It is because of rare situations like the tragedy at the Cornwall Centre two weeks ago that we get to catch a glimpse into the potential future of those that are destroyed by our less than ideal Social Services system in Saskatchewan.
I truly do feel for the families of the victims, but I feel even more for those that are tossed around in our system because our fucking government has nothing better to do with their time (and our money) than to pad their own fucking pocket books and those of their developer-friendly cohorts.
I sincerely APPLAUD the amazing folks out there, like our good friends (names withheld for their right to privacy), for doing their part in helping provide a better life for children stuck in this severely broken system.
It is amazing and rare that you get guardian angels like these people, that take the time to care for a child at any cost. They open their hearts, their home and their wallets to an amazingly gifted child who was born to an individual who has their own problems to deal with (not going to name specifics due to privacy). Our great friends spent the first few years of this child's life being the only parents that he knows. In my opinion, they rightfully deserve to be able to adopt him into their lives to be a permanent part of the family that he has known, and loves dearly, since only a few months old. Unfortuntely, solely because our great friends are of "non-aboriginal" descent, the aboriginal community has first rights to this child. No matter how long our great friends actually parent him, care for him, and love him unconditionally, they get the short end of the stick, as does their amazing blessing from God.
Our Social Services system is severely broken.
There are only two ways to fix it. Either DEMAND BETTER from Premier Brad Wall or Elect another party in 2016.
Enough is enough!!
UPDATE: This came across my Facebook feed late this afternoon. Another sad example of our severely broken Social Services program. MANY THANKS TO SPENCE BERGEN for stepping up and helping out where our system failed.
Two weeks ago Tuesday, I sent the following email to every member of the Regina City Council, Senior City Administration, the Ministry of Government Relations, my local MLA, the Premier, CUPE, the Media, and some amazing supporters and past acquaintances of myself and the efforts of those behind the Saskatchewan Taxpayers Advocacy Group. To date, not a single member has replied to this enquiry, even though they have assured the general public that they take every concern very seriously and want to make every effort to ensure that our crumbling infrastructure is taken care of long before the wants and desires of the few elite members of our great communities. (AKA The #yqrmafia)
This is evidence that there is absolutely no desire, on behalf of these politicians anyways, to actually proactively address our alleged $2 Billion infrastructure deficit.
The only thing that these individuals seem to care about is finding ways to exploit the needs of many in order to further their own distorted view of "capitalism" (which is actually Fascism). It is very easy to simply state that we have a massive infrastructure deficit. But it is far more difficult (for them anyways) to put (our) money where (their) respective mouths are and pony up when push comes to shove. As the saying goes, ACTIONS speak far louder than WORDS.
We must all ask ourselves - what do our City Council, City Administration, and Provincial leaders believe are more important to our province and our communities? Pet projects such as "Pat's Patio" ($14-24 MILLION City Square Plaza project developed on the backs of hard working taxpayers, effectively destroying any sense of community that the Regina Downtown may have had, also destroying the traffic flow and parking situation in Downtown Regina), "Mosaic 2.0" ($278M+ completely unnecessary, duplicate stadium project- awarded to PCL Construction, major contributors to Mayor Fougere's mayoral bid, and Premier Wall's Saskatchewan Party), and "P3" projects such as the WWTP upgrades ($230M+ - the "P3" however seems to stand more for Public (dollars) for Private Profit). Or desperately needed expenditures, like true infrastructure upgrades, fixing our crumbling roads, addressing the exhorbitant pension deficits and fiscally-responsible management of our municipal and provincial debt load, to name but a few.
It is clearly evident, Saskatchewan, that our politicians are waiting for the public pressure to be put on them, to demand their focus be on the needs of many, rather than the wants of just a few.
YOU DECIDE SASKATCHEWAN.
WANTS VERSUS NEEDS.
#CourtOfPublicOpinion
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Good afternoon members of City Council and Senior City Administration,
Thank you once again for taking the time to reconsider the projects that are currently proposed under the Local Improvement Program. As a very concerned taxpayer, and a representative of the Saskatchewan Taxpayers Advocacy Group, it brings me great pleasure to provide recommendations
of viable alternatives to address our crumbling infrastructure deficit,
which by your own accounts, is in the area of $2 BILLION. While I
appreciate you each might have your own opinion on HOW we got to the
point we are now or who is responsible for funding it, the fact of the
matter is we are here. And, as such, we need to work together AS A CITY to find ways to address this ever-growing problem.
As I've made very clear in my delegations on this matter, the Local Improvement Act, 1993, is entirely optional
in how it is implemented or applied, as well as what portion you choose
to fund for each project that is deemed necessary under this program.
While I disagree with your interpretation of what projects should be included under the Local Improvement Act, I agree that we have roads, sidewalks and other core infrastructure that are in desperate need of attention. Some of these needed repairs, by your own internal documents, are three to four decades past their useful life. To me, this is completely unacceptable, and to simply defer this to Administration to "come back with a report" is irresponsible and reprehensible. You owe it to the citizens of Regina to address the crumbling roads now. Not tomorrow, not next month, next year or 10 years from now. We will have to agree to disagree on what caused us to get into this situation, but the fact of the matter is you must ACT NOW.
To avoid a City-wide Tax Revolt, like the Business Tax Revolt of 1988, which is what you are sure to have on your hands soon enough, I would highly recommend going ahead with ALL PROJECTS that were recommended to you in the 2014 Local Improvement Program
list, and also any others that were scheduled to be completed within
the past 20 years that were postponed/stopped due to successful petition
drives by residents. As I have stated, and your administration should be well aware of, the primary funding for these projects is intended to be through debt financing, as per the Act. Thus, there should be zero impact to the Operating Budget for 2014 or prior years.
We all recognize it "costs money" to fix these situations, but so
does building a $278M stadium, a $25M City Square Plaza, a
questionably-needed, privately-run $250M WWTP facility, or any other
capital project that you have on your wish list. It is high time you
demonstrate to taxpayers that you understand the difference between NEEDS and WANTS. We all WANT to have a flashy BMW or a fancy house, but we don't NEED them. We all NEED to have roof over our heads, especially in the dead of winter in Saskatchewan. We all WANT to have a car for our primary mode of transportation. But we NEED to have some form of primary transportation, such as a meaningful and useful Transit system.
I implore you, as a representative of many taxpayers who are too afraid to even speak to you,
let alone come public with acknowledging they support me, in fear of
being publicly reprimanded by the likes of some on Council and those
that operate the ridiculous Twitter parody accounts. Do what you know is RIGHT. Don't do it because you're afraid of not being re-elected in 2016, do it because you know this is what taxpayers want. For you to plead ignorance to the wants and desires of Taxpayers is not acceptable any longer. If you spent the time doing your public research, like I have, and speaking directly to those impacted by these situations, and not just those who you choose to speak to, then perhaps you would be fully aware that the majority of taxpayers DO NOT want to pay extra money for these desperately needed road and sidewalk repairs. They DO WANT the work to still get done, however.
I know you might run the risk of getting sued by those that have had to
pay for the 65 projects since 2000, but so be it. If that is your fear,
might I suggest finding a way to refund those taxpayers proactively, preventing the need for good-hearted citizens to take the time and money to pursue you legally.
Thank you for your time and attention to this matter, and I
trust that at least one of you will take the time to respond to genuine
Taxpayer concerns - regardless of your personal viewpoints on myself as a person.
Best Regards,
Chad A. Novak, CMA Saskatchewan Taxpayers Advocacy Group www.chad4regina.com
NOT-SO-BOLD PREDICTION: When the City of Regina comes back in a year ("well before the 2015 budget period") and recommends changes to how they can "fix" the way they apply the Local Improvement Program, my money is on that they will recommend completely scrapping the necessary repair of sidewalks, so that local roads can be fixed without the added costs to taxpayers. This recommendation is obvious, when you listen to the horribly scripted words that our Mayor and Council spoke last night at the Off-Broadway musical held inside Henry Baker Hall, called Regina City Council Meeting. Some of the ideas talked about last night are pretty scary. They spoke of "grading" the streets as a temporary measure, simply "capping" concrete sidewalks which are in desperate need of repair with asphalt, and finding a better solution to the ridculously inflated - loan sharkesque - interest rates that the City imposes on Taxpayers if they choose to finance said construction.
This is completely unacceptable, and utterly ridiculous that our Senior City Administration thinks that there truly are no other viable alternatives to fixing our horribly outdated, crumbling streets and sidewalks, which they continue to bitch about day-in, day-out to other levels of government. It's no one else's fault but their own (The City's) that the state of our streets and sidewalks has fallen into such disrepair as they have, to the tune of $2 BILLION, according to City claims. The Feds aren't the ones who chose to budget horribly for decades, fail to plan for a proper road renewal program, or opt to build a disgustingly over-budget City Square Plaza, or a completely unnecessary copycat stadium (Mosaic 2.0).
MAYOR FOUGERE: "[The review] is going to generate some ideas on some program changes ... or whether we even have a Local Improvement Program at all,"
HEY MAYOR:
Here are a few recommendations that took far less than a year to do, cost ZERO taxpayer dollars and can be implemented ASAP. What do you say?
Congratulations to NewsTalk 980 CJME for being the first "mainstream" media outlet to cover this story, which we broke right here at chad4regina.com!
Congratulations to the Regina Leader-Post for being the second "mainstream" media outlet to cover this story. Will they use the same excuse that Rawlco used, though, as to why they hadn't covered it previously?
Good morning Regina!!!!
After a week of unbelievable revelations of (alleged) gross misconduct on the part of several "elite" individuals within our great City, an anonymous tip came in today that stands to put all of that to shame.
In an EXCLUSIVE to the Saskatchewan Taxpayers Advocacy Group, we have become aware of a Court Action between DUNDEE REALTY CORPORATION and the CITY OF REGINA.
The apparent reason for the Court Action stems back to the original Servicing Agreements regarding the construction of Harbour Landing. Upon review of the Court Documents, the issues go back to 2009 and the file has been before the courts since July 27, 2012. It should be noted that Dundee Realty Corporation is the largest land developer in all of Regina, and most certainly is a well known presence in the Canadian Development landscape. It should also be noted that Dundee and the City of Regina have had a pretty close relationship regarding land development in Regina. Well - at least they used to. This Court challenge could certainly cause some serious shifts of power within the development industry in Regina.
It is no secret to anyone in the development industry that there is bad blood between many local companies and that of Dundee - the "big boys" - coming in and taking over the Regina development landscape. In my role at Crawford Homes, I was witness to just how big a player Dundee is in Regina, and I assure you, this is no frivolous lawsuit that Dundee has launched - which is what the City's lawyer, Ms. Christine Clifford, alleges in part of her defense against Dundee. This seems to be a popular stance for her, as this was her stance in both recent Court of Queens Bench actions that were filed against the City by myself over two pretty major issues: - The 2012 Municipal Election (alleged) rigging, and the Regina Revitalization Initiative project being subject to an independent review pending the outcome of the current CRIMINAL INVESTIGATION regarding the project.
STAY TUNED REGINA.
This story is only just beginning.
We, at the Saskatchewan Taxpayers Advocacy Group, want to thank you for your continued support, and we welcome any inquiries from the Media to expand on this breaking story.
It has become glaringly obvious that the Regina Downtown Business Improvement District has forgotten what they even exist for. Judith Veresuk, Executive Director, and Leasa Gibbons, Marketing Director, seem to think it's their own personal playground and they can play monopoly with people's hard earned money. What they don't seem to understand is that, the BID is supposed to be finding ways to - I know this might be tough to believe - IMPROVE THE DISTRICT!!!
Did you know?
The City of Regina has also changed the time limits in the immediate vicinity of the downtown from two hours to one hour?
Also, they have added more "No Stopping" zones in METERED spots along sections of the downtown.
And, believe it or not - and this is directly from a "Parking Supervisor" (senior ticketer) - there are many in the downtown core who are provided permits from the City to park free all day, who abuse these priveledges a LOT. This is known by the front line staff, but the executives (whose friends are the ones abusing the system of permits) don't care - obviously.
It's high time that the Regina Downtown Business Improvement District either remember why they exist in the first place (to represent ALL Regina downtown businesses - not just a certain family), or they be decommissioned. It is utterly ridiculous that the City was allowed to blow $10-20 MILLION of our tax dollars on the downtown traffic nightmare that is called the Plaza, which has contributed heavily to our downtown parking nightmare, not to mention cost a long time business, the Novia Cafe, their livelihood.
Today, the Regina City Council (Executive Committee) once again voted to break a provincial law and delegate their authority to Mr. Brent Sjoberg, CMA. The mayor doesn't seem to think breaking the law is a big deal, but I know I certainly do!
And then, they considered a report from consultants IBI Group, based out of Ontario, which suggested some pretty common sense ways to fix the downtown, which the former City Council royally screwed up. One recommendation is an off-street parking facility, which is something I recommended way back in February 2012 before I officially launched my Mayoral Campaign. And, it didn't cost me a dime to suggest that. (The consultant's report cost you taxpayers $300,000)
Will you please join me in demanding accountability from this Fascist leader?
Here is the video I promised you. Monday, I kicked off the March Against Corruption week right here in Regina. There is so much that is happening this week, it is hard to keep up. From the Regina Police Service being outed for breaching privacy for their friends at the Regina Dolphin Club (vis a vis the City of Regina), to City Hall voting on giving more of your tax dollars away to organizations that just don't need it, to City Hall voting on authorizing ANOTHER $100M debt for the Stadium project.
I'll try to keep updating the site with as much as I can, but it's tough with so much going on!
