"What's in a name? That which we call a rose, by any other name would smell as sweet."
— William Shakespeare
None of today's stories smell as sweet as summer roses.
Nor, unfortunately, are they as enticing as the scent of Christmas spices. For that, you'll need to wait until Christmas Eve or thereabouts for this year's Christmas story from me.
Rob Ford:
Like most of you, I kept hoping never to hear of the man again. Instead, in a modern-day water torture, those who possess what they say is evidence of shady behaviour on the part of Ford and some of his acquaintances insist on leaking it out drop by painful drop.
The most regrettable aspect of the saga is that the whole sorry mess could have been avoided had Toronto voters heeded the red flags thrown up in April 2010 by Toronto Star writer Bob Hepburn.
Predicting that "Ford as mayor would be the worst thing that could happen to (Toronto)," Hepburn cited several occasions between 2002 and 2008 when, as councillor, Ford had let fly with "screaming tirades," attacked public employees and called a fellow councillor "a scammer" and "Gino boy."
Remembering Ford's 2013 rants, hindsight was particularly revolting when I read that, in 2005, he had said a fellow female councillor was a "waste of skin."
Drunk, verbally abusive, racist, or repenting liar - this is a man the Toronto electorate voted to be their leader?
Recent futile efforts by Toronto council to have Ford ousted were revealing. It seems neither the Ontario municipal legislation nor B.C.'s Community Charter allow a council to demand the resignation of a member for Ford-style behaviour.
In fact, the 2008 Municipal Councillors' Handbook states that under B.C.'s Community Charter, "council cannot declare a member's seat vacant by resolution." Instead, a two-thirds majority of council must "apply to the court for a declaration of disqualification."
You may well think this lack of teeth is ridiculous. So if this situation is replicated throughout the country, perhaps the Federation of Canadian Municipalities should urge provinces to toughen up the legislation and, by extension, the penalties that can be levied?
Peace River North MLA, Agriculture Minister Pat Pimm:
Pimm shares a few characteristics with Ford.
He first burst into the headlines when he resigned his Liberal seat in June, 2011 after spending a night in a Fort St. John hoosegow following a 9-1-1 domestic dispute call.
Why was the Liberal Caucus "shocked" and "surprised."
Was this not the man who had asked his colleagues, "Why do we need a Charter of Rights anyway?" Never mind, at least he didn't need caucus to tell him to work on his self-described "family and personal issues."
Fast forward to 2013 when Pimm rode roughshod over the quasi-judicial authority of the Agricultural Land Commission: He justified the interference by saying he was merely querying the ALC procedural timelines on behalf of a constituent who had applied for nonfarming use of Agricultutal Land Reserve land — for a rodeo.
Good thing there wasn't a fall sitting of the legislature, eh, Mr. Pimm? Had there been one, what's the betting you'd have queried your colleagues, 'Why do we need the inconvenience of ALC rules anyway?' Nothing daunted, voters re-elected Pimm on May 14, 2013.
British Columbians are likely to hear more than they'd bargained for about ALR encroachments by the Liberals and their oil and gas supporters.
Judging by information on the websites of the two commissions, the Liberals were laying the foundation for an eventual takeover of the Agricultural Land Reserve back in 2002.
The first major milestone came in 2004 when a delegation agreement transferred some of the authority for ALR land-use to the Oil and Gas Commission.
On Aug. 6, 2013, while many of us were on vacation or enjoying the barbecue, Industry Bulletin 2013-11 quietly announced the agreement had been "updated" - to encroach a little more.
When Pimm's clumsy-footed machinations drew unwelcome public attention to the ALR situation in thePeace River District, did he mess up Premier Christy Clark's own hidden timelines for the much-denied takeover of the ALC by her oil and gas confreres? Time will tell.
Pipelines:
In a Dec. 1 letter to the editor, engineer John Hunter noted I was in error when I referred to "the B.C. portion of Kinder Morgan's Cochin pipeline" instead of calling it the Trans Mountain pipeline (expansion). Hunter is right - for now anyway.
Take a look at kindermorgan.com/asset_ map/KM_System_Map.pdf and see what you think.
I had already covered Hunter's points about batching and pipeline corrosion on Nov. 27 and stand by my concerns about the need for strict adherence to National Energy Board regulations on pipeline inspections and maintenance.
As for approaching oil companies for their input, they already spend millions on websites, television pictorials, advertisements and consultants to promote their side of the story — much of which hopes to persuade us not to worry because they know what they're doing.
As a columnist with a different opinion, I felt it was timely to approach the discussion from a different perspective.
Thus, one of the most important points I tried to make on Nov. 27 was that, even though I think pipelines are better than rail for transporting oil, the lack of mainstream media coverage of the Sinopec pipeline explosion in Qingdao, China is disturbing.
What it means is that we must be our own advocates when it comes to ferreting out the information we need to put into the hopper — even if our research causes a few mistakes along the way.
Meanwhile, in the interest of balancing out my environmental slant: Hunter is a consultant to the energy sector, public private partnership and international business.
"Always happy to talk," he wrote in an email. "Been in the energy business over 45 years."
