Today listeners of The Great Canadian Talk Show heard the exclusive comments of Robert Snyder, whose questions to Manitoba Education Minister Peter Bjornson about the concealed role of the Seven Oaks School Division in an illicit money-losing land development scheme led to a 20 month long audit.
Snyder says that now it is confirmed his questions were totally ignored by the Minister, Bjornson "should be asked to resign".
Snyder detailed the abusive treatment he was subjected to on his website, www.manitobataxpayer.blogspot.com. He was given a misleading response drafted by the people behind the unauthorized foray into Swinford Park which was then signed by Bjornson. In 2005 Bjornson told the Legislature he had never gotten a complaint about SOSD and then had to recant when the letter was produced.
And that's not all.
* Snyder questions whether unauthorized officials had access to his email before the Minister and began to organize a speedy cover-up before the complaint was passed on;
* He asks why the auditor, Carol Bellringer, did not examine all the land developments in the area on both sides of north Main Street or the role of the planner Lombard North, which has made a sum almost equal to the loss suffered by taxpayers;
* Snyder details the demands made by the developer when Snyder asked about buying the property adjacent to his home;
* and he also describes unsightly unfinished landscaping and a disturbing incident the day the audit was released, pointing to the School Division harassing Snyder and his Donan Street neighbours whose properties back onto the weed and dirt berm mess of a "future school site", which is still not approved or even scheduled to be built.
Snyder boldly cc'ed all the SOSD trustees with his reply to my request for an interview. Here is the text of his comments with excerpts of what he was responding to from my request italicized in (brackets).
Marty and To all addressed in the headers of this message
At this time I will respectfully decline your generous offer to be interviewed on your Radio show, Marty. I will give you full permission to use anything published on my web-log, Manitoba TaxPayer, to express my opinions.
( Marty wrote: I am confused why Mrs. Bellringer did not include your email to the Minister in the timeline and ignored the 'coincidence' of all the activity to legitimize the land deals after you blew the whistle.)
It was sort of included in the time line but did indeed ignore the coincidence of all the activity. It seems like someone at SOSD or their consultant, Lombard North Group, read the email letter before the Minister and expedited the activity.
( Marty wrote: I want to pay particular attention on how you as the whistleblower was treated, and on how the Division and Finance Board officials have all had convenient memory losses about their meetings and discussions. )
I was in awe by the stupidity of the answer supplied by Bjornson and chalked it up to experience. A minister should be asked to resign for putting his signature to any statement that absurd!
Also, in June 2004 I inquired about purchasing the property to the north side of my Donan Street home which I had been maintaining (cutting grass, killing weeds) since I moved there in May of 1985, and was surprised that I had to deal with the planner, Mr. David Palubeski. Apparently he had considerable influence.
The terms described by Palubeski were subject to 7 Oaks approval and included my assuming responsibility for all costs including:
1. City application charges and fees
2. Survey, planning and legal costs incurred by 7 Oaks associated with the the transfer.
3. All your own costs.
4. A purchase price based upon the square footage cost of
$0.75/sq.ft.
This was before the letter to the Education Minister.
After that the terms changed in that I would also need signatures of the neighbours saying that they approve my ownership of that particular piece of property. At that point, the negotiations stopped.
( Marty wrote: Also nowhere in the audit is the profit or fees for the "Planner" itemized nor are they even identified ... This flip flopping of school location when it wasn't even approved to start with, doesn't pass the sniff test in my opinion. )
As it says on my WebLog, the "Planner" was/is Lombard North Group and the presenter for them was one Mr. Dave Palubeski.
One might ask him, and O'Leary a few questions on how he became involved and if a tendering process was undertaken to procure a "planner" or if a "planner" was even necessary when the Land Management Services, a Special Operating Agency of the Province of Manitoba was available to assist them.
As the original intention was to deliver a new "West Kildonan Collegiate", I would have preferred to see a full audit of whole project up to this date. This would include the "River Ridge" school site and adjoining residential and commercial development not just the"Swinford" development.
I would also like to know why construction machinery appeared on the 819,810 dollar "Swinford" future school site on Thursday, August 16, 2007. Was this a red herring to distract the community from looking at the OAG report? Will the cost of this operation be added to the 819,810 dollar value of the future school site?
The equipment promptly disappeared that same Thursday evening and never appeared again on Friday, leaving the neighbors and I a large ditch and a large burm of the material removed. Will this new project be completed in a timely fashion???
And what happened to the "Swinford Park Seven Oaks School Division Frog Pond Construction Project" that was begun in October 2006 (about 4 months late)? It is currently a ditch with a little water in it, most of which the Grady Bend homeowners pumped outto water their newly laid sod and a stockpile of fill material which is covered with weeds which lies to the north side of the Grady Bend properties.
So now I have another ditch to the rear of my property as well as a new stockpile of material that will soon be sporting a covering of weeds which will certainly increase the value of my property.
Again, I will respectfully decline your invitation to participate in the review.
Thank you for the offer,
-- Robert Snyder
WebLog at:http://manitobataxpayer.drbobscomputeremporium.net/_
Our special series into the findings of the Audit, and why some think the scope of the report was crafted to allow for a cover-up of how NDP operatives at the PSFB and SOSD knowingly violated the law prohibiting the use of tax dollars for land schemes, will continue at 4.35 PM all week on our show.
I leave you with the tag line appended to the end of Snyder's email to myself and the school trustees:
Several excuses are always less convincing than one. - Aldous Huxley
