Secret squirrel

Last Updated: January 9, 2024By alanclegg

Hoards her nuts.

A cursory examination of Faye Ego’s private election club: the Wasaga Ratepayers Association (inc.) yields little information other than they “hate” anything that this council does, even when it is continuing a plan created by last council that they “love”.

They also clearly “hate” the mayor and to a lesser extent council and staff who do their jobs and follow the missives of council. They “love” Joe Belanger in the same way a cat loves catnip, however love or any positive thing is not expressed by the Association, just the derision, criticism and the “hatred”. This essentially is why Joe Belanger echoes their talking points so closely it appears they write his long winded robotic speeches.

They do have a thing for petitions; See, the thing about a petition is that it negates the result of the last election. We voted these people to make the decision based on knowledge they have from staff and experts, then we have a petition that asks council to forget this advice, or their moral compass and do what this small group wants.

So let’s take a closer look at Mrs. Ego’s private club?

First of all is the secrecy. It’s impressive for a group “anyone” can join. There is no list of directors, just the president; Faye Ego. No listed AGM, no financial info (this is especially interesting given they are a not for profit and very active in fundraising). I dare say we will see where the finances went in the latter half of next year)? Nor is there a membership list or number with the exception of Mrs. Ego’s statement in last council meeting when questioned of vaguely 500. I would observe that according to law (federal and provincial) such an organization needs to have a board (and president) elected by the membership usually at the AGM. Was the current board ever elected?

non partisan?

A not for profit corporation board of directors (and members) cannot receive any gain from the corporation. Remember this when the election comes around. If this group supports a candidate then they not only void their promise of being non-Partisan (ha!), They are breaking the law if that person is or was ever a member.

In addition the WRPA(inc.) operates out of a mail box in the UPS store. Don’t expect to drop in and have a chat or see what your membership money is doing. There is nothing illegal about this, but the optics? Again more secrecy. Nor am I aware if they have filed a tax return as they are not a charity.

I have searched on their website for any sign of minutes from meetings, any sort of board meeting at all. I do hope its members are trusting given they (the board) apparently control some tens of thousands of dollars in assets. Is this an opportune time to mention members in a non profit share the same relationship as shareholders in a for profit?

Since they don’t actually spend the money, either in a legal defence fund for Mr. Belanger (the money Mammoletti raised with his GoFundMe me was just handed to Faye, some $16k I believe). Why are they so vociferously fundraising? And again where are the records?

Okay, let’s move on to bylaws of the organization? There appear to be none. Nor is there a constitution or even a list of meeting procedures. Since there are no bylaws they cannot evict members for breaking the rules.

In the end it all comes down to accountability and the fact there is none. President (for life) Faye Ego and her apparently unelected board of directors have the ability to pump this community for funds while falsely claiming non-partisanship. To have a membership, and use that membership to claim a seat at the town leadership table, while at the same time refusing to reveal how many people are members of their association, nor do they allow even their own members to know this information.

So far the membership we know is Faye Ego and three directors. That’s four. Unless she is willing to let the mask slip and reveal the membership, we should give her the attention she deserves. I note as an aside, if we don’t know who the members are, we can’t call the police when the WBRA(inc.) illegally support said member.