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Mayor of Mississauga
2006
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Ward 9 Councillor Race
Mississauga's 2006 election.
&
??  Municipal candidate gets jail time - maybe ??

The Father - Antonio Baptista

The Son - Joe Baptista
&
The unholy Ghost - Pat Satio

Up-dates to this story are here.

This is the story of an elderly father, his son coming to his defence and the kind of abuse of power that I have made the keystone of my campaign for Mayor.  This is not only another example of how the Peel police do Mississauga's (too long in office) politicians dirty work but a much clearer example than my own, about how those who do a better job then the elected officials, are punished with legal methods, often including the Peel police.

Antonio Baptista is a 75 year old  Portuguese man (who not speak so good and will need an interpreter for his trial), with white hair, about 5 foot 5, bit round and never hurt a fly or do a crime before.  He grew up in Portugal when it was under a dictatorship, had only 3 years of education, in a time where people could only make jokes or songs to mock their leader.  He left for Canada and free life only to lose his and wife's life savings in the kind of legal attack you expect in a fascist state.  In Toronto did the taxes for seniors for many years.  Loves to tend his small garden in his back yard.  The kind of man you would feel lucky have as a neighbour.  No wonder Councillor Pat Saito hates him so much, makes her look so bad.

Can we blame him that he did not know that doing a better job than the local Councillor was crime?  As it apparently is.  Antonio is a good man who has done many good deeds for his community, like he discovered "city residents were being charged taxes in excess of what they owed.  In almost all cases the original land developers owed these taxes."  Why would the local Councillor or the Mayor (the Queen of Sprawl), allow this to go on under their noses?  Maybe because - "Saito is one such councilor who derives most of her campaign financing from the same land developers who have profited from this cozy arrangement."  A grave sin in Mississauga to cost developer money that City hall wants taxpayers to shell out, it would appear.  This may appear an unlikely beginning to a story where the Mr. Baptista ends up being charged for threatening but this would not be the only case and I am sure there are more just waiting to be uncovered or someone to come forward. 

The next part of this tale begins with the Ward 9's Councillor, Pat Saito, making some very flippant remarks about potholes in her Ward, that they act like speed bumps, slowing traffic down.  In fact, potholes are dangerous and safety hazard.  This and the fact that Pat Saito was away from her office a lot at this time, so there could not be normal communication between the two to sort things out, lead a great deal of frustration.  To deal with running into the great wall around Mississauga City hall - (the City Wall) - Mr. Baptista taped into his creative juices and wrote a poem about how he felt about the pothole issue.  Mr. Baptista is a bit eccentric and not just because he helps his community by taking on those at City hall.  He has written a number of poems and then put them in peoples mail boxes, harmless enough and never got him in trouble before.  However, this time the poem talked about filling a pothole with Pat Saito.  The humor was lost on some and others did not see that this protest poem or political commentary (like a political cartoon), as artist expression protected by Canada's Charter Rights to free speech.   More on artists in Mississauga and how "Artists must be outrageous.  Society depends upon it."

The Peel police, always ready to be useful to the politicians who vote for their pay raises, jumped on the case.  Mr. Baptista had used an old typewriter for both his letters to City hall and poems, so it was not hard to put 2 + 2 together.  He was called in, admitted to it and charged with threatening and intimidation.  The real question is why?

Yes why would the Peel police do such a thing to Mr. Baptista?  What exactly did they think he was going to do or could even do?  Do not try to say you can never be too careful after 9/11 because that is right wing crap trap for fools to fall for, there has to be reasonable cause for charging a person in Canada - what was it in Mr. Baptista case?   Could the Peel police not see this was an old fart just harmlessly horsing around?  Remember seniors did not grow up in the same political correctness that plaques us now and often display their old school attitudes, our understanding & wisdom is required.    Why was he not given a warning?  That is the biggest question but the answer to that is simple.  For the Peel police to serve the politicians in Mississauga City hall to greatest degree they had to destroy Mr. Baptista legal rights to access the government he pays for (remember that bit about no taxation, without representation?), by forcing him to sign a document (under pain of jail), that he would not contact Mississauga's politicians or go on City hall property.  It was more about making sure he could not do any more good deeds than protecting Par Saito.  It is also over-kill.  Why take away access to the Mayor and other Councillors?  There was no mention of them in his poem.  Why deny him access to all of City hall?  Politicians hide in locked sections of City hall as it is, maybe to make sure he could not help other people escape the tax traps Councillors had set for their developer friends to profit from.

Oh yes, the bail on Mr. Baptista will last into next May of 2007, so for the rest of the election year Pat Saito has the Peel police to thank for keeping Mr. Baptista out of her hair OR at least that was the plan.

Then there is what was Pat Saito's role in Mr. Baptista arrest?   Why did she not say that she will try to work out things between them, as a responsible elected official would?  Documents I have seen shows Councillors are contacted in these cases.  Then there is the issue of why did the Peel police not (as far as I can make out), tell the Councillor to try and work things out before they charge him?  Peel police action should be a last resort because being of the opinion that the Peel police are being tools of politicians, being their bully boys and doing their dirty work on those who expose or oppose the incompetence of elected office, is the logical opinion - in a Democracy. 

So Mr. Baptista was arrested and threatened with 3 to 6 months of jail time, the stress of which has been quite hard on his health and it will not be over for months to come.  What are they trying to do kill him from the stress?  Now his son Joe Baptista arrives on the scene and takes very great exception to how the Peel police, the Crown and Pat Saito have been treating his father.  That is bad enough but then the Crown Attorney Aimee Gauthier threatens, sorry, challenges Joe Baptist with arrest and/or jail if he tries to make an issue of this, by publicly posting the poem his father wrote, well the spam has hit the fan.   Candidate Joe Baptista did an out-reach campaign to make sure the world knows what is happening in the little backwater of Peel / Mississauga. 

What happens next is in part up to you.  Make it known these people are way out of line by every means available to you and vote below.
And at the polls for the candidate that opposes such political & Peel police harassment!

!! Warning!!
Danger - Danger
Click here to see the whole poem.
In doing so you could be participating in a criminal act!
{the Crown was given a chance today to arrest Joe Baptista for publicizing the poem in question and did not take legal action
- so it looks like it was a bluff and they only pick on people who they think can't fight back}
And agree not to take legal action against me for providing access to a news item and election issue in my campaign.

Vote here about what you judge should happen regarding this poem.
{send an E-mail with choice}

VOTES

                A).    Mr. Baptista is protected by the reasonable rights and freedoms, of a Democratic society to ensure political and artistic
                         freedom of expression is maintained as a sacred trust.

                B).    The Crown should persecute Mr. Baptista to the maximum to set an example to all those who would disrespect the
                         City BOSSES or try to service their community and do not have the permission of City politicians or provide a cut or the
                         "action".  Heads for the pikes around City hall don't you know.

                C).    Peel police, to avoid further embarrassment to politicians, should have done with Mr. Baptista by locking him up on more
                         trumped up charges, thrown away the key, leaving him to a slow death in a dark jail cell or the more traditional fall down
                         a flight of stairs.

                D).    Mr. Baptista should be chained to the back of Pat Saito's car so she can drive around City hall at speed until she feel safe.

A second poem about Pat Saito
- What is good or bad with Mrs. Pat Satio - by the Bed Wolf -
that the Peel police have not criminalized - yet.

Candidate Joe Baptista's Oct. 5, 2006, out-reach E-mail.

Hello:

The right to freedom of expression in a just and free society is paramount.

The attached press release according to one Crown Attorney Aimee Gauthier
is a crime.

You are therefore required to report that you received this email to the
appropriate authorities.  With pleasure - joe baptista :)

P.S. Due to the short time period I have had to program this email.  You
may end up getting more then once.  My Appologies in advance - but such is
the price of fighting for freedom.

PR DRAFT - Municipal candidate gets jail time - maybe

Hello my name is Joe Baptista and it is a pleasure to introduce myself as
the Councilor Candidate for Ward 9 Mississauga.  I am writing you this
email to inform you that I have accepted a challenge presented to me today
by Ontario Crown Attorney Aimee Gauthier through the kind offices of our
family lawyer Mr. Louis Acri.

I need your help to ensure that I am able to meet this challenge.  I need
you to contact Gauthier (her number and email is at the end of this Press
Release) and ensure she knows I have distributed and published this poem:

http://www.cynikal.net/~baptista/baptista.a/potholepoem.pdf

I need your help!  Because every call and email to Gauthier assures I land
up in jail and charged with a criminal act.  It is critical that you help
me because every call ensures Gauthier either puts up or shuts up.

Either way your call will assist me in exposing the moral bankruptcy that
has become our political and justice systems.

This satirical poem is authored by my father as protest against Pat Saito,
a municipal Councilor in the city of Mississauga.  The poem makes fun of
Saito who once claimed pot holes were good since they were a lot like
speed bumps.  I think all of us that drive know the only thing potholes
are good for is keeping mechanics and tow truck drivers in business.

Last year Mr. Antonio Baptista uncovered that city residents were being
charged taxes in excess of what they owed.  In almost all cases the
original land developers owed these taxes.

As a result of his unselfish efforts many of our neighbors were
reimbursed.  But many more thousands of residents in the city of
Mississaugans have paid and never been informed by their councilors they
did not owe these taxes.

Saito is one such councilor who derives most of her campaign financing
from the same land developers who have profited from this cozy
arrangement.  So do most of the others.

Councilor Saito ignored Antonio Baptista.s mails and telephone calls to
fix the tax problem and inform the people she is sworn to represent.  This
resulted in frustration and my father published this poem in the hope it
would get her attention.

It got her attention and the result was Antonio, an elderly 75-year-old,
was criminally charged on a complaint from Saito to the police.  This has
cost Antonio his health and has resulted in a financial burden as he pays
lawyers to defend him against these vexatious and frivolous charges.

Saito should of just picked up the phone and done her job.
 
The moral bankruptcy in our political system must stop.  Baptista has
every right to express himself against crooks like Saito.  In a democracy
this is not only a right owed a citizen, it is a fundamental
responsibility.

Artistic expression and the use of satire, even in poor taste, is a
critical right we must protect.  If we do not protect these rights to
laugh at the stupidity of our politicians and civil servants then we open
the doors to moral bankruptcy and abuse.

What is happening to Antonio can not be ignored and sets a dangerous legal
precedence affecting free speech.  If this continues someday the press,
cartoonists, political satirists and anyone else who have used this avenue
will be in jail.  Someday that may be the case.

So pick up your phones, dial the attached numbers.  Click on the attached
emails and help me make a difference.  Give Gauthier what she needs to
start this ball rolling or take her immoral treats and shove them where
the sun don.t shine.

Contacts:

Aimee Gauthier
Assistant Crown Attorney - PEEL
Phone: 905-456-4777
Email: aimee.gauthier@jus.gov.on.ca 

John Mans
Detective Peel Regional Police
Phone: 905-453-3311 ext. 1131
Email: john.mans@peelpolice.on.ca

Pat Saito,
Councilor Ward 9, Mississauga City Hall
Phone: 905-824-3429
Email: patsaito@sympatico.ca

Joe Baptista,
Councilor Candidate Ward 9, Mississauga City Hall
Phone: 360-526-6077
Email: baptista@cynikal.net