1
Amazing accomplishments
21 January 2011
ALTHOUGH I'VE BEEN A WRITER all my adult life, I have never been very good at writing fiction. I've tried. I've tried many times. I've read and studied fiction, taken courses, joined writing associations. I just don't seem to have the knack.
The writer of this piece, on the other hand, is brilliant and skilled at the art. I envy that talent. I should ask for private lessons.
For example, the writer lists as an accomplishment of the former mayor that he, "Promoted a Leeds Gold Library/Municipal Office, and finished under budgetr! (sic) Negotiated $800k plus in Federal grants and $900k plus of community fundraising."
I clearly recall how, as a councillor, the former mayor argued and voted against both the library's expansion and its new building (the project began under Mayor Geddes who deserves the credit in real life). The most recent former mayor is remembered by library board members past and present for his comments as a councillor, questioning the integrity of staff's membership and attendance figures during budget discussions and his constant attacks on the library's budget requests. He neither sat on the board nor attended its meetings, but here he is listed as "negotiating" both the grants and the community fundraising efforts! I can't recall that he brought in a single dime to that fundraising effort others worked so hard at, but in this fairy tale, he raised it all himself!
See? That's a artist at work. Me, I just don't have the ability to stretch my imagination so far from reality.
In a similar vein, this writer claims the former mayor "Implemented a 1.4 million dollar renovation to Collingwood Regional Airport, by negotiating funding from the Federal and Provincial governments."
Another bit of Tolkien-esque fantasy, sure to be a movie sometime soon. The former mayor did not sit on the airport services board, did not write the application for infrastructure funding, and was not involved in any of the discussions about the project, its timeline or the contracts. Yet he appears in this work as taking credit for all that work! I recall that when airport board members joined local councillors and mayors from four local communities as a delegation to government officials in Ottawa about customs services at the airport, our mayor went off to attend a private meeting instead of showing support. But here he emerges as its Lancelot-like champion.
Like a comic-book superhero, the former mayor is portrayed as singlehandedly restoring the community: filling out forms, establishing a school, fixing roads, arm-wrestling money from other levels of government, and even "saving" the Silver Creek wetlands (which, despite his optimistic but premature press release sent late in his term, remains in limbo without any signed, legal agreement).
No mention of the efforts of other members of council who actually advocated for these issues at the table, of the local boards and committees who championed the causes and gave them community-wide attention, or the hard work by staff to actually create the documents, fill in the forms and applications, and do the followup. One man alone did all of these things, according to this particular fable.
I was particularly impressed by the comment that he "Drafted inter-municipal public transit agreement between Wasaga Beach and Collingwood.' Since this is still in the discussion phase between CAOs and not councils, and any agreement will not take place until the indefinite future, this must be what they call science fiction.
"Refurbishment of Collingwood Cenotaph 50/50 partnership with Federal Government." One would almost think he took down the statue and cleaned it up with his own hands before lovingly replacing it. Not a word about the efforts of the late Chic Simonato who tirelessly lobbied to have the cenotaph revitalized, or of the donation of time and effort by now-Deputy Mayor Rick Lloyd, John Richards, Pat Miscampbell and Doug Measures who did the application and the research on the project. Or that this project began long before he was mayor.
"7 million dollar downtown revitalization by sourcing 5 million dollars contribution from the Federal/Provincial governments and downtown merchant association." You'd almost think the former mayor created the design and laid the bricks himself, along with getting the money from reluctant downtown merchants. He wasn't even our representative on the BIA board during the revitalization. That was Councillor Jeffrey. The former mayor's contribution was mostly limited to signing the papers that others prepared. It is, however, entertaining to pretend otherwise. The pen, we've been told, is mightier than the sword.
"1.2 million dollars of Provincial/Federal funding towards affordable housing units." An amazing, one-man effort by someone who didn't even sit on the affordable housing task force, attend its meetings or even champion its causes at the council table (and, as I recall, voted against putting money into reserves for future affordable housing projects).
I'm surprised the writer of this work didn't allow the former mayor to take credit for stopping the Forces of Evil from building a monstrous commercial and residential development in the heart of our downtown but instead managed to preserve a micro-wetland on the property for all to witness his mastery at environmental stewardship. That could have been built up into an epic like Crichton's late work, State of Fear, except with the roles reversed.
I admire people who can write fiction so well. This stuff is up there with the likes of Ludlum, Follett and Clancy: a mixture of real life interwoven with enough threads of fable and fantasy to make it almost believable. I wish I knew who the author was and whether he or she would offer lessons in the craft.
~~~~~
PS. Buried in the site on the "opinion" page is a link to a "Letter to Open Minded Conservatives in Simcoe-Grey." In that letter, writer John Hanlon says, "Mayor Carrier, who has been described by one local media outlet as “Simcoe-Grey’s favourite son”, became the first to launch his bid for the Conservative nomination. Recently Mr. Carrier said that while he knows the other candidates to be good, dedicated Conservatives, the people of Simcoe-Grey want and deserve a full-time MP. “We need a representative in Ottawa who is prepared to devote all of his time and energy to getting things done for the people of this riding.”"
As Scoop points out in his blog, the phrase "Simcoe-Grey’s favourite son" was not used by any "media outlet", but rather was coined by Hanlon himself in an article touting the praises of Carrier (including a listing of many of these alleged "accomplishments"), posted on mycollingwood.ca and on Carrier's own site here. This sort of self-reference, I believe, would qualify as "circular reasoning", a form of logical fallacy, except that to wrongfully attribute the source to a "media outlet" would more properly put it in the category of disinformation.
And as for a candidate who is "prepared to devote all of his time and energy to getting things done for the people of this riding," that's a bit of a canard, because MPs have a larger scope than just representing a single riding. I wonder how other Simcoe County politicians last term would categorize our former mayor in terms of his ability to work together and get things done for the county as a whole. I didn't see any former mayors or councillors from Simcoe County (or any fellow politicians from Simcoe Grey riding) supporting him in the list of people who "Know Chris".
The writer of this piece, on the other hand, is brilliant and skilled at the art. I envy that talent. I should ask for private lessons.
For example, the writer lists as an accomplishment of the former mayor that he, "Promoted a Leeds Gold Library/Municipal Office, and finished under budgetr! (sic) Negotiated $800k plus in Federal grants and $900k plus of community fundraising."
I clearly recall how, as a councillor, the former mayor argued and voted against both the library's expansion and its new building (the project began under Mayor Geddes who deserves the credit in real life). The most recent former mayor is remembered by library board members past and present for his comments as a councillor, questioning the integrity of staff's membership and attendance figures during budget discussions and his constant attacks on the library's budget requests. He neither sat on the board nor attended its meetings, but here he is listed as "negotiating" both the grants and the community fundraising efforts! I can't recall that he brought in a single dime to that fundraising effort others worked so hard at, but in this fairy tale, he raised it all himself!
See? That's a artist at work. Me, I just don't have the ability to stretch my imagination so far from reality.
In a similar vein, this writer claims the former mayor "Implemented a 1.4 million dollar renovation to Collingwood Regional Airport, by negotiating funding from the Federal and Provincial governments."
Another bit of Tolkien-esque fantasy, sure to be a movie sometime soon. The former mayor did not sit on the airport services board, did not write the application for infrastructure funding, and was not involved in any of the discussions about the project, its timeline or the contracts. Yet he appears in this work as taking credit for all that work! I recall that when airport board members joined local councillors and mayors from four local communities as a delegation to government officials in Ottawa about customs services at the airport, our mayor went off to attend a private meeting instead of showing support. But here he emerges as its Lancelot-like champion.
Like a comic-book superhero, the former mayor is portrayed as singlehandedly restoring the community: filling out forms, establishing a school, fixing roads, arm-wrestling money from other levels of government, and even "saving" the Silver Creek wetlands (which, despite his optimistic but premature press release sent late in his term, remains in limbo without any signed, legal agreement).
No mention of the efforts of other members of council who actually advocated for these issues at the table, of the local boards and committees who championed the causes and gave them community-wide attention, or the hard work by staff to actually create the documents, fill in the forms and applications, and do the followup. One man alone did all of these things, according to this particular fable.
I was particularly impressed by the comment that he "Drafted inter-municipal public transit agreement between Wasaga Beach and Collingwood.' Since this is still in the discussion phase between CAOs and not councils, and any agreement will not take place until the indefinite future, this must be what they call science fiction.
"Refurbishment of Collingwood Cenotaph 50/50 partnership with Federal Government." One would almost think he took down the statue and cleaned it up with his own hands before lovingly replacing it. Not a word about the efforts of the late Chic Simonato who tirelessly lobbied to have the cenotaph revitalized, or of the donation of time and effort by now-Deputy Mayor Rick Lloyd, John Richards, Pat Miscampbell and Doug Measures who did the application and the research on the project. Or that this project began long before he was mayor.
"7 million dollar downtown revitalization by sourcing 5 million dollars contribution from the Federal/Provincial governments and downtown merchant association." You'd almost think the former mayor created the design and laid the bricks himself, along with getting the money from reluctant downtown merchants. He wasn't even our representative on the BIA board during the revitalization. That was Councillor Jeffrey. The former mayor's contribution was mostly limited to signing the papers that others prepared. It is, however, entertaining to pretend otherwise. The pen, we've been told, is mightier than the sword.
"1.2 million dollars of Provincial/Federal funding towards affordable housing units." An amazing, one-man effort by someone who didn't even sit on the affordable housing task force, attend its meetings or even champion its causes at the council table (and, as I recall, voted against putting money into reserves for future affordable housing projects).
I'm surprised the writer of this work didn't allow the former mayor to take credit for stopping the Forces of Evil from building a monstrous commercial and residential development in the heart of our downtown but instead managed to preserve a micro-wetland on the property for all to witness his mastery at environmental stewardship. That could have been built up into an epic like Crichton's late work, State of Fear, except with the roles reversed.
I admire people who can write fiction so well. This stuff is up there with the likes of Ludlum, Follett and Clancy: a mixture of real life interwoven with enough threads of fable and fantasy to make it almost believable. I wish I knew who the author was and whether he or she would offer lessons in the craft.
~~~~~
PS. Buried in the site on the "opinion" page is a link to a "Letter to Open Minded Conservatives in Simcoe-Grey." In that letter, writer John Hanlon says, "Mayor Carrier, who has been described by one local media outlet as “Simcoe-Grey’s favourite son”, became the first to launch his bid for the Conservative nomination. Recently Mr. Carrier said that while he knows the other candidates to be good, dedicated Conservatives, the people of Simcoe-Grey want and deserve a full-time MP. “We need a representative in Ottawa who is prepared to devote all of his time and energy to getting things done for the people of this riding.”"
As Scoop points out in his blog, the phrase "Simcoe-Grey’s favourite son" was not used by any "media outlet", but rather was coined by Hanlon himself in an article touting the praises of Carrier (including a listing of many of these alleged "accomplishments"), posted on mycollingwood.ca and on Carrier's own site here. This sort of self-reference, I believe, would qualify as "circular reasoning", a form of logical fallacy, except that to wrongfully attribute the source to a "media outlet" would more properly put it in the category of disinformation.
And as for a candidate who is "prepared to devote all of his time and energy to getting things done for the people of this riding," that's a bit of a canard, because MPs have a larger scope than just representing a single riding. I wonder how other Simcoe County politicians last term would categorize our former mayor in terms of his ability to work together and get things done for the county as a whole. I didn't see any former mayors or councillors from Simcoe County (or any fellow politicians from Simcoe Grey riding) supporting him in the list of people who "Know Chris".
Just wondering.