ABSTRACT
Since Councillor Susan Flowers has a habit of being quite exercised by non-residents of Cochrane possibly getting involved in Cochrane’s affairs, I thought it appropriate to bring to her attention the shocking news that many non-residents of Cochrane were making their views known at the Town’s Facebook page.
FULL BLOG POST
Councillor Susan Flowers has a habit of being quite exercised by non-residents of Cochrane possibly getting involved in Cochrane’s affairs.
On September 28, 2020, Katrina Kitchen appeared before Town Council as a delegation (starting at 3:09 minutes in the video, which is well worth watching) to argue against the Town’s adoption of a mask bylaw in July of that year, concluding her presentation saying, “Mandating an entire community to wear a mask when the evidence stands against such a mandate is at best, unwise and at worse, totalitarian…I respectfully request that bylaw 20/2020 be immediately repealed”.
Councillor Flowers first up in responding to Ms. Kitchen’s presentation, chose not to focus on the substance of Ms. Kitchen’s strong evidence against adopting such a bylaw, but chose, instead, in an attempt to discredit the presentation, to focus on the petition that Ms. Kitchen had posted electronically, a petition which the Administration at the outset had dismissed as not meeting the formal requirements of the Municipal Governance Act and therefore would not trigger any legislative responsibility by the Town under the Act. That didn’t stop Ms. Flowers, however, from saying, “I was disappointed with your list of people that signed the petition, many of them…were outside our community, as far away as Mexico, Brampton, Ontario; Halifax, all over the country. We are not really concerned about what they think about Cochrane at this time”. The best argument that Flowers could offer to justify the mask mandate was, “How do we cope with telling the kids that they have to wear a mask, but the adults won’t get involved? I think if the kids in grade 5 can do it, then the adults should be able to follow suit.”
Two and a half years later, among her comments at the March 13th, 2023 Town Council meeting, dismissive of the protest that had occurred in advance of the State of Cochrane address at the RancheHouse on February 9th, she reached back to her old sleazy playbook in an attempt to discredit the protest and the protesters, observing, “It also seems that most of the protesters weren’t even from Cochrane. I have been here 35 years and I hardly recognized anyone”. There was no evidence of her mingling with the crowd outside, so one wonders how she came to such a conclusion. The implication, as well, is that over that 35-year period she has come to know each one of the 35,000 residents now in Cochrane. But even if it were true, what’s wrong with solidarity among freedom fighters?
Given such self-righteousness, I decided to write an email today to Ms. Flowers related to what I discovered at the Town’s Facebook page (above):
Dear Councillor Flowers,
On February 9th, a post at the Town’s Facebook page gave the Town Administration’s take on 15-minute cities, which included a denial that the Town has “any plans to adopt the ’15-minute concept’ as most residents can already access all main services within a 15-minute drive”. The usual definition, as per the World Economic Forum, is that “everything you need is within a 15-minute radius on foot or bike”; not a “15-minute drive” as pronounced by the Town Administration which can’t even get the definition right. I also took interest in the 220 ‘likes’ expressing support for the Town’s position on the matter.
I note that you and Jeff Genung (who has indicated that he doesn’t pay much attention to social media) posted a ‘like’, as well as several members of the Administration, namely Jaylene Knight and Stacey Loe, presumably congratulating themselves for what was written on the matter. Who knows how many others are from the Town’s Administration or their friends and family members. I did a cursory check of a couple dozen of the people who posted ‘likes’, and as you often make a big deal as to those who take an interest in Cochrane affairs and not being from Cochrane, I thought I should inform you of the shocking news that out of the several dozen or so that I checked into, many were not living in Cochrane, such as Jones Nellie, Spirit River, Alberta; Tom Parsch, Edmonton; T. Jensen, Edson (a friend of Mike Derricott’s?); Nat Izack, Red Deer; Victor Martin, Red Deer; Lucie Lammle, Three Hills; Alexander Holland, Stony Plain; Mathieu Cloutier, Kelowna, BC; Brad Chalmers, Edmonton. Among those who posted hearts, Crystal Grubb lives in Mildway, ON; Slinn Noles, Langley, BC; Sherisse Mass, Fox Valley, SK.
In your February 13th dismissive account of the February 9th protest in order to discredit the protest, you declared, “It also seems that most of the protesters weren’t even from Cochrane. I have been here 35 years and I hardly recognized anyone”. You seem to have made that observation from deep within the RancheHouse. With your uncanny ability to know virtually every one of the 35,000 or so residents of Cochrane, perhaps you could complete the assessment of those posting ‘likes’ who actually live in Cochrane.
Sincerely,
Ron Voss