Waterloo Region Council Election Discussion

[fakepnijjar]

Aissa's website is up. It sounds as if he has a platform WRConnected members can get behind: https://votejay.ca/your-voice-our-vision/

[KevinL]

How stable is a platform with only three planks?

[danbrotherston]

How stable is a platform with only three planks?

I was going to object to that, but yeah, that platform has almost nothing, and is confusing to boot.

But yeah, I don't think it's go much in the way of substance to support.

The "Rapid Transit" claims sound nice on the surface, but they're full of BS.  Things like " that will benefit every community in the Region" suggests "LRT is bad because New Hamburg doesn't get LRT", and public hearings and referendums suggest "Never mind all the thousands of people who have been consulted on LRT, we didn't get the answer we wanted, therefore, we need to actually consult the public, the real public, the public who opposes LRT".

It is nice we're back to the, "hiding your true intentions" world I grew up in though.

[KevinL]

Beyond the transit stuff, are people really clamouring for another hospital? As far as I know things are well served in that area.

[jamincan]

Perhaps in his philosophy of every part of the region getting their slice of the pie, he feels it's unfair that Kitchener has two hospitals while Waterloo has none.

[Viewfromthe42]

And in Cambridge's philosophy of not wanting the sportsplex at Conestoga College because it would be too close to Kitchener's residents, Grand River Hospital might similarly be begrudged by its city for how it tends to Waterloo residents. But that's all quite ridiculous.

[tomh009]

How stable is a platform with only three planks?

The third plank is all about the first responders, including firefighters -- which are a city responsibility.

[Pheidippides]

Beyond the transit stuff, are people really clamouring for another hospital? As far as I know things are well served in that area.

We have three pretty well managed hospitals that do well for quality and safety.

Grand River is the regional stroke centre and SMGH is the cardiac centre (and is getting known nationally).

I think the only thing missing locally might be a trauma centre; but I don't think you need an entirely new hospital to make that happen.

The closest trauma centres are in Hamilton, London, and Toronto and as a result frequently lose local ambulances for hours at a time making those trips or Ornge gets called in.

"enhance existing Health Care Programs presently delivered by the Region" - I don't think the Region actually delivers any direct/primary health care programs. Maybe Sunnyside Home counts?


Interesting that Aissa ($247,729.36) outspent Seiling ($60,301.55), more than 4:1 last time (final vote was 25,611 for Aissa to 63,884 for Seiling).

[jeffster]

I don’t expect the current Ontario government to fund it regardless, so I assume Phase 2 is not happening soon. Having said that, Regional Council could proceed or not with all the environmental assessment and design steps that precede construction, so our election is still relevant. It’s hard to say because the chair is one vote — if the rest of Council votes to proceed over Aissa’s objections, he can’t force it to stop. I’m actually a bit unclear what he could do — de jure I think the Regional Chair doesn’t actually have much power. Normally of course the Chair has a lot of influence, but if the Chair is a complete dolt the rest of Council might just start ignoring the chair. This is a bit like what happened during Rob Ford’s mayoralty when Council voted to remove some of his powers.

Doesn't the chair have some control over the agenda?  I'm not entirely clear on how that part of our municipal government works.

In any case, even if the chair has no more power than anyone else (which isn't true for sure, since they have at a minimum symbolic power), it would be one more vote against.

And yes, we are unlikely to get funding from the province in the current climate, but that could last as short as 4 years right? If we aren't ready when a more...useful...government gets elected, we won't be ready for it.  And that's leaving aside the federal government entirely.

I'm not 100% sure Ford won't fund it if requested. Afterall, he needs the MPP's from this area.

He'll fund it. The problem will be with Complainbridge, and Comrade Craig.

[KevinL]

All of Phase 2 is in ridings that went PC (Kitchener South-Hespeler and Cambridge). That carries weight.

[Viewfromthe42]

Interesting that Aissa ($247,729.36) outspent Seiling ($60,301.55), more than 4:1 last time (final vote was 25,611 for Aissa to 63,884 for Seiling).

No, interesting is that if you look at his filings, virtually all of that came out of his pocket, no donations. Mind you, when you're championing an agenda that creates sprawl and enriches greenfield developers, and you run a fencing business that benefits from same, it's very easy for a lot of financial flows to appear more normal.

[ijmorlan]

Interesting that Aissa ($247,729.36) outspent Seiling ($60,301.55), more than 4:1 last time (final vote was 25,611 for Aissa to 63,884 for Seiling).

No, interesting is that if you look at his filings, virtually all of that came out of his pocket, no donations. Mind you, when you're championing an agenda that creates sprawl and enriches greenfield developers, and you run a fencing business that benefits from same, it's very easy for a lot of financial flows to appear more normal.

That’s actually a very interesting angle. Isn’t there a conflict of interest between his business building the stuff that is needed in large quantities for only some planning strategies, and his possible role in guiding the planning used by the Region? He might have to recuse himself from just about everything.

[Viewfromthe42]

I promise you if that were to be brought against him, lawyers' fees would magically appear and be endless in his favour

[creative]

The advertising and name recognition alone for his business probably exceeded the $247k.

[robdrimmie]

There is a narrative growing about the two hospitals being too close to each other and too difficult to access throughout the region. I first encountered it from Mike Litt's controversial (mostly due to statements about the arts community) Globe and Mail article.

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/business...loos-tech/