Any Other Time

Last week Mayor Fedeli gave his glowing economic report and outlook for North Bay. At any other time, this would have been reason for dancing in the streets or cavorting on the skating track at the waterfront. But there is an election campaign in progress, and every time a politician opens his or her mouth I have to toss in a handful of salt to swallow what they have promised. Not that the candidates prevaricate, obfuscate and exaggerate, but everything they say needs examination.

Take the promises coming out of Toronto about hiring 1,000 new police to address the shootings and other criminal acts. When North Bay cannot immediately get its two or three new officers because of limitations on training facilities, how is the province going to train a thousand officers? Now this 1,000 new men and women in blue may include the normal hire to replace retiring officers – that was never made clear to us. If not, then we are likely looking for 1,500 new people. Are there that many people lined up for this job? This is reminiscent of the provincial Liberal promise to hire 8,000 new nurses a few years ago.

So when the Mayor trumpets the hiring of 69 new staff at the Education Centre and the next day the Nugget highlights a young couple who are leaving the city, one begins to look at the numbers with a little scepticism. How many young people graduated from Grade 12 or college last year and how many of those young people are still in the city? Did we lose as many people from the city as were made up by Voyageur? This is not to belittle the new jobs or the Mayor’s pride in them. But when all we hear is the spin put on the positive, we forget about the hand-wringing problem of losing all our young people to greener pastures.

It is very encouraging to hear about all the new construction projects but we ought to think about the buildings that have been demolished or fallen down, doors closed and empty of tenants to have the whole picture. It is a little hard to applaud the new paving on Airport Road when trying in vain to dodge the bone-jarring potholes, cracks and heaves on Oak Street. The infrastructure maintenance is a never-ending battle and it is hard to know if we are winning or losing on that front.

It was nice to see that we are doing well in our Blooms effort and certainly, that is a feel-good item for the Mayor as well as for the rest of volunteers who keep our city looking at its best in the summer. I was a little unsure what the Mayor had in mind for councillors taking over the lead in various projects as part of their obligation to their office. Someone must have been taking the lead before and one wonders if the Mayor is not happy with the staffers who were fulfilling those positions. Perhaps it was all spin to get the projects moving at a quicker pace to keep up to the Mayor’s drumbeat.

It may have been the unfortunate timing of the release of the economic outlook when we are over-loaded with political rhetoric, but we do need a little rah-rah-rah once in a while. Maybe if Vic had waited until after January 23, he might have had time to round up those 76 trombones and put on a really good show for the hometown! Because we all Luv North Bay ... Gateway to the North . . Just North Enough to be Perfect!