Columnists Archives — Page 2 of 12

The intersection of rights in a complex world

Published on October 30, 2018 in Columnists by Gene Balfour

When property rights intersect human survival rights, events occur that challenge what it means to be human.

On the one hand, Libertarians stand by property rights because we believe that it is a morally legitimate stance to protect what is ours. We believe that it is the most fundamental responsibility of our elected officials to protect and defend our individual person and property from others who may wish to compromise these in any manner.

On the other hand, there are those people who rally for human rights. These folks believe that a fundamental responsibility of government is to take assets from some citizens and distribute these to less fortunate citizens. The target recipients are alleged to be persons who have lost all of their material assets and the only ‘property’ that they have left is their own person.

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Hospital merger? Fighting the LHIN spin

Published on October 29, 2018 in Around Town/Columnists/Community/Health by Trevor Hutchinson

Experts like Natalie Mehra of the Ontario Health Coalition have warned us that our local hospital is at risk. And as concerned residents continue to await more information on the proposed integration of the Ross Memorial Hospital (RMH) and the Peterborough Regional Health Centre (PRHC), the clock is ticking on the the directional plan that the two hospitals submitted to the Central- East Local Health Integration Network (CE-LHIN) in June 2018.

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Broken glass, shattered faith: MPP’s office a snapshot of future unrest

Published on October 28, 2018 in Columnists/Community/Poverty Reduction by Roderick Benns

It jars us, to see violence in Canada – especially small-town Canada. Whether that violence is perpetrated against people or against property, we tend to feel that this just shouldn’t happen here, in a nation of so much opportunity and wealth. And it shouldn’t.

When MPP and Minister of Labour Laurie Scott’s local office was savagely vandalized earlier this week, our reaction was mostly repulsion.

President of the Lindsay and District Labour Council, James Mulhern, wrote to the Advocate and declared the labour council “does not support or condone violence against persons or property in any form.”

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Yes, please and thank you: Elections, ramen noodles, and bad manners

Published on October 25, 2018 in Around Town/Columnists/Community by Denis Grignon

By the time you read this, our municipal election results will have finally been tallied – (No, honest! We mean it, this time! Hey, where are you going? Come back here!). A few candidates’ signs will have even been removed from intersections and road sides. Some will have been mulched by grass cutting equipment.

Many, however, will have been, um, appropriated and re-purposed by citizens — stapled to barn walls where snow used to blow in on the hen’s roosts, the kids’ bicycles and that paddle board you last used in 2004.

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Election extended — here’s what we know

Published on October 23, 2018 in Around Town/Columnists/Community by Trevor Hutchinson

Last night at around 7 p.m., the City of Kawartha Lakes Clerk, Cathie Ritchie — invoking powers given to her role under the Elections Act as the clerk of this municipal election — declared an ‘emergency’ and extended the election. Voting was to have ended by Monday Oct. 22 at 8 pm. Voting has now been extended until today (Tuesday Oct. 23) at 8 pm. All methods of voting (online, telephone, online in-person at select City locations) has been extended.

In a press release released last night, the City described the reason for the extraordinary measure as follows: “Due to the volume of voters casting their electronic ballots this evening, the system continues to run slower than expected.”

Further investigation by The Lindsay Advocate has revealed that the delay had nothing really to do with the number of voters, but rather technical systems that Dominion Voting uses — the company hired to administer this election.

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Imagining a plastic-free life

Published on October 22, 2018 in Columnists/Community/Environment/Health by Sylvia Keesmaat

Imagine that you are standing on the water tower in Fenelon Falls, looking as far as the eye can see. To the north lies Coboconk, to the east Bobcaygeon. To the south is Lindsay and to the west Beaverton. Except that you can’t see any of these places. Instead all you see is bare earth, roads and trucks driving deeper and deeper into excavated dirt. In fact, as far south as Pontypool there is no vegetation, just dirt piled higher and higher as the trucks go deeper.

This is what I saw when I went to the oil sands four years ago. An entire ecosystem destroyed, with the result that even those who live far outside of the tar sands can’t find animals to hunt anymore, berries to eat anymore, water that doesn’t give them cancer.

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Gord James ‘recommends’ candidate Ashmore, but doesn’t endorse

Published on October 22, 2018 in Columnists/Community by Trevor Hutchinson

The Lindsay Advocate began our coverage of the election with a popular eight-page spread in our print edition, highlighting some of the positions held by the four mayoral candidates. For the record, all four candidates were very generous with their time and all of them met every deadline we asked of them. We did not endorse any candidate and we wish them all, on the eve of this election, success.

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Well, you can’t say this is a boring election

Published on October 18, 2018 in Columnists by Trevor Hutchinson

Believe it or not, there are some smaller municipalities in Ontario where the municipal election is no big deal. We now have less than a week to vote in what is turning out to be a very interesting election. Despite the ugly and annoying bits, this is still a good thing.

There are 444 municipalities in Ontario, and according to the Association of Ontario Municipalities (AMO), 120 municipalities have had their head of council (mayor, reeve, etc) acclaimed in this election. These numbers are up from the last municipal election. Of the 3,273 municipal positions up for grabs this election, 536 have been acclaimed. Journalists from several media outlets are fretting the state of democracy itself.

Thankfully — with the exception of the various school board positions — this is not the case in the City of Kawartha Lakes.

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A voter’s dilemma: Ideas or candidate?

Published on October 15, 2018 in Columnists/Community by Gene Balfour

Recently, I cast my votes for ward councillor and mayor of the City of Kawartha Lakes, and did so online for the first time.

This is my first municipal election in Kawartha Lakes because I moved here in July, 2016 after the last election. Before voting, I faced a conundrum as to how I would vote. Ideally, I would prefer to vote for a person who I assessed to be the best candidate with the best ideas, but they don’t always come in the same package. My dilemma, then, was whether to ‘vote candidate’ or ‘vote ideas.’ I did both.

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Spinning your wheels with a bike share in Fenelon Falls

Published on October 15, 2018 in Around Town/Columnists/Community/Health by Sylvia Keesmaat

Ten clues that Lindsay is a car-first town

A bike share in Fenelon Falls? Why would anyone need to rent a bicycle in small Fenelon Falls? Can’t we just walk everywhere? Not quite. There are a number of good reasons why bikes have been eagerly welcomed here.

For many people, Fenelon is larger than the downtown. The rail trail that runs north out of the city is breathtaking, especially at this time of year, and renting a bicycle makes it possible to enjoy the scenery even if you don’t have a bicycle of your own or need an extra bicycle or two for visitors.

Moreover, for some people with mobility issues, cycling is actually easier than walking. Accessible bicycles make outdoor exercise possible for a wider variety of people.

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