Rights have limits
Dear Editor:
It’s disappointing to hear the disinformation Centre Wellington councillors Steven VanLeeuwen and Stephen Kitras are spreading regarding Canada’s and Ontario’s COVID-19 response and I would expect them to be better informed. Although Kitras is not a member of the group, he is fully in support of its objectives.
VanLeeuwen thinks the COVID-19 restrictions in place contravene the Charter of Rights and Freedoms in specific ways, one of which is the right to congregate for worship. The charter spells out that “There may be limits on how you express your religious beliefs if your way of doing so would infringe on the rights of others or undermine complex public programs and policies.” I think a pandemic is a perfect case in point and, further, allowing people to congregate in churches and elsewhere could infringe upon their rights to life and personal safety which is guaranteed under Section 7 of the charter.
Furthermore, Statistics Canada’s website doesn’t agree with Mr. Van Leeuwen’s assertion that the elderly are primarily at risk of contracting the virus. On the contrary, the distribution of coronavirus cases by age group in Canada, as of Jan. 29, is as follows: 50.9% are aged 19 to 39, 28% are 40 to 59; and 21% are 60-plus.
I am heartened to know that Mayor Kelly Linton will continue to heed the advice of public health officials and so should all of us.
Pat Martin,
Fergus
Spewing ‘nonsense’
Dear Editor:
I was appalled to see that Centre Wellington councillor Steve VanLeeuwen has joined the “End the lockdowns caucus.”
The over 280,000 COVID 19 cases in Ontario came from personal contact with others who had the virus.
Is VanLeeuwen unaware of that? Perhaps, for in the picture the group posted, there they are maskless, not socially distanced, in violation of the provincial stay at home order, supposedly exercising their rights. Perhaps he should consider that the over 6,500 Ontarians who died from the virus don’t have rights anymore. Perhaps with his behaviour he is at risk of joining them.
I agree with Mayor Kelly Linton when he said, “This current lockdown is primarily the result of simple rules not being followed. That is what has to change.”
I hope VanLeeuwen comes to his senses and realizes that one of his main responsibilities as an elected official is to keep people safe, not spew nonsense.
Peter Varty,
Fergus
‘Move the town’
Dear Editor:
RE: Report recommends $38-million diversion of river around Harriston, Feb. 4.
The planet is in trouble. There are too many humans, too much apathy, too much disregard for the environment.
The fact that a town is built on a flood plain, that has endured years of flooding, points to one fact only: we never learn. We refuse to learn from our own mistakes, whether political, historical financial, or environmental; we repeat our own inanity countless times.
We still think we can control nature, despite years of being shown otherwise. The planet is not “ours”, it is on loan, ours to return when we are done.
Move the river? This is crazy! This is as selfish and naïve as the proposal to build Highway 413.
As Chief Seattle said, “We are part of the earth, and the earth is part of us.” Move the town.
Gerry Stephenson,
Puslinch
‘Socialist narrative’
Dear Editor:
I read with interest Filce’s (‘A viable safeguard,’ Feb. 4) and Goudie’s (‘Gatekepers of real truth,’ Feb. 4) responses to my assertion that censoring free speech will undoubtedly lead to a Canada that will be a much worse place to live in than it is with free speech.
I love how we as smug Canadians are much better than our American neighbours: “We only need to look to the south in order to see what freedom of speech and expression led to in weeks past. Death and destruction.” (Filce) My question to Filce is what makes you think Canada is so much better than the United States?
Goudie asserts that “Lies are a form of censorship because they bury or distort actual truth.” To Mr Goudie: Who are you saying is actually lying?
For the last number of years, I have been listening for actual balanced journalism, primarily from our national broadcaster, the CBC, and also from other mainstream media. I am honestly not seeing the balance. As long as I am willing to buy into a socialist narrative, and go along with a socialist agenda, all is fine, but as soon as I dare to present a challenging viewpoint, it is denigrated into “hate speech, obscenity, and defamation.” (Filce) or “Conspiracy misinformation presented as fact, and other forms of untruth pushed as real and true.” (Goudie).
I would also like to ask Goudie and Filce, how do they expect to police and safeguard us from such intolerable things as conspiracy theories?
Call me paranoid, but I see some very evil happenings in this world: a push to annihilate small independent businesses, a push for compliance to socialist dictates, that exorbitant debts being racked up by all levels of government is acceptable, a push to discredit Christian believers and standard of conduct, and a whole slurry of other horrible things that we should not tolerate. These things cannot be instituted by one deviant actor, but on a massive scale of conspirators wanting to affect the same end.
I would like to end this with a quote, I am not sure who penned it, but I feel it very appropriate under the circumstances: “Liberty is meaningless where the right to utter one’s thoughts has ceased to exist, that of all rights is the dread of tyrants.”
Wayne Baker,
Wellington North
‘Extreme views’
Dear Editor:
Re: Just like Hitler? (Jan. 28).
Wayne Baker is guilty of the cardinal tactic all purveyors of extreme views take. They take an undeniable truth and then butcher it by false comparison and hyper overstatement.
Of course freedom of speech is a founding principle, defensible at all costs including the lives of patriots, but there is a world of difference between free speech and the advancement of false science, naked untruths and hate.
Our patriot defenders of free speech did not die so that people like Baker can be outraged that dangerous nonsense, alternative facts and hatred can’t be bandied about with impunity. They died to protect reasonable people having reasonable differences of opinion coming from facts, truth and discussions based on reality. Belief in extremism, lies and counter culture does not fall within that compass, and therein lies the blatant hyper overstatement.
His advancement of selective history is the totally false comparison. The last time I looked, the Wellington Advertiser was neither the Canadian government nor a Stalin/Hitler like autocrat with country-wide authority. The comparison is tenuous at best, and at worst fatuous. The Advertiser is a private news dispensing forum which is perfectly entitled to decide what it will publish and what it will not. If it decides not to publish vitriol and you don’t like it … then don’t read it. The worst elements of social media are your best bet.
And finally, may I suggest that the creation “of a type of pressure cooker” is far more likely caused by conspiracy theories and false flags, repeated ad nauseam by news “rags” and those totally uncontrolled and reprehensible social media outlets, whose repetition is turning words into the very “sword” Baker says he wants to avoid.
Jim Taylor,
Belwood
Not about hair
Dear Editor:
RE: Free pass for PM? (Feb. 4).
Delsie Drover’s anger is misplaced. If you want to talk about failures, look no further than the Ford government. But please, look.
You ask about Trudeau’s hair? Why not ask about the healthcare funding cut by Ford? You question the PM’s intellect? How smart was it to cut funding for public health – now that we need it?
Talking about being 23rd on a list of countries receiving vaccine, sure, did you ask how many dead and suffering people in long-term care Ford and his government are comfortable with? Sure, the Governor General “scandal” is bizarre and embarrassing; is it more embarrassing than the PPE that hospital staff have to reuse?
You mention accountability: who is accountable for our schools and hospitals? The funding to help was bestowed upon Ford and he continues to sit on it, hoarding it for what? To balance a budget? To pay for infrastructure? Our ICUs are full – not with people from LTCs, but healthy people who happened to be hit very hard by a virus. People in their 40s and 50s.
To think someone would bemoan teens getting financial assistance rather than sending them into frontline work and risking their and their family’s lives is sinister.
Have the feds had scandals, sure. Vote how you will next election. It seems like you’re going to anyways. But make sure your frustrations about how this pandemic is going are appropriately placed.
Don’t forget: Ford cut funding; they’re sitting on funding; they’ve ignored experts on smaller class sizes; they’ve lied about HVAC and staffing upgrades; they’ve been purposefully misleading about federal versus provincial dollars spent; they have not secured PPE for hospital staff; they’ve botched the roll out of every step since last March; Ford cut mental health funding, public health funding; waited when they should have acted; and watered down public health recommendations from the get go.
Get mad. But make sure it’s not about hair.
Andy Perun,
Rockwood
‘Reasonable questions’
Dear Editor:
RE: Consultation key, Feb. 4.
Once again the Mayor of Erin continues to extol the virtues of the proposed wastewater treatment plant. I don’t think anyone would disagree that the town needs to takes steps for a sustainable future. He continues to emphasize the amount of studies and consultations that were conducted.
He states that he encourages residents to ask the important questions. One of the crucial questions he continues not to address is the funding and/or financing that would be required, yet he forges ahead saying that the town is taking a measured approach.
I would ask again, what commitment does the town have with regards to developers, both building homes and agreeing to development charges to fund this project? Has the town actually done a full accounting to substantiate that these charges will in fact pay for the initial construction of this facility?
Has the town received any commitment to any funding from provincial or federal governments?
How can rural residents be assured that any finance costs, construction costs or other related costs will not be passed on to rural residents through increased property taxes or other levies? The mayor has always maintained that only “end users” will pay for this. We have already paid for long running environmental studies and consultants, and these costs were borne by both urban and rural residents.
This town certainly does not have a good track record for transparency and I, as a rural resident, take exception to the approach the town is undertaking. I have a perfectly maintained and operating septic system and can have my septic system pumped and maintained from already reliable providers.
The urban residents should be equally concerned about potential cost overruns and the town taking on substantial debt to fund this project.
What measures is the town taking to manage this project properly and having a guaranteed maximum price for the construction?
These are reasonable and critical questions that this mayor and the town need to answer as they are accountable to all the taxpayers of this municipality.
Steve Charbonneau,
Erin
New town motto?
Dear Editor:
Recently changes in Erin’s environment have made tremendous difference to our town’s natural beauty. Do those of you who might have noticed the bulldozers and excavators on the north and south sides of Bush Street ever ask “what is going on” or do you just drive by and not worry about the changes to our community?
Solmar is literally ripping out trees by their roots, and driving excavators through the tributary to the Credit River on the north side of Bush Street. Halton Crushed Stone is in the process of building a berm to hide their excavations on the south side of Bush Street. My question is: why doesn’t anyone care?
As part of the LPAT decision, Halton Crushed Stone has asked the community for volunteers to be part of a community pit liaison group. This group is so the residents can participate and have a voice in the pit’s new operation. The problem is: only three residents (ones who were involved in the LPAT process) volunteered! Residents of Erin need to get involved.
What has to happen here in Erin before the residents decide to change our motto from “Experience the charm” to “Ignore the destruction.”
Ed Delaporte,
Erin