Blue Water Bridge Strike

 

It appears to me as if there will be some major problems in border crossing over the next little while if in fact there is a strike involving the Blue Water Bridge personnel in Sarnia shortly.  There could well be a negative impact in our area if a significant number of vehicles decide to cross the border here instead of the Sarnia crossing because of problems there.

As I am sure some people who live in our area are not clear about, that Bridge is a strong competitor of the Ambassador Bridge in the Windsor/Detroit area for border crossing. Sure, we are separate in different areas in Ontario by several hours if one travels over Highway 401 between us. However, if one is going to other areas in the US that are further west from eastern areas in Ontario, one might cross over into the US either via Sarnia or in Windsor to get there and then to come back here.

Here is part of what the Public Service Alliance of Canada, which is the Union trade group, wrote in a press release distributed on November 20, 2016:

"The 47 workers represented by the Public Service Alliance of Canada (PSAC) who work for Blue Water Bridge are taking strike action after the employer (the Federal Bridge Corporation), refused to bargain fairly and continued to demand major concessions. 

PSAC served the employer with the legally required 72-hour notice as of Thursday November 17, 2016, following a membership meeting with the workers at Blue Water Bridge. Members have made it clear that if the employer is not willing to negotiate fairly, that we would take strike action.  

PSAC and the employer met for one day of bargaining on Saturday, November 19, 2016, in a last attempt to reach an agreement. The employer continued their demands to slash the workers benefits and demand major concessions that would have set workers back years.  

“We tried to get an agreement, but they refused to negotiate in good faith and remove the concessions and roll backs off the table”, says Paul Haney, Local President. “I am sorry that commuters and commercial vehicles will be inconvenienced now because of the disrespect the Federal Bridge Corporation has shown its workers.”  

Effective, November 21, 2016, at 6:00 a.m. our members will be in a legal strike position."

It certainly appears to me as if someone wants a strike to take place or the serious threat of a strike to happen and will require significant changes in one of the parties' bargaining positions to prevent it. Here is also something that I just learned from a Union official:

"We were in mediation with the employer to try and get a contract. Talks broke down when they walked away from the table without discussion our proposals in September.  

Once that happened, we had to go through a legislated “cooling off period” of 21 days. Once this time passed, either side could give a 72 hour notice of a strike or lockout."

Assuming that the strike does take place, Management will still continue to run the Bridge. Here is what is reported:

"Corporation spokesman Andre Girard says the Blue Water Bridge will remain open and the traffic flow will be maintained throughout the labour disruption. 

“Contingency plans are in place to deal with an eventuality to maintain traffic flow as long as the situation remains unresolved,” says Girard. “Management and non-unionized staff have obtained certification in the Transportation of Dangerous Goods and Workplace Hazardous Materials Information System as well as training for toll operation and other related bridge operation duties such as building maintenance and services to tenants of the Blue Water Bridge Corporate Centre on Venetian Blvd.” (Dave Dentinger, Blackburn News, November20, 2016)

One may well wonder how well organized that border traffic will be. Of course, my own view is that traffic will be backed up entering into the Sarnia area from the US, sometimes quite significantly, because of the strike if one takes place. The strike would come at a very difficult time considering it would happen "just ahead of the American Thanksgiving and the Black Friday shopping spree in the U.S." Who knows how bad the situation would be at the Border in Sarnia if there was a large volume of traffic and perhaps the number of employees working would be reduced. How many hours would people have to spend at the border there before they would be able to clear Customs?

It should not be that difficult for us in the Windsor area to guess that traffic here, especially truck traffic and perhaps some auto vehicle traffic for those going into the US west and coming  back, will increase significantly as well.

"We gave the 72 hour notice and will be going on a legal strike as of 6am tomorrow."

I assume that even though there may be backups here because of the heavy additional traffic it would clear a lot quicker than in the Sarnia area. I am sure that the Ambassador Bridge Company would make it clear to the Canadian Government that it expects there to be sufficient Government workers here to deal with any increased traffic whatsoever.

In my opinion, if there is a strike, I would not expect it to end very quickly if there have been so many difficulties already between the parties. Let's just see what happens. Who knows, it may be that the parties will still have some discussions overnight that might put off a legal strike for the time being.  Somehow though, I doubt it.

Where Is The Windsor/Detroit New Border Crossing Already

Seriously, why should I do any writing on this topic since it is obvious, at least to me, that in this area the only group that can build a 2nd border crossing bridge legally is the Ambassador Bridge Company. As far as I'm concerned, that is the legal relationship between that Company and the Governments based on what I think I know which is based on prior legal documents.

In fact, in my opinion, it is so obvious. The Governments have not really built anything for so many years with respect to another border crossing notwithstanding the apparent need to do so. Moreover, the Bridge Company has already submitted their plans for a 2nd crossing and could start building such a crossing very quickly once the Governments give their approval for them to do so.

The big news that I saw in the media that has necessitated this article was that the Governments were going to be having 3 engineering companies bring forward their plans for a new crossing in their tender operation competition. The expectation was that it would take many months for them to undertake and finish their work and then the Governments would have to spend time to make a decision on which one of the companies they would select. This whole process is supposedly going to take about 18 months from now.

In its Press Release, the following was written on November 10, 2016 by the Organization involved:

"Windsor-Detroit Bridge Authority (WDBA) announced today that it has issued the Request for Proposals (RFP) inviting Proponents to submit formal proposals to design, build, finance, operate and maintain the Gordie Howe International Bridge project.

The Gordie Howe International Bridge project will address four regional transportation needs at the busiest trade corridor between Canada and the United States. It will provide a new crossing option, highway-to-highway connections, modernized border processing facilities and capacity for future traffic growth. The new bridge will make it faster, simpler and safer for both people to travel and goods to flow between Canada and the United States, enhancing trade and tourism.

The 18-month RFP stage is the second phase in WDBA’s competitive procurement process to select a private-sector partner. The three Proponents – Bridging North America, CanAm Gateway Partners and Legacy Link Partners – were pre- qualified through the Request for Qualifications (RFQ) stage. The entire procurement process is overseen by an independent fairness monitor."

Yawn, what is the purpose of this silliness by the Government of Canada? Oh wait, I think I understand the reason for it. I almost forgot. You see, dear reader, what has been said before, for reasons I do not understand, is that there is a need for 2 new bridges to be built in this area. One by the Ambassador Bridge Company and a 2nd one to be built by the Governments on both sides of the river.

Of course, this is completely ridiculous as far as I'm concerned especially considering that the volume of trucks crossing the border has dropped significantly by a huge percentage. Only the Ambassador Bridge Company project makes any sense of being built because of the financial costs involved. For the Ambassador Bridge Company project, the dollar cost is around $500 million. For the Government Bridge, it can be over $4 billion based on some numbers given out previously! If volumes have gone down so much and costs have gone up so much, then please tell me why the Governments are looking at building a bridge at all.  The Government Canada who would be paying for just about everything would lose a huge fortune considering that it will have to put up a good chunk of the costs which may never be recovered.

In case you forgot, dear reader, this construction competition between the 3 companies should have started almost a year ago. It did not and was only started recently. Even more interesting is that the Government bridge will not be built until about a year or 2 after it was supposed to be built. In other words, 2021 or 2022 rather than 2020. Another delay in this project that is stretching it out even longer now:

"The federal government delayed issuing the request for proposals from the bidders because it wanted to “mitigate all risks” before moving ahead on the long-awaited project, Sohi said." (Dave Battagello, Windsor Star, November 10, 2016)

With all due respect, this is so absurd to learn about that it makes me so angry with the Canadian Government who is acting so foolishly. Why they won't just do a deal with the Ambassador Bridge Company already is beyond me. Just take a look at this last line in the Battagello article:

"Sohi called the Howe bridge project “one of our highest infrastructure priorities” but wouldn’t say where it ranks among other major construction projects involving the federal government."

Gee, I thought that this project was the most important one for the future of this country. Hasn't the Government Canada suggested the need for a better crossing in this area for so many years!

Clearly, it is not that vital it seems anymore. The real problem is the inability of the Ambassador Bridge Company and the Government Canada to somehow sit down at this exact moment and negotiate a deal that makes sense for both of them and then to get the new bridge started already. To be honest about it, I can tell them both what makes sense now so that they can complete a transaction now. Trust me, what I would suggest would absolutely work especially because there is no need for a 3rd bridge which supposedly the Government of Canada wants to build.

The timing of this announcement by the Government people is laughable. It came out a couple of days before the meetings that were scheduled between the Government of Canada and outside parties. Those meetings were very interesting as well considering the projects for which lots of money was going to be needed:

"Prime Minister Justin Trudeau pitched fund managers from around the world on the merits of investing billions in Canadian infrastructure projects Monday, earning praise from some but leaving others with questions about how such deals would work.

Ottawa is setting up a new entity — the Canada Infrastructure Bank — to promote large national and regional projects, including revenue-generating ones it hopes will draw the interest of big institutional investors, including domestic pension funds.

Monday’s meetings in downtown Toronto — a morning session with Canadian pension funds managers and top bankers, and an afternoon discussion with international investors — brought the prime minister and key cabinet ministers face-to-face with some of the money managers they will need to attract to make the bank a success.

Ron Mock, chief executive of the Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan, said Trudeau and his cabinet have “got their head in the right place” in creating projects that would draw on government money and investment from institutions, such as pension funds.
(Barbara Shecter, Drew Hasselback Financial Post, November 14, 2016)

Hmmm. I did not see in the news articles that I read about this venture anything to do with the Government border crossing bridge in Windsor/Detroit. I would have thought that it would be something very important that would have been discussed not only for the future of our country but because so much outside money was needed to build the Government bridge here. Maybe there were discussions about it but I did not see anything in the stories in the various media outlets that I read that mentioned the Windsor/Detroit new proposed crossing.

Oh well, why mention the project in Windsor/Detroit when legally only the Ambassador Bridge Company can be involved in it and its cost in building its project is a tiny fraction compared with the Governments' cost to build their project.

Let me be serious, dear reader.  I just cannot stand this foolishness any further. In my opinion the one day jail time that was spent by Matty Moroun and Dan Stamper in one of the disputes in one of the trials over the border file changed dramatically the attitude of Matthew Moroun in how he became involved much more seriously in the future of the Ambassador Bridge. Given how often he has been involved publicly since that time in matters involving the border crossing, it is clear to me how important his role is in the future of his family's border crossing. Given his father's age, what Matthew has learned has made him an extremely important person in dealing with the border crossing in Windsor/Detroit. I expect that what he wants will help determine ultimately what will happen in this area.

Given how long this file has been going on, and how long it will go on considering the project that has been started now, you should know, dear reader, that even more time will be taken if the Ambassador Bridge Company and the Governments cannot resolve their differences. Expect even more massive litigation to be started in both Canada and the United States over whether the Ambassador Bridge Company is the only exclusive party which can build a bridge in this area. I expect it will take at least a decade or longer to finish.  In my opinion, the Ambassador Bridge Company would be the winner anyway.

Do you really think that the Governments and/or their private partners will come up with $4 billion to build a bridge in competition with the new Ambassador Bridge even if they were successful in their litigation? Don't be silly. There is no way that is going to happen because it will not work out financially.

To be serious, all that needs to happen is for the Ambassador Bridge Company and the Governments to get together in a meeting and resolve their problems to get the new border crossing built now. As far as I'm concerned, putting in a few dollars from the Governments and giving them some shares in the border crossing Company built in this area is an easy solution that must be done now so that the new bridge can be built now!

It's really that easy to do to get the "Windsor/Detroit New Border Crossing Already".

Just Some Thoughts

                MISCELLANEOUS

                   Items Of Interest

I just wanted to write a Blog about a whole bunch of different stories dealing with matters that are of interest to me and which I hope you might find interesting as well.

There are lots of things happening around here that I find attention-gathering, at least with respect to my own attention. I must admit that I spend a lot more time thinking about different things for a number of reasons. Obviously, since I really don't have a "job" anymore, I don't have to focus on some very direct subjects. I can think about lots of different matters instead. Some are quite important but others just happen to be interesting to me so that I can concentrate a lot more of my attention on them. Let me tell you about some of these matters.

Obviously, the US election results are fascinating. I never thought that Donald Trump could possibly be elected as President of the United States.  I still don't to be honest. I am sure that over the next few months you, dear reader, will be able to read all kinds of theories about why so many people voted for Trump to be President. There are all kinds of them now.

No matter what others say, I have my own opinion on the subject. Perhaps the prime reason for what happened is that, unfortunately for her, many US voters were never going to vote for the wife of former US President Bill Clinton.  Their opposition to him was just so high that they could never support her no matter how highly qualified that she was.

"Clinton’s campaign outspent the Trump campaign by more than 2 to 1. While full spending reports are not yet compiled, campaigns typically spend just about all they raise. As of October 28, Clinton had raised $687 million compared to Trump’s $307 million—a 124 percent advantage.

And that doesn’t even count the spending by outside groups (better known as “outside groups”). When added to the candidates’ own ads, Pro-Clinton ads outnumbered pro-Trump ads 3 to 1—a mind-numbing 383,512 ads for Clinton compared to 125,617 supporting Trump. Outside groups raised and spent more than three times as much on Clinton as on Trump. Super PACs and other groups supporting Clinton raised almost $190 million; those supporting Trump pocketed only $60 million." (Ken Kurson  Observer November 10, 2016)

It just seems to me that this has to be the real reason for it. I was very impressed with Hillary Clinton. She just seemed so bright in everything that she talked about. Yet, she lost. I must admit that I would have found it very difficult to vote for her because of her relationship. Yet, in the end, if I was voting, I would have voted for her because I could not have voted for Trump at all. In my opinion, I suspect that many people who actually lived in the United States decided they could not vote for her no matter what.

I really do a lot of exercising these days or at least what I consider exercising. In the past, I hardly did anything compared with what I do today. I do it now because of the illness that I had almost 2 years ago and which I want to prevent from occurring again.  I want to do this exercising to keep myself in the best condition that I can. Early on, I had a lot of difficulty moving around but now I do a lot better.

Three times a day as an example, before every meal, I go through a number of physical exercises designed to keep my weight down but also to build up the muscles in my body. Several times already I have been very upset because my weight has increased and I could not figure out why because I had not eaten that much food to add on pounds. It turns out that, because of what I'm doing, my muscles keep growing bigger and stronger and that is what increases my weight. Yet, what is also fascinating to me is that my body size does not change very dramatically. I can wear the same clothes notwithstanding the additional weight put on.

Supposedly, the Federal Government may well be building a 2nd bridge between Windsor and Detroit. It is going to take at least 18 months before it will be determined who will build that bridge and what it will look like.

I just don't get it. What is the purpose of doing this? During those 18 months, someone needs to explain to me why the Ambassador Bridge Company would not be allowed to build its 2nd bridge given all of the work that they have done so far to build their own bridge.  If that happens, what good is a Government Bridge considering the reduced traffic? In addition, where are the billions of dollars that will be needed to build a Government bridge coming from?

We are in the middle of November now and to be honest I'm very happy with the weather. I was out for a walk Saturday afternoon and it was very pleasant even though it was a little bit cooler than before. I must admit that I am surprised that, so far at least, the weather has been quite good and we have not seen any significant snow fallings.  I just hope that we are that lucky for a much longer period of time and also that we don't see much snow this winter no matter what has been projected.

I may well write some comments later on about the Anne Jarvis columns in the Star dealing with the border file recently. I must admit that I only see the stories on the Internet and not in the Star itself because I don't subscribe to this newspaper anymore. I wonder how much space these stories take up there.  They seem quite long compared with her normal columns. There must be a reason why there is a desire to have her write so much about this topic. I wonder if the new Star Editor–In–Chief is involved in making that decision.

Interestingly, when it was announced that the previous head of the Star was leaving, his replacement was not announced. I must admit that this lack of information surprised me. All that I saw in Roseann Danese's article on October 7, 2016 was: "Beneteau’s replacement has not been named."

I must admit that I have heard about this music group for a very long time: The Arditti Quartet. It is a string quartet. I must also admit that I know very little about this group and have not heard any of their music so far. Of course, I have no idea if there is any relationship between us given our name. Who knows, perhaps a member of the group may be a relative of mine. 

In a story that I read about what they are doing now, I saw the following comment:

"Of all the leading string quartets around the world, only the Arditti routinely set themselves the kind of challenge you’ll hear when they come to Hampstead Arts Festival next week. And the challenge is they don’t play standard repertoire: the Schubert, Beethoven and Brahms that forms the bedrock of quartet recitals.

They play music by contemporary composers: often specially commissioned, being done for the first time, which means that no one knows if it will fly or flounder.

There are easier ways to earn a living. But as Irvine Arditti, the quartet’s leader, says, “I don’t think I was put on this planet to have an easy life”. And that’s as well because new compositions aren’t just hard to learn, they’re hard to sell to audiences." (Bridget Galton Hampstead & Highgate Express November 9, 2016) 

Very admirable about what they do and why. Here is their reason:

"In Hampstead, the lights will shine brightly. And so will the programmed pieces, which may not be easy-listening but promise to be alive, exciting, and worth whatever it takes to engage with them.

“We ask our audience to trust us”, Irvine says. “I’m glad to say, they usually do”.

Who knows, if they do make an appearance around here, I just might be one of the audience members.

High Hydro Cost Power

It is that time of the year again.

Over the weekend, we had to turn back our clock from Daylight Savings Time to Standard Time. It meant that summer was gone and that winter was approaching. Nighttime started earlier and everything was turning dark so quickly it seemed in the late afternoon. Lights had to be turned on so much earlier as well outside, especially when driving.

Of course, it means that we may have to prepare to shovel snow (assuming of course that you are not living in a Condo or an apartment where someone else has that task). Naturally, it is a lot colder outside as well and the sweaters, hats and the heavy jackets are coming out to keep us warmer.

We souls who like the warm temperature are not very happy with all of this and know that some people who are our friends are starting to head down south for the winter months to stay nice and warm. Some of us even have agreed to look after our friends' homes while they are away for the winter to make sure that everything is fine there.

I am certain that there are many matters to talk about but I just want to deal with one about which I have become much more familiar. It is a matter that I am not very happy about to be honest and one that I think should change. However, I suspect the likelihood of that happening is quite remote even if a whole bunch of people get onside to what I want.

Are you familiar with this? Just read it and see what I mean. You should understand what I'm going to talk about:

As you can tell, the cost of electricity depends on the time when it is being used. Its cost during the week is dramatically higher during the daytime. The cost reduces quite significantly, by over half, from the highest cost in the daytime to the lowest cost in the evening. In the middle, there is a mid-peak rate. There are the weekend rates as well.

Here is a listing of the rates as set out by Essex Powerlines:

"The current energy time bands and rates as set by the OEB are as follow:

Summer (May 1 - Oct 31) and Winter (Nov 1 - April 30)Summer Weekdays 11am to 5pm / Winter Weekdays 7am to 11am & 5pm to 7pm - On Peak 18 cents per kWh

Summer Weekdays 7am to 11 am & 5pm to 7pm / Winter Weekdays 11am to 5pm - Mid Peak 13.2 cents per kWh"

Summer Weekdays 7pm to 7am / Winter Weekdays 7pm to 7am - Off Peak 8.7 cents per kWh

Weekends and Statutory Holidays, All Day will be at Off Peak - 8.7 cents per kWh"

What troubles me about all of this is the high cost that has to be paid during the "peak hours." I guess the idea is for people to use electricity a lot less during the very active daylight hours. After all, who needs to put on lights or roast meats or poultry during the daytime, right. Control how electricity is used to keep rates down to as low a cost as possible.

To be honest, that bugs me. I am just speaking for those of us who are retired and generally are of age 65 or older. We are living at home during the very cold days of winter and the very hot days of summer. Seriously, in winter, at most times because of the coldness we need the heat on during the day and on at night time as well but probably at a slightly lower temperature rate. In the summer, although not as much, we put on our air-conditioning to keep us cool during the very hot temperatures of the day and night.

We use electricity for almost everything don't we. We use electrical lights. We plug TV sets, stereos and radios into the electrical units in the walls. Just so many other matters as well: we cook with electrical appliances, cleanup the rooms with electrical vacuums, go on the Internet with our PCs, do a wash with electrical appliances using the washers and dryers and so on. Electricity is the powerhouse behind so much of what we do in our homes.

We need to keep our heating and cooling operations working so that we do not get ill. Generally, I don't use air-conditioning in the summertime until the temperatures get very warm. In the winter though, I like turning on the heating system anyone temperature and keeping it on continuously, because I don't like feeling chilled.

Most of us who are over the age of 65 and older are not working anymore. I don't know how much money other older people have but I know that for a lot of them they have financial difficulties. They just have not saved enough money in their lives to give them the ability to spend money as our government utility rates increase. And of course, hydro rates are having huge increases.

I have to admit it seems to me that older people are facing some financial difficulties because of the way that electrical charges are set out. Aren't most of the older people at home at the time when the electrical utility rate is the highest? Let me be direct. The answer is obvious: Yes. After all, now that people are 65, I suspect many of them are retired and stay at home quite a bit. It means then that, unless people are prepared to remain in darkness or with air-conditioning or heating systems off or to cook or do laundry at strange times, they pay electrical charges at the highest rates because they are at home during time periods when the rates are the highest.

I don't know the full particulars about the electrical industry and its rates they charge to their customers. All I know is that the Hydro rates are going up very high quite quickly at least in a good part of our area. There are all kinds of huge amounts of money that have to be paid out by residents as part of the monthly fee as customers of the electrical industry.

Again, just like other matters, the whole situation with respect to Hydro, its cost and how we are being charged for buying power is something that needs to be discussed now. It is something that we as citizens should be doing immediately with our politicians before their next election. We need to get a good result, now!

Flood Damage And More

I have to admit that it is still very difficult for me not to think about the damage done, or that could be done again to my house in the future, because of the big rainstorm that took place here. It just seems that storms are getting so much bigger these days and happening more often and in so many places. By that I mean not just at my house, but at anyone's home in my area and in other areas of the region.  Just so you know, dear reader, I was told recently that we have never had such a bad storm in the place I moved to that anyone can ever remember. Now we have!

What I am really talking about is some kind of event that happens because of Mother Nature causing a problem which is outside of anyone's control. As I am sure you understand, I just went through a relatively minor flooding incident in my home and suffered some damage. In my case, the amount of water that entered into my basement was relatively low. It was a maximum of about 4 inches. Yet even this relatively small amount of water can cause a huge amount of damage as happened in other nearby  residences.

Moreover, my cost to repair this damage was relatively small compared with the cost to replace the damage in many other homes in this area where their basements were completely furnished and their costs to fix it up were in the many tens of thousands of dollars.

My basement was not completed and furnished as so many of the basements in other premises were. Therefore, that is why residents will have to spend so much more money to repair their basement, recover damage costs and then re-furnish it. I hope for their sake that their insurance policy covered these losses because many policies these days have a very limited insurance coverage where the total amount payable in damages is very low. Costs can be very high, as an example, just thinking about the cost to replace a few pieces of furniture only nevermind the additional cost to repair a floor.

I am writing this article because of a story that I saw in the Windsor Star. Here is what was said about the damages suffered that is just so horrific to think about:

"Swamped homes, stalled vehicles and soaked industrial properties affected by September’s flooding in Windsor and Tecumseh resulted in almost $108 million worth of damage, according to the Insurance Bureau of Canada.

The IBC confirmed Wednesday more than 6,000 claims — for home, auto and business — were filed with insurers after record levels of rain ruined hundreds of basements in Windsor and Tecumseh." (Dan Taekema, Windsor Star, November 2, 2016)

If you do the math, you will see that the average claim is $18,000! Mine was substantially lower and others I know are substantially higher.

I have no idea how much of this is split between Windsor and Tecumseh. All that I know from walking around in my area in Tecumseh is how many homes here had huge piles of damaged materials waiting to be collected by the garbage trucks. Undoubtedly, this was the material removed because of the water damage to the house.

There is no doubt in my mind from talking to people that even the relatively small amount of flooding in a basement caused huge amounts of damage to the flooring and furniture there that necessitated immediate replacement. Everything that was all thrown out was done so quickly right after the flooding so that further damage could not go on and so that repairs could be started right away.  Just to give you a recent example that I knew about, one person that I talked to very recently before the storm had told me that the cost to make his basement quite livable and to furnish it as desired when it was done a number of years ago was close to $100,000!

To be honest, I think that the various local Governments need to meet with their residents to discuss what action needs to be taken if something like this ever happens again. Notwithstanding this kind of flooding has not happened before, no one can claim that it will never happen again for many years. The suspicion is being circulated that our weather conditions are changing rather dramatically.

I believe that Government meetings should take place sooner rather than later so the local Governments can also talk to its residents about what really happened and why there was so much flooding and damage. If there were faults, what were they and what is being done to make sure that they never happen again.  Future actions for dealing with these claims need to be discussed and also what needs to be done now to deal with future claims similar to these. More importantly, what needs to be done to  prevent them happening  again.  Everyone needs to agree with what needs to be done.

The actions that need to be taken at those meetings I think depend as well on what the Insurance Companies may decide to do with respect to any future similar claims. Will the Insurers, because of the huge claims, delete this kind of coverage from residential insurance policies and if so, for how many years? Alternatively, will they just put a limit on how much can be claimed under the policies and if so, how much will that amount be? Will the premiums stay the same or will they increase and if so by how much and for how many years?  I would think that the Governments will not act until they find out what the Insurers will do first.

There are many things that need to be resolved as quickly as possible. I don't intend talking about it in this article because frankly, I don't know what they all are. If there are Council/citizen meetings set up in Tecumseh to discuss what happened, I expect that my wife and I will attend to find out what is going on here and what may happen and then what needs to be done. As far as I am concerned, I believe that it must happen as soon as possible and not ignore it and not talk about it at all as seems to be happening now. 

I just have a feeling that our weather will be changing rather dramatically for whatever reason and that such a change will impact people the way it has never impacted us before. In my opinion, we need to decide quickly what we need to do to minimize or even to prevent damage such as the damage that just impacted so many people so badly from happening here again.

The Border File Again [SIGH]

It seems almost like an eternity. That is the time that I have put off writing for my Blogsite because of the horrific tragedy that we had in Tecumseh as a result of the giant rainstorm and the flooding of homes that we had here just a little while ago.

I have to admit as I have said before that this tragedy that happened to me and my wife was the first time that this has happened to us ever in the past. It meant that everything just stopped. It had to. To be realistic, I could not do anything else until all of the problems in the house caused by the flooding were solved. Not only completely but properly as well. Thank heavens though, through the actions of people acting for us--both our family and friend and representatives of the insurance company--that this was accomplished properly and very quickly as well.  We are pretty much back now to where we were before almost without realizing that anything bad had happened to us. How fortunate that has been.

I really did not write anything significant on my Blogsite for quite a period of time, other than stories about the storm itself, because of the mess under which my family was living.  That was just the reality. However, now that normalcy is coming back, I have taken it upon myself to go back to writing articles on my Blogsite again. This function really is that important to me because it makes me do some work to keep my mind operating. 

It was my intention to make this article go back and check out some of the interesting stories that had taken place over the last few weeks and then to write about them. I still hope that is going to get done soon. However, I decided that I would write about this story because it was so bizarre to me:

"Behind the Bridge: Clock ticking on the new Windsor-Detroit crossing

Anne Jarvis, Windsor Star October 28, 2016"

It was a very long story that she wrote, very detailed as well. It just went on and on and on and on. I must admit that I only saw it online and on the pages of the Internet Windsor Star. I just assumed that it could be a good part of a complete page in the normal Star on the Friday when it was published.  It was just such a huge story that she wrote.  Unfortunately, I don't know where it was published in the newspaper and how much space it took up. Oh well, that was just a mere journalistic issue I was looking at discovering.

I read it. The whole story by Anne. I read it again just before I published this story so that I could remember it. It was a very well-written article with lots of information. Primarily about the past. Unfortunately, it really did not tell us very much about the future. All it did do was make it clear that everything was still in the middle of a mess as far as new construction went in our area. It made it clear that the starting of the construction of the Government bridge hasn't really happened yet and who knows when it may get started or even if it ever gets started.

To be frank about it, I really have no intention of going through her article in detail and commenting on it all. Why bother since it is really historical in some aspects and in others just setting out what the issues are that have to be dealt with now. Unfortunately for her, she is in no position to say exactly what should be expected because frankly nobody knows.

It is not just a mess in the Windsor area as far as border crossings. It is just as bad in the Niagara area. What is even more interesting is that no one is suggesting that a new bridge be built as was proposed at one time in the past. Here is the latest verbiage there about some difficulties that they are having and what they are proposing to solve them:

"Wait times at Canada’s second-busiest border crossing can stretch to hours, according to mayors and bridge authorities in Ontario’s Niagara Region who are pleading with Ottawa to boost staffing levels to ease the congestion, especially as the busy Peace Bridge prepares to reduce its operating lanes next month.

The Peace Bridge between Fort Erie, Ont., and Buffalo is one of three border crossings in the Niagara Region where wait times skyrocketed this summer. Some travellers waited for more than two hours to cross the Peace, Rainbow and Lewiston-Queenston Bridges while processing booths sat empty, bridge authorities said. The long wait times are a far cry from the Canada Border Services Agency’s (CBSA) service standard: 10 minutes from Monday to Thursday, and 20 minutes on Friday, Saturday, Sunday and holidays.

“The fact is people can wait for hours – plural – in line to cross the bridge. These are people that are hungry, they have to go to the bathroom, they’ve got screaming kids and they just want to get in,” said Jim Diodati, mayor of Niagara Falls, Ont. “We need them [the federal government] to hire more border guards. That’s all there is to it...

Niagara-area mayors on both sides of the border asked the government to immediately address the situation by hiring more CBSA officers to work at the bridges.

“We implore you and the federal government to act immediately to allocate the necessary human resources to the international bridges along the Niagara River to ensure the safe and timely movement of people and goods across our border,” the letter read. “This is a situation that can no longer be ignored and one that our communities should no longer be expected to endure.” (Michelle Zilio, Globe and Mail, Oct. 26, 2016)

Isn't that rather interesting? No discussion about a new bridge being built there but just staffing up the existing bridge. Doesn't that suggest to you as well, dear reader, that the new bridge is not going to be built by the Government in our area considering this comment in the Jarvis article:

"the number of trucks crossing the Ambassador Bridge dropped almost 30 per cent in the last decade, following the recession and the shift in manufacturing to the south"

Seriously, can anyone invest billions in a new Government bridge that might cost $4 billion to build and still compete against the Ambassador Bridge? Don't be silly.

So let's get back to reality and figure out what's going to happen. Forget about a new bridge to be built by the Government. If that process goes on, it will be in front of litigation in both Canada and the United States for at least a decade or more. Even then, I expect that the Ambassador Bridge Company will be the ultimate winner or else the Governments would have done something by now. They just have not.

Accordingly, there really is only one way that this matter can move forward in a realistic manner now and get all problems solved immediately. The Governments must partner with the Ambassador Bridge Company to resolve this matter. The Ambassador Bridge Company people must think of a new way in which to act with the Governments if they want this process to start advance now. I see two alternatives which I have discussed before:

1) the Governments give the Ambassador Bridge Company permission to build its new bridge now, on its own. It will now have a 2nd crossing across the river between Canada and United States to operate traffic, or

2) the Governments become partners of the Ambassador Bridge Company by receiving say, 10% of the shares of the Border Company by paying around $500 million or perhaps a bit more to cover the cost of building the new bridge and repairing the old one.

It would not surprise me, to be direct about it, to see the Governments buy the entire Ambassador Bridge Company many years down the road depending on whether the Moroun's son wishes to sell out all of his interests in it.  That would not surprise me if only his family still has the main ownership of the Bridge. Surely the Governments must think about that as a very serious consideration of what they should be doing.

That's all I want to say about the Jarvis article.  To be direct, what I set out makes the most sense to me and should get done already!

Winter Is Coming

Brrrr. It is starting to get cold outside these days. I have to admit that cold weather is not exactly my big favourite time of year and I know we are getting this kind of weather starting now for many months to come. I guess that we are going to lose out on the rather nice winter weather that we had last year when the weather seemed to be a lot better than what is being proposed for this year.

And yes, you, dear reader, are going to read about our big mess at least one more time. After all, I do need to get it out of my system by showing how well everything has been accomplished and that, in fact, we still have a good and calm future in our lives.

One huge advantage for my wife and me now is that the work that had to be done on our house after the big storm that we suffered here has pretty much been completed.  We were relatively fortunate in that we did not suffer any huge disasters as a result of the flooding waters that entered into our house. Oh we had a fair bit that covered the floor of our basement quite completely and for many hours. In one sense, we were quite lucky that the basement was not finished the way all the basements in all of our other homes that we owned before were completed. While we had some damage that was done, it was not a horrific job that had to be completed nor was it outrageously expensive to do so. Moreover, it could be accomplished relatively quickly which it was.

The outside contractors who had to do the work fixing up our place did so quite quickly. In addition, our insurance company paid the fees right away that allowed us to replace all of the parts that were damaged. We had no disagreements whatsoever as to what had to be done or what the costs were.

To be honest, I am quite pleased at what was accomplished so well. It meant that our house was brought back to "normal" in a relatively quick period of time. That made the life of my wife and myself so much easier and so much better. Moreover, we were able to go out and buy the replacement parts for our house that were destroyed pretty quickly. The items we found were at a very good price and we were able to get them delivered to our house and the parts were put in so easily. As an example, just the other day we received our new elliptical trainer that we put into our basement where our old one was located before (it was so much bigger than I thought it was even after Marsha and I had seen it in the Department store where we bought it). The fellow who put it all together did it so wonderfully in just over one hour. Heck, if I was doing that task, I expect it would have taken me days to do so if I could ever have done it properly in the first place!

I know that a lot of my neighbours are having work done in their premises probably because the damage there was much more extensive because many homes had a completely furnished basement. In fact, I heard that one place paid out many tens of thousands of dollars for putting in their basement when it was first built! Remarkably, I saw that wonderful premises about a week or so before the storm hit.  I was just shocked at what I heard happened there.  I saw all the pieces of the basements of so many homes that were taken outside after the storms hit. It just made me feel so tense about it all. Hopefully, with all the work being done around here everything will come back to "normal" as quickly as possible for everyone.

There lots of items that I want to write about in my Blogsite as soon as I can with my life coming back to normalcy I am hoping.  Obviously, one of the biggest subjects that I will be talking about are the articles in the Windsor Star on Friday dealing with the border file. I have to admit that I have no real understanding about why they were written in the first place since they did not accomplish very much at all as far as I am concerned. The total amount written by the various reporters was enormous.  Yet, I am not sure what the purpose of the articles was supposed to be. I do have an explanation for what is going on so you will have to come back shortly after I finished my article, dear reader, to read it.

I am sure that I will be writing eventually about the automobile industry once the relationship between the auto companies and the unions are all resolved. I am hoping that everything gets finished without a strike but who knows what will happen with Ford.  The number of people who have been added to the worker files have made our unemployment rates drop so significantly. Presumably, it should mean that our economy improves around our area. All that should help out everyone who is working and those that are looking for a job as well.

Speaking of employment, or rather unemployment, I will probably do an article dealing with the terrible situation in my area and the rest of the County dealing with the libraries. How long has the strike been going on now--- about 4 months I think. I still cannot figure out the reason why it had to be done in the first place. I must admit that I do not think that the Union is doing a very aggressive job of ending the strike and I think that Union members need to figure out what they have to do next if they want to get back to work before the end of the year. 

Of course, I might have something to say once the US elections are completed in November. Probably not a lot to be honest because that election I found pretty disgusting in the way that it is being handled and who is running for the senior Position. I have to admit that all I personally am interested in right now is who the next US President will be and what will happen in the State of Michigan.  It should be interesting as well to see what happens with the Governor of Michigan in the future.

Speaking of elections, while one is not going to happen next year in our area locally, it should be interesting to see how the members of the various Councils operate. Didn't you find it interesting reading the CBC News article recently talking about the City of Windsor Council after 2 years of it being in service.  What I am going to find fascinating is which individuals will start taking action to improve their position so that they can get more senior election positions. As an example, will the present Mayor of Windsor run again and, whether he does or not, who might decide to run against him?

I have saved a lot of newspaper articles over the last several weeks since the time of the huge storm here. I kept track of them and saved them because I expected that I would be unable to do much writing given everything that had to be accomplished from a personal perspective for my wife and me after all that had to be done because of storm that hit here. Even though I think I knew how to handle this matter because of my personal background in the legal business, nevertheless, probably because of my age and the state of health that I am in after my horrific medical situation, it was a very difficult period of time.

Anyway, dear reader, I trust that my life is coming back to normal now and that I will not have to worry so much about all the damage that was done around here that impacted us so much. There are lots of things I can write about as I have pointed out and I better start working on it as soon as possible.