‘Show leadership’
Dear Editor:
RE: New 332-unit subdivision proposed in Hillsburgh, April 21.
If the subdivision is approved, I’ll be sad to see more farmland disappear. In compensation for losing the farmland and being cognizant of the climate emergency, I hope the planners will do some or all of the following:
1) Set aside space for community gardens so that some of the land can still provide wholesome food;
2) While the ground is being dug up, this would be an ideal time to install the infrastructure for geothermal heating and cooling for the new community, thus removing the need for natural gas piping and avoiding many tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions;
3) Insulate and air seal the homes to the highest standard to minimize heating and cooling costs;
4) Install solar panels on all the rooftops to provide electricity to power most of the homes’ electrical needs such as heating, cooling, running electrical appliances and charging their electric vehicles – the solar panels on my own roof, along with battery backup, provide the major part of all the electrical requirements for my home including heating and cooling with a heat pump, running all the appliances and charging my car.
The initial cost will be higher, but the operating costs will be minimal along with the benefits of a low carbon footprint, low reliance on the grid and no burning of fossil fuels.
Such a subdivision would show leadership and vision by the Town of Erin and would be a draw for people concerned about our future.
Ron Moore,
Hillsburgh
‘Heinous things’
Dear Editor:
RE: ‘Imagining the worst,’ April 21.
Let’s all play pretend for just a minute. Is it a “rule of the church” to leave a cross at a small grave marked for the children who died at the residential schools?
Is another “rule of the church” to molest, rape, physically and mentally abuse children, and rip them away from their rightful parents?
We were not around to know what happened exactly 100 years ago. This is true. However this disgusting situation continued to happen well into the 1980s.
Thankfully there are people that did survive the abuse and lived to tell about it; people as young as 50 years old. They all have the same story of what went on at the residential schools. We have to acknowledge that heinous things have occurred, we don’t want to live with the wool pulled over our eyes.
As we all know just recently the Pope has just publicly apologized to all the Indigenous people for what happened long ago (and not that long ago at all), at the residential schools.
Also we can not fail to recognize the fact that yes, some of the children probably did die from the flu, but perhaps if these children weren’t malnourished and abused they’d have had a better chance fighting it off.
Samantha McDougall,
Fergus
‘Strategic geniuses’
Dear Editor:
The National Federation of Village Idiots went back to Parliament Hill last weekend for what was billed as the Conclave of the Confused, Part Duh!
It was an opportunity to once again show enthusiastic support for that zany bunch of conspiracy crackpots who terrorized the citizens of Ottawa this past winter. They’re obviously your kinda people, Candice Bergen!
What was it you said to the truckers? Oh yeah, “Keep it up; it makes Trudeau look bad.”
Anyway, the deep thinkers behind Part Duh apparently wanted to shake things up and give their second instalment of public disorder and mayhem a totally different look. Instead of rolling into Bytown on 18 or 28 wheels, they cruised in on two.
Well, Ms Bergen, these guys you’re aligning yourself with are clearly the sort of strategic geniuses the modern Conservative Party wants — heck, needs — to identify with.
As for those of us old and stuffy enough to remember with fondness the days of Pat Carney and Chuck Strahl, or even earlier, Joe Clark, Flora MacDonald and (sigh) Bob Stanfield — well, don’t give us a second thought.
We left the Conservative tent long ago, right about the time you dropped the word Progressive from your name.
Bob Cooper,
Elora
‘Needless deaths’
Dear Editor:
RE: Blood on their hands, April 29, 2021.
A year ago Michael Rose of Belwood wrote an excellent letter to the editor with the above noted title. He wrote that, although he and his wife had been supporters of the Progressive Conservatives for many decades, that support had ended when Doug Ford won the party leadership as they strongly believed that Ford was unfit for that role.
At the time we were in the midst of COVID-19’s third wave and Rose pointed out that Ford’s epic mismanagement of a pandemic response had resulted in many needless deaths. He went on to say that Ford lied to the people when he said he acts based on expert advice, something clearly not true and contradicted by members of the advisory science table at the time.
Rose then went on to say that the Ford government had blood on their hands and that they would be judged in the next election by all of us at the ballot box.
I have never met Michael Rose, but I would like to. In these days of support for bizarre populism, fake news and outrageous spin, it was refreshing to read such truth as Rose wrote.
With a provincial election quickly approaching a reminder seemed to be in order about how Ford’s bad COVID-19 policy directly contributed to the needless deaths of many Ontarians. For me needless death is the most abhorrent thing. Futures cut short, promise and aspirations unrealized, precious time with family members denied forever.
The Ford government needs to be held to account.
Dan Kennaley,
Rockwood
Only the rich?
Dear Editor:
RE: Town of Erin revisits purchase of four electric vehicle charging stations, May 5.
When the Town of Erin puts in charging stations in Erin village they need to be user pay, not free.
Since only rich people can afford electric vehicles at this time they should pay to use the charging stations. No one gets gas for free and so no one should charge for free; it is a matter of fairness to the taxpayer.
Taxpayers need to get their money back for providing a service only some can access.
Jane Vandervliet,
Erin
‘Art lives’
Dear Editor:
Last Saturday in downtown Fergus my wife and I attended the theatre wanting to experience good old fashioned deep-seated psychological drama – Cat On A Hot Tin Roof did not disappoint.
Brick the main character has lost his self esteem. He has a football injury which is masquerading as something that allows him to have given up on life. The pain is deeper and more complex than a busted ankle. Indeed, the young husband is in a downward spiral. His crutch is booze. It has robbed him of his sex drive, his ambition and his marriage is floundering.
Afterwards, I went to the front of the theatre to commend the principals. I should have taken more time to commend some of the other actors but I was in the spell of the performance. Sometimes theatre becomes absolutely real and that is its magic.
Kaitlyn Chapman and Anthony Deciantis are very special. Right down to the eye movement through an emotion—in each and every microsecond they were authentic. Their faces held emotional relevance. Everything emanates from the character. This is the beauty of it.
I certainly recommend acting as therapy. I had a short stage career. I enjoyed coming to rehearsal as myself and transitioning into the roles I played. It was something transformational.
I got to hang up my life-assigned costume, and put on different clothes, and bonus-bonus—invent a different way of breathing and walking. Indeed, a different architecture of affectation. A different head-scape full of my character’s thoughts. A vacation from my own.
So, anyone who wants a little disentanglement from their own twisted lives can find themselves in theatre. It is interesting to note that the women are treated abysmally in the play. Has that much changed?
Everybody did a great job and there were stellar performances within performances.
Still, to watch two characters emanate on stage – every breath in character – is mesmerizing. So exact it is profound. In my mind, these two principals are theatre royalty. And the theatre was almost empty.
These actors could appear seamlessly on Broadway and here they are in little old Fergus; how special to be present and how informed I am leaving the theatre. How humanizing.
Yes Virginia, there is a Santa Claus. Art lives.
David Courtney,
Belwood