Columnists
A sobering controversy
A controversy is fermenting right here in the County. And it is a sobering reminder that you can’t please everybody.
County staff are reviewing a proposal from a group of like minded residents that the County dip into its reserves budget and fund the erection of a statue memorializing Letitia Youmans. The proposed location for the statue is the Wellington park.
Ms. Youmans, who lived from 1827 to 1896, served multiple terms as the president of the Ontario and Dominion Women’s Christian Temperance Union and was the founder of the WCTU in Picton. According to Steve Campell’s Prince Edward County: An Illustrated History, she spoke up for the right of women to “a comfortable home, a sober husband… and sober sons.” Youmans, who took the pledge of abstinence at the age of 10, “tried her damnedest to eradicate drinking, smoking and bad language in Prince Edward County and elsewhere.”
She is buried in the Glenwood cemetery in Picton. An Ontario heritage plaque stands in her memory at the edge of the cemetery near the corner of Grove Street and Prospect Avenue. But her supporters—one of whom we spoke to, and who wishes to remain anonymous— insist that Youmans deserves further recognition. After all, I was told, if “that drunken louse” John A. MacDonald is worthy of a statue on the main street in Picton, why shouldn’t there be a corresponding statue erected in Wellington of a woman who lived up to her own high standards.
She also reminded me that, when most of the rest of the County went wet, Wellington was an island of dry. Erecting the statue would offer Wellington a new opportunity to tout its moral superiority over Picton.
That’s a hard argument for a councillor who is up for re-election to rebut. Indeed, the project’s supporters are quite confident that they will have a majority of council on their side when the matter comes to a formal vote later this summer.
But rumours have been leaking out and the proposal is starting to receive some blowback. One grape grower (who also requested anonymity) said “it’s an insult to hard working vineyard owners everywhere. How can the County—a place where alcoholic drink production drives the economy—confer recognition of a person whose very aim in life was to drive our industry out of business?”
The owner said it was quite possible that he would cease his practice of giving gifts of wine as prizes at golf tournaments and gala fundraisers; and if things continued to go in Ms. Youmans’ direction, he would dig up his vines and leave the County—lock, stock and terroir. “If the County won’t create a climate in which wine is supported, I’m darn sure somewhere like Sudbury will.”
But it’s not just grape growers who are getting angry It’s hospitality businesses as well. As it was explained to me by one bed and breakfast host, the County—and Wellington in particular—draws people by being perceived as hipster friendly. Hipsters like their local wine and craft beer. Stated the owner “Can we risk throwing that reputation away by dignifying a 19th century anti-drinking zealot? I feel betrayed.”
And one restaurant has already gone on the offensive, sending letters to its clients asking them to join it in denouncing the statue proposal. The letter states that councillors should have anticipated the outrage the proposed monument would cause, because the ‘‘fundamental values” of the industry are “directly questioned.”
In an off-the-record briefing, County mayor Robert Quaiff defended councillors’ right to appove the proposal, stating that if you stifle controversy “you also stifle the pursuit of knowledge, the generation of ideas and the discovery of new truths.” Local MPP Todd Smith, who has been watching the controversy develop, stated to us that he considers the proposal “a bit tone deaf,” but that this was an issue for the municipality to resolve.
Behind the scenes, we are told, Mr.Quaiff has been attempting to broker a compromise. One solution being explored is to ask the University of Alberta to confer an honorary doctorate on Youmans on the understanding that the statue idea would be dropped. The university might just go for it: she would be a lot safer choice than David Suzuki.
Comments (0)