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<\/a>TOM PASKAL, ISLAND 66, LAC LOUISA<\/p><\/div>\n
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Once every 4 years we have an election, and it\u2019s coming up on 2 November 2025<\/strong>. I am running for Mayor of Wentworth in this election. To be a voter you don’t have to live here full-time. If you own, or co-own, or lease a cottage, you’re eligible to vote.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Further down I put some biographical information. It\u2019s not there so you vote for me personally. I include it only to establish credibility in discussing science-related issues. In fact, if the current Mayor or any other reasonable candidate would fight for these same policies, I wouldn\u2019t even run. I don\u2019t actually want the job, but I do want the policies.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n 1. TRANSPARENCY<\/strong> 2. MINOR DEROGATIONS<\/strong> 3. MONEY MONEY MONEY<\/strong> $1,250 each one of you saves every single year!<\/p>\n (It\u2019s worth knowing I\u2019ve been a business owner for 40 years responsible for spending every penny myself. There\u2019s a big difference between people on salary and business owners. It takes business experience to run the Municipal Corporation of Wentworth.)<\/p>\n 4. TOO MANY BY-LAWS<\/strong> 5. INSANE LAWS<\/strong> – Science Editor for the\u00a0<\/span>McGill University<\/strong>\u00a0<\/span>administration newspaper McGill Reporter. 6. THE LIFE & DEATH OF LAKES<\/strong> 7. CRIBS<\/strong> 8. INVASIVE SPECIES<\/strong> 9. THE PARAGRAPH ABOVE HAS RADICAL UPDATE IN NEW ARTICLE “I’M IN SHOCK<\/em>“<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p>\n TO LEARN \u2026..<\/p>\n
\nThe Current Administration does not believe in TRANSPARENCY. When the current Mayor took office every council meeting was recorded, and the recording was kept available on the municipal website. However, the Mayor ELIMINATED the audio recordings. Following the example of many other municipalities, I will LIVESTREAM<\/strong><\/a> council meetings so you can watch from the comfort of your own home.<\/p>\n
\nMinor derogations can allow your neighbour to break the law and build their house too close to your property line. Unlike how it\u2019s done in many other municipalities, the neighbour WHOSE RIGHTS ARE BEING STOLEN has no idea it\u2019s happening. As mayor I\u2019d make it mandatory for the affected neighbour to be notified in advance. They wouldn\u2019t get a veto, but would have the right to present their case against the derogation.<\/p>\n
\nBefore this Mayor took office, the Wentworth budget was about $1 million per year. Now it\u2019s ballooned to over $3 MILLION<\/strong><\/a> per year. I promise to fight to REDUCE the budget by 5% per year for every year of my 4-year term. This would amount to a saving of around 20% instead of a budget that would have increased by maybe $100 thousand\/year. Doing the math: 20% X $3 million = $600,000 + 4 X $100 thousand = $1 million less. If we divide this by the 800 properties in Wentworth =<\/p>\n
\nI promise that for every new by-law passed, at least one old by-law will be ELIMINATED. We have too many stale laws clogging up the books. There are also some environmental laws with NO scientific merit that REDUCE THE ENJOYMENT of our properties. In fact, some of these restrictions have even been characterized by the Quebec Federation of Municipalities as \u201cDISGUISED EXPROPRIATIONS”<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n
\nAccording to Wentworth By-Law 2024-002<\/strong><\/a>, if you break environmental regulations, you can be fined $2,000\/day for as many days as they deem the regulation was not followed. For instance, if you\u2019re gone for the Winter and let it lapse, they could hit you for 8 months (let\u2019s say 250 days), and then you could be fined $500 THOUSAND. I would PUT A REASONABLE MAXIMUM on any type of financial penalty.<\/p>\n
\n– Science Information Officer for the\u00a0<\/span>United Nations<\/strong>\u00a0<\/span>(UNITAR) energy conference.
\n– Science & Medicine broadcaster for\u00a0<\/span>CBC<\/strong>\u00a0<\/span>&\u00a0<\/span>CBC International Service<\/strong>.
\n– Associate Editor of\u00a0<\/span>Montreal Star<\/strong>\u00a0<\/span>in charge of Editorials and Op-Eds about science.
\n– A few published original <\/strong>Science Journal articles<\/strong> like THIS<\/a><\/strong> & THIS<\/a><\/strong>.
\n– Occasional pop-science articles like THIS ONE<\/a><\/strong> for the Sunday Guardian Live<\/strong>.<\/p>\n
\nBelieve it or not, all lakes have natural lifetimes. If you take an immortality pill and live 10,000 years, Louisa won\u2019t be nearly as nice as today. What will eventually kill our lakes is over-nutrition from leaves and decomposing branches and trees. Studies have shown that shoreline shrubs and bushes prevent erosion just as well as trees<\/strong><\/a>, without producing so much extra decomposing biomass. We should be aware that our shoreline by-laws are aesthetic preferences and NOT environmental ones. We may want to leave things as they are, but we should have an open and honest discussion about it.<\/p>\n
\nCribs are what are used to hold up all our docks and boathouses. They are square log structures about the size of a kitchen table filled with heavy rocks. The cribs are massive enough not to get pushed around by ice in Winter. Some idiot in the Quebec government made them illegal. Cribs are ALLOWED IN ONTARIO LAKES, and recommended by the USA EPA. Using the Freedom of Information Act I pried a letter out of the Quebec government admitting they have NO SCIENTIFIC SUPPORT WHATSOEVER for the law. MY ARTICLE<\/b>\u00a0<\/a>at WentworthGazette.com has been read over ten thousand times. If I become Mayor there will be NO ENFORCEMENT OF THIS BAD LAW. You will be able to build and\/or repair cribs and I will take personal responsibility. In fact, I\u2019d like them to come after me so this bad law gets changed once and for all.<\/p>\n
\nNo scary threats about \u201cinvasive<\/em>\u201d species. The LATEST STUDY<\/strong><\/a> I could find on Eurasian watermilfoil<\/em> concludes that maybe they\u2019re finding more because they\u2019re looking more, and THERE MAY NOT BE ANY INVASION WHATSOEVER. In fact, the former Mayor who first started locking the gate at the landing, and introduced the law about boat-washing, told me the secret reason was to create obstacles for the deplorables who can\u2019t afford to buy on the lake, and want only to bring their party boats and stay out on the water. In other words, the \u201cinvasive species<\/em>\u201d they\u2019re really trying to keep out is not \u201cEurasian watermilfoil<\/em>\u201d but \u201cimpecunious homo sapiens<\/em>\u201d.
\nMaybe we want to retain those obstacles, but let\u2019s not inadvertently aggrandize any environmental significance.<\/p>\n