Wasaga Shell Game

It’s sad to me that following politics in Wasaga Beach is like playing a shell game. There seems to be this ongoing attempt to have everyone watching forget where the ball is. Just when you think it is under one shell, Mayor Smith moves the shells.

There are so many different outstanding issues that are now a part of the shell game of distraction that it’s truly difficult to concentrate on where the ball is.

How is the distraction created? Well, tax payers bring forward important issues to the Town, like preventing the sale of Access Paths to the Beach. Instead of assuring those property owners that they will continue to ensure public access, they get us all to focus on a similar issue that affects all of Allenwood Beach which is managed by the Provincial Park.

Meanwhile… information in the possession of Wasaga Beach residents appears to be ignored when they try to bring it up at a public meeting. Sure another public meeting was promised on the issue, but it will likely be held in February when overall public interest fades. Concern doesn’t fade for those trying to keep their eye on the ball though, to the point that individual residents that will be affected by the perceived intent to restrict access to these paths (note: town supplied signs at the paths) have actually spoken to their own lawyers and are spending hundreds of dollars to ensure the focus stays on the right shell.

This same distract and wait technique is being employed with so many issues it’s hard to keep up. Just remember, every time our Council goes into private “in camera” meetings, they are possibly moving that ball under another shell. Of course we will never know as one of their first decisions was to stop recording those meetings.

Mayor Brian Smith seems intent on moving forward things that are important to him. For instance; He wants condos on the Beach, so he will focus on a hotel. Not once has the Mayor described what selling an entire block (1st to 3rd) of land to allow private homes will look like, but he paints a picture of a nice venue for weddings in the hotel…. Distraction!

Remember… the main job of our Council is to approve and oversee the budget. Pay close attention to how many distractions they employ to have you miss the constant movement of the ball under the shell with budget issues. Apparently they released select graphs on the Facebook Page as a distraction. They want you to follow their outrage at things like OPP expenses, yet they do not provide a full report of how much the Walk in Clinic is costing us. (Remember a walk in clinic is Provincial Responsibility financially whereas policing is a municipal cost.)

They want you to look at the cost of building the TPAL, which the last Council did, but they don’t want you to focus on the quarter million spent on a floor that was used once when a virtually free option was available and now sits in storage.

They want you to focus on how much money their new entertainment corporation will make, yet they have not provided a COMPLETE accounting of a SINGLE concert they have put on so far.

We have seen this whole distraction with outrage strategy before. Remember Coward-gate and the prevention of selling WDI? Here is the thing about the last term of office Brian Smith lead;

It was just like a Roller Coaster, issues went around and around and up and down. However when the ride was over we all ended up in the same place. Sure lots of people made a lot of money, but when the circus pulled out, what did the Tax Payers have to show for it? Well, they paid for the ride.

For now, the Roller Coaster is still rolling and the shells are still moving. Which shell is the ball under this week and when will the next switch happen?

How many issues are left abandoned under the empty shells, hoping we simply move on?

Scroll back in any of the political discussion groups to see how many issues were raised at some point and simply faded away? Then you decide… should our Council Chambers be a place for circus acts, where the only ones who benefit are those who are part of the circus?