With certainty, license plates just aren’t what they used to be. That goes for politicians, too.
Many farms around the county have an assortment of license plates saved over the years. Auction sales of old homesteads often have a small collection up for bid. They don’t bring much, yet there is always a buyer for a specific year. Year of birth, Centennial plates, start of a decade – there are so many reasons that make people stick up their hand or nod to the auctioneer.
What we have found interesting watching this unfold too many times to count is that the plates are often in very good shape. Apart from a bit of surface rust, they are legible, have some design elements of interest and varying colours depending on the year of manufacture.
Today, we have a government embroiled in “plategate” as it has come to be known.
The plates introduced a month ago feature a different slogan – “A Place to Grow,” changed from “Yours to Discover” – and a colour scheme in keeping with Progressive Conservative colours. It was obviously a vanity project off the hop, but it was pitched as a new solution to replace faulty older-style plates that suffered from lettering that would not adhere. This winter has been hard on plates, but that is another story.
At any rate, what had the premier and cohorts strutting like peacocks during the announcement of this solution to an agreed problem, quickly turned to a public relations disaster. Tens of thousands of plates rolled out to licensing facilities across the province were defective in that there were issues with legibility.
Since that controversy erupted the government has apparently negotiated a replacement plan. New and improved, as they say. Although a non-disclosure agreement between 3M and the government precludes specific details emerging, the premier made it quite clear earlier this week that it won’t cost the taxpayers a dime.
For approximately a month, the premier has been unavailable for a press scrums, so Toronto reporters had little option but to question him on plategate during an announcement regarding a road project and agreement with Natives that would help the Ring of Fire project in northern Ontario. Mad he was, that premier of ours. How dare journalists make inquiries during a photo-op style event?
Perhaps if Ford spent less time in his own little bubble there would be answers on many issues. The current status of the teachers’ strike, his government’s approach to dealing with COVID-19, the status of mass transit in Toronto, why the deficit appears to be growing under his watch – there are so many conversation points of interest to Ontarians.
Instead, the same old refrain appeared: shoot the messenger. Dissatisfaction with this premier is not just a Toronto phenomenon.
Effective recycling
Speaking of auction sales, before rapping was cool, the countryside had auctioneers.
Each one has a different style, pitch and rhythm. It’s fun to listen and watch the crowd get a little mesmerized. Sometimes it’s a deal and sometimes not, but that’s up to buyers to make a good purchase.
Speaking with Steve Parr a while back, it is my understanding the furniture and odds and sods, don’t quite sell like they used to. Perfectly good dining room sets, antique bedroom pieces and accessories which probably cost a pretty penny in their day are often overlooked as old junk.
As Canadians, and arguably any humans on the planet, grapple with climate change and being good stewards of this Earth, are we any better with keeping the promise of reduce, re-use, recycle?
Many non-profit groups do a great job of re-purposing materials that would otherwise be destined for the landfill. Planned obsolescence on the part of manufacturers sees many items – think appliances and electronics – that have a limited life cycle.
The ability to repair is quite limited and let’s be honest, few people have the knack to fix things. Most people have an uncle or relative that could make pretty much anything work with a bit of polish and some ingenuity.
If you want some entertainment and you want to do something good for the environment, check out the auction pages each week. Treasures abound.
