Big Events Taking Place

Quite a week this week! Lots of very fascinating events that have taken place over the last few days. Just consider a couple of them.

A very important one for us is the election of the PC Party in Ontario. I am sure that we will see a lot of interesting events taking place over the next little while. Then of course there was the meeting of the major political government leaders of Western countries, the G7, which may only be G6 now, with the US President attacking the Prime Minister of Canada.

Do you see what I mean, dear reader? In such a short period of time, a few important events that will flood the news services with all kinds of stories and columns for who knows how long. Of course, a  question with all of this is how much you and I care about it. Are we going to be more concerned of other matters that are more relevant for our own special needs?

Let me point out some matters that interest me now:

IS THE WINDSOR COUNCILLOR  IN SERIOUS TROUBLE

Let me just speak briefly about the Provincial election that we just had. Here is one matter that was of interest to me.

I was not surprised that Councillor Bortolin lost but oh, did he ever do badly:

"Liberal candidate and downtown city councillor Rino Bortolin managed to win about 15 per cent of the vote, coming a distant third." (Brian Cross, Windsor Star, June 8, 2018) 

I would think that he would have to be worried now if he decided that he was going to run for Council again in the fall. Would he lose badly there as well? He must believe that he has to do something now to convince the voting population members municipally that they should vote for him and not someone else who may decide to run against him now. 

Could this be it?  It appears as if he is bringing forward a judicial review application to appeal the decision made against him by the Integrity Commissioner:

"I’ve been fighting for my constituents since I was elected in 2014, championing their interests and giving voice to their concerns,” the downtown councillor said in a prepared statement, in which he also affirmed his intent to take the integrity commissioner to court for a judicial review. “I won’t stop now. I won’t stop listening and for that, I won’t apologize." (Brian Cross, Windsor Star, June 5, 2018) 

The Star article points out something that could destroy his career when running to be re-elected if he decides to do so:

"It’s likely it will be several months before the application for a judicial review, filed by Bortolin’s lawyer David McNevin on June 1, makes it to a courtroom. It seeks to have both the Integrity Commissioner’s report and council’s May 7 decision set aside for “error of law, misapprehension of facts and the denial of natural justice."

Amazing!  That legal matter could take place before the municipal election in the fall. If it did, all of the negativity against Bortolin that has appeared up until now could be set out again as the application is being heard.  Moreover, his position could be hurt very badly if the decision that comes out is negative against him and it becomes public just before Election Day. What it would mean is that what could be his strategy, to be re-elected merely by appealing and not having a decision come out until after he is re-elected, may not work.

Here is the nice remark made by the Mayor who must be chuckling about all this right now:

"Mayor Drew Dilkens described Bortolin words as a “sorry, not sorry” statement. “But he did apologize for the words he used, which is great,” the mayor said, adding he’s looking forward to the results of the judicial review."

Seriously, the Mayor must feel so good. It is the Councillor who has to hope for a positive decision or else he might not be re-elected. That would mean, I assume, that the Mayor, if he runs again, would probably have one less person on Council to oppose him.

TRUDEAU SLAMMED

Prime Minister Trudeau could be in serious trouble now. It could be the beginning of a disaster politically for his Party before the next Federal Election next year. Consider this comment made that is total slap against him:

"President Trump’s top economic adviser said on Sunday that Mr. Trump had pulled out of a joint statement with allies at the Group of 7 meeting over the weekend because a “betrayal” by the Canadian prime minister had threatened to make Mr. Trump appear weak before his summit meeting on Tuesday with North Korea’s leader.

The adviser, Larry Kudlow, said that Mr. Trump had no choice but to take the action after Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said in a news conference that Canada would not be pushed around by the United States on trade.

Mr. Trudeau “stabbed us in the back,” Mr. Kudlow said, by making his remarks after the president had already agreed to sign the joint statement and had left for his historic meeting with Kim Jong-un in Singapore." (Noah Weiland, New York Times, June 10, 2018) 

Of course, this negative comment may only have had the need to be made because the US President is dealing with North Korea now and the President has to show that no one could be negative about him. Or else!

The big concern now for us in Canada is what will the US President do with respect to NAFTA. He may decide to teach our Prime Minister a lesson demonstrating that we have to back down dramatically for what it is that we want in our negotiations involving the US and Mexico.

What a mess we are in now!