This blog is no longer active

Posted on August 30, 2016 by mycdnprince

This blog is no longer active – however the posts will remain available as there’s some great information here. For many (if not all) of the outstanding issues and concerns discussed and debated here are still ^not resolved. For sadly, the ‘lucky spermers’ still rule the roast here at the expense of everybody else. Therefore, taxes and utility bills continue to climb while progress and development is enjoyed all around us by our neighbours while we continue to suffer from stagnation and decline.

Good luck to those who follow we fighters from the past and may you be more successful than what we were who spilt our blood and energy in what turned out to be a fruitless and hopeless cause. But hey, life goes on….

You can keep up to date with me here.

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Time to fade away

Posted on October 22, 2013 by mycdnprince

A famous general once said: “Old soldiers never die, they just fade away.” With this disappointing but expected election loss it is now time for me to fade away as well by shutting down my blog.

As many of my readers know for years I have spoken out (some say, ahead of my time) on the many ills and problems our community faced and still faces only to be rebuffed and reviled at every turn. But now with this loss I sink into the depths and sorrow of despair as what Galileo must have felt during the Inquisition when surrounded by a sea of ignorance.

However, on the bright side, I am no longer shackled by a sense of duty, obligation and responsibility to my community for the people here by casting me adrift have set me free. FREE AT LAST, FREE AT LAST, THANK GOD I’M FREE AT LAST.

But who will free those left behind? What with the critics and complainers now in charge of the hen house and my being banished to Siberia, who is left to save the Pass from itself? Maybe it no longer needs saving as the saviours are now in charge? Time will tell. But somehow I feel it is but the calm before the storm. Batten down the hatches boys, for I fear we are in for a rough ride. Maybe not this year but certainly the year after, and the year after that, because you can only go backwards for so long before you hit a brick wall. Then what do you do when you have to move forwards? “How hard it is, sometimes, to trust the evidence of one’s senses! How reluctantly the mind consents to reality.” That will be the real test for this council…. and for this community. Moving forward when stuck in the past.

Whether what transpired last night was the best thing that could have happened as what the the majority obviously believe and hope is the case, or the worse, it is obvious at this time what it doesn’t need or want is another hero.

With that I bid everyone adios. Its been a blast that could not last and as with Thunder in the Valley, I am now no more.

Tina Turner – We Don’t Need Another Hero

 

Believe nothing, no matter where you read it, or who said it, no matter if I have said it, unless it agrees with your own reason and your own common sense.

Read, every day, something no one else is reading. Think, every day, something no one else is thinking. Do, every day, something no one else would be silly enough to do. It is bad for the mind to be always part of unanimity.

from John Prince
Posted in Blog Culture, CNP Politics | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 105 Comments

Election Day 2013 – Municipality of Crowsnest Pass

Posted on October 21, 2013 by mycdnprince

CNP_ORIGINAL

Election Day 2013
Monday October 21 10 am – 8 pm

  • Subdivision A: All electors from Coleman north and south of Highway #3 from 90th street west to the Municipal boundary. Voting Station: Crowsnest Pass Sports Complex, Banquet Facility 2nd floor (elevator Access) 8702-22nd Avenue Coleman
  • Subdivision B: All electors from Blairmore and Frank -91st Street east to 154th Street- North and South of Highway #3. Voting Station: Elks Hall, 2025-129 Street Blairmore
  • Subdivision C: All electors from Bellevue and Hillcrest – 155th Street east to the Municipal Boundary. Voting Station: MDM Community Centre (gymnasium), 2802- 222 Street Bellevue.

Voter Eligibility

  • Canadian residents who have lived in Alberta for 6 months prior to the election and are primary residents of the Municipality of Crowsnest Pass on Election Day are eligible to vote.
  • Voters will be asked to show government issued identification at the polling station that shows the elector’s photograph, current address and name. If you are unable to produce government issued ID you must produce two pieces of ID from the following list: Authorized Identification


Comment:
We need to take the right to vote as a responsibility and obligation – not a chore or a mindless irrelevant task.

The people we elect will represent our wishes on a local level for the next four years and its important every resident of age has a chance to have input into who those people sitting around the council table will be. In this regard, be informed and make your decisions wisely for you will have to live with them for some time to come. As it has been said: “You are free to choose, but you are not free from the consequences of your choice.”

UPDATE: 11:07 am

2013 Municipal Election Results
Viewing election results is now available on our new municipal website. Check it out here.

 

Every election is determined by the people who show up.

from John Prince
Posted in CNP Politics | Tagged , , , , | 23 Comments

I’ve given it my all….

Posted on October 20, 2013 by mycdnprince

election

…. more than that I could not do.

Some say don’t worry about winning or losing in this election; honouring your intentions and doing your absolute best is good enough.

If it is true that the mayor and incumbents will be no more after this election. New school in essence being banished for being ‘too new’. Is it inevitable then that we will have a return to old school? Is the ‘middle-way’ option even in the game here?

Hard to say, what with the media censorship and hatchet job and black out of my press release, platform and campaign in general along with my campaign manager falling ill at the beginning and being incapacitated throughout, and with no team or financing to speak of, and of course no advertising budget, it has been tough slogging. But I never gave up…. but once, and even then I picked myself up and did what needed doing.

So even though it looks far from promising I believe it is at the same time far from hopeless. Maybe others have a different take on it, I do not know?

Being a veteran of several election campaigns one always wonders if one could have done more, gone that extra mile so to speak. But you know, I’ve spent years fighting the good fight in trying to awaken in people here a deeper understanding of how things are and why, and what needs to be done to turn things around for the better. Tomorrow we’ll find out if enough people have been listening, or will far too many be like the ones I’ve written about recently who vote for candidates they do not really know due to being ignorant and ill-informed because they were too lazy to make the effort to ‘edumacate’ themselves beforehand. Will we once again be held hostage for another four years because of those who know not what they do in voting in who they do.

People here had the chance to support someone who was standing up for them, but I’m thinking will have chosen not to…. again. So who’s the potential real loser here? The one not given the chance to show what he could do for their benefit, or those deprived of receiving those benefits? As it has been said: “It is much easier to get ten thousand to work for the laboring man than to get one to work for himself.” People here seem incapable of working for themselves, instead choosing to allow the elites and special interest groups to lead them around by their nose like a dumb animal…. as someone recently put it here on this blog.

If in fact this is once again the case then I wash my hands of trying to be the positive difference for the betterment of this community and leave them to their fate. In other words, they won’t have Prince to kick around anymore. In this regard, this post here will be my second to last (after the one tomorrow in which I tell people where they can vote). This last one, I have already written and will post it after the election either on Monday night or Tuesday morning.

I guess with that there is nothing more to say. I’ll leave the last word to my man Frank who always said it best in situations such as this, with his immortal….

My Way

 

Practically the whole human race is hypnotized because it thinks what somebody else told it to think.

from John Prince
Posted in CNP Politics | Tagged , , , , , , , | 17 Comments

Future Direction: Back to the Past, or….

Posted on October 19, 2013 by mycdnprince

…. Forward into the Future.

What will be our Future Direction?

Is that where this community is headed after Monday’s municipal election here? Some think if certain people get in that is exactly where we are headed, back into the past…. instead of into the future. Which of these two options will ultimately be our future direction?

I mean look at Painter, Kovach, Lazzarotto, and Ward. Prior to this election did we ever hear from Painter? The answer is no. He was satisfied with his role within the fire department and status quo in the community, despite the fact our municipality was being run into the ground with two decades of authoritarian rule by our former mayor resulting in economic stagnation and serious population decline. Kovach and Lazzarotto despite their many years with Community Futures never delivered anything of a substantive nature to this community during all that time. Nor did Dean during his two terms on council.

The above four people’s whole platform is very similar boiling down to cut, slash, and burn. That is all they ever talk about, or have ever done (remember Dean’s successful crusade to get rid of our spring and fall clean-ups). For example, go on Dean’s blog and check out for yourself instances where he talks about ways to build community. There’s none, for he like the others lack imagination and vision for they are stuck in the past wanting nothing better than to keep us there.

Others of their ilk want that too, especially those from old school. You can see this for yourself by visiting some of our local Facebook groups on-line. These people, who normally are rational and intelligent somehow when it comes to municipal elections here in the Pass undergo a metamorphosis of sorts, reverting to a zombie type state refusing to do their homework by doing basic research on those candidates running for election. Having, for many, pre-decided the outcome of this election even before it was officially called? Blair Painter and those from the Ratepayer Executive who are running, along with their advisers Dean Ward and Shar Lazzarotto are the chosen ones without quantification.

Now I ask you, do you blame me for posting what I did in my last post in trying to encourage those who are ignorant, ill-informed and lazy from voting in this municipal election? For it is these very people who in all likelihood will decide the ultimate outcome of our election, and future direction, and yet they are the very ones who are the least capable of making informed, rational, reasoned decisions on our behalf. Therefore I urged these people to stay home and not vote rather than endanger our community with the ramifications of their decisions, as what they did in the last election when they voted en masse for a name not even knowing the man.

Unless, of course, they break from the past by taking on the responsibility of being independent of both mind and purpose in researching for themselves who is best fit to not only lead this community, but to move it forward in a manner conducive to a future built on growth and prosperity for all, and not just for the elites and special interest groups only.

Growth and prosperity for all will not come from those with proven track records of never having delivered on either in the past for this community. Nor will it come from voters who vote blindly for a slate, rather than on individual merit based on sound reasoning utilizing ones own little grey cells.

There is two days left for people to get their act together and in doing so coming to the realization that going back in time is not an option, but moving forward is. The future direction of our municipality is at stake here. We need to get it right!

www.johnprince.ca

 

Past is a nice place to visit but certainly not a good place to stay.

from John Prince
Posted in CNP Politics | Tagged , , , , , , , | 13 Comments

Please don’t vote….

Posted on October 18, 2013 by mycdnprince

…. if you’re ignorant, ill-informed, or lazy. Instead of being reckless do yourself and your community a favour and stay home. Don’t vote!

Not voting is a perfectly valid choice if you can’t do a good job. It’s a whole lot smarter to put the decision making into the hands of your better-informed, responsible neighbors and fellow citizens like me who know what the hell they are voting for. If you don’t know the issues, stay out of our way. You’re not doing the community a favor, you’re screwing over the rest of us. You need to invest some actual time to research the candidates’ basic positions.

I don’t want you voting if you don’t know enough about the issues to render a decent opinion. I don’t mean an ill-informed one – i.e., one that is the opposite of mine. I mean someone who hasn’t got a clue until getting into the voting booth, who doesn’t really know the issues or anything about his or her local candidates or measures. Or someone who is just following the crowd because you are lazy, and too afraid to do your own homework, while lacking in the area of having a certain degree of independence of mind.

This is my personal threshold test: You need to have spent at least as much time on this election as you did the last time you watched “Survivor” or “American Idol” before you cast your votes. You know that’s two hours if you watched the whole show. Two hours, is it truly too much to ask?

So if you are thinking of voting yet have done nothing to ‘edumacate’ yourself stay home because you are a danger to yourself and society, and therefore should not even go near a voting booth.

On the other hand, if you have done your homework, are informed, have studied the issues and the candidates, please vote as your vote counts and is important. For I know at least one of your choices will be for me, and as such, will be one that moves our community forward in a positive direction and towards a brighter future. Thank you!

I’m John Prince and I approve this message. This message has been brought to you by the re-education committee for proper principles in the electing of responsible members to our municipal government.

p.s. That should cut down on the B.P. supporters. :-0 :-)

www.johnprince.ca

 

My way of joking is to tell the truth. It is the funniest joke in the world.

from John Prince
Posted in CNP Politics | Tagged , , , | 45 Comments

The role of Mayor

Posted on October 17, 2013 by mycdnprince
Mayor's role

Mayor’s Role

The role of Mayor isn’t about a particular issue. It’s about the ability to lead in order to achieve our vision for the future. The values I can bring to the job is that I am inclusive, genuine, have a respect for different perspectives and am a strong believer in a complete community. The competencies I can bring to the table are that I have extensive experience in the field of municipal politics, am a strong communicator and have very strong working relationships locally and provincially. My approach will be to always be well-prepared, action oriented and willing and able to take a leadership role.

What I will not be is one who makes pie in the sky promises every other week while never actually delivering on any of them. Or to deliberately mislead and deceive people about my true intentions with respect to the fire department, for example. Because of a poor judgment decision of mine in the past that lead to the chaos that ensued.

The most crucial element of true leadership is honesty. That is what people look for in leaders, is honesty and trust. Is he being honest with me and can I trust him to put my best interests ahead of all others? Then its, is this the type of fellow who can deliver or is he full of hot air as what our present mayor has been accused of? Will he be independent of mind and purpose or will he be weak, easily mislead and played with as a puppet on a string by those who put self-interest ahead of the common good?

A council made up of Bill and Shar for example is a scary proposition for these two come from a culture of secrecy and intrigue where it is the custom of the organization they represent to break rules all the time in order to maintain the status quo in achieving their ends. Will Dean be the de facto mayor some ask? If so, will it be by design or by subterfuge? After all, he did orchestrate a coup of sorts against Mayor Irwin when last on council. If members of the Ratepayers Executive are successful in getting in will they be as bad (or worse) as what they will be replacing? Some will say, if they are, it will be okay because hey, they’re one of us…. ha, ha, ha, ha. :-(

If, as the word on the street has it, Decoux is done like toast in this election, and the next council is made up primarily of the above, who as mayor would ideally be best suited to curtail the excesses of this motley crew? The answer should be obvious.

The role of mayor is to lead…. not follow. To lead one must have the following attributes:

Top 10 Qualities That Make A Great Leader

With the deepest sincerity and humility I say to you my reader, I have the above leadership qualities…. in spades! My opponent does not. End of story.

www.johnprince.ca

 

Winners are not people who never fail but people who never quit.

from John Prince
Posted in CNP Politics | Tagged , , , , , | 12 Comments

Will it all be for naught?

Posted on October 17, 2013 by mycdnprince

will it all be for naught?

I’ve spent the last few years working this blog in an attempt to share my thoughts, opinions and ideas with primarily the people of my community here in the ‘beautiful’ Crowsnest Pass. In four days time, we will see if it has been wasted time, or not?

If my time indeed has been wasted, my work has been for naught, then I doubt very much that I will continue to waste it anymore and will instead shut this baby down, and pursue other interests instead. If it hasn’t been wasted then the future is our oyster as they say, and then the real work begins. Work that will transform our community into one that can realize the great potential that lies within, while at the same time finally bringing peace and harmony to our valley.

I don’t fool myself, that with the insurmountable disadvantages I have suffered from during this campaign, worse of which was my inability to reach the greater masses here with my message of hope in my ‘middle-way’ platform, that those I have spoken out against as being a real threat and danger to our community will ultimately be victorious. I believe it will take a miracle or some sort of cosmic awakening of the masses to be otherwise.

But you never know, sometimes miracles do happen, sometimes people come to a realization that what we have isn’t what we want and what we had before isn’t what we want to go back to either.

So do enough people know about the ‘middle-way’ option, I don’t know? Do enough people still have this negative image of me ingrained in their minds by the likes of the Pass Herald and their minions, I don’t know that either? With respect to this latter question, I have this to say “Don’t judge me by my past, I don’t live there anymore”…. in fact, I never did.

On election day we’ll all find out what our future holds for us. In the meantime, all one can do is do all what one can do to make it a future of our making, rather than one of theirs.

www.johnprince.ca

 

Success is not measured by what you accomplish, but by the opposition you have encountered, and the courage with which you have maintained the struggle against overwhelming odds.

from John Prince
Posted in CNP Politics | Tagged , , , , , | 4 Comments

Some people get it…. about me

Posted on October 16, 2013 by mycdnprince

Yesterday, I received the following comment that touched me deeply.

Today I voted JOHN PRINCE! I have never voted for you in the past because everyone says you are a nut case. I read your blog and have to admit you are a bit of a nut case. But those self serving groups who fear you, have gone out of their way to undermine and antagonise you, and out of pure frustration of trying to get us to see the light you often made it easy for them. But reading what you stand for, seeing what you have fought for for years and watching you in the debate, it became clear you are the only one (of the three) capable of doing what needs to be done here. Good luck John!

For years, I’ve had to contend with a local rag and a mother and daughter team that can best be described as in Snakes in Suits: When Psychopaths Go to Work who are so afraid of me that they are compelled to use any means to ensure I never get in a position to show the Pass how very wrong they were about me, and how very good I turned out to be for this community.

It’s self-serving users such as these who have held me back, and in doing so have held back this community as well. They fear to be shown up for what they truly are which is leeches who have sucked the life blood out of this community while contributing nothing to it. They are nothing but vile maggots feeding off the carcass of a dying community whose ignorant masses believe them to be their saviours, and therefore follow on the heels of their every word like what one finds within a cult.

Over the years until the present time this is what I have had to contend with, that according to them (and others like them), I am the nutcase and they are the saintly truthsayers.

Thankfully, every now and then I see a ray of hope, as with the above comment in which an individual does his/her own homework not relying on what to think by the mind controllers I speak of above.

Will on-line smear campaigns by those having little self-esteem while lacking in moral courage to buck the trend (wanting so bad to belong and to be thought of as important and influential when in fact by their very actions they prove their cowardliness and therefore are nothing but a sad joke), yellow journalism which blatantly plays favourites, political opponents advertising budgets approaching the stratosphere in dollars spent, more and bigger signs than what Jim Pattison has, conformity and a willingness to be the puppet rather than the puppet master to organizations and groups who do not necessarily have the best intentions for this community for are they themselves not in large part the very reason (with their self-serving ways) we find ourselves in our never ending cycle of problems in social/population decline, and economic stagnation.

These people who keep us mired in mud want no saviours such as I for they themselves believe they are it, despite all evidence to the contrary. How does a Christian defend himself against the Lions? He cannot, for only history can eventually tell the true story of who was right and who was wrong…. but by then, as with the fall of Rome, we too here in the Pass will fall also, because of leadership that was both weak and inept.

As with my commenter above, some people are finally getting it about me…. will it be enough?

www.johnprince.ca

 

The meaning of life lies in two major areas: your personal perfection and service to other people. You can serve while you are moving toward perfection, and you can move toward perfection by serving people.

from John Prince
Posted in CNP Politics | Tagged , , , , | 23 Comments

Desperate times call for desperate measures

Posted on October 15, 2013 by mycdnprince

Q. What does that expression “Desperate times call for desperate measures” mean?
A. It means that when people get into trouble, for example financial trouble, they may be “backed into a corner” and feel forced to do things they wouldn’t normally do in terms of survival.

So it has been this Thanksgiving weekend when out of the blue S.C. RudeGON (a play on words and spelling with S.C. RudeGAN featured writer with the Pass Herald) appeared on stage with his/her rendition of the FACTS on local municipal politics and issues in CROWSNEST CLAIMS VS. FACTS.

Why this person used someone else’s name is a mystery? But nevertheless this deep throat with facts and figures only an insider would have has been successful in getting people talking. Unfortunately, it has been more about who this person is rather than the arguments he/she is trying to present. Some talk has it that this person is either the CFO or CAO for our municipality. Who knows?

One thing we do know is that he/she has singled out the Ratepayers Association and their allies. This is a switch since in the past it is the Ratepayers who have been slinging the arrows with mayor, council and administration doing their best to defensively fling them aside. This time the roles are reversed, with the Ratepayers now the target while seemingly unwilling or unable to defend themselves against accusations thrust upon them. Instead, they are relying on distraction (who is this person) while throwing out ‘propaganda’ accusations of their own, hoping this will suffice in lieu of actually having to deal with what S.C. Rudegon has laid down on their doorstep.

Seems they can dish it out but can’t take it. From start to finish S.C. Rudegon makes the case for extremely poor judgement on the part of their mayoral candidate, to questionable motives and discerning priorities behind their president’s actions and real reason for running for a council seat, to clear examples of naiveté and inexperience by some to fudging of facts and figures by others. Not a pretty picture. In fact, it is an ugly picture. One that seems to suggest that this community could very well find itself going from the frying pan into the fire, if we ditch the one and go with the other.

Therefore my friends there is only one reasonable course of action this community can take and that is with leadership that is neither old school or new school, by going with the “middle-way” approach as I have been advocating for since the beginning of this municipal election. With strong practical leadership that plays no favourites, makes no pie in the sky promises, having the experience and knowledge to get the job done in putting an end to our feuding here in the Pass, while taking us forward with a balanced approach that favours working together rather than at cross purposes, building community rather than tearing it apart, that is progressive rather than regressive, wanting to instill optimism and hope rather than defeatism and despair. In other words, we need to bring back the spirit of the Pass, our ‘Mountain Freedom‘ mentality of looking at the world from the top of the mountain (rather than from the narrow confines below) knowing we can do anything, if we just put our minds to it.

S.C. Rudegon (pseudonym for the Municipal office?) believing as he/she does, I think, that the Ratepayers with their obvious inexperience and immaturity would be worse than what we have now, in wrongly taking this community back in time. Although they (mayor, council & adm.) themselves have been wrong in ramming through unwanted and unnecessary change, rushing us forward by putting the cart in front of the horse so to speak, in not ensuring we had the economic generators in place beforehand and thereby the means and ability to pay for their grandiose plans, they have now saddled us with.

So the choice is simple, do you want more of the same old same old with leadership that doesn’t listen, taking us all on a hell bent course towards financial ruin, or to go backwards with slash and burn tactics that prove to be regressive rather than progressive, which ensures status quo rule by the ‘good old boys’ where it is more for the greedy and less for the needy, and where its not what you know but who you know that counts.

The “middle-way” does away with all that crap that has only brought economic and social stagnation and decline to our community.

It’s time for change. Be the change you want to see in the Pass.

Vote experience. Vote Prince

www.johnprince.ca

 

Past is a nice place to visit but certainly not a good place to stay.

from John Prince
Posted in CNP Politics | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | 45 Comments