Confusing lessons
Imust admit I still don’t get it. I don’t understand the logic of Ontario’s teacher’s job actions, or their version of history. Since I wrote about the elimination of school events at my daughter’s school, including track meets, clubs and other activities, I’ve had plenty of folks try to explain it to me. Some rather […]
Misdirection
MPAC statements have begun to arrive in County mailboxes. Overall, these seemingly arbitrary measures of home and property values appear to be rousing somewhat less anxiety among ratepayers this time around. MPAC remains a broken and flawed system, particularly for rural communities such as Prince Edward County; nevertheless, the arrival of the assessment notice appears […]
Sharing experiences
Can there be a more caring, giving and generous place than Prince Edward County? Each week we could fill our pages with the images and stories of ordinary and extraordinary folks—working, sharing and helping to make their community a better place. In this job I am fortunate to see a great deal of this selfless […]
Daylight
They are surely the most vulnerable people who exist in a community like Prince Edward County. Traumatized, and perhaps already abused, children are taken from their homes, their families—their whole world—and put in another home with strangers. To be safe. They are young. Damaged. Often neglected. They’ve seen very little stability in their lives—now they […]
Entirely inadequate
Where are the answers? Despite occasional protestations that it is committed to transparency and accountability, the Children’s Aid Society of Prince Edward remains steadfastly silent about how and why it put nine and 10-yearold children in the home of a man it had reason to believe was a sexual predator. Now the local CAS says […]
The best stories
They were among the very best—if only for a moment or a day. Their stories inspire us to want to do better—to strive for just such a moment of greatness. Doug Thompson behind the wheel of the fastest boat among hundreds one afternoon on a lake in DePue, Illinois—soaring on a knife’s edge between victory […]
Hard of hearing
Does the County really need another debate about the size of council? Will reducing the number of folks who sit around the horseshoe at Shire Hall make one bit of difference in your life? Or as Ralph Margetson asks this week, does anyone truly believe that a smaller council will mean lower costs or taxes? […]
Not gone yet
Arrogant to the finish, Dalton McGuinty has decided to pick up his ball and go home. He is quitting his job as Premier and taking the opposition’s ability to question and probe his government with him. For he didn’t simply promise to quit on Monday; he also asked the Lieutenant Governor to prorogue the legislature—which […]
What’s wrong with debt
Is debt important? Does it really matter how much we owe and whether or not we can pay it back? Some readers have suggested recently, and they aren’t alone, that a preoccupation on debt and deficits is a rightwing distraction—that we have obligations to spend money today—whether or not we have that money. Even if […]
Wasted water
Check your water meter regularly. That was the message that leaked out of Shire Hall last week. It is not likely the average homeowner on municipal water could spill as much as the Lavers did at their cottage resort over the summer, without some evidence of malfunction. But a running toilet, a leaky faucet or […]