Would You Like A Second Opinion?

So few people want to incur the wrath of Mayor Paul Tomlinson or the other members of the Proudfoot Four, for fear they would suffer repercussions, that the Concerned Citizens of Kearney often stands out as a lone voice, at least publicly. And because we are just one voice, it's easy to dismiss us as a minority, or a bunch of cranks.

But with increasing frequency we are seeing the main-stream media reporting on issues very similar to ours.

Back in October 2010, Paul Tomlinson set the tone for the next four years in his negative and ungracious statements as he bragged to the press how he "built his electoral success by sowing and nurturing the seeds of anger amongst seasonal residents". Even the editors of the Almaguin News were disgusted that he pitted Kearney residents against Proudfoot residents and said so in this article.

Then in March 2011, the Proudfoot Four were making the papers when this article appeared about Dingwall's motion to council, divvying up the community events so the Proudfoot Four wouldn't have to rub elbows with the Kearney Townies all the time. Dingwall also managed to be blasphemous, insult Kearney's war vets, and make it perfectly clear that he ran for the job "to be a councillor, not to be a social butterfly". We did notice that he showed up for Regatta, but spent all his time sulking in his lawn chair (except for the 5 minutes he spent spying on the Chalk Art contest for Tomlinson).

Then there was the article on the Town of Kearney hiring a full-time Chief Building Officer (to replace the part-time CBO they lost when they dissed Perry Township) who "comes in a couple of times a week". Nice gig for a guy who was fired from his position as Magnetawan's CBO. Triple pay for a Magnetawan reject who shows up twice a week. More Proudfoot economics in action.

And on July 28th, the Almaguin News ran this article and this article on the bureaucratic mess the Proudfoot Four have created in Kearney (but not in Proudfoot where you get your zoning fees waived) and the nightmare it's creating for small business investors in Kearney (but not in Proudfoot where developers/campaign managers get to build all over the place without environmental, water, or sewage surveys and self-proclaimed tree-hugger Louise Wadsworth won't say "boo").

 
So are we really "a small bunch of small-minded people" as Councillor Barry Dingwall would have the newspapers believe? Or are we just the most vocal (as is the Almaguin News) of a much larger group? Either way, at least we're not trying to %@*! our neighbours.