Temporary kiosks have been set up in the

by David Shanahan

As we approach what may be the strangest Canada Day of our lives, there ap pears to be a light at the end of the tunnel we’ve been going through the last few months. Life appears to be returning to something closer to normal, and there’s a sense that the worst may be past. There’s an interesting paradox involved here, though. We want everything to return to what we find comforting and familiar, yet a few weeks ago we were saying that things would never be the same again: that we wouldn’t take things for granted anymore, we’d be better, protect the environment, continue to be aware of others and their needs, etc.

In my work as an historian, I’ve come across similar situations in the past. Times of crisis bring out the

Dear Editor,

Interesting to read Steve Clark’s explanations regarding the disingenuousness of this provincial government. Let me begin with Hydro rates. He says they haven’t gone up, and that all they are doing is being honest. Fair enough. You may not be pay ing directly for this subsidy, but they have done nothing about bringing down the high cost of hydro, and have added $231 million to the bill by cancelling wind and solar contracts. So just where do you think this money is coming from to pay for this subsidy? This is a Conservative government, so it obviously is going to come from service cuts. That’s all they know how to do.

As for the suspension of our Environmental Bill of Rights so that this governbest (and worst) in people and societies, and there’s a hope that, once the crisis is past, the world will be a better place because of all we’ve learned. “There’ll be bluebirds over the white cliffs of Dover, tomorrow, just you wait and see”, as the lately departed Vera Lynn sang during WWII. The bluebirds came back, but the rationing remained, along with the Cold War, the atomic bomb, and the rest of that bloody century.

Am I trying to be de pressing? No, but society has developed a very shal low character over the past decades, one in which people are never really honest for very long. We emphasise the phenomenon that Joseph Conrad wrote about in Heart of Darkness, and which was later adapted as the theme of the film “Apocalypse Now”: there is a thin veneer of “ci vilisation” we place over a deep well of anger, hatreds, ment can cut “red tape,” the “red tape” is there for a reason, to prevent the unbridled destruction of things that many of us care about. This latest cutting of “red tape” has meant the paving over of 3 wetlands in Vaughan, (wetlands are needed for flood control, but then, Ford cut the Conservation Authori ties flood control budgets, so obviously, wetlands, and the flooding that they help control, don’t matter to this government), and of farmland in Markham, and those are just what I know of. This is why our democracy has been suspended, because the “red tape” could have prevented the construction industry from paving over wildlife habit, and land where we grow the food that feeds us. I have to ask just why other, less sensitive areas, couldn’t never has been a government for the people, because it has never included the poor, the disabled, or the disadvan taged, or, for that matter, the rest of us who don’t qualify as “wealthy”.

It beats me why Ford currently has a 69% approval rating. It is amazing how many people think that he is doing a good job, just because they see him on TV almost every day. It just goes to prove that you can fool most of the people most of the time. When you consider that he cut health care budgets and nursing home inspections, told everyone, on March 12th, at the start of the pandemic, to competitiveness, that never really goes away for long. Society depends on us chan nelling that side of things in a positive way.

And we’ve seen that most recently in the anti-racist protests that broke out all around the world, a wonderful uprising of righteous anger against the systemic racism that murders, physically and spiritually, and apparently without remorse or conse quences. Now, can we regular citizens manage to direct that to our own country? Instead of directing it solely against violence in the police forces, can we finally focus our righteous anger against the systemic racism of Canada in its relations with the indigenous people who have lived under legalised oppression for so long?

Will we stop blaming the victims of our neglect and uncaring ignorance, and begin the long and difficult road to justice and, perhaps, institute a policy of civilisation of Canadian society?

There’s another injustice and crime against our people that demands a more im mediate response, not only in Canada, it seems, but in many countries hit by this pandemic. In the Leeds, Grenville and Lanark region, Covid-19 has taken the lives, at recent count, of 52 men and women. Each week, we’ve been publishing a Local Covid-19 update in this paper, and the statistics have been troubling in one major re spect. Of those 52 deaths, 49 took place in long-term care homes. We in North Grenville and Merrickville-Wolford have been saved from this ter rible experience, and genuine credit and thanks goes to the care homes and retirement homes in our communities. But this devastation which has taken place among seniors in these facilities, not just in Ontario, but around the world, demands an accounting.

The report of the military on Ontario long-term care facilities was staggering in its findings, and no government can legitimately claim not to be responsible to some extent. This needs to be looked into as soon as is practical, and steps taken to end the abuses and maladministration that has caused such a dreadful toll on the most vulnerable. How long has this been go ing on, why was it allowed to continue?

In Britain, for example, inquiries revealed that thousands of patients in hospitals were sent back to care homes to make beds available for the expected rush of covid cases. But they were sent back without being tested, and just brought the disease back with them. A lack of PPE and trained medical staff added to the disaster. This needs to be

Letters to the Editor

have been used. Could it be that the construction industry is a big financial supporter of the Conservative Party, so this is all about money? Theirs. I have just noticed a report that Canadian businesses, on average, stopped paying taxes for the year on the morning of January 7, 2020. Absurd, particularly as we keep elect ing governments that allow them to get away with this. And please don’t trot off that tired adage that we have to give corporations tax breaks for them to create jobs. It has never happened. For the most part, their tax breaks go straight into offshore tax havens.

I couldn’t help but notice that Steve Clark’s response to my letter left out any comments on his government’s attempts to hide the cost of

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production@ngtimes.ca 613.215.0735 repairing the nuclear reactors at the Bruce Power station. Why we are still looking at nuclear when we can buy cheap hydro power from Quebec, and when the cost of solar and wind options has dropped dramatically, defies logic. There is also a plan to increase the use of gas fired electricity by 300% by 2025, meaning that the destruc tive practice of fracking will only get worse. This is why we need the watchdogs that we have, and why the Ford government is doing its best to get rid of them, so that the public doesn’t know what this government is doing behind their backs. For all the rheto ric that comes from the Ford government, their policies are nothing more than giving free reign to the wealthy, at the expense of the rest of us. It

looked into. Every country “go and have fun” on March break, had insufficient PPE to protect our frontline workers, insufficient ventilators, testing, and contact tracing, it proves that people simply aren’t paying attention. Then on top of all this, Ford adds insult to injury by suspending our right to challenge his policies. We have also seen similar actions in Alberta with Ford’s buddy Jason Kenney doing the same thing. I guess that it is a Conservative thing.

Current political wisdom says that only 5% of the people are paying attention at any given time, and it isn’t always the same 5%. Small wonder that politicians get away with the things they do. Of course, if we had proportional representation as a way to elect governments, then we wouldn’t have the abuse that we are currently seeing. You can see something similar to that going on in Ottawa right now with a minority govern ment, where no one party can do whatever they want. Then again, that’s why the two main parties in this country don’t want proportional representation. Colin Creasey, Kemptville.

Dear Editor,

Thanks to Steve Clark for his informative response to Colin Creasey’s typical overheated, fact-free tirade of three weeks ago. If it was not apparent to readers before, it must surely be clear by now that Mr. Creasey’s political will have to examine the steps taken, and not taken, and the timing of decisions too, to see what can be learned. It is not just a matter of dealing with an unprecedented situation, because there were warnings, there were programs in place that were dismantled before they could be used.

It would be easy to not talk about this just before Canada Day. It will be far too easy to go back to blissful ignorance at some point. But that is a trap and a delusion. Learn from the past. Vera Lynn sang: “There'll be love and laughter, and peace ever after, tomorrow, when the world is free”. Hardly describes what really happened since 1945, does it?

We’ve seen what people can do when they stand up for justice. But it doesn’t stop with protests and anger and demands: it requires action and commitment as we go forward. So, to add to what has been the usual sign-off here, we’ll quote another song and see what it means: because this, too, shall pass, We shall overcome. Oh, Can ada! We stand on guard for thee. That means the people of Canada, without whom Canada means very little. We stand on guard to ensure that this is a land that takes care of its most vulnerable. Let’s not forget them once all this is past.

allegiance clouds his vision to a great degree. One can certainly make the facts up if one so chooses in a weak attempt at fiction. But in the real world one needs facts.

Mr. Creasey’s article could have been so much better. He was certainly right to underline the tempta tion troubling times pose for politicians to enhance their power and to engage in over-reach for more power. That is, unfortunately, what so many politicians do when opportunity presents itself. I commend Mr. Creasey for his interest in warning citizens about this at the particular time of challenge posed by the Covid-19 crisis. He is cor rect in this basic approach. At least, I believe he is.

But one must get the examples right. Keep your eyes on the government of Ontario, Mr. Creasey, for real examples. At the same time, you and other alert and watchful citizens may wish to extend