Winter Came Early This Year

I have to admit that I am not all that good a weather person. I really am not sure what our temperatures have been in the past around this time. However, I don’t remember such a cold outside these days as we are having now. Oh well, it is something that I’m experiencing now and I guess I just have to get used to it. I thought I had read somewhere else before that we’re going to have several years more of very cold weather like this. I just had better make sure that I have all the clothes that I need to protect me.

A short time ago I watched the funeral session of President George Bush on television. It did make me sad watching it but I wanted to see what people would say about him. I thought that he had been a great President in the US and I remember that I was very disappointed at the time that he was not re-elected. My biggest surprise, although I’m sure that you too probably read about it as well as I did, dear reader, was that one of the speakers at the ceremony was our ex-Prime Minister, Brian Mulroney.

It was remarkable to me that a Canadian was able to speak at the funeral of a US President in front of so many key people in the US. Oh sure, he was an important political person in this Country but the former US President had met so many important Governmental people from other countries over the years. However, it was our former Leader who spoke at his funeral. It was interesting to me because I did not know about it at all before but they were friends, I read in one of the articles, for about 30 years. Apparently, they met many times during that timeframe. Obviously, they had become very close.

I do not want to speak very much about the funeral ceremonies that I saw on television. It might be well worthwhile for you, dear reader, just to take a look to see what happened. Moreover, you might also want to take a look at how the various former US Presidential people got along with each other during the ceremonies because they were sitting beside each other.

Now let me write about some other subjects that are of interest to me.

SERIOUSLY, IS THIS ALL THAT REALLY HAPPENED

I probably should not write very much for you, dear reader, in this story. It just completely boggles my mind given what was said and how it troubles me so much more. In fact, you may wonder why this person was ever re-elected to office, especially the senior one in the City, given what you are about to read:

“We need to triple our efforts in economic development to fast-track the diversification of our economy.”

During the last four-year term of council, about 600 jobs have been created by attracting new employers like Kauth (auto parts), APAG (electronics), AAR (aircraft maintenance) and Quicken Loans announcing a tech centre in the downtown. But those 600 jobs are just a fraction of what would be needed to absorb the impact of a Windsor Assembly Plant closure, he stressed.” (Brian Cross, Windsor Star, December 3, 2018) 

I am completely stunned by this comment. Can you believe it… Only 600 jobs have been created in Windsor in over 4 years previously while Drew Dilkens was the Mayor. Only 600 jobs!!

If our efforts are tripled to meet Mayor Dilkens’ wish, it would seem to me that our numbers would now be 1800 new jobs that would be created. Oh well, that only means that a few thousand other CAW workers who lost their jobs if the plant was closed down would be unemployed since the number of new Mayor’s jobs to be created would be so low.

I am certain, dear reader, that you can understand how upset I am about what the Mayor has said. Does he have no idea what he should be doing to protect the City of Windsor and all of the surrounding suburbs? In my opinion, a number of Council members in Windsor have the duty to act promptly to salvage what may happen here. It may mean that they ignore the Mayor completely.

More importantly, it also means that we need Metropolitan Windsor set up immediately with a different person who will lead what happens in this entire area! Someone who will protect us from the mess that could happen otherwise.

ARE OUR HOSPITAL PLANS A MESS

Honestly, I am very disappointed about what is being proposed for a new Hospital in our area. I commented on it before so I do not have to repeat it all again in this posting.

As far as I am concerned, this comment suggests to me another reason that just having a single hospital in this area as is being proposed is an absolute disaster:

“An emergency department could still exist at the Ouellette Campus as part of the mega-hospital project, according to the head of Windsor Regional Hospital.” (Dave Battagello, Windsor Star, November 28, 2018) 

Duh! As far as I am concerned, this just confirms once again that just having one new hospital here alone will not work. Naturally, this is not pointed out or else everything set out to date will have to be scrapped.

Here is a comment by the Mayor that is most interesting:

“Absolutely, unequivocally, without a shadow of a doubt, emergency services will be delivered in our downtown core. They are not disappearing out of the core.

“The question is will they be delivered at the Grace site, will they be delivered at the Ouellette site, or will there be another site in the downtown core that is selected? That’s really where we’re at.”

Why he just can’t put forward the argument that this existing hospital is still required even if a new one is built far away from the downtown is beyond me. Instead, he mentions the different alternatives so that no matter what happens down the road he can claim a victory.