Civic Affairs

I do not wish to take sides in Brockville's ongoing policing debate. Let the OPP costing process continue, and let the hard numbers land where they may.

It may all come down to comfort level.

Dear OPP skeptics: David Beatty is not out of control, and you should not hate him for joking about selling cop cars on eBay.

For a concise illustration of the challenge facing supporters of regional economic development, consider this:

No one in the realm of politics is immune to the mystifying power of spin.

We who report and consume political news will sometimes fall victim to it, and the people who move and act within the world of politics – even municipal politics – will sometimes fall prey to the temptation to do it.

Was that a suggestion or a joke?

Or, for that matter, a grenade?

Those were laudable sentiments by Councillor Jason Baker, on the matter of Brockville's seating arrangement on the Economic Development Express.

When the Ontario Provincial Police analysts return, probably next month, with a fleshed-out presentation on the different options for policing Brockville, there will likely be two models under consideration.