Scanned, recopied or Internet copy, if there are errors, please e-mail me with corrections: Opening comments: More at the end. And if that is not enough there is what is noted below about how the "Mississauga Mayor's private cache of emails", "a "half-inch thick" file of printed emails Ms. McCallion", "Hazel was rather menacing, intimating she was going to use her collection of emails to help defeat some of us in the next election," And then there are concerns about online security - "One of the printouts was of a private BlackBerry conversation between Ms. Parrish and Councillor Sue McFadden, but neither knows how Ms. McCallion obtained the document" Then there is "the Mayor acknowledged she stored all emails from, or about, councillors", this is made all the more important as the Mississauga Inquiry is being told that the Mayor's office delete her e-mails all the time - no records if not printed out. More on that here. National Post - Feb. 4, 2010 - By Megan O'Toole - motoole@nationalpost.com The rivalry between Hazel McCallion and Carolyn Parrish took a bizarre turn yesterday, as they clashed over the implications of the Mississauga Mayor's private cache of emails. Ms. Parrish, who has become de facto leader of an opposition group on council, lashed out at Ms. McCallion after a debate on a proposed online security policy at city council. The pair traded vague barbs about what Ms. Parrish would later clarify was a "half-inch thick" file of printed emails Ms. McCallion brought to a regional meeting weeks earlier. "Hazel was rather menacing, intimating she was going to use her collection of emails to help defeat some of us in the next election," Ms. Parrish said in an interview later yesterday. "Needless to say, I was rather shocked." One of the printouts was of a private BlackBerry conversation between Ms. Parrish and Councillor Sue McFadden, but neither knows how Ms. McCallion obtained the document, Ms. Parrish said. For her part, the Mayor acknowledged she stored all emails from, or about, councillors, and suggested they contain some surprises. "Some of them have been rather interesting," Ms. Mc-Callion {sic} said in an interview. While she would not discuss specific content, she said the public would be "very interested" to see the messages, and made reference to emails that would "make your hair curl." But Ms. McCallion denied threatening to use the emails as electoral leverage. "I have no desire to show them to the public but they are a public document... somebody could ask for them," Ms. McCallion said. Ms. Parrish, citing concerns about the security of her conversations, said she began to use a second, private Black-Berry upon learning of Ms. Mc-Callion's {sic} file. During the committee meeting, Ms. Parrish expressed her disdain for the Mayor keeping tabs on councillors' personal messages. "She's not my mom. She's not my boss," Ms. Parrish said. "She's the leader of this city." The clash was spurred by a debate over a proposed information technology policy brought before council for approval. City manager Janice Baker said it would "modernize" the existing policy to account for the proliferation of handheld devices. The new language clarifies the city can monitor and review communications on city-owned devices, including private BlackBerry text messages. In a debate, councillors invoked the spectre of Orwellian oppression, while the Mayor pointed to the need for new security measures in a post-9/11 world. Councillor George Carlson warned "corpspeak" was descending on the city, while Councillor Katie Mahoney, one of the Mayor's supporters, called the policy "Big Brother for the right reasons." Ms. Parrish, who said visitors to her office sometimes speak in "sotto voice" for fear the lights are bugged, believes the policy to be a violation of privacy. Councillors, who often deal with sensitive matters from constituents, are in an especially difficult situation, she said. Home Page - Main Table of Contents - Back up a page - Back to Top [COMMENTS BY DON B. - ] |
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