Mail bag: 02/05/26
‘Crappy work’
Dear Editor:
RE: Township says contractor on hook for warped roads in Fergus, Elora, Jan. 29.
Seriously, the newspaper has the audacity to call that disgusting piece of roadwork “warped” and “wavy”?
Is this our tax dollars at work? What exactly are we paying for? Useless and dangerous bike lanes on St. David Street North (Highway 6) that function as snow-load capture in winter? Mid-road bollards in summer that barely allow cars to pass one another safely? “No parking” signs so close to street corners that one cannot turn the corner safely?
And let’s not talk about those ridiculous pavement parking markings that a large car, mini-van or pick-up truck cannot fit into, while falsely satisfying the count for “available” parking spaces.
Maybe it’s the frustration of a long cold winter talking, but people are watching and see the (apparently) poor decisions and project oversight, the lack of quality work, the delays, the days no work at all is taking place.
The disrespect with which our voices lie unheard, leaving us impotent to influence decisions, despite the sometimes obvious constituent rebuttals.
“Warped” road or just plain and simple crappy work? Do we always have to choose the lowest bidder without indication as to their capacity to ensure sufficient staff to fulfill their contract obligations?
We concede winter arrived early this year but that is no excuse to blame poor preparation on “frozen gravel.”
Perhaps some of the extra revenue garnered from our perpetually increasing taxes could fund some quality infrastructure work in a truly timely manner.
Debbie DePasquale,
Fergus
‘Victims deserve better’
Dear Editor:
RE: Man who beat woman in unprovoked attack released, credited with time served, Jan. 22.
While the court proceedings have ended for the man who violently assaulted a woman in Mount Forest, the consequences for the victim are far from over.
She was attacked in front of her young son. That trauma did not disappear with a guilty plea or sentencing. She continues to suffer emotionally and psychologically and now lives in fear – afraid to go out, afraid to feel safe in her own community.
The man responsible has a history of robbery, threats and assaults. Mental health issues were cited, yet the sentence imposed has left many questioning whether public safety and victim well-being were truly prioritized. Mental illness may help explain behavior, but it does not erase responsibility – nor does it protect future victims if left untreated.
What is deeply troubling is that while the offender moves on, the victim remains trapped by the aftermath. She pays the lifelong price for a crime she did not commit.
Justice should mean more than closing a file. It should ensure accountability, meaningful treatment and protection for those who have already suffered. When victims are left to live in fear, the system has failed them.
Our community deserves better. Victims deserve better.
Margherita Tabone,
Rockwood
ICE ‘viciousness’
Dear Editor:
Since the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) homicides in Minneapolis I have heard and read comments saying if you don’t want to be shot by ICE, mind your own business.
That is a generally true statement. But that is the advice that the Christian German nation followed as the Nazis took over.
They minded their own business when the Nazis first took disabled people. They minded their own business when the Nazis next took homosexuals. They minded their own business when the Nazis next took Jews. Finally they minded their own business when the Nazis came for those who criticized them.
I am reading Bonhoeffer by Eric Metaxas about the Lutheran pastor who resisted the Nazis and was killed by them. It is difficult to read because we are mirroring Germany only we are going at warp speed.
I don’t think all of the ICE agents are the moral monsters like the Proud Boys who are now joining ICE. The huge signing bonuses, the high pay and the rumoured bounties for each person taken into custody are attractive incentives for supporting a family.
But they are being taught that the fourth amendment (protection against unreasonable searches and seizures by the government) does not apply to them, that they can go door to door asking for IDs, that they do not have to identify themselves. They are being told that all the people they are grabbing are violent criminals and that the people protesting them are “domestic terrorists.”
But each breaking of a car window, grabbing of a two-year-old child, gassing of a protester, taking into custody of an almost-naked U.S. citizen, and the other outrageous acts take them down the road to moral depravity.
We as the public even get inured to the viciousness as we see it daily. An Auschwitz survivor said it wasn’t Hitler and Himmler who took her there; it was her neighbors. They turned her in, they grabbed her, they put her on the train and they ran the camp.
We see daily how people grabbed are treated. Do we really think they are treated any better while they are in custody?
The same administration that denied access to the Epstein files is denying Congressional and public access to the confinement camps.
Meanwhile, Republican senators and representatives, including ours from Kansas, have become Hitler’s Reichstag, rubber-stamping his decisions, cheering his speeches, and swearing loyalty to him.
Ron Svaty,
Ellsworth, Kansas
Music matters
Dear Editor:
This letter is directed to every parent with a student in any grade between kindergarten and 12. The purpose is to bring to your attention the benefits of including education in music performance within your young student’s subjects.
There is no other school subject that requires so many simultaneous activities of the student in real time. These activities include reading, comprehension, counting, watching, listening, determination of fingering, and actively adjusting one’s playing in real-time. Think about how this helps to develop the young brain.
Furthermore, music performance develops teamwork, confidence, creativity, discipline and quick decision making. All these skills are beneficial, especially for students who are preparing for STEM vocations or may one day be leaders in their chosen field. Many studies have been published which confirm this view.
Above all, don’t dismiss music education as being suitable only for those who are seriously considering music or arts in their future. Music education is of no less importance than any of the other classic school subjects. If music education is not properly offered at your student’s school, then you may want to investigate the numerous other options that exist.
You may be asking why music education has been de-prioritized over the years by boards of education. The likely answer is that it is more costly than other subjects, due to the need for instruments and specialized teachers. A trombone is more costly than a textbook. But consider that cost to be an investment in your child’s future.
Steve Hornett,
Rockwood
Watch out for deer
Dear Editor:
Someone hit a deer in front of my house on Jan. 24 and another one on Jan. 27.
Sideroad 15 in to Salem is a 60km/h zone, yet everyday I watch the cars go by at 90 to 100, down a hill and past the woods, to Salem school, morning, noon and night. I’m always watching drivers go by with their faces lit by phone screens in the dark – and don’t get me started on the number of beer cans I clean up from the ditch.
“School bus stopping,” “hidden driveway” and the speed limit are clearly marked. Now we need to add “deer crossing” signs for drivers to ignore.
Some guy stopped to collect the meat, which I’m glad will go to use, but he gutted it and left the entrails there to attract more animals to the road. Now he’s left it up to me to call the township to clean it up. I got his license plate if they want to dump that mess in the end of his driveway after leaving it in mine. If you want to eat the roadkill, just take the whole damn thing.
When you hit a deer with your car, you’ll likely be walking to work in 30 below, so maybe read the signs, put your beer down, put your phone away, slow down and pay attention to operating your vehicle safely.
Shane Lambert,
Centre Wellington
‘Band-Aid approaches’
Dear Editor:
RE: Eighty-five thousand souls, Jan. 29.
Dave Adsett’s editorial outlines Ontario’s homeless situation that stares us in the face every day. He identifies some elements which may have contributed to this situation, and he proposes how we might alleviate it.
Notice that all of what Adsett highlights is dealing with the tragedy of homeless as it confronts us now; in other words, Band-Aid approaches. Although this is now crucially important in order to eliminate the daily suffering that individuals experience, this only deals with the back-end of the issue. An equally, if not more crucially, way to approach this issue is to focus on prevention, especially in the context of Adsett’s statement about who the public votes for every four years. I believe we are in this situation due in large part exactly because of how the majority have historically voted, especially in conservatively minded electoral districts such as ours.
Recall the “common sense revolution” of Mike Harris where cuts cancelled funding for 17,000 units of non-profit and co-operative housing. Also, recall 1998 when the province transferred funding responsibilities for social housing to municipalities. This shifted the burden to local property tax bases which were insufficient to fund large-scale housing projects, making Ontario the only province to incorporate this structure.
The Social Housing Reform Act of 2000 formalized the downloading process, requiring dozens of municipal service managers to assume permanent responsibility for housing programs. Next, recall Harris’ closure of psychiatric hospitals intended to transition patients to community-based care, which created a perfect storm for municipalities because community resources were never sufficiently funded to replace the lost beds.
And most recently, recall that the Ford government implemented rent control exemptions for units built after 2018, which has contributed to escalating market rents.
I hope Wellington Advertiser readers can understand that societal issues, such as those that Adsett drew our attention to in his last editorial, are largely the result of decisions that we make at the voting booth.
As Adsett encourages, let us be the “local champions” to elect “politicians with a backbone,” but let us do it to prevent homelessness so we don’t have to deal with the individual trauma when it stares us in the face like it is doing now in the dead of this kind of winter.
David Fast,
Ariss
‘Accountability’ advice
Dear Editor:
Just because you’re a small or independent business, doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t pay your taxes.
I’ve heard plenty of people say they don’t pay taxes because their employer is so small or independent that they shouldn’t have to. That, or they figure not paying will go undetected. I’ve heard them cite reasons such as the poor economy (therefore, they can’t survive if they pay taxes) or the fact other people’s jobs are more stable (so those workers should be paying all the taxes).
First of all, it’s important to disengage from any corporation whose bylaws or terms and conditions set high standards for its employees, consumers and management but only uses them to regulate a select few. These rules are legally used to intimidate and bully when in favour of the corporation, but they take years or thousands of dollars in legal aid to work in favour of the individuals who rely on them, regardless of the corporation’s size.
Businesses that have proved to investors that they have the drive to grow are the ones that expand and can handle economic instability, but only as a corporation. As for their individual workers, they’re as vulnerable to instability as anyone else. And it usually comes at a price of meeting an uncomfortably high quota. Take delivery companies downsizing after a COVID-19 boom, for example.
We need to realize that we all have a common enemy, which is instability. Enough with funding trends. Enough with escaping personal insecurities by indulging the unethical employers and their “get ahead of the pack” type mentality.
Focus on the stability of yourself and those immediately around you rather than blaming. Keep to promises and don’t over-commit. Set realistic expectations and be honest about whether who you work for, what you buy, how you act, is really a need or a self-deprecating want.
Accountability starts with individuals.
Courtney Pamela,
Elora
‘Original vision’
Dear Editor:
I am the nephew of the late Ken and Eileen Hammill. On Jan. 21, I participated in the rally to save 20 acres or one-sixth of the former Kortright Waterfowl Park lands from development. I am heartsick that the legacy my aunt and uncle worked so hard to leave to the citizens of Guelph is under threat.
Ken and Eileen Hamill worked tirelessly for the benefit of present and future generations. The long list of projects they championed included learn-to-swim programs for elementary students, the new main library and the skating rink in front of City Hall.
But the project dearest to their hearts in the 1970s was their vision for the Hanlon Creek Conservation Area on the lands of the former Niska Farm, which became the Frank Kortright Waterfowl Centre.
My aunt Eileen was the daughter of Horace Mack, the original owner of the Niska Farm. When her father died in 1959, the family arranged for the farm to be sold to the Ontario Waterfowl Research Foundation in 1961, later renamed as the Frank Kortright Waterfowl Centre.
When the Waterfowl Centre closed, Ken and Eileen and former Mayor Norm Jary persuaded the GRCA to buy the 116 acres of the Centre to protect it in perpetuity and hold it in trust for Guelph citizens. In 1977, when the purchase was executed, my uncle Ken was an alderman on Guelph council. Council voted to contribute 30 to 40 per cent of the purchase price.
Imagine the thrill when a letter arrived from the Minister of Natural Resources announcing a $160,000 grant towards the purchase of the Frank Kortright Waterfowl Centre as part of the Hanlon Creek Conservation Area. The remaining 10% of the purchase cost was contributed by the GRCA.
Fast forward almost 50 years and today’s civic leaders seem to have forgotten about the original vision for the Kortright Conservation Area. In 2012 through a previous official plan update, Guelph council seems to have inadvertently redesignated one sixth of the former Kortright Waterfowl Park for housing – land that was part of a Hanlon Creek Master Plan already approved by an earlier council and by the GRCA.
City council now has the opportunity to correct a past error and redesignate the land back to open space/parkland, as Ken and Eileen Hamill originally intended.
By returning protections to the entire Kortright lands, Guelph council will be reaffirming the work and vision of my aunt and uncle, and of the citizens of Guelph.
I’d also like to thank the overwhelming number of Guelphites (and people outside our community) who are pushing for a return of all the Kortright lands to conservation. Ken and Eileen would be proud of you.
Chris Hammill,
Guelph
‘Too cozy with China’
Dear Editor:
RE: Carney over Poilievre, Jan. 8.
This letter I found amusing. Remember Prime Minister Mark Carney ran and won the election fair and square on a platform almost solely based on the fact he was the only one who could negotiate and stand up to U.S. President Donald Trump. Well here we are.
This is the year to review the Canada-U.S.-Mexico Agreement (CUSMA) and he has left the door open to now adding negotiations on items not covered by CUSMA.
I hope I’m wrong but I think in the end we will lose in CUSMA and still have issues on aluminum, steel and lumber, and loose out on cars. Not to mention Carney was in China negotiating the same year as the CUSMA review.
Already China has said they want Canada to separate ties more from the U.S. of course. Carney has to remember China moves in with big investments everywhere (ie. - Africa) and by virtue of investment they now “own” those countries.
Yes the Chinese want more of our oil but that will require another pipeline and I’m convinced Carney has set the stage for failure ahead of time (which he will own no responsibility for).
When it comes to Carney there is an old saying: there are highly educated people and very savvy street smart people.
If Carney tanks further our relationship with the U.S. by getting too cozy with China, he should have to answer for it. But no worries, the CBC’s hand-picked analysts will explain that somehow he did a great thing.
Doak McCraney,
Guelph