LARRY'S CORNER- Hamilton's Former Mayor Speaks

Winter Blahs and Wow Factors

By Larry Di Ianni
(posted February 4, 2009)

It is official. Wiarton Willie, that nasty rodent, didn’t see his shadow and we are doomed to have 6 more weeks of winter. We have one of three choices: succumb to winter depression, leave for Florida, or as today’s Spectator encouraged us, enjoy the season. The paper is right; we shouldn’t fight winter in Canada. That would be as useless a fight as we are waging in Afghanistan; we should just face reality and relish the glory of a good hard winter!

This morning’s snowfall was a huge mood boost for me. I confess that I no longer have to fight traffic to get to work, so my life is made easier by the pace I keep and the flexible, if still busy, schedule that I develop each day. However, I loved the big flakes of snow falling on my shoulders as I took the weekly garbage to the curb. I loved sipping coffee very early in the morning looking at the wood lot in the back of my house. It was a perfect Canadian winter scene. I enjoyed it and would want everyone else to do the same.

I also encourage us to enjoy the political games that surround us. This isn’t a winter sport of course, but watching politics is particularly entertaining when the weather threatens to get us down. At all levels of government locally, provincially, nationally and internationally there is always something happening to inspire, interest, titillate, infuriate, amuse and befuddle. Sometimes a single incident does all of the above. Let’s look at some examples.

Who wasn’t infuriated and sardonically amused last week as we saw the Rod Blagojevich saga play itself out in Illinois? What a buffoon this governor was! He had the unmitigated gall of being caught on wiretaps planning to commit crimes, yet denying his guilt all the way to the end. In fact, he even captured a few head-shaking admirers for his suicidal but brazen strategy to go out guns a blazing.

Who wasn’t impressed by the political contortions (and slightly confused last week) by Stephen Harper and Jim Flaherty’s eleventh hour death-bed conversions from strict trickle-down economists to Keynesian aficionados, intervening in the market more than any liberal prime minister might have dared?

And which Hamiltonian wasn’t infuriated or befuddled by the Public Works committee’s decision to spend an extra $2M dollars on a ‘wow’ factor for Hamilton’s embattled city hall retrofit?

Let’s explore the impact of language in each of the cases. Blagojevich insisted that he shouldn’t be impeached by his State Senate because they hadn’t ‘proven’ he committed a crime. Strictly speaking he was correct, but factually a Senate apparently doesn’t need to meet the same burden of proof as a court of law. It isn’t necessary to have convicted B-Rod; it was sufficient to have heard him on the phone in recorded conversation trying to sell his influence for him to be ousted.

Unlike Blago who used language to get himself in trouble, Flaherty and Harper used language to back-pedal on earlier stands, thereby getting themselves out of political hot water. These two insisted that THEY hadn’t changed their stands, but rather the ECONOMY had changed its tune, and they were just reacting to the new circumstances. This was more than a bit of face-saving on their part. What infuriated parliamentarians a few months ago, as everyone saw the recession coming, was the Prime Minister’s insistence that all was fine, leading to his finance minister’s comically tragic fall economic statement-after which, ‘le deluge’ happened. The latest conversion wasn’t so much as a convincing argument as it was a tour de farce!

Hamilton’s politicos also had a tangle with language. In our case, I heard a councillor and the mayor both say that the additional multi-million dollar expenditure on our City Hall forecourt is worth spending to create a ‘wow’ factor. I listened to some Hamiltonians pass judgment on this factor on Bill Kelly’s show this morning as I was heading to a meeting. All I can say is “Wow, the criticism was blistering.” Let’s face it, a fancy foyer doesn’t wow Hamiltonians as much as spending some money to enhance our marketing of this city’s waterfalls might have done. However, if it was felt important to glitz up the civic building, better language might have been used to justify the cost.

As an observer of the local scene, I would make the following points:

1. Why separate out this $2M dollar expenditure from the other $70 or so million being spent? Doing so only draws negative attention to it. It makes the work seem like a frill rather than a needed addition to the use of space.

2. Why describe the use of space as a ‘Wow’ factor? The terminology is hardly utilitarian. It is in fact somewhat infantile language suggesting spending sprees rather than good use of tax dollars.

3. I am told the retrofit is probably going to cost many more millions than is now being advertised. If this is so, City Hall needs to look for a partner in the use of space to help share the cost and make the project more politically acceptable. Who else is looking for space? The School Board. Why not strike a deal with them to share the space in a civic center? This would change the paradigm and gain wholesale acceptance, I predict. It would also free up the school board to negotiate a sale of its lands to the University for the Medical Center being contemplated on their lands.

Language is an important tool in the struggle for public opinion. Its use can make or break you. If Barak Obama’s ascendancy has taught us anything over the past several months is that while sticks and stones may break one’s bones, words can be just as powerful in establishing or destroying political tempo.

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