New News Opinions

While news stories can be interesting in what they reveal concerning what has just happened, it is also interesting to realize the manner in which media outlets report on its findings. 

Below I will have my personal thoughts and observations on a number of news stories that were written recently.  

Take a look at these stories and you'll see what I mean. 

DIFFERENCES BETWEEN THE CITY AND COUNTY GOVERNMENTS

There seems to be a lot of differences over the last little while, some of them rather nasty to be honest, between the Windsor City Government and the Governments of the various smaller County Governments around Windsor.

 

They seem to be having a lot of conflict lately over a variety of issues, like this story below: 

"LaSalle Mayor Ken Antaya slams Hilary Payne for 'childish' and 'classless attack' on his town 

Doug Schmidt, Windsor Star, February 5, 2016   

In an invective-laced email sent to city Coun. Hilary Payne, LaSalle Mayor Ken Antaya slams the Windsor politician for using the media to launch a “classless attack” against the county, an “amateurish” act which he deems provocative and “childish.” 

Antaya, in an electronic message copied to every mayor and deputy mayor in the county, accuses Payne of making “wild accusations” in his “attack on LaSalle.” 

“Rather than speak to each other, you have decided to insult and attempt to embarrass the ‘country bumpkins’ in the County,” Antaya wrote. The email was also copied to members of LaSalle council and the CAOs of LaSalle and Essex County. 

In a letter to the editor published in Wednesday’s Windsor Star, Payne was critical of a recently reported statement of Antaya’s that LaSalle and Windsor “share a border. That’s about it.” 

On Thursday, he described Antaya’s response to his letter as “absolutely ridiculous” and a “gross overreaction.” 

But despite the undiplomatic tone of Antaya’s email, a survey of county mayors who read it reveals that they side with his comments." 

Of course, there have been other issues where the City and County Governments disagree with each other to have made the newspaper. 

Of course, I have a view of it. My own feeling is that it provides a good excuse for the Provincial Government to one day require all the Governments in the area to combine into a Metropolitan Government. The more negative stories amongst them, the more fights and disagreements then the merrier everything is later. All of the differences and disagreements provide a good excuse for what the Province wanted anyway. The Province will merely come out and say that it no longer can tolerate these disagreements and therefore all the Governments will be required to combine into a major Government similar to the one in Toronto! 

It will be interesting at that time to see who will become the Head of it. Maybe that is the future role for Windsor's Mayor today or at least for what he hopes. I can think of a number of County Politicians who could make a very good Head also. 

WHY DID I AND OTHERS SELL SO MANY OF OUR SHARES

I'll give you my reason.  

The stock market has gone down very severely over the last while. That impacted negatively a number of stock market shares that I owned.  I don't think I suffered actual losses in the shares themselves but rather I lost a lot of the profits that I made in a number of them.  I expect that others had something similar happen to them. 

So I decided to sell a lot of my shares and so did others. My reason is pretty obvious. I guess we all felt that the stock market was in very bad shape and it made sense to sell the shares until it was going to rise again. That meant that we would not lose a ton of money and would buy back the shares to make a few extra dollars when it made sense to do so. Unfortunately, that time period is not yet apparent given some of the huge losses that the Toronto exchange is running through. 

Here's what I found interesting in a story that I read a short time ago. It was a significant difference between 2 banks: 

"Canadians Hoarding Cash Show ‘Amazing Shrewdness': BMO

Huffington Post Canada Daniel Tencer 

[CIBC] warned that stashing cash in their mattresses could cost households billions in lost investment returns. 

But Bank of Montreal chief economist Doug Porter sees it differently. “Being overweight cash over the past year perhaps indicates an amazing degree of shrewdness among Canadian investors,” he wrote in a client note this week. 

CIBC estimates that Canadians are hoarding an excess $75 billion in cash..."  

I have to admit that BMO approach makes a lot of sense to me. I just don't see the point of investing in the markets these days and taking risks. 

SHOULD WE REALLY GET RID OF NURSES 

With all the cuts being made in the Hospital sectors, what choice do the executives have other than getting rid of a number of employees? The question that arises is whether that action make sense or not.  Many are battling on both sides. 

To be blunt about it, with the reduction in revenues that they have, what other choice do the Local Hospitals have but to eliminate a number of the nursing jobs. It is a sad situation, but many will begin a new career over the border, so nurses will still have a chance of great employment opportunities. I saw this Letter to the Editor in the Windsor Star on February 7, 2016 by a retired nurse. I believe that what she is saying is interesting: 

"Right now, there are plans to eliminate 170 Registered Nurses positions from our hospitals in Windsor...  

When these nurses leave, they take with them years of knowledge and expertise. They will be welcomed with open arms to the Michigan medical system. They will never return." 

Really, does that make sense to do for those of us who, because of our age or medical condition, need a well staffed hospital today? We don't even know if the Mega-Hospital will even be built. What if that doesn't happen? Won't reducing the number of Registered Nurses cause further delays in care? It is very important to think critically on what is best in the long-term for the residents and if this new facility gets built, accessibility should be a main topic of discussion, plus hiring adequate amounts of trained professionals (nurses, doctors, etc..) to effectively handle patient care at any time.

 

MISADVENTURE BAY 

Perhaps that should be the new title of the big and expensive swimming pool downtown instead of the one that we have. Here is what is happening now: 

"Adventure Bay is under repair and underused — at least on some days of the week — a manager there says. 

Assistant manager of Adventure Bay, Michael Chantler, tells CBC News two water slides are being repaired and a new plan for changed — perhaps even reduced — hours is in the works... 

Chantler said the cost of the repair is covered by the manufacturer. However, the city had to drain the pools because there had to be little humidity present during repairs. So, the city will lose attendance revenue when the park is closed Thursday and Friday."  (CBC News, Feb 4, 2016) 

Of course, if this was the only problem that the pool had in its first few years after construction, I would not have written this article. However, here are other problems that the pool had as disclosed in that CBC story: 

"-Not long after it opened the floors needed a sand-based coating because people had been slipping and falling.

-In 2014, an air handling unit that moves air was malfunctioning and lifeguards complained of "minor irritation."

-Also in 2014, ripples and bubbles formed on the siding outside the building.

-The FlowRider was closed for weeks late last year as some of it had to be shipped away for repair." 

We were also told that the pool is used less than expected. 

It's just another action that shows the difficulties involving a new facility that was built here at a huge cost.