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by Fred Kirby
December 7, 2005
The
Kincardine and District Chamber of Commerce wants to operate the proposed
tourist booth to be built (to be scrapped if people come to their senses)
at Highway 21 and Russell Street.
Chamber President, Larry Kraemer, still has not learned much about
democracy since he was mayor: “We want to be in charge of our own
destiny…we’re paying our fair share (of taxes).” We all pay our fair share
of taxes. The elderly widow living in her cottage on a small pension is
paying her “fair share” of taxes and has as many rights in the
municipality as Mr. Kraemer. Mr. Kraemer has no inherent right to run
municipal facilities or receive grants on the basis of the taxes he pays.
Anyone wanting to be in charge of his “own destiny” should not start off
wanting to be subsidized. Let the Chamber operate their own tourist booth
in an appropriate location and staff it with volunteers or hire university
students during the season, and I will applaud them. The municipality
could supply the booth with information material and communication
equipment, but to piggyback on a costly mistake is not an activity I would
expect from the business community.
I am still waiting to see the business plan for the municipal tourist
booth. Surely members of the Chamber of Commerce, who pay their “fair
share” and are business-oriented, would want to know if there is a
business plan and if the plan makes economic sense. $500,000 plus traffic
lights, paving, sewage and water is a lot of money so where are the
figures that tell the banker this is a good investment for the citizens of
Kincardine? How does the number of visitors compare with faxes and email
enquiries? How does it compare with alternative plans for a booth? These
are legitimate questions that citizens have a right to know the answers to
before proceeding. This is not a washed –out culvert that must be fixed
immediately; the booth is optional. Has the Chamber asked these questions
or does business lose its acumen when public money becomes involved?
December
14, 2005
Before I get to the
Tiverton and District Ratepayers Association’s behaviour let me say that I
am no fan of the of the OMB; the fact that a decision affecting 12,000
people is left in the hands of two people gives the lie to any assumption
of a democratic process. It is ironic the TDRA would use such an arbitrary
instrument to gain their way after talking so much about democracy.
But then, the democratic process is not a priority with Bob Wilson and the
TDRA. Mayor Sutton euphemistically may call the offer of $10,000 to switch
his vote “lobbying”, I call it the action of a morally bankrupt
Association. Any candidate supported by the TDRA in the next election now
will be suspect.
In the fall I wrote about threats to the Deputy Mayor’s family, now we
learn that a councillor received a threatening phone call and the next day
a vehicle drove onto his property destroying his beehives. Bob Wilson
should explain how that behaviour fits into the democratic process. Good
government cannot rise from the values the Association demonstrates. Good
government does not come about electing councillors knowing the price of
beans. Good government comes by electing councillors who behave ethically.
While the appellants at the hearing said council should have taken longer
to make citizens more aware of the issues, they utterly failed to say they
have never been open to negotiations. Years of notice would not resolve
this issue. Symbolic of their attitude is that for six years the Bruce
Township signs still stand welcoming and confusing travelers as they enter
the Municipality of Kincardine. Appellants should have been honest by
simply saying they did not want amalgamation and for the same reasons they
are adamantly opposed to the abolition of the ward system. The rest of
their repetitious presentations are just blather.
This controversy need never have arisen had the Bruce Township signs been
placed in the local museum and both previous townships elected councillors
with the insight to realize that healing was needed after amalgamation and
who had the skill and willingness to work for the whole municipality. That
did not happened then. It needs to happen now regardless of the OMB’s
decision.
December
21, 2005
Dalton McGuinty will
make it illegal for students to drop out of school before age 18. He
will take away their driver’s licences. Parents and students can be
fined $1000.00. The money used in policing this wrongheaded policy
would be better spent on education.
I have lived through it before and have witnessed the cost to society
and the waste of youth. Compulsory education came about to guarantee
that children received an education in spite of their parents. In the
19th century, children were an economic asset in the home and on the
farm. 50 years later the state was penalizing children simply because
they did not wish to go to school. We took them to court, placed them
on probation and sent them to a Training School. Little good was
achieved; much damage was done.
Why do we deny a child the one real opportunity he or she has for
healthy development? It is not though a lack of knowledge because the
information about the benefits of day care and early childhood
education has been available for years. To quote David Crane who
writes a business column for the Toronto Star: “The investment in the
first six years of life pays rich dividends in the life chances and
contributions a child will make to society as an adult….If children
are to succeed in school and in life, it helps a great deal if they
start school with the foundations for literacy and numeracy, as well
as self-confidence and social and coping skills. These foundations are
laid in the earliest years of life when the brain is developing even
faster than a high speed internet network.”
There are bits and pieces of early learning in place but it is
scattered and inconsistent. What we need is a universal professional
day care and early childhood education program moving seamlessly into
the primary school program. If we care for our children, we must put
in place a solid foundation. Then the schools will receive young
people welcoming new learning whether it is academic, trades, or arts.
I become angry when I meet youth whose growth has been stunted, whose
potential not realized, because society has failed them. We all should
be angry and tell the politicians why.
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