"Democracy Be Damned!" [sic] - Mayor Michael Fougere

Good morning Regina!!!

What a beautiful start to the weekend. What was looking to be a rain-filled weekend, is now turning out to be sun-filled, at least for this morning so far. This is God shining down on us all, saying that he is watching over us and taking care of us, and allowing us all to get our great City back from the greedy hands of developers and construction related parties.

For those of you who haven't heard the news by now, this past week has been - eventful - to say the least. It began with news that the Water Watch group was nearing it's expected goal of just over 19,000 signatures in order to force a referendum on this very controversial project. Keep in mind, that is almost as many votes as ANY current City Councillor or even the MAYOR received in the 2012 Civic Election. Then, the City of Regina ramps up their continued propaganda campaign to try to convince the general public that the P3 project is "the way to go", no ifs ands or buts about it. What many people, thankfully, are realizing is that, no matter how good something is, there will always be risks involved. We have yet to hear any of those risks identified from the City of Regina. All they continue to do is push, push, push needless propaganda, bordering on outright lies, in order to push their agenda forward. Then, there was an announcement on Thursday that the Water Watch group is very much nearing their goal, and with over a week to go, it was pretty evident they were going to meet and exceed that requirement.

Then...Friday. Friday. What can I say about Friday. Anyone that is familiar with politics, you will know that when you want your news to be pretty much ignored and more of "filler", you publish your story on Friday. Well, I think City Hall needs a refresher on this, because they went to the extent of making a "major" announcement about the Federal Government pitching in "up to" $58.5 Million for the WWTP upgrade project, as long as it's a P3 project. (http://cjme.com/story/update-regina-city-hall-seeks-raise-petition-requirement-water-facility-issue/115003) <----BTW, I LOVE how the headline is certainly NOT the one that the City of Regina was hoping for. MANY KUDOS to Rawlco for doing this. 

One would wonder, why would you do such a "major" announcement on a Friday, given the known risks involved with making ANY announcements on Friday, when it's typically going to be ignored by the majority of the intended audience. Well, this is where things get even more suspect, and certainly add more fuel to the fire that is the pending Legal Action against the City of Regina, and many, many other related parties for the Criminal Code violation of Municipal Corruption. Apparently, on Thursday, City Clerk Joni Swidnicki, whom I had the utmost of respect for - emphasize "had" - sent an email to the Water Watch group telling them that she had submitted a letter to the Provincial Government requesting them to change the number of required signatures for a Petition to be based on the population according to the Health records, and not the Census data, as is already clearly written in the Cities Act.

While this, apparently, is an allowable request, it is pure filth, and filled with nothing but the worst of intentions, in my opinion. Not only do the Health records indicate those within the "Regina Qu'appelle Health REGION", but it also unfairly adds another 1,400 required signatures to the petition requirement, which is less than a week from it's deadline. This, to me, is nothing more but a giant slap in the face of Democracy. And, what's worse? Mayor Fougere is playing ignorant on this subject, claiming that he "wasn't aware" of that letter, but if it were indeed sent, then "it's just for clarification as to the actual number required". To this I have to quote Seth and Amy from Saturday Night Live and say - REALLY?!?!? For a "seasoned" politician, Mayor Michael Fougere is probably one of the worst under pressure that I have ever been witness to. At least the former Mayor would (allegedly) tell them where to go and threaten them with their jobs if they dare call him out.

So, in the end, this week has been quite the eventful week. Thankfully adding even more to the pending Legal Action, and the impending need to call for the resignation of quite a number of senior officials at the City of Regina. They have had plenty of opportunity to come clean, and avoid legal action for months, if not years now, and they continue to deflect, thinking that they are untouchable, and no one is going to bother to attempt to bring them and their castle down. Thankfully, that is soon to happen, either forcibly through the Criminal Code enforcement, or voluntarily, through their tendered resignations.

Have a great weekend everyone!!