When he was in his late 60s, Leonard Cohen said “I don’t think much about death, but in a certain stage in your life it becomes very clear that your time is not unlimited.” I thought about this when I heard that Munroe Scott had recently died at Adelaide Place in Lindsay at 92, “peacefully in his sleep” as his obituary read. He had been battling cancer prior to the end of his third act.
Last week, the Kawartha Lakes Public Library Board presented our proposed 2020 operating budget to City Council. Part of our proposal is a request for additional funding to create a new manager of public services position.
Far from libraries dying out or become redundant in the digital age, usage of our library system has grown over the last several years. Our branches are often one of the few places in our communities where everyone is welcome. Whether it is a place to study and do research, to find a new book to read, or learn a new skill, our libraries offer something for everyone.
I got a little scared recently reading the words of Stephen King, one my favourite horror authors. But it wasn’t from one his thrillers, it was a quotation on living in the city: “City life is no life for the country man, for such a man that life is a kind of damnation.”
That got me thinking because we were just packing up our country house and moving into Lindsay. Technically, since we were moving from the Greater Glenarm Area (or the GGA, as future planners might one day call it) to Lindsay, we were moving from one part of the City of Kawartha Lakes to another. But we all know calling either a ‘city’ is more than a bit of a stretch. Still though, the move from farmhouse to residential street will mean changes, both big and small, for my family.
We live in a riding that has been Conservative on a federal level every single year since the 1940s, save former Liberal MP John O’Reilly’s three consecutive wins which must come with an asterisk.
(From 1993 to 2004 the Reform Party vote (or Canadian Alliance) plus the Progressive Conservative vote easily beat O’Reilly’s electoral showing for the Liberals.)
Like millions of other Canadians this month, I’ll be voting for a local candidate to represent my interests in Parliament.
If I lived in 1950s or 1960s Canada, my choice might be different than it will be this month. Back then, the business world worked closely with governments to help co-construct a society worth living in for each of us. ‘Open for business’ back then actually meant something because big business was a reliable partner that paid a living wage to its employees.
It’s a property with a now well-documented past but an uncertain future. There are competing interests and City Council and its Planning Advisory Committee have some decisions to make.
You can see the property for yourself if you turn off King Street onto St. David, towards Logie Road. Number 3 St. David, one of the property’s two houses, will be on your right. It’s a large red-brick, gable-front Victorian with a wrap-around porch, set back from the road on a well-treed lot (there’s a towering walnut, some maples and others).
Take the first right onto the extension of Riverview and past a line of mature pine trees you’ll find 4 Riverview, the second, smaller house — a typical Ontario Gothic cottage.
When summer brings day after day of rain, do you think of your fields, your construction contract, your weekend plans or your lawn? The answer to that question probably depends to a large extent on whether you live in town or in the country.
While we tend to think of all of Kawartha Lakes as rural, if you live in Lindsay, Bobcaygeon, Fenelon Falls, or even some of the smaller villages, you might be surprised to know that many things you can take for granted just aren’t the same for those of us who live in the country. And if you came here from the GTA, no doubt you’re in for an even bigger surprise.
Think about what contributes to a caring, supportive community. Any list would include the service clubs and the churches. Arguably, the press belong there. Near the top would be agencies like United Way and Community Care.
For decades Mike Puffer has played key roles in all of these.
Later this month, after 11 years as Executive-Director of the United Way and 14 years as Communications Officer with Community Care, Mike is “retiring” (more about the quotation marks later).
When I sit down with him it’s to hear some reflections on his professional and volunteer services. We meet upstairs at Remedy’s RX on Kent, the independent pharmacy owned and operated by his wife, Cathy.
“We no longer see the world as a single entity. We’ve moved to cities and we think the economy is what gives us our life …without regard to what it does to the rest of the world.” – David Suzuki
It’s a privilege to be able to drive across Canada, not the least of which is because it helps one understand the essence of the country better than dropping in on big cities by plane. However, the cost of lodging, gasoline, and time away from jobs makes it next to impossible for too many Canadians.
So, it was indeed a privilege for us to be able to travel over 12,500 kilometres to the Yukon and back a few years ago for over a month, seeing this great country in a way that few of us do.
Quitting is a normal part of any employment relationship. Any employee contemplating doing so will have hopefully made the right decision without feeling the sting of regret. Regret is a common consideration as resignations will often prompt questions related to “are you sure about this?” from an employer, and it turns out the response to that question could be critical.
At law a resignation must be ‘clear and unequivocal’ in consideration of all the contextual factors surrounding the resignation. This would make most employers feel confident that a resignation given in writing would be firm and enforceable. But a recent case from the Ontario Court of Appeal draws some uncertainty into such a situation.
