29 July 2010
It's going to be a little harder for Calgary City manager Owen Tobert and Calgary mayor Dave Bronconnier to discredit
Deloitte like they did to city auditor Tracy McTaggart when she said there was a potential for fraud.
Deloitte in their report state that there is over one billion dollars of high risk transactions needing further review.
In his report, Owen Tobert,said "Of 462 contracts valued at $151 million, all but 29 of them had
appropriate paperwork. The remainder, worth about $4.8 million, need to be further reviewed. Of 70 contracts for goods and services between
2006 and 2009, all but nine had sufficient documentation and explanation. City administration looked at about 600 of the 747 contracts that
went over budget mentioned by the auditor. Of those examined, every penny was accounted for and had been authorized by council."
That is quite a discrepancy $4.8 million reported by Owen Tobert compared to over $1 billion reported by Deloitte.
As well,auditor Tracy McTaggart said the whistleblower program was investigating allegations of fraud relating to city contracts, but wouldn’t
give any specifics while Owen Tobert said the city manager’s officer is notified about each whistleblower investigation and says a review of
its records determined no tip in the past four years related to procurement fraud.
21 July 2010
Letter sent to Calgary Sun
It seems that the Calgary City Council has some funny priorities.
I know it is probably a different budget but why is it that when some contracts need additional funding there is an
unlimited bank account but not for items such as police budgets or snow removal? In such crucial services such as the
fire department or Calgary police where the bulk of the budget goes for wages how can they tell the Calgary police service
they have to trim 15% off their budget? And who says that the city budget increase has to be kept to a certain limit? Should
not the primary concern be providing essential services and then worry about such things as street closures and festivals
i.e. The Bow River Flow?
i.e. The Peace Bridge?
i.e. Redoing Memorial Drive median around 10th Street?
Cut out the gravy until the potatoes are paid for
10 June 2010
The Schnick Principle can be seen in children's recreational sports
Once upon a time a parent who was never very good at sports had a kid who was old enough to start organized sports.
This parent didn't want their child to ever feel bad about not being good so they came up with the idea that they
wouldn't keep score at the games. They would then give every kid a participation trophy. But the kids knew what the object
of the game was from watching sports on TV and they could see how excited their parents got when they scored and they could count
so they knew what the score was and who was winning.
who has decided that the score doesn't matter? Someone who has never won? watch the kids' eyes light up when they score
I would want my kids to play in a league that teaches them how to compet and then leave it on the field whether they win
or lose. Why does the sportsmanship trophy always go to the last place team? Good teams can be good sports too.
How do you teach them that hard work brings results.
comment
Good post.
The sad part is, kids are still bullying each other, so there hasn't been an increase in respect.
There isn't as much of a value placed on hard work and effort because the children know that "they're all winners".
Because of this, children aren't intrinsically motivated. They're focused on "the prize", not the journey to get there.
You can learn a lot from disappointment. What do you learn from being handed something?
Alfi
No kidding they keep score. They know.
Allison S
26 May 2010
What has been happening at Calgary City Hall with the budgets? City auditor Tracy McTaggart says contracts that were issued
for $221M have ballooned to $959M with no paper work trail? Who authorizes this increase? Who pays the invoices?
What happens when contracts go from $221M to $959M how is this covered in the budget?
Can everything be blamed on the boom? Can someone who is doing work for the City of Calgary say there is a boom on
and they want more money? Do city contracts have a clause that allows for an increase in the contracts under certain circumstances?
Who decides what is legit reasons for increasing the value of a contract?
Who knows about this and doesn't question it? Who goes to Edmonton and asks for more infrastructure money for
Calgary?
There seems to be more questions than answers at Calgary City Hall.
21 May 2010
Does anyone else find it ironic that Dave Bronconnier is giving advice to the next council and what should be it's priorities.
It seems now that the priority may be cleaning up the mess at city hall and investigating possible fraud. Where does Dave Bronconnier
fit into this scene. It definitely happened on his watch. City council is responsible for the budget.
"One incompetent manager can be like a virus that eventually infects a whole department or company."
07 April 2010
Sometimes we can have a sad example of the Schnick Principle.
At present there is a fatality inquiry into the fatal accident in October 2007 when a school bus driven by Louise Rogers
hit a parked gravel truck on Crowchild Trail in Calgary.
As the transportation manager of a private school would Arlene Waldner not be responsible to ensure that the kids
arrived safely to and from school each day? Louise Rogers had mental and emotional problems before the fatal crash
on 18 October 2007 that killed Third Academy student nine year old Kathelynn Occena but yet she was still allowed
to drive the school bus even after she was in the hospital for a possible suicide attempt. If Louise Rogers has no memory
of what happened on the day of the accident from the time she turned onto Memorial Drive until after she hit the gravel
truck then I would have to wonder where her mind was at or what was occupying it. There are reports that Louise Rogers carried
an Ipod, 2 cell phones and a game boy in the school bus that she drove.
Sunil Mattu, Third Academy's chief operating officer, testified that the school has a zero tolerance for dangerous
school transport. He said that he was aware of a complaint from the pubic about Louise Rogers' erratic driving and
a speeding ticket that she had received before the fatal accident. Speeding and erratic driving doesn't constitute
dangerous driving? Did Sunil Mattu follow up on the complaint?
Grade 9 student Catlin Emard, who rode on Louise Rogers' bus, said that she was concerned by the driving of Louise Rogers and
reportedly complained to the school principal weeks before the crash. Catlin reported that Louise was on the phone alot and
rarely paid attention to the road.
Third academy is for special needs children, would not all staff be highly trained with no baggage? How can a special needs school have
someone driving a school bus that has recently attempted suicide, and is on sleeping pills and anti-depressants.
During an incidence 2 days prior to the accident psychologist Zeljko Puric said that Louise Rogers was having family problems and was
emotional but fine.
Arlene Waldner said she knew Louise Rogers was taking sleeping pills (are you supposed to drive when you are on sleeping pills)
Could all this have happened without an incompetent CEO surrounded by an incompetent COO, an incompetent transportation manager,
an incompetent psychologist, and incompetent parents. These are strong words but could not anyone of these people done something to
stop this terrible accident.
You can read blogs finding all the fault with Louise Rogers, but what about the other people, the psychologist, CEO, COO, principal,
transport manager, teachers, students, and parents. Surely they could have done more.
Third Academy private school seems to be a good example of the Schnick Principle.
"One incompetent manager can be like a virus that eventually infects a whole department or company."
31 March 2010
The Schnick Principle
"One incompetent manager can be like a virus that eventually infects a whole department or company."
Are we becoming a culture where incompetency controls companies and organizations? If you are an incompetent manager are you going to hire and
surround yourself with competent people or are you going to surround yourself with incompetent people who won't expose you for
what you are. Incompetent people aren't going to expose the incompetent manager because that person is their protector. Experience means
nothing in the environment of an incompetent manager. If you can keep the experienced competent people far enough away from you then an
incompetent manager can still get the work done effectively and actually have a high performing department. Gradually however such a
department will develop an atmosphere of suspicion and low moral and the competent people will eventually move on to other departments or
companies and be replaced by people with similar characteristics as the manager. Government departments are a good place for this to happen
because profit isn't their bottom line only the perception that everything is running smoothly. This scenario isn't hard to achieve when the
manager and everyone around that person is incompetent and they may actually think they are doing a good job. Eventually the whole department
will become incompetent and poor performing with no way of improving as there isn't any proper quality training for new employees.
Remember there is no reward for doing a good job in this scenario but the reward for doing a bad job is the Dilbert principle
i.e."incompetent employees are intentionally promoted to prevent them from doing harm" or as Dogbert says in the Dilbert strip of
February 5, 1995 "leadership is nature's way of removing morons from the productive flow.”
14 October 2009
Holy Cow does Dave Bronconnier think that the Calgary budget is his own personal petty cash fund. He is so important that if he is
delayed by bad weather and poor roads then he will find some money in the budget so that the roads can be maintained better.
If only the citizens of Calgary would have let him know.Wait a moment maybe it has been mentioned on occasion, like everytime
we get a snowstorm in Calgary. But of course his time is more important than Joe and Jane average citizen so he may have
to cut some other service in Calgary that he doesn't use anyway. Maybe they could increase the parking charge at the park
and ride lots because that is working so well.
11 October 2009
Everyone is jumping on the influenzia band wagon. Several organizations such as soccer associations are stopping hand shaking
after games. I would be more comfortable if they told everyone to shake hands and then go wash them because as it is now they
finish the game pick up their gear and head home. On the way they open doors that other people have touched with their supposedly
safe hands because they didn't shake after the game. Too many times people jump on the hot topic, use all the proper buzz words
and become policy setters without any real knowledge or expertise. Who decided that it was okay to walk around with snot on
your sleeve? I can remember when people would cough into a kleenex and throw it away. Better still if you have a cold stay home
with a box of kleenex. Do we have a lot of children coughing and sneezing into their sleeves and then running around rubbing
and bumping into each other. I'm sure their mothers don't wash their coats everyday.
11 JUNE 2009
What we say when we feel the "cameras are off" is probably a truer picture of what we actually feel than what we say when
it is for public consumption. What Lisa Raitt said to her aide in the car was probably her true feelings.
Maybe government civil servants should have to take truth serum.
First Lisa Raitt refused to apologize now she is using the memory of her dead father and brother and their deaths from cancer
to show how remorseful she is. She didn't have these same feelings or wasn't thinking of them when she was throwing out terms
such as sexy and was happy the Chalk River Nuclear reactor problem would be good for her political career no matter that people were
hurt by her remarks.
04 JUNE 2009
What is Mayor Bronconnier and council trying to achieve? How can their sudden announcement that Calgary will be bidding
for Expo 2017 do anything but allienate us from the city of Edmonton? This bid will be in direct competition to
the previously announced Edmonton bid.
29 MAY 2009
How can the Government claim that part of the reason for the $50 Billion deficit is the increase in EI payments?
Where does the money we pay every payday go? If we continue to give money to the car manufacturers is it going to
guarantee that they will survive and not go bankrupt? I think not!
15 MAY 2009
When a person such as Elvir Pobric comes to Canada and claims refugee status do immigration officials do any background checks
to establish the validity of the claim? How can such a person live in Canada for ten years before he is arrested and has a hearing?
How can a immigration official free Podric because of his low flight risk? He already has a history of flight that's how he got
to Canada from a Bosnian prison.
14 MAY 2009
Do the citizens of Calgary and Canada have the right to feel safe. Why is a convicted murderer given so many concessions?
Why is he allowed to refuse an interpreter based on their nationality? Would I be allowed to choose who is to serve me based on race?
Why do immigration boards think they know what is better for us than we do? If they are wrong in their decisions are they allowed to say Oops!
or is there other consequences
23 FEB 2009
Does anyone besides me think it's funny that Barack Obama met with Ignatieff at the airport? It's not common for the President of the
United States to meet with the opposition party.
7 FEB 2009
Once again I wonder if we are putting a value on human life. During several conversations and articles in the newspapers this week
the topic has come around to the 60 year old woman that gave birth to twin boys recently in Calgary. Most of the comments are either
about the high cost involved for the hospital care of the mother and babies or the ethics of the doctor that would treat a 60 year old.
Are doctors ethically allowed to discriminate based on age? Should these 60 year olds not be allowed to become parents because they probably
won't be around for their kids' high school graduation? I don't think there is any question this couple will be good parents. Why are we so set
against paying for a 60 year old to have a baby and realize a lifetime desire but we don't question why or what we pay to rescue or recover
people caught in avalances? Often they are in an out of bounds area. What's the annual cost to treat cancers related to cigarette smoke?
Is the real question "Why would 60 year olds want to become parents?"
4 FEB 2009
Are we putting a value on human life? Would a hyperbaric chamber in Calgary save lives such as the victims of the recent fire
in Calgary? When do we use the provincial surplus for lifesaving equipment? Does anyone in Calgary want a $25 million footbridge
except the mayor and a few aldermen?
14 Jan 2009
Does anyone besides me wonder what these gangs in Calgary are costing the taxpayers? There is the hospital costs, the
policing costs, the court costs, not to mention the bad publicity the city is getting. Is Calgary destined to become
like the cities in the USA that we associate with crime whenever we hear them mentioned?
6 Jan 2009
Mayor Dave Bronconnier said that he would give the same pay raise to city workers as the aldermen received if they accepted
the same conditions for next year. This would be a good deal if it was the actual dollars rather than the percentage.
The working class falls farther behind when raises are based on percentages. An example of this would be two workers
one making 50 thousand and the other 100 thousand that both got a 10 percent raise. The lower one would get 5 thousand and the
higher paid one would get 10 thousand. The lower paid one is now 55 thousand behind the higher paid one where before he was
50 thousand.
1 DEC 2008
Will all the Harper critics who said he has a hidden agenda be able to say "See, as soon as he got close to a majority
government and figured that there is no way the opposition parties would or could afford to force an election he started to
show his heavy handed ways." How is cutting the federal assistance to political parties of $1.95 per voter going to
stimulate the economy?
28 Nov 2008
The Liberals can't handle their own economic crises. Why is it they think they can form a coalition with a party that wants to
separate from Canada, a party that has never governed anything federally and themselves (a party with a leader that even they
don't want) and then effectively govern Canada?
5 Nov 2008
How debt free is Alberta. I think Ralph Klein left us with a large infra-stucture debt. Calgary has a critical shortage of
hospital beds. The provincial government has postponed the new hospital in South East Calgary until it has gone from an
initial cost estimate of 400 million to 1.4 billion. Along with the greatly increased cost for the new hospital has come a
likelihood that there won't be enough professional people to staff it once it's complete. Just like the old bumper sticker
"Please God let their be another oil boom. I promise not to piss it all away this time." I think we may have missed our
chance to upgrade our schools and hospitals before the price of oil started to fall.
21 Oct 2008
I agree with the young offenders act but I think there should be some kind of carry-over if they are a repeat offender.
If the person commits a crime as an adult then the equivalent sentence from the crime committed as a young offender should
be carried forward and added to the sentence for crimes committed as an adult. The idea of the young offenders act is
to realize that young people don't always use good judgment and they shouldn't have their lives ruined by a mistake made as
a juvenile but if they don't learn from and take advantage of this break then they should pay their debt to society.
20 Oct 2008
Well the olympics are over. Now China can get on with their crimes against humanity. The sickening of 54,000
infants with melamine tainted milk powder could be considered a crime against their own people. The same melamine
that was added to gluten apparently it can also be used to increase the protein (fat content) of milk. How many other
ingredients are they using possibly in low concentrations that don't cause clinical sickness but that are not healthy?
Maybe people will be getting kidney stones for years as a result of eating low levels of melamine. Are Canadian business
people any different than Chinese and if the Canadian government continues to decrease the role of federal inspectors in
the plants will we get people trying to increase their profits by adulterating their products?
7 Oct 08
How can Dion say that the Green Shift would be cost neutral. The liberals thought that the gun registry would
be cost neutral. The last count was that the gun registry has cost 2 billion dollars.
18 Sept 2008
Agriculture Minister Gerry Ritz
During a conference call in late August, Gerry Ritz cracked a black joke relating to the Maple Leaf Listeria crisis and
later made another questionable statement hoping that a Listeria related death in P.E.I. was Liberal MP Wayne Easter.
While both of these statements are of questionable judgment they were said under conditions that I am sure Gerry Ritz
assumed were closed. If I was Stephen Harper I would be looking for the person or persons responsible for the leak not
asking for Gerry Ritz's resignation.
Michell Wie this information.
Is Michelle Wie possibly the worst thing that has happened to women's golf. If she is considered one of the
better women LPGA golfers is she not showing how inferior women's golf is to the PGA when she hasn't made a
cut on the PGA tour in eight tries? She kept her streak alive so she is now ofer nine.
Adam van Koeverden "an Olympic kayaker"
Adam stated "it's not the responsibility of athletes to make political statements" when Elvis Stojko made a
challenge to Olympic athletes to make a stand at a human right rally to protest China's treatment of Tibet.
Would boycotting the Olympic games be a political or a humanitarian statement?
Adam Brash made a great sacrifice when he abandoned his climb of Mt. Everest to save a fellow climber. I wonder
if Adam would make a similar sacrifice to save a person's life.
Andrew Brash
On Thursday, 22 May 2008, Andrew Brash reached the summit of Mt. Everest which is quite a feat, but I feel that
he may be remembered more for what he did in 2006 when he stopped 200 meters short of his goal in reaching
the summit to save the life of a climber from Australia. Seventy-seven climbers reached the summit on the same day as Andrew
but I don,t think too many of them, if any, can say they made such a sacrifice to save a fellow human being.
2008 Olympic Games
Why are we not questioning the people who award the olympic games as to why China received the honor for the 2008 games?
What criteria did they use to cast their votes. Did China epitomize the Olympic ideals and Olympic spirit?
It seems that every country that hosts the 2008 Olympic torch run has had to shorten the run and increase security.
Is China putting political pressure on countries to suppress demonstrations while saying the IOC should steer
clear of what it called irrelevant political factors? Is China putting pressure on hosting countries to
suppress demonstrations concerning their past and present history of Human Rights atrocities? Is the rest
of the world going to allow China to host the Olympics while we all pretend that we don't know what's going on in
countries such as Tibet?
On Wednesday, about 100 Tibetan youths wearing "Save Tibet" bandanas and T-shirts used spray paints to write anti-China
slogans on pavements and the road in front of the Chinese embassy in New Delhi. To help control demonstrations the route
for the torch run was shortened.
The International Olympic Committee has said it will review plans for the remainder of the torch relay and will consider
scrapping the international portion of the event for future games.
In what might be the biggest demonstration yet the Olympic torch is scheduled to be in New Delhi on
Thursday 17 April, 2008.
I don't support a boycott of the games but I question why the games were awarded to China. I think the IOC should justify
why China won over the other bidding cities such as Toronto, Paris, Osaka and Istanbul.
SHOULD COUNTRIES BOYCOTT THE OLYMPICS
In 1980 USOC President Robert J. Kane stated
"We have to go back to the point of this whole problem- that the Soviets, having been chosen as the host
for the 1980 Games...have treated tthe International Olympic Committee contemptuously.
They have invaded a neighboring country, a small, almost weaponless country, and it is certainly
not appropriate for the host of a festival to celebrate, good will and understanding in the world
to be at war with its neighbor."
Has anything changed for this olympics that would make this not true?
Does China's past and present history of Human Rights not make
this even more relevant today?
Fundamental Principles of Olympism
(Taken from the olympic charter)
1 Olympism is a philosophy of life, exalting and combining
in a balanced whole the qualities of body, will and mind.
Blending sport with culture and education, Olympism seeks
to create a way of life based on the joy of effort, the
educational value of good example and respect for universal
fundamental ethical principles.
2 The goal of Olympism is to place sport at the service of
the harmonious development of man, with a view to
promoting a peaceful society concerned with the preservation
of human dignity.
3 The Olympic Movement is the concerted, organised, universal
and permanent action, carried out under the supreme
authority of the IOC, of all individuals and entities who
are inspired by the values of Olympism. It covers the
five continents. It reaches its peak with the bringing
together of the world's athletes at the great sports festival,
the Olympic Games. Its symbol is five interlaced rings.
4 The practice of sport is a human right. Every individual
must have the possibility of practising sport, without
discrimination of any kind and in the Olympic spirit,
which requires mutual understanding with a spirit of
friendship, solidarity and fair play. The organisation,
administration and management of sport must be controlled
by independent sports organisations.
5 Any form of discrimination with regard to a country or
a person on grounds of race, religion, politics, gender
or otherwise is incompatible with belonging to the Olympic Movement.
6 Belonging to the Olympic Movement requires compliance
with the Olympic Charter and recognition by the IOC.
WHO SHOULD BOYCOTT THE OLYMPIC GAMES?
People use the arguement that politics should be left out of the games but it is the political heads of countries that
are invited to the games not the common citizens. The host country uses the games to promote their own agendas and ideals.
The Chinese government says the IOC should steer clear of what it called irrelevant political factors.
The demonstrator in the T shirt doesn't look too menacing.
I wonder if it is true as reported in the San Francisco Chronicle that the Chinese Embassy bussed in the supporters
for the Olympics?
Speaking in the Chinese capital on April 11, the head of the IOC, Dr Rogge, said the Chinese should honour the pledge
they made when agreeing to host this year's Olympic Games.
"The representatives of the bid have said, and I quote freely because I don't know it by heart,
that awarding the games to China would advance the social agenda of China including human rights.
This is what I would call a moral engagement, rather than a juridical one."
