Canada should be in Congo

Canada should be in Congo

If there is anything that Canada should be doing to try and bring real stability to a region, it's this. I've long believed that the African continent will be the most volatile region on the planet in a few coming years for many reasons. Economy being number one, the impending age related deaths of some rulers will bring some major changes to a few countries, Libya being one, the influx of religious influences from other regions, the deaths of millions of parents leaving a continent of AIDS orphans with very few skills and resources,and finally, the quest for water will turn man against beast and beast against man and man will turn into beast in order to quench the desire for more of the finite resource.
Canadas' traditional role as peacekeeper, as a builder of commonwealths for the common man should be re-instated and the place to go should be Africa.

People I've Run Into...This Week...Dave Mackenzie, Conservative MP

 I ran into Dave at a J&P Variety store in Woodstock this week(wow, politics must be good to you Dave,,,nice wheels!) and of course we always have some cordial remarks for each other and of course I am always looking for an opportunity to put his foot into his mouth for him(or does he just do this to himself willingly?)so naturally I said to him...
 How are things in Ottawa Dave? to which he replied, "the same as usual" to which I replied of course they are, look who we've elected, if we wanted anything different here we'd have to vote against you!
 And that concludes this weeks discussion with a VIP.(probably one of the most informative discussions Ive ever had with the guy it was!)

Hiring.....Who Gets All The Student jobs?

HOW MANY SUMMER STUDENTS WILL BE RELATED TO EXISTING STAFF MEMBERS?

  Someone came in to see me last week and made a point.
 They wondered, how many summer positions are filled with students who are related to full time staffers at the City of Woodstock?
  Who does the hiring and is it a prerequisite to be related to a member of the city staff?
  Good question. I doubt we'll get an answer because who would want to give up a cash cow like that? I'll send a note to the retiring human resources guy today and see what Tony has to say about this...

The BIA And What To Do With It

BUSINESS IMPROVEMENT AREA

 One item that constantly pops into my head is the downtown BIA which only serves the interests of the downtown region(The east corner of Broadway st down to Wellington street is considered the BIA's domain) if even that.

 The BIA burns up several hundred thousand dollars per year on operations and rents and frankly I see no reason why the thing should even exist as it does today. This is nothing more than a big subsidy for one persons' job.

 The downtown of Woodstock is full of empty units and was before the recession kicked in which indicates that the person who runs the BIA has not done a very effective job. In fact I have had personal conversations with landlords who have stated that they were approached by the BIA and asked not to rent out units to certain businesses or individuals as it might degrade the downtown core.

 Frankly I think the downtown core is empty for many reasons, but most of all the primary reason is the rents are far too high for the values that they present.Perhaps the rents are too high because the taxes are far too high in the area. Perhaps the taxes are too high because we operate silly programs like the BIA.

 Considering that Woodstock employs a development commissioner I see no reason why this person should not be doing the job of promoting downtown Woodstock as a development/shopping destination.This would save Woodstock hundreds of thousands per year in wages, rents and expenses which could go towards whittling down the 6% increase in spending that the city plans on spending this budget year.