It’s an interesting time to watch the government parade go by.
The Good
St. Clair Street (otherwise known as the road paved with good intentions) will now feel like an urban thoroughfare instead of a wilderness trail thanks to
a $2 million provincial grant.
It’s been four years since “temporary” repairs were installed following water and sewer line work from McNaughton Avenue to Grand Avenue.
Kudos to municipal staff for battling for the money and to the province for remembering that something exists between London and Windsor.
The Bad
The ministry of education’s misguided plan to virtually force small bus companies out of existence through a new tendering process refuses to go away.
School bus operators have for years negotiated with local boards, but with ongoing centralization, the province doesn’t want to deal with local issues and small-time operators.
Our local boards have resisted implementing the discretionary tendering policy and have been helped by the fact that the policy has been held up by court challenges.
We’re all for saving money, but given all that is amiss with service delivery in Ontario, surely something more egregious than this should be occupying our bureaucrats’ time.
The Strange
The federal government (the employees, not the MPs who’ve been given another month off by our prorogue-happy PM) has implanted a plan to help Canadian musicians by giving them fewer places to perform.
The fee for non-Canadian performers has jumped from $150 annually to $275 each time they enter Canada and now includes performers, crew members, managers etc. It’s in addition to the $150 work permit each must pay.
The government could have asked venue operators what they think but why bother finding out the facts when you can just implement a policy?
Venue operators say the charges mean they will book fewer big U.S. groups and therefore they won’t need up-and-coming Canadian groups to open. If the U.S. retaliates, Canadian performers won’t be heading south in any numbers.
The motto here seems to be ‘if it’s not broke, let’s break it.”
