No principles
Dear Editor:
RE: They don’t have to, Nov. 10.
Your comment in your editorial about Premier Doug Ford hiding behind a judicial decision is right on the mark.
Doug Ford’s lack of ability to think before he opens his mouth is a serious flaw in his leadership abilities. “Cowardly leadership” is the mark of a bully. His true colours have been exposed.
He is not my idea of a principled politician by any measure.
Never has been, never will be.
Quentin Johnson,
Everton
Meaningful tribute
Dear Editor:
A note of appreciation to the staff and volunteers at the Wellington County Museum for another evening tribute to those who have served our country.
The hundreds of white crosses with identification, the jarred candles, and the piper truly make it a memorial event.
Three special notes: the presence of Scouts, their leaders and parents who participated in carrying lights; the beautiful poppy décor on the front steps leading up to the wreathed doors of the Museum; and, the friendly staff who kindly provided information about the work involved in insuring recognition for those deserving it.
The Congregational Life Committee of Arthur United Church makes this an annual event to attend. Thanks to all for making the eve of Remembrance Day so meaningful.
Rev. Bonnie Holliday,
Arthur United Church
‘Echelon of idiots’
Dear Editor:
Remembrance Day has slid into the past and by the time this letter is printed International Diabetes Awareness Day (Nov. 14) will have come and gone, without fanfare.
For the past six years, the Fergus Lions Club illuminated the pedestrian bridge that links the Fergus Market parking lot to the Riverwalk across the Grand River with blue lights, the international colour for diabetes.
This year we did not. It is sad to have to resort to stopping what was becoming a tradition, however, since we began this event, we have been plagued by an echelon of idiots whose sole reason for being seems to be destroying anything they can.
We have continually repaired, salvaged or replaced whole strings of lights just to maintain the program, but it seems that these morons cannot function unless they do stupid things.
It not only was the blue lights on the bridge that were targeted but also the white lights that the Fergus BIA installed for the Christmas season.
We would gladly return to doing this bridge illumination program, but until dummies either grow up or move on, we cannot justify the time nor the expense.
Brian Martin,
Fergus Lions Club
Help homeless vets
Dear Editor:
Interesting that the Canadian government is apparently providing more funding to the 1.7 million Indigenous people in Canada in the amount of approximately $40 billion, which is in addition to the billions spent on the entire population of Canada annually.
I have great respect for the Indigenous peoples of Canada but on the eve of “the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month,” I wonder what extra is being done for the almost 3,000 homeless veterans in Canada.
Max MacIntyre,
Elora
Christmas drive is on
Dear Editor:
The team at Reliable Ford and Fergus Lions Club have once again joined together in support of the Centre Wellington Food Bank (CWFB) Christmas Drive, formally the Toy Drive.
Over the past few years, the Food Bank has lost the ability to store large amounts of toys, and with COVID protocols in place, we have moved to a gift card donation in lieu of toys.
The reason this event has been a success for over two decades is the generosity of the community we serve. Once again, we ask for your support.
We are asking the public to assist us in purchasing gift cards or making cheque donations (made out to the Centre Wellington Food Bank) to help local families purchase gifts, food and other needed items in time for Christmas. In order to accommodate the distribution of these gift cards to patrons of the food bank, we have been given a deadline for December 6th.
As in previous years, Reliable Ford will host the gift box in their showroom during business hours. The public is invited to place gift cards under the Christmas tree in their showroom.
We strongly encourage donors to purchase gift cards from local businesses. Let’s all shop local.
Please be sure to attach the original purchase receipt (in an envelope, by elastic band or tape) so that the dollar amount on the gift card is clear. This helps the food bank volunteers to ensure fair distribution of funds.
If you’re heading to the Fergus Lion’s Annual Christmas Parade on Dec. 3, members of the Fergus Lions will happily accept donations at the event. They will be identifiable by their yellow Lions vests.
Reliable Ford and the Fergus Lions Club have proudly hosted this toy/gift card drive for over 20 years and we sincerely appreciate the support and generosity of our community.
We are ever aware that this holiday will be a challenging time for many as the cost of living impacts us all. Together, we will do our part to continue to support the CWFB to ensure the spirit of Christmas is alive and well for all ages in Centre Wellington.
The team at Reliable Ford and the members of the Fergus Lions Club wish everyone a happy, healthy holiday season. We thank you in advance for you kind support.
Gary Waterhouse,
Christmas Drive chairman
Use ‘brownfields’?
Dear Editor:
When Doug Ford stated that we need to carve out pieces of the newly established Greenbelt to create new housing for future population growth I thought to myself, “Hey, what about these brownfields?”
Why can’t these hundreds of acres be cleaned up for housing. there is already many existing sites within our municipalities.
David Barker,
Fergus
‘Thriving communities’
Dear Editor:
A community is not just an accumulation of buildings. Thriving communities require infrastructure, efficient transportation networks, accessible health care, parks and recreation, clean water, safe waste disposal, education facilities, etc.
There isn’t a housing crisis, there is a community crisis, with municipalities facing problems of congestion, ambulance shortages, deteriorating health care, unsafe traffic issues, poor transportation systems, lack of water protection, loss of green space, parking problems, mental health breakdowns, etc.
Simply building more houses will not solve this. It takes careful planning and foresight to build a functional community.
To add insult, Premier Doug Ford now is taking back his promise to protect the Greenbelt and wants to send front-end loaders in to tear up the environment that surrounds urban areas and build 50,000 homes.
Is this an affordable housing plan or simply a back door deal with the homebuilders association? Has Doug forgotten that the Greenbelt provides us with the air we breathe?
Take away fresh air and no amount of housing will sustain us. We don’t need flashy slogans with “more homes built faster”, we need careful planning done smarter. We need proactive problem solving, not reactionary knee-jerk thinking.
Conservatives are a funny breed. They stress austerity and yet they spend foolishly.
Jay Wilson,
Guelph
Ford and Poilievre
Dear Editor:
Pierre Poilievre’s climate plan is straightforward and simple: do absolutely nothing.
Is he anticipating the number of jobs his plan would create replacing washed-out infrastructure, putting out wildfires and rebuilding destroyed homes?
However, he may be concerned that there won’t be enough workers available to build more pipelines.
While Poilievre’s is a do-nothing plan, Premier Doug Ford’s plan aggressively seeks climate Armageddon!
He started by cancelling 750 green energy projects and through lack of foresight, now needs to ramp up the burning of natural gas by 600% to stave off an electricity shortage.
He intends to pave over Ontario farmland and natural habitat. He wants to restrict the ability of communities to require new homes to have a net-zero carbon footprint. He is removing the powers of conservation authorities to limit development, so groups will no longer need to consider factors like pollution or land conservation when approving building permits – so they won’t. And now he is hoping to encroach on the Greenbelt and increase urban sprawl.
In 2018 Doug Ford said a Tory government would maintain the Greenbelt in its entirety and enshrine that pledge in the party’s soon-to-be-released platform.
“I looked at it as making sure we have more affordable housing,” Ford said of his initial position. “The people have spoken. I’m going to listen to them; they don’t want me to touch the Greenbelt, we won’t touch the Greenbelt.”
Toronto’s Green Standard was passed unanimously by city council in 2013 — with the vote of then-councillor Doug Ford.
Doug Ford says one thing and does the opposite. We didn’t vote for Ford’s plan – he didn’t tell us he was going to do any of this. Don’t make the same mistake with Poilievre!
Ron Moore,
Hillsburgh
Bring back health care
Dear Editor:
Recently disclosures announced that Canada will welcome 500,000 more immigrants. I for one welcome this proposal.
My query is, can we really offer them a better life, when because of poor funding to our health care system we are unable to sustain that better life? If we constantly nickel and dime the things that matter the most, the army fails. It always comes back to the deficit.
Bring our health care back to prime, secure our nursing homes and treat our frontline workers and teachers with dignity – deficit be damned.
Harold Robertson,
Clifford
Profits vs. carbon tax
Dear Editor:
In a Georgetown Independent and Free Press opinion piece dated Oct. 18, Wellington-Halton Hills MP Michael Chong correctly stated the global energy crisis has increased the cost of fuels associated with home heating and gas prices. He also asserted grocery prices have risen 10.8%.
What he did not say was supply chain issues caused by the pandemic, simple supply and demand, and the illegal war in Ukraine all contributed to the increases we are witnessing. None of those reasons are the fault of the federal government, nor are they under their control.
He called on the federal government to stop increasing the carbon tax as one way to control current fuel prices. May I remind readers the carbon tax and rebate system was endorsed by Chong when he ran for the Conservative party leadership in 2017. He says that for many rural households and farm families, the federal climate action incentive payment doesn’t offset the cost of the carbon tax. But it offsets most, if not all, of it!
One thing Conservative politicians do not tell you are grocery companies and the oil and gas industry are reaping obscene profits on the backs of consumers.
As a reminder, back in July 2008, the price of a barrel of oil hit US$145 and gasoline hit a high of $1.35 per litre. Now the price of oil is around US$87 per barrel, and gas is $1.76 per litre. The carbon tax adds $0.11 to the price per litre. Simple math says the price today should be around $87/$145 times $1.35 + $0.11 = $0.92 per litre.
The federal carbon tax is not responsible for the current energy price crunch. Canadians won’t go cold this winter because of the carbon tax.
The only reason they may have trouble heating their homes, filling their gas tanks and feeding their families, is the unbridled greed of big business grocery chains and oil and gas companies.
The Conservative Party always wants to give tax breaks to big business – where is their concern for the average person then?
Let’s put the blame where it belongs.
Gord Cumming,
Georgetown
Chong wrong on fuel
Dear Editor:
Our MP Michael Chong wrote in the Georgetown Independent and Free Press an opinion piece titled “Fuel prices are out of control.”
I was immediately struck by the irony of a member of the Conservative Party, a party that advocates for smaller government and the supremacy of the market and the law of supply and demand, suggesting that fuel prices (or any prices) should be under some form of government control.
In his column Chong recommended that the federal government suspend the carbon tax for oil and propane heat. I found this astonishing, given that when Chong ran for the leadership of the federal Conservative party, he was the only candidate who was in favour of a carbon tax.
Surely Chong understands that in order for a carbon tax to be an effective incentive for the use of non-carbon emitting energy sources, the tax must apply to all sources including home heating.
Chong correctly notes that one in 10 Canadians rely on heating oil or propane to heat their homes. However, by suggesting that the government suspend the carbon tax on these energy sources, he fails to recognize that this number needs to be reduced.
Additionally, Chong states that, for these rural residents, there are no energy alternatives for home heating, and there won’t be for years to come. In fact, there are alternatives; not only is the carbon tax one of the reasons they exist, it is also partly why they are becoming increasingly economically viable. Electric furnaces and heat pumps are among these available options.
The federal government has a program called Greener Homes that offers grants and interest free loans to homeowners for converting home heating systems from oil or propane to heat pumps and electric furnaces.
My family has recently made this change, replacing the oil furnace in our rural Erin home with an air source heat pump and electric furnace. We have applied for a $5,000 grant and an interest-free loan on the balance through the Canada Greener Homes Initiative.
Fortunately, Ontario’s energy supply is relatively “green,” thanks to the previous provincial Liberal government and Ontario Hydro already has a number of programs to assist with energy costs and security.
I applaud Chong’s desire to assist rural residents with their home heating challenges, but I believe his recommendation to suspend the carbon tax on home heating oil and propane is misguided.
A better idea would be to use the funds raised by the carbon tax on these fuels to increase the financial assistance available to Canadians to make the switch to carbon-free heating solutions.
We need to make consistent efforts to minimize climate change; the cost of procrastination is massively more than the cost of immediate proactive measures encouraged by a carbon tax.
We can no longer afford to subsidize and encourage the use of fossil fuels. Fortunately, with the advances in heat pump and green electricity technology, we don’t need to.
Dave Mattar,
Erin