Winter ‘scourge’
Dear Editor:
RE: Mapleton snowmobile club reaches trail use agreement with GRCA, Dec. 30.
Last week’s front page article re-awakened my hatred of those noisy, smelly, polluting, two-stroke, oil-burners that are the scourge of our winter wonderland walks along the beautiful and otherwise peaceful Elora/Cataract Trail.
With the impending climate change catastrophe smacking us in the face, when will we wake up?
I can accept a utilitarian case for a few snowmobiles as essential transport in the remote north but in southern Ontario? I don’t think so.
Is time well overdue to re-think our leisure pursuits and enjoy the great outdoors without the aid of a machine?
Roy Pegg,
Orton
Thankful for cards
Dear Editor:
A big thank-you to the elementary students and their teachers at our Centre Wellington schools for the bright hand-drawn Christmas cards with their cheerful messages received by residents here at Highland Manor.
All of us were happily surprised to know you were thinking about us, especially in a year when some of us had to celebrate away from our own families.
In an uncertain time, we are sure there is kindness even when school has been done differently. Thank you children and teachers for caring.
Arlene Callaghan,
Highland Manor Retirement Lodge, Fergus
‘No more delays’
Dear Editor:
I think most of us are well aware of how complex governing at the federal level must be.
I realize I don’t even know a fraction of what it takes to be prime minister, to be a part of a caucus or a huge bureaucracy. What appears to me to be a “no brainer” is filled with “what ifs” in Ottawa.
What I do know is our responsibility to help those who have helped us. Maybe most Canadians didn’t approve of our participation in Afghanistan, but we did participate. Although our country withdrew several years ago, the legacy of our time there lives on.
I would like to add my voice to those who have been imploring the federal government to act swiftly to rescue those in Afghanistan who have worked with the Canadian government and to bring them here immediately. No more delays. No more “what ifs.”
Omicron is not the only health crisis. Starvation and malnutrition spread rapidly when there is no money for your labour and no money for food. Safe places for hiding because you have worked for the Canadian government and military are only “safe” for so long. Bureaucracy moving slowly is not a luxury for those whose lives are at risk. They do not have the privilege of time off for the holidays.
All governments in democracies listen to the public. So please contact your MP on this issue so it will make it up the ladder and land on the desk of the prime minister.
Janet Calderwood,
Rockwood