Lights missing
Dear Editor:
Shame on you again mayor, council and Centre Wellington. Did anyone else notice the naked Christmas tree in McDonald Square in Elora?
Not one light!
We all needed a picker upper and that could have been it. I remember when Mary Dunlop turned the first lights on – what an event it was to enjoy! Nothing this year.
Hopefully 2021 will be brighter.
Brenda Day,
Elora
ATVs safe and fun
Dear Editor:
My family have been riding ATV, snow machines, etc. for over 45 years without injury or occurrence. Not everyone is careless.
As owners of these machines, we are required to licence and insure them just like other vehicles using the roads, except bicycles. We are also required to show proof of Ownership. So why can we not use the shoulder of the roads we are taxed on.
To be clear, we do not want to be on paved roads, but on gravel and gravel shoulders where our tires are more than safe.
I have been a Class A driver for over 50 years and the thing I fear most on the paved road is a bicycle. And yes, there will be injuries just like all other sports in the world but we can’t live life in bubble wrap.
I have perfect confidence in the fact that the OPP will weed out the unsafe operators like they do in all other modes of transportation.
All of these machines are safer than they ever been, better brakes, tires, lights, the list goes on.
Even with COVID-19, it’s a great way to get out with family for exercise. Maybe what we should be doing is opening ATV trails here so we don’t have to travel hundreds of miles to get to ATV trails like in Quebec. Watch some of the videos, showing a family, out in the woods, cooking hot dogs over an open fire instead of sitting in the basement doing video games.
We must watch out Canada, that our freedom to live is not being suppressed by the nay sayers.
There are different ways to teach safety on the machines. I would also like to mention the jobs these machines create: sales, service, manufacturing, on and on, plus all the taxes that come from the machines.
Anyway, we are going out four-wheeling now. So if you see us, just wave or stop and say hello. Learn more about this sport, and for sure we will move over for you.
Please remember, we don’t all knit or play bingo.
Jim Machan,
Guelph-Eramosa
Recognition at last
Dear Editor:
Thanks to the Wellington Advertiser and Kelly Waterhouse. Someone finally acknowledged publicly the timeless, selfless efforts of the Benham family for community betterment.
Their annual Grinch wonderland has brought joy to so many, year after year.
Best wishes one and all, especially the Benham family. Have a happy, healthy and prosperous New Year in 2021.
James P. Black,
Elora
Out of touch
Dear Editor:
It is disheartening to see how really out of touch our politicians have become.
We all have pandemic overload and fatigue, all of us.
The audacity of so many politicians of every stripe and party whether federal or provincial, it really doesn’t matter any more.
St.Barts, Hawaii, Mexico … on and on it goes (and they go ).
No party is without smear.
None is better than the other.
Wake up people !
I really believe that the only way to end this baloney is out and out firings and monetary penalties. Money talks in every language & party. Period.
Enough of the banal, hollow apologies. Keep them.
The only thing ANY politician is sorry of is being caught. Seriously? Who believes any of the crocodile tears anymore ?
Although, it has worked very well for our supreme leader (Prime Minister) Justin (Trudeau). He always seems to be given a pass. So, who are we to expect better from the rest of them?
What is good for the gander is good for all the geese, no?
This is just all too much.
What is next ?
I can hardly wait for the next faux pas.
We really do need, as Canadians, to up our expectations, to demand more of the people that we elect.
Here is a thought, “transparency.”
Some say, they, the politicians, need to be held to higher standards than the ordinary folk.
I for one would be pleased if they were just held to the same standards as the rest of us.
Delsie Drover,
Belwood
Where are the police?
Dear Editor:
The recent letters, “Reckless stupidity,” “Time changes,” “No ATVs on local roads,” all seem to indicate citizens are aware and have concerns regarding motorized vehicle traffic within in our community. As I drive around, I often see trucks with huge wheels sticking out and noisy exhausts, as well as cars with noisy mufflers racing through residential streets and around the town. Sitting at traffic lights, I am amazed how many drivers race through on Amber, that could easily have stopped.
Despite the fact that most accidents happen at road intersections, some drivers insist on going through them at high speed regardless. The town speed limit should be lowered to 40kmh everywhere, which means drivers may decide to slow down and do 50 maybe, but really … where is our police force? Are we only getting what we pay for maybe? If that’s the case , then certainly, there is a need for increased police funding.
Malcolm McCulloch,
Fergus
Oops…
Dear Editor:
Yeah, let’s hope that this new year is better than the last. We came home from a vacation in Bermuda on March 14 to a changed world — Toronto airport looked like a ghost town.
We’ve been home ever since. I don’t go out (unless it’s to the LCBO for booze — I recently read that one in four adults in Canada have become binge drinkers because of Covid-19 – guess which one I’ve become?
I feel sorry, deeply sorry, for those people who are “truly” alone during all of this. Not the ones that have a pet cat/dog as a companion; not the ones that have a husband/wife/partner to bicker with each other all day long; not the ones with multi-generations living under the same roof; not even those who are homeless (without a roof over them) but do have other homeless companions — in a shelter or not — to communicate with and confide in. No … no … no! The “truly” alone. One lonely person locked in the one lonely place they call home.
I feel sorrow for the Royal Canadian Legion veterans (both young and old) that cannot spend time with their comrades; The seniors deprived of contact with contemporaries due to the locked down closed senior centres. I’m just so sorry.
Brian Cameron,
Salem
Engineering marvel?
Dear Editor:
I have spent the past while on a mission trying to evaluate Ontario wastewater plants.
I have looked at failures and issues in a few communities. To name a few, Orangeville, Shelburne, Tottenham, Bradford and the list went on and on. I truly think it would have been an easier search to find a plant that had not failed or had issues.
Politicians, and people pushing their objectives and agendas like to use the term “state of the art technology” for their new proposals. I spent a career repairing and reinventing these so called technologies that looked good on the table but not in practice.
After being in construction for 50 years I feel that gives me the nod to give my opinion. I have worked on multi million dollar projects and my final work before I retired was a $1 billion federal project.
In my opinion, I feel the costs for our local abomination will be at least double, $240 million, and that is the minimum. (I will save this email for my Grandkids as proof). And it truly will be an engineering marvel as GPS shows a height of 401 metres at the proposed site and 386 metres at 9th line and Wellington Road 124.
We used to say it rolls down hill and payday is on Friday but this feat is truly going to be amazing in my opinion.
I was an electrician by trade, and cannot fathom the pumps that are going to perform this task of moving solids and waste of this proposed capacity up almost 50’.
Again, I say, if this totally unnecessary plant (in my opinion) must go in why not look at a more appropriate location between the two towns of Hillsburgh and Erin. 9th Line and 22nd Sideroad makes more sense to me.
We might even have gravity on our side!
Ken Cowling,
Erin
Started with Harper
Dear Editor:
Re: “China connections,” Dec. 22.
According to CTV news, it was Stephen Harper’s government (that would be the Conservative government) which initiated training exercises with the Chinese. Not the Liberals, who ended it.
Unless, of course, this quote from the CTV website is just another blatant Liberal lie.
“Our government always stands up for Canadians at home and abroad and this includes our relationship with China. But let me be very clear, we do not train with Chinese military,” said Minister Sajjan, adding that this initiative was originally put in place by the Conservative government under Stephen Harper.
“It was the previous government that actually signed a co-operation plan initiative in 2013 under Rob Nicholson, when he was the Minister of National Defence … because of the agreement they had signed, this is one of the reasons why we actually changed our approach because of the concerns the member outlined,” Sajjan said.
“We will always stand up for Canadians who are arbitrarily detained. This is one of the reasons why we actually stopped our training with the Chinese,” Sajjan said.
Jim Baxter,
Guelph
Keep ARC centres open
Dear Editor:
Hello – With this letter, I want to shine a light on a crisis in our community and encourage your readers to help turn the situation around.
Community Living Guelph Wellington (CLGW) has chosen to end a wonderful day program that has enhanced the lives of people with disabilities in our community for decades. This includes my sister Margaret, who has happily attended for 33 years.
Without full transparency, CLGW wrote a “Strategic Plan” filled with political-speak, vague plans, unrealistic expectations and absolutely no budget, timeline, or concrete examples for replacement options for our loved ones. In other words, they are closing the doors on a viable, successful day program, and replacing it with smoke and mirrors.
The people we support and love will no longer be able to meet with their friends at the centers and participate in safe, challenging and fulfilling daily activities, Monday through Friday, 9am to 3pm.
The senior staff at CLGW say that the “new day program” will still exist “out in the community”. Where? What are these scattered opportunities? How will you provide 6 hours of safe, welcoming, interesting activity each day for all of our loved ones, without a central location?
The CLGW web site states: “Our goal is for these buildings to become an inclusive space for everyone. Revenue generated from these inclusive spaces will be used to enhance the services we provide for adults with disabilities.”
TRANSLATION: “We have decided that you no longer have the right to gather in the buildings that had been built and established for you, and we will rent the space out to generate revenue that will be used for undisclosed purposes. You and your families have no say in the matter. Oh, and when we say “inclusive space for everyone” that does not include you.”
We, the families and friends of day program participants are fighting to keep the buildings open and programs running as they had before COVID. We will fight because this is crucial for the vulnerable people we love and support. And because for many of these individuals, they literally have nowhere else to go.
Please visit www.cupe.on.ca/RestoreDayPrograms to email your local MPP and tell Community Living Guelph Wellington to restore day programs.
Marie Craig,
Guelph
Tag team socialism
Dear Editor:
About five months ago Premier Doug Ford issued a moratorium on rent increases in Ontario. At the same time, property taxes were increased, water rates went up and insurance premiums increased substantially.
Recently Toronto Mayor John Tory petitioned the Ontario Legislature to invoke a “no-eviction order.” Basically this allows a tenant to squat on someone’s property with no consequences.
And what does it teach the tenant and his family? And what about the socialism being taught by Premier Ford?
I guess it would be absurd of me to suggest that the tenants give up the wifi, the satellite TV, the family’s cell phones, video games and cigarettes; but, that would make Ford look like a Grinch!
I visited the residence of a “past-due” tenant last week. She was smoking dope and cigarettes. In a corner of the kitchen were 17 pizza boxes which she stated were delivered by Uber.
Mr. Ford may wish to take a longer view of his mercurial decisions. These tenants, like Pavlov’s dogs, are going to expect relief ad infinitum in the future. They will continue to expect “relief” the rest of their lives, courtesy of you and me. I resent the premier’s subsidy of tenants at my expense and that of the taxpayer.
Jim McClure,
Crieff
Thanks to staff
Dear Editor:
A big thank you to the amazing staff at Wellington Terrace!
This was mom/Nana’s first Christmas at the Terrace and staff went above and beyond to ensure she, and other residents, had personal contact with loved ones.
Her granddaughters took photos from outside while I helped mom visit them and other family using phone and iPad!
Please continue to recognize the amazing work this LTC home is doing every day.
Kathy Soule,
Guelph
Slimy cover-up attempt
Dear Editor:
It is bad enough that Minister Rod Phillips displayed a complete lack of judgement and leadership by taking a vacation to the Caribbean during the pandemic contrary to all the advice against travel being communicated by his own government and it’s health agencies.
However, what makes it even more egregious is the slimy attempt at covering his absence by posting to social media to make it appear that he was still at home in Ajax. The citizens of his Ajax riding and the voters of Ontario deserve far better than this.
If it were up to me, Mr. Phillips would be removed from his portfolio and kicked out of caucus.
Mike Vasil,
Fergus