The Start Of A New Year

I wish all of my Readers the happiest of New Year’s, this year being 2019. Just relax a little bit since I am sure that you enjoyed yourself the other night.

Now that you are here let me tell you something right away. Expect that fairly soon you are going to see a whole bunch of stories about the number 2020 which obviously is our new year number next year.

Don’t you get it? 2020… That phrase is something that we have seen for many years before although written slightly differently: 20/20! That is correct. That is the term used for “normal” eye vision.

Expect to see a whole bunch of different events take place as this year moves forward. Many will have nothing to do with eyes, but will take advantage of the phrase “20/20” leading up to and then being part of our next new year. That is my big prediction for the new year so early this year now.

While I would like to predict what may happen from now until the end of 2019, I don’t think I can accomplish a very successful job in what I predict. Life is very complicated and can result in remarkable changes in a very short period of time.

However, I should try and make a few guesses about what may happen in our next year. Who knows, it will be interesting to see how good a guesser I can turn out to be. Let me get started now.

POLITICS IN WINDSOR

There were a bunch of new politicians who were elected in the City of Windsor in the last political election. It should be interesting to see how they carry out and whether or not they are supportive of the Mayor. That should help determine how good a job, or not, Mayor Dilkens does.

However, the person who interests me is newly-elected Councillor Kieran McKenzie. As you know, he was working for MP Brian Masse before the election but has now resigned from his job. I really have no idea how well he will do as an elected person but he seems to have a pretty good reputation that is supposed to help him out. Interestingly, already he has been reported in several stories that deal with Council matters. You know this means that he is going to get a lot of publicity from the media in Windsor. At least for the short term.

It will be very interesting to me to see what he does. Will he become very vocal in what he does right away? Does he have lots of interesting matters that he wants to deal with and with which he has solutions? How is he going to deal with his relationship with his former employer? How will he act with the Mayor and his colleagues? Does he have an objective he is trying to accomplish, say for another job, using his role as Councillor as the means by which can develop a reputation that will help out. That job could well be as an MP or MPP or perhaps the next Mayor of Windsor.

In this regard, it should be interesting to me how Mayor Dilkens works out in the future. Will he be able to control Council as he seemed to be able in the past? What ideas does he have that will help him out politically and will he have any success in achieving them? Or, is the Mayor just sitting around waiting for something to be given to him by the Province as a reward for all that he is going to do for them? One idea might be his appointment as the head of the soon-to-be established Municipality of Metropolitan Windsor if one is ever set up. However, remember that his main competitor could be the Mayor of Tecumseh, Gary McNamara, if he is interested in doing such a job.

Let us just watch and see what happens not only there but in the other municipalities as well if the Province decides to restructure Windsor and all of the small communities around the City.

THE BORDER

I’m not going to get into a long discussion about it. To me, a big issue is going to be building a new bridge at the border.

Assuming that the Ambassador Bridge Company is moving forward quickly and presumably that their bridge will be built in a relative very short period of time and at a much lower cost than the Governmental bridge that is supposed to be built, will a Governmental bridge ever be built?

I must tell you, dear reader, that I expect that there is going to be significant action taken by the Federal Government to try to take over the Ambassador Bridge from the Moroun family. I expect the action to be taken before the next federal election in the fall of 2019 as a means to pick up seats for the Liberal Government in the Essex County area if the Government is successful in becoming the new owner of the border crossing in our area or at least a significant partner of the Morouns.

NEW JOBS IN OUR AREA

This area was so strong in the automobile industry in the past. That is changing significantly now.

Obviously, these days we have big concerns about the automobile industry in this area. While we thought there was going to be a huge expansion of that business here a year or so ago, who knows what will happen with all the close-downs in the industry that we are seeing these days. Moreover, is the industry going to be significantly restructured in the way it is set up and operations are undertaken with the new type of automobiles that are being considered? Will we see a number of automobile companies effectively closing down by merging with others? What happens then to the employees who work for those companies?

Part of what we are going through also these days now, as far as I’m concerned, is considering what other businesses may change significantly in the way that they are set up and operate as our economy changes as well. If that happens, we can probably expect to see another big reduction of jobs in one area but a buildup in another. The problem for us is whether or not the people in this area are able to operate in whatever this new job market is. Do they have the skills to do so?

I have to say that my guess is that we do not have the expertise required, whatever that expertise may be. I assume that it will require that people are trained to undertake the new activities. Accordingly, what steps will be taken to ensure that people are educated properly to carry on the new tasks and who will do it?

You might be interested to read this story in the Windsor Star:

“Mayor says diversifying Windsor's economy his No. 1 priority for 2019” (Brian Cross, Windsor Star, December 28, 2018)

I am not going to comment in this article about what the Mayor said except to say that this part made sense:

“Dilkens said at the time that his city, home to FCA Canada’s 6,000-worker Windsor Assembly Plant, needs to be ready, with new employers from various sectors required to create jobs to replace any potential loss of that large workplace.

“So we are putting together a plan for city council’s consideration that will show how we can triple our efforts to diversify job creation in Windsor-Essex,” the mayor said recently.”

Again, it will be very interesting to see what happens and who takes the lead in what is to be accomplished.

Do you see what I mean, dear reader? These are just a few areas that I think will be very busy in the year 2019 and in which I have a big interest. I certainly expect other areas to all of a sudden arise for which I will have to do some research before I am able to post a story.

2019 is going to be a very interesting year! Keep on coming back, dear reader, and read my views about what is going on.