Author: Richard Young

Lots going on in the news since I last posted on this blog. So much in fact that it would take pages and pages to do it all justice.

So rather than bore you, dear reader, I will comment briefly on each.

Politics:

Where to begin?

Locally, a recent poll by Mainstreet London suggests that incumbent Mayor Matt Brown is in trouble with London voters.

Despite huge funding announcements from the province for BRT and education and an apology to London’s LGBT community for past wrongs, Brown is currently running in second place to loony tune Paul Cheng.

Rumours of a high-profile female mayoralty candidate also continue to circulate.

Can Brown reclaim his base by next October? It remains to be seen. For better or worse, his political future is now tied in with the success or failure of London’s proposed BRT project. Stay tuned.

Provincially, the proverbial shit has hit the fan with Ontario PC Leader Patrick Brown’s sudden resignation — the result of accusations of sexual impropriety by two women who have come forward with their stories.

Given the fact that the Brown led PCs would probably have won the provincial election (scheduled for June 2018) the day before he resigned, this changes everything.

Can the PCs find a new leader in time to make a run in June? Will Andrea Horwath’s New Democrats be able to capitalize on Brown’s demise? Will the publicly loathed Wynne Liberals be able to pull another victory out of the fire?

Hopefully, the answers to these questions and others will become clearer in the weeks and months to come.

Meanwhile, PM Justin Trudeau’s sunny ways style of leadership is coming under mounting criticism in regard to issues like immigration and international trade.

Is Trudeau’s honeymoon period with Canadian voters drawing to a close? Stay tuned.,

London’s BRT Project:

Much ink and broadcast time has been devoted to the proposed BRT Project, of both a supportive and negative slant.

Supporters say BRT is essential to London’s growth and development. Great cities deserve great public transit, they say.

Critics claim that the present BRT plan is too costly, caters to Western University and Fanshawe College too much at the expense of other prospective riders, and will be too disruptive to the city and affected neighbourhoods.

Debate on social media platforms has become quite heated with insults flying back and forth daily between pros and cons.

BRT will definitely be the issue in October’s municipal election.

Incumbent Mayor Matt Brown has tied himself to the BRT Project, while the other two announced candidates Paul Cheng and Paul Paolatto either want to scrap it all together or replace it with another proposed plan.

Meanwhile, the city continues to hold information meetings which appear to be attracting more opponents than supporters.

Again, stay tuned to see where this all ends up.

#MeToo & #TimesUp:

The list of powerful men laid low by the #MeToo and #TimesUp movement continues to grow with each passing day.

No sector of society is immune — politics, media, sports, entertainment, literary world and so on.

Due process of law seems to have disappeared and presumption of innocence has been replaced with guilty until proven innocent.

The inevitable blow-back to what is perceived as excesses of the seeming daily disclosures and dismissals has begun with feminists pointing accusatory fingers at each other and many men fearing the knock on their door or a posting on their Facebook page and/or Twitter feed.

In the meantime, careers and reputations are being ruined as the accusations grow in number unabated.

As usual, please feel free to comment on anything I have said in this posting.

A very interesting article that draws parallels between the Know Nothing party of the 1850s, a bigoted, xenophobic, anti-immigrant group that at its peak included more than a hundred members of Congress and eight governors, and the Trump era.

For a little over a year the daily news emanating from the US regarding President Donald Trump has ranged from disturbing to the bizarre. It has been so relentless in its volume, many people, including this writer, have almost become immune to it.

Indeed, I’m Trumped-Out!

If the bastard’s actions didn’t have such a causal impact on Canada, I would declare my computer a Trump Free Zone and wish the Americans well over the next three years.

If only it were that simple.

Perhaps, the US Congress will impeach him, sooner rather than later. Perhaps he will tire of playing the leader of the Free World and step down voluntarily.

One can only hope.

For an excellent analysis of Trump’s dysfunctional presidency, see David Frum’s How Donald Trump turned the United States into a headless giant https://www.theglobeandmail.com/opinion/david-frum-how-donald-trump-turned-the-united-states-into-a-headless-giant/article37588493/

Accusations of sexual misconduct by four women against London born Oscar winning director Paul Haggis in a civil suit have brought a swift response from Ward 3 councilor Mo Salih.

The subject of Salih’s attention is the London park named after Haggis in 2011.

Councilor Salih wants the park’s name changed as soon as possible.

“It’s a privilege, not a right, to have a park named after you,” said Salih. “It’s the city’s right to change the name at any time and, me personally, I don’t think it’s right to keep the name when a lot of serious questions and accusations are being put out there.”

Fair enough.

Problem is, there’s this thing called due process, one of the fundamental concepts in Canadian and American law.

In short, until the accused, Haggis in this case, has his day in court, he is presumed innocent of the charges launched against him.

Salih’s call to rename the South London park based on unfounded accusations, no matter how appealing it is in the era of #MeToo and heightened awareness of sexual harassment and sexual assault, is a tad extreme and appears to be a thinly veiled example of political grandstanding.

I hope Councilor Salih’s colleagues at City Hall will be more cautious in their responses to the news — at least until Haggis has had the opportunity to face his accusers in court.