Two Special Council Meetings

Council cancelled their regular meeting last night but at short notice, they scheduled two “special” meetings, one after the other starting at 3:00 pm.  However, given the Covid-19 virus issue, they were held using video-conferencing with all Councillors plus Interim CAO Ian Davey and Town Clerk Brent Larmer also connected.  It was then streamed so the public could view it, and I did!  The technology worked quite well although there were a few glitches (that’s technical jargon for “malfunctions”).  The sound was clear but cut out for about 20 minutes and the video froze a few times on individuals.  The two meetings each had a single topic agenda – the first was to take advantage of very recent legislation allowing fully remote Council meetings and the second was to approve measures to provide residents with some financial relief as described in my recent Post.

Council meetings using Video Conferencing

Online Council Meeting
Online Council Meeting

Councillors were asked to approve a motion to allow Council to have meetings electronically (without limitations) providing that a state of emergency had been declared – which it has.  The discussion was short with the only concern being raised by Councillor Chorley who asked about a provision for delegations and open forum questions.  The response by Brent Larmer was that this would require separate conferencing sessions for each activity plus advance notice from anyone requesting to address Council.  This is important since video conferencing may be in use for some time – maybe months. How a delegation would access the technology was not discussed but it would be necessary.  Click the image above right to see a larger version of what the viewing screen looked like.

Financial Relief for Residents

As discussed in my recent post, Interim CAO Ian Davey proposed 6 items concerning transit, parking and taxes.

  • Free transit to May 1 was approved.
  • Councillors had a long discussion about the elimination of the unused extended accessible Transit hours and in the end voted to keep the bus available for the extra two (so far unused) hours.
  • Free parking was approved even though Downtown will be mostly shutdown effective 11:59 pm Tuesday.  Some of the problem was the limited capacity of the one man doing Bylaw enforcement who also empties coins from parking meters.
  • Three proposals re Tax penalty waivers and tax payment deferrals were agreed as proposed
  • Nicole Beatty asked that Green Wood Coalition be paid the $6K approved in budget discussions in February even though they had not yet come up with the details requested on how it would be spent (other than helping the homeless).  After a long discussion, Ian Davey said that he did not currently have the resources to help tie down the details and the only way he could help out would be to simply write the $6K cheque.  Council approved Nicole’s addition.
  • Councillor Adam Bureau asked that Council recommend that landlords  be asked to allow deferral of rents in needy cases.  He accepted that Council did not have authority in this area but wanted a “recommendation” anyway.  His addition was approved.

The Town participates in what they call an “Emergency Control Group” or ECG.  As far as I can find out, the members of this group have never been named but they include the Fire Chief, the Mayor, the Police Chief, the Emergency planner and as many as 13 others.  They currently meet daily and seem able to make fast effective decisions – such as today’s decision to close playgrounds (but not parks). However, they do not report to Council and certainly do not wait for a Council decision before acting.  Councillor Chorley was concerned about this and asked for a better information flow to Council – and to the public.  Mayor Henderson said that a daily bullet point report would be sent to Councillors and a “public inquiry line” will be set up in the next few days to answer questions from the public. [Update – stay tuned for updates on the ECG in the next day or so]

The next scheduled Council meeting is April 6 (changed to Committee of the Whole) and will likely also be held using video teleconferencing.

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Walter Luedtke
4 years ago

https://assets.bwbx.io/images/users/iqjWHBFdfxIU/iOdc7vzf5CO4/v1/1000x-1.jpg
Jack Ma, the Founder of Alibaba and one of Asia’s richest men, has also taken the lead in providing assistance to countries affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. Announcing that he will send 500,000 coronavirus testing kits and 1 million masks to the US, Ma has stated he will donate more than 1 million kits to Africa, as well as send emergency supplies to a number of South Asian and Southeast Asian Countries – Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Cambodia, Laos, Maldives, Mongolia, Myanmar, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka. China Report
Ethiopia received its first shipment of supplies from Jack Ma, founder of the Chinese e-commerce empire Alibaba, which included protective gear and test kits, for distribution across the continent.
China’s mass deployment of medical aid to fight the coronavirus reached Africa on Sunday, due to efforts by billionaire Jack Ma. Africa Report
China’s richest man donated more than a million medical masks and 200,000 coronavirus test systems to the Russian army to help it fight the spread of the novel coronavirus. Bloombero
And in other news:
Jeff Bezos sold $3.4bn of Amazon stock just before Covid-19 collapse. Guardian
Prince Charles and Camilla Leave London Amid the Coronavirus Outbreak
They’re staying in Scotland for the foreseeable future. Guardian

Wally Keeler
Reply to  Walter Luedtke
4 years ago

Comrade Jack Ma is a powerful member of the Communist Party of China. He has brought extraordinary wealth and power for The Party to play with. Here is what Comrade Ma has brought to Europe.

The Netherlands has recalled over half a million face masks it imported from China after discovering that they were faulty. The Netherlands had asked its hospitals to return around 600,000 face masks which health professionals are using to treat patients of the coronavirus risking lives.

The Czech Republic found up to 80 percent of the 300,000 rapid coronavirus test kits ordered China are not working properly, according to regional hygienists who have tried the tests. The test kits, worth 54 million korunas (€1.83 million), show false positive as well as negative results.

Spain found that the tests had only 30% sensitivity, meaning they correctly identify people with the virus only 30% of the time; the tests should have a sensitivity of more than 80%.

Turkey has also said that the Chinese test kits are substandard and have a 65 to 70 per cent failure rate.

Read this to see how agents (comrades) of Communist Party of China swindled the Czech Republic. The same technique was done in Canada and Australia. https://news.webindia123.com/news/Articles/India/20200329/3529739.html

I find it fascinating how vigorously protective Walter and Keith are about the reputation of the Communist Party of China, indeed they actively promote the talking points of the Communist Party of Canada. All I have to do it said “DICTATORSHIT” and they get on their pious horse in defense of a totalitarian dictatorshit that invades, occupies and conducts cultural genocide against the Tibetans, they conduct cultural genocide against Muslims in so-called re-educations camps, they steal technology from many countries, and on and on it goes.

The massive deceit that the Communist Party of China is conducting can be seen in many details. https://citizenlab.ca/2020/03/censored-contagion-how-information-on-the-coronavirus-is-managed-on-chinese-social-media/ This from the astute Monk School of Global Affairs and Foreign Policy, not the sloppy mainstream media that Walter wallows in.

Walter Luedtke
Reply to  Wally Keeler
4 years ago

The faulty equipment was made by Chinese companies.
I have found no evidence that the equipment donated by Jack Ma was faulty.
Guilt by association poolitics.

Wally Keeler
Reply to  Walter Luedtke
4 years ago

No guilt by association, but guilt by membership in the Communist Party of China. As a member in good standing (obedient) he is showboating his billionaire virtues signalling immodestly, all for the greater good and glory of the Communist Party of China. “Chinese companies” have no independence. They are under the heavy supervision of the Communist Party of China. And China is renown to be the surveillance society of the 21st century. It is also a heavily censored society. The Communist Party of China let loose its own S.O.R.E. virus (Suppression, Oppression, Suppression of Expression) by blocking any information concerning the virus right from the beginning. The censorship prevented info from getting outside China, from the people, and between doctors. The censorshit by a totalitarian surveillance regime resulted in a pandemic. The Communist Party of China is responsible for the pandemic, bio-manslaughter.

https://citizenlab.ca/2020/03/censored-contagion-how-information-on-the-coronavirus-is-managed-on-chinese-social-media/

I highly recommend reading this from the Munk School of Global Affairs, Citizen Lab, :an interdisciplinary laboratory focusing on advanced research and development at the intersection of digital media, global security, and human rights.”

They display details of intelligence gathering that reveals the motives of the Communist Party of China, see the selected words, phrases, etc that were put into the censor systems.

Mr Luedtke is doing nothing more than shilling for the Communist Party of China and its membership. Interesting how sensitive he becomes whenever I touch on the matter that stigmatizes the Communist Party of China as a dictatorshit. I call it what the people of China call it. Unlike Mr Luedtke, I support the dissidents and resistance to dictatorshit no matter left, right, centre. Dictatorshits are major breeders and carriers of the S.O.R.E. Virus.

Wally Keeler
Reply to  Walter Luedtke
4 years ago

Dictator Xi is not Winnie The Pooh https://youtu.be/I6XW-NPsMbM

Keith Oliver
Reply to  Wally Keeler
4 years ago

Wally
To this moment you’ve made 26 entries on this blog, almost all of them irrelevant to any rational conversation about the pandemic, most of them include ridicule of China and its form of government. We know nothing about China, this history nor how it’s people feel about the way they’re governed. I can give you all kinds of examples of how Western governments and elites have behaved and continue to behave in the same destructive manner. You’ve alluded to that yourself. Your response to Leweez about who was mean to who first is incredible. Hard to understand just what you approve of or stand for. As I’ve stated at least twice below you’re only making yourself irrelevant. At this point this conversation is probably over.

Frenchy
Reply to  Keith Oliver
4 years ago

“Wally
To this moment you’ve made 26 entries on this blog, almost all of them irrelevant to any rational conversation”

Hey Keith, remember the term “Gish Gallop” used a few months ago? Wally is back at it.
He should use it as his new pseudonym instead of that 9 digit number in 3 groups of 3, much like a Social Insurance Number that he usually uses.

Wally Keeler
Reply to  Keith Oliver
4 years ago

“We know nothing about China, this history nor how it’s people feel about the way they’re governed. I can give you all kinds of examples of how Western governments and elites have behaved and continue to behave in the same destructive manner.

I;m sure that you could enumerate Western perfidy and I would agree with you. I have been the victim in Canada of security forces intercepting my mail, wiretapping my phone, interrogating my landlord, my employer, my friends as to whether I was a loyal Canadian, culminating in an arson attack on my home.. I condemned that quite thoroughly. Then I came into contact with peace activists and dissidents and artists in the countries of East Europe that were profoundly oppressed by the totalitarian dictatorshit of the USSR. I put my personal freedom on the line for the benefit of their creativity. You may know nothing about the Communist Party of China but I do. I cherish freedom and freedom is obtainable in Western democracies and much much less so in dictatorshits, left, right or centre. I approve and stand for freedom. It is pathetically sad that you don’t recognize that and that you know me from nothing at all. I thought much better of you before this.

Wally Keeler
Reply to  Walter Luedtke
4 years ago

“Overseas tech workers have come out in support of colleagues in China, warning of a “race to the bottom” following comments made by tech tycoon Jack Ma about the “996” overtime culture in the industry.”

Just another multibillionaire exploiting the workers. . https://www.rfa.org/english/news/china/jackma-labor-04232019153939.html?searchterm:utf8:ustring=%20jack%20ma

Leweez
4 years ago

Wally Keeler,
Please go ride your tricycle and quit pounding the keys.
Gland bland blah blah blah

Keith Oliver
Reply to  Leweez
4 years ago

Leweez, or who ever you are, your comments about Wally are totally uncalled for. However much I disagree with him including his use of language and his opinions around Covid-19 he’s still a descent human-being. Wally and I meet occasionally and usually have an interesting chat. Unlike you and others on this blog Wally has the decency, if not the courage, to use his real name. In short shame on you!

Wally Keeler
Reply to  Leweez
4 years ago

Another spineless individual insulting people from behind the burqa of a pseudonym.

Leweez
Reply to  Wally Keeler
4 years ago

I thought Wally Keeler was your pseudonym.
Why are you being so mean and calling me names?

Wally Keeler
Reply to  Leweez
4 years ago

Because : “Please go ride your tricycle and quit pounding the keys.
Gland bland blah blah blah
you were being mean to me.

Keith Oliver
4 years ago

Wally … Unbelievable. You are quoting “freebeacon.com”, a rag of an extreme rightwing for-profit web-site that promotes Trump as a Rocky Balboa Ii, slanders Representative Eric Swalwell (D) of California, sells custom made Make America Great Again ball caps and mugs with a variety of wording sure to “trigger Liberals”. You may have a point when sighting what the Jack Ma Foundation donated to Europe to assist in dealing with the Cronavirus outbreak … but check your sources. Again, along with your choice of words you are only undermining your argument.

Canuck Patriot
Reply to  Keith Oliver
4 years ago

“…a rag of an extreme right wing for profit website…”
Just because you disagree politically with the views expressed in the publication is no reason to denigrate it as a rag.

This is how the left-wing always responds when it has no supportable arguments. I, for one, don’t share the comfort and belief that you apparently do in the propaganda put out by the Communist regime.

Leweez
Reply to  Keith Oliver
4 years ago

Keith quickly scanned your comment and thought I read free bacon.
You had me with free bacon

Wally Keeler
Reply to  Keith Oliver
4 years ago

Wally … Unbelievable. You are quoting “freebeacon.com”, a rag of an extreme rightwing for-profit web-site

Keith … Unbelievable that you are such a shallow knee-jerk reader. Your pious and cavalier dismissal is indicative of a narrow-minded locked-into-their-ideology individual. Knee jerk response. What a broad disgusting brush you wield. And the Guardian is a left-wing for-profit. So what is your beef about profit-making media?

I referred to a specific article. The article was written by Yuichiro Kakutani, a recent graduate from Cornell University, where he studied government and history. He provided links to his sources. El Pais a major Spanish news org. Expats.cz is a news org for Czech expats, Taiwan News, a major news org, among others. They provided the data points I wanted to you to see. But I see that you have a horse blinder attached to your right eye.

I take info as much as I can from credible sources whether they are perceived as right, left, centre or far out. I donlt use that juvenile filtration device before I read an article. I have taken good info from the Guardian in spite of a few ignoramuses dismissing it as an “extreme” left-wing “rag”. Anyway, it is an insight into your self-censoring ways and it doesn’t look particularly astute on your part..

Wally Keeler
4 years ago
Paul Pagnuelo
4 years ago

In addition to more information on membership, it would be interesting to know what the ECG’s mandate is, what authority and power it has, who formed it and was it ever approved by Council?

Presumably all decision making remains with Council and has not been shifted to an unelected body.

Keith Oliver
4 years ago

To those who express concerns about the use of public transit and the limited physical spacing and clean surfaces busses offer.
A majority of citizens have cars. (How often do they wipe down their interior surfaces?). Those who don’t often depend on public transit, may not be able to afford taxies. Like everyone else I’m sure they have the good sense to understand the risks, decide when and when not to use what may be for them a risky but essential service. If you know someone in this situation, offer to run errands. What about giving them a ride with them in the back seat and the windows open. We all need to pitch in which may mean that we all have to share the risk.

Wally Keeler
Reply to  Keith Oliver
4 years ago

If each citizen had an N95 mask for these brief outings, that would certainly reduce the risk of acquiring the virus in taxis, buses, or other forms of transit. But they can no longer be acquired by North American citizens because of a deliberate shortage. The manufacture of medical equipment, pharmaceuticals, etc were all outsourced to China. In the past week, China has supplied Europe and Iran and other countries around the world with masks and other equipment and informing the US and Canada that they have none left to sell to us. That, of course, is contrived by the Chinese dictatorshit. But Canada shipped off 16 tons of face masks and other supplies to the Chinese Communist government for distribution as they see fit. This is the CBC syrupy story about it https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/coronavirus-china-canada-meng-wanzhou-1.5465011 Btw, China has declined to reciprocate to date. Canada gave away part of our sovereignty when he did that and Canada has no manufacturing capacity to make this needed medical equipment. Thank our Liberal, NDP, Green, etc for this predicament.

Wally Keeler
Reply to  Wally Keeler
4 years ago

“In Toronto, Dr. Michael Gardam “This is not something (social distancing) that we can relax after two weeks,” he warned. Gardam, the hospital’s chief of staff and infectious disease physician, is scrambling to stockpile masks to protect his staff at Humber River Hospital.”

Why should he have to scramble for such “essential” supplies? Sending 16 tons of medical supplies to the Communist Party of China last month was lethally reckless for Canada. If the leftist govt of Canada had first checked our reserve supplies and found that Canada had a surplus of 16 tons, then and only then, exercise our national generosity. Look at the predicament we are in now. It was a stupid thing to have done. Lethally stupid.

Walter Luedtke
Reply to  Wally Keeler
4 years ago

And In other news:
Chinese businessman Jack Ma, who is the founder of the Alibaba Group and among the world’s richest people, offered to donate 500,000 coronavirus testing kits and one million masks to the United States,when it declared a national emergency over the outbreak.
Over the past weeks, Ma’s organisations have helped provide similar supplies to virus-hit countries such as Japan, South Korea, Italy, Iran and Spain. Aljazeera
Meanwhile, back home.
Ontario stockpiled 55 million face masks — then destroyed them. Toronto Star

Wally Keeler
Reply to  Walter Luedtke
4 years ago

Meanwhile in Australia:
https://www.smh.com.au/national/chinese-backed-company-s-mission-to-source-australian-medical-supplies-20200325-p54du8.html

the Greenland Group sourced 3 million protective masks, 700,000 hazmat suits and 500,000 pairs of protective gloves from “Australia, Canada, Turkey and other countries.”

And Jack Ma offers only 1 million masks to America. Oh the generosity! Progressives give a standing O to this kind of sop. Alibaba is a communist controlled business. When Jack Ma is advised to distribute the Greenland Group’s largesse to selected countries to curry favour. Jack Ma does nothing without the favour of the dictator Xi. That is the CEO of China Corp. Jack Ma was permitted to generate and accumulate wealth, he is nowhere like an independent business. It’s a cheap ploy that gullible culverts swallow wholesale. And some of them try to sell that softsoap on this forum.

Ken Strauss
Reply to  Wally Keeler
4 years ago

For those impressed with the Chinese donation:

In recent days, OPG has donated half a million surgical masks and 75,000 N95 masks to the province, so that front-line health-care workers can have personal protective equipment.
https://globalnews.ca/news/6749184/pickering-nuclear-station-employee-covid-19-opg/

Wally Keeler
Reply to  Walter Luedtke
4 years ago

About that 55 million face masks: https://www.toronto.com/opinion-story/9916365-ontario-stockpiled-55-million-face-masks-then-destroyed-them/

The left leaning Liberals ruled Ontario from 2003 to 2018. In all those years they let Ontario;s stockpile deteriorate without replenishment. Lethal stupidity!

Informed
Reply to  Wally Keeler
4 years ago

….and thats what we know about.

Keith Oliver
Reply to  Wally Keeler
4 years ago

I believe that when a plague threatens it’s important to take action ASAP … and so my comments on Wallys’ use of the following words which are as usual inappropriate and self-defeating to any arguement he is trying to make. They include but are not limited to his use of “stupid”, “leathally stupid”, “leftist”, “deliberate shortage”, the Government of China as a “dictatorshit”, and those who don’t agree with Wally as “gullible culverts”.
As to his concern that Canada, early on provided China with 16 tons of protective equipment, it was the absolute right thing to do. Its purpose was to stop the epidemic in China before it became a pandemic.
What l support right now is for Canada to provide assistance to other smaller countries, especially those in Africa with weaker economies and healthcare systems.
As long as we stay calm, use reason instead of hyperbole, exchange different points-of-view respectfully and see ourselves as part of a global community instead of a self-centered local community, in the end we’ll all be better off.

Dubious
Reply to  Keith Oliver
4 years ago

What l support right now is for Canada to provide assistance to other smaller countries, especially those in Africa with weaker economies and healthcare systems.

I hope that you continue to espouse similar, lethally stupid, ideas and still see yourself as part of a global community instead of a self-centered local community when you need a ventilator operated by a local health care worker with no personal protective equipment.

Wally Keeler
Reply to  Dubious
4 years ago

Like you, I care about our Canadian grampas staying alive for their grandchildren. How will such saints of generosity explain the deaths of so many Canadian grampas due to the lack of supplies that were sent to a big Communist totalitarian state and a bunch of weak African countries.

Keith Oliver
Reply to  Wally Keeler
4 years ago

What you seem to be saying Wally is that Canadian grandpa’s are more important than African grandpa’s?

Dubious
Reply to  Keith Oliver
4 years ago

Canadian grandpa’s contribute more to Canada and matter more to their Canadian families and more to their Canadian communities than African grandpa’s. You should share your concerns with the Canadian families who loose their grandpa’s because needed medical supplies were sent to help African grandpa’s.

Informed
Reply to  Keith Oliver
4 years ago

Mine is

Informed
Reply to  Keith Oliver
4 years ago

Yes.i dont have one in Africa

Keith Oliver
Reply to  Dubious
4 years ago

To Dubious or whoever you are … I’ll take my chances!

Wally Keeler
Reply to  Keith Oliver
4 years ago

Such selfish self-centred cavalier “chances” endangers the health of other Canadians.

Frenchy
Reply to  Dubious
4 years ago

You sound like a very selfish guy Dubious. Tell you what, if it comes down to you and me and just one ventilator, you can have it. Unless of course one of your grand-kids needs it, then I’ll fight you like hell to let them have it.

Dubious
Reply to  Frenchy
4 years ago

You sound like a very selfish guy Dubious.

It is selfish to care more about your neighbors than a grandpa thousands of miles away that has never been in Canada? I’m glad that not everyone feels the same.

Frenchy
Reply to  Dubious
4 years ago

You don’t care about your neighbours, you only care about you. I’d still fight for your grand-kids over you for that ventilator.

Wally Keeler
Reply to  Keith Oliver
4 years ago

“As to his concern that Canada, early on provided China with 16 tons of protective equipment, it was the absolute right thing to do. Its purpose was to stop the epidemic in China before it became a pandemic.”

The purpose was to curry favour from the Communist Party of China. Re-read this https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/coronavirus-china-canada-meng-wanzhou-1.5465011 and you can see that the 16 tons was sent to thaw relations, to curry favour, playing politics. Claiming it was an exclusive humanitarian gesture was nothing more than a fig leaf.

CBC, govt media, reported in its opening paragraph; “Canada’s response to the deadly novel coronavirus outbreak is winning unusual praise in China — a development that federal government sources here say is part of a broader re-engagement strategy aimed at repairing strained relations between the two countries.”

Nothing there about humanitarian aid.

The next paragraph: “News reports in Chinese state-run media, official government statements and messages posted by Chinese citizens online all suggest a warming trend in the Canada-China relationship — a relationship that’s been very tense since the arrest of Huawei executive Meng Wanzhou in Vancouver in 2018.”

Again no mention of humanitarian aid. But imagine the thrill that Global Canada felt when they realized there might be a warming trend. LOL. “Posted by Chinese citizens on-line” This is foolish because China is the most surveilled society known to humankind. The Communist Party knows how to play the propaganda game. Those so-called “citizens” are not free to say as they please like citizens can here. They are plants to dupe leftist Westerners. Not to mention the Canadians held on trumped up charges of spying.

Paragraph 4 “On Friday, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi applauded Canada for responding to China’s request for medical equipment, such as face masks and protective gear. “On behalf of the people of China, we extend our appreciations. Thank you,” Wang told his Canadian counterpart François-Philippe Champagne at the Munich Security Conference. “This is a special relationship.”

Do you know what “special” means? It means nothing at all. Nada. Wow, Global Affairs must have wet themselves over this announcement. Again no humanitarian aid is mentioned.

Wally Keeler
Reply to  Keith Oliver
4 years ago

Paragraph 5 “His remarks mark a notable shift in tone since January by the ruling Communist Party, and it’s all the more remarkable given the overt animosity in the bilateral relationship over the past 14 months.”

Again no mention of humanitarian aid. The motivation being extolled here is of political and diplomatic advantage. The humanitarian part is less important. Canadians can be proud that their 16ton of medical supplies was there to cause a “notable shift in tone.”

Which was even “more remarkable.”Canadians should be proud that their efforts caused a notable shift, in what you ask? Tone. I am sure that Canadian, Robert Schellenberg, who was given a death sentence in January 2019 feels proud.

Paragraph 7 “Government sources in this country tell CBC News that the so-called public health diplomacy by Canada has resulted in a new climate of diplomatic détente — and that relations with China are better now than they have been since at least 2018.”

So now Canada has a new “climate of diplomatic détente” claiming “that relations with China are better now than they have been since …” By what metric do these so-called “government sources” make such a tenuous assertion. Designed to bamboozle the public on our govt owned and run CBC.

As we can see the primary motivation was political and diplomatic. Humanitarian aid was just the right cover to send medical aids to the Chinese Communist Party. Of course it didn’t matter about to our govt or the supporters of this quid pro quo deal, especially when there is no quo. Has the Chinese Communist Party reciprocated for our diplomatic gesture? Yes, they said that there is a “special” reationship. How will one tell a Canadian grandchild that grampa died due to a lack of medical equipment that had been shipped to a foreign dictatorshit to save the grampas there?

Frenchy
Reply to  Wally Keeler
4 years ago

“How will one tell a Canadian grandchild that grampa died due to a lack of medical equipment that had been shipped to a foreign dictatorshit to save the grampas there?”
Perhaps the same way we explain the deaths of so many Canadian Grandpas dying in wars on foreign soil every November 11th.

Informed
Reply to  Wally Keeler
4 years ago

Im starting to like you 🙂

Wally Keeler
Reply to  Keith Oliver
4 years ago

Wallys’ use of the following words which are as usual inappropriate and self-defeating to any arguement he is trying to make. They include but are not limited to his use of “stupid”, “leathally stupid”, “leftist”, “deliberate shortage”, the Government of China as a “dictatorshit”, and those who don’t agree with Wally as “gullible culverts”.

Take my advice Oliver and read this https://www.orwell.ru/library/essays/politics/english/e_polit

“the government of China as a “dictatorshit”

This seems to be a big concern of Oliver’s and also Walter who has expressed umbrage at the term. Why are they acting to defend the Chinese Communist Party so vigorously? They can’t even bring themselves to use the word “Communist’ preferring to say it is a “government of China.” The constitution of China calls itself a Communist Party and refers to the “dictatorship of the proletariat.” So I take their self-referencing word dictatorship and I change it with a single letter thereby making their character more accurately described.

You are NOT a poet Oliver. Poets deal with language their entire careers. Who are you to scold poets for the words usage. You’re quite the word bigot. My reply to your elitist condescending scold is this quote by Dylan Thomas that I published in my anthology , Cobourg is My Poem Town:

“I came to love words more and to hate the heavy hands that knocked them about, the thick tongues that [had] no feel for their multitudinous tastes, the dull and botching hacks who flattened them out into a colourless and insipid paste, the pedants who made them moribund and pompous as themselves … I use everything and anything to make my poems work and move in the direction I want them to: old tricks, new tricks, puns, portmanteaus-words, paradox, allusion, paronomasia, paragram, catachresis, slang, assonantal rhymes, vowel rhymes, spring rhythm. Every device there is in language is there to be used if you will. Poets have got to enjoy themselves sometimes, and the twisting and convolutions of words, the inventions and contrivances, are all part of the joy.”

Frenchy
Reply to  Wally Keeler
4 years ago

What’s a “gullible culvert”?

Wally Keeler
Reply to  Frenchy
4 years ago

Be concerned about this, just in:

MADRID March 26 (Reuters) – Spain extended its coronavirus lockdown on Thursday and said it was fighting a “real war” over medical supplies to contain the world’s second-highest virus death toll, turning to China for many critical products, where officials reported fraud and massive price increases. “We are in a real war to get hold of ventilators, face masks and quick test kits,” government spokeswoman Maria Jesus Montero told Telecinco television. “All the countries are fighting to secure domestic production, fighting to get supplies from China,” she said. Spain has ordered 432 million euros ($471.4 million) of goods from China,

Keith Oliver
Reply to  Wally Keeler
4 years ago

Wally … This just in! Globe and Mail, March 27th. “M*A*S*H, Italian-Style: Canadian doctors fight COVID-19 in the field.”

Sent to a belegered hospital in Cremona, Italy, mission includes 20 tons of equipment, 14 tents, 68 beds and 67 medical personnel and support workers 28 of whom are Canadian nurses and doctors. Coordinator Ian Stokes states that information gained on the treatment of the disease will be of great value in Canada.
Again Canada, Canadians, are doing the absolute right thing and more power to them. It’s so easy to react in a negative way to threats and just close the door. America First, Canada First? is that really the kind of World you want?

Frenchy
Reply to  Keith Oliver
4 years ago

Even dicktatershits (how do you like that one Wally?) like Russia and Cuba donate stuff. Those countries have faced bare shelves and long line-ups at markets long before the covid19 crisis. They get it.

Wally Keeler
Reply to  Frenchy
4 years ago

Are you willing to say that the people of Cuba willingly face bare shelves and long line-ups for decades for the sake of helping other countries?

Btw, your wordplay stinks of mediocrity, like most of your prosebag postings.

Appropoetically to the current zeitgeist: Rule by Doctatorship, is better. Health Rules!

Dubious
Reply to  Keith Oliver
4 years ago

It would be better to have the Canadian nurses helping our Canadian friends and neighbors. Many Canadians have Italian roots so it is possible these nurses are actually saving Canadian grandpa;s.

Wally Keeler
Reply to  Keith Oliver
4 years ago

Canada First? is that really the kind of World you want?”

In times of national emergency involving the potential of the mass death of Canadians — YES!!!!!!! My loved ones live in Canada come first to me.

Inside our home we hear an explosion outside. We run to the window and see our sons lying unconscious on our respective lawns. Would you run out to check up on my son first? Here’s a clue. I would run to my son FIRST, and I wouldn’t feel a single grain a guilt about doing so.

Keith Oliver
Reply to  Wally Keeler
4 years ago

Wally … Your example as to the priority each of us would give to a loved one in an immediate emergency is totally irrelevant to the comments I have made about the importance of Canada and Canadians acting as responsible and proactive members of a World Community. The most reasonable conclusion as to how life on Earth when through the more drastic changes in physical evolution (legs became wings for example) is that they took place rapidly in moments of crisis. Maybe this is one of those moments, but in another form, a crisis that will finally make us all understand how interdependent all Humans are, how totally stupid war is, how extremism of any kind is, how right it is that we should all care for and to a greater degree take responsibility for each other. The individual that made the greatest contribution to the content of the 1947 United Nations Declaration of the Rights of Man was a respected Canadian, John Peters’ Humphry. Lester Pearson won a Nobel Prize for Canada’s work in creating the first UN Peace Keeping Force. Canada has a tradition to build on.
Back to your example … Of course there are limits, but in the present case we’re not even close. We are a wealth, resourceful, well educated and hopefully caring people and We are doing the right thing.

Frenchy
Reply to  Wally Keeler
4 years ago

Inside our home we hear an explosion outside. We run to the window and see our sons lying unconscious on our respective lawns.

That explosion was set off by a bunch of Taliban basterds who had plenty of time to perfect their bomb making abilities “over there” as their actions went unimpeded and unpoliced. Meanwhile, Canada was building up quite a formidable army and keeping them on our shores in case those guys ever brought their war over here. Our Prime Minister of the day was overheard saying “I wish we had sent some of specialty forces overseas to thwart those buggers’ plans and capabilities before it came to our shores blowing up those two guys”.💣

Keith Oliver
Reply to  Wally Keeler
4 years ago

The point I made Wally is that your poetic use of language is getting in the way of others taking your comments seriously. You need to understand that it’s the Chinese people who are suffering, individuals who are no different from from you and I. As individuals they remember with fondness the Canadian Dr Norman Bethune, his sacrifice and the circumstances under which he died. We still have much to learn about every aspect of this new virus as we will about the new viruses humanity will face again and again into the future. With its growing middle-class China’s authoritarian form of government will eventually be replaced. It took over 200 years for Canada to form it’s unique form of democracy and we’re still not finished. A respectful relationship with China will be important. The many who study at our universities, have relatives here, business connection here, are another positive influence. Forget about the pundits, they are only concerned with the politics of the moment, they seldom get things right. We are the 10th largest economy in the world as well as its most successful pluralistic, liberal democracy. Canada did the right thing.

Wally Keeler
Reply to  Keith Oliver
4 years ago

The point I made Keith about your word bigotry, is that is dead language, it is the language nof the political elite, it reeks of adminese, bureaucratese, sociologese, etc ese. You are advocating Nicespeak which is the new Newspeak which is Nospeak at all. My language is kitchentablespeak!

I spent considerable time inside several dictatorshits, the socialist kind, sat at a lot of family kitchen tables with artists, poets, dissidents, civilians, and to a person they never spoke of their ruling class in anything except disrespectfully. They would laugh with great mockery, at your request that the commies be spoken about respectfully.

You need to understand that it’s the Chinese people who are suffering, individuals who are no different from from you and I.

They are different insofar as they live their entire lives as objects of the Communist Party of China controlled by the most ubiquitous surveillance society known to humankind to earn social credit points. You should understand that your phrase “Chinese people” excludes every other minority who are resident in China. Why such prejudice for the “Chinese people?” It is the Communist Party of China that pits the “Chinese people” against the Tibetans, and against the Uyghurs and the other 55 minorities inside China. Maybe it’s you that needs to understand how dictatorshits operate. That kind of comment can be hurtful to the all of the minorities in China perceiving that you support the ruling demographic of the Communist Party of China. Give us some more advice on how to Talk to tyrants.

Wally Keeler
Reply to  Keith Oliver
4 years ago

As individuals they remember with fondness the Canadian Dr Norman Bethune, his sacrifice and the circumstances under which he died.”

These “individuals” are the “Chinese people” you referred to in the previous sentence. I don’t think the Tibetans (regarded as citizens of China) know about Bethune, nor do the Uhgyars, nor to any of the other 55 ethnic minorities resident in China. The only people who have ever extolled Bethune was the vast Communist Party of China and all of its neighbourhood stooges.

Dictator Tito and his minions called the citizens under his Communist rule Yugoslavians. He made all Yugoslavians equal, but that Serbs were more equal Back during the Cold War in the 80s I heard many so-called progressives refer to the Yugoslav people as if they existed. Then Tito kicked the bucket and the progressive narrative fell apart.

You, Keith, need to be more careful with the words that you use.

My suggestion is that the Communist Party of China be regarded as an enemy of democracy and that Western democracies no longer put the health of their citizens in jeopardy by relying on a hostile criminal dictatorshit and begin a crash program of our own manufacturing of essential material.

Wally Keeler
Reply to  Keith Oliver
4 years ago

Wally is that your poetic use of language is getting in the way of others taking your comments seriously.”

I really don’t care whether you or your ilk take my language seriously or otherwise. You and your ilk are totally irrelevant to me in this particular matter. You want to comment on my use of language then I will comment on your use of language, which amounts to nothing more than bland gland debris and distributing as much mediocrity as possible in the service of a dictatorshit.

You have good intentions coming out your ears. It is being used to pave the road to Hell.

Frenchy
Reply to  Wally Keeler
4 years ago

Take a breath Wally, you’re going to pop a vessel. It’s not too early to go out and have a smoke. Chill.

Walter Luedtke
Reply to  Wally Keeler
4 years ago

Oh Wally! Get over yourself.
In my post above I referred to Jack Ma, a businessman, not the Communist Party.
I read the piece by George Orwell. Nowhere does he stoop to the term ‘dictatorshit’.
However you may have stolen it from a song by the Brazilian heavy metal band Sepultura.
And, if I may try wordsmithing, terms like ‘bureaucrap’ and ‘dictatorshit’ seem to appeal to a ‘pooet’.
Runs to hide behind Ms Frenchy.

Frenchy
Reply to  Walter Luedtke
4 years ago

Hey Walter, don’t get me involved, I’ve long said that Wally’s made up words were infantile and reminded me of Dr. Seuss and Ned Flanders (look it up). Who can take him seriously?

Wally Keeler
Reply to  Walter Luedtke
4 years ago

Here’s your beloved Jack Ma Foundation (similar to the corrupt Clinton Foundation) This point was driven home as the Jack Ma Foundation sent five-times as many masks to Spain much faster by air. https://www.forbes.com/sites/wadeshepard/2020/03/27/chinas-health-silk-road-gets-a-boost-from-covid-19/#2287f28a6043

and the results: China cashes in off coronavirus, selling Spain $467 million in supplies, some of them substandard therey putting lives at risk. https://www.foxnews.com/world/china-money-coronavirus-spain-467-million-faulty-supplies

Walter falls for Communist Party of China (aka dictatorshit) propaganda

Walter Luedtke
Reply to  Wally Keeler
4 years ago

Hey Wally!
This is a worldwide pandemic probably made worse by global warming.
No time for polootics!

Frenchy
Reply to  Wally Keeler
4 years ago

Hey Wally, Dubious, check this out:
https://www.ctvnews.ca/politics/china-donates-thousands-of-medical-masks-personal-protective-equipment-to-canada-1.4872541
““We are together!” the Chinese Embassy wrote.”

Frenchy
Reply to  Frenchy
4 years ago
Dubious
Reply to  Frenchy
4 years ago

Great but 30000 masks won’t go far with 5000 infected and rising quickly. Wally is the anti-Chinese one.

Frenchy
Reply to  Dubious
4 years ago

Do you know many masks we sent to China?
1,101
One thousand, one hundred and one. Say it slow.
To hear Wally tell the story, it sounds like we sent 16 tons of them (oh yeah,
and some other medical equipment) to China.

Wally Keeler
Reply to  Frenchy
4 years ago

16 tons as the mainstream media and govt media asserted.

Frenchy
Reply to  Wally Keeler
4 years ago

“16 tons as the mainstream media and govt media asserted.”
And (some) contents of which you happily perpetuated. If enough people like you repeat it over and over, it ends up being believed as fact.
I don’t doubt it was 16 tons but you made it sound like it was primarily masks. You only repeat the parts that make your stories sound sensational. Heck, you even got Dubious drawn into your us vs them mentality.
Any comment on the supplies and support sent to us by China? Any hint of a Thank You?

Wally Keeler
Reply to  Frenchy
4 years ago

Any comment on the supplies and support sent to us by China? Any hint of a Thank You?

Not a chance of doing that. I condemn the Communist Party of China (CPC) for its ubiquitous censorshit, that included the warning signs from doctors wanting to contact their peers and seniors, actively suppressing information from the beginning, not just from the world at large, or from their own people, but denied information being exchanged amongst doctors. That was deliberate on the part of the CPC. That is manslaughter. The above is well-documented. The CPC has been vigorously pumping out the S.O.R.E. Virus. Suppression, Oppression, Repression of Expression. Left right and centre. I hold them responsible for the entire pandemic. The grossly immodest propaganda show of CHINA GOES MOTHER TERESA is just the pap and pablum and gulp fiction that Jack Ma showboats on, spreading faulty equipment to Europe at a time of life or death. I certainly hope that Canadian authorities will check out the propaganda gift to ascertain whether it is faulty or not.

Merry Mary
4 years ago

I noted on Tuesday, March 24 two cleanings, decontaminations, of the bus for Route 1. Community Spread is happening even in the best of conditions. I feel much safer with the transit guidelines than for travelling in volunteers’ vehicles or taxis and that feeling has nothing to do with money. Next Step: Total Shutdown of Everything and Everybody.

Ken Strauss
Reply to  Merry Mary
4 years ago

Mary, what is the relevance of mentioning travel in taxis? If your work is not essential you should remain at home.

Merry Mary
Reply to  Ken Strauss
4 years ago

Ken: Taxis were suggested as an alternative method of getting to and from essential work.

John L. Hill
4 years ago

I watched the online council meeting and was shocked that 6 of the 7 councillors accepted the free bus pass without consideration of the possibility of community spread or the necessity of immediate decontamination of surfaces that riders may have touched. If this Town is really serious about protecting all residents and not just town employees, it would have temporarily suspended bus service. There was no questioning as to the need for bus service ( e.g., how many, if any, transit users are dependent on public transit to provide essential services?) This was a policy made without an evidential basis and one that puts the most vulnerable in our community in jeopardy.

Merry Mary
4 years ago

In regards to the free Transit, it appears that the carrying capacity will have to be limited, perhaps to eight riders at a time, eight riders with definite destination places, rather than riders just riding around the town because it is free.

Paul Pagnuelo
Reply to  Merry Mary
4 years ago

I don’t understand Council’s decision on the free transit. This can only result in community spread. All it will take is one passenger. The logic escapes me.

JimT
Reply to  Paul Pagnuelo
4 years ago

The driver is normally also the fare collector, but is now isolated at the front of the bus by a “caution” tape across the aisle about ¼ of the way back and access is by the rear doors only.
Monitoring fare contribution or monthly passes is not possible under such circumstances.
Not charging fares at all would seem to be the only viable option.

Paul Pagnuelo
Reply to  JimT
4 years ago

Shutting down public transit is the safest option for everyone. How are passengers protected from community spread? We need more than half efforts to beat this. Has common sense fallen by the wayside?

Merry Mary
Reply to  Paul Pagnuelo
4 years ago

Transit is needed for those people who are deemed Essential Service Workers and for those who need to shop for food and other essentials.

Ken Strauss
Reply to  Merry Mary
4 years ago

Mary, the public bus is obviously a possible avenue of transmission but your points deserve discussion before cancelling services. How many essential workers depend on the bus? Do they have alternatives? Would it be feasible for volunteers to deliver food to those unable to use the bus for shopping? Why was there no discussion of alternatives at Council?

Paul Pagnuelo
Reply to  Merry Mary
4 years ago

Potentially exposing essential service workers unnecessarily to the virus that may be living on the seats, doors and handrails is not a reasonable proposition. I would think that many have their own transportation or have made arrangements with co-workers who do and who share the same environment at work.

For others who need to shop for food or other essentials, some stores are offering online shopping and delivery. Groups are forming to help those who are unable to get around and neighbors are not only helping neighbors but complete strangers as the severity of the situation grows daily.

I have an appointment with a medical specialist tomorrow. His nurse called today to say not to come to the office. Instead, he will conduct the appointment by phone.

We need to be proactive in stopping community spread. Allowing public transit to continue in the circumstances is only inviting the potential for an avoidable tragedy.

Bryan
Reply to  Merry Mary
4 years ago

8 bus riders at a time…..whow! That would be a likely be a ridership record, up significantly from the normal none, one or two riders.