City's Audit Report

by Richard Rosenthal

It is certainly gratifying to know that nothing illegal was done in the building of a major City building and that the final product is excellent and meets the need for which it was built. The auditor's recommendations to make sure future projects are handled properly seems to omit one glaring issue. In the Windsor Star's report there is a paragraph that really needs addressing:
"The weird aspect of this report, to my mind, is that had council executed this project in a manner that would have satisfied the auditors, a local contractor would have lost and taxpayers might have had to pay millions more for the building."
The City's tendering rules obviously are flawed if a local contractor with a lower bid, who obviously built an excellent building, would have lost this contract.
That issue should immediately be addressed by City Council.

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Zero Tolerance for Violent Crimes

by Richard Rosenthal
The recent beating of a young man in downtown Windsor by three other young men is the latest example that we must do something to curb this unnecessary violence in our community. It seems that there is just far too much of this and it is getting worse.
Our court system hands out wrist slaps for many crimes and overly protects "young" offenders which does not provide any real deterrence or punishment. Perhaps its time to implement the type of penalties now in place for drunk driving. My suggestion is that there be no bail for a minimum of 7 days for anyone committing a violent crime (regardless of their age) and that the public insist on harsher penalties. I am well aware that there are those in our society who believe that jail terms do not act as deterrents but at least it keeps these hooligans off the streets and might just work. I also think it is time that we started publishing the names of youth offenders who are convicted of violent crimes as this may put some pressure on their parents to better control them.

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Are We Crazy or What?

A trucker might be considered smoking in the workplace but, for many, it is also their personal living space when they are on the road.

What possible harm is this man causing to society that would be different than smoking in his own home?

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Your Support is Needed More Than Ever

The current economic situation is causing great stress to many of our neighbours. United Way and its many agencies are facing significant challenges in meeting the increasing needs of our community. Many other organizations are also fighting to serve their own special and needed causes.
The Rotary Club of Windsor Roseland distributed $125,000 this year to help ease this burden.
They raised this money, with your help, through events such as Wines of The World that will take place on October 23rd this year. Please consider attending this event so you can be a part of this excellent work.
Information is available at Rotary Club of Windsor Roseland

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North American Perimeter Border

The thickening of the US border with passport requirements and toughened inspection procedures has had a significant impact on cross border social, and more importantly, business transactions. Windsor has been particularly hard hit in our tourist and manufacturing businesses with the casino and local restaurants experiencing significant declines in business and employment. Cross border hindrances to commercial shipments have made us less competitive in the "just in time" manufacturing environment as well costing us factories and jobs.
The casino, alone, has seen a job reduction of 1400 from its high of 5000 jobs pre 9/11.
THERE IS SOMETHING WE CAN DO ABOUT THIS!!!
It is time to pressure our government to accept a North American Perimeter system that eliminates the border between Canada and the US the same as in Europe. We have had a peaceful unarmed border with the US for decades and yet, in Europe, where countries were at was with each other for generations, they have managed to eliminate the border by harmonizing entry requirements to all their countries. Apparently, our Nationalistic pride has prevented our government from seriously solving this issue.
Just think of the savings in time, money and fuel burned while waiting in line at the border.
Just think of the number of more times people would be willing to cross the border if it was much easier.
The Canadian Border Services staff could better devote their time to more productive work and share the perimeter responsibility with their US counterparts. That would allow the US Border people more time to concentrate on illegal immigrants and real terrorism threats (there really have never been any from Canada).
It is time for us all to start to demand that our government properly address this situation and open the borders. It is not just the US that is keeping it thick.

Labour Day Parade

It is unfortunate that the Labour Council has chosen to exclude the Mayor and Council from the Labour Day Parade because they don't like the way the dispute with CUPE was handled.
I believe this is a serious error on their part as the Mayor and Council were doing their jobs representing all the residents of Windsor. It is clear that they had a significant level of support (over two thirds by any poll I saw) from the taxpayers.
Labour disputes are rarely pleasant but when its over the task of all parties is to learn to live with the result and mend any fences inadvertently damaged. Some union members carried on in an unprofessional manner but that has not turned us against unions or given us any reason to exclude them from community activities.
The unions in Windsor have historically been strong supporters of charities and stood up for the "little guy". This has earned them a great deal of respect but I think this latest move is going to demonstrate a level of parochialism that may diminish that respect.
The Labour Day Parade belongs to the unions and they may choose as they have but I believe it is an error to snub the leaders of our City whether one agrees with them or not.

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Harmonized sales tax

The HST proposed for Ontario can be considered a good thing in terms of efficiency by replacing two taxes and sets of reporting with one. However, the proposed implementation appears to be a major tax grab rather than being revenue neutral. It appears that seniors will have to pay significantly more for services and goods because many of these things currently are not taxed at the PST level. This includes financial services and fees. It includes purchases by condominiums and it includes additional taxes on fuel amongst other things.
There is a fairer way to have an HST and that is to maintain the same exemptions that exist in the current PST. This should not be difficult as there already are going to be exemptions to part of the HST on certain items.
I urge you to look into how this HST will affect you personally and let your MPP know - in no uncertain terms - that it is not acceptable. In this area we can impact on this situation because the Minister of Finance is Dwight Duncan and he probably would like to get re-elected.

Welcome

Hi everyone
Welcome to my blog. This space will be used to talk to you about my ideas, reactions to what is going on in the area and world and sometimes to urge your support for some kind of political or charitable action. I will always try to be positive and where I am opposed to something will try to present positive alternatives to consider.
I appreciate feedback, debate and, of course, support for any of my ideas.
Richard