Danny Galea

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Sparks fly: Council votes to remove Champlain monument from park

OrilliaMatters

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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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Sparks fly: Council votes to remove Champlain monument from park

OrilliaMatters

42

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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Suitors line up with offers for Orillia's Champlain Monument

OrilliaMatters

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Not all those people live next door to a First Nations community, where the statue was accompanied by cannons pointed at them. Just let the thing go. Stop holding on to something that is essentially a background in everyone's mental picture of the past & stop using it as some cancel culture battle cry.

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Did mayor blow the lid off CAO firing controversy with 'hypothetical' scenario?

OrilliaMatters

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I still don't understand McIsaac's reasoning. If you're going to pose a "hypothetical" that basically spells it all out, why doesn't he just come out and say it? Is he afraid of being sued when the person he calls racist comes after him? And its been a long time since I knew Robert's Rules Of Order, but how can he deny a point of order about himself? I think the majority of Orillians wouldn't have cared who the CAO was or their race as long as they were qualified to do the job & that all the processes were followed properly. Why did the mayor feel inclined to step in for Mr. Singh?These statements only serve to cloud the issue while the mayor tries to paint council as the problem.

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City bows to pressure, will grant OMAH's deputation request

OrilliaMatters

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How hard is it to show a little class and move your agenda around to not waste people's time? Like this is basic human decency stuff.

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THE PAIKIN PODCAST: Can Donald Trump actually kill NATO?

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@dinho85 - Where are you getting your numbers? Canada is at the bottom of almost everything, but somehow there isn't anarchy. Mark Carney has somehow made the entire country, outside of you and your ilk, ignore this? Education, health care around also controlled at provincial levels, so if we're at the bottom, this isn't just a Carney thing.And how do Conservatives fix this? All I know is PP has not released any kind of plan outside of "the Liberals did it."Gosh, it was so much easier before the internet when all you conspiracy theorists were stuck in your basements with tin foil hats.

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Sparks fly: Council votes to remove Champlain monument from park

OrilliaMatters

32

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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As things 'spin out of control,' Champlain monument tarped, fenced off

OrilliaMatters

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"We shouldn't erase history." ""Champlain was visionary, explorer". "It was a different time back then." So because it was an earlier time in our history, we should just give Champlain a total pass because it was a different time? Simply putting this statue back, on its own, without any kind of plaque or something similar to explain the history, the "we shouldn't erase history" argument falls flat on its face. By all means, put the statue back up, but at the end of the day, there needed to be a readily available, full explanation of Champlain's history, the full story.In any case, the mayor is attempting to argue that he could do what he wanted because Lauer & Durnford resigned from the committee. Yes, he was the last council member at that moment, but he was not the whole committee. The truth is that he realized his time as mayor was coming to an end & HE wanted the statue back, so he strong mayored it back into the park. That is the most concerning part at this moment.

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No flyers in your mailbox? No problem — we have you covered

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I just thought of this this morning. It's nice to save some trees.

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COUNCIL SERIES: A city councillor is entering the mayoral race

OrilliaMatters

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JL Durnford would be a good choice for mayor. During her time on council, she may not have always been on the same side philosophically as me, but she was committed and I am also confident she would not use the strong mayor powers to ram things through when she doesn't get her way. As for Ralph, another "hey I'm going to retire" to "I haven't decided yet." Luke Leatherdale also talks a big game for being a ghost on council. Hopefully, we in Ward 2 can find some better candidates to represent us in this forced ward system.

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City council gives green light to $13M transit terminal

OrilliaMatters

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Completely separate from electric buses, has the mayor basically given up being cordial since he isn't running? Since he got overruled on the statue? Wait your turn or just shut up. The adults are trying to have a conversation.

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Mayor urges patience as winter wallops Orillia (9 photos)

OrilliaMatters

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We have a lot of snow. We always have a considerable amount of snow. And now we have another "snow clearing is hard" declaration from our lame duck mayor.If we have enough equipment and we're not going over budget, why does it take so long and why is done so shoddily? Perhaps, we need to budget for more than enough equipment or a bank to pay snow removal services on the road for more hours when they are needed.

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'Very upset': Residents fume after 40 trees cut down at Orillia park

OrilliaMatters

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Trees were dead, dying, infested. If they had fallen on the playground structure or a child, the city would be liable and the PR nightmare that follows. It's unfortunate, but it is what it is.

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COLUMN: McIsaac shows what can go wrong with strong mayor powers

OrilliaMatters

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Another "keyboard warrior" here to add to the insanity! (Really OM, that was a tone deaf letter if there ever was one).I also voted for Mayor McIsaac, but to think that he shouldn't have to explain why he requested strong mayor powers before they were just made permanent, only to use them to undo a hiring in the 11th hour after the candidate quit his previous job and was ready to move here, is asinine.We "look stupid" because Mayor McIsaac now appears as if he didn't like the candidate hired through the process & decided to use unilateral power to undo it. The mayor has also refused to simply answer the question of why. If he didn't ask for the super powers, this would have been a minimal footnote in meeting minutes. Going about it the way he did erodes any trust anyone could have in him.As for how the powers can benefit Orillia, has the current council had any issue reaching consensus on an issue? We've asked Carmen, he hasn't replied

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THE PAIKIN PODCAST: Can Donald Trump actually kill NATO?

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Trump is the savior of the world eh? Keep bucking for that invite to Mar-A-Lago John.If you know so much about world affairs, why aren't you making millions spreading this information? Just think of the talking engagements!

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'It's a hardship': Roof collapse puts Orillia Corner Market in peril

OrilliaMatters

26

With the amount of empty storefronts downtown, why doesn't one of these landlords curry some good public relations and offer to put them up in the meantime?

Council to consider reimagined Champlain Monument on Monday

OrilliaMatters

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Waiting for the "put it back, it shouldn't have been removed" crowd to flood in.Obviously, the money is way too much. And why is there a wall separating everything? Talk about reconciliation while we are putting literal walls between the different parts of the monument. You can have a simple concrete pad & put all of the pieces in their own space, but together. This would be accompanied by some kind of plaque or display, working in consultation with Rama (which it is embarrassing that they have experienced racism, hatred etc) and other Indigenous groups to find a common story that represents everyone's view. Heck, even one about how the statue, not even the man it represents, was in the background for so many of Orillia's historical moments.But this is Orillia, where the residents are ignored for big legacy projects by the majority of council, past & present.

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Sparks fly: Council votes to remove Champlain monument from park

OrilliaMatters

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Things of substance?Dunford is definitely more empathetic about the city. She continues to advocate for solutions on homelessness, addiction etc. & I'm pretty sure she doesn't expect to bring them all to fruition in a municipal budget, especially when it would never come close to fixing those problems. I see her posting videos to her Facebook to keep in touch with constituents, holding ward meetings.We only see Smith when there is a photo opportunity or she has said something silly at council, the latest being her comment that the city should make money off a sale of land we don't own. In my opinion, using her tiny office as an address to run for mayor, means her priorities are elsewhere. This isn't a massive storefront or restaurant helping the community. This is something she could run out of her living room if she wanted to.Substance wise, I see Durnford doing what she can to make life better here & I see Smith along for the ride on the McIsaac train.

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Lighthouse shelter says Orillia murder suspect was not a client, dispels rumours

OrilliaMatters

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@Curious 1 - Just take your L. You have no evidence to support your claim, where you are just trying to stick up for Smith. You aren't moderated, you are clearly a burner account of someone interested in propping up her mayoral campaign.

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New Shoppers Drug Mart opening at Orillia Square Thursday morning

OrilliaMatters

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Shoppers Drug Mart lost my family's business a long time ago. They'll text you and say your prescription is ready, only to arrive and they need "ten more minutes." Of course, this is so that you will wander the store and possibly buy more stuff.We moved our business to Laclie Pharmacy years ago and have not regretted it once.

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