By RON LARONDE
Whitewater Region Councillor Candidate
WHITEWATER REGION — My purpose in running for council is to represent the Whitewater Region electorate, not the unelected bureaucrats in Toronto. I say this, as my decision to run was greatly influenced by public concerns over the many restrictive policies being created by unelected bureaucrats in Queen’s Park, before being sent to the unelected bureaucrats in the County administration offices, who forward them to the 17 elected municipal councils for implementation, many of whom are opposed to these policies as well.
In my opinion the most important obstacle we must overcome to oppose these restrictions is the lack of a united front by our 17 municipalities, which is something I believe our council can help arrange, as there is greater strength in numbers when fighting provincial agencies who have been running all over us for years, expecting we will meekly sit back and say nothing. This has to stop – and if elected, my intention is to oppose these restrictions on the ownership and development of private property to be more in accord with the needs of our rural areas, which are not the same as they are in urban areas. As for my background, I was born in 1960. My father was Eldon “Pee Wee” Laronde from Westmeath, and my mother was Glenna Robinson of Cobden, where I have lived happily all my life, serving the Whitewater Region area for 40 years involved in hockey and ball, organizing community events, serving as a volunteer, raising money for worthy causes, spending 20 years as a Cobden Legion member, including four years on its executive, and participated in other activities for the greater good of our communities. I also worked at Haley Industries for a time, after which I graduated from Algonquin College in 1994 with a business and administration diploma, and then began operating my business in Cobden from 1999 to the present. As for other employment I worked at the National Archives for eight years as a document retriever and forwarding preparer, where I held a high level government security clearance authorizing my access to top secret RCMP and other sensitive files. That being said I will now turn to a number of concerns to the public.
The Muskrat Lake Fiasco – This appalling travesty has been getting incrementally worse since 1980. However, the studies have been done, the sources of the problem have been ascertained, and a solution has was identified by the Cobden Conservation spokesman, who headed a delegation before council in December of 2011 attended by a record crowd of concerned citizens, property owners, sportsmen and environmentalists. Yet over the last eight years since that delegation, Muskrat Lake continues to degrade further because nothing has been done to correct it. This matter needs to be brought to the attention of Premiere Doug Ford by arranging for an official delegation to meet with his staff and outline the problem, after which hopefully he will direct provincial agencies to restore the lake. The Cobden Water And Sewer Plant Fiasco – Instead of hiring a replacement for David Simons the previous plant manager (may he rest in peace) the former council decided they would bring in OCWA (Ontario Clean Water Agency) to run the water and sewer plants. However, OCWA is a Provincial Government agency with a long history of extravagant spending everywhere they were hired, who also get a percentage over and above the cost of purchases related to the operation and maintenance of our plants. The former council did this because they were afraid of legislation enacted following the Walkerton tragedy, which allowed members of councils to be sued if they were found derelict in their duty to ensure their plants were being run safely, and that’s the reason we now have a provincial government agency running our plants. Who, in fact, were overheard laughing by Whitewater employees after this deal was done saying, “We got another one and we didn’t even have to tender it.” We also are on the hook for a $9 million debt to pay for a new wastewater treatment plant, and recently we learned there was a “mistake” and the debt on our backs is now $12 million for a town of 1,000 people. Well somebody is asleep at the wheel here, and we need to know who it is, because senior citizens and people on low or fixed incomes are going to be forced out of their homes with exorbitant debts such as this. Not to mention that we have to give OCWA a year’s notice before we can get rid of then and regain local control over our plants just as the town of Renfrew did when they realized what these people were up to and booted them out.
The Tractor Gate Fraud – This municipal scandal should be called the “Whitewater Whitewash” for the very good reason a number of interests would not be well served if the truth came out in the public domain. However, I have a suspicion that it will come out, because the electorate are entitled to know the truth about this matter as they are ones who are paying the bill, and especially after Mayor Hal Johnson was recently asked “Is there still a lawsuit against the council” to which he replied “It was settled and I got less than anyone else would have gotten in similar circumstances but due to confidentiality I can say no more.”
The Plunger Gate incident – Now this is a world class “Cuckoo Clock” situation, wherein a Pembroke plumber was called for a service call at the tourist booth. It seems he took a plunger and gave it a few pumps to open a drain in the tourist booth and charged $300. Where was the common sense?
The Cobden Park Issue – It seems the present council recently decided “despite widespread public anger” to close the Cobden Park to tourism. Nevertheless a binding agreement between the council of the time, and my great-grandfather Thomas Robertson (who owned the land) stipulated that it could never to be used for any other purpose, and the fact that this document was destroyed in a 1958 municipal office fire, will in no way lessen the efforts to reverse this decision, because a number of credible witnesses are still alive, who will attest to the fact that this was indeed, the arrangement agreed to by the council, and my great-grandfather.
The Westmeath Community Center issue – This facility is the heart of Westmeath’s various events, social affairs and sports. Thus it’s important for the future cohesion of our amalgamation, to assure the Westmeath people that this facility so essential to their community life will not be closed, but will instead continue to serve their needs both now and in times to come.
The Fire Chief Issue – Whitewater currently has a full time fire chief who is being paid $80,000 a year to sit in an office from 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m., as opposed to Laurentian Valley, who with twice our population do not have a full time fire chief and everything is run safely, efficiently and fiscally responsible. If Laurentian Valley can do it then we can do it too.
The Municipal Office Staff – Recently I spoke to a man from Laurentian Valley who told me their population is about 12,000, and their council employs a staff of 10 which he said could be reduced to eight. Whitewater Region, with only half that population, employs a staff of 14 and is considering hiring more. Well there’s definitely something wrong with this picture and it’s time to impose a hiring freeze, review all these positions, and put a halt to a spending spree that during the period 2016 – 2017 amounted to a whopping $300,000 which included a 16.9 percent pay raise with a further raise pending.
The Cobden Arena Fiasco – Below are some facts about the Cobden arena which are of concern. On numerous occasions there was nobody there to open the arena for an 8:30 a.m. kids hockey game until the canteen man showed up and opened it, only to find there was no Zamboni man so the parents had to all the work that should have been done, but wasn’t! As a result the 9.30 game was delayed because no one was there to flood the ice, and because the Zamboni operator wasn’t there to do it, a call was made to the Community Services Manager, after which the Zamboni operator was eventually located to flood the ice. As a result of this, angry parents called the municipal office to register a complaint, only to be told by the Community Services Manager “Everything’s OK” when it was anything but OK. Next, we have a 20-year local hockey group who received a letter from a collection agency, stating the local hockey group had unpaid fees totalling $2,40, when in fact they had already pre-paid before the season began, which shows the Community Services Manager isn’t doing his job!
And finally, we now have a situation where the Junior B hockey team controls the arena’s prime ice time, and the Whitewater Kings control the canteen and three-quarters of the upstair’s bar profits. But, why are the Whitewater Kings not holding their practices in Beachburg and Westmeath, which would not only benefit those regions, but also allow the Cobden kids to play in their home arena? So, my question is “What’s not to like about that?” As a direct consequence of all this, during 2016, the arena turned a profit of $204,000 , however from September of 2017 to March of 2018 the arena only made a profit of $84,000 which was $120,000 less than it was in 2016 which amounts to a whopping $571 per day in lost revenue. This financial disaster needs to be investigated and a total overhaul of the arena’s operations must be done, because this is what happens when a Community Services Manager who is responsible for running a municipal arena doesn’t have the foggiest idea.
To sum up, my roots are here, my memories are here and my heart is here, because I love Whitewater and its people, so thank you for giving me this time to express my views, and be assured if elected, I will serve you to the best of my abilities.
