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COMMENT

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Will a new generation, councillor & arts initiatives finally revitalize downtown?

WindsorOntarioNews.com October 9 2024

There are signs of new energy downtown. From new and re-opened bars and restaurants – including The Manchester, Panache Ultra Lounge & Restaurant, Auto City Hamburgers & Poutine, Saila Vibes, Thyme Kitchen, Cucina 360 and Smoke’s Poutinerie – to a renewed vigor shown by local councillor Renaldo Agostino, there’s a real possibility downtown Windsor could now turn the tide after decades of being in the doldrums. Agostino, as an impresario and businessman, knows the downtown like the back of his hand, and seems to be everywhere promoting even the smallest event as a downtown booster extraordinaire. City Council’s $3.2 million Strengthen the Core initiative obviously backs downtown including more round the clock policing and homeless aid. But pouring tax money into the downtown won’t do it alone. What will do it is more private individuals investing in vacant storefronts and creating retail, eating and drinking establishments, and hospitality like the Chatham group’s conversion of the Paul Martin building into a boutique hotel, modelled after Chatham’s’ successful Retro Suites. Initiatives like the very popular farmers and night markets and art-inspired installations like WIFF Alley and Art Alley at the Pelissier St. parking garage are reviving vacant areas into captivating walkways and performing art spaces. This really isn’t brain science. Downtown’s footprint is ideal as a walkable people place – or “walkable urban environment” as the DWBIA calls it - with a narrow street grid and a fantastic natural riverfront setting with an astounding skyline view other cities would kill for. Finally, there’s the model of Amherstburg. For decades this historic town also had a bleak and vacant core, now filling with whimsical boutiques, eateries and the first of two boutique hotels. Perhaps it’s a generational thing and younger entrepreneurs see the potential older ones didn’t. Let’s hope it’s the same for Windsor.

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U Windsor president's resignation leaves a dark cloud over campus

WindsorOntarioNews.com Sept. 24 2024

The announcement of University of Windsor president Robert Gordon’s – early – retirement -is all a piece. This president, whom the public hardly knew because of his low profile – almost a ghost president – is being handled quietly. No press conference. In fact, Gordon is out of the country. The announcement was made in the university’s official daily news platform, hardly an objective news site where reporters can ask the details of the resignation (just after his term renewed for six year!) and reflect on his tenure, good or bad. It also comes immediately after he took leave of absence for “health” reasons. This follows a tumultuous summer when the university should be on down time. But wasn’t due to two storming controversies. One was the cancellation of the dramatic arts school’s venerable public theatre, after more than half a century. That created alarm bells throughout the country, including among many of Canada’s acting elite who graduated or worked with graduates from the esteemed program. The other was the university’s shameful agreement with a ragtag group of pro-Palestinian/anti-Israel johnnies-come-lately protesters who set up an “encampment” on the campus, and the U caving in to their demands, an anomaly among Canadian campuses and condemned across the country. The U is now reaping the harvest with numerous donor cancellations amounting to hundreds of thousands of dollars, not to mention a huge chunk of Canadian and local donor goodwill and support. Gordon oversaw all this and was virtually silent throughout. What was wrong with him? He may have accomplished certain things (although eulogies always exaggerate) though some are par for the course for today’s woke university administrators – i.e., “carbon neutrality,” “equity, diversity and inclusion.” And some of the building and community initiatives (the new – and partly woke – law school with its masonry Land Acknowledgment) and downtown campuses were or likely already underway. So, say goodbye to a rather ineffective president hardly anyone knew who leaves a dark could on his way out.

Photo: University of Windsor

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No excuse for Negev Dinner protest

WindsorOntarioNews.com Sept. 12 2024

There was no excuse for the cruel and uncalled for harassment of attendees at last month’s time honoured Neved Dinner at the Caboto Club. Windsor’s Jewish community has celebrated the dinner for decades and it has nothing to do with the current War in Gaza, which protesters accused it of. What the protest amounted to was an attack on Windsor’s Jewish community simply because they are Jews. This is called antisemitism or racism. Former Prime Minister Stephen Harper, a strong supporter of Israel, was guest speaker. The dinner raised funds for a community in Israel devastated by last October’s ceasefire-breaking Hamas attack on Israel. Protesters were more than obnoxious – with insults, blocking traffic and pressing up against cars. The protest organizer was the usual suspect, Jana Alrifai, who led this summer’s “encampment” at the University of Windsor. “I think a lot of Zionists are walking into their fancy party and they're pretty annoyed that we're over here. We will call you, we will name you and we will shame you,” she reportedly said. Joe Schnayer of the local Jewish National Fund rightly called the protesters out for spreading “false information.” He was “disgusted” by the event, which called for more police protection, saying it had “nothing to do with the war going on in Israel right now, (the) event is simply raising money for Kibbutz Kissufim.” The problem with this and scores of other protests across Canada since Oct. 7 is that ignorant and belligerent protesters are attacking innocent Jews, conflating them with the Israel government. In other communities Jewish organizations have been shot at, firebombed and otherwise vandalized. Moreover, in Windsor, this marks a sad turn in the longstanding peaceful coexistence between Windsor’s Jewish and Muslim communities.

Photo: Windsor Star

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Good first move, but school boards are in need of more comprehensive reform

WindsorOntarioNews.com August 9 2024

It’s good to see the Ontario government is finally acting to rein in school boards, at least partially, though it hasn’t been quick enough and new policies should be retroactive, especially in relation to a gross local incident. The ministry is taking investigation and sanctioning powers out of the hands of local school trustees, a glaring conflict of interest if there ever was one. Now a provincial integrity commissioner will investigate matters like violations of boards’ “codes of conduct,” a sledgehammer wielded to quell dissent. Such codes have been used by the Greater Essex County District School Board, for one, to unfairly sanction trustee Linda Qin (photo). Qin was outrageously banned from school board committee meetings and even the full bard itself, for questioning board policy on transgender issues, school library books, and incomprehensively, speaking to the media. Has the board never learned the democratic principle of free speech? Qin has had long time disagreements with other board trustees and that’s all to the good because as many diverse opinions should be expressed at public bodies as possible. The board, ironically, should take lessons on the importance of civic democracy and that trustees are elected by the people to represent their views. This is beyond ironic. Unfortunately, the changes won’t help trustee Qin because they won’t take effect until January. The government’s removal of local powers is a good first step in totally reforming school boards, which have operated under the radar for too long due to public apathy and therefore have been able to get away with such nonsense. But the province must move on other issues, such as taking away boards’ right to implement gender-affirming policies where parents are not informed of students’ desire to change sexual identities. The Ford administration has been woefully abysmal on this matter.

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U Windsor has lost major credibility

WindsorOntarioNews.com July 24 2024

It’s the middle of the summer doldrums yet the area’s most prestigious educational institution, the University of Windsor, has been mired in two controversies and consequently has two major problems on its hands. The first was its decision to cancel the 66-year-old University Players, a showplace for its highly regarded dramatic arts program. The university says it needed to save money and the performing arts group, which also produced high caliber theater for the community, appeared to be low hanging fruit. As usual, no one within the ivy walls would comment beyond the briefest of statements. Yet the blowback has been ferocious, not just from theatre arts students but the wider community and performing arts world, where many alumni have found lucrative acting roles. The second is the U’s decision to appease a truly ragtag group of pro-Palestinian or Hamas demonstrators which set up on campus almost as an afterthought after students at most other universities had established “encampments.” What is it about Windsor’s university that makes administrators such soft targets for a self-styled illegitimate group’s demands? But unlike its counterparts at much larger and more prestigious institutions like McGill, Toronto and Waterloo, the administration caved to anti-Israel demands and the protest ended. In the aftermath Jewish groups from across the country have angrily registered their dissent and the U has been embarrassed in the national media. Some alumni are threatening to no longer donate to what used to be called “Last Chance U.” With both these decisions the university has tarnished its reputation and lost credibility. Yet no one from within its academic walls has spoken out – neither faculty or members of the board of governors. President Robert Gordon, who has kept a low profile throughout his tenure (does he really exist?) has made sure to duck on both counts. The cowardice is shameful.

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Strike a yawn in summer doldrums

WindsorOntarioNews.com July 11 2024

The LCBO strike – surprisingly, the first – is one of those “so what” moments. The union timed it well, smack at the beginning of summer vacation season (at least they spared us the Canada Day weekend, that would have gone too far), just to annoy the public as they head to the cottage or prepare weekend barbecues. And the union had the ironic gall to say its members are on strike “to save summer.” But at least pickets are enjoying the hot weather, better than in December before Christmas - LCBO’s busiest time - being out in the bitter cold. Hell, maybe they’re even barbecuing! But, guys, it really doesn’t matter. Thanks to successive governments, starting under the Liberals' Kathleen Wynne, alcohol sales in traditionally staid Ontario were expanded into grocery stores. So, many fewer people are being inconvenienced. True, LCBO workers aren’t overpaid, contrary to what many think. According to Indeed, a "customer service representative" is paid $18.37/hr, "sales associate" $17.39 and a "warehouse worker" $17.04. Management makes much more and the LCBO is reportedly top heavy. But union leader JP Hornick has made some inane class warfare remarks by saying the Ford government wants more profits to “go into the pockets of (big box grocery stores) corporate CEOs.” And that expanded sales – guffaw – “puts every Ontarian at risk.” At the supposed heart of the strike is the government’s move to continue the expansion of alcohol sales, including lucrative ready-to-drink cocktails and hard spritzers, into grocery and corner stores. But Premier Ford is adamant – “that ship has sailed.” Yes, the union is concerned about wages, benefits and job security. But its rhetoric of social welfare is misleading. It touts the LCBO profits generated - $2.5 billion annually – for government services like “health care and education.” Not so fast. Statistics Canada says the LCBO generates the second lowest per capita return to government of any province. Fully privatized (which the union dreads) Alberta, for example, generates $178 per person compared to $159 in Ontario, or an extra $300 million.

Photo: LCBO

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Axing University Players a collective blow to students, the community

WindsorOntarioNews.com June 27 2024

The decision to eliminate the performing arts theatre program University Players at the University of Windsor wasn’t just boneheaded but cowardly. University officials said the decision, which will save up to $1 million (that was the program’s yearly loss) was made at the “administrative” level and did not come before the Board of Governors. Those behind the decision must have known the outcry it would provoke, and it has. And they probably realized the Board wouldn’t have approved it or certainly made it difficult for the measure to pass. Yes, money had to be found in a tight university budget and this wasn’t the only program cancelled or rejigged. But the Players (aside from its recent politically correct “trigger warnings” before plays) was a standout and put the university on the Canadian, even international stage. Legions of alumni since the late 1950s have gone on to professional acting careers. Among these are Antoni Cimolino, artistic director of the Stratford Shakespeare Festival, celebrated actor Stephen Ouimette, Jeanne Holmes, artistic director of the Canada Dance Festival, Paul Constable – the “Canada Tire Guy” of ad fame, Tom McCamus of the Shaw Festival, and Amanda Tapping, star of the TV shows Stargate SG-1 and Sanctuary. “We have been extremely fortunate to benefit from its many well-trained and talented graduates,” Antoni Cimolino said. The program “has been unrivalled in the particular blend of training and education it has provided its students, many of whom have gone on to illustrious careers,” former Stratford director Richard Monette noted. Yes, says the university, dramatic arts will continue and students will still have “meaningful avenues for experiential learning” through, among other things, “strengthening relationships with the broader theatre community.” But, with the decision, not only does the university suffer a blow to its reputation and one of its most signature programs, but the community loses near-professional live theatre that scheduled six productions a year in a purpose-built 300+ seat theatre. It’s a blow to the collective gut and a decision that cannot stand.

Photo: University of Windsor

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Urban park - more thinking required; Civic esplanade ice rink - too pricey

WindsorOntarioNews.com June 13 2024

It was a good idea until it, uh, maybe it isn’t. Canada’s proposed second national urban park in west end Windsor, with great fanfare, would combine some existing natural areas and incorporate more land down to the Detroit River, in an otherwise partly industrial area. And that’s the rub. There are numerous heavy industries in close proximity. How would these coexist with the park or would they be incorporated into park boundaries? Among these are the Windsor Salt mine and the Essex Terminal Railway, whose tracks would bisect the park and could in effect be part of park land. Those private entities would now be subject to federal regulations in a highly sensitive ecological zone under the National Parks Act, which could be a bureaucratic nightmare especially given the Trudeau government's obsession with the environment. Mayor Drew Dilkens has asked the government to adjust the park boundaries but it’s obvious this plan wasn’t well thought out. Meanwhile, in the city’s own bailiwick, Council this week approved a whopping $15 million for a new ice rink, a space which would also host year-round events. Yes, the city wants to move on its decades old dream to create a civic esplanade from city hall to the river. But this is going overboard, especially when it would have cost only $1 million to upgrade the problem plagued current rink at Charles Clark Square. Even some of the mayor’s staunchest allies like councillors Jo-anne Gignac and Fred Francis voted against. In fact, the mayor broke the tied vote. WON generally has supported the Dilkens administration, including or perhaps despite the controversial streetcar Legacy Beacon – who knows, maybe it will work just like Bright Lights Windsor which had its share of naysayers - and sound fiscal management. But this is too much and smacks of empire building.

Image: City of Windsor

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Province must rein-in boards - now

WindsorOntarioNews.com May 29 2024

Something has got to be done about our illiberal school boards. Two cases in point ring in on the same day. One, in Windsor, sees a microphone cut off, of two Christian activists raising concerns about questionable sexually explicit material in school libraries, which they called “child pornography.” It’s confusing. Board chair Gail Hatfield (photo) said they were speaking off topic and had to relegate remarks to the Ontario Education Act, whatever that meant. She even called security, a typical move. Is this splitting hairs and another attempt by the school board, following a similar clash with parents last year over flying the Pride flag (Pride Month is just days away) as well as not disclosing a students’ changed gender identity to parents, to be politically correct? Not to mention its overriding local citizen school naming decisions? It really seems like this board doesn’t brook any dissent or dissent it doesn’t like. That’s called authoritarianism if not fascism. One might joke: this isn’t a school playground, it’s real life, grow up! Meanwhile up in Burlington, a Jewish parent withdrew her daughter from the local high school because she said she couldn’t be protected from antisemitic remarks. The parent also complained the school allowed maps of Palestine without Israel. “I live in Burlington, Ontario, Canada, and my child is not in school because she's Jewish. That's insane,” said Anissa Hersh, noting that following last October’s terror attacks on Israel “things have gotten much, much worse.” This is the same board which protected a shop teacher wearing mammoth prosthetic breasts, despite concerns about workplace safety and dress code. Somewhat surprisingly, Education Minister Stephen Lecce, largely MIA on these issues, spoke up. He said he would call on the board to “take action on these unacceptable incidents and apply the same level of concern and enforcement to hate as they would for anyone else.” It’s time Lecce and the full Ontario (Conservative) government called these autocratic school boards to account, on antisemitism, gender identity and, well, just about any issue these oh-so-politically-correct school trustees don’t like.

Photo: GECDSB

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Pro-Gazan demonstrators' duplicity

WindsorOntarioNews.com May 13 2024

You knew it was just a matter of time but what took them so long? The University of Windsor now has its very own “liberation zone” of pro-Palestinians or pro-Hamas demonstrators and a small encampment, which pales by comparison to the larger crowds at other Canadian universities. But, hey, it’s Windsor. The ill-informed protesters say they want the university to boycott investment in Israel, but the university already channels its investments through an ethical portal. And why would investing in Israel not be ethical? It’s the only democracy in the Middle East with a culture dramatically similar to what’s found in Canada or the United States, with a very large ethnically and racially diverse society, contrary to the “apartheid” tripe of these and other protesters. And did you know Muslim Arabs make up one-fifth of the population and that road signs there are in three languages – Hebrew, Arabic and English? And that Arabs are represented in Parliament? And that Israeli hospitals for decades have treated patients from Gaza and the West Bank? And you probably didn't know Gaza has not been "occupied" since 2005. And if these protesters care about human rights and “genocide” then they should look squarely at what they’re supporting. Israel doesn’t want to eliminate Arabs or Gazans. But the Gazan Hamas Charter explicitly calls for the elimination of the Jewish state. Now that’s genocide! Moreover, if these copycat protesters are so concerned about human rights, where is their condemnation of the Oct. 7 pogrom, where some 1200 Israelis were massacred and 250 taken hostage? Silence. And where is your real defense of your own people - as Hamas terrorists embed themselves in civilian neighbourhoods and use fellow Gazans as human shields? So, have a little fun and camp out and try to be as profound as you think you are. But we can see through your duplicity.

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The latest downtown booster proposals are likely to draw mixed results

WindsorOntarioNews.com April 26 2025

The mayor’s new Strengthen the Core proposal to bolster downtown is good but has weaknesses. Yes, more policing is needed – and around the clock, when crimes actually take place, such as the rash of smashed storefront windows. The $3.2 million budget would see an additional dozen officers deployed to the core. But even with this number cops can’t be everywhere at the same time. No doubt vandalism will continue to occur. WON has argued in the past for physical changes which this plan doesn’t address, such as supporting store owners to install metal blinds over their windows, very common in Europe. That is definitely one way to prevent vandalism. Of the seven-point action plan, most of these proposals unfortunately are pie-in-the sky. The downtown already does uber marketing. Filling vacant storefronts? The city has attempted this with mixed success over 20 years. Lobbying senior governments to help the homeless? Good luck and what if street people don’t want to be helped? Attracting more people downtown through festivals and events is a good measure but this can’t be done on a 365-day basis. Encouraging residents to move downtown? This is happening already largely through the imagination of private developers converting office buildings with help from the city’s very successful CIP or tax increment write-off program. Terms like “place-making”, “stronger together” and “our downtown” have all the earmarks of a gee whiz marketing professional, so it figures that an outside agency, Toronto-based StrategyCorp, which likely knows next to nothing about Windsor, drew it up. Couldn’t the city have hired local consultants? The final aspect could be controversial, the $3.2 million to finance the plan, which would be applied as part of an additional tax hike on all ratepayers. You can almost hear the moaning now.

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Getting straight on anti-Israel protests

WindsorOntarioNews.com April 12 2024

Cannot we not all agree that certain forms of protest are simply wrong? Such as marching through university libraries shouting slogans and intimidating other students - Jews and non-Jews alike – who are studying, supposedly in a quiet place? That shouting “Death to America” in Dearborn this week is traitorous speech? That wearing masks is against the law and simply cowardly; if you feel so strongly about you opinions then bloody well unmask yourselves? That blocking key roads, such as Avenue Road near the 401 in Toronto purposely because it's near a Jewish community, is a public offence akin to the truckers’ protests? That firebombing, shooting, and demonstrating at Jewish institutions and businesses is beyond vile and subject to the full force of the law (as it has rarely been employed in this country since the Oct. 7 Hamas attacks on Israel), especially when the objects of those attacks are in no way responsible for the Middle East conflict but just shows your outright racism by targeting a certain people? That the police need to be totally educated on how they respond to demonstrations. Yes, plenty of cops this week surrounding anti-carbon tax protesters and those who demonstrated during Covid against vaccines and masking but wimpish stand downs at anti-Israel and pro-Palestinian/Hamas demonstrations in Canadian cities. And that as a demonstrator when you shout “from the river to the sea” you indeed are calling for genocide, a violation of the United Nations Charter and one of the most egregious criminal and anti-human sentiments? And that when you attack Israel but not your own side for the atrocities of Oct. 7 you are blatantly two-faced and undermine any credibility you claim to have?

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Ford government is just Liberal lite

WindsorOntarioNews.com March 28 2024

Sometimes it’s hard to believe we have a Progressive Conservative government in Ontario. Exhibit A: Tuesday's budget. Finance Minister Peter Bethlenfalvy has bumped the deficit up to $9.8 billion. That's a record, folks, regardless of the political party in power. That's also more than three times the deficit of the $3 billion the Tories ran just one year ago. This all adds to the government;s overall debt - $439 billion. When the Tories came to power in 2018 they talked up inheriting “the largest subnational (net) debt in the world” that Dalton McGuinty's spendthrift Liberals had piled up, then $343 billion. Ford in his first budget said his government would "balance the budget responsibly” by “restoring trust, transparency and accountability in the province’s finances …” Last year the Tories said they'd build a surplus of $200 million this year. In all their time in power they've only balanced the budget once. (The McGuinty government, for their part, had balanced the budget three out of 16 times.) Yes, the Ford government is justifying (or rationalizing) spending by saying it’s giving breaks to taxpayers such as the gas tax cut and the pause in the alcohol escalator, and providing hundreds of millions more for health and community services. But there's always something, isn't there? The government is also impacted by the recent court ruling that forced it to repeal its legislation capping civil servants’ pay increases to one per cent in each of three years, resulting in as much as $8 billion in more wages over the next several years. The unions, of course, are never helpful, only thinking of themselves not the wider commonweal. And beyond fiscal restraint, Ford's government has done nothing to show it's conservative. It has not confronted school boards and professional associations on growing wokery (such as parental consent on gender identity). Nor has it made any symbolic gestures like unboxing Sir John A.'s statue at Queen's Park. Despite Ford's "Trumpian" appearance and ah sucks "folksy" rhetoric, he's a big-spending liberal and in many ways a political coward.

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Kingsville new school naming a symptom of deeper problems

WindsorOntarioNews.com March 9 2024

A few years ago there was the controversy over the naming of the new high school in Amherstburg. In an almost exact repeat pattern now there is the naming of the new K-12 school in Kingsville. In both cases a widely engaged community committee came up with names only to have them jettisoned by the school board. Or in Kingsville’s case trustee Julia Burgess because, supposedly, she preferred her own name, Erie Migration Academy. Okay, we get the "migration" part since Kingsville is home to migrating Canada geese (though did it mean wider human migration?). Regardless, this was her overruling a more democratically selected committee. Burgess hasn't really explained herself well and seems to be keeping mum. The town, though, is outraged and students have held repeated demonstrations against the name change. In the case of Amherstburg, North Star was the name chosen over what had been General Amherst, a politically correct name rather than that of an old colonial general the town happens to be named after, this being the star that the slaves followed to freedom in Canada. As for the Kingsville name we can only guess. "King" doesn’t mean Canada's Commonwealth affiliation - or, oh dear, colonial, past - but named after the town’s founder James King though he was a military colonel. Perhaps Burgess doesn’t know this. The board, in its elitist wisdom, backed her 6 - 2. The Greater Essex County District School Board continues to show its autocratic nature and contempt for democracy. It’s like numerous boards across the province these days, which have held parents in contempt in cases involving issues of political correctness. It’s time the weak provincial Ford government showed some spine and reined these boards in, issuing new mandates to democratize them and listen to their constituents.

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City rightly sticks to its guns on fourplex housing densification

WindsorOntarioNews.com February 5 2024

Kudos to the City of Windsor for sticking to its guns by rejecting a federal plan to create fourplexes on single residential lots. That means the city will lose out on $30 million in federal funding from a $4 billion Housing Accelerator Fund to address the housing crisis. It was a tug of war from the start between the city and Ottawa. Unlike a host of other cities Windsor did not want all residential areas to be subject to intensified housing, no doubt part of a progressive housing scheme to limit suburban sprawl and “urbanize” suburbs, highly controversial in the United States where critics have said it’s a war on single family housing and the middle class. Housing Minister Sean Fraser didn’t use the word progressive but did use “ambitious.” The city didn’t reject the scheme outright. It put forward a compromise, agreeing to fourplexes in denser areas of the city such as along transit routes and in commercial and mixed-use sites. Some have suggested fourplexes and four storey buildings wouldn’t be built in solidly detached neighbhourhoods anyway. But, if online comments are any indication, most people feared this creeping densification. Look what happens now when an apartment building is proposed even close to a low-rise community – scores of residents oppose it for reasons like blocked sight lines and lack of privacy. It’s interesting that Windsor, a working-class city, would reject densification. And the feds were probably surprised based on their class perceptions. But that’s a lack of understanding of Windsor, the same misapprehension of local urbanists who have campaigned against “sprawl” and the new suburban regional hospital. Windsor may be working class but it’s the time-honored “aristocracy of the working class” – well paid autoworkers who live not a traditional working class life (read apartment or tenement buildings) but in suburban homes with swimming pools, owning boats and cottages and taking Caribbean vacations. The city didn’t reject densification outright only where it thought it made sense. But the feds, typically uncompromising on this and so many other – read, ideological - issues, rejected it.

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People are suffering but municipal taxes just keep going up and up

WindsorOntarioNews.com January 22 2024

The post-Covid environment has seen numerous loss of jobs. Businesses have struggled - witness the current difficulty paying back CEBA loans. Inflation last year was almost 4.2 per cent. Homeowners are petrified about mortgage rate increases. More and more people line up at food banks. So why is it municipal governments continue to increase taxes? From one end of Essex County to the other municipalities are planning hikes of anywhere from 3.93 per cent (Windsor) 5.5 (LaSalle) 5.07 (Essex) almost 6 (Lakeshore) and more than seven per cent (Amherstburg and Kingsville). None are as high as the controversial 10.5 per cent increase in Toronto. Nevertheless, people are hurting and municipalities seem not to care. Taxes always increase – never decrease - regardless of wider social ills. Nor is ever a voice raised by a municipal councillor against. Municipalities like Windsor have tried to keep increases below inflation but have been criticized for even doing that. Critics say taxes must increase so government can serve a growing population. But according to the Fraser Institute, in 2020 some 37 per cent of municipal spending went to wages, the next highest amount 28 per cent for goods and services. “Clearly, municipal wage rates and employment numbers are major drivers of municipal spending,” it said. Few if any politicians are brave enough to call for salary cuts even though it’s well-known public-sector salaries are higher than those in the private sector. But there is an easier way to cut that would generate less blowback. Secondstreet.org suggests cutting salary grids before employees are hired. “Instead of starting with a salary of $80,000 and a generous pension, clerical workers could earn, say, $73,000 and a more modest pension — defined contribution, not defined benefit. Changes like this could save billions of dollars over the next decade.” Here here! That would put a sever dent in rising budgets, keep taxes at least below inflation and put money back in long suffering taxpayers’ pockets.

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Protesters should pay with their wallet

WindsorOntarioNews.com January 8 2024

The United Kingdom government is considering charging protesters for police overtime and other extra civil protection in the wake of the ongoing and very disruptive pro-Palestinian/Hamas and anti-Israel/Jewish protests taking place in that country. What an idea. Protesters have blocked streets, and ventured off public spaces where they otherwise have a right to demonstrate. Moreover, there has been vandalism – sometimes quite violent like in Canada with shootings and firebombing – mainly directed at Jewish institutions and businesses. Yet police response has been almost laughable (in Toronto the other day a cop was seen bringing Tim Hortons coffee to protesters) with the illegal actions vastly ignored (blocking of the Avenue Road - Hwy. 401 bridge) and no or few arrests. Let’s get this straight. If you’re going to block streets and sidewalks, highways, and public transit, you should not only be legally charged but must pay the costs of extra policing. This enforcement should be right across the board regardless of protest group. Freedom Convoy anti-vax truckers disrupted traffic in downtown Ottawa, in Alberta and of course Windsor. They should pay – monetarily – for the disruptions. In Britain Just Stop Oil protests have long “slow marched” down, or literally glued themselves to, public streets, blocking commuters. They should pay. Canadian native protesters have barricaded highways and rail lines. Get out your wallets. Everyone has a right to protest but on public property or designated areas and in a way that isn’t unruly. In other words, stay in your lanes – literally. Or hand over the dough.

Photo: CP 24

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Late voices to rescue bandshell

WindsorOntarioNews.com Dec 4 2023

What is it that certain city councillors and civic groups don’t get? The Jackson Park bandshell, as venerable as it is historically hosting hundreds of concerts and events, has been rotting away for years in an obscure area of the central city park. In fact, few people, if any, have even cared about the bandshell, let alone known of its existence. And, by a weird twist of real estate fate, the dilapidated structure - not even safe for city crews to spend time on – actually fronts neighbouring public school board land making it impossible as a place to hold concerts. The bandshell’s fate was almost sealed months earlier when the matter came before a city council committee. A decision was made not to proceed with a $100,000 feasibility study – though a public consultation - and then perhaps spend millions on remediation costs. That doesn’t include making a land deal with a tone-deaf school board which hadn’t shown much interest on previous occasions when approached by the city. But now, out of the woodwork, come last minute voices who want to preserve the structure because of its historical significance, especially to the city’s Black community. The performance stage was, after all, the centerpiece of years of Emancipation Day celebrations and even staged numerous Motown acts in the 1960s on their rise to the big time. But why the clamour now and not before? Perhaps because of racialized politics within the past two years in the wake of the George Floyd killing and Black Lives Matter movement? Regardless, city council has narrowly committed to spending $100K for the feasibility study. All we can say is, good luck – they might need it.

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Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib must go, but where is the critical Detroit media?

WindsorOntarioNews.com Nov 19 2023

Michigan US Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib is truly a disgrace. If she had any dignity she would resign. And yet Michigan media voices are virtually mum on one of the most divisive elected officials today in America, who happens to be from their hometown. Why? Tlaib started her political career in the Michigan Legislature and was a firebrand then. It was only a matter of time till she graduated to the US House; we all knew that. And she hadn’t wasted any time being one of the most outspoken members of the Democratic Party’s far left, a member of the so-called “Squad.” But it’s her remarks on the current Israel-Hamas conflict which are truly obnoxious and show Tlaib the odious individual she is. For example, Tlaib early on clang to the false narrative that Israel sent a misfired rocket into the al-Ahli hospital despite it being proven it came from the Palestinian side. She has constantly used the refrain “From the River to the Sea Palestine will be free” which is a call for the genocide of the Jewish people, hardly the two-state solution most enlightened people would advocate. The US House of Representatives even took the rare step of censuring her 234-188 for “promoting false narratives regarding the October 7, 2023 Hamas attack on Israel and for calling for the destruction of the state of Israel.” And her latest obscenity is reportedly being a member of a secret Facebook group which praised Hamas for the Oct. 7 massacre of 1200 innocent Israelis and kidnapping more than 200 others. Despite all this, Michigan editorial voices have been silent, at least in the outlet WON follows, The Detroit News. For example, there has not been one editorial or opinion columnist criticizing Tlaib. There have been some defending Israel and critiquing Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer for taking equivocal stances and one showing how the Democrat Party could lose votes for not speaking out forcefully enough against Israel’s counterattack against Gaza. One hates to be conspiratorial but it’s enough to make you think there’s a cozy relationship between Tlaib and members of the Michigan media going back to her Lansing days. The News’s lack of disdain on such a major issue by a local politician so obviously in the national spotlight is otherwise hard to understand.

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From one bad idea to one good one

WindsorOntarioNews.com Nov 5 2023

It’s hard to believe city councillors come up with these ideas. But the one by Ward 8 councillor Gary Kaschak is a good example, one which can only be met by the response “duh!” In yet another attempt to bolster downtown Kaschak wondered if the city’s very successful – more than 100,000 attend - Christmas Bright Lights Windsor festival could be moved from Jackson Park to the heart of the city. Right off the bat anyone with any sense could tell the councillor how impractical such a proposal would be. Where is the space? Where is the parking? How could this be accommodated when downtown is a destination for umpteen other purposes, from employment to retail to hotels and entertainment. City staff enumerated many of these obstacles, in very straight polite bureaucratic terms, of course. But reading between the lines even some of these civil servants might have been stifling guffaws. Among the issues – the event set up takes months and would be “dangerous” because main streets would have to be closed. Fencing would also be needed around the entire site – something “problematic.” Nor, um, is there enough electrical juice in the core to power the thousands of lights in the festival. And, oh yes, that parking problem. At least at Jackson Park there are two free parking lots. Therefore, in understated terms, concluded the administrative report, “it is recommended the event remain at/Jackson park at this time.” And just off the top, why kill something that indeed has been successful - an example of undermining with good intentions. A much better proposal was put forward by downtown councillor Renaldo Agostino, to string colourful LED lights year-round along Ouellette Avenue, to give the neighbourhood vibrancy and drawing power.

Photo: City of Windsor

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Blaming the victims writ large

WindsorOntarioNews.com October 21 2023

It is like a world gone mad. Some 1400 Israelis are slaughtered at a New Age music festival and in nearby kibbutzim two weeks ago and millions of people around the world come out and demonstrate – not against these horrible atrocities amounting to a modern-day pogrom and akin to anything seen since the Second World War, but in support of the people who committed the killings, the terrorist group Hamas. It’s a counterintuitive response that enters the annals of the absurd or surreal or something conjured in deepest darkest dystopian science fiction, and yet it’s occurring. There is no modern precedent for it. Even if you protest the retaliatory Israeli bombing of Gaza targetted at terrorists and support the Palestinian cause and a two-state solution – the supposed be all and end all to seek a lasting peace in the Mideast – these protests have gone well beyond that. What has been the catch all slogan? “From the river to the sea Palestine will be free.” That means eliminating the state of Israel, guaranteed by the United Nations in 1947. (The UN also offered the Palestinians a state but they rejected it.) Moreover, there has been absolutely no nuance or equanimity, no defending Palestinians’ right to exist while deploring the atrocities – some of the most hideous (burning people alive, chopping babies’ heads off, kidnapping grandmothers) ever committed. There have even been Swastikas at some rallies. This is akin to “blaming the victims” writ large. As for those victims, the Israelis - and sympathetic Jewish communities around the world - their response has been mute or have taken solace in quiet vigils and are likely cowering and keeping the lowest profiles lest they be the targets of anti-Semitic attacks, which have also been occurring. There have been a few people waving the Israeli flag but just a few. In Windsor, we were subjected to another absurdity of modern policing, all of a piece for the upside-down world in which we’re now living. A man waving an Israeli flag was arrested, not because he attacked the pro-Palestinian demonstrators but after he had been attacked by some of them, in order, police said, to “de-escalate” the situation.

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Meet Canada's aristocratic class

WindsorOntarioNews.com October 9 2023

There really is a ruling class in Canada, similar to the Ancient Regime in France before the 18th century revolution, exemplified by Marie Antoinette’s “Let Them Eat Cake” (though she actually didn’t say that). No, there isn’t the incredible deprivations that existed then. But, if you examine how politicians live and spend our money, you’d have to come to the conclusion that there is a high-flying class in this country that isn’t touched by the day-to-day financial realities of average Canadians, especially in this time of accelerated inflation. Two reports from last week demonstrate this. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s trip to Tofino in August cost us $286,000, and his three vacations over the past year totaled $678,000, according to Canadian Taxpayers Federation research. This follows the report that Governor General Mary Simon chalked up almost $120,000 on dry-cleaning since 2018 despite having in-house laundry staff. As well both Simon and her not-lamented predecessor Julie Payette spent almost $90,000 on new clothes. And to add insult to injury Simon has also received a $48,000 pay increase since the start of the pandemic, now hauling in almost $352,000 annually. Not a bad gig. Meanwhile the imperious Simon spent nearly $25 million last year including a $1.2 million junket to Dubai and $71,000 in limousines in Iceland. There was much fanfare a week ago for the new Speaker of the House of Commons, who replaced Anthony Rota, he the sponsor of the Ukrainian Nazi-affiliated soldier infamy. But MP Greg Fergus got a bump up of salary of $92,800 on top of his MP income of $194,600. The Opposition Leader also gets the same amount, as do cabinet ministers. Talk about a trough. If you’re a leader of a third party like the NDP and Bloc Quebecois your take home pay is an additional $65,800. And if you happen to be a Parliamentary Secretary – an assistant to a minister – like Windsor-Tecumseh MP Irek Kusmierczyk – it’s another $18,800, according to the Parliament of Canada website. And don’t forget, many of these officials travel extensively, are feted, and stay among the better hotels. Meanwhile the median after tax income in Canada in 2021 was $68,400, down 0.9 per cent from the previous year, and those living below the poverty line increased by 7.4 per cent, according to StatsCan. Let them eat jelly doughnuts!

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The green police are just about here

WindsorOntarioNews.com Sept. 25 2023

It beggars’ belief that the local solid waste authority wants to move regular garbage pick-up from every week to every two weeks. The fact there hasn’t been more outrage about this can’t possibly be because the vast majority of households are well on board with this, can it? (Any move is likely two years away.) More likely it’s because there hasn’t been enough public attention paid to it. (Of course, politicians have been rather quiet on the issue.) Yes, it’s laudable to cut down on waste, and a way to keep our landfill in operation years longer. But most people, especially with busy families, require weekly garbage pickup simply because day to day living generates a certain amount of common waste. The authority argues that introducing “organics” pickup – yes, another recycling bin like cities in the GTA – will have the magical effect of reducing regular garbage. And seemingly, counter intuitively, this would be a weekly pickup, as if people generate more organic waste than non-organic (organics include paper toweling and pet waste). A consultant’s report says this indeed has worked elsewhere. But even the consultant acknowledges there could be problems – in apartment buildings, with refuse like babies’ diapers, during hot summer months and odours – conceding special reservations could be made for extra pickups. Great – more bureaucracy. What’s more insidious is the demand that trash would have to be thrown in clear plastic bags. This is supposed to “increase diversion” because people will be more aware of what they’re throwing out. But what about privacy? A major reason for clear pastic bags is, yes, for authorities to spy - “monitor for compliance” – on what's in your bags. Here come the garbage police! Years ago, there was a TV commercial lightheartedly making fun of the “green police.” That day, and increasing Big Brotherism, has almost arrived.

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Trudeau's stuck plane a metaphor

WindsorOntarioNews.com Sept 11 2012

The Trudeau gang’s plane being stuck in India could be a metaphor for the last sputtering gasp of this government, down steeply in the polls and with no viable plans to tackle the problems of the day and the mess they created through once unimaginable spending and massive irrational immigration – housing, inflation, taxes (I.e., the carbon one). Yes, the long-suffering electorate actually has to wait another two years before the government must call an election unless the Liberals' simpering NDP proper-uppers pull the coalition plug first, rather doubtful since they are even less popular and have less money and willpower to fight an election (have you heard any viable ideas from Jagmeet Singh lately?). From all reports the Poilievre convention came off without a hitch and the reborn leader (without nerdy glasses and suit but he should do something about the hair) looks on the tee to win perhaps a landslide, though two years is a long time. It can’t some soon enough. The Tories not only should repeal the carbon tax but confront a slate of issues the feds and provinces seem to lame to tackle – repealing the ban on fossil fuel powered cars, ending the attacks on resource-producing provinces like Alberta and Saskatchewan and giving them greater production rights, allowing parents to be informed of their kids’ gender questions, putting an end to gun violence in cities like Toronto by reforming bail and getting serious assault weapons off the streets, and creating a tax environment to allow companies to invest and grow the economy. Trudeau‘s plane can just as well be stuck in India, since every day he’s away from Canada the less damage his government can does.

Photo: CP

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