damage

Friday July 15, 2016

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator Ð Friday July 15, 2016 Someone must be held accountable for spending accusations: Brazeau Spending in the upper chamber still needs to be cleaned up, Sen. Patrick Brazeau said Thursday as he promised to push for more changes when he makes his triumphant return to the Senate in the fall. Brazeau said someone has to be held accountable for the fact that he has spent the last three years of his life under what he describes as false allegations of misspending and wrongdoing. Brazeau summoned the media to his Ottawa office Thursday and spoke out publicly at a news conference for the first time since his long, difficult legal saga began more than three years ago. Brazeau has long insisted he did nothing wrong when he filed housing claims for a secondary home near Parliament Hill, noting he met the test the Senate now uses for verifying a primary residence. Independent auditors from Deloitte couldn't conclude he broke any rules because the rules themselves were so vague, he added. But the Senate rejected that finding and ordered Brazeau to repay about $49,000 in housing claims. Months later, in November 2013, Brazeau was suspended without pay in an emotional vote in the upper chamber. Some Conservative senators abstained, believing it unfair to treat Brazeau the same as fellow members Pamela Wallin and Mike Duffy. Brazeau said he wants the whole thing to be "water under the bridge," but knows that may be impossible. "What happened in the Senate with me in particular ... was unjust and somebody needs to be held accountable," he said. "And I'm going to work darn hard to make sure that place gets cleaned up, because each time you hear senators saying, 'Oh, well, we changed these rules and we changed those rules' Ñ well, they haven't done enough and I'm going to start working on that right away." The rule changes, a key pressure point in the Senate, are at the heart of a dispute between one senator and the

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Friday July 15, 2016

Someone must be held accountable for spending accusations: Brazeau

Spending in the upper chamber still needs to be cleaned up, Sen. Patrick Brazeau said Thursday as he promised to push for more changes when he makes his triumphant return to the Senate in the fall.

Brazeau said someone has to be held accountable for the fact that he has spent the last three years of his life under what he describes as false allegations of misspending and wrongdoing.

Brazeau summoned the media to his Ottawa office Thursday and spoke out publicly at a news conference for the first time since his long, difficult legal saga began more than three years ago.

Brazeau has long insisted he did nothing wrong when he filed housing claims for a secondary home near Parliament Hill, noting he met the test the Senate now uses for verifying a primary residence.

Independent auditors from Deloitte couldn’t conclude he broke any rules because the rules themselves were so vague, he added. But the Senate rejected that finding and ordered Brazeau to repay about $49,000 in housing claims.

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Months later, in November 2013, Brazeau was suspended without pay in an emotional vote in the upper chamber. Some Conservative senators abstained, believing it unfair to treat Brazeau the same as fellow members Pamela Wallin and Mike Duffy.

Brazeau said he wants the whole thing to be “water under the bridge,” but knows that may be impossible.

“What happened in the Senate with me in particular … was unjust and somebody needs to be held accountable,” he said.

“And I’m going to work darn hard to make sure that place gets cleaned up, because each time you hear senators saying, ‘Oh, well, we changed these rules and we changed those rules’ — well, they haven’t done enough and I’m going to start working on that right away.”

The rule changes, a key pressure point in the Senate, are at the heart of a dispute between one senator and the Senate committee that oversees spending. The committee has threatened to cut off Sen. John Wallace’s expense privileges if he doesn’t sign a declaration saying he is in compliance with Senate rules.(Source: Metro)

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2016-07-15tearsheet

Tuesday July 23, 2013

Tuesday July 23, 2013By Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Tuesday July 23, 2013

Residents feel powerless in information blackout

The city waited more than two days to post public information about the emergency response to the Friday storms that downed hundreds of trees and left 20,000 homes in the dark.

The information blackout angered some people more than the mass power outage, say councillors, some of whom are calling for a centralized online information site for residents in emergencies.
“Our city workers are doing a phenomenal job, but we can do far better communicating what they’re doing, ” said Councillor Sam Merulla, who wants to see an “interactive” web page that pulls in information from local utilities. – “Anyone with a smartphone can still communicate when the hydro is out. “We need to adapt to that reality and provide a one-stop shopping avenue for all the critical information residents are looking for.”

Although close to 75 city and contract workers spent the weekend attacking hundreds of fallen trees, blocked roads and limited water shortages, the city didn’t mention any storm-fighting details on its website or issue a public release until after noon Monday.

By contrast, the City of Burlington posted joint releases online with Burlington Hydro on Saturday and Sunday – a difference noted by some frustrated Twitter users.

Hamilton can do better, conceded city manager Chris Murray. “I’m not going to disagree with the (critical) comments, ” he said Monday afternoon. “In these circumstances you need to be doing everything you can to alleviate citizen fears or concerns.”

Murray said the storm didn’t trigger activation of the city’s official emergency plan, which has built-in communication protocols. But Murray said the flow of information to the public should have been better. (Source: The Hamilton Spectator)