What a tremendous day it's been, and another amazing week. Every single day, heck every single hour, the City of Regina Senior Administration (the same ones who banned me from City Hall) trip over their own feet, and choke on their own words, and continue to bury themselves deeper and deeper with every word that comes out of their mouth. It doesn't help when you have RoboMayor in charge, or as he's beginning to be called on Twitter, the #1TermMayor.
What can I say? The legal action is going along very smoothly, and there should be some public information coming in the next couple weeks on that one. Suffice it to say, ladies and gentlemen, the "NEW" Regina I spoke about oh so few weeks ago is getting closer and closer to reality. And, the best part of it is: YOU will get to own your City once again!! Well, technically you already own it, but you certainly don't seem to get a say in how your tax dollars are being spent. (Insert RoboCalls and "Vote No" $340,000 campaign here)
So, I want to say this: I LOVE THE CBC!!! Yes, even despite the horrific report that Mr. Geoff Leo did on me in October 2012, the CBC is probably one of THE best media outlets in all of Regina!!! Say what you want about them, but they are one of the ONLY ones that ask the hard questions, and get the stuttering responses from our Mayor. Listen closely near the end of Mayor Fougere's interview. "How much profit is built into the contract?" "Uh uh uh...I don't have that in front of me. Uh I don't have the report in front of me. Ummm, I can get you more details." - You know EVERY OTHER DETAIL down to the minute penny on how much this is allegedly going to cost taxpayers, but you DON'T know the very simple fact of how much profit is to be made from this private company off of our wastewater??
Could it be because you are afraid to tell people that the contract has a MASSIVE profit built into it? Right off the top the cost was quoted as $120M up until July 2013, according to Enterprise Saskatchewan, yet you are applying for $58.5M from the Federal Government. Based on the P3 Canada information of funding up to 25%, this would indicate the total cost quoted to P3 Canada for the WWTP is $234M. So RIGHT AT THE BEGINNING the private company has $114M PURE PROFIT built into the initial price tag. Add to that whatever "savings" they can realize by cutting staff (unionized City staff for now), cutting corners that don't affect "measured standards", and the ability for City Council (aka the Private Company's best friend!) to set the utility rates, and you magically have MASSIVE profits to be made by the private company.
OH, and then there's the oh-so secretive $200M contract that the City of Regina signed with a Chinese company in July 2012 to sell our treated wastewater to a new potash mine in Milestone (where incidentally the Pedersens are apparently "the" notable family in that town - Rod Pedersen (Voice of Riders) and Reid Pedersen (VP at Evraz Place)).
Some MASSIVE profits to be made by the private company with next to no risk for them. Of course it's a no brainer. What does Fougere get out of it? Well, since he is the former head of the Saskatchewan Construction Association, I'll let you determine that correlation.
I will leave you with this: I find it poetic justice that the "Vote No" ad is on the same screen as the Pamela Wallin audit. Don't you?
No comments:
Post a Comment