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To the editor:
The office of the Mayor of Calvin Township should not be used to keep the Mayor in office.
It is disturbing that Calvin Township is using township funds to hire a Public Relations Firm, Summit PCG, to improve its public image and discredit township opposition. This agency has written articles, and letters to the editor for the local papers, issued press releases and is now writing the Calvin Newsletter.
The owner of Summit PCG is Jake Pastore, a one-time lobbyist for the Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation and on May 22, 2022, he submitted a letter to the editor of Bay Today stating that “negative people” in Calvin sit behind a computer and make life difficult for the council. His comments were clearly an attack on anyone who had a dissenting opinion and his comments were made after the municipal election had been announced.
Many of the dissenting voices were from people who were known to be likely candidates in the October election, and Mr. Pastore’s comments were an effort to discredit these future candidates. He wrote: “I also recently noticed that the very folks who love to criticize every positive effort of the Township are also pushing against tools such as electronic/telephone voting.” This was a PR Man’s blatant effort to distort the truth. Few were against electronic voting, they were against the cancellation of in-person voting in a township with limited internet and cell service and they were against the initiation of legislation with absolutely no public input.
See: Letter to the editor: It is easy for negative people to sit behind a computer and constantly criticize
Recently, Summit PCG was involved in the Mayor’s press release (the Summit logo is on every page), on the 25th of May. In a township that has held an excessive amount of closed meetings, lacked transparency, communicated poorly with residents, has started legal proceedings against a couple of residents, has lost three of its four councillors and more than 50% of its staff, the mayor said he was on a campaign to stop cyberbullying.
This ‘press release,’ which was classic gas lighting, has caused unnecessary stress and division among the residents of Calvin Township. Seventy-five residents (in a township with a voter turnout of 300 residents) have given their names in protest of this message. The mayor’s message that he is seeking “both investigative and legal counsel” against residents is an affront to all the residents. It is also an effort to further control the future outcome of the election.
It is time for this division to stop.
Calvin’s resources should not be spent on a public relations firm in an effort to maintain power and control. Again, I respectfully request that the mayor withdraw his recent statement, which has been publicly denounced by a large portion of the township. I also request the termination of the services of Summit PCG. The mayor and council should be issuing their own clear, transparent messages, not using township funds to hire a public relations firm to bolster their image.
These actions of promotion may go beyond gas lighting and may fall into the realm of breach of public trust. I’m sure that the councillors are not aware of their situation, but E4m and Summit have the resources to be aware of these liabilities. The councillors are being put in harm’s way by these organizations.
In a 2016 Osgoode Hall Law School Legal Studies Research Paper, (Number 29, Vol 12, Issue 6) municipal corruption was studied. The authors of the study write: “The current state of Ontario municipal law lends itself to abuse by municipal councillors.”
We all know that the Mayor and Councillors must not be involved in issues from which they would benefit financially, but financial gain is not the only issue.
The Osgoode study goes on to state: “First, we define “private gain” here as not just financial gain, but also as gaining political capital. In other words, we consider local officials corrupt not just when they use their positions to enrich themselves, but also when they use their positions simply to stay in office and/or to reinforce their own status as local power players and persons of influence, rather than using such powers for a clear municipal purpose. We consider such behaviour corrupt because it circumvents ordinary municipal decision-making for individual gain.”
Dear Calvin Council, remove your attacks on residents. The control of Calvin needs to return to the people of Calvin.
Calvin was once a place of pride, beauty, and togetherness. It can be that again, but the municipal council needs to stop tearing it apart.
Richard Gould
Calvin Township
