FOUR YEARS OF TURMOIL AND UNCERTAINTY IS ENOUGH!
VOTE FOR CANDIDATES WHO CAN PROVIDE EFFICIENT, EFFECTIVE, RESPONSIBLE AND ETHICAL LEADERSHIP FOR CLARENCE-ROCKLAND! A message from Citizens for Ethical Government, financed and supported by tax payers of Clarence-Rockland
The Bloc (Mayor Guibord and his Bloc voters Mr. Campeau (Ward 7), Ms. Choinière (Ward 8) and Mr.Archambault (Ward 4), who are all standing for re-election in 2014, in addition to Messrs.Henrie (Ward 2) and Félio (Ward 5,) has:
record of transparency and greater barriers to accessing information than existed in 2010;
• broken his promise to address the deplorable state of our roads (Mayor Guibord’s 2010 election platform) by taking four years to produce a “roads priorities” list.Yet, with few exceptions, most roads are worse now than in 2010. Elected municipal officials must be held accountable for their election promises, not rewarded for breaking them; • taken credit in their “Accomplishments - Council Report” for some initiatives that were begun before their term of office or initiatives they vigorously opposed, such as the municipal off- leash dog park, thereby misrepresenting some of their accomplishments to citizens; • usedmunicipal resources and staff to produce the“Accomplishments - Council Report”, an “electioneering” pamphlet mailed to all households in September, at tax payer expense, just in advance of the municipal election, demonstrating once again, an unethical use of taxes and municipal resources and; • rushed through a zoning bylaw change in 12 days (September 3-15), favouring the development of a multi-million dollar project by LLG Development Inc., a company in which the mayor was once a partner, demonstrating a selective willingness to act swiftly on files favouring the financial interests of former associates rather than those of citizens. • In addition to the above activities, Mayor Guibord and Councillor Choinière, who have been charged by theOntario Provincial Police for the criminal offence of “breach of trust”, are asking you to once again “trust” them with your vote while their court cases are being heard! Your vote can restore ethics, trust, accountability, transparency and sound financial management practices to our municipality.
• increased taxes, some as much as 35% over four years (depending on MPAC assessments), straining family budgets and contributing to Clarence- Rockland’s depressed housing start up market; • increased city staff by at least 50% in three years, representing over $1,000,000 of additional salaries, an unsustainable rate of growth and a reflection of poor strategic planning and weak leadership; • proven incapable of stimulating Clarence- Rockland’s economy, housing start-ups or meaningfully expanding our industrial park, demonstrating a lack of visionary foresight; • proven incompetent in managing the City’s human resources, cycling through four Chief Administrative Officers in four years and creating a fiasco for City staff and their families for which the Bloc remains unaccountable, unconcerned, and unrepentant; • proven incompetent in creating and leading a cohesive and effective City Council as demonstrated by council in-fighting, resignations and interrupted meetings; • unethically used your taxes to spend public funds on the Focus for advertising and other services, a pamphlet that attacks citizens and non-allied councillors, an example of undesirable professional conduct and standards for elected municipal officials; • directed, on average, 26% more/month of your taxes (and possibly more) to the Focus, a pamphlet editorially aligned with the mayor and his bloc voters, than what was provided to the Vision, a clear example of willfully wasted taxes;
• slashed community service programming subsidies forcing families to now pay the full rate for programs such as day care, a disincentive for young families considering moving to our community; • moved Council meetings to a building once considered unsuitable and worth selling, discouraging citizen participation, decreasing transparency, and alienating the public - all signs of an unhealthy, dysfunctional and secretive council; • contracted companies, Aqua Data and Genivar, to work in our city, companies that have been identified for using corrupt practices by the Charbonneau Commission investigating corruption in Quebec municipalities; • waged a vendetta against a former City Chief Administrative Officer, requiring a severance agreement of approximately $400,000, (total cost including legal fees of well over $500,000) a bill your taxes will pay; • posted unsubstantiated and unfounded confidential information about a former Chief Administrative Officer on the City’s web site, against the advice of two lawyers, and the then Chief Administrative Officer, himself a lawyer, resulting in more litigation, a demonstration of poor political judgement, disregard for individual privacy protection, and more squandered taxes to defend against another $350,000 lawsuit; • installed Mayor Guibord as Access to Information Coordinator, blocked access to routine information requests, increased tenfold the number of in-camera meetings, been addressed by the provincial Ombudsman twice for conducting “closed” Council meetings, demonstrating an abysmal
ON OCTOBER 27, YOUR VOTE CAN MAKE A DIFFERENCE! UN “BLOC” THE BARRIERS TO CLARENCE-ROCKLAND’S PROGRESS! CITIZENS FOR ETHICAL GOVERNMENT www.clarencerocklandethics.org
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