This is the best you could Mayor Kelly??

Did Mayor Kelly and the rest of his City Hall crowd make the best deal on behalf of the HRM taxpayer for the new convention center? The simple answer is no they should not even be involved in it. The Convention centre was, as it seems to be in other provinces, the responsibility of the Province but seeing Premier Rodney Mac Donald is Hell bent on downloading even more financial burdens onto the HRM ratepayers we must look at the deal HRM council accepted and It seems to be the poorer one as far as the people who will pay for it, us, are concerned.

The Ramia family's business, Rank inc., beat out the Hardman group's bid for the new convention centre but, when you look behind the snappy one liners from City Hall's spin doctors, you have to ask yourself why in my opinion.


I raised this question on the editorial page of the Herald on Saturday and received an E Mail stating no we didn't get the betetr deal with some possible reasons. A bit of digging and some help from Tim Bosquet of the Coast Magazine seems to have quickly confirmed my informant’s suspicions. This deal will leave us with a $1,000,000 bill for the ratepayers to tear down the Cogswell Interchange. What other costs will it add? Only the Mayor Kelly lead council can tell and as usual they aren’t talking. See for yourself and decide for your self at http://tinyurl.com/r9dv6a then use the E Mail addresses at left to tell the Mayor and your councillor what you think about how they are squandering your money.

CONTACT THE PARTY LEADERS

Here is full contact information for the leaders in the current provincial election. I would suggest a FAX.
Here are some issues you may want to have addresses:
1. The new convention centre. In other provinces the publicly owned convention centres are provincially owned like this one was. Now the MacDonald Government want to follow the example set my Premier Savage's Liberals and download the cost of the new centre onto the HRM ratepayer. Ask who, if elected will take over this undertaking from the city and keep it as a provincial responsibility as it has always been.
2. A full public independent audit of the Commonwealth Games Books. It was our money who got the luggage? How did donations turn into leases? We should have a rite to know.
3. Ask if they are prepared, if elected, to force open the doors of HRM council as the law dictates. The people of London Ont. took their council to court and the courts tossed out a by law because it was debated behind closed doors. Everything this council does is behind closed doors with a dog and pony show at the end for the public after everything is decided.

This is one of the few times they may listen to you speak up. Pass this site URL to anybody you know in Nova SCotia but in particular in HRM.

Liberal leader Steven McNeil
PH. 1-902-825-6632
FX. 1-902-825-4956
E Mail annapoliscampaign@NS.aliantzinc.ca

Darrell Dexter
PH. 1-902-423-9127
FX. 1-902-423-9618
E Mail ndpadmin@nsndp.ca

Rodney MacDonald
PH. 1-902-258-2216
FX. 1-902-258-3231
E Mail rodneym@ns.sympatico.ca

Nova Scotia lost 4,100 jobs last month

"Nova Scotia lost 4,100 jobs last month and unemployment rose to 9.2% (up.3%) Stats Can reported today. It was the worst performance in Canada last month."

Money is tight and jobs are vanishing. What are the MacDonald Government and the HRM government doing to offset this?
1. The MacDonald Government has hiked the land assessment for home taxes once again.
2. Jamie Muir hiked user fees across the board.
3. Premier MacDonald has down loaded the cost of the new convention Centre onto the HRM ratepayer.
4. Mayor Kelly and council are happy to go along with this and burden the already drowning ratepayers with more debt and annual subsidizes.
5. Mayor Kelly and some supporters, among them Linda Mosher, continue to push for that big economic black hole the high speed ferry
6. Don't forget the $50,000,000 plus Canada Winter Games. They have been very quiet about that cost since they signed on the dotted line on our behalf.
It seems that the recession and hard times are hitting everywhere except in the rank and file of our public officials and employees. There it's business as usual.

Is HRM council breaking the law?

When I raised the issue about the city's mandate to even have gotten involved in the Commonwealth games I was told by some people involved that they had no mandate.
Along the same line I have been told by members of Municipal governments that if the MGA does not specifically say yes to something in their laws then the city cannot get involved. If something is not specifically OK'd by the MGA then they cannot get involved in it.
There is also the very specific rule that says they are forbidden to put money into any and all "for profit" businesses. They circumvented this law for the Farmer's market and continue to circumvent daily, it seems, by funneling money through the greater Halifax partnership.
Do they have the mandate to get involved in this deal? Does getting involved in this deal go against the law that firbids them putting money into for profit businesses?
Is it time, in fact past time that we, the HRM ratepayers, seek legal council about how this council conducts business.
Bruce DeVenne

Decision time at City Hall

Isn't this about the truth!!!!
This financial crisis is forcing government departments and agencies to make tough decisions, there is a risk that we might need to lay off Andre....

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