Water works
It was dirty, grubby work. Down a dark, narrow hole, three metres under the street. Breaking hard rock and concrete. Bit by bit. Hour after hour. It began as a simple leak in a water pipe running under Main Street in Wellington. But a number of factors turned a routine repair into an overnight marathon […]
Confusion of roles
I am not concerned about what your concerns are.” With this loud declaration, Councillor Jamie Forrester rather neatly encapsulated his single term on council. Full of bluster and short on articulation, Forrester eagerly wanted to put his hands on $40,000 contributed by a developer on East Lake a few years ago to assuage some residents […]
Kathleen in Wonderland
There are good, sound reasons to borrow to pay for firehalls, highways and airports. These are long-lasting assets that will endure a generation or more. Spreading the cost over 20 years or longer is reasonable. Prudent, in some circumstances. Future generations will use these assets, so why shouldn’t they bear some of the burden of […]
Wrong way round
Bit by bit, the Ontario government is recognizing the futility of its renewable energy strategy. Still, it can’t help but throw more public tax dollars at developers eager to cash in at our expense. This week, the Independent Electricity System Operator (IESO) announced it was letting five contracts worth a total of $42 million to […]
Ears wide open
I hate my kids’ music. Or, more accurately, I hate what they listen to on the radio. Specifically I have a powerful loathing of a radio station that beams its signal across the lake from Rochester. Music, it seems, has always had a sexual component, but on 98PXY we are fed a perpetual loop of […]
Patches
Tragic events overseas have suddenly and angrily shaken us from a pleasant summer torpor—reminding us that as much as we may yearn to shut ourselves off from the mayhem, cruelty and injustice endured elsewhere—we are, inescapably, molecules in this chaotic organism. Whether this week’s tragedies in the Ukraine and Gaza are echoes of 1914, 1938 […]
Creature of the province
The province doesn’t trust local government. According to those who wield power in the hallways of Queen’s Park,local goernment lacks the expertise, the resources or the discipline to make decisions beyond fixing potholes or clearing snow from sidewalks . Municipal governments are not really governments at all. They aren’t recognized by the constitution, but rather […]
A remarkable thing
Paul Catling is one of those folks with the rare ability to transform the ordinary, to reveal the extraordinary—to cast something we see every day into something startling, something profound. How, for example, does a caterpillar become a butterfly? These creatures appear, in almost every way, to be different beasts. And save for their DNA, […]
This lovely area
After the initial excitement of discovering the New World had faded, the West Indies was the place to explore, to gain fame and fortune. Warm blue seas, lush green islands and a bounty of resources spilling out onto golden beaches. It is where royals sponsored expedtions—where pirates and privateers toiled and plundered. The northern bit […]
Proportionate response
Six, maybe seven, police vehicles raced through the village—witnesses said it happened so fast they couldn’t say for sure how many. A motorcycle, an SUV, at least three marked cars, perhaps more. Followed by two ambulances. A good portion of the County’s emergency services assets rolled through Wellington on Friday afternoon— at high speed. Sirens […]