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01:59 - 31.01.07
Two steps back
Both my grand-daughter and I have caught the virus her mom and dad have been struggling with. It made for a very slow paced day. My grand-daughter's body showed it's wisdom by demanding considerably more sleep than usual. I was good with that. She has another tooth poking through her lower gum now, so her growth patterns are quite normal despite the sickness.

My sister's sister-in-law called mid-afternoon to talk things astrological. Part of that was because of my birthday on the weekend, while part of it was a look at world events, eclipse patterns and family dynamics. She said she had been struggling with her own demons lately and, like everyone else I've talked with lately it seems, is in the process of giving up something cherished in some part of their lives. We agreed to touch base on the weekend when we've each had time to digest all the insights we shared as we talked and also to try and find some way of moving forward into the unknown.

Arrived home to find my storm door torn off it's hinges and lying neatly stacked against the side of the house. The main glass panels were okay, but the side panels were completely shattered. There was glass strewn all over the place. I moved the broken door to the back gate and cleaned up the worst of the mess. Called my youngest to find out if it had happened while he was still home. Nope. There was a very bitter, strong wind today, so my guess is someone opened that outer door to knock on the inner one and didn't properly return the outer door to it's latch. I can't figure out who would have taken the door from there and laid it at the side of the house, but I am grateful someone took the time to look after securing the property for me. My youngest locked that door in the backyard when he took the garbage out tonight, so that it wouldn't get stolen - they are expensive to replace you see. I'll think about how to deal with it this weekend I guess. It did cause me some moments of depression, but at least it is fixable - if only I had the skill or the money to pay someone who has.

Checked my email and again a lot of correspondence to deal with. More people expressing stress. One of the staff had followed through on their paperwork, but I'm still trying to track down the other one. Hockey game tonight with the home team on ice, so he probably just was out with his buddies enjoying the excitement. Yesterday there was a memo sent "to all Returning Officers" alerting them to the next assignment to be addressed. It noted that local Returning Officers would be sent their mandate on January 30 and that it would be with respect to confirming the booking of polling stations. Today I received a retraction addressed "to some Returning Officers" that stated that the exercise would not be going forward in our Electoral Districts at this time. The original memo had mentioned that the assignment would commence once a refresher training course in Ottawa was completed. I haven't received any word about this training, although I did get an email from one of our city's other Returning Officers stating she is flying out to Ottawa this weekend for training.

One voicemail from my Assistant saying she had gathered a little bit more news about Elections Canada. One of the Returning Officers whose electoral district was posted as empty in December decided to resign. He is the one who has still not been paid for any of his pre-writ work. His Assistant Returning Officer(ARO) told my ARO today that he had applied for the position instead. He was assigned an application number. He had trained in Ottawa with my ARO in 2005. There has already been a significant investment of time and training to develop his skills for the Returning Officer position. He has never been contacted by Elections Canada since submitting his application nor has he been interviewed even though, as you know, those interviews were carried out last week. There are so many conflicting messages in all of this that neither of us can figure out exactly what is going on. Speculation just muddies the water and brings on paranoia, so I don't even want to go there. I am beginning to feel very fatigued by it all and I really have to wonder if it is worth it to continue pressing the issue even though there are some very serious democratic principles being violated. The only consolation - misery being the lover of company - is that a whole raft of very high profile civil servants are being fired in the same way as us lowly Returning Officers, learning about their dismissal through the media. In most cases it is for the same reason - their loyalty is to the work they do instead of their supervisors who are more inclined to be concerned about the political optics. Ethical behaviour is almost a death sentence these days. Attack ads by the governing party are being played this weekend, which indicates that they are expecting to be defeated in parliament soon, I think. Too much to take in right now. I think I'll go to bed and try to fight off this virus. At least I understand what is going on inside my body.

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