County Road 43 expansion update

We don’t control the mail

by Marguerite Boyer

by Brandon Mayer

Whether or not you’re a resident of Kemptville, it’s likely that you have a reason from time-to-time to travel along the stretch of County Road 43 that runs through town. It is no secret that there is a plan to widen part of the in-town portion of the road. With plans for the project announced last year, some residents are starting to ask – “when?”

Although the project is confirmed, there are two reasons why the road widening has not yet begun. One is that the tender has not yet been issued. The other is that the bridge over the Creek will be replaced before the road widening can begin.

“We expect the tender for bridge and road expansion to be issued by May 2023,” said Mayor Nancy Peckford. “If all goes well and the award is granted, construction of a new bridge will begin between mid summer and late fall. At this stage, a new bridge will be built before the old one is demolished.”

That leaves the question – when can motorists expect the road to be widened? The Mayor had an answer for that as well. “In 2024 and 2025, the 43 road expansion will also be undertaken,” she said.

Traffic on County Road 43 can be quite congested at peak times of the day, with delays just to drive the relatively short stretch from one end of town to the other. Vehicles trying to turn onto County Road 43 during peak times also face quite a challenge in finding a safe gap in the traffic. This is why a section of the road will be widened with extra lanes, a project that was years in the making before finally being confirmed in April of 2022.

Mayor Peckford advised that an update will be provided once the tender for the job is awarded.

Every now and again, we get a call at the Times from someone complaining about the Post Office. Usually, it is because they didn’t get their copy of the Times, and I have to tell them that they need to call the Post Office to let them know. However, you can’t phone the post office in North Grenville. If you need to talk to someone, you have to go in, in person. The Times goes out as bulk mail and reaches, or is supposed to, every home in NG. This week, my caller was different. He wanted to stop having the paper delivered to his home. That is fine, but I told him this is something he has to take up with the Post Office, it is out of my hands. But he was not happy with my answer and seemed to think I could do something about it. Then he went on to tell me about how the Post Office, the Municipality and the Times had actually made the decision to change his mailing address. For some reason, he thinks we have great influence with mayor and council and the post office. It's impressive that a local paper has this much influence!

You know, I don’t even wish this to be true. Well, maybe I wish we had more influence with the post office. But noone should have that kind of power. Yes, I do consider myself well acquainted with the present council. Not that I personally hang out with any of them other than occasionally meeting them for a coffee or a drink, to discuss articles, etc…

This council has been the most approachable one I have known in the 30 years of living here.

But this caller then went on to talk about last year's election, and how we misinformed the public. I don’t know why he, and others like him, think North Grenville citizens are not mature enough to think for themselves and look at the facts. And, once again, may I point out that the Times is liable for any lies we might print. Newspapers and other mainstream media have to be very careful. We are held accountable, different rules for us than for social media posts. Just take a look at what is going on right now with

Fox News in the States. Misinformation is dangerous, so I would hope that the residents of NG are a lot more intelligent than to simply accept everything they read or hear without question.

During last year's election, I saw a lot of misinformation on social media as well as downright lies, about the Council and about the paper. But, in the end, the voters made their decision, because they used their intelligence rather than what they saw posted on social media.

One local resident recently posted some very negative things on social media about the OPP, misinforming the public on the reality of the situation. The OPP is not perfect but legitimate criticism never needs to use misinformation of lies to make a point. The truth matters, and the truth is, the Times doesn’t control anything!

by David Shanahan

George Howard Ferguson is, at the same time, one of North Grenville’s most famous and most unknown sons. This local boy made good was Ontario’s ninth

Premier, and his achievements in that office had a lasting impact on the province, and 2023 marks the centenary anniversary of his election as Premier, a position he held until 1930. In appearance, the young Howard Ferguson looked like a banker; as he grew older, he resembled a genial uncle, or grandfather, with a round and beaming face. He served on the Village of Kemptville Council, and was Reeve of the village for three years (at that time, Councils were elected every year). When he became Premier in 1923, he had already established a solid political base in the area, and his re-election at each election was always, it seemed, an inevitability.

But there was quite a dark side to Ferguson’s political career, one that seems to be relatively unknown in North Grenville. Even his official biographer had a hard time putting a good face on aspects of his life in politics. The title of the biography says nothing about his achievements: it is simply called: “G. Howard Ferguson: Ontario Tory”. But perhaps that describes the core nature of Ferguson’s career. Chapters of the biography have titles such as “Tory Hatchet Man”, “Hides on the Fence”, and, most indicative of his role as Premier, “Boss Ferguson”.

Howard was always drawn to the wilder side of life. In his days at the University of Toronto, his roommate was Stephen Leacock, who would become in the future a famous writer and humourist. The two ran the student newspaper and Howard was known as a man who enjoyed a good time with his friends. This led to a problem when it came to graduating. Howard and Stephen had to get one more credit, but their subject, Mathematics, was not by any means their strongest. Stephen discovered that they could get a credit in Ethnology instead, if they could pass the exam which was taking place the following day. The professor in the subject had written a textbook, so the two students read the book overnight and scrapped through to graduate on schedule.

Throughout his career, Ferguson gained a reputation of doing whatever it took to succeed, and of using friends and contacts to prosper. He was accused of being just a little too close to the timber and mining companies that had dealings with the Department of Mines and Forests when he was Minister, of deliberately courting controversy when he needed to raise his profile with the public. And this was not just the case with his provincial career. It was in Kemptville that Ferguson honed the many talents he took to the provincial scene. His time on the Kemptville Council was equally tempestuous: in fact, there have been very few times in this community’s history when local politics were as polarised. In fact, it was only in recent times that it came close to the depth of feeling and level of controversy that Ferguson inspired between 1898 and 1905.

Ferguson’s time on Council was a series of fights, injunctions, conflict and argument, in which Ferguson showed his qualifications to move up to provincial levels of political infighting. Then, having challenged the sitting MPP, a fellow Conservative, Ferguson was elected to the provioncial Legislature, but faced years of internal party conflict and opposition by the disgruntled ex-MPP, who claimed that illegal methods had been used to get Ferguson elected. In 1911, Ferguson suddenly introduced a motion in the Ontario Legislature that “no language other than English should be used as a medium of instruction in the schools of this Province". It was the first time he made a name for himself, both in the Legislature and among the public at large. It was seen at the time to a be a rather crude attempt to gain support from the anti-French segment of the population and the Tory party, and this willingness to court controversy to further his own career was to become a trademark of his long and successful time in Ontario politics.

Howard Ferguson learned his trade in the cut and thrust of the Kemptville Village Council, not what you would consider the most dynamic political body, but made such by Ferguson’s drive and ambition. He became, as his biographer admits, the Tory Hatchet Man, the member his leader could depend on to get down in the mud and do what was necessary. Hardly the image you would want for your favourite uncle or grandfather, is it?