A Requiem For Bob Rae

 

As I begin this Blog I have no idea – beyond a vague sense – of what it will contain.

So here goes…

First off, Bob Rae had baggage – he single handily damaged Ontario’s Economy during his tenure as Premier – albeit not to the extent done by the Office’s current holder and he jumped parties – NDP to the Liberals.

These two transgressions would not nor should not be forgotten.

But the guy has class and as such, stands head and shoulders above just about everyone else currently on the political scene.  That he decided to not seek the permanent Liberal Leadership, is a death blow for that Party.

Two main reasons for his decision have been bandied about – first that he believed he could not beat young Trudeau and second that he was losing heart in trying to revive a dormant party.  Personally I put little faith in the former explanation but I think that the second is more apt to contain the truth; he was getting increasingly tired of beating a dead horse.

Many pundits like to say the Liberals must “reinvent themselves” as if that was saying something profound.  But I, like you, have no idea what that truly means and I suspect that many of them do not as well.

But I do know the Liberals too have a great deal of baggage that they must distance themselves from if they ever hope to regain a modicum of Electoral Success:

•  Official Bilingualism has been an abject failure, it has pitted French against English, Quebec against the Rest;
• Multiculturalism too has been most divisive and we are now seeing the spoiled fruits of that vision, coming home to rest;
• The Charter of Rights has taken away democratic power from the people and handed it to the Courts; and finally,
• The out of control spending evidenced by successive Liberal Regimes – plus Mulroney’s, from the 1960s onward.

How does a Party “reinvent” itself when it sees the above as Pillars of Greatness? 

The fact is, it cannot but unless it does, it is doomed and I believe Rae, of all people, understood that.

That said, the Liberals still have an Ace up their sleeve and that is Tommie Mulcair.  I have predicted great bungling on his part and so far he has not let me down.  I continue to have a great faith that he will continue in this vein.

I said when Mulcair ran for the NDP Leadership that he would in all likelihood win but that would be the worse thing that could happen to his Party.

The same holds for the Liberals – albeit in reverse – Bob Rae not taking over their permanent leadership is the worse thing that could happen to them.

All eyes are now on young Justin – but he is no Pierre and if he does decide to run – which he shouldn’t – and wins – which now is likely (although Rae would have whooped him) – he will be just an airhead fighting along with Mulcair for the rights of Quebec.

That’s it.

As I see it…

‘K. D. Galagher’ 

 

A Small (Ka-ching) Severance…

 

Two Acres to be more specific.

My wife and I own 35.5 Acres in Rural Ottawa and a small section of our property, not much more than 2 acres in size, would make a wonderful building lot – at least on paper. It is located on the extreme north-west end of our holdings, bordered by a creek and invisible from the balance of our property.  An ideal spot for a home.

I checked the Zoning and yes, our property qualified for a severance of 2 acres as long as the remainder contained at least 25 acres.  So I did the math – 35.5 acres minus the 2 acres to be severed, leaves 33.5 acres remaining.  Slam Dunk.

So I went to review this with the City Planners just to be sure I had not missed anything. 

• Do you have at least 27 acres?  “Yes I do – I have 37.5”
• Is there a road?  “Why yes, how else would a buyer gain access to their new home”?
• Well you have to factor in a set-back from the road.
• Is there a creek?  “Why yes there is – why do you ask”?
• Another set-back.
• A barn – do you have a barn?  “An old log barn not in use – don’t tell me this requires another set-back”?
• It sure does.

What started out as a small severance of but 2 acres had now swelled to between 9 and 10 acres in size.  The good news was that I still retained at least 25 acres – just, that is – so a Severance was still doable.

How much, I asked?

‘The application fee to the city is only $2,000 – you are lucky – it would cost you more if you lived in the city proper.  I felt most fortunate.

That is until the Conservation Chaps came out to our property to review our plans given that a creek – one that nearly dries up in summer – was involved.

“You’ll need a bridge” they said.  “At what cost” I asked – up to $50,000.  “Wow” I said.

In spite of this, we went ahead with the application.

It was at this point that a few other costs were disclosed to us:

1. The lands – both severed and retained would have to be surveyed – $5to $6 thousand – Ka-ching;
2. Parkland would need to be dedicated to the City – “Park Land” I asked?  “The property is not big enough to dedicate parkland”.  No problem, I was told, just pay $4,000+ in lieu of actual parkland.  Ka-ching
3. Oh and by the way, you must prepare an Environment Impact Statement because of the “significant valleylands".  “What significant valleylands” I enquired – “our property is flat”.  “Our maps show that valleylands exist and accordingly you will need to have an EIS – prepared – bureaucrats love initials.  “How much will this cost, I asked?”  “You will have to make your own arrangements with an independent professional”.  Ka-ching
4. And the folks from Conservation returned – “we need a plan of your proposed bridge prepared before we will okay your severance application”.  My pleading with them that I had no idea what the bridge would look like fell on deaf ears.  From my perspective – the bridge design would and should be determined at a future date by whomever purchased the lot and would be building on it. I considered getting the plans for the Brooklyn Bridge and submitting those to them but thought better of it.  Ka-ching
5. Plus a well needs to be drilled in advance.  “Where exactly would I put such a well considering the fact that severance approval was not guaranteed, and even if it was, I had no idea where a family home would eventually be built.  “Good points” – however…. Ka-ching
6. It was at this point that I contacted our family lawyer since he would have to prepare the legal papers should the severance go through – another Ka-ching.  It was during this meeting that he advised me that upon selling the severed lot, we would be responsible for paying Capital Gains Tax to the Government and possibly – HST to the Province – Ka-ching, Ka-ching.
7. He also advised that if we or whomever were to build on the severed lot, there would be Building Permit Fees payable of around $20,000.  Ka-ching.  

I figure if we were able to sell this 9 – 10 acre lot – assuming of course that we were eventually successful in obtaining severance approval – we’d need to sell it for something approaching $1 million if only to breakeven.

As I see it…

‘K.D. Galagher”