OK, so I also talked in my speech about how the cities are increasing their council size but despite my trying, Regional Council didn’t. When councils increase in size, there is an oppportunity for change and new and different voices. Better representation for the citizens.

I failed to increase Regional Council because due to a quirk of the municipal act, we had to get permission of the cities and the rural didn’t want to lose power to the urban. The four township councils would vote against increasing regional council. And several councillors from the cities were ready to make hay with the region increasing their size. It was also, as I said at the time, when the big crash happened and not a good time to spend money. The conservative white men who call into the Jeff Allen show seemed to hate it, the idea of more politicians. 

The cities seemed to get little flack when they increased their size.

While talking about Women’s Municipal Campaign School, I mentioned my reasons for not supporting amalgamation of Waterloo Region,even though I’m a Regional Councillor and think the Region does a good job. Will be in paper tomorrow. Here is why from my speech.

When people talk about one regional government or amalgamating cities, we all need to think what that means.  I know as a regional councillor that we are a good council BUT, less local politicians mean less power for citizens. Amalgamation means less chance for different voices to be heard at the council table.  Running regionally is more expensive than a ward. It is hard to unseat an incumbent, assuming you want to.  Lots of politicians give citizens more access to their councillors.

Less power for school boards the last few years when they lost the ability to raise taxes, means less power for parents.  Citizen councils and parents councils are fine as advisory but they don’t have power. 

It is business people who are pushing amalgamation, overwhelmingly middle aged white men. Business is fine, but companies are not run as democracies. So I believe, being a business owner myself, that business people can find democracy frustrating because it is slow,it gets tangled in red tape at times, it consults. A good democracy doesn’t make decisions suddenly and move quickly most times. Government is forever with the winning and losing politicians moving in and out of office while the programs go on. Business can move quickly and do wonderful things but it can also fail spectacularly in the market place, as we have recently seen. Democratic Government is there to pick up the pieces and to listen to the people.

It will not be cheaper to have amalgamation. Yes a few less politicians and CEOs but other amalgamations have shown that overall, wages rise to the highest common denominator and there will still be a need for branch offices in the cities, deputy fire and police chiefs, etc.

We can cut red tape by having staff work together, which they already are, to do things like making the rules the same for all. We already have joint library catalog access for the public libraries for instance.

I’m even more against the amalgamation of Kitchener and Waterloo because, frankly if you are going to go that way,we should amalgamate regionally.

Sadly, I doubt I will get any support for my thesis because people are cynical about politicians. They forget that we are their representatives and they have a vote to vote us in or out. The alternative is dictatorship.

P.S. I am for one water system, though. On record for that in a previous post I believe.

So I am going to FCM in Toronto and this time I can take the bus round trip for $42.00. If the stress doesn’t kill me. Booked my ticket on-line, non refundable. After several false starts, got the ticket and found it was from Sportsworld instead of Charles St terminal. Phoned 800 number, they were no help at all. No refund and no way to buy a Greyhound ticket from Charles St. to Sportsworld. You may remember the hoo ha when Greyhound stopped allowing the Region through the GRT ticket office to sell their tickets. They were going to drop Charles St. terminal all together as a stop but we managed to negiotiate that they would sell tickets on the platform. 

Why O Why did they move their stop to Sportsworld!!!  So stuck with the ticket. The good news, used EasyGo and a GRT route goes from Charles St. to Fairview then I get the 52 and it takes about a half hour. Just I have to leave the GRAAC meeting after an hour. So annoying.

Still a shorter time than the GO to get to Toronto.

Today I was crossing the Parkdale Plaza parking lot and I saw a woman in a black niqab, covered from head to toe and her face veiled except for her eyes. She came out of Dollarama with, I presume, her husband, and walked to her car. Husband opened the trunk and she put in her purchases. They then got in the car and drove off.  Tell me what was offensive or scary about that scenario, ’cause I just don’t see it.

Whether wearing too little or wearing too much, society is entirely too preoccupied with what women wear.

I’m writing my church history and in the 50s, all women wore hats and gloves to church. In the 60s, “Come as you are” Sundays started the trend of today’s work casual, no hats church attire.

In the 60s and 70s,you did not wear pants to school or work or events. I remember in the 70s when I attended WCI, we were not allowed to wear pants. I felt such freedom when I went to WLU and was able to wear jeans to class.

I also remember when women wearing saris first graced our streets. Some women of my aquaintance and even letters to the editor complained about “these women” wearing foreign dress.  Now at the Focus for Ethnic Women evening, we all bid enthusiasitically on the large number of saris and Indian clothing in the silent auction.

A law banning women from wearing pants is still in effect in Paris, France. The law dates back to the 19th century, but is hardly ever enforced anymore. The law states that women in Paris are not allowed to wear trousers in general, but a woman who does want to wear pants “must present herself to Paris’s main police station to obtain authorization.” The law does allow women to wear pants when horse-riding or biking, however.

This is interesting since, Parisian women wear pants all the time. Times change and now France wants to ban women from wearing a burka or niqab. Wearing a head covering (unless a nun) is already banned in schools. France has a historical problem with religious symbols, perhaps is not a good example.

But there is no historical reason why Quebec lawmakers want veiled women to be ineligible for daycare, language training, social housing or any government service.

I attended the evening about the niqab and the veiled woman said she has no problem showing her face when required by customs and in fact has travelled all over the world and customs officers have always been helpful in taking her to a separate room. She willingly shows her face for identification.

Recently Sudan relented on a flogging sentence for a woman wearing pants after intense international scrutiny, while Egypt’s Mufti Ali Gomaa said pants are permissible, as long as they are “modest.”

 Women wearing jeans and other trousers in Indonesia’s West Aceh will now face Islamic Sharia police, as will clothes vendors selling slacks for women.Those found wearing tight trousers, such as jeans, will have them cut by Sharia police, and will be forced to wear loose-fitting attire.

Should I be banned from wearing a skirt because women in other countries are banned from wearing pants? That’s the reasoning I often hear for why women should be banned from wearing a burka or niqab. Because women in other countries are forced to wear them.

Beside the fact that very, very few women in Western countries wear this garb. (I don’t think I’ve ever seen anyone in a burka), we are a free country and women have a choice in what to wear.

Fortunately, the Provincial and Region of Waterloo governments are not interested in a law like that proposed in Quebec.

 BTW, it was interesting at the event that a man of East Asian origin got up and railed at the women for covering up, saying it wasn’t in the Koran. The Koran says women should dress modestly (and men too, frankly)

Interestingly, the Christian Bible says explicitly that women should be modest and cover their head. That is why Old Order women wear prayer caps and women used to wear hats in church.

Articles on the niqab controversy:

http://news.therecord.com/article/701972

http://news.therecord.com/article/694203

http://news.therecord.com/article/688986

http://news.therecord.com/article/702982

As I write this, the Take Back the Night Song keeps going through my head.

Whatever I wear, Whereever I go, Yes means Yes and No means No.

http://craigconsidine.wordpress.com/2010/05/08/a-young-yemeni-woman-explains-why-she-wears-the-niqab/    Interesting point of view from Yemeni, where the veil stops street harrassment.

I got the above reference from this site: http://hollabacknyc.blogspot.com/   What women have to put up with no matter how they dress.

 Next Tuesday, May 18th, councillors will be hearing the public response to the Regional Transportation Master Plan. You can come either at 9 am for Planning and Works or at 7 pm for a public meeting.

There have already been public consultation meetings. I attended the meeting at First United Church.  I talked to several constituents. Two men were enthusiastic about the master plan including bike paths and pedestrian sidewalks. They also like that there will be an Ixpress along Fischer-Hallman.

The master plan includes integrated rapid transit and bus network and strategic road improvements. Types of streets are classified with different uses. All this can go forward with or without the LRT, though it would be better with the LRT (when will we see our money???)

http://www.movingforward2031.ca  for more details on the master plan.

A couple who live in Eastbridge talked about how hard it is to bicycle to the University as the bridge over the expressway isn’t bicycle friendly. Here I’ve been talking about the problems of bridges in Cambridge and here’s an example in my own Waterloo.  World O’ Cars indeed.

Tritag came to council to talk about an innovative idea for the Lang Tannery property. Lang would give the Region money to improve the transit and Lang would not demolish the old warehouses for a parking garage. The idea was referred to staff. The fact that this would involve the city, region and Lang Tannery working together in an innovative way, leads me to believe, sadly, that nothing will happen.

http://www.tritag.ca/blog/2010/04/14/win-win-win-solution-for-the-lang-tannery/ is the post about this issue. Keep the innovation coming guys, the bureaucracy changes slowly but it is changing.

 Next Tuesday, May 18th, councillors will be hearing the public response to the Regional Transportation Master Plan. You can come either at 9 am for Planning and Works or at 7 pm for a public meeting.

There have already been public consultation meetings. I attended the meeting at First United Church.  I talked to several constituents. Two men were enthusiastic about the master plan including bike paths and pedestrian sidewalks. They also like that there will be an Ixpress along Fischer-Hallman.

The master plan includes integrated rapid transit and bus network and strategic road improvements. Types of streets are classified with different uses. All this can go forward with or without the LRT, though it would be better with the LRT (when will we see our money???)

http://www.movingforward2031.ca  for more details on the master plan.

A couple who live in Eastbridge talked about how hard it is to bicycle to the University as the bridge over the expressway isn’t bicycle friendly. Here I’ve been talking about the problems of bridges in Cambridge and here’s an example in my own Waterloo.  World O’ Cars indeed.

Tritag came to council to talk about an innovative idea for the Lang Tannery property. Lang would give the Region money to improve the transit and Lang would not demolish the old warehouses for a parking garage. The idea was referred to staff. The fact that this would involve the city, region and Lang Tannery working together in an innovative way, leads me to believe, sadly, that nothing will happen.

http://www.tritag.ca/blog/2010/04/14/win-win-win-solution-for-the-lang-tannery/ is the post about this issue. Keep the innovation coming guys, the bureaucracy changes slowly but it is changing.