Our New Hospital

I have to admit that I have not written very much about the new hospital that is supposed to be built in Windsor that will provide the medical service for our entire area. As I understand it, the 2 other hospitals that we have now will somehow be transformed or even shut down. The new hospital will in effect be our only one.

I must tell you, dear reader, that I have not followed this matter all that closely. I just assumed from early on that we would be getting this new hospital in our area and that there is no real point in debating it. I must admit that I did not particularly care for where it was going to be built because I felt the location was a silly one. However, it was not all that far from where I am living now in Tecumseh. It just seemed to me to be a rather strange location near the airport but I assumed that, given its role, this was supposed to be a good central location for the City of Windsor and all of the small towns in the area.

To be blunt about it, I think it's time to take a hard look at the project to decide whether it should be built at all now or not. If it should be stopped, what should be done to replace it? Does it make sense in other words to have one major hospital only for our entire area? I could understand that if our population in the whole area was declining but I assume that it will be getting even bigger in the future.

Here is the status that we have today as disclosed in a Windsor Regional Hospital memo:

"Windsor Regional Hospital is one of the largest hospitals in the Province of Ontario, serving a population of 400,000 people in Windsor and Essex County. It is the regional provider of advanced care in areas that include Complex Trauma, Renal Dialysis, Cardiac Care, Stroke and Neurosurgery, Intensive Care, Acute Mental Health, Family Birthing Centre, Neonatal Intensive Care, Paediatric Services, Regional Cancer services and a broad range of medical and surgical services required to support these specialized areas.

Through a major initiative involving the two hospitals in Windsor, a realignment of programs and services was achieved on October 1, 2013, when Windsor Regional Hospital became responsible for the governance, management and operations of the Ouellette Campus along with continuing its responsibility for the Metropolitan Campus. The ultimate vision is to design and construct a new state-of-the-art acute hospital healthcare facility serving the needs of Windsor-Essex for generations to come.

Providing Acute Care Services with 483 plus beds and an operating budget of half of a billion dollars, Windsor Regional Hospital is one of the largest community based non-academic hospitals in the Province of Ontario."

Here is what the future is supposed to be. It will be a new hospital located near the airport:

"The 1.6-million square foot, state-of-the-art building will stand 10 storeys tall. It is expected to have 500 beds when it opens…

Gary Switzer, the CEO of the Erie St. Clair Local Health Integration Network, said the mega-hospital will serve as Windsor's acute care centre, where residents will go for complex regional trauma and emergency needs, as well as for regional cardiac and cancer care. 

Critical care, neurosurgery, neo-natal intensive care, obstetrics and pediatrics will also be offered at the new hospital, along with in-patient medical and surgical units and acute specialty clinics.

"Windsor Regional Hospital will be responsible for all these services at the new hospital," said Switzer during a media event on Thursday in which the plans for the hospital and regional health-care were laid out.

Switzer said that Hotel Dieu-Grace Healthcare (HDGH) will continue to deliver non-acute care services. He said that organization will be responsible for many mental-health services, complex continuing care, dialysis, rehabilitation and some outpatient clinics." (CBC News, July 16, 2015) 

I just don't understand this at all. I really have difficulty understanding why our new hospital for this entire area should only have room for 500 patients. I would have thought that our population should be increasing rather than remaining fixed at the number it is now. Wouldn't that require more hospital beds?  I also assume that our population will have a lot more elderly people living here for a longer time. Wouldn't that require more hospital beds for those who will be requiring additional medical assistance as they grow older? I just found the number 500 surprisingly small given what the hospital numbers are now.

Let me just outline a number of stories that I have seen over the last number of months that says to me that what is being proposed for our new hospital to cover the entire area makes little sense to me. Here are some of them:

"At least four surgeries were cancelled Thursday and front-line staff Windsor Regional Hospital are starting to feel the strain of overcrowding as a bed shortage continues, said the hospital's CEO.

Thirty-four patients were without beds Thursday morning, said David Musyj.

 

"We have physicians taking care of approximately 40 additional patients than they're usually used to taking care of," he explained. "When you have to run at that 110 or 120 per cent for three weeks running it puts a real strain on the system and a real strain on staff."

Musyj held a press conference Wednesday where he highlighted a "critical" shortage of beds caused by a spike in acutely ill patients at the beginning of 2017." (CBC News, January 19, 2017) 

I must admit, given this comment by Mr. Musyj, that I do not understand how he could be in favour of a hospital that only has 500 beds.

Here is another story with more surgeries being cancelled and significant overcapacity:

"Windsor Regional Hospital will definitely be cancelling more surgeries on Tuesday as it continues to cope with a surge of patients.

On Monday, it had 46 more patients than it had beds for at its two sites. Its Met campus was at 109 per cent capacity and its Ouellette campus was at 102 per cent.

“At an acute hospital, we don’t have the ability to shut the doors,” CEO David Musyj said, describing how the overcapacity problem that resulted in eight cancelled surgeries last week, appeared to get better but ramped up on Monday.

“We’ll be cancelling surgery for sure tomorrow,” he said." (Brian Cross, Windsor Star, January 23, 2017) 

The cost of this overcapacity is quite large as well:

"Windsor Regional Hospital’s tab to run overcapacity for the last 53 days of flu season is at $1.5 million and growing…

At a cost of $877 per bed, per day, the overcapacity works out to an extra $28,053 per day, $196,374 per week and $1.5 million over the 53 days, Musyj said. He said the health ministry has asked the hospital to keep track of the extra costs — a hopeful sign it will pay for them.

But in the meantime, surgeries are being cancelled to cope with the overflows, meaning people who’ve waited months and sometimes more than a year for a surgery, are learning they’ll have to wait even longer, said MPP Lisa Gretzky (NDP—Windsor West), who has asked to meet with Health Minister Eric Hoskins as soon as possible to talk about the challenges at Windsor Regional.

Very sick patients admitted to the hospital may not be getting the attention they need, she said, because staff have so many patients to deal with. The situation is worsened by the fact the hospital laid off RNs last year, she said." (Brian Cross, Windsor Star, January 25, 2017) 

What in fact is troubling as you can see from above is that people can get even more sick because they cannot be treated the way they were supposed to be.

Here is another story that is looking at this for overcapacity differently. It shows that we have some real medical issues not just flu related:

"Patient surge at hospital: Is it a sign of a health care grey tsunami?

The three-month-long patient surge at Windsor Regional Hospital is less about a nasty strain of the flu and more about swelling numbers of elderly patients hospitalized for various causes, according to a new analysis.

It has experts wondering if the surge is a forerunner of future health-care chaos as a grey tsunami hits the beach." (Brian Cross, Windsor Star, March 5, 2017)

What is happening in reality is significantly different. I believe this will have an impact on what size hospital we need and where it should be located:

"he said the majority of admissions to the hospital are frail seniors with a variety of diagnoses, who are acutely sick.

“Because of their frailty they are more acute, staying longer in the hospital,” he said. “Those longer lengths of stay is what is creating a bit of a crunch.”

He said the surge is perhaps a sign of things to come, as the number of local people aged 75 and over increases by 16.5 per cent between 2015 and 2020, and a whopping 108.6 per cent by 2035…

Traditionally, it was thought these surges in winter were caused by the flu, said LHIN chairman Martin Girash, a former Windsor Regional CEO. “Now we’re starting to see a different pattern."

Here is why what was put forward back in 2015, about new hospital makes no sense anymore. And why it may not have made sense 2 years ago:

"A bad season coupled with the elderly population, the percentage of them, it’s inevitable we’re going to be facing more of these in the future. It’s going to be more common than what we have now,” Musyj said, adding that planning for the new acute hospital proposed to replace Windsor Regional’s two existing campuses, is taking into account the aging population. He’s hoping it will be built so it can expand to more than 700 beds from the current 550."

Here is what is being done today for our next winter season as an emergency setting not only for the Windsor area but for the rest of the Province as well:

"Health Minister Dr. Eric Hoskins announced Monday the government is committing $140-million to pay for more than 2,000 additional hospital bed spaces to accommodate an overflow of patients for the upcoming flu season." (CTV Windsor, October 23, 2017)

To be direct about it, as far as I am concerned, when one considers the medical situation is changing so dramatically in this entire Province, and not just the Windsor area, there is a need to consider whether or not we should be tearing down our hospitals and just building new one with 500 beds.

Perhaps what we may want to consider is building this new hospital but also keeping the other 2 hospitals built up and working to meet the needs of people in our local areas as well.

Even More Stories

Brrr, it is getting cold out these days. 

Oh, I know that winter is approaching but still it is only October. Nevertheless, one morning a little while ago, at around 4:30 AM, I woke up feeling quite cold because it was under 70°F in our house.  Naturally, I had to go and turn on the heat so that I would feel better. Luckily, even though it had not been turned on since last winter, everything worked perfectly and my house was warmed up nicely.  Now it getting much cooler.

I had a good sleep because my wife and I went to a restaurant that we had heard about for many years but had never visited: Piccolo's Pizza and Pasta House on Tecumseh Road West.  It is very close to Huron Church Road.  We actually had won a contest and won the prize awarded that allowed us to eat at that restaurant and have a good part of the bill paid for.

We actually decided to go around 4 P.M. the day we decided to dine so that we could get in early and get a table without any kind of problems with the crowds that quite often show up at that place. It really wasn't that early to start eating because it did take some time to make the food that we were going to eat. We were told by others that had gone there before that everything was made after the order was put in. While that was true, we really did not have to wait all that much longer than the time at another type of restaurant.

Obviously, it is an Italian restaurant and offers so many different types of meals. The good part is that most of the prices for a dinner meal are exactly the same so that makes it much easier to order food. I ordered a Veal Parmigiano while my wife ordered Pollo A La Romanogla. She started off with a delicious soup while I had a salad.   

Of course, the food was delicious and the amount was huge, especially the wonderfully flavoured pasta that came with the main course.  Seriously, each main course could not be finished and was perfect to be taken home for another meal the next day. Enjoying going to restaurant, we had to have a dessert so we split a pie that we ordered between us: the surprisingly excellent cherry cheesecake. I must admit that I am not a big fan of cheesecake but this one was excellent.  It was just so tasty and soft.

I am not going to go through a restaurant review for you.  All I am prepared to say is that the food was extremely well prepared and just delicious to eat.  Our waitress was excellent and a very friendly person as well. It is not one of these new, fancy restaurants that go up, and sometimes, soon go down.  But to let you know, it is well decorated inside. Moreover, it is not outrageously expensive but it is not a cheapo place either. However, the price of a meal itself is not all that high considering that it really is two meals in one.  Taking the left-overs home means that another meal can be eaten for  dinner the next day.

As is usual, I put on weight after eating that wonderful meal so I have had to exercise to reduce it as I am doing now! All I can say is that I will consider going there again when I am in the mood for some more Italian food.

Now let me tell you about some of the new stories that I saw in the media recently.

HYDRO POWER

All that we seem to have new these days to produce electrical power are plentiful wind turbines that are being set up in various locations across the province.  Yet, in one very public example in Toronto, it has been a disaster:

"The wind turbine that symbolized Ontario's push for green energy is at a standstill and won't be generating electricity until next month at the earliest, CBC News has learned.

The  turbine located at Exhibition Place was damaged in a storm in March, and it hasn't worked since." (MikeCrawley, CBC News, October 11, 2017) 

I have to admit that I don't understand why it is taking this long to fix up this highly publicized Hydro turbine and at such a high cost:

"It took until August to find a specialist firm that could do the necessary repair, which cost about $100,000, said Gass.  Toronto Hydro then decided to perform other upgrades, at a cost of $25,000, that are be completed in November 

This is just the latest in a series of maintenance troubles for the turbine since it began operating in 2003."

It would be very interesting to learn what the status is on this type of turbine that has been placed around the Province. Are others having problems like this and what is the cost to repair them? Here is another comment that I found fascinating to read about when thinking about the value of this kind of producer of electricity:

"…wind turbines in Ontario tend to produce power when it is least needed, such as at nighttime, while generating little power on hot summer days, when demand for electricity peaks. 

"Wind turbines are not really effective," said Gallant. "They basically produce intermittent, unreliable power, out of synch with demand."

I wish that someone would tell us what is really going on with this type of hydro producer.

FLOODING

I saw a very interesting article provided by Reliance Home Comfort:

"Basement flooding: An ounce of prevention can help you avoid a ton of turmoil." Here is the website for that article https://reliancehomecomfort.com/toronto/basement-flooding/

I would strongly suggest that you, dear reader, take a look at that article. It does provide a lot of information that I trust you will find useful.  It starts off explaining why flooding can take place in the basement. It then sets out "8 precautions you can take to avoid or reduce basement flooding." In addition, it explains why sump pumps are so necessary and how often inspections of them should be undertaken by professionals.  Regretfully, it tells you what to do if your basement does get flooded.

Naturally, I would strongly suggest, dear reader, that you go to that website and read the article. Given the 2 disasters that we have had in our basement with the huge rainstorms we have had in our area over the last 2 years, I was very happy to read the article. It supported a lot of what we had done in our basement this year to hopefully prevent another water mess happening in our home in the future.  Fingers crossed!

SCRAP BUILDING A NEW HOSPITAL

Oh, I don't mean not building a necessary new Hospital for our territory. As I shall demonstrate, I think we need one. What I am suggesting is not to build a new one and either tear down or provide that our existing hospitals not carry on as they are doing now. What I think that I am reading about the new hospital is that it will be relatively small. If that is so, and I expect our population in this area to grow, then I don't understand what is going on.

I hardly have written anything about building a new Hospital in our area at a huge cost in a location that I must admit I really did not understand. To be honest, I just did not want to be reading and writing about another one of these miserable files considering what I have been involved in over the last dozen years or so.

However, let me do one now.  In reality, I just do not understand what is being proposed about the new hospital.  Didn't we close one of them a number of years ago thereby  reducing the number in Windsor: Grace Hospital.  Now effectively, we will only have one.  I don't get it nor am I in support  of it.  Just let me post some articles I saw much earlier this year and you will understand why only having one hospital is so absurd:

"Wait times at Windsor’s two emergency departments are at an all-time high.

Windsor Regional Hospital CEO David Musyj tells CTV Windsor the number of people waiting for long periods of time at local hospitals is up 13 per cent.

Windsor-Essex is not alone. Most hospitals in Ontario are reporting an increase in wait times in emergency rooms…

“Patients in our in-patient wards are waiting to be placed somewhere else” says Musyj. “There's about 60 of them. That backs up the system, and at the same time there’s pressure from the community.”

Musyj adds they have had to open 37 more beds to deal with the rise in the number of patients." (CTV Windsor, January 11, 2017) 

"At least four surgeries were cancelled Thursday and front-line staff Windsor Regional Hospital are starting to feel the strain of overcrowding as a bed shortage continues, said the hospital's CEO.

Thirty-four patients were without beds Thursday morning, said David Musyj.   

"We have physicians taking care of approximately 40 additional patients than they're usually used to taking care of," he explained. "When you have to run at that 110 or 120 per cent for three weeks running it puts a real strain on the system and a real strain on staff." (CBC News, January 19, 2017) 

"The Ontario Council of Hospital Unions (OCHU) is calling on the province to open at least 50 fully-funded and permanent hospital beds for Windsor Regional Hospital…

Windsor Regional Hospital has 543 beds total between its two campuses. Adding 50 permanent beds (about a 10 per cent increase) would bring the hospital's bed capacity to 593. A level high enough to deal with the recent patient surges the hospital has been challenged with…

Meanwhile Windsor hospital officials said on Saturday there are 30 "Admit No Bed” patients between both campuses, with 16 of them are at the Ouellette campus.

An official says more beds would provide only a temporary fix instead of a long-term solution." (CTV Windsor, February 4, 2017) 

So tell me…why do we want what is being proposed now as our major hospital to be built as our only hospital in our area?  Time to rethink everything isn't it!

It's Time For More Stories

I do like writing stories on this website for you, dear reader, but more importantly for myself. It is a way that I can put down how I feel about something after thinking about it for some time.

Of course, I hope that many of you agree with what I am saying and, perhaps, I may even be able to change the opinion of some of you who were opposed initially to what I was suggesting.  However, that is not really the main reason why I am posting comments with my opinion. I just want to let you know what I believe.

There are all kinds of issues that I write about. Some may well be important ones for us but some are just matters that have an impact on me and other members of my family. They are events that impacted us and which I believe require some public attention. I write about them also because I believe that they may well have an effect on some of my other readers.  I want you to, at least, understand how we reacted and why.

Here are some new items that have interested me over the past little while and my comments on them which I trust will interest you as well.

FORGET ABOUT BUILDING THAT NEW HOSPITAL HERE

I have not written very much on this subject. I do have to admit that I thought it was absurd about what was being proposed. Nevermind its poor, proposed location, the size of the new hospital just seemed too small to me. It seemed like it would be really the only hospital in this entire area. It just seemed so bizarre to me because its size did not seem to me big enough.

Just think about. It really wasn't all that much bigger than the 2 hospitals that we already have in the area and yet our population was growing. Did that make sense to you? I have to admit that I did not understand what was going on frankly with respect to what was being proposed as our new hospital arrangements.

I could write a lot about the subject but frankly I did not see the point in doing so. I never understood at all what was being proposed because it did not make very much sense to me. To be direct, it was coming to the point where I never believed that the Provincial Government would approve anything that was going to be done in the Windsor area anyway. Accordingly, I figured why waste my time on this subject.

Anyway, just to make the point in all of this, here is a good example of why what is being proposed for the area makes no sense at all to me. It makes even less sense when one considers that the population should grow rather dramatically when this new hospital is supposed to be able to provide its services:

"Ontario is considering a plan to urgently transform a mothballed hospital site in Toronto into a temporary source of beds as a result of overcrowded hospital wards, the province's health minister confirmed Wednesday. 

Eric Hoskins said the government is working on a plan to staff one of the former locations of Humber River Regional Hospital to relieve pressure on acute-care wards across the Greater Toronto Area. The plan could start in the coming weeks. 

The Health Ministry is also considering a similar path with facilities elsewhere in Ontario. 

"We're having a number of conversations with other hospitals across the province that have come forward," Hoskins said. "They have ideas and suggestions and proposals of their own." 

This comes as the umbrella group representing the province's hospitals predicts a capacity crisis across Ontario unless urgent action is taken before the winter flu season… 

"We're dealing with numbers in the many thousands, and so 150 beds I don't think is going to solve this crisis. This crisis has been building for a long time. You're going to have to have ongoing, sustained investment in the healthcare system and the hospitals if you're actually going to deal with this." (Mike Crawley CBC News, September 27, 2017)  

It really appears as if the number of people who will be staying at the hospitals is increasing year round because there aren't enough beds in the area even now: 

"This summer, wait times for patients admitted through emergency departments hit the highest monthly level recorded since the province started measuring this nine years ago, according to the Ontario Hospital Association.  

That is prompting fears of significantly longer wait times and overcrowding when flu season hits."

I have real trouble believing what is now being proposed about a new hospital for our future. It would seem to me to be a huge waste of money that would accomplish little. I don't understand why this is being done at all because it just does not make sense to me.

CREDIT CARD SCAMS 

Here is one that I had not seen before and was described on Facebook. Be careful if it happens with you: 

"The caller said that the delivery would arrive at my home in roughly an hour. Sure enough, about an hour later, a uniformed delivery man turned up with a beautiful basket of flowers and a bottle of wine… 

He then went on to explain that because the gift contained alcohol, there was a $3.50 "delivery/ verification charge," providing proof that he had actually delivered the package to an adult (of legal drinking age), and not just left it on the doorstep where it could be stolen or taken by anyone, especially a minor. 

This sounded logical and I offered to pay him cash. He then said that the delivery company required payment to be by credit or debit card only, so that everything is properly accounted for, and this would help in keeping a legal record of the transaction… 

My husband, who by this time was standing beside me, pulled out his credit card, and 'John,' the "delivery man," asked him to swipe the card on a small mobile card machine with a small screen and keypad. Frank, my husband, was asked to enter his PIN number and a receipt was printed out. He was given a copy of the transaction… 

To our horrible surprise, between Thursday and the following Monday, $4,000 had been charged/withdrawn from our credit/debit account at various ATM machines. 

Apparently the "mobile credit card machine," which the deliveryman carried now had all the info necessary to create a "dummy" card with all our card details including the PIN number." 

One has to admit that the fraudsters were quite smart with their system and were able to work it out to the horrible disadvantage of the actual credit card owners. Be careful if something like this happens to you, dear reader! Just don't do it. If you can, you may want to consider calling the police if you can keep the person in your home until they arrive.  

WHY DO THE NEWS STORIES KEEP CHANGING

Oh dear, the media stories keep changing so quickly. You know the one that I mean these days don't you: permission granted to the Ambassador Bridge Company to build a 2nd bridge.  

Oh sure, I understood that there were some provisions which required approval before everything was final but none of them seemed to be big issues to me. Or even to the media people who were reporting what was happening initially. Sure, it was a big surprise that the Ambassador Bridge Company was given permission finally to move forward but it also seemed to be final even if some of their opponents were not very happy.

Take a look at this article by John Gallagher of the Detroit Free Press on September 7, 2017:

"This week the government of Canada did something I never thought I'd see — it gave the Moroun family a permit to build a new bridge linking Detroit and Windsor.

Canadians have feuded with Ambassador Bridge owner Manuel (Matty) Moroun for so many years over so many issues that a lot of observers, including me, presumed Canada would never give Moroun what he has sought — permission to build a new span…

Canada turned a page this week in its long relationship with the Ambassador Bridge owners. Will the Moroun name one day evoke more smiles than frowns? As Detroit’s civic motto says, we hope for better days." (John Gallagher, Detroit Free Press, John Gallagher, Detroit Free Press, September 7, 2017) 

The Canadian Government explained why it granted this permission. In reality, who knew when the Ambassador's competitive bridge would be dealt with in since it was at least 2 years behind its latest closing date:

"The federal cabinet minister overseeing construction of the Gordie Howe International Bridge would not commit Thursday to a completion date, saying it would be “irresponsible” and put taxpayers at risk by rushing the long-awaited border crossing in Windsor.

“It would be premature to speculate on a future date,” said Amarjeet Sohi, Canada’s infrastructure minister…

The minister said the original completion date for the bridge project selected under the former government under Prime Minister Stephen Harper was “irresponsible” given that very few of the required properties on the Detroit side were in hand.

Today, roughly 70 per cent of the lands needed in the industrial community of Delray have been acquired.

“Moving forward without those properties in possession would have been against the taxpayer interest,” Sohi said…

The minister indicated that despite the bridge project being nearly two years behind its original schedule.."

Actually, the Government bridge is much further behind the date when it was expected before. Given what is happening now, I doubt if the Morouns will be smiling. The story seems to have been changed a bit once again:

"The permit may be in place, but a new Ambassador Bridge could be a long way off.

The bridge’s owners must meet dozens of rigorous conditions from both sides of the border before their six-lane international bridge between the U.S. and Canada can be constructed." (Shawn D. Lewis, Detroit News, October 4, 2017) 

And then 2 Canadian Governments Ministers sent this Letter to the Editor of the Windsor Star:

"While the Canada Transit Company’s application was granted, this in no way impedes our government’s work on the Gordie Howe International Bridge — work that is well underway.

Under the oversight of the Windsor-Detroit Bridge Authority, preparatory work is underway at both the Canadian and U.S. port-of-entry sites. We are looking forward to the completion of the procurement process and the start of construction on the bridge next year.

Our government is fully committed to the Gordie Howe International Bridge project and has every intention of seeing it through. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and President Donald Trump explicitly mentioned this project’s importance in their statement after their first meeting.

Working alongside our partners in Washington and Michigan, we will deliver on this critically important project.

Marc Garneau, minister of transport, and Amarjeet Sohi, minister of infrastructure and communities, Ottawa" (Windsor Star, October 6, 2017)

Sigh, if that really is tried to start the Government bridge project, expect more massive lawsuits by the Ambassador Bridge Company in both Canada and the United States to prevent anything being done. I am sure that these lawsuits would take at least another decade before the Supreme Courts of both countries make a final decision. And imagine if the Courts’ decisions are different too.  Now THAT would be something.

What Will Happen Next

I wish I knew the answer to that question. It has been quite a difficult period of time that we have been living through in the past little while. 

I do not want to discuss a lot about it because I have felt so tragic about what I have seen recently. You know as well as I do about the horrible situation in Edmonton and now in Las Vegas. They are merely a few of the terrible events that are taking place around the world these days.

I have done a little bit of investigation about other worldwide incidents and there have been many of them merely in the month of September as an example. Thankfully, we have not been made aware of how many have taken place. Otherwise, our lives could well become horrific as far as I'm concerned. There have been so many of them.

I think the tragedy about what has happened recently, to me anyway, is that more of it may well take place now in our part of the world.  Can it happen again here? To be exact about it, can it take place in the area where you and I are now living, dear reader? 

Clearly, I do not have an answer.  

Let me try and get us all back to "normal," dear reader. I will let you know about some of the stories that have interested me over the recent past and give you my comments on them.

ARE THE MOROUNS NOW BECOMING OUR FAVOURITES

Has the world suddenly changed towards the Moroun family?  Are they now "nice" people whom we should respect in their business?

It may happen, believe it or not, after reading some of the stories in the newspapers these days. It seems as if the granting of the order to the Ambassador Bridge Company to build its new bridge may have changed the attitude of some people to the Morouns.  Take a look at this article: John Gallagher, Detroit Free Press, October3, 2017:  

"Matthew Moroun has a big job ahead of him.

Not just building a new bridge to Windsor to replace his family’s aging Ambassador Bridge. Not just cleaning up the derelict McLouth Steel site in Trenton that his family is buying from Wayne County. And not just running the vast trucking and logistics network that provides his family’s considerable wealth.

Matt Moroun’s biggest task may be rebranding — "rescuing" may be a better word — his family’s reputation from decades of noxious relations with the community. Under his father, Manuel (Matty) Moroun, now 90, the Moroun name came to stand for endless lawsuits, antagonistic relationships with neighbors and bitter opposition to any move that appeared to threaten their business in any way

But in recent years, as Matthew Maroun took over day-to-day control of the family’s companies from his father, he’s tried to take a more positive approach, one that would heal some of the divisions created in the past…

Of course it remains to be seen whether Matthew Moroun will actually change the narrative and take a more conciliatory approach. But in the past couple of years he’s sent some good signals…

The family has a lot of ground to make up. Repairing the Moroun brand may take a full generation. But it appears at least that a change for the better may be in the works."

Of course, just before this, there have been a number of positive comments about possible changes to the Michigan Central Station which have been owned by the Morouns for a number of years in which very little has changed:

"Matthew Moroun, has indicated recently he wants to bring passenger trains back to the former Amtrak station, which the family in recent years has taken small steps to restore by replacing windows and installing new elevators.

As part of his wish list, Moroun included hopes for a connection to Canada so passengers could travel through the rail tunnel — which exits next to the station — and be able to travel through Windsor from on a Toronto-to-Chicago route." (Dave Battagello, Windsor Star, September 20, 2017) 

It seems that if the business is operated by the son, then others will not be so negative about it. It should be interesting to see what happens.

WHAT WILL THE AAR PAY AS RENT

So much for Premier Aviation paying rent to Windsor for its operation at Windsor Airport. Mind you, I do not think that the amount being paid to the City by Premier was all that high anyway.  

Now, that airport location along with the one that Premier used to have in Trois-Rivières is being leased by "AAR…a global aftermarket solutions company that employs more than 5,000 people in over 20 countries."

Its rent has not been reported so far has it.  I wonder what it is. Do you think that Windsor will ever tell its taxpayers what that amount is?

NEW NUMBERS

I saw these figures in a report that just came out. What do you think about them and how well is this area doing:

WHEN WILL AMALGAMATION TAKE PLACE IN THIS REGION

Oh, I know that Windsor and all of the towns in this area will be joined together, probably after the next election, into an amalgamated area. I doubt that they will be permitted to remain as such small governing areas as they are now. We just have to watch what is happening.

Here is the latest example of where everyone may come together now to help convince us that we need to have all of the populations combined:

"Dilkens has been reaching out to the county’s seven municipalities, trying to get a commitment to a regional transit system. It’s something that Amazon deems a major requirement for its new location and a weak point for both Detroit and Windsor. “One of the areas we can strengthen is regional transit,” the mayor said.

Windsor’s efforts over the years to spread bus service out to the county has been met largely with disinterest.  

That changed Sept. 1 when LaSalle began a transit service through the town, run by Transit Windsor and linking to the Windsor transit system with no extra charge to transfer. Tecumseh also has a contracted bus service that stops at Windsor’s Tecumseh Mall, though riders have to pay extra to get on a Transit Windsor bus.

In recent weeks, both Lakeshore and Amherstburg have responded positively to Dilkens’ request." (Brian Cross, Windsor Star,October 4, 2017) 

What Is Going To Happen At The Border Now

It has been quite an exciting week hasn't it!  Given what has happened, the dispute over building the bridge between Windsor, Canada and Detroit, USA should now be considered over! 

Finally, about half a year after the time when I thought the Feds would make their decision, the Canadian Federal Government has now allowed the Ambassador Bridge Company to build its new bridge. Obviously, the Bridge Company is thrilled:

"Statement of Matthew Moroun, for Detroit International Bridge Co., regarding the International Bridges and Tunnels Act (IBTA) permit for the Ambassador Bridge Enhancement Project from Canada being issued: 

NEW BRIDGE ON ITS WAY TO DETROIT/WINDSOR CORRIDOR  

The Ambassador Bridge will now build North America’s longest cable stayed bridge next to the original span of the privately funded Ambassador Bridge which was the longest suspension bridge when it opened in 1929.

“We especially thank Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Canada for issuance of the final permit supporting our Company to make this major investment in international infrastructure. There have been many challenges our company has faced over the years in pursuit of this moment. We are now tasked with the duty to construct a privately funded bridge with the hard work of thousands of engineers, steel workers, construction experts that will be employed to deliver this once in a lifetime project” said Matthew Moroun.

Matthew continued:  “We know there are those who never thought our permit would be approved. Hopefully, now we can all come together and take pride in watching a new bridge rise across the shared border between our great nations”.

I have not written very much about this subject since that decision had been made because I was interested to see what the reaction would be. I wanted to take a look at what the opponents would say and do before I made any comments. I must admit that their reaction has been quite interesting. It is almost nonexistent for some strange reason!

What it tells me is very obvious. I first got involved in the border matter almost a decade ago when I joined the STOP DRTP movement.  I must admit that, after meeting a representative from the Bridge Company for the first time in the Company's Windsor office back then, I was quite sure that they would get permission to build their 2nd bridge.  What should have happened a long time ago has finally taken place now.  They now have permission to move forward.

I am not going to get into a long discussion about it. In my analysis of this file, I believe that the reason why the Federal Government has not acted before was that they were expecting that the Moroun Family would sell out its interest in the Ambassador Bridge to the Government sooner rather than never as it seems to be now! They thought that the Family would be concerned about how little money they were going to receive if there was federal competition and so were going to sell out quickly at a low price. That just didn't happen no matter how tough the competition was and no matter how long it took. The Bridge Company was prepared to fight them in order to preserve its interests.

To be direct about it, I think the Feds have finally realized that a new bridge must be built now in order to preserve cross-border traffic and are prepared to at least allow the Moroun Family to build it. In other words, at least a short-term victory for the Morouns.

Let's deal with a key issue. Does anyone really believe that the Feds are going to build their own bridge a mile or so downriver from the New Ambassador Bridge? Obviously not! The New Ambassador Bridge will cost about another $500 million to build. A Federal Bridge will cost somewhere between $4 and $5 billion to build. Seriously, does that make any sense at all to spend that kind of money? I hardly think so when the cross-border traffic is not doing all that well these days and has reduced significantly.

Of course, the conversation in the media seems to be suggesting these days that the Government Bridge will be started relatively shortly notwithstanding another further delay that has just been reported. Get real everyone. That is not going to happen at all! 

We ought to know that, if required, the Ambassador Bridge Company can start a lawsuit, probably both in Canada and United States to mess things up really badly, making the argument that a Government bridge can never be built. It will take some time, probably a decade or so, for the matter to go through the Court systems to the highest levels in both countries before a decision is reached. Won't it be fun if the Supreme Courts in both countries make decisions on the opposite sides! What would happen then?

What is your guess now, dear reader, in answer to this most difficult question: who could be a very desperate politician out there right now respecting the border matter. The answer seems obvious to me: MP Brian Masse. What is he going to do now so that he can be re-elected? Is he desperate now to take some action, regardless of what it is, to make it appear as if he is still important to his constituents? I will let you make your own decision on that one. 

Just remember that it seems to me that he had no idea of what was going to happen now. It appears that he was not informed in advance at all about the announcement recently. He had to do something subsequently and quickly in order to preserve his "importance" image. I am sure that he expected to gain some good publicity by what he proposed by his action to have a meeting set out last week.  Unfortunately for him, that did not happen. I am sure that he expected to gain a lot of publicity for himself by having important people in attendance to deal with the matter including reps from the Ambassador Bridge Company and various governmental levels. None of them showed up.  

There is a lot more that I could write about but why bother. If you want to find out what some of the big issues are these days and what is going to happen to them, take a look at the Gord Henderson column in the Windsor Star on September 16, 2070: "Approval of a new Ambassador Bridge span is a political sellout"

No, I don't believe that Gord is really being anti-Ambassador Bridge Company in his column. Rather, he is setting out some of the big issues and showing how the Bridge Company will be successful. Take a look at this for example:

"Does anyone, other than a naïve or self-deceiving bureaucrat, seriously believe the existing bridge, which has seen big money spent on new decking and other improvements, will be torn down while still serviceable and capable of providing redundancy?

By the way, bridge officials told this columnist years ago that the structure cannot be demolished because it qualifies for protected status under Michigan’s heritage laws. So what’s changed?"

I could write a lot more about what has happened and why but I choose not to do so. Rather, I expect that we will all see rather dramatic action being taken by the Ambassador Bridge Company over the next little while to get construction of its new bridge started as quickly as possible. I doubt that we are going to see any opposition by any level of government in either country to prevent it.

Any suggestion that all the traffic to the new bridge will go along Huron Church Road is absurd. Just go back and take a look at what was proposed over a decade ago for how traffic would cross the border. To be realistic, the construction of the new Highway to the border built now is a good part of what the federal system was supposed to be under the old plan.

I expect that, after the old Ambassador Bridge is updated, it will be used for the automobile traffic only while the trucks will use the new bridge. The auto traffic will probably still use Huron Church Road but the truck traffic will not be allowed to do so but will have to use the new road. Alternatively, and I don't agree that it will happen, all of the border traffic will have to cross over on the new bridge and the old bridge will just be there in case of emergencies.

I am very happy as it appears that this matter has now finally been resolved. Of course, I expect some silly actions to be taken by certain people to try to cause problems again but I don't take anything that they will propose seriously. The new Ambassador Bridge is a huge advantage to our area especially because our border crossing is so important to the economy. It should create lots of new jobs here in a variety of different industries if we finally figure out how to use it to our huge advantage and take the actual steps to do so.

Have you seen all of this new publicity on a completely different subject over the past little while? Now I understand why the Moroun Family is able to spend so much time these days to develop its ownership of the Michigan Central Station. 

Congratulations in their bridge success!

Summer Is Ending Soon

That's probably the biggest story out there right now. We are only a few more days until summer officially ends and Autumn begins. What will we face in weather conditions until we hit our next spring?

I have to admit that I have not really enjoyed the summer this year. Sure, we have had some very warm days but not a lot compared with other years. How often have we had a very hot day and then a very cool day immediately thereafter. I also remember a projection that we may have a very cold and snowy few months over the winter time and that is not something that makes me very happy either.

Oh well, at least it appears that were going to have a rather nice few days over the next little while so maybe we can enjoy some late summer days.

Of course, there is a lot for me to write about the border file given what has happened over the last week or so but I don't intend to do it yet. I just thought I would let the game play itself a little bit more before I give you my comments. I have to admit that I just don't want to write very much about the border file anymore because what I expect will happen should not be a surprise to very many people. The reality of it all is now, as far as I am concerned, that the Governments in both Canada and United States have tried so long and so hard to force the Moroun Family to sell out. They have failed miserably in accomplishing their objective. They have been forced finally to allow the Family to build its new bridge. I will go into more details about it shortly in another posting.

In the meantime, here are some comments of mine dealing with other matters that are taking place these days.

OUR BIG STORM

Well, it happened again. Another huge rain storm this year that caused terrible damage to this part of Ontario and where my family lives as well.

Even though there was a lot of rain that fell again in Tecumseh, we were fortunate that only a bit of water entered our Condo basement this year unlike what happened the year before. Last year, several inches of rain made it to the basement but our damage was not catastrophic. We were able to fix it up relatively quickly and at a relatively small amount of money. That money was covered by our insurance policy. With a couple of other huge storms present near the US this year,  I was concerned that a huge amount of rain might hit our area again as well. Accordingly, I decided to fix up our basement so that, if we were faced with another big storm, the likelihood of any damage here would be minimized.

As I am sure you know, dear reader, there is a local Government policy in place that will pay out some money to help one make changes. Regretfully, the sum is not huge, a maximum of $800, but it does help reduce the ultimate costs depending what has to be done. Without going into a lot of detail, I was able very quickly to comply with the Government rules about how to get a project undertaken, to select a contractor to do the work at a relatively good price, to comply with the rules about everything that should be carried out and then have the Government approve what has to be done. That work was carried out this week so that if some massive storm hits our area we should be alright in my residence in the future.  I hope so anyway.

Look at how big the damage is:

"Worst storm in Windsor history caused $175 million damage to city homes

Mayor Drew Dilkens revealed the staggering number Tuesday night during a meeting for Ward 1 residents at the South Windsor Recreation Complex. Dilkens stressed the damage estimate is only for private homes and does not include city infrastructure.

He added that at last count Tuesday afternoon, flooding had been reported in 6,116 Windsor homes." (Trevor Wilhelm, Windsor Star, September 12, 2017) 

That works out to about $29,000 worth of damage per home. That amount of money is just unbelievable. However, this was also disclosed by the Mayor Windsor:

"He also addressed another concern that not enough is being spent on the sewer systems, by pointing out the city has put $500 million into sewers since 2001. That includes $273 million between 2009 and 2016"

That works out to about $31 million a year. I will let you decide, dear reader, whether that investment was worth anything to minimize house damage considering what happened over the last couple of years.  Just think about how the local Governments spent tax money in other very big projects rather than in more sewer system projects.

The concern that everyone should have is what our future weather conditions will be like and what will be done to minimize any damage that could be caused by any heavy rains. It seems to me that this should be a major issue in the next election and that only those people who deal with the situation in a way that makes sense should be elected.

WHAT HAPPENED

There was a story that I saw in the Windsor Star about J.P. Wiser’s launching "its own brand centre at the Hiram Walker and Sons distillery." In that story, I saw this remark respecting what Windsor's Mayor had done in the past:

"Mayor Drew Dilkens could not be reached to ask what had become of talks with the company to try to keep the Canadian Club Brand Centre open. Dilkens went to Chicago in February to try to convince the company to keep the centre in Windsor." (Sharon Hill, Windsor Star, September 11, 2017) 

Interestingly, back in February I saw this which was started up by a private organization, Tango Creative.:

"There’s still hope,” Gordon Orr, CEO of Tourism Windsor Essex Pelee Island, said Sunday. “I think anything like this campaign is welcome indeed.”

Last Friday, a Facebook page was set up under the title Save the Canadian Club Brand Centre. Members of the public are being invited to share stories about the 125-year-old structure and spread the hashtag #savethebrandcentre.

“There are very few places that embody the heritage, history and spirit of our region quite like the Canadian Club Brand Centre,” states a post on the page.

“If you’ve ever visited this remarkable museum, you can appreciate its importance as a local destination which needs to be accessible to the public." (Dalson Chen, Windsor Star, February 12, 2017) 

The last article published on their Facebook page was on May 11.

Back in February as well, the Mayor had a meeting dealing with the subject and said this:

"The fate of the Canadian Club Brand Centre remains in limbo, though Mayor Drew Dilkens feels hopeful after meeting with company executives in Chicago on Monday that keeping the historic building open to the public is at least still a possibility.

“I was pleased with the outcome of the meeting,” Dilkens said by phone. “It was a very fruitful discussion. The door was not closed.” (Craig Pearson, Windsor Star,  February 13, 2017) 

MP Brian Masse also attended and said this:

"It was a good start,” he said, noting that further meetings will be planned soon. “There seems to be a good upfront approach to seeing if something can be done."

Wouldn't it be wonderful to know what has happened since that time thanks to the efforts of these politicians and how it ties into the J.P. Wiser’s actions. It would be nice to know if anything has been done!

Goodbye To The Summer

I noticed that it has been rather chilly over the last few days. Yes I know that we are in the month of September but it is still part of the summer months.

It just seems to me to be too cool, too early. I just hope that it is not an early symbol of what we can expect here this winter but I have seen the weather forecasting prediction early on that suggests that it is going to be extra cold here. I just hope it does not mean that we also get lots more snow here in the snow season.

I remember that I read that the weather forecast for this summer was not going to provide a detailed forecast of what the weather conditions would be like. For some reason, it was felt that it could not be done. That was accurate at least.  Seriously, the weather changed so quickly from very warm to relatively cool weather in very short periods of time.

Oh well. As long as we can keep the heat in our Condo unit up and our outside landscape firm cleans up the snow properly when it falls, then I think I can cope with any kind of cold and snowy forecasts. I will just stay nice and warm in our Condo until the spring comes back.

Given the cool weather right now, it gives me a reason to do some in-house writing and let you know what I have seen recently.

WHAT HAPPENS IF PRESIDENT TRUMP GETS ANGRY

Oh my! What can happen now to the Mayor of Windsor?

Seriously, will he be a hero using his Twitter account to go after the American President or has he caused a major problem for the Canadian Government? And himself. Take a look at this posting on Twitter:

I will let you, dear reader, make your own decision about this posting and what its consequence may be. 

As for me, I think it may well be a terrible mistake for the Mayor for doing this. I do say, even if the US President posts a naughty response back to the Mayor one day soon, that such a comment in itself is not going to be all that big a deal.

What I am concerned about is that the US President might believe that Windsor's Mayor is being used by the Canadian Government to be nasty to him in public on this border matter. In other words, his belief may well be that the Windsor Mayor was being used as the front by the Canadian Government to slam him publicly and to warn him that he better not do anything to hurt the Canadian Government's position!  Or else.

If that is what develops in his mind, I dread to think what the reaction of Pres. Trump might be on this matter and what he might do about it.

WHAT HAPPENED TO THE LOCAL MP 

Poor Brian Masse. Even though he is an MP, he did not seem to be very involved now in what was going on with respect to the key matters involving the important border crossing that is in his riding in Windsor.

As you know, it was just announced that the Ambassador Bridge Company received Canadian Government approval to build its 2nd bridge between Windsor and Detroit. For some reason, he did not seem to know in advance that the announcement was coming out at all:

"Local MP Brian Masse is “shocked on the lack of transparency” that led to the sudden approval by the Trudeau government of a new span for Ambassador Bridge owner Matty Moroun to replace his 87-year-old crossing, he said on Friday.

The NDP member for Windsor-West — where the bridge is located — said he is among those in the dark as to why the twin-span project was approved after more than a decade of planning, meetings and preparation for the government-backed Gordie Howe International Bridge." (Dave Battagello,Windsor Star, September 8, 2017) 

We were told that the MP is setting up a meeting to deal with the subject:

"Masse said he's invited several parties to the meeting including the federal and provincial ministers of transport, Windsor's mayor and officials from the company that owns the bridge." (Kaitie Fraser, CBC News, September 8,2017) 

I am not so certain that too many people are interested in coming out to participate just because the MP may want them there. It does seem that some people may not be attending already. I wonder why:

"Masse has planned a public meeting for Wednesday and is hoping to have parliamentary representatives there to address community concerns"  (Maureen Revait,Blackburn News, September 11, 2017) 

Wow, it appears that a lot of people are not coming even though the MP would like them to be there to give him some publicity. Oh my goodness. Who knows, the MP may be in serious trouble already for the next election!

A WONDERFUL AUTOMOBILE

I was out for a walk the other day and saw this magnificent "older" vehicle parked. I am not sure who the owner was nor whether the person driving that car was a related person to the one whose home is where it was parked for a short period of time.

It really doesn't matter. I just wanted to post several of the pictures I took of this fantastic automobile.