MONDAY NOVEMBER 18 pm DeepRiverPoliceServicesBoard DRtown hall

EDITORIAL

NORTH RENFREW TIMES

Published by Digest Media Inc. PO Box 310, Deep River, ON K0J 1P0

NRT Editorial Board: B. Bishop (BB), D. Tennant (DT), B. Wilkin (BW) K. Lapping (KL), T. Myers (TM)

Robocall Epidemic

Are you sick of robocalls? So am I. We all receive them, if your number is listed, multiple times daily, both day and night. They have become a huge nuisance that continues to get worse. Some are legitimate, such as calls from charities (which can be irritating but are legal), appointment reminders, and so forth. Then some are illegal but not malicious, for example from local businesses trying to sell something like duct cleaning. But I find that most of them are more sinister. They pretend to be from real agencies but quickly resort to the use of an aggressive or threatening tone demanding information or money (usually via Bitcoin or gift cards) to avoid fines or prosecution. Legitimate callers don’t use such tactics. Recently, many of these calls supposedly come from Canadian federal agencies: Canada Revenue, Privacy Commissioner, Cyber Security, and Service Canada to name a few. CTV News reported last week that there were almost 5,000 victims who lost $17 million to scammers since 2014. The estimates are likely low as many of these crimes go unreported due to embarrassment over being duped.

It’s very difficult to find and shut down the call centres that initiate the calls as most are in foreign countries, notably India. In Canada, service providers have until December 19 to implement call blocking at the network level. We’ll see how effective these measures are.

The scam is called “Vishing” a combination of phishing (ie., internet-based scams) and voice. There’s not much you can do to stop the calls short of disconnecting your phone or switching to a new unlisted number. Call blockers are not very effective since scammers manipulate or “spoof” the displayed Caller ID frequently changing the information rendering CID almost useless for blocking these calls. So what can you do to minimize the risk? Here are some suggestions: > Do not answer suspected robocalls. Scammers maintain and share “easy mark” lists; picking up can actually increase the number of these calls. > If you accidentally answer a robocall demanding money, hang up immediately. > Don’t trust CID; it’s easily spoofed. > If you are unsure check the number online at <canada411.ca> reverse phone number lookup. The site indicates the owner of the number and location. Don’t call if it’s listed as “Unknown. ” > Maintain a phonebook list on your cordless phone (I use a Panasonic) to save legitimate caller names and numbers. > Never disclose personal or financial information over the phone unless you initiated the call. > If the call was important they will leave a message; scammers rarely do.

I actually received two robocalls while writing this editorial! It never ends. B BW

Swisha dam from Holden Lake boat ramp (before the snow)

Photo: John Wright

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

Lead by example

I realize I do not live in Ontario, but I am saddened with the current politics playing out, that affects residents of Swisha too.

I am writing about the teachers impending strike.Afew things really bother me. The first is the fact that the Ford government gave themselves a raise in 2019, backdated to 2018, of 14% as reported at the time.

Anew idea? Give yourselves a raise before you do anything, especially if the budget is hurting... Good old politician logic?

The second concern I have is the lack of understanding regarding the teachers contract negotiations.

As a now retired shop steward, I am sad that journalists do not explain unions and their importance. I know that if your contract ends inAugust, there are provisions to apply for negotiations to start, typically three to six months BEFORE the end of the CBA. (collective bargaining agreement).

As a union rep, I always submitted for negotiations as soon as possible, before the CBAended.

Management never wanted to meet and get things done on our schedule, and in the case of the teachers, it looks like the Ontario government has the same attitude.

Instead of negotiating in the summer (if six months then negotiations could start in February or March), the government goes on break, thus making the negotiations hit the students and parents during school time.

This will turn parents against the teachers as it is an inconvenience to deal with the kids and now they need child care.

If the Ford government can give themselves a big raise, they should be able to do the same for the folks that are teaching our kids, but they won’t.

People need to be reminded that unions are responsible for your sick days, vacation days, overtime pay and other benefits whether you are a union member or not!

The benefits you have came from union leaders taking a stance against the folks at the top to ensure those working and creating the profits benefited in some way.

The Canada Labour Code ensures many things, a couple things being vacation pay of four or six per cent, depending on length of service, and any work over 40 hours per week, you are entitled to overtime pay. Unions helped with this protocol.

Please support the workers in your province/country especially the teachers. They are not only teaching the school curriculum, but also life skills to the kids, as many parents do not.

People, get on the band wagon and protect jobs, and wages for the workers, and keep your governments accountable.

Doug Ford’s 14 per cent pay increase is from YOUR MONEY Ontario. Your tax dollars are what is used to pay for his wage, his advertising, his mistakes.

The same applies to the federal budget. It is YOUR money that is paying for all our country ’s projects.

I believe all politicians should take a look at themselves and be very critical of why they ran for office. Perhaps they could lead by example, and Doug Ford can look at reversing his “entitled” raise and even reduce the wages of the politians... in a perfect world.