Letter to the Editor

Dear Editor, I see where the Auditor General Bonnie Lysyk has issued a damning assessment on how the Ford/Clark provincial Conservative government selected sites last year for removal from the Greenbelt.

Lysky’s audit found that removing land from the Greenbelt was not needed to meet the government’s housing target, as previously noted by the Ford government’s hand-picked Housing Affordability Task Force. According to Lysyk, the government had already allocated the 1.5 million units to municipalities by October 2022, one month before the government announced its controversial Greenbelt proposal. The Greenbelt was meant to be off limits to developers, and it wasn’t that long ago that Ford promised that his way, they don’t have to pay the “little guy” for using their content, since they aren’t using it anymore.

A headline that came to our attention last week from News Media Canada was this: “News publishers and broadcasters call for Competition Bureau investigation into news blocking”. Is this the right approach? Facebook and Google are American companies worth billions of dollars that both operate internationally. If these companies are digging in their heels regarding something as simple as paying news producers, what makes us think that they won’t use the “pulling out of Canada altogether” card when sanctioned by the Competition Bureau? Do we really believe that the loss of the Canadian market is such a severe threat to these companies?

I’m not defending the companies at all. Any parent of children aged 6 – 12 knows what “YouTubers” are and how many millions of dollars they make annually. That money comes from ad revenue sharing. It makes no sense that big companies like Facebook and Google can share advertising revenue with individuals who bring in advertising dollars, but not with news companies.

My first thought in all of this is that a Competition Bureau investigation would do little except hurt Canadians. Imagine if, after being disappointed by the findings of such an investigation, Google and Facebook decided that they would simply block access to their sites from all Canadian IP addresses, rather than do business in a country that over regulates them. Canadians would lose two online services that they enjoy, and would gain nothing in return.

My second thought is this: “Perhaps it’s time to cut the apron strings”. What’s wrong with using Facebook to stay connected with friends and family, and to view entertainment and raw current events footage, while relying directly on news sources for news? The same can be said for Google – let Google direct you to the nearest plumber or a fascinating Wikipedia article about platypuses, and seek news directly from news producers’ websites.

At what point in history did we become so reliant on Facebook and Google for our news? It’s incredibly ironic, given how much these platforms are known for users spreading false information on them. Why is it such a hardship to type “ngtimes.ca” or “cbc.ca” or “theglobeandmail.com” into your internet browser, instead of “facebook.com”?

How on earth did Facebook and Google become our new mommy and daddy, telling us what content we can and can’t see on the internet? The content they are refusing to share is not their content in the first place – go straight to the source instead! Speaking of internet connections and the fact that some people don’t have one, did I mention that cracking open a print copy of the NG Times or any number of other publications requires no internet at all? Seriously! No internet required. Newspapers are so advanced that they even work in a power outage!

I do love a good expression so much so that expressions, or modifications thereof, have inspired the titles of my editorials for the better part of a year, and the titles of some guest editorials before that. “Cut the apron strings”. Like most expressions, it makes no sense at first. Aprons keep food off our clothes. How do they relate to interpersonal or inter-entity attachment? It’s simple, really. In the past, babies wore aprons to keep their clothes clean, because laundry wasn’t the automated breeze that it is today. These aprons had strings sewn on to help the parent guide the baby’s movements (“two birds one stone” –another great expression). When the baby was ready for more independence, the apron strings would be cut to allow such freedom. The expression has therefore morphed into referring to any instance when a person severs their reliance on another being. government would not touch it. He lied. Again.

Well… snip, snip. We don’t need Facebook and Google to regurgitate other organizations’ work. If they don’t want Canadian advertising dollars, then Canadians don’t want their recycled news.

It transpires that wealthy developers have been lobbying Steve Clark’s Chief of Staff to get the lands that they bought inside the Greenbelt released for development, and they got most of what they wanted. They now stand to make an astounding profit of $8.3 billion on these lands, which rightly belonged to the people of Ontario. Steve Clark has denied all knowledge of what his Chief of Staff was doing, but that is hard to believe. It is the Minister who directs his Chief of Staff; that’s the way that the system works. If Clark doesn’t have control of his staff, then he shouldn’t be in government, and should resign. This is just another case of Steve Clark saying one thing, and doing something else, and a further example of the lack of integrity in government.

Anyone interested in reading more information on the Auditor General’s report can find it at https://www. cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/ontario-auditor-generalgreenbelt-report-1.6930390.

Acquaintances of mine who identify as fiscal Conservatives don’t seem to be bothered by this debacle. I often hear that all politicians are corrupt, or if they aren’t when they get elected, then they become that way. What a dystopian view of our political system. When I try and engage these people on things like climate change, or the need to change our way of electing those who are meant to serve us (as opposed to serving major developers and corporations), or the paving over of farmland, wetlands and natural areas, or the privatization of our Health Care and Education systems, I just get a look similar to deer in the headlights. They believe in fiscal responsibility and little else, and that government budgets are similar to their own (they aren’t), and the Ford/Clark government plays on this. They just have to throw these people a tax break now and again, such as removing the payment for a car licensing plate, and they go happily on their way.

Then there are the people who “don’t do politics”, abrogating any responsibility for the excesses of government. They don’t believe that anything will change, so they don’t bother to vote, thereby creating a self-fulfilling prophecy.

As someone once said, “Nothing changes if nothing changes”.

Humanity, with its excesses and wilful ignorance, is destroying our planet. I will forever remember a TV presenter asking a man on the street about climate change, and his answer was “It’s not my problem. It’s my kid’s problem”. Is this what we have become?

Colin Creasey, Kemptville

Dear Editor, A Free Consultation With

Mr. Ford and Mr. Clark:

To those whose job it is to represent Me:

I am 100% against the development of the Greenbelt. You should be too. I am also 100% against dropping a prison on Kemptville... so should you. The typical manner in which you do things is, you make the decision---without any consultation with other parties, then you go ahead with a plan to make it appear as if you are going through the 'consultation process'. In my opinion, to use an agricultural comparison, that's the stuff that is shovelled out of the horse stalls or the bull pens. The problem is at least twofold: letters cont'd on page 5