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https://davidraymondamos3.
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/new-brunswick/codiac-rcmp-policing-board-meeting-1.6584864
25 more Codiac RCMP officers, 18 support staff could cost more than $10M
Plan would represent 25 per cent increase in Moncton-region policing budget
The recommendation to add staff was adopted into the Codiac Regional Policing Authority's plans in a unanimous vote without any public debate by its board members.
Implementing the hiring still requires approval by councils in Moncton, Dieppe and Riverview.
No costs were given during the meeting, which ended early after the board chair called for security because an advocate for defunding police spoke longer than the five minutes allowed for public speeches.
Don Moore, chair of the Codiac Regional Policing Authority board, says the cost to hire 25 more officers and 18 more civilians could top $10 million per year if implemented. (Shane Magee/CBC)
Don Moore, the board chair, offered the figure to reporters after the meeting.
"Our desire is that we get full implementation of these resources for 2023," Moore told reporters.
"However, we've been asked by the three municipalities if we could lessen the financial pain to the three municipalities by having either a three or five year plan."
The recommendation followed consultations with 80 groups or individuals that began last year, concluding more officers were needed to address concerns about police visibility and public safety in the region.
The recommendation, presented behind closed doors to councils last month, would significantly increase the existing 147-member force. The plan called for 10 more members of a community policing unit that already has six officers, 10 officers to revive the area's disbanded traffic unit, and five focused on drug and property crimes.
The 18 civilian staff would be on top of 79 existing positions that include administrative staff and employees at the operational communications centre taking calls from the public and talking to officers.
The plan's estimated cost would represent a 25 per cent increase over the 2022 budget of $39 million. That budget is paid for by the three communities. Moore said public presentations to councils in those communities are expected in October.
Courtney Pyrke of Saint John says there's a concern that if Moncton adds more officers the same will happen in other New Brunswick communities. (Shane Magee/CBC)
Courtney Pyrke of Saint John says it doesn't make sense to be spending more money on police instead of other services.
Pyrke in an interview said they are concerned that if Moncton adds officers, the same could happen in Saint John and elsewhere in the province.
Pyrke's speech to the board was cut off after going over a five minute time limit, one of several speakers critical of policing services or plans to put officers in the region's six high schools that were cut off or told to leave the meeting.
Saly Davis was told to leave after saying a board member's question about integration of immigrants was racist. Davis walked out calling Moore a "white supremacist."
Moore asked a commissionaire to intervene when Hafsah Mohammad went over the time and said she'd be prohibited from speaking at future meetings.
Pyrke said people felt ignored.
"I think that the reason why perhaps it got a little bit hostile is that it's a topic that a lot of people really care about and they don't feel like they're being heard," Pyrke told reporters.
"For me personally, I'm from Saint John, so maybe my voice isn't necessarily that important in Moncton, but the folks who are here who are from Moncton, they felt as though that they're not being heard."
Moore later told reporters that he was following the board's meeting procedures that include time limits for public comments and it wasn't personal.
He said during consultations that led to the recommendation for more officers, none of the groups had advocated for reduced spending on police.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
https://davidraymondamos3.blogspot.com/2020/09/ndp-apologizes-for-saint-john.html
Wednesday, 16 September 2020
NDP apologizes for Saint John candidate's 'profane remarks' directed at other politicians
https://twitter.com/DavidRayAmos/with_replies
David Raymond Amos @DavidRayAmos
Replying to @DavidRayAmos @alllibertynews and 49 others
Content disabled
Methinks it would be a good day to remind folks of the ERRE Committee coming to Fat Fred City N'esy Pas?
David Raymond Amos @DavidRayAmos
Replying to @DavidRayAmos @alllibertynews and 49 others Content disabled Methinks many political animals understand why I enjoy encountering a critic with what appears to be a real name as per the rules of a public forum we are all paying for N'esy Pas?
https://davidraymondamos3.blogspot.com/2020/09/ndp-apologizes-for-saint-john.html
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/new-brunswick/ndp-courtney-pyrke-profane-remarks-higgs-long-1.5726796
NDP apologizes for Saint John candidate's 'profane remarks' directed at other politicians
Courtney Pyrke could face discplinary action for tweets aimed at Blaine Higgs, Wayne Long
· CBC News· Posted: Sep 16, 2020 6:46 PM AT
Courtney Pyrke, NDP candidate for Saint John Harbour, could face disciplinary action from her party over tweets directed at Blaine Higgs and Wayne Long. (Submitted by Courtney Pyrke)
The interim leader of the New Brunswick NDP is condemning election-night comments by one of the party's candidates and says he is looking at "disciplinary action."
Mackenzie Thomason apologized for what he called "wholly unnecessary and profane remarks" by Courtney Pyrke aimed at Saint John-Rothesay Liberal MP Wayne Long and Premier Blaine Higgs.
At 9:57 on election night, Pyrke, the NDP candidate in Saint John Harbour, tweeted a photo of a bottle of wine next to a paper cup with the words "F--- Blaine Higgs."
Later that night Pyrke tweeted a crude anatomical pun about Long's name while comparing him to an NDP MP who represented the federal riding where they used to live in Hamilton, Ont.
In a press release, Thomason condemned the "outbursts" and said they didn't reflect NDP values and were made without his consent.
"We have our differences, we have our passions, but when you attack personally, and use comments such as that on a personal level, that's something that contravenes the political process, contravenes good will and it's not promoting dialogue," he said in an interview.
Thomason said such behaviour would not be tolerated and the party was "exploring disciplinary action for these and other remarks," but he said he wasn't aware of the details of the NDP's internal process, which he said would be confidential.
Candidate at odds with party officials
Pyrke, who identifies as non-binary and uses the pronouns they and them, said the criticism was "fair" but the party had not contacted them to discuss the tweets before issuing the press release. They learned of the statement from CBC News.
Pyrke also said the party was upset about Pyrke's questioning of how party officials were controlling Thomason's schedule and how they were "running the show", instead of the interim leader himself.
"I had basically been shut down and told I didn't understand," Pyrke said.
"Every time I asked these types of questions, they treated it as if I was attacking them, and that I wasn't being understanding, and that I was new so I don't get it."
Thomason said a "very professional" team of people came forward to help the NDP campaign and "it was made very clear to the candidates that this was what was going on, and it seemed to not sit well with certain candidates.
"Differences arise and differences are okay. We have to have those conversations, but they have to be respectful."
Pyrke would not commit to staying involved with the NDP. "This is not the party that I support from my home town in Hamilton."
Long surprised by apology
Long said he was surprised by Thomason's apology "but I was happy to see it. I don't think personal attacks of that nature have a place in politics."
On Monday, Pyrke finished fourth in Saint John Harbour, a one-time NDP bastion, with 5.9 per cent of the vote.
That's the lowest total for the NDP in the riding since it was created before the 1995 election.
However, that result far exceeded the NDP's province-wide 1.6 per cent share of the popular vote and the 1.3 per cent Thomason received in Fredericton North.
About the Author
https://openparliament.ca/committees/electoral-reform/42-1/39/david-amos-1/
David Amos
Content disabled Reply to @Matt Astell: Methinks that their political opponents being hypocritical is just another thing the other hypocrites fail to appreciate N'esy Pas?
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David Amos
Content disabled Reply to @Terry Tibbs: Methinks many people would wonder how that was possible and whether or not it is a sign of new life in our nearly dead forests N'esy Pas?
I would have to say the significance is about equal.
Courtney ought to be ashamed of herself.
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If not, ask yourself why you would vote for someone you wouldn't want in your home.
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Acadia.
We already have a flag, a national anthem, an official language. All we need is the territory.
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Brains, you forgot brains.
Content disabled
https://davidraymondamos3.blogspot.com/2020/07/online-activist-seizes-spotlight-with.html
Friday, 31 July 2020
Online activist seizes the spotlight with police critique
Online activist seizes the spotlight with police critique
'It's made a change and I'm not going to apologize for that part'
· CBC News· Posted: Jul 31, 2020 6:00 AM AT
Caitlin Grogan said she wasn't looking for attention when she criticized the Saint John Police in a tweet in June. (Jacques Poitras/CBC)
Caitlin Grogan says she wasn't looking for attention in early June when she dropped an f-bomb on the Saint John Police force.
But that's what she got: attention for her, and for her cause.
That single phrase in a single tweet, "f--- the @saintjohnpolice," made her the most prominent of several new voices forcing themselves into political debates in the city around policing, transit and other issues.
"I don't necessarily feel like I belong in the spotlight," she says. "I haven't done anything of incredible importance. I'm just a person in the community."
On the other hand, in the last eight weeks, "I've had more contact with politicians than I have had in my entire life."
The Saint John police reacted to her tweet by blocking her, but quickly unblocked her.
Since then Grogan has deployed the f-word at least one other time and has told people to "shut up," though she says that was registering disapproval, not trying to silence them.
MP deletes Twitter after debate
She has also got under the skin of some politicians, most notably Saint John-Rothesay Liberal MP Wayne Long.After a heated online discussion about a photo showing Long on a boat with some friends, one of them holding a beer, the second-term MP deleted his Twitter account.
"Advocacy is important. Waking people up to listen to your message is important," says Long, a prolific social-media user himself.
With a single tweet, Caitlin Grogan put herself at the centre of a political moment in Saint John. She's part of a burst of online activism that politicians have been unable to ignore. 4:53
"But when it leaves issues-based discussion, and turns to personal attacks that's when I think it's counterproductive. And to be perfectly frank, it's destructive."
After Long made similar comments on CBC's Information Morning Saint John last week, Grogan tweeted, "Imagine being the most ineffective MP in history and trying to pick a fight with your most annoying constituent."
Other Saint John politicians haven't pushed back. Coun. David Hickey says social media is "not necessarily the most productive place" to take on politicians, but he says the swirl of debate has been healthy.
Saint John MP Wayne Long deleted his Twitter account after a heated debate with Caitin Grogan over a photo. (CBC)
"It's also creating a bigger conversation around what insightful and meaningful engagement means with the community and with community partners."
In a way, it's a story as old as politics, now being told in 140-character bursts on smart phones.
Young activists push for change. Establishment figures get uncomfortable.
Approach criticized
It raises age-old questions: is it better to criticize from the outside or try to work from inside the system? When is it time to stop asking nicely?"The only reason anyone is paying attention to this right now is because I swore one time at the police," Grogan says. "It's made a change and I'm not going to apologize for that part."
Grogan says the criticism of her approach, that she's too "angry" and needs to smile more, is rarely levelled at male activists, and besides, it's just the "persona" people see online.
"I get [called] angry a lot, which is really surprising, because people who know me personally [know] that is so not me."
Except she is angry, she says in the next breath, about the number of sexual assault cases labelled "unfounded," for example.
"I think you have to be angry," she says. "I think if you're not angry you're not paying enough attention to what's happening."
Grogan has a lighter side. She tweeted at Mayor Don Darling that the city should buy Theodore the Tugboat, which Halifax officials put up for sale this summer.
Changes needed
But it's making change that drives her, and that's where it's harder to measure her impact.She mentions that the email addresses for members of the Saint John Board of Police Commissioners are now listed online, and that the Kennebecasis Regional Police Force plans to pilot a civilian sexual assault review process.
Grogan used the provincial right-to-information law to get a breakdown of the different reasons the city police cited for not laying charges after sexual assault complaints.
Those are tiny steps that raise other eternal political questions: how fast is fast enough when it comes to change? How rapidly can it happen without triggering a backlash and endangering progress?
"I'm like the instant gratification generation," Grogan says. "'We want change and we want it now.'"
Saint John city Coun. David Hickey said the debate has been healthy and is creating a bigger conversation around what insightful and meaningful engagement means. (Jacques Poitras/CBC)
She recognizes that's not always realistic. She says it was unfair for another Twitter user to slam Saint John Mayor Don Darling for not defunding the police immediately.
"But at the same time … while it may take years for the Saint John city council to substantially cut the police force budget, it would not take them years to at least acknowledge that that's something they want to look at or will look at."
Not interested in politics
Of course, Twitter isn't real life. It's not as widely used as other social media platforms, and it can be an echo chamber for politicians, activists and journalists.Real decisions happen in real life.
"I had a lot of people reach out to me and ask if I was going to put my name forward to the police board or if I was going to run in the next municipal election," Grogan says.
"Both of those are resounding no's. That's not the way I want to make a difference right now. When you're working from the inside you have a lot more power but you also have a lot more rules that are put upon you."
Other like-minded activists are taking the plunge, though.
Courtney Pyrke, a board member of the new activist group Flip Saint John, recently applied for a vacant spot on the police board and several other municipal bodies.
"When Don Darling and Wayne Long and those politicians said, 'Why don't you do something?' I looked up what positions were open and I put my name forward because I think they have a point," Pyrke said.
Progressive activism
Flip Saint John was formed by a group of progressive activists who found each other online and decided to work together.The group recently tweeted that it wants to avoid online bullying and was working on a code of conduct for its board members.
"We want to take these, as people would describe it, 'angry voices' or 'angry people online,' and turn that into something more productive," Pyrke said, adding, "I didn't see an issue with how Cait expressed her concerns or the things that she was recognizing."
While she's not interested in being on the police commission board or running for municipal politics, Grogan is learning more about how government works. (Jacques Poitras/CBC)
Darling says the debate sparked by Grogan, Flip Saint John and Black Lives Matter has prompted an "uptick" in the applications for vacant spots on the police board.
"So I am confident at the end of this we'll have a stronger police commission when we're done," he says.
Grogan, meanwhile, says she has gained a more detailed understanding of how government institutions work.
"Today I'm going to sit through a growth committee meeting and learn about an affordable housing strategy for the city," she says. "Prior to all of this I wouldn't have known that the city was even looking to create an affordable housing strategy."
Despite Grogan's better appreciation of how slow-moving governments can be, and despite the blowback, "I would say things seem more possible" than they were before that first tweet, she says.
"It's shown that there is sort of a new type of politics coming, some new engagement. Young people are 'aging up' to the age now that they're able to vote and get involved, and there is that generational change."
About the Author
55 Comments
Commenting is now closed for this story.
David Amos
Content disabled
Methinks the RCMP should have informed the Saint John politicians and their cops about I handle my concerns about their lack of Integrity within Twitter etc a long time ago N'esy Pas?
Ray Oliver
Call me Darlin we will blow the whistle together.. LOL. Yeah. I'm a bad person
All this article is about is an f bomb dropping...in the meantime, our regions small and medium-sized businesses are reporting that their businesses are quickly becoming unsustainable.
Dave... You, maybe not so much.....
Our economic woes while always a struggle here have most certainly suffered because of the world wide pandemic.. But that's not what this article is about.
SarahRose Werner
A tweet that does nothing but drop the F-bomb on a group or individual is not activism. It's just complaining. By reacting so strongly to this particular complaint, politicians have encouraged more of the same. If you want to make change, first learn how things work.
David Amos
Matt Steele
Yep , certainly sounds like a product of the N.B. School System . Sounds like someone who would throw a hissy fit by cursing and swearing at a teacher , then threaten the teacher with a false allegation if they can't get their way . Society teaches them well .
David Amos
Aloysius McGillicuddy
Calling someone the "most ineffective MP in history" is not activism. It is Trumpism. Back in the day, people used to write "letters to the editor". The editor would decide what was reasonable enough to print. Now anyone with a smart phone gets the mic. And they often have no expertise. So if 80% is not acceptable, what is? 81%? 85%? There was no discussion of the results of the access to information and why there were not charges. Should people be tried without evidence? Should we spend time on trials where there is zero chance of conviction and clog up our legal system even more? This kind of twitter "activism" is just not constructive, its just yet another loudmouth getting attention.
David Amos
James Risdon
Ever think that maybe a lot of cases actually are unfounded or do not have sufficient evidence to move forward? Ever think that maybe the police are actually doing their jobs?
David Amos
You want her to think? No, people like her don't think, they just tweet.
Mac Isaac
In previous generations the norm for entry into politics was to become involved in some sort of community organization; then that involvement matured to that of community leadership and then on to elected office. Like most people my age, we WANT younger people to be engaged in their communities. Maybe this method of engaging through social media is as good a method as how it was formerly done but one thing I do know is either way requires a good foundation and education on the issues and the practicalities of your methodologies. Such blanket statements as "f--- @saintjohn police" needs some reflection on how effective such antagonism can be to the goal of improving/changing those things you want improved/changed. Such statements will most certainly make you visible but, at some point, you will need cooperation from some of the very people you've alienated.
David Amos
You don't need to do those things because nobody put guns to the heads of the people currently working these jobs. They took high profile jobs that attract criticism. That's on them.
Cute though. The tactic, I mean. Oh dear what have I done..
Jake Newman
why doesn't she put her name forth for the police commission, why doesn't she become a police officer---oh wait easier to criticize
Winston Gray
Larry Larson
Time to replace the Saint John force with cops who want to do the work!
Douglas James
Long is quoted as saying: "But when (social media) leaves issues-based discussion, and turns to personal attacks that's when I think it's counterproductive. And to be perfectly frank, it's destructive."
When I raised an issue about the census snooping into private lives, this MP sat on the sidelines and gleefully watched live as his principal assistant tried to publicly humiliate me on social media.
Wayne Long is a hypocrite.
Tom Simmons
Methinks many would agree that he is worse than that N''esy Pas?
The only party that offers a different platform, that's reasonable imo, is the libertarian party.
Ian Scott
Its one thing to sit and type nasties to people on a screen, its another to come out in the community and say things face to face or in a committee when maybe not everyone shares your ideas and to get your point across pleasantly and with statistics and reality to back you up.
James Smythe
It does with nice, reasonable ppl, but many of those simply leave here.
Gil Murray
Lots of people like attention. Activist and politician - same coin different side.
Ken Dwight
Michael G. L. Geraldson
Never underestimate the power of social media, or a woman's wrath!
David Amos
Matt Steele
Chris Merriam
Yeah, she's a real hero.
David Amos
Reply to @Chris Merriam: Methinks its interesting that two RCMP shills followed me to a far more important story today that has been long delayed in closing much to the chagrin of Mr Long et al N'esy Pas?
David Peters
This is sort of interesting, but, what about the letter the local hotel association sent to city council on Monday night? A 5% occupancy rate? What have we allowed a few authoritarian's to do to our economy?
What's an example of ucp policy that's authoritarian?