Arrests at Oshawa City Council

For anyone that hasn't been following the events of this incident lately, two people were arrested at the Oshawa city council meeting after they refused to leave. They were protesting the elimination of the Auditor General position and the firing of the AG Ron Foster. Its the AG's job to oversee public spending and make sure everything is spent correctly. Essentially, to make sure there is no corruption by the members of government. I am totally for having the AG position since it is so easy for members of any government to abuse the public purse. This whole situation just stinks and its funny because its so obvious to anyone who reads a couple articles why Oshawa is actually doing this.

First of all, a motion to eliminate the AG position was was put forth by City Manager Bob Duignan. The AG Ron Foster had accused Bob Duignan in a formal report to the city of impropriety when it came to a real-estate deal. Apparently an investigation was done by the city into the deal and found nothing wrong with it. After Duignan is exonerated he then tables a motion to have the position eliminated. The city defended the motion by saying they were only letting the positions contract expire. Its so absurdly obvious looking at the series of events that the city just didn't want this guy looking into any shady deals they have going on. If Bob Duignan was mad at Ron Foster for reporting him he could have just tabled a motion to have him replaced but instead tables a motion to have the position eliminated. Come on, how much more obvious can you get.

Now we get to the council meeting where they are going to vote on whether to eliminate the AG position or not. Oshawa council votes 8-3 to eliminate the AG position or as they are saying allowing the contract to expire and not renewing it. So, in other words eliminating it. During the meeting there are several protesters who are against the elimination of the AG position sitting in on the meeting. What exactly they were doing leading up to the moment they were confronted by security is disputed. The first one that was arrested, Daniel Hammond says he was "clapping on his neck" to encourage the speaker. The city claims he was "heckling". Eitherway, in the video he is confronted by a security guard and asked to leave, at first he argues and says no, then when the guard insists he then says that he will leave. It was at that point the security guard grabs his arm and the fight ensues. Another protester, Bill Steele, gets absolutely mugged by plainclothes police later on. Its pathetic police work.

What a mess. For any security guards out there, don't put your hands on people. You have no more power than a normal person. Plainclothes police? Absolutely pointless. Big props to Daniel Hammond and Bill Steele for drawing attention to the issue. Videos are below.

Urban Fishing in Oshawa

Urban fishing is getting more and more popular these days. For people who dont know what urban fishing is, its fishing inside a city. Usually when you go fishing you take a long road trip up to a lake or river well away from civilization. With urban fishing you find a spot inside your city which has an advantage since its really close by. Also, if you have kids you dont have to pack for a long road trip.

Since I live in Oshawa I tried to find fishing spots within the city limits. Surprisingly, there are a few in Oshawa which people use with mixed results. The one is McLaughlin Bay which is down behind the General Motors headquarters and the end of Colonel Sam Dr. McLaughlin Bay used to be connected to Lake Ontario by a mars but has since been blocked off. The Bay is pretty large and its a good place to go hiking and look at the wildlife. As far as fishing goes there are pike, catfish and tons of carp. Sadly, the good fish which are the pike and catfish are hard to catch. The water is murky all the time and there is an over-abundance of carp. If anyone has any experiences catching fish out of here I would like to hear about them.

The other obvious spots in Oshawa are the creeks. The Oshawa creek is good only when the Trout or Salmon are running. Trout season just ended. Salmon will start running in the spring. Ive been told Bowmanville creek is good most of the year. Bowmanville creek is just outside Courtice before you get into downtown Bowmanville. I had a person tell me that Bowmanville creek has Brook Trout for most of the year which makes it a good place for fly fishing.

There is probably other spots around but fisherman are notoriously secretive about their favorite spots. If you want to share let me know.

Summer is Here! Time to Start Back up With Those Outdoor Hobbies

Im pretty excited now that we have been getting this warm weather. Since I dont have any winter hobbies I have to wait until Summer. This Summer is no different. I may have mentioned previously that I play paintball usually up at Camp X, which is a great outdoor field. Now that the weather has turned I am busting out the gear and cleaning it up for the season. Im a pretty cheap guy and hobbies like paintball can get expensive if you're not careful. I try to operate on a low budget. I was actually able to pick up some hardshell knee pads at Star Thrift store at the Midtown mall for $4.00, which is an absolute steal.

Also, I plan to do some fishing. I did it a lot when I was a kid and I miss it. My initial startup cost for this is peanuts compared to paintball. Bought a decent medium action rod and reel at a garage sale for $10.00 last year and I have some old basic gear. Fishing license will cost around $40.00 and maybe a bit of updated tackle and im done. For anyone interested in doing some fishing, do some research and look for some spots. If you find a good one, keep it to yourself. I have a few spots Im going to check out to see if they are promising. Maybe I'll post the results later.

Random Visits Around Oshawa

Currently. im off school for a week with not a whole lot to do which isnt too bad since I need some time to relax. Unfortunately I get bored easy so when my next door neighbour asked me for a ride to a few places I thought it was a good way to get out of the house for a bit. First, he wanted to go to No Frills. Grocery shopping isnt too exciting but I was in the produce section and just stopped to look around and felt so fortunate that I lived in a country like Canada with access to all this food. So I took a picture to better illustrate this point. Its amazing that a "cheap" grocery store like No Frills can have such a mountain of beautiful produce to choose from. We really are lucky to be in a place like this. Second, we went to a thirft store at the Midtown Mall. I sometimes go into thirft store. That is to say that I rarely go into them but my neighbour is a little down on his luck so I went in with him. Everything was what I expected, mostly clothes, lots of books and lots of outdated stuff. Then I saw something that piqued my interest. I found a large oil painting hanging on the back wall. Im not really big into art but I took a closer look. I know enough to look for a few things. First of all it was original, oil on canvas. The frame was ornate wood and pretty old. Also, it had a signature of the artist. Finally it was large, probably about 3.5 feet long. They had a price of 19.99 on it. So I bought it. For 20 bucks I really cant lose much and I get a really nice original piece of art. The only problem is I have I have no clue who the artist is since its just initials. Here is a couple pictures. Im not expecting to make a million dollars but I cant really lose that much. I really didnt buy it to make money anyway. If anyone knows who painted it please message me.