New Year's resolutions

We're only a few months into 2012 and the majority of New Year's resolutions that might have been made by our town council - and many residents - are likely a fleeting distant memory.

We can guess on resolutions that were made but not kept or maybe even never made.

Zero tax increase - obviously with a 3.75 per cent tax increase for 2012 nobody will say this resolution was made or kept. It's pretty typical. There seems to be no vision here by council to come up with something really groundbreaking - mostly just more of the same. In this term of council we've already seen taxes go up by over six per cent - in two quick years.

Infrastructure - we have no new information or updates on GO expansion to Clarington, not enough progress getting the 407 built in one swoop to the 35/115 nor any excitement generated by council on Darlington new build - albeit we have some good news on refurbishment. Fighting the incinerator has been left to a local environmental group.

Council cooperation - far too many contentious votes are still split 5-2 down partisan lines with no sign of any change soon. Public bickering does not serve the public nor council. Councillors need to remember little is served by senseless opposition and steamrolling every vote doesn't make for an inclusive council.

Note: the photo you see above is of the new Shoppers Drug Mart that opened up last weekend in Courtice - the sides have been adorned with remarkable pictures depicting early settlers to the area. If you haven't seen them yet it's worth walking up there and taking a look.

Next blog I'll take a look at the direct election of our regional chair. There is an upcoming public meeting April 4 at 10am about electing our regional chair.

Bring on the Tetley!

The Tea Party movement that began in the United States in 2009 boils down to one thing.

Trust.

For example - after working hard and bringing home a paycheck that has ultimately been taxed perhaps as much as a half - who do you trust to spend that money?

You or the government?

Let's put it another way: Do you think that if you gave your money to someone else - say some backroom bureaucrat whom you could never identify and who never saw a dollar they couldn't find a program for - do you honestly think they would spend it better than you? 

That's the essence of the Tea Party movement - letting the wage-earners keep and spend what they earned.

Responsible people are not saying there is an absence of need for government.

Does government really have to tax upwards of half of everyone's income? Because between the payroll deductions, federal taxes, provincial taxes, HST, hidden taxes, property taxes and education taxes that is pretty much what's happening.

Well, you may ask, without government spending wouldn't so many programs disappear that residents would literally be thrown in the street and wouldn't our roads crumble before our eyes?

Really?

So... if I don't give a dollar to my government - it disappears? I can't simply give it to an existing company, group or organization or right to the person or service that I want? Let's be serious - precisely same money still exists and it would simply bypass the government middle-man, who naturally takes a cut.

We might even have more actual services and less bureaucrats - imagine that!

So why am I making this argument now?

Because we are shortly into new budget deliberations here in Clarington and we are likely to see many, many services clamouring for a bigger piece of the pie and probably countered by some unimaginative ways to simply provide the same services for a few pennies less while largely missing the boat for substantive changes.

It's unlikely you'll see Claringtonians protesting for or against changes in large numbers - we just don't seem to do that - but most of us know that a loonie's best home is in the pocket of the one that earned it.

Next blog I'll take a look at public accountibility - do we expect our politicians to be working or playing on their time off?

Proof is in the pudding - Clarington budget 2011

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 Clarington's 2011 budget weighed in with a whopping 3.8 per cent increase and we heard barely a peep out of residents - ok maybe a few peeps on Facebook but that was about it.

So we can conclude one of two things happened - people either support the increase or they don't care enough to voice their opinion. There certainly isn't a vocal groundswell of opposition to it. Durham Region's budget clocked in at a 2.42 per cent increase and Oshawa, our big neighbour to the west, squeeked in a meagre 0.7 per cent increase to their budget.

Three points about the budget:

•  This is clearly an Adrian Foster budget. He never marketed himself as a voracious tax-cutting mayor but as a prudent manager of town finances. It's clear he's aiming for four per cent annual increases - more or less - without zeros or eight per cent increases.
• It's so expected. Other than budget hawks, who among us really expected a zero per cent increase budget? Ward 3 Local Councillor Corinna Traill could only muster council support for three of her 20 cost-cutting suggestions - and even had they all succeeded we would still have had about a two per cent increase - and she's one of the budget slashers. With inflation and the majority of council amenable to staffing increases, a four per cent or so increase always looked likely.
• This foreshadows a repeat next year with maybe a dash of good news. Oshawa is getting a great deal of attention for its relatively low increase. This means that next year or the year after, if inflation increases a point or three, Clarington will probably match or even come in slightly under Oshawa's increase because the other governments will be playing catch-up - I'm thinking the police may ask for more feet on the street in the Region's case, which they didn't this year.

In the end I feel dissatisfied with everything about this budget.

There is no vision - no imagination - and that includes the duo of Traill and Ward 1 Local Councillor Joe Neal.

We even had the spectacle of Traill - who herself accused council of flip-flopping earlier in the year while actually brandishing a flip-flop - voting against the budget and thereby against her promised additional firefighters.

Credit therefore goes to Foster for passing a budget that ups the number of firefighters - which is exactly what he promised.

Cost-cutting duo Traill and Neal's big idea seems to be to look for nickels and dimes from various programs - which is fine - but that approach won't get to zero or - gasp - lower. Plus, there's nothing bold about an upcoming plan to re-examine benefits packages - just about every company is doing it and I suspect the savings won't be all that much in the long run - insurance companies know how to adapt.

I definitely don't get the sense of a great plan brewing, something innovative, a systemic change that replaces the structural increases we are building into the  system.

Until someone steps back and looks at the whole concept of what local government should be in the business of providing - and how - this situation will continue. Self-styled opponents - elected and non-elected - will be left looking for a couple bucks in savings by skimming from here and there - trimming parsley from the prime rib dinner if you will - and claiming they tried their best.

But real savings will miraculously remain elusive.

Let me put it this way - it's like paying for a trip to Disney World and haggling over whether to pay for an iced cream cone on the flight down and boasting about how much money we can save. What I'm suggesting is we need to forget the vacation altogether and focus on maybe setting up our own flight service to make a few bucks and cash in on all this vacationing going on.

Something like that I can get behind but this budget - more of the same.

In my next blog post I'm going to look at why the Host Community Agreement no longer matters to the prospects of Clarington hosting an incinerator.

It's local council report card time!

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Our elected local council is now four months into their first year so I thought I would issue first trimester report cards.

I decided to go with four criteria - leadership (do they have a plan and do classmates value their opinion), teamwork (do they play nice with their collegues), effectiveness (did they get the job done) and communication (do they talk to the residents that elected them as well as staff department heads).

I think this is a good balance with which to grade our studious class.

The point of this exercise, of course, is to stimulate debate and discussion about what makes a good local representative and to try and set some objective criteria with which to gauge their performance. It's not to throw stones at someone because we don't particularly like their political stance nor should it be taken as a 'rah-rah' cheerleader.

Feel free to come up with your own criteria and ratings and post them below - I'd love to see them.

I want to begin by pointing out what I see as four factions developing on council:

Veteran Guard - Mayor Adrian Foster, Ward 1 & 2 Regional Councillor Mary Novak, Ward 3 & 4 Councillor Willie Woo and Ward 2 Local Councillor Ron Hooper are experienced at politics and three of the four are our regional representatives.

The Firm - Ward 1 Local Councillor Joe Neal and Ward 3 Local Councillor Corinna Traill - two representatives with a legal background. If there is an opposition party on council this is it. They tend to vote together but on contested motions are usually strongly outgunned by the Veteran Guard.

New Faces - We have Ward 4 Local Councillor Wendy Partner joined by Ward 1 Local Councillor Joe Neal and Ward 3 Local Councillor Corinna Traill. They are the fresh faces on council and many residents are looking to them to shake things up.

The Woman's Caucus - In the 2010 election the number of women on council tripled from one to three. Still not a majority but there is perhaps an opportunity to see a different approach to local issues.

And now the marks:

Mayor - Mayor Adrian Foster gets bonus marks for conducting the first survey of residents to actually see what their priorities are for the strategic review. There was even a time extension to allow more people to participate. He loses some marks, however, for his embroiled conflicts with The Firm - even if it does take two to tango he needs to find a way to lead the dance. We would have expected to see a better performance from Foster given his stellar performance as a local councillor and his failure - thus far - to halt the incinerator is troubling to many. GRADE: B-

Regional Councillor Wards 1 & 2 - Mary Novak is the most experienced politician on council and has a comprehensive understanding of the issues that matter to residents and the businesses of the muncipality. She could do a better job reaching out to opponents but overall Novak demonstrates that experience matters. A team player and effective representative she needs to work on her communication skills to really hit her full potential. GRADE: A-

Regional Councillor Ward 3 & 4 - Willie Woo has such an affable demeanor that it's almost impossible not to like him. He seems to be taking a bit of time settling in to his new role as regional representative and doesn't often take the leadership role he is capable of. But he's a strong team player and gets all his ducks in a row ahead of any vote. GRADE: B

Local councillor Ward 1 - Joe Neal has political experience but hasn't been able to convert that into building a winning team yet. As half of The Firm he has been thwarted in his legal attempts to stop the incinerator. Not everything has to boil down to a legal showdown or be sent out for expensive consultants - he should perhaps branch away from his signature move 'call in the lawyers' and look at alternative tactics. But his success in having delegation time increased and vigorous support of funds for his ward shows passion and promise. GRADE: A-

Local councillor Ward 2 - Ron Hooper is a respected business owner in his Ward, knows his constituents and fights for their best interests. He's not at all afraid to change course if that's the smart thing to do. But we need to see more vision from Hooper because he has the goodwill and alliances to get things done. GRADE: B-

Local Councillor Ward 3 - Corinna Traill is exactly what people want from their politicians - she's strong, forceful, creative and has a great online presence through her social media connections. But it has become increasingly obvious that she has not built any alliances outside The Firm. The only thing preventing her from scoring higher is her lack of success in actually producing winning results that are not later rescinded. GRADE: B-

Local Councillor Ward 4 - If you go to council and watch Wendy Partner she doesn't talk much. That's a good thing because she is busy listening. Partner has demonstrated glimpses of a quick wit and a clear grasp of the issues and as the months go on her confidence is visibly increasing. She has the opportunity to bridge the many gaps between various factions on council and could end up being a dealmaker. GRADE: B

Council as a whole - Council is clearly not 'working together' and part of the problem is that everyone has to want to work together. The former 4-3 flip-flopping council has been replaced by the 5-2 flip-floppers. This council is somehow much less than the sum of it's parts. However, it has the right mix to come to good decisions for the people of Clarington if it starts focusing on the right issues and get them dealt with. GRADE: C

In my next blog I'm going to take a look at the fallout from the Clarington budget.

Happy Valentine's Day Clarington!

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One of the hottest topics of debate these days concerning Clarington is pay rates for municipal staff.

Who knew staff made so much/little?

Where you sit on that question really depends on your ideology concerning taxes and who should pay for what but one thing is for sure - this council is acting exactly as many residents figure politicians usually do - get the controversial topics dealt with early.

Think forward to 2014 for a moment.

Who really is going to remember what the pay increases were in 2011 except die-hard political observers or those prompted by a bar chart?

Common wisdom on the street is that if a council is going to do something unpopular - or costly - get it done early in the term because memories are short. And this is exactly what seems to be happening.

If staff pay increases end up being zero in 2014 that's the only thing we'll see on campaign brochures and election charts - not whatever happened in 2011.

So voters - pledge to remember what's happening now - this matters as much or more as what happens in 2014.

Winter WonderLearn

For years now, like many of my fellow residents in Courtice and surround area, I've taken my family in the middle of February to Winter WonderLearn at the Courtice Community Complex.

But not this year.

The municipality has decided to move the event out of Courtice to Newcastle after eight fun years. Newcastle will definitely enjoy the activities and they will definitely be good hosts. But Courtice has lost something here - one of the few 'Clarington' events that it hosts.

The town claims the event in Courtice is a victim of its own success.

It's grown to over 1,400 participants and there simply isn't room, apparently. If you  attended the Courtice Kids of Steel Triathalon this past summer you know that the complex can clearly handle events of this size and larger.

There's more room at the South Courtice Arena - how about moving it there?

I'm not sure my family will be able to make the trek out to Newcastle this year and it's ironic that now the province has officially recognized Family Day in Ontario we suddenly don't have a local event.

In my next blog I'll take a look at events leading up to the last council meeting before our representatives take a rest for March Break. It's been four months since the election so I'll have my first trimester report cards ready.