Opinion Archives — Lindsay Advocate

Podcast Teaser: Kyte and Dwayne offer fresh take on others’ music

Published on November 23, 2020 in Opinion by Denis Grignon

In that tables turned episode of The Advocate Podcast, Cambray-based musician Marc Novoselec asked me who my favourite classic rock band was. With little hesitation, I offered British progressive rock group, Yes.

It was the rapid-fire portion of the interview, so there was no need – or time – for me to elaborate on what initially drew me to Yes. Next question, please.

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Benns’ Belief: Our sense of place

Published on November 15, 2020 in Opinion by Roderick Benns

All communities are not made equal. Some are fragile hamlets, hanging on only through the echoes of history. Other communities are sprawling behemoths oozing prosperity, big box stores and middle-class urgency — a place of perfect lawns and hungry bees.

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DriveTest reality serving GTA people doesn’t match up with Ontario’s COVID colour codes

Published on November 10, 2020 in Letters to the Editor by Lindsay Advocate

DriveTest centre in Lindsay faces community scrutiny in shadow of pandemic

You had an article recently about the DriveTest in the Lindsay Square Mall being open to people from Toronto or elsewhere, even with the surge in COVID-19 cases in Toronto.

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City in need of more rental housing

Published on November 10, 2020 in Editorials by Lindsay Advocate

Terms like “desperate” have been used to describe the need for more rental housing of all kinds in Kawartha Lakes which currently has a minuscule 1.3 per cent vacancy rate, according to the last figures available from the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation.

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Compassion: Is it just too off-brand for 2020?

Published on October 26, 2020 in Opinion by Trevor Hutchinson

Normally I love the fall season. The beautiful colours, the different sights and sounds, the changes in the beautiful area that I am blessed to call home.

But there’s been too much change and upheaval for my taste in the last seven months. I find myself distracted from some natural rhythms that were hitherto hardwired.

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City’s $3 million surplus should be shared amongst all wards

Published on October 25, 2020 in Municipal/Opinion by Kirk Winter

Kawartha Lakes looking at new alternatives to reduce environmental footprint

There has been much discussion across the city since Mayor Andy Letham proposed on Oct. 6 to return a $3 million surplus accrued from the 2019 budget to the taxpayers of Kawartha Lakes in a small refund on their 2021 taxes.

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Trash talk: Could cooperation be the answer?

Published on October 20, 2020 in Editorials by Lindsay Advocate

Recycling programs across Canada have been a failure. Canada recycles just nine per cent of its plastics, while the rest is dumped in landfill, incinerated, or ends up as litter. In 2000, when Kawartha Lakes first started a city-wide recycling program, all seven types of plastics were recycled.

Now almost none are eligible. Additionally, takeout coffee cups, Styrofoam, and aerosol cans are no longer permissible under the city’s new waste contract with Canada Fibers Ltd.

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What to do with $3 million? Letham says give it to taxpayers

Published on October 15, 2020 in Municipal/Opinion by Kirk Winter

One of the most difficult things for even the most informed citizen to do is to keep track of municipal budgets that seem to blend together from one year to the next.

Advocate readers have been asking what the city plans to do with a $3 million dollar surplus created by the 2019 budget. Lower than expected spending, particularly on winter maintenance, created this windfall and since the announcement of this surplus there has been a lot of talk about how it should be allocated.

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More jobs needed before new Fenelon Falls housing complex, reader says

Published on October 13, 2020 in Letters to the Editor by Lindsay Advocate

Your headline “Neighbours oppose handful of geared-to-income apartments in Fenelon Falls” sold the sizzle — a deep dive into the full issue might have given your readership a full view of all the opposition.

I do not abut the land in question but do reside in the surrounding area. All residents of Fenelon Falls should be concerned with the lack of transparency that has occurred with this pending project.

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Benns’ Belief: Time for change at Lindsay’s LifeLabs fiasco

Published on October 6, 2020 in Opinion by Roderick Benns

Since we launched the Advocate three years ago, we’ve never had so many people call or email to suggest we do the same story. The obscenely long wait times at LifeLabs in Lindsay — the only community bloodwork lab in Kawartha Lakes — has left far too many people frustrated and troubled.

They are frustrated because people — mostly seniors — are literally waiting hours to get bloodwork, or even to do something as simple as dropping off a completed home testing kit. They are troubled because they’re wondering what winter will bring and how they can possibly cope under such conditions.

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