Reward the culprits?
Dear Editor:
Premier Doug Ford is attempting to appease the electorate of Ontario with a grant of $200 to the underachieving math students.
Annie Kidder, executive director of People for Education, perceives this to be imprudent. She would prefer this money be given to the school boards to be used for administration and new programs .
So, she wants the money to be given to the same group that has caused this mess? Makes sense to me.
Jim McClure,
Crieff
‘A conscious strategy’
Dear Editor:
I had an Erin resident ask me, “Is it true that the Erin Wastewater Treatment Plant (WWTP) is a done deal? Is there something I can do about this?”
My response to these questions is both yes and no. Yes, the WWTP will be built, but no, the environmental impacts and scope of the project are not a done deal.
The Town of Erin has gone through steps to get the necessary approvals, they have most of the permits in place and construction has begun. There is no doubt that the plant will be built. However, the potential environmental impacts of the WWTP are not a done deal.
Although the Ministry of Environment, Conservation and Parks (MECP) has included a requirement for a cooling system in the Environmental Compliance Approval, several questions remain to be answered:
– will the effluent from the plant be cooled sufficiently to protect the coldwater ecosystem and native brook trout population?
– what type of effluent monitoring and river monitoring plan will be put in place to protect the West Credit River?
– will the public get to see real-time effluent data from the WWTP?
– what corrective actions will be taken should the effluent exceed permit limits?
– will the town be willing to make major changes if there is harm to the river ecosystem?
– how many homes will be connected to the plant?
– how fast will the plant’s population capacity be filled?
These important decisions are largely in the hands of the Town of Erin. The town should:
– instruct its consultants to develop a leading-edge, effective and efficient effluent cooling system;
– implement a world class environmental monitoring strategy;
– bring the WWTP online in a slow phased approach to watch for environmental impacts;
– commit to infiltration of effluent into the ground if harm is done to the riverine ecosystem; and
– initiate best practice stormwater management for developments connected to the WWTP.
These actions can help protect the West Credit River ecosystem and make the WWTP a project that Erin’s community would be proud of. Since construction has begun on the plant, the town and their consultants have no desire to address these concerns. Doing nothing is not for lack of direction, but is rather a conscious strategy.
Judy Mabee,
Chair, Coalition for the West Credit River
‘A finite resource’
Dear Editor:
It was brought up at an all candidates meeting that there was only nine years of water left for Centre Wellington. Where did this figure originate? How much do we use?
The provincial Tier 3 Assessment identifies Centre Wellington at significant water quantity risk. There is a degree of uncertainty in the prediction.
Wells may become polluted, silt up, or just become less productive. This assessment does not include potential commercial water bottling from the Middlebrook well and the urban area of Fergus and Elora doubling in population by 2041 (Places to Grow Act 2016).
Municipal wells pumped 2,127,751 cubic metres of water in 2021, or 5,793m3 of water each day (just over filling 12 2,000-square-foot houses or 10.5 sportsplex swimming pools).
The town is exploring additional sources of water, but it remains a finite resource.
Chris Woode,
Fergus
Stolen sculpture
Dear Editor:
For many years I have taken part in the Elora Sculpture Project. This year I exhibited Oracle; a large figure examining a stone in his hand, a smaller one beside him, the two of them wondering what the future will bring. This sculpture was located on the corner of Geddes and Metcalfe Street.
On Oct. 16 we gathered at the Elora Centre of the Arts to wrap up the exhibit. It was time to take down the sculptures, make room for the ghosts and goblins as Elora is getting ready for Halloween.
What a disappointment to find part of my sculpture missing. Someone has taken the small figure. I cannot imagine why.
Whoever did this has removed meaning; the two figures belong together, now he is alone; shared wondering was so much easier to bear. Please return it to me.
You could drop it off at The Elora Centre of the Arts or put it in our mailbox at 5949 Wellington Road 26. Do you want a small sculpture? I would gladly let you have one of my other small pieces.
Rosalinde Baumgartner,
Erin
Heat pump switch
Dear Editor:
Wellington-Halton Hills MP Michael Chong rose in Parliament on Oct. 20 to criticize, in typical Conservative fashion, the government’s carbon tax, without offering an alternative plan.
He disingenuously emphasized that 20% of Canadians did not get back as much from the rebate as they pay in carbon tax. What he didn’t say is that 80% get back more.
However, he did raise important concerns for rural Canadians in Ontario and the Atlantic provinces who heat with expensive propane and fuel oil. Typical rural homes burn 2,800 litres of oil at a cost of $2.35 per litre, for an annual heating bill of $6,580.
To avoid the tax, why didn’t Chong suggest something positive, like urging the government to do a more convincing job of getting Canadians to switch to heat pumps?
Heat pumps have improved considerably and typically produce 3.5 times as much heat output as they require energy input. For very cold days they do require some supplemental heating.
I installed an air exchange heat pump in October last year, complete with gas burner to provide supplemental heat as required. It used 5,575 kWh more electricity but only 28% as much gas compared to the previous year when I had a high efficiency gas furnace. My older home has similar heating requirements as the rural homes on oil.
If rural people switched to heat pumps, they would burn only 28% of 2,800 litres (784 litres) at $2.35 per litre and would use 5,575kWh more electricity at $0.131 per kWh (average cost in Ontario) for an annual heating bill of $2,573. They would save about $4,000 per year, wouldn’t pay the carbon tax on fuel they didn’t burn, and wouldn’t emit six tonnes of CO2.
My heat pump, including installation and taxes, cost $11,300. Their savings would pay for the heat pump in under three years. There is also a Greener Home grant of up to $5,000 for eligible home retrofits.
Chong said there are 1.5 million homes on oil. They could reduce Canadian emissions by nine million tonnes, while saving themselves a lot of money!
Ron Moore,
Hillsburgh
‘Nothing left’
Dear Editor:
Every time we give up a part of our faith to try to fit into the way of the world, we lose it forever. We lose a precious part of God’s promise, sacrificed to the world.
And the world will never give it back. And someday, when the world tells us we can no longer have our religion, except where they say, and God is driven from our schools, our government and our homes, then God’s people can look back and know that our religion was not taken from us.
It was given up, handed over bit by bit until there was nothing left.
Bert and Dinie Te Winkel,
Drayton
Blames ‘them all’
Dear Editor:
I cannot help but feel sadness for the country of Ukraine and its valiant people who struggle against the invasion of their homeland by one of their neighbours, Russia, which once again is no longer friendly, but highly aggressive in 2022.
On the other hand, I am furious at the leaders of several countries, including Putin of Russia, Zelensky of Ukraine, Biden of the United States and all the members of NATO, including Trudeau of Canada.
These leaders have the most essential weapon at their disposal, which is diplomacy and they collectively fail to use it. The ultimate end game is to cripple Russia, a country of the east, which also has a vibrant literary and cultural heritage, as well as once an equal partner with Roosevelt and Churchill during the Second World War.
Where are the peace and anti-war rallies in the West? Where are the academic voices that have been silenced or missing in this massive campaign preventing a deeper dialogue?
I blame them all and yet we walk slowly, silently, stupidly towards what Biden calls “Armageddon”.
Janet Calderwood,
Rockwood
Autumn poem
Dear Editor:
Has Mother Nature with all the scarlet trees conspired
When they in their full glorious crimson are attired
Or has she chosen a plan, that to will to all endear
When they in their full carmine hue will appear?
Did Mother Nature require every maple tall
To guard her beauty even longer this fall?
Or has this final glorious gift been extended
Only to the eyes open to receive the gift she intended?
Sytske Drijber,
Rockwood
Anti-Semitism common
Dear Editor:
RE: Graffiti at synagogue investigated as hate crime, Oct. 13.
I would like to say a few things from someone whose father was Jewish but whose mother was Christian. The incident happened on Oct. 5 which, this year, marks the holiest day of the Jewish calendar, the Day of Atonement or Yom Kippur. Something similar took place at the synagogue in Kitchener around the same time, so this wasn’t an isolated incident.
What I would like the broader community to understand is that this is the tip of the iceberg – if you open your eyes and ears you will see anti-Semitism all around you, perhaps in not so blatant a display, but in some people’s attitudes and, dare I say, in Church doctrine.
I was an occasional teacher with a local Catholic school board for 10 years where I came to understand how the Jews have been labelled “Christ-killers” over the centuries. In one classroom I taught in, there were pictures up on the wall that students had drawn as part of an assignment with another teacher, in which Jews were presented as the people who stoned Jesus, who betrayed Jesus, who turned Jesus over to the authorities, who asked Pontius Pilate to crucify Jesus and who refused to believe that he was the messiah.
It was quite shocking to me. To my mind, this was nothing more than a type of hate propaganda. But this is how Jews are depicted in the gospels and these portrayals are reinforced every Easter and in, at least some, religious school classrooms.
I want Christians to understand that the gospels were written many decades after Jesus’ death by people who had no firsthand knowledge of the events of his life.
It was expedient for the authors to blame the Jews for the crucifixion of Jesus rather than Pontius Pilate, because the authors needed to convince early Christians that they were now the true believers of God and not the Jews.
Hitler didn’t invent anti-Semitism. He only gave people permission to hate Jews for other reasons. If you look at the reasons why Jews are deprecated, there is always an agenda full of deceit and propaganda and that is self-serving.
What I don’t understand is how a person or institution can say they love Jesus (who was Jewish) and then deprecate Jews. It makes no sense to me. For the love of God or for the love of humanity, let’s stop hating one another.
As the sign I have seen on so many people’s lawn says, “Hate has no home here.” I want to believe it.
Barbara Cooper,
East Garafraxa
Support, remembrance
Dear Editor:
I served as a lieutenant with the Queen’s Own Rifles regiment in the Second World War. In 1945, in the Rhine Valley, Germany, I was injured by an anti-personnel mine explosion, resulting in the loss of my left leg below the knee.
When I returned home from the war, I joined The War Amps and have been a member ever since. This association was started by First World War amputee veterans to help each other adapt to their new reality as amputees.
In 1975, The War Amps established the Child Amputee (CHAMP) Program, which provides young amputees with financial assistance for artificial limbs and peer support from fellow amputees.
The veteran members wanted to ensure that young amputees have the vital support they need, and it makes me very happy to see it’s still going strong today!
I also take great comfort in knowing that Champs will continue to move the organization forward and keep spreading the message of remembrance, even after I no longer can.
Through The War Amps Operation Legacy program, Champs have taken up the torch of remembrance to commemorate the sacrifices of those who served and continue to serve.
I can say with pride that the legacy and sacrifices my comrades and I have left behind will be remembered long into the future.
Charlie Jefferson,
Member of The War Amps,
Ottawa