Invest
The symptoms are troubling. Eight years have come and gone since Shire Hall discovered it had to take action with the convenience store, and the creek that runs underneath it, on the main corner in Wellington. It has been nine years since the Dukedome went dark. Yet it sits there abandoned, with no clear plan […]
End Catholic school funding
I resent that I am compelled to burn this page today to denounce the advice of the local Catholic Church—advising Catholics and all Christians to stay away from Pride events or risk contaminating children with such ideas, going further to encourage dissent among our elected institutions in order to stymie such events. To be clear, […]
Connecting history
It’s about the stories. It’s about the connections a discarded piece of wood or an iron school bell can make between people separated by generations. It’s about fusing an almost forgotten past to our lives today. Ernie Margetson has tended a simmering passion for the old ways of rural Ontario his entire life—for the buildings, […]
Crawling from the wreckage
Readers of The Times were graced with the insight of former deputy minister of education Charles Pascal, last week in an op-ed headlined Mindless cuts to education puts our future at risk. In it, he offered a scathing assessment of the current provincial government and its proposals to cut the cost of education. Pascal doesn’t […]
Now
Now is the time to start shaping next year’s budget. Now is when the goals and ambitions of municipal spending ought to be defined. Targets set. Not in four crushing days before Christmas with a ticking clock imposing an arbitrary deadline on this important business. It may be tempting for council to slip quietly into […]
Law and order
Bring on the short-term accommodation (STA) regulations. It was a brilliant weekend in Prince Edward County. Mostly sunny and warm. Visitors descended upon paradise by the thousands (despite another Toronto newspaper story seeking to blow the lid off of the simmering challenges in Ontario’s rising rural economic star). The cafés and restaurants were humming. Wineries, […]
A fit proposal
The Wellington Dukes, along with its new women’s team, are presenting village residents and the municipality with a gift. A much-needed facility here in Wellington. All that is needed is for Council to get onboard. On Thursday, Randy Uens, VP of Hockey Operations for the Wellington Dukes is presenting a proposal to equip and operate […]
Empire strikes back
The County’s Fire Department put up a spirited defence of its big spending ways in recent weeks. In doing so, it managed to persuade a majority of council to get onside with its request for $1 million dollars for a new tanker truck and breathing gear. Our fire department learned in this process that it […]
Protector
Peter Tinsley passed away on Sunday. Peacefully. With his family by his side. Peter was a decent man who made a career fighting for fundamental values of fairness, equality and justice. That is until the Canadian government became fearful and impatient about its role in the dark parts of the world and sidelined him. Afghanistan. […]
Caring signal
This is big. A much larger, modern and all-new HJ McFarland long-term care home has been approved by Queen’s Park. To be built and move-in ready within three years. It is tangible evidence that the desperate needs of rural Ontario are once again registering at Queen’s Park. The winds have changed. MPP Todd Smith was […]