Mining more salt...
Sparks fly: Council votes to remove Champlain monument from park
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Hopefully the councillors who voted to remove the statue will pay the price come election time, there is many Yays and Nays on the topic, but the SILENT majority will surely remember this idiotic decision of removing the statue yet again by the majority of councillors, talk about wasting money !
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This is ridiculous. It's a piece of art. What next book burning because words hurt feelings... Leave the statue alone.
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Silent majority, the MAGA buzzword they love to use. If the mayor hadn’t decided to “store” the statue in a park, he wouldn’t have been wasting your money doing something he knew or ought to have known was going to cause more divide. The right wing used to care about corruption. But I guess it’s fine because you want a statue.
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Remember councillors Whitney Smith and Ralph Cipolla's names come election time.
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McIsaac decides unilaterally to return a statue to a park without any consultation at the city’s expense, refuses to talk with the local paper because he can’t handle the comments, goes against his own staff to replace their CAO choice with his own & you find it baffling?Why are every one of your posts decidedly anti-Durnford & pro-McIsaac? People hiding behind screen names just to target people & not have to deal with consequences.
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It's no longer about the statue. It's about the fact that the Mayor deliberately manipulated the democratic system for his own personal goals. Council specifically said they would defer it to the next council to decide. He purposefully went around council by word smithing "storing" the statue. This is no longer a statue issue.
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It’s baffling that councillor Durnford has taken no action with the integrity commissioner. Empty words. No integrity! Shame!
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I hope they investigate the mayor breaking the democratic process and manipulating the motion to "store".
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I appreciate the leadership of Durnford, Fallis, and Campbell in holding the Mayor accountable for his actions. We deserve to know the details and who if anyone else was involved. The Mayor has clearly lost the confidence of Council, not to mention many many residents. Not only for the statue but his ridiculous behaviour during Council meetings.
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Well done everyone involved in reinstituting democracy and process, and listening to Huron-Wendat and Rama First Nation
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They never voted to have the statue in the park in the first place. The Mayor is the one ignoring the democratic system, manipulating council, and wasting tax payer money.
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There needs to be some ruling about being on city council just because they have a store & a “detective agency” in town. It has been at least a decade since Cipolla lived in city limits. Smith obviously doesn’t live here if she is using her little unit at the end of the all but forgotten Royce St to run for mayor. You should have to live within city limits to be mayor.
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I would not have thought it was possible to have a worse Mayor than Ken McCann, but it appears I was wrong. ( Typo in my first comment)
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Love the fact that the "committee" is simply just the mayor and that the terms of reference for this committee was conveniently removed from the public website prior to this meeting. Very suspicious. What is quorum? Surely a minimum of 3 people are needed to have a valid committee.
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You're upset with her, but not Don?
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We owe Mr Bowles a debt of gratitude for his principled and courageous stand on environmental issues including this disaster. The mayor in council on the other hand....As for LIV communities, in a perfect world they would be prevented from ever building another development.
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Grouchy, please note: the vote to remove Champlain from the park was 'yes' by 75% of the councillors, 6 out of 8 councillors who represent all 4 City wards.
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Peole.whining is not news Its extremely lazy journalism
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The Mayor may not have handled the situation in the best way, but I do not believe the Champlain monument should have been removed a second time.Many residents and voters in Orillia would like to see the monument returned. Decisions regarding monuments in Orillia should ultimately reflect the wishes of the people who live and vote in Orillia. In the same way, Orillia residents would not expect to have a say in what monuments the community of Rama chooses to erect.People may have differing opinions on the monument, and those opinions should be respected. However, the voices of Orillia voters should be central to any decision about whether the Champlain monument is returned.
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Durnford on a complaint to the integrity commissioner: "We are all still gathering our thoughts. It's an unprecedented situation. Until we have information back from the mayor to answer some of the questions, whether there was a permit, what the costs are, where the costs are coming from, I think we need to wait to hear from the mayor first," she said.Far from baffling or shameful, I think this is a sensible, fair and measured approach. A demonstration of maturity and integrity. Meanwhile we all wait for councillor Smith to demonstrate the same strength of character.
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Mining more salt...