I’ve worked in financial reporting and data analytics most of my life. As we all know, to gain or keep a competitive edge, businesses measure practically everything. From worker productivity to past performance of goods and services, most items that have a meaningful impact are analyzed. In order to maximize profits, businesses use data and turn this into information because – as someone famous once said, “Knowledge is Power”. Resources available to a business are scarce and they need to utilize them efficiently and effectively. Why am I mentioning something so obvious? Because the scarcity of resources is the main difference between businesses and governments. It appears that the main driver of efficiently, the scarcity of resources, is not a constraint for governments since they can simply raise resources by raising taxes. Therefore the need to analyze past programs isn’t needed. If fact, looking at programs is actually detrimental for current government leaders and managers. If a current or past program was ineffective in producing the desired or stated goals, then future pet projects might not be funded. And we can’t have that, can we? That’s why a Letter to the Editor in today’s paper is very interesting. It seems that Bruce Glebe, the author of this letter spent 7.5 hours of his time recording bicycle traffic “in front of Forest Hill Public School on Westmount Road on six different occasions. These included weekdays and weekends, at various times during the day and for 75 minutes for each session. Observations occurred in August, September and October, all with favourable weather conditions.” And his results: “During that time, I observed just 35 cyclists using the lanes. That works out to about one cyclist for every 13 minutes!” This outcome more or less mirrors my observations as I’ve travelled on Bridgeport and Erb Streets in Waterloo. Almost no bike traffic – but lots of cars squeezed into fewer lanes. Now Mr. Glebe’s study is in no way scientific or statically accurate. But has anyone else heard of a traffic sample or study that refutes Mr. Glebe’s analysis? Is there one brave member of Regional Council going to ask the Planning or Traffic Committees for any data regarding bike lane usage? I predict a solid “Nope”.

I have a hate/love/hate relationship with columnist Luisa D’Amato. Sometimes it appears that she is the only voice of reason at The Record. Other times, she is just shroom stupid – take her column on 11 September 2020 for example. Complete and total nonsense. Not a single word of common sense. But today, it appears that she is back on her meds and that’s a good thing. She predicts that: “Sir John A. Macdonald Secondary School will lose its name. Just wait and see.” I love it how she gets right to the heart of the matter in her opening line: “How interesting that, when public school trustees agreed Monday to review the names of schools using an ‘anti-racist lens,’ both of the board’s Black trustees opposed the plan.” Ka-Pow!!! Great opinion piece by her. And my respect for Mike Ramsay just went up a ton when he quoted the greatest living Economist in the world – Thomas Sowell. As everyone knows, I love Sowell – having read almost of his books.

Is The Record now the official spokes-vehicle for Kitchener Centre’s MPP Laura Mae Lindo? Some Record reporter named Robert Williams (who joined The Record in March), tells us that Lindo is complaining that a Christian college is now going to be a “university” and allowed to grant degrees in Arts and Sciences. It had only been able to grant Theology degrees in the past. Gee Robert, that’s really a massive article you got there. It’s a real testament that he could turn this announcement by the Office of the Minister of Colleges and Universities into a 464 word of filler space. Geeesssshhhhh.

The Record’s Community Editorial Board member Shama Saleh has an op-ed today in the paper today titled: “Disregarded at best, actively oppressed at worst”. Gee, I wonder what this column will be about, she asks knowingly… (cough) Great. Another article by another eternal victim of some form of discrimination. Strange, but the online title is very different: “Addressing systemic barriers faced by Black communities should be a collective effort”. Way better. In her column she makes some rather astonishing statements. She claims that “A 2019 immigration matters survey, by the Immigration Partnership of Waterloo Region, found that out of 966 responses, 48 per cent had experienced discrimination in workplaces, 36 per cent in restaurants, 36 per cent at community events and 20 per cent when looking for housing.” Really, almost half of the respondents had issues at work and over a third faced problems eating out or at a community event (however that’s defined). I had misgivings about those numbers so I downloaded a copy of the report and, oh wait, can you guess what I found? Ya, Ms Saleh can’t read a simple table correctly. In actual fact, there were 1,090 responses to the survey. Out of this sample, only 966 answered question 20 – have you experienced discrimination in the Region. Out of this group, only 22% or 213 people said yes. It’s within this smaller group what she obtains the specific percentages she states. So, half of the “Yes” respondents said they had issues at work, etc. etc. and not the entire sample population. When she claims that 36% of immigrants experienced discrimination at restaurants, in actual fact (according to the survey), the number is really 36% of 213 out of 1.090 or 7.0%!!! Wow. Of course, the whole report is a bit of a joke since it’s a survey and not a scientific sampling of a given population. But then again, if you can’t read a simple table and understand what it means, who cares that the report is a piece of junk. Ms Saleh also claims in her op-ed that according to the Ontario Human Rights Commission (A Collective Impact: Interim report on the inquiry into racial profiling and racial discrimination of Black persons by the Toronto Police Service) that: “Black women being three to four times more likely to die from pregnancy and have overall worse health outcomes than a white woman.” Huh??? What does a commission regarding the Toronto Police Service have to do with deaths during childbirth? O.K., so I downloaded the report and of course, there wasn’t a single item there about childbirth. What a complete disaster of a column. But being the compassionate person I am, eager to help out a fellow journalist, I decided to contact Ms Saleh about these problems. But how? She didn’t give her email address at the end of the article like most op-eds do, I looked up the organization that she runs called Project UP (Unleash Potential) – also no email address for her. So, I guess these embarrassing errors will just stay there. But who is truly to blame for this nonsense? A twenty-something Saleh should at least be able to read a table in a report – but isn’t there a fact checker or editor at The Record to make sure stupid, easy to (dis)prove stuff like this doesn’t get in print? I guess not. Pathetic. I blame the education system.

Two great Letters to the Editor in today’s paper. Both of them criticize the recent disastrous bike lane fiasco. Great couple of lines in the one letter: “People do not support bike lanes that are built on major arterial roads and are then not used. They do not support the $500,000 wasted on this project. The whole active transportation vision (or hallucination) needs an overhaul. “  Perfectly said. The other letter correctly suggests that: “Taxpayers do not like seeing their tax dollars spent on hare-brained schemes with minimal social value.“ Well, I hope that Kitchener City Council read those letters because Catherine Thompson reports on Page A5 that the city wants to spend $24 Million over the next 10 years on a “…network of ‘city spines’ of 141 kilometres of cycling facilities, including top-quality bikeways and off-road paths that connect major destinations, such as workplaces, shops, schools, transit stations and parks.” What? 141KM of trails within the city core? Where? The map provided in the article is basically useless.  I even got my magnifying glass and still couldn’t figure it out.  But wait – just how can the City justify spending this kind or real money on bike lanes? Well, this plan “…would reduce greenhouse gas emissions, limit wear and tear and demand on roads, increase physical activity and recreation options, and make the city a more desirable place to live” dontcha know. What’s missing from this article is how much taxes would go up for this – but hey, that’s just silly to bring costs into this considering all of the wonderful benefits… (cough). But Thompson does try to add a small bit of perspective when she suggests: “That’s an ambitious goal: today, the vast majority — 85.5 per cent — of all local trips are by car. Another 7.3 per cent of trips are by transit, 5.4 per cent on foot and just 1.2 per cent by bike.” Right 1.2% of all trips are by bikes. So, I guess they want to take a Field of Dreams approach – build it and they will come. Ridiculous. I hope city council takes a long hard look at this and does the right thing – dumps this daft idea in the ditch where it belongs. One problem with grand plans like this is that the stated objectives are usually never realized. But more importantly, there is never any consequences to horrific mistakes by our elected officials. In 10 years, I’ll bet that most of Kitchener City Council will be gone and what council will ever go back and audit projects to see if taxpayer’s money was properly spent. If they did, then maybe their little pet project won’t get funded if past projects prove to be a bust. Pathetic. People are stupid. I blame our educational system. 

Way too busy to write anything today. Maybe tomorrow.

Jeff Outhit reports today that the Region spent $180,000 trying to collect the $25 Million it claims are the actual losses the Region incurred due to the delay and various maintenance issues with the ION system. Big deal. What Outhit should really be reporting on is the massive losses Regional taxpayers are suffering because the ION is actually up and running. How about a detailed breakdown the income vs expenses for this white elephant? 

Johanna Weidner reports today that: “Kitchener Centre MPP Laura Mae Lindo demands anti-racism action from the province following two racist incidents in Waterloo Region.” And one of these horrifying “racist incidents” is “allegations of excessive use of force this past weekend”  by the police in the arrest of a Black youth.  Weidner reports that Lindo suggests that: “She said the Black community is frustrated and upset by continuing to see videos circulating of police violence, this time against a Black child.” Really??? After reading this article, it isn’t clear if Lindo used the word “child” or if the “journalist” Weidner injected this term into her story. So, let’s just review exactly what this “child” allegedly did to be arrested. According to the article that I mentioned yesterday, this “child” was part of a group of males that was trespassing at Fairview Park Mall around 6 p.m. on Saturday. Police officers responded to the call. The group agreed to leave except this “child”. Police said the “child” threatened the officer. “As the officer attempted to speak with the male, the male walked onto Kingsway Drive into lanes of traffic, yelling insults, swearing, and making threats toward the officer,” according to a police statement. “The officer called for backup and the youth allegedly spit at the officer.  Police said the youth ran off and after a short foot pursuit, he was arrested in a plaza parking lot on Fairway Road South” the article stated. Yup – it took three officers to arrest the wannabe thug. Oh how “racist”, how “horrifying”.

On the front page today, Liz Monteiro has a headline that tells us: “More than 150 no-shows each day at local COVID testing sites”. She says that: “More than 150 people booking COVID-19 tests aren’t showing up for their appointments because they are double booking and taking the slot that gets them in the earliest.” As if this is somehow a shocking surprise. But strangely enough, she has stumbled on the main reason our health care system is bankrupt – both morally and fiscally. When a good has a value greater than $0 and is offered at no cost, then normal people will consume as much of that good as possible. So, when testing is “free” and there is no monetary consequence for booking and not showing up, it is in normal people’s best interest to continue to book at multiple sites. The is just basic economics. People (in this case, every government employee who setup this program) are stupid. I blame our education system.

That’s all I got today. See ya tomorrow…

Yesterday’s Editorial Page had an op-ed by Mr. Mohamad Fakih. Mr. Fakih is the well known business person (founder and CEO of Paramount Find Foods) and philanthropist. He came to Canada back in 1996 and opened his first restaurant in 2006. From there, he grew his business into a 85 restaurant empire – worth close to an estimated $100 Million. This is nothing but a great success story. He opens his column by remembering the tragic murder of Mohamad-Aslim Zafia back on 16 September 2020. He tells us that in the brutal attack: “The motivation was clear. The prejudice was clear. The hatred was clear.” But is it “clear”? In everything I’ve read about Zafia’s alleged killer, Guilherme “William” Von Neutegem, nothing has directly connected him to any white supremacist group. Although some internet posts suggest he follows some groups like this, he also followed a Black, socialist, separatist group in the U.S. on Twitter. I’m sure that if Von Neutegem was following some radical group, everyone would have heard about it by now. Mr. Fakih then tells us that: “We live in a worrying and increasingly dangerous time.” Fakih does not explain what is increasing or how he measures this danger. He doesn’t tell us if “increasingly dangerous” is based on fact or if this is just his opinion. However, StatsCan lets us know that the homicide rate in Canada has continued to fall year after year since the recent high in 1991. It would continue to fall except for the fact that “1 in 4 homicides in 2018 were gang related.” StatsCan also says that 80% of all murder victims knew their killer. This suggests that the random attack of Zafia is extremely rare and to suggest an this is an “increasingly dangerous time” is not justified. ( https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/stats-can-homicide-rate-1.4914646 ) In the next sentence, Fakih then goes off the deep end by saying: “Some feel emboldened by the President of the United States, who in front of tens of millions of people this week refused to condemn white supremacy.” He’s speaking I assume about the Presidential debate held last Tuesday. If he is, then Fakih is flat out wrong in saying this. From the transcript of the debate:

WALLACE: “Are you willing tonight to condemn white supremacists and militia groups…”

TRUMP: “Sure…”

WALLACE: “And to say that they need to stand down and not add to the violence in a number of these cities as we saw in Kenosha, and as we’ve seen in Portland”

TRUMP: “Sure, I’m prepared to do it, but I would say almost everything I see is from the left-wing not from the right-wing. I’m willing to do anything, I want to see peace…”

So, I’m not sure what Mr. Fakih is referring to, but it is rather clear and unambiguous about what Trump said at the debate. He then offers three suggestions to combat this “hate”. He wants to use the Criminal Code to ban white supremacist militias. But as he indicates, groups like this have already been banned. He without offering a single shred evidence that “there are hundreds more across the country spewing hatred.” A couple of examples would have strengthened his comment but none was offered. His second suggestion is that “our leaders can move forward with legislation that monitors and punishes online hate.” Huh??? This type of language is already in the Criminal Code so I’m not sure what he is talking about. As for personal attacks, didn’t he successfully sue someone in court for harassing him and his family? Just what laws does he want our leaders to enact? His third suggestion is that “our leaders need to ensure that Canada’s national security agencies do more to take seriously the threat of white supremacist violence.” I’m not sure why he single out “white supremacist violence” when as mentioned before, 1 in 4 murders in Canada in 2018 (and beyond) are “gang related”. And these gangs are all white??? Well, so much this op-ed…

Oh, and by the way, when I was researching some of the stats for this comment, I came across this video. It’s a video by James Klüg, compiling 17 times Trump has publicly denounced white supremacy and white nationalism over the years: https://twitter.com/i/status/1311460837379502081 But I guess if your main source of news is TorStar controlled papers, then this info will be shockingly brand new to you. Maybe Mr. Fakih should take notice…

On page A4 today we have an interesting headline: “Video of Black teen being arrested by police sparks outrage”. Ummm…. just what does the race of the this young thug wannabe have to do with his arrest? Is TheRecord now referring to the race of everyone in the headline of all articles? Let’s just see how this works out. “White singer Eddie Van Halen dies at age 65”. Nice… “White Adult Scott Hamilton wins Cambridge council seat”. Oh, way better… “Asian Medical officer urges public to limit close contract”. That’s perfect!!! “We need more people like White John”. Excellent!!!

O.K. I get it. To cut costs on their Editorial Page, TheRecord grabs columns from the Toronto Star – its sister publication. But why are all of the columns that TheRecord uses – at least day late? I read the column by Martin Regg Cohn in today’s paper, on Saturday in TheStar. What cost savings is realized by running old columns? Does management think that if both papers ran the same column on the same day that TheRecord would somehow cannibalize sales of the Toronto Star in the Region? Running old columns continues to degrade the value of the paper. On second thought, I don’t get it.

And speaking of Martin Regg Cohn, his column today (well, Saturday actually…) talks about the Ontario Legislature’s first Black Caucus – featuring Kitchener Centres’s Laura Mae Lindo. He mentions that Lindo “spent much of her career before politics educating people on diversity”. He then let’s it slip, at the end of the article of course, that the “two Black MPPs in the Liberal caucus, Mitzie Hunter and Michael Coteau, have not been invited to join” the new Black Caucus. Yea, Lindo, about that diversity thing… Next!!!

Jeff Outhit used to write about transportation issues when there were enough issues about transportation in the Region to write about. That was before the $1.5 Billion ION train was up and semi-running. Now I guess he just writes about anything he can. Today, the title of his article is: “Waterloo Council takes heat over loss of cheap rents”. He interviews a couple of whiners complaining about the loss of “cheap rent” since a 3 storey building on Dietz Ave N is being torn down and replaced with an 11 storey building. He gets the standard “I’m just sick with worry…”, and “…demolition should be the last…” comments to fill out his nothing article. So, two quick notes. First, why does the building have cheap rents. Well, I can only assume that low rent is all the owner can demand since the apartment building is probably in bad shape and old. Secondly, people should understand that when you increase the supply of any good, it tends to lower the overall demand of that good and therefore and average price of that good. So more rental units (three storey to eleven storey) means overall cheaper rent. This is just basic economics. People are stupid. I blame our education system.