Mail bag: 10/01/26
‘Just say no’
Dear Editor:
RE: Drivers speeding up in community safety zones since camera enforcement stopped, Sept. 24.
Waste regularly occurs in all three levels of government.
Why does this happen? A lack of common sense. Bureaucrats or politicians don’t think they will be affected by spending other people’s money (our tax dollars).
A recent example: “The county agreed to spend $34,650 to continue using 14 Global Traffic Group-owned cameras at $275 per month, per camera over nine months.”
Big surprise – without speed cameras speeds increased. As taxpayers, policing costs a lot of money. Why not, on an intermittent basis, try police radar where the speed cameras were located?
Municipal elections are near and I would love to hear a politician who promises to cut costs and when someone shows up at a council meeting with the only complaint about a problem and the cost to fix the problem is expensive why not try this: just say no.
John Bossie,
Puslinch
Just be nice
Dear Editor:
I was reminiscing about Father Peter Watters who pastored in Rockwood. As a funeral director I always found him welcoming, cheerful and so good with grieving families no matter what their religion. And if a baby cried he’d stop the service and say how wonderful it was to hear the voice of a little one.
Father Peter taught me there’s always a nice way to say something. He told me of a very aggressive tailgater who’d lay on the horn the instant the light turned green. Eventually, they came side by side. Father leaned out the window to show his clerics collar and said, “Send you mother and father around. I’ll see they get a proper wedding.”
Sadly, American-style politics is creeping into Canada and some very not-nice things are being said even at the municipal level.
A pamphlet of one mayoral candidate took four long paragraphs to bash the current mayor and council. In discussing it over coffee with a group of lifelong township rate payers, we definitely were not in agreement with his points.
Why must we stoop to bashing? Let’s be like mother raised us and if we can’t say something nice, don’t say anything at all!
Ian Pasmore,
Rockwood
‘Voting is a privilege’
Dear Editor:
The upcoming municipal election is fast approaching. Who we vote in will define and determine the direction and future of the Town of Erin.
Important urban and rural issues and challenges must be heard and faced head-on.
Most of the decisions made at the municipal level have the biggest impact on our everyday lives: roads, property, environment … basically our quality of life.
Let us bring in a council that is transparent, responsive and accountable in its actions. The new council must have the skill-set to meet the challenges it faces in the next four years. Business, financial and technical (engineering, environmental) expertise are key to council success. We demand a council that will works as a team for the betterment of all Erin residents.
It is crucial that we take the time to learn something about our candidates; to understand who they are, where they stand on the issues that are important to us, whether we believe they have the skill set to do the job, whether we believe they have the integrity and the commitment to carry out their promises. Voting is a privilege and responsibility we must exercise.
I would like to thank Chris Bailey and the Erin Chamber of Commerce for an excellent meet the candidates event on Sept. 22. It was a great opportunity to see all the candidates in action. For those who missed this occasion, please take the time to view the event on Youtube.
Be on the look-out for your voting package. It should be arriving in the mail promptly. Be sure you are on the voting registry. If not speak to the town office.
Anna Spiteri,
Erin
Protecting democracy
Dear Editor:
Last week’s Advertiser cartoon depicting Trump smashing democracy should make us think about our own role in protecting it.
The destruction of democracy by one man is not the story. If I were drawing the cartoon, I would show citizens surrounding democracy’s pillars, each chipping away with a mallet.
We chip away at democracy when intolerance replaces listening, tribalism replaces questioning, and winning becomes more important than democratic principles.
Once those pillars are weakened, all an aspiring autocrat needs is a cult surrounding their personality willing to push the pillars over.
Democracy isn’t destroyed by one person alone. It is weakened when we stop defending the principles that sustain it.
John Scott,
Elora
‘Courageous, innovative’
Dear Editor:
RE: ‘Mismanaged hell,’ Sept. 24.
My sympathies to Wayne Baker, who seems unable to appreciate a vibrant variety in this country’s democratic system or our ability to confront the times, rather than look backwards, contrary to the entrenched political camps below our borders.
In Baker’s response, a rigid somewhat dated entitlement is on display.
As a woman, a chapter of my life’s work involved political portrait drawings, one of which hung in Rideau Hall (Gov. Gen. Ray Knatyshun). All of them required aspects of respect for both career and personality, no matter the party. It’s admirable to see former prime ministers Stephen Harper and Jean Chretien standing by Mark Carney’s side – “on board” Canada’s ship .
As a Canadian, I carry a surname inherited from a grandfather who homesteaded in the prairies. He worked briefly on the C.P. railway, hyphenating his own name for business purposes, to manufacture an innovative 3-man threshing machine (A. Stanley-Jones Small Threshing Units).
Growing up in Ontario as a child, we were self-sufficient on two fields (11 acres), an abandoned stone house (1866) without utilities, small barn for two pigs and 30 chickens, an orchard and a huge garden whose produce went into a home-built freezer. Clothes were home sewn.
Canadians are courageous and innovative. Any “contempt” aimed, is rejected. Any “concerns” are his own choice.
Bronwen Stanley-Jones,
Mount Forest
Mountain vs. mole hill
Dear Editor:
No, bicycles do not belong with pedestrians. Yes, they belong with cars. Simple. A walker is nothing like a bicycle would be a clearer statement. Where the bicycle is not as large as a car, it does have the potential to reach the speed cars travel at. That does not belong on the sidewalk.
I’ve watched cyclists riding along a sidewalk with little concern for pedestrians. Not only do pedestrians have to watch out for automobiles they also have to “be on guard,” not just aware, of the cyclist that does not change their speed or consideration while travelling on sidewalks. Walkers are far more likely to step off the sidewalk to avoid the cyclist than the cyclist is to return to the road when they meet a walker.
“Unfortunate” is an understatement when a cyclist hits a walker. These collisions can result in life altering injuries for the walker and the cyclist. A cyclist approaching you at speed can be very disturbing and can leave walkers with anxiety.
Who’s going to pay for these new license plates and the administration it will require? Who’s going to do the reporting? How are they going to prove the registrant was the rider? Will there be court dates? Will they require insurance? At what point will the license plates be required? Will toddlers with training wheels need to register? Fair is fair. Sounds like a mountain made out of a mole hill.
I would suggest schools have bicycle training programs hosted by the OPP. Parents are not always the best at teaching the rules. If they don’t follow the rules their children won’t. Do they speed by cyclists on the road? Do they share the road? How do they operate their bicycle? Do they know how their children operate their bicycle? It all begins with setting an example.
Sidewalks are made for walkers, roads are made for motorized vehicles and bicycles. The biggest problem is when groups do not follow the rules set in place for all users. There’s your idiots. Allowing cyclist to use the sidewalk is not going to correct that.
Heather Aitken,
Fergus
‘Unhealthy mess’
Dear Editor:
When you first enter Gibbons Drive Park you see a play structure for the children and the evergreen forest. There is a nicely maintained small grass area and then look to the left and there is the pond of horrors!
The pond’s purpose is for overflow for water in case of huge storms and winter runoffs, thus keeping our basements from flooding.
Over four years ago, when I moved to the Gibbons Park area you could see vegetation growing in the pond and sometimes a couple of geese – lovely. Now, it is a stagnant, polluted and abandoned scummy, unsightly hole with rows of golden rod around its perimeter. One of my friends tells me there are dead frogs. What is this telling us? It’s unhealthy for sure.
My other complaint is there is a little pathway around the coniferous forest that was once great for a nature walk. Now, the weeds are so high and bending onto the path. These weeds are laden with wasps, hornets and mosquitoes. Just an extra run around the path with a lawn mower or whipper snipper could remedy thus situation and return it to a pleasant walk for children and adults alike.
I’ve been trying to get some action but never even get a call back. At least Ward 5 council candidate Matt LeBeau came by while putting up his signs and took the time to walk with me to see this neglected pond and discuss this unhealthy mess. Thanks for your interest and time, Matt.
With all new housing in the north end of Fergus, are we not allowed a nice park for children to play in and walk around a developed evergreen forest without this health hazard?
“A natural park,” as the Gibbons family referred to, does not mean forgotten and neglected for over one half of the park.
Joan Gordon,
Fergus
Looking for sign hosts
Dear Editor:
Mental Health has always been an issue throughout the years but seems to have become more challenging in these fast-moving times with social media and lives frenzied with hectic schedules. Thank goodness we have many professionals to help individuals with their mental health challenges.
However, our professionals are overloaded and cannot touch base with patients as often as they would like.
Recovery Inc. (an affiliate, Recovery Canada) was founded in Chicago 90 years ago as of 2027 by a psychiatrist named Dr. Abraham Low. He was frustrated with the time limitations he experienced with his patients so he designed supplemental group meetings that were led by average individuals who had experienced mental health challenges and recovered using his method.
Recovery meetings are completely confidential, 90 minutes long, once a week. Members read from a textbook, learn new positive “spots” they practice, helping them think in a more secure, positive way. They leave meetings feeling heard and supported by others who truly understand what they are going through.
The point of this letter is to ask if there would be any individuals in rural Wellington who would be willing to have a sign erected in one of their fields for us to get the word out about the organization and our meetings. Ideally signs would be on a busy road for the best exposure. We would love one on Highway 6 and any other heavily travelled road.
I want to do a big shout out to 100 Women Who Care Rural Wellington, for the $10,000 funding they gifted to us which has allowed us to even think about making professional signs.
For those of you who would like to learn more about this group please check us out online.
As an organization, we want to do better at reaching and supporting people, helping them to prevent relapses and chronicity in order to lead happy, productive lives.
If you would be open to having us erect a sign in a field on your property, my email address is: mcrobdon@hotmail.com Please contact me and we can find a time to discuss this.
Donna McFarlane,
Leader of Monday Night Zoom Recovery Group