Subs
A few months ago, council heard a presentation about risk management. The presenter outlined a set of guidelines to avoid costly insurance claims. All good information, except the person making the presentation, was employed by the County’s insurance underwriter. It was suggested to a couple of councillors, afterward, they may want to talk to other […]
Wonderland
I’ll try if I know all the things I used to know. Let me see: four times five is twelve, and four times six is thirteen, and four times seven is—oh dear! I shall never get to twenty at that rate! Iam often reminded of Alice’s adventures in Wonderland when faced with the ever-more confounding […]
Tested
In a few weeks, the horrifying events in Paris last Friday will fade. They will become absorbed into the fabric of an increasingly hostile world. We will adjust. The Russian Metrojet, blown out of the sky at the end of October and killing all 224 people onboard, is already a faint memory. If we were […]
Meadows, wetlands and woods
In Mississauga, ambitious plans are afoot to restore the former Lakeview generating station lands to meadows, wetlands and woods. With luck and money, proponents hope the land will one day provide habitat for migratory birds and other animals. Houses and shops will follow in the grand development plan between the municipality and the province. News […]
Little by little
It is all still a blur. Strange new faces. A strange new land. A new language. It is a lot to absorb. The family of fourteen have travelled a long way. Their former lives destroyed by civil war. They are weary—bone weary, according to Carlyn Moulton. But they are safe. They are eager to encounter […]
A lost year
There was a day, not too long ago, when council, and the public, heard regular updates about the County’s waterworks, nursing home and roads issue—and not just when there were big problems or expenditures to be approved. Council heard, a couple times each year or more, about the challenges of Picton’s leaky underground water pipes, […]
Still divided
There is jubilation across the land. Stephen Harper is gone. And Justin Trudeau is leading a majority government promising real change. A nation celebrates the end of a regime that came across as small and petty—out of touch with the way Canadians think and view their country. Ushering in a new way of looking at […]
A sunny disposition
I understand the appeal of Justin Trudeau. I saw it in the Maclean’s debate—the selfassuredness, the optimism and the vitality— and in every debate since. For those hoping for more from our nation’s leader, Trudeau cuts a dashing and hopeful figure against his dour and worried opponents. We want to be hopeful and optimistic. We […]
Us and them
Your voice matters. Politics matter. It is all that stands between your hospital and an empty building. It is all we have. Yet it may not be enough. Bit by bit, our hospitals in Picton and Trenton are being dismembered to shore up the finances for the hospital in Belleville. Even the most spirited and […]
Let’s talk
We have two conversations about renewable energy going on simultaneously. On parallel tracks they appear doomed never to meet. The loudest conversation, at the moment, is conducted by those fearful for the future of the planet, that if we don’t manage to wean our lives and economies off fossil fuels soon, it will be too […]