revisiting the bylaws, though, Council will be faced with issues such as defining the list of services to be provided by the department. If and when this comes up for discussion I think it's worthy of public consultation.

The report recommends the appointment of a Deputy Fire Chief and suggests that an appropriate selection and promotion process be created for this first, and subsequent, appointment. Again, this makes perfect sense to me. There should always be someone available to deputize for the Chief, and there should be a clear succession plan if possible.

The major issues of concern to me are the recommendations around management of the department. It's clear from the report that although the VFD is doing all the right things, in many cases they are doing them informally, with record-keeping being of mixed quality. The Chief's office is maintained in his home rather than on township property. Some records are kept there, others at the fire station. Not all policies and procedures are available to the members of the department. Post-incident reporting is not formalized. The report recommends a number of changes to tighten things up, formalize procedures and bring the administrative side of the department in line with provincial norms. I actually found it difficult to believe that such an important office as the Fire Chief's could be allowed to be maintained off township property, and this certainly gives me pause for thought as to what the previous Council was up to.

So, while it's clear that operationally the department is offering us the protection we all appreciate and sleep easier for, there is room for improvement in management and administration. I personally would like to see Council take a firm grip of this situation and add this final polish to the department as soon as possible. In the end we have a VFD to be proud of, and we can be prouder still when it becomes the absolute best it can be.

Again, I encourage everyone to download and read the report. It's your Fire Department and your Council. Stay informed.

With Allies Like

Saudi Arabia, who needs enemies?

I Do Not Like A Shadow Cabinet. I Do Not Like It, Sam I Am

M. Dion doesn't like the term 'Shadow Cabinet' preferring the throwback to the heady days of Martin rule and the oh-so-successful descriptor 'Team'.

Apparently the Liberal party is so inclusive there's a job for every MP in the new Team Dion. Reminds me of Tom Lehrer's observation that the U.S. Army was a model organization, in that not only did it prohibit discrimination on the grounds of race, creed or colour, but also on the grounds of ability.

That said, even with the new expanded 'Team Harper' across the aisle, it seems that it still takes nearly two Liberals to 'shadow' one Conservative, with Team Dion having 50 members, according to Pravda North Radio. Are we really still that scary?

Landowners Need New Leader

Randy Hillier has quit as leader of the Ontario Landowners Association. To the extent that his name comes up in Montague affairs from time to time, this is legimate fodder for discussion in Montague, however, rather than repeat what has already been said, I'll point readers to coverage by the excellent new blogger Glenda at Just Between Us Girls.

Just as interesting as the question of what Randy Hillier does next, what kind of personality will the OLA pick to lead them now? Where will the OLA go without Mr. Hillier's heavyweight media presence?

An Echo In Here....

The first 'real' post I ever wrote here was this one, about the situation in Caledonia, Ontario, and how the McGuinty Liberals' lack of response to the crisis would simply reinforce the use of thuggery, violence, intimidation, lawlessness and general brouhaha by other groups who happen to dislike their lot in life.

And now, lo and behold, another group of native 'protestors' are taking similar actions in Desoronto, Ontario. Coincidentally, this is another situation in which a land claim has suddenly become significant when there is the prospect of the land in question being developed and there is money to be made. I'm not a betting man, which means I will likely not ever attend the Caledonia Casino when Ken Hill gets it built, but if I was, I would wager that this Deseronto situation would not even arise if the McGuinty government had mounted a half adequate response in Caledonia. As it is, they're going to roll over and play dead in Deseronto as well.

Watch this particular snowball begin its journey down the hill, gathering weight and momentum all the way....

For those that might wonder, my daughter would still eat all the chocolate in the world, given a chance. Sadly for her, her parents are not as weak or easily swayed as an Ontario Liberal.

What Do Parents Want?

Unlike the government funded Childcare Advocacy Association of Canada, Today's Parent magazine asked parents what they thought about childcare issues, and what they wanted to see. The results are very interesting but probably not what CAAC wanted to hear.

Tip o' the headgear to Sara.

Not Only Recycled But Also Lies

Not only is today's Harper bashing by the leech-like Childcare Advocacy Association of Canada recycled news, it's also based on a report that is breathtaking in its liberties with the truth. You can read the whole thing here. But here's my favorite sentence:

Canadian parents.whether they live in large or small urban communities, or in rural or remote communities all want early learning and child care programs for their children. [emphasis added]

Hmmm, I love being told what I want by a partisan, ultra-left-wing, parasite of a lobby group. So, how long did it take you to call and ask every Canadian parent if that's what they want? I must have been out when you called me to check, Ms. Lysack, otherwise you'd know that you're lying. But somehow, I think you, the CCAC and CUPE and all the others do know that already.

If He Paid His Own Bills...

... who'd pay for the beer and popcorn?

From today's Ottawa Citizen (page A4):

Martin-Chretien feud lives on in aides' lawsuits: Chretien
loyalist's lawyer says taxpayers paying legal cost of ex-Martin adviser

Taxpayers are footing the legal bill for one of former prime minister Paul Martin's closest aides in a $350,000 libel action launched by another Liberal backroomer after the internecine wars between Mr. Martin and Jean Chretien, says a lawyer involved in the battle.

Former Martin aide Scott Reid has apologized to onetime Chretien aide Warren Kinsella for calling him a liar over comments Mr. Kinsella made about Finance Department contracts under Mr. Martin.

There now follows today's natural history lesson:

A rarer, though not endangered creature, Hirudinea Liberalis is a unique leech that can continue sucking from its host even after death. While most leeches can be removed with salt, Hirudinea Liberalis is best removed with a strong spotlight and the threat of public exposure.