Louise Parkes says this is defamatory and has crossed the line!

Below is an item published on the O'Neill Community Facebook site. A courtesy copy was sent to Councillor Louise Parkes.

The facebook item was accompanied by the following introductory note to Councillors Louise Parkes and John Henry both of which have been avid supporters of Oshawa's return to the general vote which will take away your local ward politicians and make all politicians less accountable to voters---

"Hi John and Louise...just a social visit

Just thought you'd like to know that I started this new site for members of the O'Neill Collegiate Community and thought you might be interested in checking it out.

http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=2325928775

You might want to change your vote to reject the general vote so that this information does not spread too broadly.

Facebook is designed so that once it gets loose in a community, it spreads like wildfire as it is extremely easy for readers to sign up all of the contacts in their address books and it is the new "HOT" site.

As this site grows, i will be able to send a message to every member's email with one click of a button.

We will work on promoting this site among the O'Neill Community shortly.

If you change your vote, you will save me the trouble of promoting this site and you the loss of support both city-wide and in the O'Neill Community.

This is a site for everyone in the community to express their views and so it won't be so time-demanding on me.

In the meantime you will want to check the site regularly to see what is being said by me...and by members of the O'Neill Community.

Isn't the internet great?

Cheers!"

At the April 30th Council meeting following my presentation, She says this information is defamatory and "crosses" the line of reason". She says this information constitutes threats and intimidation. Can you believe?



Is it now defamatory and crossing the line of reason to let voters know how politicians are voting?

Is communicating a politician's voting record to the public a threat and intimidation?

I think not! I think it is necessary.

Public information about politician's votes is only threatening and intimidating to them if they don't have the courage of their convictions and want to keep the public in the dark!

Politicians are our servants and it is our democratic right to know how they vote.

The O'Neill Facebook article in question follows--

The Crunch is here!

Oshawa City Council will be passing their bylaw to introduce the general vote to Oshawa at the regular council meeting 6:30 pm, this coming Monday evening, March 30.

Both your city councillors, John Henry and Louise Parkes are supporting the general vote which will take your local area representative away from you. In the event of a problem in your neighbourhood, there will be no politician directly responsible and accountable to you and your neighbours.

Therefore, Monday nights meeting is important for all to attend who want to preserve democracy in Oshawa.

Democracy means a "real" vote that has a say in determining your political leadership.

Democracy means guaranteeing a voice for your community on city council.

Democracy means an inclusive system that gives equal opportunity to citizens from all parts of the city, with all levels of financial wealth, and with all ethnic backgrounds to have a fair and equal chance to seek a seat on council.

Democracy means that people of all demographic groups will be equally heard.

Democracy means the ability to remove councillors from office who are not representing your interests.

Democracy means that politicians are accountable to the citizens.

Democracy means that the political systems serves the people, not the politicians.

Democracy means that there is a politician that you've elected who is responsible to you to listen to your concerns.

Democracy means all these things...that council is wanting to take away.

It is amazing in this day and age in Canada, of all things, we are seeing the erosion of our democratic rights.

We need you to stock city hall with all of your friends, relatives, neighbours, and associates on Monday night to show the politicians we won't stand for this.

It is our last chance to show council that we won't stand for the erosion of our democratic and Canadian rights.

While attendance is important, you can watch the proceedings on Rogers Cable starting at 6:30 pm if it is impossible for you to attend.

VOTES chair, Bill Longworth, is scheduled as a delegation on your behalf.

Bill Longworth,
Founder & Chair of VOTES (Vote to Eliminate Self Serving Politicians)
www.oshawaspeaks.ca

Old Abe's Observations...video

Oshawa City Council gerrymandered a ward/general vote plebiscite question that went through a number of revisions until they came up with one heavily weighted in a way likely to produce the result council wanted.

Council then kept the question secret to avoid any public debate or discussion of the issue so they could catch voters "cold" in the voting booth considering the complex and convoluted question for the first time...a question where voters had to vote "NO" to retain their present ward system of voting.

Two doctors I spoke with did not understand the concept of the general vote. While experts in the medical field, they understood little about the details of politics...and I suspect many citizens expert in their fields are equally uninformed about political terms.

Wording the question in terms of a "general vote" is a concept that most people would not understand since it was not defined anywhere and is not part of people's daily experience. While its meaning is as elementary to politicians as "galactosylceramide lipoidosis" or "zalcitabine" or "palmar fibromatosisis" is to medical doctors...the meaning is not easily understood unless you are in the field.

How would you feel if your family doctor said you needed a Cholecystectomy and then offered you a choice of laparoscopic or open...and refused to define the terms and give you the advantages/disadvantages of each? Wouldn't you get rid of him? Even worse, what if he didn't even tell you about the surgery and just wheeled you in and did it?

This is similar to what the politicians did with the plebescite question. They refused to give you information and just wheeled you into the voting booth for your "X" on a weighted question...irresponsible, undemocratic, and unprincipled. They deserve the same fate as a doctor who would refuse you required information.

Oshawa Council does not understand that democracy requires an informed public and it was very undemocratic for council to refuse to provide information to all households about the issue, despite my written request for them to do so.

It is not democratic to gerrymander a plebiscite question likely to produce a result council wanted and then keep the question a secret from the public to stifle any public debate and discussion. Nor is it democratic for those councillors who are voting to support the plebiscite result insisting they must uphold the will of the people.

To Oshawa City Council, democracy is only a word...it is not a practise.

The will of the people has not yet been expressed but will speak loudly come the next municipal election

Laying Down the Gauntlet!

To The Mayor and Council
c/o Oshawa City Clerk

cc: Letters to Editor, Oshawa This Week, Oshawa Express


We have indication that many members of City Council are regularly checking our website at www.oshawaspeaks.ca.

Saying as how Council members have given the public very little explanation for the way they have voted on the ward/general vote issue, we challenge them to provide the public with their rationale for including the plebescite question on the ballot and/or their rationale for their voting record on this issue. We think the public has the "right to know".

The public also has a right to know why Council has neglected and/or refused to provide any information describing the various systems and the benefits accruing from each so that the public could make informed decisions on this important governance issue.

Without all of this information, the escalating "revolution of ill-will" will continue to grow culminating in "outright anger" when voters are confronted with a "general vote" ballot of 50 or 60 names in the next election when it will be impossible to make an informed choice absolutely necessary for a healthy democracy.

We expect our city leaders to have solid, responsible, and explainable reasons for their votes on important issues...and the ward/general vote governance issue is the most important item that Council will address this term. It is so important for Oshawa's health that some jurisdictions where the same question has been addressed have called it the "most important issue for the next 50 years!"

We are especially interested in arguments that Council Members may have to state why they believe the general vote is better at serving the interests of Oshawa. Certainly if Council Members cannot justify the General Vote as being the "better way", and in the interests of the City of Oshawa, they should not be supporting the change, no matter what other variables arise on the issue. The only justification for supporting the change is that it is best for Oshawa. The future health and vibrancy of Oshawa is at stake here.

We pledge to publish any and all submissions from Council Members on oshawaspeaks.ca in entirety without revision to our rapidly growing readership. If Council prefers, we would also invite them to submit their items as Letters to the Editor, Oshawa This Week or Oshawa Express. I know these publications as well are eager to hear a rationale for your votes which, in the absence of explanation, does not seem to make a lot of sense.

After all, the public does have the right to know.

To insure that this invitation and challenge comes to the attention of all members of Council, I am sending it as a letter to the Mayor and Council so that it officially comes before Council and is acknowledged in the Council Minutes.

If no rationale is forthcoming from Council Members, we will know that they have none that will justify their positions outside of "self-interest" in insuring their permanent Council positions.

Politicians, or anyone wishing to respond to this challenge, can email their submission to me using the communication link near the top of the right sidebar on this site.

Bill Longworth,
Founder & Chair of VOTES (Vote to Eliminate Self Serving Politicians)

Democracy--Lip Action Only!

LETTER SENT TO THE MAYOR AND COUNCIL

For your information, attached are 2 recent letters sent to the Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing and also to Oshawa This Week Letters to the Editor that analyzes and undermines the elementary argument that some councillors have made, "we have to accept the public will on the referendum if we accept their decision in electing us."

I would also request prior notice when any item concerning the ward/general vote issue is to be discussed at council and a standing request to address council "on short notice" regarding any and all of these items when City Hall guidelines make it impossible to meet the existing guidelines.

At the February 5th meeting of Council, for example, it was blatantly undemocratic to have an important item on the agenda whereby council was going to consider a staff report suggesting that council could adapt a general vote and avoid any appeal to the OMB as long as they maintained the existing wards. It was required that objectors to this strategy had to request to address council by Wednesday, January 31, 2007, even though this report was not made available to the public until after City Hall closed on Friday, February 2, 2007.

These timelines seem designed to stifle any public objection and public input to this important decision and thus is blatantly undemocratic...the principle that some councillors have flagged as the very reason why they supported the referendum result despite their best judgement that the ward system is best for Oshawa.

The referendum question was gerrymandered continually by the last city council until they got the "right" question...right because it would produce the desired result. There was nothing democratic in this. Also, Council kept the public in the dark regarding any rationale for the change and any benefits from the change to be accrued to Oshawa. Nothing democratic in that either. Democracy requires an informed public and council refused and continues to refuse to inform them. Those who claim "Democracy" should not keep the public in the dark. Those who claim "Democracy" should not continue to use the word while working to pull a "self serving fast-one" on the Oshawa public.

Council should become far more open and democratic. In the end, it will not "fool" the public about the manoeuvring on this ward/general vote issue to get the result that they wanted and make Oshawa "unique" in the country by becoming by far the largest city to adapt the general vote without also adapting a political party system as in Vancouver.

There is evidence already that if we have the general vote, a political party which will utilize a growing "Revolution of Public Ill-Will" will spring up to return ward voting to Oshawa and will utilize this negative public sentiment against the self serving actions of this council to remove those supporting a change to the general vote.

We are presently working on our organizational plans to "harness" the negative public energies that will be focussed on an impossible ballot in any General Vote containing the names of 50 or more candidates. In the event of ward voting, we will organize the wards defeat those who have proven they are more interested in their own council seats than in serving the interests of the city. In the event of a general vote, the city will be organized for the same purpose.

Sincerely,

Bill Longworth,
Founder & Chair of VOTES (Vote to Eliminate Self Serving Politicians)
www.oshawaspeaks.ca
159 Spirea Court,
Oshawa, Ontario

905 579 3971