Cornerstone
The Prince Edward Learning Centre works to equip individuals with literacy, numeracy and other academic and job-seeking skills in our community. A quarter of the folks who participate in the Learning Centre’s Aspire program aren’t certain where they will sleep each night. More than half live in conditions few of us would consider adequate or […]
One thing
There is only one issue. It literally defines everything else. If we fail to fix it, in this next term of council, every other issue we consider vital to our community’s health will be diminished. All the things we aspire for our County may be put out of reach. Time is running out. First, some […]
Builders
Something seems off. Construction projects, perhaps by definition, tend to defy even the most earnestly prepared plans and schedules. Pencil drawings meet hard earth. Unexpected issues arise. So contingency allowances are created—to cover both time and money. Yet they never seem to be enough. There is, however, no excuse or extenuating circumstances—at least none that […]
Change is in the air
Mosquitoes have mostly moved on. The sun is creeping over the horizon later each morning. Ice is forming over at the Wellington and District Community Centre. The clues are in plain sight. Not long from now we will be electing a new council. In fact, fewer than 10 weeks separates us from voting day, October […]
Wrong hill
Why is it that provincial Conservative governments so dislike poor people? It is disappointing, and bewildering, that among their first acts upon grasping the levers of power, is to seize upon the most fragile among us. Freshly elected in 1995, Mike Harris slashed social assistance by 21 per cent among his first acts as government. […]
Case study
For the two dozen new candidates seeking a council seat, and for those playing along at home, the case of the burnt-out bathrooms in Ameliasburgh Park presents a timely and informative window into the workings of council and Shire Hall. Consider it an early primer. The facts are these: On May 16, 2017, public washrooms […]
Participate
We’re worried. Anxious, even. Understandably so. A deranged moron is in the White House, smashing a world order that has given most of us peace and stability for the past 70 years. Our lifetime. And rather than constrain their creature a majority of Republicans—when surveyed—continue to cheer him on. Where are we headed? What kind […]
$100 million
Cancelling Ontario’s White Pines could cost $100 million says company.” Nearly every major media outlet shouted the same headline, or a variation of it, last week upon the news that the new provincial government was moving to cancel the White Pines industrial wind project south of Milford. The threat from the developer was the story. […]
A place to live
The challenges of housing in Prince Edward County are plain. They are widely understood by anyone who has tried to rent an apartment or buy a house recently. Our community is rapidly becoming unaffordable to all but a very small segment of the population. This emerging crisis poses a threat to the viability of our […]
Rules
The trick was to discourage speculators without inflicting undue pain upon the folks renting out a room or two as a means of eking out a living in Prince Edward County. Short-term accommodations (STAs) have blossomed with the emergence of sharing services including Airbnb, VRBO and others. It’s a phenomenon that isn’t unique to the […]