Mail bag: 10/07/2021

‘We’re all fed up’

Dear Editor:

Just a few short months ago, we were lauding the efforts of our frontline nurses, paramedics, doctors and all other support staff in our ongoing battle with COVID-19. We placed signs on our lawns, organized rallies in their support, delivered lunches to the hospitals, and so on.

Today, they are the subject of derision and intimidation for faithfully doing precisely the same humanitarian service. This is a movement by seemingly Donald Trump-style wannabes who can’t see the difference between critical medical care, and governmental imposed restrictions.

They can’t seem to comprehend that the severity of the crisis has resulted in the need for unprecedented dramatic action. They link our courageous medical community with the government-imposed restrictions requiring vaccinations to reconvene a relatively normal life.

These are desperate but temporary measures put forth by our political leaders – not frontline workers – exclusively for the eradication of COVID.

Two basic facts remain. First,  the higher the vaccination rate, the less COVID infections occur. This is a mathematical, scientific and medical reality borne out time and time again. Second, new cases of the Delta variant are 85% in unvaccinated individuals. Science cannot be any clearer. Still many refuse to get vaccinated.

That loud and misguided minority is adamantly proclaiming this is an infringement on their personal rights and freedom of choice. May I suggest a trip to Arthur, to the mural dedicated to the war dead, where the message is crystal clear: “freedom does not come without sacrifice or cost.”

But if logic, pleas, patriotism, and medical facts mean nothing, let’s try the economic impact.

If you as an individual are looking at hiring a service provider to enter your home, demand proof of vaccination. If you must work beside any other individual, insist that your employer demand proof of vaccination to ensure your own health and safety. If the co-operation is still not there, that employer must insist on mandatory twice-a-week negative tests paid for by the individual (at $40 a pop), again for your own protection. You have that right.

The medical community cannot refuse to treat anyone, even the protesting unvaccinated. If and when that individual is hospitalized and cured, send them the hospital bill at somewhere around $1,800 per day. After all, they had a choice not to be there, and chose otherwise.

Every public institution is trying with any means at its disposal to eradicate COVID. We’re all fed up, not only with COVID, but also the individuals who are perpetuating this horrible disease.

W. Campbell,
Fergus

 

‘Extreme persecution’

Dear Editor:

RE: What persecution? (Sept. 30).

I found Richard Giles’ letter  to be rather telling. It is very easy to live in an ivory tower and be very critical of those who are not as fortunate.

I find it very interesting that our economy has taken some very serious hits over the past 18 or so months, yet the only part of our economy that has truly suffered is the private sector. Why is that?  Why is the public sector moving forward as if there is nothing wrong?

Small business owners have been faced with compliance and therefore bankruptcy, or non compliance, and severe draconian fines and punitive measures. What is not persecutorial about those options?

Right now, unless one has the necessary documents, one is unable to participate in normal social activities such as eating out, attending theatre, attending sporting events, etc.

It has even gone to the extreme, that if one does not take the double jab, then they may face termination from their employment.

If that does not constitute extreme persecution, in every Canadian’s opinion, then Canada is a much scarier place than Mr. Giles’ flippant brushing off of my first-century parallel.

Wayne Baker,
Wellington North

 

Avoided moratorium

Dear Editor:

RE: A matter of integrity, Sept. 30.

Aaron Ciancone has some points about building integrity around the redevelopment of the now guarded and already existent Elora Mill.

He managed to completely avoid the question of the Six Nations moratorium on Grand River development and the community destruction posed by the mill south development.

Eimear O’Neill,
Fergus

 

Respect parks, areas

Dear Editor:

This has certainly been a unique 18 months not only for the human population but the flora and fauna in our much valued wild spaces and parkland. None more noticeable than in the areas closer to southern Ontario’s more populous centres. The unprecedented high volume of those folks seeking space and distance outdoors has created untold burdens on the parks and conservations areas we all love.

The park in my own backyard of Rockwood has been particularly used and abused these past two summers by hoards of day trippers bringing what appears to be the entire contents of their homes to the picnic areas. Upon their departure, garbage in bags, garbage not in bags, clothing, shoes, beach toys and in most cases, entire take-out meals, left strewn about, not only in the designated picnic areas, but throughout the trail system.

A skeleton staff of employees must then travel throughout the park, continuously picking up this garbage, replacing damaged signs by those objecting to COVID measures, maintaining washrooms and responding to queries and concerns by park attendees.

The use of these parks is not funded – or very minimally funded – by government agencies. They rely solely on park memberships or entrance fees. Those people using the areas without payment may feel their tax dollars pay for these parks. This is far from accurate and takes away from the park’s revenue.

With minimal staff and maximum use by inconsiderate users, these parks, which are so important to not only humans but the animal life which inhabit the area, are being quickly eroded.

Please, get your park membership, pay at the gate. Pick up and dispose of garbage. Stay on the designated trails and hopefully our conservation areas will continue to grow and thrive and protect all who live and visit them.

Lorie Fowler,
Rockwood

 

Part of reconciliation?

Dear Editor:

RE: Home children, Sept. 23.

My grandmother was one of these children, part of the Barnardo Homes program in England.

I cannot speak for the statistics in Tasha Heart’s letter, but I have lots of evidence that this program did exist. My grandmother’s mother died in child birth and her father was wayward. Her older siblings had young families of their own so she was abandoned to an orphanage and then ended up with Barnardo. It was hard times in England and in Canada.

She came to Barnardo at age 12 and was shipped to Canada a few months later. She worked on a farm near Hastings and another near Clarksburg, then went to a third farm in Greensville. There she met my grandfather and married at age 15. She went on to raise 12 children.

My grandmother was very positive in her correspondence with Barnardo. She went to meet her sister during a trip to England. She also had correspondence with Canada’s Prime Minister William Lyon Mackenzie King. She received a newspaper write-up while in England during her visit.

Whether there were abuses on these farms is not evidenced by her letters but, suffice to say, these children were put to hard work on these farms. Some would have perished and would likely been buried in Canada at minimal cost.

If Canada is truly fair in this reconciliation process, these Home children should be major part of this investigation.

Peter Zess,
Guelph

 

Sharing the road

Dear Editor:

Living in the country comes with the benefit that we can enjoy the farms around us, and that our children have been able to find work at local farms.

Even when many activities were closed down over the last months, many students were able to continue to get work experience, grow in responsibility and learn how to care for animals and crops in our rural farm community. We’re grateful for this.

It concerns us to see the behaviour in traffic on our roads now that many farmers are busy with the harvest. We need to remind ourselves that we share highways and gravel roads with people who are doing their daily job and are under a lot of pressure this time of the year. Harvesting takes a lot of planning, ever depending on the weather, and involves long days requiring hours of constant focus operating large tractors, combines and wagons with heavy loads.

Farmers have the responsibility to check their equipment, lights and signs, and obey the traffic rules of course. However, they drive heavy pieces of machinery, fully loaded, and just like tractor trailers, they can not come to a quick stop or manoeuvre out of the way.

Careless passing or impatient behaviour by drivers can create unnecessary dangerous situations. Accidents often happen when tractors slow down to make a turn and people quickly try to pass on either side. In case of an accident, the fault often lands with the tractor operator unfortunately. We have seen the anxiety these unnecessary encounters cause to farm families during an already challenging time of year.

In Europe many tractors are now outfitted with special bumpers at the front to minimize impact and avoid cars, bikers or pedestrians ending up under the tires in case of a collision. We hope that is not necessary here in Ontario and urge everyone to respect our farmers and give them lots of space on the roads.

Lars and Ilse VanderMeulen,
Arthur

 

Support vs. illumination

Dear Editor:

RE: PPC not racist, Sept. 30.

Henry Brunsveld’s response to Barbara Cooper’s allegations suggests that the PPC at least suffers from the same scientific illiteracy that can be found across the political spectrum.

Science is fundamentally concerned with describing the states of nature and their causes. However, as the old adage goes, people are most easily convinced of that which they already believe. The PPC, for example, opts for a “scientifically-based approach … that opposes vaccine mandates, … passports and other authoritarian measures”, effectively advocating for policy-based evidence making, rather than evidence-based policy making.

With respect to immigration, Syl Carle (in the Advertiser, Sept. 9) did invoke evidence for PPC’s preferred policies. People in Nordic countries use 10 times more energy per capita than other parts of the world. The conclusion? Fight climate change by limiting immigration. But in so doing, he fell victim to the “is-ought” fallacy: that the scientific assertion, at least to a first approximation, may be correct does not lead directly to the conclusion that limiting immigration is necessarily good social policy.

While these are examples among the worst abuses of science, they are but symptoms of the greater problem: that when it comes to policy making of all stripes, too many people treat science like a drunk treats a lamp post – for support and not illumination.

Tom Nudds,
Centre Wellington

 

‘Be social not selfish’

Dear Editor:

Re: PPC not racist, Sept 30.

Henry Brunsveld stated the PPC is not racist.  I haven’t read enough about the party to say if that is true or not.

The issue I have a problem with is their stance on vaccines. They state they don’t have a problem with vaccines per se but they want the government to have a rational and scientific approach to vaccine passports. They don’t seem to like politicians telling them what to do.  The PPC was trying to get elected and if they had, does that mean as politicians they wouldn’t make decisions that would be telling people what to do?

Health passports are nothing new. Many years ago you couldn’t travel to most countries unless you had proof of immunization against polio, small pox, etc. and that’s how the world became a safer place.

This wasn’t done as some kind of government conspiracy, but was a rational, scientific and medical approach to eradicate diseases that affected everyone.

No one was forced to have vaccines but if you wanted to travel and keep yourself and others safe you had one. When I have a vaccine it will do no harm to others but when you refuse you stand a good chance of harming or even causing death to others and the diseases take longer to go away.

For those of you who are able to have a vaccination but don’t want it that’s fine, just don’t mix with the rest of us who care about our fellow citizens, because if you are that selfish I don’t want you mixing in my society.  I wonder how many unvaccinated people if they contract COVID-19 would still want government hospitals to help them.

Be social not selfish.

Mick Smith,
Fergus

 

Tennis club memories

Dear Editor:

RE: ‘Wonderful memories’, Sept. 30.

The Fergus Tennis Club continues its celebration of passing the 100-year milestone and were so pleased to hear from Jack Raymond who shared stories of playing in the 1930s and 1940s.

We are eager to hear from all former members who have memories to share. Also, we are searching for early photographs of club activities on and off the courts. For those readers who would like to know more about tennis in Fergus, as a member of the Wellington County Historical Society, I wrote an article titled: Love and Aces which was published in Wellington County History, Volume 23. Copies of this journal are available in local libraries and online using the Wellington County Museum and Archives website.

Anyone wishing to share their stories, photographs or newspaper clippings, please contact oldervoices@gmail.com.

Al Koop,
Elora

 

Doesn’t like label

Dear Editor:

“Antivaxxer” is a derogatory term used by media and our Liberal government. Anyone who has been immunized during the course of their life and does not want to take the COVID-19 vaccine is definitely not an anti-vaxxer.

What we do know after this time  is two jabs wasn’t enough due to loss of efficacy after six months and now a third jab is needed and no one knows for sure if this will take care of the variants. We should know by 2023 though.

In my opinion, widely used rapid COVID-19 testing of the unvaccinated and vaccinated workers with Canadian(homegrown)-researched  quality rapid  tests, would keep everyone safe – men, women and children. Let’s not let our liberal government or media divide Canadian people. Let’s trust God, be kind to one another, vaccinated or unvaccinated, and help one another.

I would also ask all doctors across Canada, immunologists and virologists and our federal and provincial governments to help all of us get effective medication in place for early symptoms.

Let’s not let symptoms become so serious our hospitals are congested. We can prevent this. Let’s have Canadian research and solutions done now in Canada by Canadians and let’s call on all the talented medical people we have in our nation and let’s have transparency.

Let kindness and caring be our motto in Canada and let’s defeat COVID-19 together.

Carolann Krusky,
Fergus

*Editor’s note: COVID-19 vaccines are proven to be safe and effective. Anyone concerned about vaccines should consult their physician.