Mayor Ivan Court VS The Telegraph-Journal
Once again, Saint John is in the news.
Once again, it’s because our loudmouth Mayor is refusing to accept there is anything wrong (with anything) in the city.
This time, he is blaming the Telegraph-Journal for negative coverage. While I won’t deny that he is getting negative coverage, I do disagree with the reason for it. It is not due to a grudge at the newspaper – it’s because Ivan Court is doing a poor job.
This is a Mayor who thinks it’s better to build parking lots instead of buildings, gives city staff raises for no reason, and wants to spend massive amounts of money on a new police complex (while refusing to admit the city’s pension plan is hemorrhaging taxpayers money). Yeah, it’s the newspapers fault all right…
Here is a clip from the story:
In Monday night’s council meeting, Court remarked that the Telegraph-Journal has been increasingly negative in its coverage of him and city hall staff over the last couple of years, so he wants to fight back.
The mayor told councillors the next Telegraph-Journal employee he’ll speak to will be publisher Jamie Irving, and he’ll do it in a broadcast debate at a media outlet not owned by the powerful Irving family.
Until then, he’s refusing all interview requests from the paper — and banning it from his office.
“As of today, I’ve asked my staff to cancel the Telegraph-Journal. It’s my first budget cut,” he said. “It will save the citizens of Saint John, from my office, $190.”
The Telegraph-Journal is owned by Brunswick News Inc., which is owned by the Irvings. The paper is distributed provincewide, but its city section is specifically focused on Saint John and the counties of southern New Brunswick.
The worst part about this is the fact that he will go to such lengths to save $190, yet he does nothing when the city’s Pension Plan costs us millions of dollars – he refuses to admit that anything is wrong.
My favorite part of the article is the quotes from the Telegraph-Journal’s Editor Shawna Richer:
“The problem is not with the newspaper. The problem is with the culture of inefficiency and sometimes questionable leadership at city hall. And that’s something that our newspaper, newspapers everywhere, cover,” Richer told the CBC on Tuesday.
“This isn’t personal,” she said.
“This is, you know, our job is to advocate for the people … for the taxpayers and their residents. And any good newspaper would take exactly the same position,” she said.
Once again, the Mayor makes us all look bad, and we will be left paying (literally) for his screw-ups for some time to come.
“Once again, the Mayor makes us all look bad”
How so?
If the problem really lies with the current group of politicians, what difference would it make to a saint johnner’s image if they refuse to speak with some Bermudan conglomerate’s mouthpiece? The Irvings have had a chance to get their story out there exclusively for many years regarding the supposed malfeasance of Saint John representatives.
Perhaps by pointing out how ridiculous Irving International’s strangehold on your information has become.
Sorry, but it seems like a week doesn’t go by without the Mayor making the news because of his “my way or the highway” approach.
If he can dish it – he should be able to take.
Why was the city paying for their new paper in the first place, pretty bad they can’t even pay for a news paper without it being charged to the people of Saint John.
http://ca.youtube.com/watch?v=aTV6YJ71jzU
I see city hall is screwed up more than ever….It seems to have continually gone downhill over the years…You need another Mayor like Elsie.
Mayor Ivan Court is as bad as his predecessor(s)…they are city politicians: conceited, racist and selfish. He did not help me last two years when I needed a job but he helps his white electorate. For them the job is to keep themselves happy and secured not the needy especially if they are coloured. I support a Mayor who is secular and efficient.
He is soft spoken and seemed helpful till he was stood for elections but all his promises were fake as he has shown different helping attitude earlier and altogether different face s after he was elected. Even later his secretary said in clear words that sorry we cannot help you..I think these Mayors should be evaluated to see what promises they fulfil later after getting elected or just enjoy the comforts of the position.