The latest two acts in city hall’s theatre-of-the-absurd production of “Medalgate” played out Wednesday at two venues as the first 26 Queen Elizabeth Diamond Jubilee Awards were handed to recipients.
A few hours before the official $5,000 city reception at Hilton London for the nearly 300 medal nominees, councillors Nancy Branscombe and Joni Baechler bestowed actual medals on their recipients at Branscombe’s North London home.
The move caught off guard the architect of the medal awards, Coun. Harold Usher, who swanned around the civic reception.
“Not as far as I know,” said Usher when asked if any of the 130 medals won by Londoners had been distributed yet. “It’s up to the individuals.”
“I’m not talking about this tonight,” said Usher as he went back to pressing the flesh of attendees, few of whom knew the first medals had been handed out — and some in the crowd not knowing if they will ever receive one.
It was Usher who persuaded his council colleagues to nominate as many Londoners as they thought were deserving of the medal, issued to mark the 60th anniversary of Elizabeth’s ascension to the throne and intended “to honour significant contributions and achievements by Canadians.”
More than twice as many nominations were received as available medals. So a ceremony to award medals was converted into one to honour all those nominated.
Baechler said 26 of the 29 she and Branscombe nominated — all medal winners — were among the 60 who attended the afternoon house party with a string ensemble, hors d’oeuvres and champagne.
“We felt it was very important to have a gathering to pay tribute to deserving citizens,” Baechler said.
“Our goal was to distribute the medals,” she said of the unofficial side event.
Baechler and Branscombe will pay for the cost of the side event. Among those accepting their medals at the smaller gathering were former London city councillor Susan Eagle, former city controller Gina Barber and former Free Press editor-in-chief Paul Berton. Recipient Sandy Levin was out of town.
(A full list of the 29 recipients — the first to be published to date — can be found at www.baechler.ca.)
Few at the evening gala were aware the first medals had been distributed or were even aware of the Branscombe-Baechler event.
Mayor Joe Fontana received polite applause for his brief remarks at the city reception.
“This is an absolutely fantastic day for the city of London,” he said with his traditional hyperbole. He paid tribute to all honoured, saying they drive city council “to do our best to make this one of the best cities in the world.”
Many nominees conceded they were honoured, despite council’s mistakes in nominating too many and for some questionable recipients.
One of Fontana’s medal winners, Gordie MacKenzie, said “it is somewhat unfortunate process has taken on the negative tone it has.”
Retired police officer Rick Gillespie, who is unsure if he will actually receive a medal, but is nominated, conceded: “the process could have been smoother.”
Medal recipient Eagle said she was in generally good company, but “poor judgment” at city hall won’t diminish the honour.
In all, 60,000 medals will be awarded across Canada by Feb. 26 when the year-long program ends.
Some nominees in London asked city hall to withhold their names, embarrassed by council’s mishandling of the medals affair.
Usher has been oblivious to the missteps surrounding the mess.
In an e-mail to fellow council members obtained by The Free Press, Usher insisted several days ago the program “has been a tremendous positive success for London.” He blamed the media.
several nominations raised eyebrows and tempers:
Fontana nominated all 14 council members and they went along with it. (Five have since rejected them: Baechler, Branscombe, Paul Hubert, Matt Brown and Bill Armstrong.)
Fontana nominated former councillor George Avola, who in 1997 was fined $6,000 after a conviction for attempting to bribe three members of city council.
Coun. Denise Brown nominated her 18-year-old son Alexander to salute his 300 hours of community service. She admitted it was not a wise move. She herself is not receiving a medal.
Other names have trickled out despite city hall’s refusal to date to release them, including former trustee and councillor Cheryl Miller.
By fighting to keep names from going public, some nominees put city clerk Cathy Saunders in a tight spot. She refused to release names, saying she was acting on advice from Ontario’s ministry of government services that “we cannot release the names . . . without consent of each individual to do so.” The ministry later denied it issued any such directive to the city.
chip.martin@sunmedia.ca
http://www.lfpress.com/2013/02/06/author-douglas-gagel-former-mayor-jane-bigelow--builder-dave-tenna...
