Shrinking wallet
Dear Editor:
Hang on to your wallets next year.
According to the latest from Wellington County there will be new tax levy on your 2026 property tax bill to pay for needed infrastructure repairs. This levy will run for either 10 or five years depending on the rate they set and more than likely after the set time expires, this tax at its last amount will be on your tax bill forever.
Just like the current township levy that is on your current tax bill. One thing you can always count on is that once a tax levy is applied it never goes away.
Anyone that was at the recent open house at the Fergus sportsplex would have seen that Centre Wellington Township will be placing a charge on your monthly hydro and water bill to cover storm water up-keep in 2026. It will be called “storm water rates.”
I don’t know about the rest of you, but my wallet is starting to get a little thinner every year.
Paul Roberts,
Fergus
Green bin usage down
Dear Editor:
I was delighted to see the Solid Waste News section in the June 5 Advertiser because it confirmed something I have noticed recently – fewer green bin curbside stops, in fact 13.5% fewer stops between 2023 and 2024.
I have noticed fewer bins at the curb on garbage day and have wondered why. Are people composting more? Are people filling the bins so not necessarily putting them out every week? Or is green material going into garbage bags, although that too is down over 10%.
Perhaps the county can shed some light on this. At first glance, it looks very positive.
Lynn Johnston,
Fergus
‘Unchecked powers’
Dear Editor:
Despite significant opposition from Indigenous groups, diverse civil society organizations and thousands of Ontarians, the Government of Ontario passed Bill 5 last week.
This legislation infringes on Indigenous rights, gives unchecked powers to provincial ministers, dismantles protections for Ontario’s most vulnerable species, overrides municipal planning and undermines democratic processes.
The public outcry about Bill 5 has been deafening from groups across sectors. More than 100 national, provincial and local organizations signed a joint letter opposing the replacement of the Endangered Species Act.
Ontario Nature’s Bill 5 petition to Premier Ford was signed by more than 20,000 Ontarians.
Says Ontario Nature’s conservation policy and campaigns director, Tony Morris, “the government may have rammed this legislation through, but we have seen incredible opposition from Indigenous Peoples, environmental groups, farmers, labour organizations and people from across the province. The hard work to overturn Bill 5 starts today.”
A resilient and prosperous Ontario requires evidence-based, inclusive and sustainable economic solutions that respect Indigenous rights and democratic processes.
John Hassell,
Ontario Nature
Urban agriculture
Dear Editor:
As June arrives here in the Wellington region, it’s a great time to reflect on the importance of urban agriculture and the role of home harvests in our community.
June marks the start of peak growing season, when many local gardens burst to life with leafy greens, early tomatoes, beans and herbs. Whether you have a backyard garden, balcony planters or take part in a community garden, urban agriculture gives us all a chance to reconnect with nature and have more control over what we eat.
Recently U.S. tariffs on agricultural products have contributed to rising food prices, affecting the cost of many fruits and veggies imported into Ontario. For Wellington residents, cultivating personal gardens is a great way to offset these increases, reducing dependence on costly imports and grocery store prices. Home harvests in June help families enjoy fresher, more nutritious food while minimizing the environmental impact associated with long-distance transportation.
Personal farming also fosters community resilience, encouraging local knowledge sharing and sustainable practices. It’s a chance to teach younger generations about food systems and build a more food-secure community.
As the warm weather greets us, I encourage everyone to consider doing the following: volunteer at community gardens, make use of seed libraries and begin/grow your own garden.
Together, by embracing urban agriculture, we can nurture a healthier, greener, and more self-reliant Wellington County.
Andres Guanchez Sucre,
Guelph
Very specific advice
Dear Editor:
Let me start by stating publicly that I did not vote for Prime Minister Mark Carney in the recent federal election. However, I have to give him credit for finally bringing a business-like approach to government by not only stating objectives but by establishing target completion dates for those objectives.
Although that’s an admirable action, I’m not sure that he used the SMART (specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, timebound) structured approach to goal setting, especially with respect to removal of interprovincial trade barriers by Canada Day, considering how much baggage from the previous Liberal government his cabinet ministers, who are former members of Trudeau’s government, carry with them. Provincial leaders also may create unnecessary roadblocks to accomplishing this lofty objective in the stated timeframe.
That aside, I hope that he will be applying project management tools in his quest to address his seven priorities, as follows:
1) Renegotiating Canada’s relationship with the United States and strengthening relations with other countries;
2) Removing interprovincial trade barriers and expediting major infrastructure projects,;
3) Helping Canadians with the cost of living;
4) Making housing more affordable and catalyzing a modern housing industry;
5) Building the Canadian military and reinforcing domestic security;
6) Refocusing immigration; and
7) Reducing the cost of government operations.
If he hopes to achieve these desired objectives, each of them should be considered a project and a Gantt Chart would be extremely helpful in development a plan for success. Only by completing each of the tasks, on time, will the ultimate objective be achieved and the individual or department that failed to complete their task could be identified and held responsible for the government’s failure to achieve its objective.
A quality tool that could be used in government to improve effectiveness is root cause analysis, a problem solving tool that when properly applied, identifies the root cause of the problem for which corrective action may be taken to eliminate the likelihood of its recurrence. After all, isn’t fixing problems a significant portion of a government’s job? Most governments seem focussed on applying Band-Aids to symptoms of problems and never truly fixing them through elimination of their root cause.
By incorporating these two methodologies from business into government, Canadians could start to believe that their government at any level can be held accountable, knows what it is doing and has an effective plan to achieve objectives, on time and hopefully on budget.
A professional, designated quality engineer would be well-versed in the aforementioned tools and techniques and all governments would be advised to hire one.
Well run businesses do it, why shouldn’t government?
Jim Clark,
Fergus
Likes local company
Dear Editor:
I’m in Grade 7 at John Black Public School in Fergus. I really enjoy playing video games, but one thing that always upsets me is lag. It happens almost every day and it drives me crazy.
My mom works from home, and one time she was doing a job interview online when the internet cut out. The client thought she didn’t show up, and my mom felt awful (luckily, the client still got the job, despite the internet issue).
Usually I would come home and the internet would be out and sometimes me and my brother would try to play Fortnite but we couldn’t because the internet was so bad.
But then we found a solution. We heard our neighbours used Wightman Telecom and they said they basically never have problems with their internet and we trusted them. So two weeks later we finally got Wightman.
If you want fast internet and support a local business I strongly advise you to consider Wightman.
Lincoln Draper,
Fergus
‘Real democracy’
Dear Editor:
Roll on democracy!
If ever we get the chance to decide together our common future, we will not let any of us get a far larger part of the wealth and leave a large group with just enough to survive.
Of course such a call for real democracy can hardly be understood these days, as everyone seems convinced, despite all evidence, that “representative democracy” is democracy. This has been repeated so many times, over such a long period of time, in the mainstream media, that even several progressive forces are buying it.
I can already hear strong reactions. “Oh, but this real democracy is not possible today, we are far too many.”
Nonsense! First, the technology is there; second, and more importantly, most decisions should be taken by the concerned people, directly or indirectly, not by absolutely everyone. Plus, we should realize that real democracy would eliminate a lot of issues raised by the actual absence of democracy in terms of peace, fairness and environment.
Most of what we can do now is listening to the rich and powerful ones, laughing at us, despising us, protected by this fiction of democracy – the representative democracy.
A time will come, I hope, for our own collective future and the future of our planet, that democracy, real democracy, will prevail.
Bruno Marquis,
Gatineau, Ontario
Save the squirrels
Dear Editor:
Writing as a chaplain, it is my God given right to respect, protect, not altering and not to abuse His creation and blessings. We are to look after and nurture His creation and not use it with a purpose of exploitation on the grounds of money, greed as it is going on. That is when the money becomes “the root of all evil,” while everything and everyone suffers.
Sadly, it is encouraged and prompted by big, selfish, money-making developers and condo corporations that are also influencing all levels of government to see things their way and thus altering environment and gaining control and power that ends up in intimidation tactics.
We are to live in harmony with nature and those that live there. Humans are a nuisance and not animals. Men litter everywhere they walk but the wild life does not litter. People go to the woodland trails to enjoy the nature and quickly it is littered, but not by animals that live there.
One of the posters with the wildlife on it, that I posted within my condo building was returned to me (regarding them eradicating squirrels off the property not allowing feeding) with a note at the bottom of the poster: “They are welcome. Just do not feed them. This is not a zoo.”
Maybe this person does not see it this way. It becomes a zoo after they walk out, as their selfish nature kicks in.
Removing the squirrel’s nests by anyone or local laws that are influenced by big developers and condo corporations is a criminal act against any creature (as these critters need at least two nests).
These “big wheels” are forcing and encouraging squirrels out to use cars and wherever-else they can make a home as their world and environment is taken away. We use their plight as an excuse to exterminate them at all cost, calling them “destructive.”
These funny, squirrely creatures are good and loving parents. They are not rats, look in a mirror. No birds are nesting in underground parking, as they are killed.
Many Hitlers have risen and keep on rising while people look the other way and act “blind” and do not want be bothered to do that which is right. Don’t grab your hat and run … fight for what is right.
The saying goes: “what goes around comes around.” Oh lord god, help us all!
Rosemary Lyons,
Guelph