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Grant LaFleche Profile picture
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Aug 28, 2018 • 9 tweets • 4 min read
(Thread) Good afternoon Niagara Twitter denizens. I am happy to report we have some answers from @NiagaraRegion regarding an outstanding question we had about the hiring of lawyer Paul DeMelo to advise council regarding the CAO's employment.
As you may recall, @NiagaraRegion hired DeMelo when councillors learned that CAO Carmen D'Angelo's contract had been extended without their knowledge. DeMelo focuses on the Municipal Act and related matters and was hired to advise council as it considers what to do next.
The revelation that it could cost upwards of $1 million dollars to end D'Angelo's employment came the same day as our #AlltheChairMen feature story showing the CAO hiring process was tainted in 2016.
All The Chair's Men: stcatharinesstandard.ca/news-story/879…
The hiring of Mr. DeMelo raised eyebrows among some councillors because he was one of the lawyers who represented Mr. D'Angelo during the failed @NPCA_Ontario defamation suit against @ABNEdSmith

Region’s lawyer previously represented D’Angelo stcatharinesstandard.ca/news-story/884…
At the time we published the above story on Aug 17, we asked @NiagaraRegion who authorized the hiring of Mr. DeMelo to advise council. We finally got an answer today.
A regional spokesman has confirmed that D'Angelo, with input from legal director Donna Gibbs, authorized the hiring of DeMelo.
"Regional Council delegated authority to the CAO on these matters during the Lame-Duck period, and as such hired external counsel with extensive experience related to the Municipal Act to advise the corporation on the Act and pertinent lame-duck provisions." says the spokesman.
In context, this means that D'Angelo authorized hiring the lawyer who previously represented him in a defamation suit to advise @NiagaraRegion councillors debating D'Angelo's hiring, contract and employment at the region.
This is the reason that councillors have directed @NiagaraRegion to hire a "fully independent" legal expert to advise them as they debate the issues surrounding D'Angelo and his contract extension done unilaterally by @ForNiagara.
stcatharinesstandard.ca/news-story/886…

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More from @GrantRants

Grant LaFleche Profile picture
Dec 7, 2021
A quick side trip into local #COVID19 data, because it is going to come up this afternoon at a @NiagaraRegion public health committee. Specifically, a local anti-vaxer is attempting to use data I present on this account regularly to falsely claim there is no crisis. (thread)
This afternoon, one time PPC candidate and local anti-vaxer Rebecca Hahn is presenting to the committee, claiming masks are ineffective, vaccines are bad, and there is no crisis in hospitals. Part of her presentation will include this chart:
Those of who follow my data breaksdowns may recognize that chart. It is a look at the total number of #COVID19 patients at @niagarahealth broken down by age and vaccine status since Aug 7 when the data became available.

public.flourish.studio/visualisation/…
Read 25 tweets
Grant LaFleche Profile picture
Dec 5, 2021
Good afternoon Niagara, it has been a while, but here is your local #COVID19 data snapshot. And there isn't a lot of good news locally of late as most metrics trend ⬆️⬆️⬆️ (thread)
Starting with the new cases per day, you can see the tilt upward is becoming increasingly pronounced. Still nothing like past waves, but you can see the wave intensity increasing.

COVID-19 Niagara: New cases per day public.flourish.studio/visualisation/… Visualised with @f_l_o_u_r_i_s_h
If you look at the local infection curve chart you can see ⬆️ outbreaks, ⬆️ hospitalizations ⬆️ active cases and sadly, ⬆️ deaths (again uncommented on social media busy local politicians.)

Niagara COVID-19 Infection curve public.flourish.studio/visualisation/…
Read 16 tweets
Grant LaFleche Profile picture
Sep 17, 2021
Good afternoon. We took a deep dive into the social media universe of @peoplespca candidate social media accounts to see how they interact with the ongoing anti-vax protests targeting hospitals and Trudeau:

thestar.com/politics/feder…
We found at least 20% of PPC candidates are participants, and sometimes organizers of these protests, legitimatizing the conspiracy theories on display and providing a lift to the party.

thestar.com/politics/feder… via @torontostar
This story follows our look at how these protests have been organized:

Who’s behind the Justin Trudeau protests? This Newmarket mom is among the influencers urging people to show up and speak out against the ‘segregation of humanity’ thestar.com/politics/feder… via @torontostar
Read 6 tweets
Grant LaFleche Profile picture
Apr 21, 2021
Ok, Niagara, here is your local, weekly #COVID19 data deep dive. And, well, it is not looking good. The very preventable🌊3 is still growing. So let's break it down and look at where the region is at. (thread)
Active cases are now at a new record high of 2,020. With yesterday's two new deaths, the total loss in our community is at least 389 people (12 since April 1)

Niagara COVID-19 Infection curve public.flourish.studio/visualisation/… Visualised with @f_l_o_u_r_i_s_h
The infection rate shows no signs of slowing down (something that is reflected in a number of charts here.) with 199 cases confirmed today. There is no doubt that🌊 3 is, in terms of the infection rate, objectively worse than 🌊 2. (And again, this wave was preventable.)
Read 19 tweets
Grant LaFleche Profile picture
Apr 21, 2021
NEW: #COVID19 has claimed two more lives in Niagara.

That is 12 people, members of this community, who have died with the virus since April 1. As with 🌊2, Niagara politicians are silent as the death toll grows.

COVID-19 in Niagara: deaths over time public.flourish.studio/visualisation/…
I am not saying things like the George Floyd verdict are unimportant. They are very important. But this is 12 lives lost in this community in another pandemic that was entirely preventable had politicians at the provincial and local levels listened to the experts.
As I have said before, these are not just stats. They were people who contributed to this community and whose friends and family are grieving. The loss at least deserves some acknowledgement.
Read 5 tweets
Grant LaFleche Profile picture
Apr 20, 2021
Good afternoon, Niagara. Here is your quick Tuesday #COVID19 data snapshot. Remember, tomorrow is Wednesday, which is when we do our weekly data deep dive. (thread(

COVID-19 Niagara: New cases per day public.flourish.studio/visualisation/… Visualised with @f_l_o_u_r_i_s_h
So that's 144 new cases confirmed today, which as you can see above, shows the 3rd is shaping up to have a greater overall volume of infections than its predecessor wave. There is also no sign the trend is waning yet.
Looking at the basic indicators, active infections is now nearly at the 2nd wave peak (1854) with 1849 cases, and more on the way.

Niagara COVID-19 Infection curve public.flourish.studio/visualisation/… Visualised with @f_l_o_u_r_i_s_h
Read 18 tweets

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