Brolin Devine
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Mayor denounces 'discriminatory ideology' ahead of Dominion Society's door-to-door campaign
OrilliaMatters
18Elizabeth Simons naming the "nationalist" label for what it is was overdue. One choice here undercuts it though. Embedding the group's live X posts, with follow buttons and reply links, hands every reader a one-tap path to their recruitment channel. Screenshots would preserve the evidence without giving them the infrastructure. The research on covering these groups is clear on this: document their content, don't distribute it. (Whitney Phillips, The Oxygen of Amplification (Data & Society, 2018))
5- Brolin Devine
Resident 'stunned' when mayor shows up to help clear property
OrilliaMatters 19Looks like the mayor must have gotten himself a PR team. Probably called it into Orillia matters himself
4- Brolin Devine
BREAKING: Champlain statue resurrected in Orillia park
OrilliaMatters 13the people saying “don’t erase history” are defending a monument that itself presents a curated version of history. The actual historical record of Champlain includes armed conflict against the Haudenosaunee, his participation in the colonial project that dispossessed Indigenous peoples of their land, and the broader violence of French colonization in the region. So when people say “put history back,” they’re actually asking for a specific interpretation of history that they like
7- Brolin Devine
Did mayor blow the lid off CAO firing controversy with 'hypothetical' scenario?
OrilliaMatters 16I think where we’re really going to see it matter is when he decides the budget
- Brolin Devine
Did mayor blow the lid off CAO firing controversy with 'hypothetical' scenario?
OrilliaMatters 13@ Magiccat not one to typically defend anything the mayor says because i find him largely indefensible but he said "nanzy pansy" or something like that and pansy definitely can be a slur. Sounds like he meant to say namby pamby which, youre right, is not a slur. I'd be interested to know if the mayor quoted him wrong or if the lawyer said it incorrectly originally.
1- Brolin Devine
Did mayor blow the lid off CAO firing controversy with 'hypothetical' scenario?
OrilliaMatters 13@ grouchy I’ll be interested to see what the YouTube views are compared to regular council meetings
- Brolin Devine
New environmental group asks council to rid city of 'horrifying' rodenticide
OrilliaMatters 8In the full meeting video they talk about how often places don’t fix the root issue (hole in the wall, open food source, etc) and instead use this as more of a bandaid. Also, the box will attract rodents to the area as a food source, and they will eat more than just the poison. So these boxes may contribute to keeping the rodents coming. So the upfront cost of fixing root issues may mitigate the need for these rodenticide boxes in the first place
2- Brolin Devine
COLUMN: Voters send clear message as Clarke cruises to win
OrilliaMatters 8Well said
1- Brolin Devine
Orillia could get strong mayor powers ... on a permanent basis
OrilliaMatters 8Besides Don, everybody should also be pestering Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing Rob Flack since he’s the one handing it out to everybody
- Brolin Devine
New environmental group asks council to rid city of 'horrifying' rodenticide
OrilliaMatters 6If you check out the YouTube video of the council meeting, they do address this and more. Also the article got a bit wrong about who said what but that doesn’t really matter
- Brolin Devine
Sparks fly as council opts to shelve plans on Champlain Monument
OrilliaMatters 5Nail on the head, right there
1- Brolin Devine
Council hears neighbour's concerns about Bond St. townhome plan
OrilliaMatters 5I’ve heard the mayor ask developers this question a few times and it seems like it’s just so he can say the words “affordable housing” on public record. He knows there's no way to force a private market-rate developer to build affordable housing, and he knows it requires a partnership with the service manager (the County). He’s just trying to look like a man of the people while not saying anything that’s actually worth while
- Brolin Devine
Resident 'stunned' when mayor shows up to help clear property
OrilliaMatters 5I think you’ll find people aren’t just commenting here in the “echo chamber”. This is a wide topic of conversation around town and people are not happy. He tells people to call him to chat about it and then hangs up on the paper when they call to ask? There’s literally hours of video footage of him being so rude to not just councillors but citizens
- Brolin Devine
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'Much is lost': Curtain closing on locally produced plays in Orillia
OrilliaMatters 3Really sad to hear it but really glad to see such a consensus in the comments. Hopefully people will boycott these touring productions
- Brolin Devine
Council to consider allowing alcohol consumption in city parks
OrilliaMatters 2If anything when I was in Denmark it felt like people were using public spaces more which was great to see
- Brolin Devine
BREAKING: Mayor uses veto power to cut tax increase to 0%
OrilliaMatters 1Overruling a majority vote from a council that is elected by Orillians is not “siding” with Orillians
1- Brolin Devine
City council gives green light to $13M transit terminal
OrilliaMatters 1The places that were brought up for electric busses hold up fine. Ottawa has run electric buses since 2022 and they are closing in on 500,000 km. Kingston since 2021, Montreal since 2019 through real winters, and Europe is years ahead, with electric now most of all new city bus sales. There are real challenges, mostly cold-weather range and supplier risk, but that is not an "absolute failure."On the electric bus debate at council: the claim that it was an "epic fail in Calgary" isn't accurate. The roughly 60 buses sitting waiting for parts, with the maker Proterra going bankrupt, that was Edmonton, not Calgary. Calgary never ran Proterra buses. Its electric bus contract was with a different company, Vicinity Motor, and it was cancelled before a single bus was delivered, with no money paid.
- Brolin Devine
BREAKING: Mayor uses veto power to cut tax increase to 0%
OrilliaMattersI hope everybody remembers it if Whitney runs for mayor
- Brolin Devine
Council to consider allowing alcohol consumption in city parks
OrilliaMattersI would think that since the park is very walkable for a lot of people it would encourage drinking and driving much less than a place like Boston Pizza for example.
- Brolin Devine
City council gives green light to $13M transit terminal
OrilliaMattersbut that's what his base goes for
- Brolin Devine
