November 10, 2022

MEDICS LOST A total of 465 days in offload delay times through the first nine months of this year. That’s up dramatically from the 249 days lost during all of 2021.

Offload delays measure the gap between the time an ambu

lance arrives at the hospital and the patient is transferred into the hospital’s care, releasing the ambulance back into service.

Paramedics can spend hours in such delays.

The increased figures are part of the region’s semi-annual key performance measurement indi cators for paramedic services, released Tuesday.

The report indicates an

increase in several catego ries when compared to last fall’s report. These include an increase of 10.3 per cent (or 5,975) of ambulance calls, an additional 13 seconds in response time (9:09 minutes per call) and unit utilization, the per cent of time ambulances and emergency response units are engaged in responding to calls which is up 8.4 percentage

points to 47.4 per cent.

Paramedic Services is currently losing an average of 35.8 hours per day in offload delays, an increase of 23 hours and 18 minutes per day. As of October, the services were in code yellow, meaning there are fewer than four ambulances available for an average of one hour and 50 minutes per day, over the previous 12 months.

They were in a code red, meaning no ambulances were available to respond to calls an average of four minutes and 50 seconds a day.

The offload delays and the unit utilization has negated the two additional ambulance shifts added in July of this year, the report said.

At the region’s community → OFFLOADING 4

Bill Atwood

Observer Staff

WATERLOO REGION PARA

Led by the colour guard on route to the cenotaph, the Elmira branch of the Royal Canadian Legion held its Remembrance Day march and ceremony on Nov.6. Bill Atwood

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Home sales, prices down From the archives

There were 491 homes sold last month through the MLS system of the Waterloo Region Association of Realtors, a decrease of 39.7% compared to October 2021. In October, the average sale price for all residential properties was $763,630, down 8.4% from a year earlier. The average price of a detached home was $860,568, down 10.6% from October 2021 and 0.3% from last month.

Local officials are celebrating the fact a satellite community health centre is coming to Wellesley Township. Funding was approved last week for Woolwich Community Health Centre (WCHC) to offer health programs and services in the under-serviced municipality, part of $4.6 million in provincial funding for such services. From the Nov. 13, 2004 edition of The Observer

New provincial measures look to curtail development charges

Leah Gerber Observer Staff

SOARING DEVELOPMENT CHARGES THAT ADD tens of thousands to the cost of a new home were a big target as the province rolled out Bill 23, the More Homes Built Faster Act.

The bill impacts ten

pieces of legislation, including the Conservation Authorities, Development Charges, Municipal, Ontario Heritage, Ontario Land Tribunal and Planning acts.

Key changes have been made to the fees collected from builders for future development. When it comes to certain kinds

Former Maryhill retirement home looks to lodge Ukrainian refugees

HAVING JUST WRAPPED

UP 23 years running a retirement home, Karen Martin sees a good fit in providing temporary lodging for Ukrainian refugees at Hillside Residence in Maryhill.

“I know how to operate a group within the home. When you leave a place and you’re just looking after your own, especially when you’ve gone through trauma ... coming in and functioning in a group setting is not entirely familiar. That’s something that I’m used to dealing with [with] the seniors that come in,” she said.

Just last week, she found a new home for the last of her senior residents after deciding to wind down the business.

“It’s been 23 years that I’ve done that, and COVID has not been great for those running the health care thing for seniors,” Martin explained. “At the same time, I was working

on using the building, which is a great space – I am not going to continue with seniors at this point for a variety of reasons, and I thought a good use of it would be taking in Ukrainian refugees.”

The building, which has 13 rooms with their own washroom facilities, is located on a 20-acre agricultural site in the middle of the village, just adjacent to Maryhill Heritage Park. With a large kitchen, dining room and three living-room spaces, there’s plenty of room for those in need of lodging just now, she noted.

“It’s a nice calm place. It’s in the center of town. It’s a small town, and there’s a little community centre next door,” said Martin of the location, noting the village locale would work for some of the families arriving from Ukraine.

“It would be an ideal setting for families with littler kids, because teenagers would be better

→ HOUSING UKRAINIANS 6

of affordable, non-profit and inclusionary zoning housing, developers will be exempted from paying municipal development charges and other fees.

The act also requires municipalities to spend or allocate 60 per cent of their reserve funds annually.

In a letter to the finance

minister earlier this month, Colin Best, the president of the Association of Municipalities of Ontario said these changes go against the concept that the cost of development should be covered by development.

The purpose of Ontario’s development charges framework has always

been to “balance public and private interests by ensuring growth pays for itself, thereby protecting the interests of current property taxpayers and future generations,” said Best. “The government’s current proposal shifts that balance sharply, which jeopardizes the ability for municipalities to → CHARGES 6

pay for core infrastructure. With the only alternative being increased property taxes, the province and municipalities will need to work together to rebalance the scale through other means.”

Tim Van Hinte, the director of planning for Wellesley Township, says

Education workers’ strike short-lived

Bill Atwood Observer Staff

ONTARIO’S 55,000 EDUCATION WORKERS WERE back on the job Tuesday after ending their strike action when the province withdrew backto-work legislation, but a new contract remains to be negotiated.

The Canadian Union of

Public Employees says its ready to take action again if a deal is not reached.

The workers – custodians, educational assistants and early childhood educators – walked out on Friday and Monday in contravention of Ontario’s Bill 28, which made the strike illegal and imposed a new contract, the Ford government opting to

use the Charter of Right’s notwithstanding clause to pre-empt legal action.

Challenges lie ahead, says president of CUPE Local 2512, which represents Waterloo Catholic District School Board workers who walked out, forcing the closure of schools.

“If they don’t follow through and if they don’t

repeal the bill and make us an offer that is good for our students and for ourselves, we’re going to be ready to go back again. We as education workers, we are not going to accept less than what we’re worth or we deserve,” Mechelle O’Hagan told the Observer on Tuesday.

Bill 28 was passed last

Groups working with Ukrainian refugees note challenges abound

Bill Atwood Observer Staff

DEMAND FOR SERVICES, PARTICULARLY HOUSING, continues to outstrip supply as the region continues to welcome Ukrainians fleeing the Russian attack on their country.

There are now between 1,500 and 1,700 Ukrianians who have settled in the region, according to Waterloo Immigration Partnership. Executive director Tara Bedard points out that many are still facing challenges in adjusting to their new life.

“There’s the situation

that people have come into this community from; they are fleeing an active war situation. Many still have family and friends who are in Ukraine… the war is still happening. We certainly hear a lot about the housing challenges that some of the Ukrainians who have come into

the region are facing. We all know…the region and many communities across Canada are having a housing crisis right now,” Bedard said.

English proficiency has also been a challenge for some Ukrainians, Bedarad explained, noting that’s had an impact on their

ability to find suitable employment.

“A lot of challenges. Each one of them takes time to address, they’re all interconnected. Not every family is having the challenges with housing. Not every family is having the challenges with employment. Not every family is

having challenges with language, for example, but some are impacted by some or all of those things in different ways,” Bedard said.

The Waterloo Region Grassroots Response (WRGR) is a group of volunteers helping Ukrai-

Participants at the CUPE protest outside Mike Harris’ Elmira office Nov. 4 took issue with the extra pay he is getting as a parliamentary assistant to the minister of Legislative Affairs. Bill Atwood

Steve Kannon

Observer Staff

week under what Educa tion Minister Stephen Lecce dubbed the “Keep ing Students in Class Act.”

However, Premier Doug Ford promised to repeal the bill by November 14 and both sides decided to return to the bargaining table, meaning that CUPE ended their strike after just two days.

On Tuesday, Ford indicated an improved offer had been made to the lowest income earners, however he declined to get into specifics. The union had been asking for an 11.7 per cent annual raise, later halving that, while the province had imposed a 1.5 to 2.5 per cent increase.

“I was proud of all the members sticking together like we stood strong. We stared down at this attack against our rights. This bill should have never passed,” O’Ha gan said.

The mood of workers was on display Novem ber 4 outside the Elmira constituency office of Kitchener-Conestoga MPP

Mike Harris.

Chris Fernick, an IT worker and a CUPE support staff member, said union members were fighting for their wages, their rights as workers and “for the students.”

“For the last 10 years, we have not had large increases, everything has been 0 per cent or one per cent. That’s 50 cents or 30 cents an hour. We’re asking for $3.25 an hour. That’s what we have asked the government for, and they have legislated that most of our workers are going to get 1.5 per cent.

I think it is fair to ask for $3.25 an hour. They like to throw numbers out like percentages. But in reality 11 per cent for somebody making $39,000 is not that much,” Fernick said.

Ken Gallipeau, who retired in June after 32 years of working as an education assistant, said he wanted to show support for those still working.

“Thirty-two years ago, we were just under $13 an hour. Now we’re not quite $24. What’s wrong with

ON 65 Elmira

this picture? Go work for $35,000 a year gross. That doesn’t happen. In 2019, the provincial govern ment, they came out and cut $800 for students out of our classrooms and made bigger classes,” he said.

Gallipeau worked two jobs to make ends meet he said.

“[For] 32 years I worked two jobs. Summertime, laid off. March break, laid off. Christmas, laid off. I had to work two jobs,” he said.

Parent Ryan Hasbry said while he has always supported the education workers and what they are asking for, the use of the notwithstanding clause brought him out to last Friday’s protest.

“The idea that even prior to a strike, they shut down the option of striking and right off the bat, before the negoti ations even got close to finishing… I feel like it’s an attack on our ability to strike at all. If this goes through on this union, striking is over,” he said.

He also doesn’t think the union is asking for too much.

“They’re talking about two or three bucks an hour. I work in tech and two or three bucks an hour, I’ve made that much more every year for years.

They haven’t had it in 10 years,” Hasbry said.

In a Tuesday interview, Harris said he was happy to see kids back in class.

“That’s the number-one goal and I think it gets a little bit lost sometimes that that is really what we’re trying to achieve here. I’m very excited that the kids are back in school today, certainly here in the region with our Catholic board and with other schools across the prov ince,” Harris said.

What CUPE is asking

for is an astronomical number, the MPP added.

“So we had come back with a bit more of a modest ask at almost 11 per cent over the time of that contract, which we had said would be four years. The contracts in question that we’re talking about, these are the highest paid education workers in all of Canada.”

The use of the notwith standing clause was a last resort, Harris stated.

“Hopefully we’re able to negotiate a deal over

the next few days here by the end of the week. And we can put a little bit of this behind us and move forward and keep kids in class and… make sure that they’re able to catch up on some of the stuff that they’ve missed over the last couple of years,” he said.

O’Hagan had a completely different take on the situation.

“If the bill hadn’t passed and they had been at the table giving us a fair deal, none of this would have happened,” she said.

→ FROM 1

services committee meeting Tuesday, North Dumfries Mayor Sue Foxton questioned if the province was taking steps to alleviate some of the pressures paramedic services are seeing.

“I thought there was something put in to help alleviate that. And I thought it was coming from the province where they had to offload to a new one so the ambulances aren’t caught in the base. When I was on the commit tee examining EMS, they said 65 per cent of their time was spent in base and when we added more ambulances, all we did was create more parking in the base,” she said.

However, according to acting department chief Rob Crossan, the prov ince has not laid out any concrete plans.

“There’s been no changes in the time it takes to offload a patient. There has been nothing from the province to force the hands, if you will, of the hospitals into offloading.

There’s no place to offload them, so that’s the issue. It’s nurses. It’s beds,” Cros san said.

“We do occasionally double up crews so that one crew will watch two patients. There isn’t the physical space, there isn’t the stretchers, and we are obligated on a great number of our patients to continue with cardiac monitoring.”

The treatment will often occur in the hospital hall ways, Crossan said.

“We are legislatively not allowed to withdraw the care that we’re giving. So we can’t send the ambulance without a [defibrillator] without a monitor, without a bed. So that’s really where the issue lies,” he added.

Coun. Jim Erb said it “is quite discouraging to try and keep ahead of this.”

“It just seems that we’re going two steps forward and three steps back with the offload delays and the amount of resources that we’re putting into hiring new ambulances and in the new 12-hour shifts,” Erb said.

While Coun. Tom Gallo way suggested looking into having firefighters step in, they do not have formal medical training, Crossan noted.

“Nor are they under a base hospital physician or any type of college. So a paramedic cannot hand off care of a patient to somebody that is less qual ified than that paramedic. Under the provisions in the Ambulance Act, that would be abandoning the patient. We cannot hand off care to a firefighter as well,” he said.

This would also nega tively impact the region’s fire services, Crossan added.

“We have I believe 32 ambulances at our peak. The Waterloo Fire Depart ment has four fire trucks. So are we going to trade off putting an ambulance on the road and taking a fire truck off the road to watch our patients?”

Dr. Hsiu-Li Wang, the region’s medical officer of health, said offload delays are an issue across the province.

“This council has, I think, been very forward thinking in terms of supporting the paramedic services master plan that called for additional ambulances over the years to support the popula tion growth of Waterloo Region. They recently supported the additional ambulances as part of our move to a high-growth scenario, given the indi cators that we’re seeing and also the fact that our population is growing very rapidly,” she said.

According to Wang, the Ontario Association of Paramedic Chiefs has given recommendations to the province regarding changes the government could make to the proto cols affecting dispatching and offloading at hospi tals.

“So my recommen dation would be that we continue to support associations... to continue to engage with the provin cial government to look at solutions that would affect the services across the province,” she said.

OFFLOADING: Ambulance crews often spend hours sitting around, waiting to hand off the patient to the hospital, which face shortages of beds and staff

CUPE STRIKE: Both sides agree to go back to bargaining table; province promises to rescind bill making strike illegal

Use of the notwithstanding clause to force educations back to work and remove their ability to strike provoked the ire of protesters. Bill Atwood

Waterloo Regional Police launch new mental-health Crisis Call Diversion Program

Waterloo Regional Police last week announced the imple mentation of a new Crisis Call Diversion Program (CCD).

In partnership with the Canadian Mental Health Association Waterloo Wellington (CMHA WW), the program will aim to connect community members experiencing a mental health crisis with appropriate resources and support, police said

OCTOBER 28

1 : 07 PM | Emergency services responded to a report of a single-ve hicle collision on Arthur Street South in Woolwich Township. The driver of the vehicle veered to the left, causing the vehi cle to leave the roadway and strike a tree. The investigation determined the cause was a medical event. No charges were laid.

OCTOBER 29

3:45 PM | Officers with the Wellington County OPP conducting a Reduce Impaired Driving Every where (RIDE) program on Fifth Line, Centre Welling ton spoke to the driver of a red pickup truck. As a result of the investiga tion, a 30-year-old of Guelph/Eramosa man was charged with ‘operation while impaired - 80 plus (blood alcohol concen tration).’ The accused is scheduled to appear before the Ontario Court of Justice – Guelph at a later date.

10 : 30 PM | An offi cer with the Wellington County OPP stopped a silver sedan on Highway 6, Mapleton Township, after it was observed traveling well above the posted speed limit. A 51-year-old of Guelph man was charged with ‘operation while impaired - alcohol and drugs,’ as well as with ‘speeding’ and ‘driving while under suspension.’ The accused is scheduled to appear before the Ontario Court of Justice – Guelph at a later date.

OCTOBER 31

12:30 AM | Wellington County OPP responded to a report of a collision involving a single vehi cle on Highway 7 west of Guelph. A 32-year-

in a release.

The CCD program will see a mental health professional – an Inte grated Mobile Police and Crisis Team (IMPACT) member – physically embedded into the WRPS communications centre with the goal of diverting appropriate mental health related calls away from a traditional dispatched police response.

Once assigned a call, an IMPACT professional will

old Guelph man was charged with ‘operation while impaired - 80 plus (blood alcohol concen tration).’ The accused is scheduled to appear before the Ontario Court of Justice – Guelph at a later date.

9 : 40 AM | Waterloo Regional Police arrested a suspect in Woolwich Township in connection with a weapons incident Oct. 8 in Kitchener, where a man brandished a knife towards two employ ees while inside a busi ness and made threats towards them. A 31-yearold Kitchener man was charged with ‘assault with a weapon’ (two counts), ‘uttering threats to cause death’ (two counts) and ‘possession of a weapon for a dangerous purpose.’ He was held in police custody for a bail hearing.

9:59 PM | Police received a report of a collision on King Street North in Woolwich Township. Upon arrival, officers located a damaged box truck, deter mining that the driver of the truck was attempted a turn when they struck a garage in the area. The driver was not at the scene, but has since been identified. The investiga tion is ongoing.

NOVEMBER 3

12 : 04 PM | Police received a report of prop erty damage in Elmira. Sometime between 4 p.m. and 9 p.m. on Nov. 1, an unknown suspect(s) damaged a public bath room located in a town ship-owned building on Barnswallow Drive. The suspect(s) threw garbage cans from outside the building into the bath rooms, smashed soap dispensers and filled the toilets with garbage. Anyone with information is asked to call Police or Crime Stoppers.

assist individuals expe riencing a mental health crisis by providing tools, resources, and referrals to community agencies, or by assisting them with navigating the mental health care system.

“We are very excited for the launch of the Crisis Call Diversion Program and see this as an enhancement to the way we respond to people in crisis in our community. People who

3:42 PM | Perth County OPP, the Perth County Paramedic Services and Perth East Fire Depart ment responded to a collision on Perth Line 26 in the Township of Perth East. The investi gation indicated that one of the drivers was pass ing multiple vehicles that were backed up in traffic when it collided head-on with another vehicle. One person was transported to a local hospital with minor injuries. A 32-year-old resident of Waterloo was charged with ‘pass - road way not clear - approach ing traffic’ and issued a provincial offence notice.

NOVEMBER 4

8 : 16 AM | Police responded to a report of a theft from a motor vehi cle in Breslau. Sometime between 9 p.m. on Nov. 3 and the time of the report, an unknown suspect(s) stole property from an unlocked vehicle parked in a driveway on Trowbridge Street. The investigation is ongoing and anyone with information is asked to call police or Crime Stoppers.

8:53 PM | Police received another report of a theft from a vehicle in Breslau. At approximately 1 : 30 a.m. that morning, four unknown suspects stole property from vehicle parked in a driveway on Woolwich Street South. Anyone with information is asked to call police or Crime Stoppers.

NOVEMBER 6

9 : 26 AM | Police

are experiencing a mental health crisis often require a clinical intervention that does not involve police. Diverting calls (when appropriate) from the police, similar to diverting calls from local emer gency rooms, is a step in the right direction. This exemplifies the collec tive commitment in our system, to ensure people get the care they need, when they need it, as well as optimal service deliv

received the first of three reports of thefts from a motor vehicles in Mary hill. At approximately 12 a.m., an unknown suspect(s) stole property from unlocked vehicles parked in driveways on Isley Drive. Anyone with information is asked to call police or Crime Stoppers.

NOVEMBER 7

10 : 20 AM | Waterloo Regional Police are inves tigation a fatal collision on a property in the area of Sandy Hills Drive and Arthur Street North in Woolwich Township. The initial investigation deter mined that the driver of a tractor was reversing and struck a young child, who was transported to an out-of-region hospital where she was pronounced deceased. The driver of the tractor, a 41-year-old male, was uninjured. The inves tigation is ongoing by members of our Traffic Services Unit. Anyone with information is asked to call police at 519-5709777 or Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-8477.

1 : 09 PM | Waterloo Regional Police were contacted regarding the theft of several catalytic converters from a busi ness on Fountain Street North in Breslau. Some time prior to the time of the report, an unknown suspect(s) gained access to the fenced compound of the business and stole four catalytic converters from vehicles. Anyone with information is asked to call police or Crime Stoppers.

Church St. E. in Elmira re-opens

There’s now one less detour with which drivers have to contend, as Church Street East in Elmira re-opened to traffic on Wednesday. The project that started in May ran a little longer than expected, and there are more detours in the offing next year given plans to move the work eastward to the stretch between Riverside Drive and the bridge.

ery,” said Jeffrey Stanlick, director of services for the Canadian Mental Health Association Waterloo Wellington.

On average, WRPS officers respond to nearly 2,400 mental health related calls each year.

“We are proud to further build our partner ship with our colleagues at the Canadian Mental Health Association. Having mental health professionals available to

respond to callers in crisis not only ensures they get the most appropriate care when they need it, it also helps prioritize policing resources for the most serious and emergent situations,” said acting Chief John Goodman of the Waterloo Regional Police Service.

The CCD program is funded by the Community Safety and Policing Grant and has launched as a three-year pilot program.

suited if they were in town on a bus line with they could get part-time jobs, go to movies, etc.”

The communal set-up might also work for those transitioning to a completely new environ ment.

“People would be living communally, but I think for them that might be nice in a foreign coun try. The idea is that this would just be a landing place where they would come get sort of their feet on the ground, get set up in services, and then see

what happens.

“For these people, it provides a community where they don’t have a community.”

The Hillside Residence space will allow organiza tions helping Ukrainian refugees find space for larger families, notes Stephanie Goertz of the volunteer-led Water loo Region Grassroots Response (WRGR) group.

“We have an applica tion process that refugee Ukrainians in Europe can complete if they want to come to Waterloo Region.

REFUGEES: Groups look to tackle housing issues ahead of moving on to issues such as jobs, schooling and clothing

→ FROM 3

nians coming to the region with a wide range of needs.

Volunteer Stephanie Goertz said housing is the biggest need for newcom ers right now.

“Waterloo Region is known as a major settle ment location within west ern Ontario. The problem is that, as we know, housing is in short supply within the region,” she said.

WRGR is currently looking for host families to provide short- and medium-term housing solutions. As there is an application that starts before those in need leave Ukraine, it is not just on a first come, first serve basis, Goertz explained.

“It’s totally up to the host. We [just] connect. They let us know how many bedrooms they might have and how many people that they might be able to welcome in their home. If we have someone with some other applica tion process that might need to meet the same qualifiers, we’ll connect them and then they get the opportunity to talk

The group has about 12 families looking for hosts

at any given time. The lack of housing has made it difficult to access services for newcomers, she added.

“We have such amazing resources and organiza tions and teams that want to help, but if Ukrainians can’t find a place to stay to access settlement services, then they’re not being fully utilized,” she said Bedard concurred, noting that many services are tied to having a fixed address.

“We’ve seen this with our school boards: one of the triggers for school enrolment is having proof of address in Ontario,” she said

While the Immigration Partnership has been able to make arrangements for students whose families do not yet have a perma nent address, finding permanent housing is time-consuming, Bedard said.

“When you’re spending all of your time focused on looking for housing for your family, you don’t have time to access the other services and support that you need to attend to the other needs of your family, like finding a job or finding

childcare,” she explained. “When housing is the big and pressing issue, it makes it very challenging to be able to look at the services that you need for employment or other things.”

Rosslyn Bentley, the executive director of the Woolwich Community Health Centre which has been supporting the Woolwich Guest House for

Ukrainian Families in St. Jacobs, has seen the chal lenges the housing situa tion has had on refugees.

“We already knew housing would be an issue because there’s so little rental accommodation in the rural townships, and it’s expensive when it does come up. So we already knew that was going to be a challenge, but how to meet that, of course, was

not really something we had a plan for in a detailed way until we discovered what it’s been like,” Bent ley said.

“We’ve now agreed that whenever one of the resi dents is looking at a place, we have a volunteer drive them there, so that they can get there really quickly so they don’t miss out if it is suitable accommoda tion.”

Finding housing in the region is difficult enough for Canadians or those who have been here some time, Bentley noted.

“It’s difficult to establish yourself and it is hard to understand too if your language isn’t sophisti cated, because it’s not easy negotiating renting some where,” she added.

The guest house that opened in August is currently hosting five families totalling 21 people. It has now seen two families transition into more permanent housing. The guest house has received overwhelm ing support, Bentley said.

“We’re so grateful because new needs are emerging all the time.… We’ve been able to help people more than we were originally expecting in some of these ways, with their first rent, with winter clothes and transportation to get to appointments.…

That was not what we originally planned. We were only raising money to meet the expenses of running the house, but people have wanted to make sure that the resi dents are welcome.

that reducing develop ment fees that a munic ipality can collect will reduce the funds available for future projects.

“If you can’t collect certain development fees, then you have to figure out another way of paying for some of that infrastructure.”

The province, however, maintains the bill is needed to help tackle the housing crisis.

In a release, the ministry said Bill 23 is “part of a longterm strategy to increase housing supply and provide attainable housing options for hard working Ontarians and their families.”

The province says the plan addresses the so-called missing middle – diverse, afford able housing choices – supports growth and standardization of afford able and rental housing. It also freezes, reduces and exempts fees for building attainable, affordable and non-profit housing, streamlines bureaucratic processes and protects Ontario homebuyers from unethical developers. The province is also cracking down on land specula tion and non-resident purchases of housing.

“We know that some cities have continued to

increase charges on new housing. Municipal fees on new housing construction have increased on average 30-36 per cent over the past two years and these costs are being passed on to rent ers and first-time buyers,” said Matt Carter, a spokes person for the Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing.

“Despite these drastic increases, these fees have only been accumulating in reserves. The province estimates that across Ontario municipalities have $9 billion in unspent development charge reserves,” he said.

Van Hinte said that

reserve funds serve a purpose in municipalities.

“The idea of a reserve fund is putting that money into a fund for a rainy day,” he said. “For years when you maybe have a short fall, you can maybe draw on that fund.” He said that the spending of devel opment fees is regulated and they can only be used for certain projects, and municipalities stay within these rules.

“Whenever we’re talking about exemp tions or deductions [for development charges], it’s concerning because inflation is sky high and everything is costing more

for everybody, including municipalities.”

The reductions or exemptions to develop ment charges the provincial government is propos ing apply to non-profit, attainable and affordable housing and rental units. Can municipalities afford to take that loss to allow for more affordable housing to be built?

“I think everybody will be in agreement with we’re in an affordable housing crisis, and we need to figure out how to build more affordable housing. By reducing certain fees, that might help, depending on what they are and how it

works,” said Van Hinte. Carter said the province is working with the federal government to ensure municipalities continue to receive support for infrastructure needed for growth such as roads, water systems and transit.

“Planning and commu nity building is import ant, and I think there’s a difference between simply building more units and building community,” said Van Hinte. “Perhaps the intent of the province here is to get more units built faster, but at the same time, you can’t forget just building units doesn’t build community.”

CHARGES: Province wants municipalities to reduce fees and red tape to speed construction of new homes, lower costs

HOUSING UKRAINIANS: Former Maryhill retirement home looking to provide housing for newly landed refugees

Woolwich Community Health Centre executive director Rosslyn Bentley is flanked by Mariia Mamaisur and Andrew Shulgin, the in-house coordinators for the Woolwich Guest House in St. Jacobs. Bill Atwood

Karen and Bob Martin are looking to help with the Ukrainian refugee situation via their former retirement home in Maryhill. Steve Kannon

A long and winding road to greener times

Leah Gerber Observer Staff

VOLUNTEERS WITH TREES FOR WOOLWICH are planning another ambitious tree-planting project.

The goal is to plant some 21,500 trees along 335 kilometres of town ship and regional roads in Woolwich by 2032.  The project seeks to replace the mature trees lining township roads that are now aging out.

Those old trees were planted as part of multiple government initiatives in the late 1800s. Farm ers were given financial incentives to plant trees. Ownership of the trees was often shared between government and farmers, and fines were in place to protect the trees from being cut down or injured.

Woolwich has commit ted to increasing tree cover, but the township land left to plant trees on is almost full.

So, Trees for Woolwich volunteers decided to tackle the roadsides, and continue work that began in 2006 with plantings along Lundy Road and other nearby roads. This past season, the group completed a pilot project with plantings along Lerch, Kramp and Floradale roads.

The trees are relatively smaller, which makes them less expensive to purchase, but they do require care. Installation and care is being orga nized through Trees for Woolwich and Earthscape Landscape company.

Earthscape’s Mark Schwarz says that although the trees will be planted on township prop erty, not all landowners

along the way will neces sarily be on board with the project.

Many farmers do not like the idea of planting trees along the roadways near their properties, says Dennis Martin, a retired dairy farmer who volunteers with Trees for Woolwich. There are worries that the trees will shade out crops planted near property lines, for instance.

Martin has spent many years convincing other farmers to plant and care for more trees along the roadways.

“There are some farmers more than happy to accom modate, but I’d say they’re the minority,” he said.

Martin said he can see both sides, and that farmers do have legitimate

reasons not to want trees along the road where their fields are. “I’m caught in the middle.”

Jeff Snyder is an owner and manager at Evergreen Liquid Plant Food between Bloomingdale and Mary hill. He says Trees for Woolwich planted about 30 or 40 trees along the property where his busi ness is located.

“I usually like the idea of planting trees,” Snyder said.

Snyder said that he wasn’t too worried about the trees impacting crops because they were far enough in the ditch to not cause too much of a problem.

“I guess eventually they could get big enough, so they could affect a little bit right underneath them, but

not that much,” he said.

Martin says farmers often don’t want the trees shading out their crops, or the extra maintenance that comes with having trees on the edge of their property, such as trim ming branches. He says that some farmers, over the years, have worked their property right up to the edge of the road, infringing on township property.

“It’s often a battle over the property line,” he said. “Because with the price of land as high as it is, no one wants to give up too much of it.”

But there are reasons for farmers to welcome these trees, says Martin. For example, they protect against wind damage to fields, add aesthetic value

What we do is we connect them with the people in the region that are willing to open up the doors to support them. So having a space and facility like Karen’s place that has 13 bedrooms, that has a communal kitchen and shared living space, it’s an amazing asset to have to welcome Ukrainians,” said Goertz. “Now they have a space, and they can contribute together. People can look after each other’s children, and they can work through the struggles of moving to an area with the support of each other.”

The group, which has a similar working relation ship with the Woolwich Guest House for Ukrainian Families at the former –the former Jakobstettel Inn – in St. Jacobs, will provide support to the new arrivals via its volunteer network, she added. As a host, Martin wouldn’t be going it alone in dealing with the newcomers, said Goertz.

WRGR has about 85 hosts today, with some 100 volunteers helping with everything from getting groceries to setting up households.

The group has received

some 400 applications, and has thus far been able to help about half of them.

Much of the lodging arranged is fairly shortterm, as the refugees are often eager to get more settled rather than relying on others. That in turn frees up space for newcomers.

“It’s been absolutely amazing how quickly people have been finding employment and then going off and finding their own place. You wouldn’t think that within two or three months, families feel settled enough, get all their bank account

information, get all their paperwork, get their children’s school, get a job, start working, and then have enough capacity to find their own place. They are extremely versatile,” said Goertz.

Along with volunteers, refugee organizations are always looking for other assistance.

Martin noted there’ll be a need for winter cloth ing, for instance, and perhaps the likes of bunk beds to held accommo date children. She can be contacted at karen_ winger@hotmail.com or at 519-500-1655.

out invasive species and create healthy native habitat.

For the township, Trees for Woolwich volunteers say that trees help keep roads in better condition, and help against soil erosion on the road’s edge, among other benefits.

Schwarz and Trees for Woolwich chair Inga Rinne estimate the project will cost about $51 per tree, including purchasing the tree and protective mate rials along with labour for installation and watering, for a total of approximately $1.1 million over the dura tion of the project, or about $110,400 per year. Accord ing to the group’s proposal report, an initial corporate seed donation of $18,500 per year has been secured.

“The upfront costs are obvious, but the longterm benefits are not as calculable. But they are there,” Martin said. “It’s a long-term thing. How do we want our township to look?”to the property, help crowd

Trees for Woolwich’s latest project involves planting 21,500 trees along municipal roadways to bolster tree canopy

Mariah Martin and Mark Schwarz plant trees along Floradale Road last month, part of the Trees for Woolwich drive to boost roadside plantings. Leah Gerber

OBSERVER EDITORIAL

When local news matters

Connect:

Remembering, lest we be doomed to repetition

We live in a time of (relative) peace. While there are always wars on the go somewhere on the planet, here we’ve not seen the likes of the global conflicts most associated with Remembrance Day, which we mark tomorrow (Friday).

Certainly, Russia’s outrageous attack on Ukraine is top mind, but there are currently conflicts ongoing in the likes of Somalia, Sudan and Yemen to go along with those more familiar hotspots of Afghanistan, Iraq and Syria.

Remembrance Day, then, becomes more than honouring those who paid the ultimate sacrifice in the last century. It’s also about heeding the message that vigilance is needed to avoid sliding into the kind of totalitarian morass that marked much of the 20th century and is on the rise again in the 21st, and not just in “those” parts of the world where we’ve come to expect the worst.

While Remembrance Day looks to encompass current and more recent military personnel and veterans, November 11 is largely associated with wars from the first half of the last century, the epic struggles of the First World War and World War II and, a little later, the Korean War.

Even the most recent is now an event that ended 69 years ago. It’s little wonder it’s more work today to keep the younger generations attuned to the meaning of Remembrance Day: the farther removed we get from the wars themselves, the fewer of us there are with firsthand experience.

Tomorrow, we’ll be prompted to take heed of the sacrifices of war. Ideally, we’ll remember not to go down that road again.

Remembrance Day goes beyond recalling the valour of those who served – many of whom made the supreme sacrifice – in Canada’s wars. As well, the observance should make us think about the consequences and horrors of war, which are being waged at this very moment.

To be sure, Remembrance Day is indelibly linked to the great wars, those almost unthinkable battles that engulfed the planet in the last century – for those of us fortunate enough to have avoided that experience, looking back on those times is an eye-opening revelation: it’s difficult to imagine the scale, so much more encompassing than the likes of the occupation of Afghanistan, which take place on the periphery.

Images from places like Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria and the seemingly endless stream of small-scale wars around the globe are commonplace. Most of us have tuned them out. They exist almost exclusively as background noise. Unlike the big wars, there’s no impact on our daily lives. It was a different story for those who lived through world wars: just ask them about the rationing, the shortages and host of other sacrifices that, while small in comparison to the hell experienced in the battlegrounds themselves, were regular reminders of what was going on overseas.

Under those circumstances, it’s important to reflect on the consequences of war – the very thing Remembrance Day embodies.

Some 628,000 Canadians took part in the War to End all Wars. More than 10 per cent – 66,000 – never returned. In the Second World War, which quickly gave lie to the label on the First, more than a million answered the call, and 45,000 paid the ultimate price.

The sad truth is there are fewer and fewer people around who can give us a firsthand account of life during wartime – it has been 77 years since the end of WWII, and 104 years since Armistice Day ended the Great War. That many of us have never experienced such horrors is a welcome relief, but it is then all the more important that we make the effort to remember lest we be doomed to repeat past mistakes.

The goings-on in our far-from-utopic world mean such recollections are more valid today than in much of the postwar era.

In 2012, approximately 193,000 people were diagnosed with cancer in Canada, rising to approximately 206,000 in 2017. Today, it is estimated that 233,900 people will be diagnosed with cancer in 2022. At the beginning of 2018, an estimated 1.5 million people alive in Canada had been diagnosed with cancer in the previous 25 years.

When it comes to war, we aren't children

We appear to be witnessing a dramatic and childlike scenario,” said Pope Francis in Bahrain last week.

“In the garden of humanity, instead of cultivating our surroundings, we are playing instead with fire, missiles and bombs, weapons that bring sorrow and death, covering our common home with ashes and hatred.”

It’s Francis’s job to say things like that, and he does it with sincerity and grace. He condemned the “childlike” whims of “a few potentates” to make war, and everybody thought that sounded fine, although nobody mentioned any names. (Hint: the name of the chief offending ‘potentate’ of the moment starts with ‘P’.)

But here’s the question. Are you a child? Well, do you at least think like a child? Are you ignorant and powerless? Three times ‘no’?

Well, then, if you are a responsible adult, what did you do the last time your country went to war? (If you belong to the minority whose country hasn’t gone to war since you have been alive, you may skip this question – or just use your imagination.)

The Pope means well, but he is barking up the wrong tree. The reason war is always with us is not an endless supply of

evil potentates with childlike whims. It is an endless supply of human beings, most of whom don’t even have evil in their hearts.

What they do have in full measure is a basic culture, older than our species itself, that sees war as natural and necessary (at least when our side does it). There are sometimes clear aggressors and defenders, of course, but the roles swap around regularly and the game never stops.

Jean-Jacques Rousseau wouldn’t agree with me, but he only knew the most recent 3,000 years of human history. We know about our distant pre-history, and we also know about our primates relatives (especially the chimpanzees), and that has taught us something very important. Human beings didn’t invent war. They inherited it.

In the mid-20th century, the belief that human beings lived in peace before the advent of civilization began to crumble before the anthropologists’ evidence that warfare was chronic and almost universal among hunter-gatherers. We are all descended from hunter-gatherers.

Then in the 1970s primatologist Jane Goodall, studying chimpanzees in Tanzania, discovered that neighbouring chimp bands fought wars with each other. It was low-level war, conducted entirely by manyon-one ambushes, but later research revealed that the male death toll from war averaged 30 per cent per generation, and sometimes entire bands were wiped out.

The reason for this may lie in evolutionary biology. The world has always been pretty full up, and when a given region’s food sources grow scarcer – a drought, a flood, a change in animal migration routes – some of the local inhabitants are going to starve.

If you’re a territorial animal that lives in groups, then it pays off in the long run to whittle away at the population of the neighbouring groups. When a crunch time arrives, your more numerous group will be able to drive away or kill off the neighbouring band and use its resources as well as your own.

Chimps did not think this strategy up, or choose it. Neither did human beings. Many other group-living predators have the same strategy: lions, hyenas, wolves. Traits like aggressiveness will vary between individuals, but if

...

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observerxtra.com/staff

“Ottawa’s move to protect Canada’s critical mineral supply chains from Chinese state influence is a welcome change in approach from the government. It is good to see that Canada’s decision-makers are waking up to the threat posed by China about which our experts have long warned.” Macdonald-Laurier Institute’s Brian Lee Crowley on the decision Chinese state-owned enterprises must divest from three Canadian critical mineral companies.

Canadian Cancer Statistics Advisory Committee

ANALYSIS OF CURRENT WORLD EVENTS

GWYNNE DYER Global Outlook on World Affairs

Fixation on growth only make matters worse, but it’s full speed ahead

The federal govern ment last week announced plans to ramp up immigration, already more than 400,000 a year, to 500,000 by 2025.

Ontario Premier Doug Ford is looking to alter the Greenbelt, citing the need for more housing given Ottawa’s immigration plans.

Housing prices are out of reach for many people – there’s an affordability crisis. Homelessness is on a scale not seen before –that’s a crisis too.

Next week, on Novem ber 15, the world’s popu lation is expected to top eight billion.

An aging population will cause turmoil in our social programs, particu larly health care, a field in which pronouncements of woe are a daily occurrence.

The one cure for many of the woes – depopulation – isn’t even on the radar.

Many of government policies, particularly immigration, are about adding bodies to the labour pool, keeping employers happy and maintaining a stream of taxes to pay for those already drawing pensions. The benefits of having of a smaller population are rarely discussed.

The growth mantra is behind this lack of fore sight. We’re constantly told we need more. More development. More goods and services. More economic growth. To get there, we need more people. At least that’s the party line.

We’ve certainly struc tured our economic system on that premise. The hitch? It’s not sustain able. Change will come, either from environmen tal catastrophes and the resultant political turmoil or because we’re prepar ing for a gradual decrease on manmade planetary stresses. I like option two

much better.

We’re already strain ing the planet’s carrying capacity. Climate change –anthropogenic or other wise – is already having a major impact on the places we live, from desertifica tion and drought to flood ing of low-lying areas and changes in farm practices, to name a few. Each new person, no matter how light the carbon footprint, puts demands on the Earth.

In fact, many of the problems plaguing the planet – most of them the result of our success as a species and our failures as human beings – could be lessened by focusing on a degrowth mantra.

Our long fixation on growth now threatens the physical world – even just

our numbers threaten flora and fauna with reck less abandon, let alone the myriad activities changing the very environment we all share – and the soci eties we’ve created over many, many generations.

It took the human popu lation thousands of years to reach one billion in 1804. However, it took only 123 years for us to double to two billion in 1927. The population hit four billion in 1974 (only 47 years), and now the human popu lation will reach eight billion, six years sooner than forecasts from just a decade ago.

The massive increases have been coming in the developing world, primar ily. To the extent that depopulation has been discussed, it’s usually about Russia, Japan and Europe, where numbers are actually falling. In fact, in much of the West, immi gration is the only thing

keeping numbers rising, as fertility rates have fallen below the level of 2.1chil dren per women needed to maintain the population.

Most of the discussion about that reality frames it as a problem. The growth mantra dictates that we need more people. This is short-term thinking.

Certainly there’s cause for concern. A shrinking population in Canada, for instance, would mean fewer workers support ing a growing number of seniors, a group drawing pensions and making large demands on health care and other social services. This could mean large tax increases and deep cuts in programs.

Globally, lower popula tions reduce the number of consumers, throwing out of kilter the trade patterns, exchange rates and other monetary poli cies we’ve come to take for granted.

Those concerned about security issues, for exam ple, blanch at the thought of larger populations and economies developing outside of the West. That “they” will outnumber “us.”

To a certain extent that’s already happening today. According the United Nations figures, in 1950, six of the 12 most populous nations were developed countries. By 2050, only one will be: the United States.

Aging populations are a reality pretty much everywhere. Even without depopulation, we’re going to have to rethink policies such as pay-as-you-go pensions and even the generosity of our social programs. That kind of thinking is beyond the pale for our politicians, obsessed as they are with only the next election.

Still, there are compel ling reasons to opt for a shrinking population.

There are many positives. The environment would stand to benefit – fewer of us means less pollution and more room for other species. The quality of life experienced by many of us would improve. Labour shortages would lead to better working conditions. A surplus of housing would lead to improve ments in choice and affordability. The pres sure on farmland would decrease dramatically. In fact, previously developed land could be reclaimed or naturalized.

The transition from growth-is-everything to small-is-beautiful won’t come without pain.

But we’ve already been through a number of transitions in just the past few hundred years, begin ning with the industrial revolution. Even today, we’re constantly told by business advocates and their government support ers that the economy is changing yet again, to a post-industrial, informa tion-driven age. That’s the rationale for sending manufacturing jobs over seas, though little is said of the service jobs that have followed.

As recessions demon strate – and we may be in line for a refresher course – upheavals do happen: many of the jobs lost during the pandemic, for instance, are not coming back. A shrinking population will bring changes, but if done gradually over many years, we’ll learn to adapt.

The first step, however, is to get the issue on the agenda. There are issues of political correctness to contend with, and a system that favours the interests of a few over the public good – the status quo won’t go quietly. We’re well advised to be proac tive, but in the end, the numbers just might take care of themselves.

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STEVE KANNON Editor's Point of View

As we mark Remembrance Day, there are plenty of reminders that the perils of totalitarianism remain to this day.

A poppy should be worn on the left lapel above the heart and the flower’s leaf must point to the 11th hour.

Armistice Day in the USA was changed to Veterans Day to honour all who had served, not just WWI veterans. Canada changed the name to Remembrance Day in 1931.

A poppy should be worn from the last Friday in October until the end of the Remembrance Day ceremony on November 11th.

ↆ LAST WEEK: Truth: Aomori City in northern Japan receives more snowall than any major city on the planet. Each year citizens are pummeled with 312 inches, or about 26 feet, of snow on average.

Truth: Physics confirms that snow on the wet or moist side is best for building your own backyard Frosty. The perfect snow-to-water ratio is pegged at 5:1. Lie: Snow crystals usually form unique patterns, but there’s at least one instance of identical snowflakes in the record books. In 1988, two snowflakes collected from a Wisconsin storm were confirmed to be twins at an atmospheric research center in Colorado.

„ Housing shortage the mostpressing crisis

To the Editor, A couple of weeks ago, a good friend who owns a legal duplex in Elmira approached me asking for help to rent out the other unit in their home – a two-bedroom unit for $800 inclusive of all utilities, laundry and parking. (A dream these days for rent and inclu sions, I know). The home is located very close to downtown.

Because I try to help people find affordable housing, I was happy to reach out to those on my contact list to try and help. I gathered all information, then minus photos because the unit’s still occupied, posted the vacancy on Facebook, Kijiji, marketplace and other social media outlets.

Within two days, I had received more than 250 calls, and that doesn’t count the PMs through Facebook, emails through Kijiji or people reaching out thru word of mouth.

I likely shouldn’t have been surprised at the

responses as we are defi nitely and sadly in a huge housing crisis. I took me over four days to reply to everybody, which I did do. Total of all replies ended up being 275.

I cross my fingers that the units to be built within the news Trinity United Church are decently priced and affordable. I never thought I’d see so many homeless people living in Elmira!

When are the people who are in control and who have the power to change this issue going to step up, say enough is enough and stop sweep ing this issue under the carpet?

The amount of pure greed that has taken over our world and region is sickening and disgusting.

Who cares about highend finishes, granite countertops, heated floors and other “treats” that a unit can offer. Maybe I’m old-fashioned, but I don’t think I’m alone when I say people just want and deserve a place to rest their heads and be safe after a long day at the office.

Housing needs to be a right, not a privilege. I hope now that the elec tions are behind us, those

who’re in power will do something about this crisis. You have the power, so step up.

Winter is on our door and with that comes harsh cold weather that nobody deserves to be exposed to or to sleep in.

Jocelyn Schaefer KITCHENER

„ Reclaiming the rainbow for its original use

To the Editor, Re:  Rainbow crosswalk.

I wanted to personally express my views on the issue concerning the proposal to create a rain bow crosswalk in Elmira’s downtown core.

The issue of diversity and inclusion has been an important topic for many organizations and affects all of us. Jesus teaches us to love one another as we are loved by Him. And to also love our enemies. That means loving those that are in opposition to our faith and values. As a community, we are to love our neighbours, despite their sexual orientation or beliefs.

Imagine what kind of world we would have if we all adopted this mindset.

The symbol of a rain bow is now widely known and recognized as repre senting the LGBTQ+ community.  Although this group continues to be a discriminated minority, the movement has become politically dominant in most Western nations. This movement is in opposition to Chris tian values and makes it challenging for Christians to use the rainbow without the risk of giving a false impression.

God created the rain bow as a symbol of His mercy to all of humanity, not just Christians alone, promising to never again bring a worldwide flood to the face of the earth. It’s a covenant we are reminded of every time we see a beautiful rainbow in the sky. It also reminds us of the wonder and beauty of creation, which leads us to praise and worship of the master designer and creator.

I would like to reclaim the rainbow for what it was originally meant to represent. Maybe there’s another way we can beau tify Elmira’s downtown that will represent our entire community.

Debra Milan ELMIRA

To the Editor, The evidence is over whelming: the political and legal will to honestly inves tigate and rectify is not. What is the evidence, you ask? One component is the litany of several hundred or more written reports regarding chem ical contamination in Elmira. Some are informa tive, some are much less so. Others are likely inten tionally obtuse, and others are simply self-serving trash.

I have spent the week end reviewing again the Sept. 1, 2022 Ministry of the Environment report from their Environmental Monitoring and Report ing Branch (EMRB) titled “Sediment and forage fish monitoring results from September 2020 in

Canagagigue Creek.” Some reports I have read bravely push ahead into unchar tered territory making self-serving, unfounded claims. Others such as this one attempt to build upon either past  falsehoods or sketchy hypotheses that were seriously critiqued by citizens and then more seriously deflected and ignored in order to be used again down the road.

So what is at stake? Eventually the environ mental collapse of our planet if these perpe trators are not stopped and their behaviours reversed. The simplest descriptions of their behaviours are the produc tion and interpretation of junk and pseudo-scientific reports. Yes they are writ ten well enough and many are signed by credentialed “experts” such that either lazy or unintelligent read ers can be fooled – this most definitely includes the majority of our local

and provincial politicians.

Keep in mind that some of these reports’ hard data could actually have some scientific merit but when the alleged “experts” interpreting them are bought and paid for, “client driven” human beings relying on industry business to pay their mortgages and food on their tables, then the floor is tilted strongly towards those paying the bills i.e. the polluters. In normal circles that would be called “conflicts of interest.” Here in Elmira, that term is one of several that simply do not apply. Black is white and white is black and there has been zero willingness to honestly discuss pollution issues with citizens who are unbiased and unbe holden to Uniroyal/Lanx ess/MECP influence and persuasion.

Is there one overarching conflict of interest that has subverted our Minis

try of the Environment? Maybe or maybe not. I will suggest one possible issue terrifying them, but there are others. Fear of both public exposure and condemnation as well as of civil financial liability if they and Uniroyal/Lanx ess are sued for permitting and allowing the diversion of Uniroyal Chemical-con taminated liquid wastes into the Martin swimming pond. The pond was used by generations of Menno nite families, including children. The diversion of both contaminated ground and surface water into the manmade Stroh Drain is an abomination.

I am more confident that groundwater was diverted rather than surface water because the natural surface water flow does go onto the Stroh prop erty, although due to later landscaping, the flow was likely reduced.

Alan Marshall ELMIRA

DYER:

Going to war is a long-established habit that persists long after its usefulness is done, and will continue to do so

aggression brings advan tages evolution will work in favour of it.

So here we are, a very long time later, stuck with a deeply embedded tradi tional behaviour that no longer serves our purposes well. In fact, it might even

wipe us out. What can we do about it?

There’s no point in yearning for some univer sal Gandhi who will change the human heart. He doesn’t exist, and anyway it’s not hearts that need to change. It’s human institutions.

Actually, almost all the military and diplomatic professionals already know that. Even a lot of the politicians understand it, and in the past century – say, since about the middle of the First World War – a great deal of effort has gone into taming war

and building institutions that can replace it.

That was what the League of Nations was about. It’s what the United Nations is about, and arms control measures, and international criminal courts to try people who start an aggressive war,

starting with the Nurem berg trials in 1945. It’s a work in progress, but there has been a steep and steady decline in the scale and frequency of wars in the last 50 years.

The work is far from finished, and the return of great-power war – with

nuclear weapons this time – is an ever-present risk. But nuclear war is not just a threat. It’s also a huge incen tive to bring this ancient institution under control, and ultimately to abolish it. And a little prayer along the way probably wouldn’t do any harm.

„ Uniroyal problems persist, but so too does inaction

The

Sports

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Team Scores: observerxtra.com/scores

ike many hunters and anglers, when it comes to hunting and fishing gear, I have a lot. I actually have so much that you could probably do a two-part episode of Hoarders on my fly fishing and fly-tying collection alone. Then there is the bow hunting gear, arrows, broadheads, field points, duck and turkey hunting stuff, upland bird hunting

and electronics, as well as the camo and hunter orange clothing, waders, footwear, and game calls for pretty well every occasion. I believe, if Ontario opened up a special season for lassoing ostriches, somewhere in my collection, there is gear specifically designed for the task. Perhaps understandably, Jenn doesn’t understand why I need all this

gear. That’s why she asks me silly questions like, “How many camouflaged hats do you need?” The answer, of course, is at least 56.

The reason is we hunters are not at all like your run of the mill clothes horses who often get rid of their perfectly good clothes merely because they are no longer trendy. That’s because our hunting

apparel never goes out of style, mostly because it was never in style in the first place. This is why you will never see hunters in camouflaged or hunter-orange coats with padded shoulders. Or balloon pant waders.

That’s why, over the course of a hunting or angling lifetime, we collect stuff and rarely get rid of it. This is good for the first

decade or so, but eventually it becomes an issue, even with the most patient of spouses.

Your first clue will be when they calmly say, “Don’t bother to call the police. I found my car in the garage. It was under your duck hunting gear.”

Or “Don’t make any sudden loud noises in the basement. We don’t want

Heidelberg native Brody Waters, a former Elmira Sugar King who most recently played for the Nanaimo Clippers of the BCHL, has committed to playing NCAA hockey for Bowling Green State University in Ohio.

EDSS senior girls’ basketball team kept their undefeated season rolling with a 50-41 win over Cameron Heights in the WCSSAA semifinals Tuesday, advancing to meet Waterloo-Oxford in the finals Nov. 15. The junior girls’ basketball team fell in the semis to Waterloo Collegiate on Tuesday by a score of 60-45. WCI faces Waterloo Oxford in the finals next week.

Waters to Bowling Green

Lancers on the court

The EDSS Lancers junior football team defeated Waterloo Collegiate 16-14 in the WCSSAA semifinals Nov. 7. EDSS plays Jacob Hespeler in the finals on Friday (Nov. 11) at 11:30 a.m. in Elmira. Bill Atwood

Kings take two out of three, including 6-3 win over Siskins

Kannon Observer Staff

THREE, OR MULTIPLES

THEREOF, WAS the magic number for the Elmira Sugar Kings, who took two of three in beating Ayr 3-0 and the KW Siskins 6-3 before falling to Stratford 6-3.

The Kings also faced some roster challenges, with three call-ups inserted into the lineup at points.

“We had three call ups on Thursday night and three call-ups on Sunday. We couldn’t get call-ups on Saturday, so we just played with a short bench – that was pretty tough,” said director of hockey opera tions Scott McMillan.

Playing three games in four nights for the first time this season, the Kings got off to a good start November 3 in Ayr, however.

After a scoreless first period, the Kings finally broke the 0-0 deadlock at 16:18 of the second when Ryan Forwell scored on a power play, assisted by Luke Della Croce and

Jayden Lammel. The score was 1-0 over the Centen nials heading into the second intermission.

In the third, goals from Keegan Metcalf (Connor Gentes, Lammel) and Lammel (Taylor Bothwell, Chris Black) rounded out the scoring in the 3-0 game.

The shot total was indicative of the play, with 39 for Elmira versus 21 for Ayr. Elmira was 1-10 with the man advantage, while the Centennials went 0-2. Netminder Hayden Sabourin posted the shutout.

The win came courtesy of the players sticking it out, said McMillan.

“It was 0-0 after the first, but we’d been playing well. The guys stuck with the game plan and didn’t get frustrated, didn’t let the score dictate how they were going to play – they kept playing the same way,” he explained. Our guys stayed with the game plan and ended up getting a power-play goal, and then we ended up getting one in the third to get a little bit of breathing

room.

“It was really key to just stay with the game plan and keep doing what we were doing even though the score wasn’t reflecting how we were playing or all the power plays we were getting. The guys stuck with it and ended up being rewarded for that.”

After a day off, the Kings welcomed the confer ence-leading KW Siskins to the WMC on Saturday. The home side led from start to finish in earning a 6-3 win.

Lammel scored on the power play at 7:21, assisted by Madden MacDougall and Liam Eveleigh to put the Kings up 1-0. Less than five minutes later, Eveleigh scored, assisted by Lammel and Black, to put Elmira up 2-0 after the first period of play.

The Siskins made it a one-goal game past the midpoint of the second, but goals less than a minute apart in the latter part of the period put the Kings up 4-1. The first, at 18:03, was scored by captain Adam Grein (Lammel, Black) and the

second at 18:51 by Tanner McDonald (Della Croce, Bothwell).

In the third, the visitors again made it a one-goal game by scoring twice in the first 12 minutes before Bothwell scored at 13:22, assisted by Della Croce and Forwell, to make it 5-3. Lammel’s empty netter, on a feed from Logan Crans, capped the scoring at 6-3.

The Siskins actually edged the Kings on the shots front, 35-34, with both teams going 1-5 on the power play.

Elmira netminder Daniel Botelho stopped 32 in the winning effort.

Where the score in Ayr didn’t reflect how the Kings poured it on, Satur day night’s game saw the team get some bounces, said McMillan.

“Going into that game, we had 17 players instead of 20, and it was kind of the opposite of Thursday. Waterloo was probably getting the better the chances early and we were able to convert on the power play. Then we got a couple of goals. We were playing well, they were

they were playing well as well – kind of a flipped script from the [Ayr game] where we were out playing them and didn’t get a goal.”

It was a different story the following night at the WMC against the Cambridge Redhawks, however.

Sunday’s game started out well enough, with Grein’s 11th of the season, a power-play marker with assists from Lammel and Eveleigh, giving the Kings an early lead at 3:49. But Cambridge would score twice before the period ended to take a lead they’d never relinquish.

The Warriors scored twice in the second, including a power-play goal, to make it 4-1 after 40 minutes.

Both teams exchanged goals back in forth in the final frame. Brock Rein hart (Eveleigh, Crans) made it 4-2 at 4:30, but the visitors restored the threegoal cushion five minutes later. Crans’ goal at 12:53, with helpers to MacDou gall and Black, made it 5-3, but Stratford’s empty-net

goal with 22 seconds left on the clock set up the 6-3 final score.

Shots were 28-27 in favour of Elmira, which also had the edge on the power play, going 3-6 while Stratford was 1-6.

Botelho, who’s night ended after 40 minutes, stopped 14 of the 18 shots he faced, while Sabourin stopped seven of the eight he saw in the third.

The Kings (10-8) have another busy weekend ahead. They’re in Caledon Friday night to take on the Bombers (3-17), then return home to face the Siskins (15-3) on Saturday night and the Listowel Cyclones (10-6) on Sunday. Game time both nights at the WMC is 7 p.m.

“Hopefully, we’ll get some guys healthy and have a full roster going into Friday night. It should be a little bit easier for us if we can if we can keep 12 forwards in the lineup, because at some points [last] weekend we had only nine forwards – it’s just really difficult to maintain your energy when you’re doing that,” said McMillan.

WOOLWICH WILDCATS

■ Atom U10 A Nov/04/2022 vs Collingwood Jr. Blues

HOME: 1 VISITOR: 5

GOALS: Daxton Habermehl

ASSISTS: Devin Vogel

■ Atom U10 A Nov/04/2022 vs Orillia Terriers

HOME: 6 VISITOR: 3

GOALS: Daxton Habermehl (2), Matteo Abate, Keegan Bakker, Brayden Clemmer, Mason Roadknight

ASSISTS: Braxton Wideman, Matteo Abate, Keegan Bakker, Benjamin Collison, Devin Vogel

■ Atom U10 A Nov/05/2022 vs Owen Sound Attack

HOME: 8 VISITOR: 0

GOALS: Matteo Abate (2), Keegan Bakker (2), Alexander Mielke, Braxton Wideman, Jack Frey, Daxton Habermehl

ASSISTS: Brayden Clemmer (2), Jack Frey, Connor Shantz, Spencer Martin, Alexander Mielke, Mason

Roadknight

Shutouts: Oren Ball

■ Atom U10 A Nov/05/2022 vs New Hamburg Huskies

HOME: 4 VISITOR: 5

GOALS: Brayden Clemmer (2), Daxton Habermehl, Matteo Abate

ASSISTS: Matvii Kamyshnyi, Connor Shantz, Daxton Habermehl

■ Atom U10 A Nov/06/2022 vs Centre Wellington Fusion

HOME: 0 VISITOR: 3

■ Atom Major Nov/05/2022 vs Owen Sound Jr. Attack

HOME: 1 VISITOR: 3

GOALS: Connor Gillies

■ Atom U11A Nov/06/2022 vs Caledon Hawks

HOME: 13 VISITOR: 0

GOALS: Colton Cooney (3), Reid Denbok, Ben Ellis, Jack Frede, Connor Gillies (3), Julia Hallman, Presley McFadden (2), Xaiden Weber

ASSISTS: Colton Cooney (2), Jack Frede (2), Connor

Gillies (2), Presley McFadden (2), Charlie Smith (2)

Shutouts: Will Manchur ■ Bantam U15BB Nov/04/2022 vs Halton Hills Thunder - White

HOME: 2 VISITOR: 1 GOALS: Cater Weir, William Krubally ASSISTS: Cohen Clemmer, Owen MacGregor ■ Bantam U15BB Nov/06/2022 vs Centre

Wellington Fusion

HOME: 5 VISITOR: 0 GOALS: William Krubally x2, Luke Forbes, Carter Weir, Adam Bloch

ASSISTS: Sam Kruschat, Cohen Clemmer, Josh Wraight, Adam Bloch, Carter Weir, Alex Veitch

Shutouts: Mason Maurice ■ Bantam U15BB Nov/06/2022 vs Centre Wellington Fusion

HOME: 5 VISITOR: 0 GOALS: William Krubally x2, Luke Forbes, Carter Weir, Adam Bloch

ASSISTS: Sam Kruschat, Cohen Clemmer, Josh Wraight, Adam Bloch, Carter

Weir, Alex Veitch

Shutouts: Mason Maurice ■ Bantam U15BB Nov/07/2022 vs Halton Hills Thunder Red

HOME: 2 VISITOR: 1 GOALS: Fraser Allen, William Krubally ASSISTS: Cohen Clemmer

WOOLWICH WILD

■ Atom U11A Nov/04/2022 vs Guelph Jr Gryphons

HOME: 3 VISITOR: 0

GOALS: Maggie McAdam(2) McKenna Mackenzie-Taylor ASSISTS: Sophie Hahn(2), Jocelyn Gutscher Shutouts: Kenzie Gunn

■ Atom U11A Nov/04/2022 vs Stratford Aces

HOME: 1 VISITOR: 1 GOALS: Sophie Hahn

■ Atom U11A

Nov/05/2022 vs London Devilettes

HOME: 4 VISITOR: 0

GOALS: Haylee Zinken(2), McKenna Mackenzie-Taylor, Maggie McAdam

ASSISTS: McKenna Mackenzie-Taylor, Haylee Zinken, Rowan Gelata Shutouts: Kenzie Gunn

■ Atom U11A Nov/05/2022 vs North Bay Ice Boltz

HOME: 10 VISITOR: 0

GOALS: Molly Bauman, McKenna Mackenzie-Taylor, Charlie Wilson, Sophie Hahn, Maggie McAdam(2), Haylee Zinken (4)

ASSISTS: Rowan Gelata, McKenna Mackenzie-Taylor, Sophie Hahn, Samantha Maric(3) Shutouts: Kenzie Gunn

■ Atom U11A Nov/06/2022 vs Oakville Hornets

HOME: 1 VISITOR: 2 GOALS: Maggie McAdam

■ Atom U11 LL-1 Nov/06/2022 vs Cambridge Roadrunners Grey

HOME: 1 VISITOR: 6 GOALS: Delilah Woolner

■ Bantam Wild U15A Nov/05/2022 vs Kitchener Lady Rangers

HOME: 1 VISITOR: 4

GOALS: Maddy Phillips

■ Bantam Wild U15A Nov/08/2022 vs Cambridge Roadrunners

HOME: 4 VISITOR: 1

GOALS: Emma Maric (2), Leah Hunter, Emily Hibbard

ASSISTS: Peyton Gaudet, Addison Bettke, Emma Huber, Leah Hunter, Emily Hibbard, Emma Maric (2), Maddy Phillips

All that hard work deserves a little bit of attention in the community. Give your players the joy of seeing their name in print when they scored, assisted or had a shut out. You can also send us your team pictures to make sure the whole team gets recognized.

Submit online at www.observerxtra.com/scores

GALEA: Finding yourself bin laden can be an unwanted outcome of trying to get your gear better organized

another avalanche in the fishing section.”

When you get subtle hints like this, it is proba bly time to consider a little organization. I reached this point years ago and started buying big plastic

stackable storage bins so that I could organize my hunting and fishing gear and put them away neatly in the furnace room.

These are ideal for storing all your gear for whatever season in one place. For instance, you

might have on big bin for all your upland hunting footwear, and another for your hunting and fishing wading gear. Add to that one for your duck hunting parkas, another for your knife sharpening tools and maybe one for your trail

cameras or fly boxes. The point is if you use these bins correctly and label them, you will be able to find everything you need prior to the season you need them for – and you will be able to put them all away neatly so that you

do not look like a crazy hoarder.

This makes life easier for both you and your spouse. And it will also allow you to know what you actually have and determine what you actually need. (For instance, I suspect you

could probably get away with fewer than 20 camo hats.)

That’s why I have at least 20 big storage bins in my basement as we speak. And you know, as soon as I find them, I’m going to start organizing.

Steve

Leading the way.

Shining a light on local enterprise, stoking the economic engines.

Email: newsroom@woolwichobserver.com

New Business: observerxtra.com/enterprise

To

the tune of $30,000 The survey says ...

The Canadian Employer Pension Survey shows 80% of employers are optimistic about their ability to maintain revenue and profitability. What they’re worried about is employees, with leading concerns being: greater competition for hiring (82%), employee burnout (79%), labour shortage (79%) and high turnover (77%). A strong majority are also worried about inflation (82%).

Where pumpkins go from jack-o’-lantern to sheep fodder

Local couple help to repurpose a variety of items, including cornstalks and hay bales, at their farm operation stomach and force it to chew a stick to help the gas escape. She would plan to give it willow for the pain and baking soda to help with the gas. If needed, she would use medication.

Gerber Observer Staff

IF YOU STILL HAVE PUMPKINS or harvest display corn stalks or hay bales, Marnie Talbot and Brook Harvie will take them off your hands.

The pair farm rarebreed Jacob sheep at their location near Petersburg, and will put the pumpkins, cornstalks and hay bales to good use as food for their animals. They welcome any pumpkins without glitter, paint or anything toxic to animals. Pumpkin seeds are a natural dewormer, and as a bonus, the animals really like them.

The pair have a drop-off location at 18 Park Ave. E. in Elmira at the location of Harvie’s green energy and construction company, Sambren. If needed, pickup can be arranged.

The pair use holistic methods in their farming business, said Talbot.

“We’ve always looked for ways to feed our stock as naturally as possible. This helps with that,” she said. Talbot also practices herbalism and incorporates this in her farming methods.

For example, if Talbot came across a cast member of her flock, meaning it had fallen and couldn’t right itself up because of a buildup of gas in its stomach, Talbot’s first steps would be to right it, rub its legs and

“We don’t refuse medication to our animals – if they need it, they get it. We have our vet on call and all that,” Talbot said.

“If we have to medicate an animal, say, a lamb that had pneumonia, then that lamb then goes out of our herd and goes into a sanctuary. We have a sanctuary up by Chesley that our animals go to and we call them chief grass cutters now for the rest of their life.

“We do that in order to keep everything out of that meat, because a lot of our clients are maybe cancer patients, we have people that are heart patients ... they need to know that their meat that they’re eating is healthy and doesn’t have anything in it,” Talbot said.

The pair started collecting Halloween pumpkins and harvest décor at their original location near Owen Sound before they moved to Petersburg a few years ago. They also collect Christmas trees.

“We started this program up north before it was popular. And we would have people come to the farm and bring their pumpkins to the sheep,” said Talbot.

“They could throw them

in,” added Harvie.

“With COVID and all that, because of the kind of

farm we are, we don’t want a whole bunch of people tracking through the farm

right now. So we do this drop off and pickup, and we find that that helps.”

Social Venture Partners Waterloo Region raised more than $30,000 at its “Perfect Pitch” event last week that saw speakers from seven local charities make their cases to an audience at the Hamilton Family Theatre in Cambridge. Among the participants were the Child Witness Centre, The Children and Youth Planning Table and Women’s Crisis Services of Waterloo Region.

Leah

“Two years ago, I just put the call out on

Marnie Talbot and Brook Harvie keep a flock of Jacob sheep at their farm near Petersburg. They collect pumpkins and other harvest décor like bales of hay or corn stalks at Harvie’s business location in Elmira to feed their animals. Leah Gerber

We Remember

Canadians want the food sector to hear their concerns

Anew report high lighting Canadi ans’ concerns about the food system says their attention is returning to pre-pandemic issues like sustainability and climate change.

But their main concern is what they’re paying for food.

The Canadian Centre for Food Integrity asked 2,800-ish Canadians in July about their trust in the food system. It heard that food prices were overwhelmingly the key concern among consum ers, and rightly so. Costs have soared and with inflation still not in check, people are facing new challenges every month trying to keep up. The poll found that concerns over cost have never been higher.

But it also showed that people are again taking a long view on the food system overall.

According to the poll, consumers want the sector to demonstrate leadership on issues they consider threats to the food system, such as environmental degradation, which is a re-emerging concern that was prevalent before COVID.

Granted, the research for this poll took place before the latest variants surfaced, during the rela tively carefree summer we enjoyed. And July seems like an opportune time to take a survey that could prompt positive responses about food. Maybe if asked the same questions

OWEN ROBERTS Food For Thought

now, heading into winter, concerns about the imme diate matters at hand – namely, inflation, and its effect on food prices –would prevail.

But whatever the case, the centre says the food industry should take note…and not let its foot off the gas when it comes to bridging the trust gap between themselves and consumers.

And trust is certainly an issue, when you look at the profits food processors and grocers are raking in. We’ve long heard that the profit margins are razor thin in the food sector because of competition. Well, lately, that just doesn’t seem to be the case. Academ ics and other industry observers are punching holes through grocers’ arguments that the supply chain is pushing their costs to the brink. But how can that be, when grocers are making such profits? They must be held accountable. No one wants anyone in the supply chain to go under. But when people are struggling in the face of huge profits and pollsters tell the industry that costs are the biggest concern out there, shouldn’t industry respond with something substantial?

Yes, it should. But no, it’s not.

And if grocers and food processors think they’ve got it made because they can keep passing the buck without public backlash, they should take a lesson from the energy and tele communications sector. Are there any sectors less trusted and full of b.s. than these two?

The Middle East hiccups, and gas prices here go up within days. But when the hiccups end and you would expect prices to come down the same way they went up, we’re told there’s a methodical calculation that sets prices months in advance. Everyone knows that’s only partially true, at best.

The same goes for the telecommunications monopolies we’re stuck with. They whine that their costs are out of sight and that they can’t afford to service rural areas. Yet when new players come onto the scene that might offer better service and prices, the monopolies rush to squash their applications. Federal politicians do nothing. It’s a disgrace.

I can’t imagine that the food industry wants to be mentioned in the same breath as others who take advantage of consumers. But with food prices raging, proces sors, manufacturers and grocers need to clarify what they’re doing to help people get through tough times. Are huge profits the kind of help people need?

Observerxtra.com just received an upgrade. Visit us online for an improved experience. More features will be available in the coming months.

Facebook and said I’m willing to come pick up any pumpkins or any decorations that you have – corn stalks, the gourds, everything – I will take it off your porch for you, and I will feed it to the sheep,” said Talbot.

Besides feeding their animals pumpkins, they also reduce waste by participating in a program called Loop, an organization which coordinates

between farmers and grocery stores to divert  food waste from landfill.

Talbot says she feels farmers don’t get enough credit for the work they do, and that even something like a pumpkin is easy to take for granted.

“This pumpkin, for instance, was grown on someone’s farm,” she said.

“And that took a lot to grow, and a lot of money and fuel and equipment and worry.”

“To see it reused is actually one of the biggest things for us,” said Harvie.

At Saugeen Ridge Farm, Talbot and Harvie produce wool and year-old lambs for meat. They maintain a flock of some 50 sheep, and are working to increase the size. They also keep three escape-artist jersey cows named Huey, Dewey and Louie.

For more information, email saugeenridge@ gmail.com.

Pumpkin is full of fibre and vitamins, and pumpkin seeds have natural deworming properties. And the bonus is that the sheep love them. Leah Gerber

In November last year, Chartwell Elmira residents approached Woolwich council to request a crosswalk at Church Street and Snyder Avenue in Elmira. Their lobbying efforts came sooner than expected after making the front cover of The Observer. The original group of seniors now celebrate the installation of lights at the intersection making it easier to cross. Residents Pauline Heal, Connie Kilbey, Charlotte Read, Eugene Read and Lorne Martin give a thumbs-up to the improvements. Submitted

Read a local best seller every week.

Local stories that inspire.

Email: newsroom@woolwichobserver.com Tips: observerxtra.com/tips

Winterfest

Dec.

ney

www.cambridge.ca/winterfest

Nov.

Theatre Wellesley marks silver anniversary

Leah Gerber Observer Staff

NOT ONLY RETURNING FROM

THE pandemic hiatus, Theatre Wellesley is also celebrating its silver anniversary, 25 years of staging plays for and by the community.

Rhonda Caldwell and Allan Strong are two members of Theatre Wellesley who were there in the beginning, and they’re still at it. Caldwell and Strong are the producer and director, respectively, of the group’s upcoming production of

“For Better or Wurst.”

Caldwell, who is also acting as the group’s secretary, remembers the first meeting in the arts council room in the Wellesley library. There were about 20 to 25 people there, she says.  A mixture of people.

“We had quite a few parents that had joined because of their enthusiasm for something for their teenagers, which is actually what inspired me at the time, because my daughter wanted to be involved,” said Caldwell.

“We wanted to have fun, and we wanted it to be for anybody.

So it didn’t really matter what kinds of skills that you had when you joined – you were going to learn new stuff.”

Strong recalls he joined because he had done some plays in high school and improv workshops and thought it sounded like fun.

The group still practices in the old arts council room today, even though the Wellesley Arts Council is no longer running.

Caldwell thinks back over all their years of performances. Some memorable ones include “The Nicest Small Town in

Canada” and “Shootout at the Sacred Heart Saloon” which were written by a local playwright Teresa Brown.

In 2014 the group began doing a smaller spring performance in addition to their larger fall performances, which are typically comedies.

“In the spring show, we pick plays that may be a little edgier, and also a little more challenging. We also do the spring show in the rehearsal space at the library, so the total capacity is 30 people in the audience, and the distance between the stage and

the audience is about six feet. It’s challenging as a performer because your audience is right there. It’s very intimate, and it’s very close,” said Strong. “The spring show is really us trying to push ourselves, and grow and develop.”

One of Strong’s highlights over the years was acting in “Tuesdays with Morrie,” a play about a man who visits his favourite old college professor who is dying.  In that spring play with a cast of two, Strong played Morrie

“I had the opportunity to play

Laurier Helps Ukraine, with support of the Wellington branch of the Ukrainian Canadian Congress, is presenting a benefit concert in Lazaridis Hall Nov. 20. Performers will include The Gryphon Trio, the Penderecki String Quartet, Victor Mishalov, guitarist Barbara Assiginaak, Steven Zurakowsky, Anya Alexeyev, Olena Klyucharova and the Laurier Chamber Orchestra.

returns to Cambridge with a full lineup of in-person events

25 to

31. Phil Kline’s Unsilent Night will kick off the festival on Nov. 25. Attracting approximately 8,000 people each year, this one-night walking event transforms the downtown into a magical, musical jour-

of illuminated local art installations.

Ukrainian benefit concert

Winterfest returns

Cast and crew of The Hitchin’ Post, one of the past productions from Theatre Wellesley, which is celebrating 25 years in the community. Submitted

Community theatre group returning to the stage with more than a few laughs courtesy of “For Better or Wurst”

HIRING:

•

Help Wanted CABINETMAKER

MAR-SPAN

building centre

Tasks include, but not limited to, assisting customers purchase products, advising purchases, taking orders, and quoting small projects.

Candidates must be neat and organized and be able to multi-task. Must have computer and organizational skills. Experience in retail sales and hardware an asset, but not required. Willing to train the right individual.

EMAIL YOUR RESUME TO

arnold@marspan.com

ing;

installers to

Project,

being

Wanted

OAK TABLE - 48” WITH 4 -12” LEAVES, DOUBLE pedestal, 2 captains chairs and 4 matching, and match ing china cabinet. $2500/set. 519-418-9749.

UNWANTED GUNS??? PROPERLY LICENCED Buyer. Guns, Cabinets, Collections 705-795-7516.

Farm Services

BAGGED PINE SHAV INGS AGRICULTURAL SPRAY Lime, 22.5kg. bag; feed grade lime, 25kg. Delivered. Call George Haffner Trucking, 519-574-4141 or 519-6692045.

FERTILIZER AND SEED GRAIN - AT COMPETI tive pricing. Call George Haff ner Trucking, 519-574-4141.

ICE SALT & ICE MELT - ICE SALT COMES IN 20KG, ICE melt comes in 20kg bags. Call George Haffner Trucking, 519-574-4141 or 519-6692045.

KILN DRIED CORN & CORN

SCREENING DELIVERED BY Einwechter. Minimum 15 ton lots. Call George Haffner Trucking 519-574-4141 or 519-669-2045.

Wanted

STILL HERE BUYING ALL GOLD AND SILVER JEWEL lery & watches, including Rolex, Tudor, Omega, IWC, Patek, Breitling, all high grade watches , all pocket watches, military items, toys, clocks, fountain pens, all coins and paper money. Fair honest prices. 40+ years in business. Call Terry @ 519-242-6900 or gallamore@golden.net. Call anytime. Prompt service.

WANTED - DIE CAST REPLI CAS OF FARM EQUIPMENT, industrial equipment and transport trucks. Any scale, any complete condition. Small or large lots. Call Dwayne 519-669-5500.

Rentals

2 BEDROOM APART MENT AVAILABLE NEAR downtown Elmira. Call 226-600-0135.

EXECUTIVE APARTMENT - \ CS0 FULLY FURNISHED, ALL inclusive. Single occupancy, mature, quiet, employed. $1600/mth. In the village of Wallenstein. Call 519-7785007.

Lost & Found

LOST NEAR POST OFFICE/ DOLLARAMA IN Elmira Pendant on gold chain with sentimental value. If found please call 519-5809356.

Coming Events

KARATE! IN-PERSON & VIRTUAL CLASSES AVAIL ABLE SCHWEITZER’S MARTIAL ARTS. Self-defense, Self-discipline, Self-confi dence. GROUP CLASSES FOR AGES 4 TO ADULT. Taught by Renshi Becky Schweitzer, 4th Degree Black Belt and 12X World Karate Champion. Location St. Peters Lutheran Church - 2925 Lobsinger Line, Heidelberg. EARLY BIRD SPECIAL ONLY $105+HST FOR 10 WEEKS. Uniform extra. Special ends Nov. 14. Regular price $125+HST Call 519-580-1418 or e-mail becky_schweitzer@hotmail. com www.schweitzersmarti alarts.com

Information Page

NOTICE OF PUBLIC MEETING

Monday, December 5, 2022 at 7:00 p.m.

Regarding Zone Change Application 10/2022

Riverworks LP, 1440 King Street North, St. Jacobs

Please note this will be a virtual meeting only and public attendance at the Township offices will not be permitted. Below is information on how you can submit comments, view or participate in the meeting. You may also contact Development Services staff by sending an email to planning@woolwich.ca or by phone at 519-669-6040 if you have any questions.

Take Notice that in accordance with the Planning Act, R.S.O., 1990, c.P.13, as amended, the Township of Woolwich has received a complete application for the proposed zoning amendment application more specifically described below. This notice summarizes the details of this application and includes a location map of the subject lands. Please be advised that Notice of a Complete Application does not indicate whether the municipality is in support of, or in opposition to the proposal. That determination will be made at a later date.

The Township of Woolwich will hold a Public Meeting, under Section 34 of the Planning Act, to consider the following Zone Change application. No decisions will be made at this meeting; its purpose is to provide additional information to the public and agencies and to receive comments and information from them.

APPLICATION DETAILS

The subject lands, comprising 1.5 ha in area, and located at 1440 King Street North, St. Jacobs are zoned Core Commercial –Urban with floodplain regulations (C-1(f)) and site specific provisions in Section 26.1.122. The property contains three commercial buildings and a parking lot. The applicant is proposing to amend the site specification provisions to permit the following five commercial uses:

• Commercial or trade school;

• Commercial entertainment or recreation facility;

• Club, private;

• Establishment for dispensing of refreshments to the public; and

• Hairdresser, barber or beautician. The uses noted above are currently prohibited in the site specific zoning. The rezoning application will provide flexibility for tenanting vacant floor space in the three existing buildings. The are no new buildings or development contemplated by the proposed amendment.

APPEAL RIGHTS

TAKE NOTICE that if a person or public body would otherwise have an ability to appeal the decision of the Township of Woolwich to the Local Planning Appeal Tribunal but the person or public body does not make oral submissions at a public meeting or make written submissions to the Township of Woolwich before the by-law is passed, the person or public body is not entitled to appeal the decision.

AND TAKE NOTICE that if a person or public body does not make oral submissions at a public meeting, or make written submissions to the Township of Woolwich before the bylaw is passed, the person or public body may not be added as a party to the hearing of an appeal before the Local Planning Appeal Tribunal unless, in the opinion of the Tribunal, there are reasonable grounds to add the person or public body as a party.

HOW TO PARTICIPATE

As in-person meetings are not an option at this time, you can view or participate in the Public Meeting as follows:

VIEW the Public Meeting / Council meeting livestream on the Woolwich Township YouTube channel at the following link https://www.youtube.com/channel/ UCOnLlF3Srk2gLEBjkq8pIMQ ;

PARTICIPATE in the Public Meeting by REGISTERING with Council/Committee Facilitator on or before 1:00 pm on Tuesday, November 29, 2022

To register please: visit www.woolwich.ca/delegations for more information on speaking before Council and to register through the online delegation request form; or email asmyth@woolwich.ca or phone 519-669-6004.

When registering you must provide your name, phone number, email and the application number you would like to comment on. Once you are registered staff will forward information on how to connect to the Zoom meeting (i.e. zoom Wi-Fi login or conference call number).

If you are concerned that you do not have access to phone or internet or are otherwise concerned about the reliability of your signal, please ensure that you submit written comments. Written comments do not negate your opportunity to also speak at the Public Meeting but do ensure your voice is heard should your electronic connection to the meeting not work.

If you are unsure whether or not you would like to speak at the meeting but want to listen and have the option to comment on a particular application, please register with the Council/Committee Facilitator. You will not be required to speak if you do not want to.

WHY REGISTER

By registering staff can ensure that you are permitted access to the virtual meeting, we know which application you are commenting on and, can call on you at the appropriate time to comment if you wish to do so. As it is virtual, registering will provide a level of security that is necessary to prevent meeting disruptions.

SUBMITTING COMMENTS AND REQUESTING NOTIFICATION

You can express your concerns/ comments about the proposed changes in writing to the Township of Woolwich. Any comments received on or before Wednesday, November 23, 2022 (Note that this date is before the public meeting) will be included in a report prepared by Development Services and presented at the Public Meeting. Any comments received after the Public Meeting, but prior to Council making a decision on the applications, will be considered.

The personal information accompanying your submission is being collected under the authority of the Planning Act and may form part of the public record which may be released to the public. This information is collected and maintained for the purpose of creating a record that is available to the general public at the Committee of the Whole and Council meetings. Please note that while the Committee of the Whole and Council may redact some personal information such as email addresses and phone numbers, your submissions will otherwise be made public in their entirety. Questions about this collection should be directed to the Records and Freedom of Information Officer at 519669-1647 or 1-877-969-0094 ext. 6005.

Should you wish to be notified of future meetings and reports regarding the Zone Change application please: submit a written request, noting that you wish to be kept informed, to the Township of Woolwich, Development Services, 24 Church Street West, Box 158, Elmira, Ontario N3B 2Z6, or email your request noting that you wish to be kept informed to planning@woolwich.ca If Council approves the change, a notice will be mailed to you explaining the By-law.

MORE INFORMATION

Additional information related to these applications can be viewed or obtained as follows: Schedule an appointment to view the documents at the Township Administration building located at 24 Church Street West, Elmira weekdays between 8:30 am and 4:30 pm. To schedule an appointment please call 519-669-6040 or email planning@woolwich. ca

Dated at the Township of Woolwich this 10th day of November 2022.

Information Page

COMMITTEE OF ADJUSTMENT NOTICE OF HEARING

TUESDAY, December 13, 2022 at 4:30 P.M.

Pursuant to the Planning Act and Ontario Regulations 197/96 and 200/96 take notice that the Committee of Adjustment for the Township of Woolwich will meet for the purpose of hearing all persons interested in support of or opposition to any of the following applications as described below.

Please note this will be a virtual meeting only and public attendance at the Township offices will not be permitted. Below is information on how you can submit comments, view or participate in the meeting. You may also contact the Committee Secretary by sending an email to planning@woolwich.ca or by phone at 519-669-6040 if you have any questions.

COMMITTEE OF ADJUSTMENT APPLICATIONS

MINOR VARIANCE APPLICATION A 34/2022 – Caitlin Carpenter, 11 Glasgow Street North, Conestogo

ZONE / USE: Settlement Residential (R-1) / single detached dwelling PROPOSAL: The applicant is requesting relief from the following:

Section 6.10.2 d) Building Line Setback, to reduce the building line setback adjacent to Glasgow Street North from 6 metres to approximately 3.4 metres; and Section 8.3.1 Minimum Lot Area, to recognize the existing lot area of approximately 1,375 square metres whereas 1,390 is required, in order to demolish the existing dwelling and construct a new dwelling. The property is located at the corner of Glasgow Street North and Flax Mill Drive.

HOW TO PARTICIPATE

As in-person meetings are not an option at this time, you can view or participate in the meeting as follows: view the Committee of Adjustment livestream on the Woolwich Township YouTube channel at the following link https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCOnLlF3Srk2gLEBjkq8pIMQ OR participate by registering with the Committee Secretary on or before 12 noon on Wednesday December 7th. To register please email planning@woolwich.ca or phone 519-669-6040. When registering you must provide your name, phone number, email and the application number you would like to comment on. Once you are registered the Committee Secretary will forward information on how to connect to the Zoom meeting (i.e. zoom Wi-Fi login or conference call number).

If you are unsure whether or not you would like to speak at the meeting but want to listen and have the option to comment on a particular application, please register with the Committee Secretary (see above information). You will not be required to speak if you do not want to.

WHY REGISTER

By registering staff can ensure that you are permitted access to the virtual meeting, we know which application you are commenting on and, can call on you at the appropriate time to comment if you wish to do so. As it is virtual, registering will provide a level of security that is necessary to prevent unwanted guests from disrupting the meeting. Applicants and their consultants will be automatically registered and contacted accordingly by the Committee Secretary ahead of the meeting.

SUBMITTING COMMENTS

If you would like to comment on a particular application, staff always recommend that you do so by:

submitting a letter by mail or delivering it to the Township office at 24 Church Street West, Elmira and placing it in the drop box on the Maple Street side of the building; or submit an email to planning@woolwich.ca

You can also contact the Township Planner at 519-669-6033 to discuss any comments / concerns however, this is not considered a formal comment.

The Committee will consider submissions for or against the applications. All submissions must be made no later than 4:30 p.m. on Monday December 5th (Note that this date is before the meeting). Any submissions received will be included in a comment package and

presented at the meeting. This information is collected and maintained for the purpose of creating a record that is available to the general public at the Committee of Adjustment hearing. Please note that while the Committee may redact some personal information such as email addresses and phone numbers, your submissions will otherwise be made public in their entirety.

This notice has been sent to commenting agencies, and to owners of property located within 60 metres (200 feet) of the subject properties. If you wish to be notified of any last minute changes to the agenda (i.e. withdrawal of an application) you must contact the Committee Secretary at 519-669-6040 or 1-877-969-0094 (Ext. 6040) or by email to planning@woolwich.ca.

Notice of Decision: Within 10 days of the meeting, a copy of each decision will be sent to owners, agents, those who submit written comments, and people who register for the meeting. If you wish to be notified of the decision of the Committee of Adjustment in respect to this application, you must submit a written request to the Committee Secretary or register ahead of the meeting. This will also entitle you to be advised of a possible Local Planning Appeal Tribunal.

Appeal of Minor Variance and Consent Applications: Anyone in opposition to a decision may appeal the decision to the Local Planning Appeal Tribunal. The Tribunal may dismiss an appeal without holding a hearing if the appellant did not make oral or written submissions to the Committee of Adjustment before a decision was given or does not provide a reasonable explanation for having failed to make a submission to the Committee.

QUESTIONS / FURTHER INFORMATION

Please feel free to reach out to Township Staff by phone or email to assist you should you have any questions. Contact the Committee Secretary at 519-669-6040 or 1-877-9690094 (Ext. 6040) or by email to planning@woolwich.ca

LEAF DISPOSAL

Please do not rake your leaves onto the road. This practice has been prohibited by bylaw in the Township of Woolwich since 1994. There is a fine of $125 for depositing any debris or refuse, which includes leaves, on Township Roads. These piles of leaves are a safety hazard as they encourage children to play on the road. They can also result in flooding issues when the leaves block storm drains.

LEAF DISPOSAL ALTERNATIVES

NATURAL CHOICES

Mulching and composting are the most economical and environmentally beneficial ways to deal with your leaves.

Instead of disposing of your leaves, save them, mulch them with your lawnmower and gradually add them to your home composter. They will break down into a useful organic material that can be added to flower and vegetable gardens.

Rather than raking your leaves, why not mulch them on your lawn or into your garden? When the leaves are dry, mow your lawn more frequently. The mulched leaves will soon disappear into your lawn or garden as fertilizer.

CURBSIDE LEAF COLLECTION PROGRAM

Bagged Leaf Collection

Bag leaves using only paper yard waste bags or returnable containers marked with a Region of Waterloo Yard Waste sticker.

Place out with yard waste materials on yard waste collection days separately from your garbage containers.

For more information call the Region of Waterloo at 519-575-4400.

Tip: Mulching your leaves with a lawn mower or other mulching device prior to bagging can reduce leaf volumes. (10 bags of loose leaves = 1 bag of mulched leaves)

If you have too many leaves for your composter to handle, you may bring your leaves to the Regional Landfill Site located at:

Gate 2, 925 Erb Street West, Waterloo

Monday to Saturday 7:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m.

http://www.regionofwaterloo.ca/en/aboutTheEnvironment/Landfill_Operations.asp

Birthday

Happy 19th Birthday Megan!

Memory of Jim Leader

Obituary Death Notice

MARTIN, SHIR LEYANN - Passed away suddenly on Monday, November 7, 2022 at the age of 21 months. Daugh ter of Harvey ES and Lorna Martin of RR 1, Elmira.

Maurer, W. James “Jim”

Elmira Legion Remembrance Day poster competition

Peacefully passed away on Sunday, November 6, 2022 at Groves Memorial Hospital, Fergus, at the age of 72 years. Dear brother of John and Donna of Alma, Joan MacDonald of Listowel. Uncle of Jonathan Maurer, and David and Maria Maurer; Crystal Schmidt, Terry and Leanne MacDonald, and great uncle of Michael and Lukas Maurer; Vanessa Schmidt and her friend Nic, Jessica Schmidt, Mac Ames, Taylor and Cole Smith, Wade MacDonald and his friend Hannah; and great-great uncle of Kohen Smith. Fondly remembered by his friend Stuart MacLean. Predeceased by his parents Vernon and Gertie (Zimmerman) Maurer and his brother-in-law Bob MacDonald. A private family graveside service will take place at Floradale Mennonite Cemetery. A celebration of life will be held at a later date. Donations to Woolwich Community Food Bank or Canadian Foodgrains Bank would be appreciated, and can be made through the Dreisinger Funeral Home, Elmira.

❖ www.dreisingerfuneralhome.com

Reach local people at the right time every week.

Advertise your professional services to Woolwich, Wellesley and beyond.

ORDER AND PAY FOR ADVERTISING online. Order, upload artwork and text for your next family notice ad, pay online and see it in print. observerxtra.com to order.

Love Mom, Dad, Bryson and Family.

“Come to me”.

tearful eyes we watched you, And saw you pass away.

we loved you dearly, We could not make you stay.

golden heart stopped beating, Hardworking hands at rest, God broke our hearts to prove to us He only takes the best.

The Elmira Legion took part in the national Remembrance Day poster contest. All students will receive certificates for quality work submitted. Among the schools participating was John Mahood PS in Elmira, where contributors included Brinn Wright, Charlie Wilson and Jamie Brown. Submitted

Logan Shantz

Malia Girling

Sophie Hahn

in a

Living Here

Leading the way reporting about the people and places of home.

Email: newsroom@woolwichobserver.com

Report it: observerxtra.com/tips

Remembrance has a special meaning for Elmira man

Atwood Observer Staff

TWO YEARS INTO THE SECOND World War, Clair Oreal Hawn, father of Elmira resident Rob Hawn, tried to follow in the footsteps of three of his older brothers who had already enlisted. He was trained at the Barriefield Military Camp in Kingston and shipped to Debert, Nova Scotia, before being discharged when it was discovered he was just 16.

“He got there then his mother found out and she squealed and he was sent home, but when he turned 18, he re-enlisted,” said his son Robert Hawn of Elmira.

For Rob, Remembrance Day stretches back to

his father’s service, but through the intervening years.

Clair, originally from Newington, Ont. was trained at Vimy Barracks after reenlisting and served in Groningen, Netherlands, among other locations in Holland.

While Clair did not talk about his service much around his children, he did share his experience with the Memory Project, an initiative of Historica Canada to record the recollections of veterans. Quotes from Clair in this article are taken from a transcript of that interview found on The Canadian Encyclopedia website.

“Actually, I wanted to be a dispatch rider, which was really a kind of a

dangerous experience. But this is what I liked at that time,” Clair said.

As dispatch rider, Clair served in the Canadian 2nd Corps. He originally

road motorcycles to deliver the messages, but switched to jeeps when that became too dangers

“Our enemy put up wires across the highways

so dispatch riders would get caught right around the neck and be thrown off the bike,” Clair explained.

“He lost a few friends that way. It was traumatic,

as it was for many,” added Rob.

“When he got home, never touched [a motorcycle] again. You hear about the hot-rodders in California becoming pilots and whatnot coming back and bringing MGs to race in the States. He didn’t want anything to do with it,” Rob said.

Clair also shared what it was like to be a jeep dispatcher in Holland.

“I was in Nijmegen, Holland and in a Jeep. [At] Nijmegen, there was a bridge there between Nijmegen and Arnhem, and the Germans were firing on that every night. There was a sign, if you went over there to deliver messages, there was a

20 Oriole Parkway E., Elmira.

Tel: (519) 669-1082

It's about all of us.

The Ear & Hearing Clinic in Elmira made a donation of $1,350 to the Woolwich Counselling Centre on behalf of The Society of Clock Winders, a group of five volunteers who climb the ladder in the clock tower each week to wind the bell and keep it active for the community.

The Waterloo Catholic District School Board appointed Paul Mendonca as a new superintendent to replace John Klein, who was recently appointed director of education of the Halton Catholic District School Board. Mendonca started with the board in 1998 as a teacher, later becoming a vice-principal and principal, a post he currently holds at Holy Spirit CES in Cambridge.

Clocking

donation WCDSB superintendent

Bill

Clair Hawn riding his dispatch motorcycle. Submitted

Rob Hawn’s father served in the Second World War, and his recollections were recorded by the Memory Project

Thank you to all those past and present who have fought for our country. We so often take our freedom for granted and must remember the sacrifices so many have made.

Clair Hawn at 16 (left), when he tried to enlist for the Second World War. Two years later, he was in – middle, with his platoon and, right, with is mother. Submitted

THURSDAY NOVEMBER 10

▢ Woodside Evergreen for Seniors, 10:30 a.m. at Woodside, Elmira. “Highlights >From the Holy Land” Photos, Devotional Words and Music by Heather Bowman, Pastor Paul Fletcher and Lynette Weber. Registration required by November 4 at noon at www.woodsidechrch.ca/evergreen or 519-669-1296. Suggested Donation $8 includes hot lunch.

▢ Strengthening Children’s Emotion-Regulation Skills. Join Woolwich Counselling virtually from 7 p.m. to 8p.m. Learning how to recognize and manage strong emotions is an important life skill. Benefits include improved communication, independence, self-confidence, and interpersonal skills. Join us to discuss strategies for building emotion-regulation skills in our children, our teens, and caregivers too. Register now: Please call 519-669-8651 or email us at info@woolwichcounselling.org

SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 13

▢ Famous Country Dance at the Alma Community Centre. Hosted by the Alma Optimists and starting at 8 p.m. $15 per person. Dance to the sounds of the Flethchers Band.

FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 18

▢ Friday Food at the Elmira Legion. Doors open at 4 p.m., serving at 5:45 p.m. Menu: meatloaf, mashed potatoes, veggies, coleslaw and dessert, $10/plate. Join us in the lounge. All welcome.

▢Join the Mapleton Historical Society at the Drayton United Church 7:30 p.m. for the History of Husky Farm Equipment. Walter Grose will speak about their Mapleton business which evolved as a sideline to the farming operation by his parents Ray and Ruth near Alma. Beginning in 1958 after the purchase of a farm welder he created a snow blower from an old forage blower gradually changing over to a farm equipment repair and manufacturing. Everyone welcome.

WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 23

▢Senior’s Community Dining at Linwood Community Centre. Community Care Concepts invites you to join us for lunch and fellowship. Cost: $12. Must pre-register by November 18 by calling 519-664-1900.

FRIDAY NOVEMBER 25

▢ Friday Food at the Elmira Legion. Doors open at 4 p.m., serving at 5:45 p.m. Menu: fish burger on a bun, fries, coleslaw, dessert, $10/plate. Join us in the lounge. All welcome.

SATURDAY, DECEMBER 3

▢ Galaxy of Gifts Craft Show Fundraiser for Kitchener Cat Rescue. 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. at Lions Hall, St. Jacobs. Over 30 vendors. Free admission.

WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 7

▢ Senior’s Community Dining at Calvary United Church, St. Jacobs. Community Care Concepts invites you to join us for lunch and fellowship. Cost: $12. Must pre-register by December 2 by calling 519-664-1900.

THURSDAY, DECEMBER 8

▢ Senior’s Community Dining at Breslau Community Centre. Community Care Concepts invites you to join us for lunch and fellowship. Cost: $12. Must pre-register by December 2 by calling 519-664-1900.

When pizza met dessert: perfection

These are a two of my favourite things. That’s right, pizza and dessert finally together at last!

Pizza, which evolved from pre-Italian times based on the original flatbreads, and dessert… well, where does dessert come from anyway?

Sweets were originally prepared to be served only to the gods and not for human consumption. Earlier forms of sweets would use honey or fruits for sweetener.

Of course the introduction of sugar cane took a while to be readily available globally – it grew well

in hotter climates, but wasn’t until the 1200s that it really was even heard of in Europe.

The idea of dessert really wasn’t part of everyday mainstream eating until the last 100 years or so. Even though it existed for hundreds of years prior, it was still reserved for special occasions or for the wealthy for quite a long time.

And then along came Tim Hortons.

Smear with cherry mix.

Rub butter into flour, sugar mix to make a crumble and sprinkle over top.

Bake in 475 F oven for 10-15 minutes.

Garnish with icing sugar.

DEAR MAYO CLINIC: I am 35 and have had various knee issues for a few years. I'm a runner and played other sports. My primary care physician said I would need a knee replacement eventually. Am I too young for a knee replacement?

ANSWER: Whether or not knee replacement is ideal for younger patients is not a simple yes or no answer. While knee replacement has no strict age cutoffs, multiple interventions short of knee replacement can reduce pain, including nonsurgical and surgical measures.

Nonsurgical measures include anti-inflammatory medications and poten tially narcotics; modified activity; use of an assistive device, such as a cane, crutch or walker; injec tions in and around the affected knee; and phys ical therapy for strength ening, gait training and range of motion.

Surgical options for restoring or repairing

Knee reconstruction in younger patients

Mayo Clinic

damaged cartilage and ligaments in the knee also are available for certain people. Orthopedic surgeons perform these procedures, and these options often are reserved for people who have specific cartilage and liga mentous injury patterns. Having a conversation with an orthopedic surgeon can help determine if a patient is a surgical candidate for a traditional knee replacement or an alternative procedure. The decision to proceed with knee replacement is usually based on multiple factors, including the condition of the knee cartilage or sever ity of arthritis, ligament injury, a patient's physio logic age, and the patient's activity level.

Some surgeons use new technologies in knee replacement that seem to improve outcomes.

Among these advances is the use of computer navigation -- both robotic and nonrobotic types -- to aid in precision, as well as products that do not require cement to bind them to bone, or what's known as a cementless total knee replacement.

Several studies have evaluated these advances in young patients under going knee replacement.

One study showed excellent outcomes in young patients with both computer navigation and manual total knee arthro plasty techniques, but no benefit of computer navigation in terms of function, pain and survi vorship.

A recently published study showed that in young patients with total knee arthroplasty, both cemented and cementless designs had excellent survivorship, with 97% survivorship at 25 years in the cementless group and 98% in the cemented group when evaluating for reop

about family

eration for any reason.

Another publication evaluating this topic showed superior outcomes in pain scores when using cementless knee replace ment in younger patients but no difference in func tion or complications.

Another common question by young patients seeking knee replacement is how long the replace ment will last. Again, vari ous studies have evaluated the "survivorship" of knee replacement in young patients, as well as what happens if the replace ment has issues. Results in one study indicated that

patients younger than 55 years undergoing total knee replacement had functional improvement and implant survivorship between 90% and 99% at 10 years and 85% to 97% at 20 years of follow-up. Simi larly, partial knee replace ment in patients younger than 50 was shown in another publication to significantly improve func tion, with implant survival of 96% at six years and 86% at 10 years.

However, what research has revealed is that a small percentage of patients will need further knee surgery or a revision knee replace

ment. A study comparing patients 55 and younger to an older population showed that younger patients are twice as likely to need further surgery, particularly surgery for infection and extensor mechanism failures, which often affect the quadriceps muscle and tendon, the patella, and the patellar tendon.

Depending on your activity level, your goals for your lifestyle, the state of the knee cartilage and the amount of knee pain, young patients should seek an evaluation with an orthopedic surgeon to review and discuss care and treatment options for joint replacement. While surgery might be optimal for one person, it may be best to pursue nonsurgical options first before moving to a knee replacement.

ↆ Mayo Clinic Q & A is an educational resource and doesn’t replace regular medical care. E-mail a question to MayoClinicQ&A@mayo.edu. For more information, visit www. mayoclinic.org.

sign that [said] “No speed limit – rush like hell,” he explained.

Clair’s brother Donald Brooks Hawn was killed in Italy in 1944 when he was in a transport on a bridge that was blown up. He is buried at the Caserta war cemetery.

Rob highlighted how young his dad and many others who served in the war were.

“People that were most involved in the war were anywhere between 18 and 25 – hardly any of them were over 30. So it was really a testament to their skill and spirit to stick it out and survive that.”

There may have been an element of naivety involved, Rob said.

“If you recall, back when you were in high school, most of us felt like we’re pretty much bulletproof. ‘What could possibly happen? I can take on just about anything. What are you worried about?’ And then get to something like that and your eyes are opened and your butt is kicked,” Rob said.

Clair recalled the exact moment he learned the war ended.

“I was in the ticket booth of a theatre… and that’s when the war ended. We heard the war was over and we didn’t believe it because, you know, it just didn’t come from a very good source, I didn’t

think. But the next day we found out it was true,” he explained.

Following the war, Clair moved with his family to Streetsville where he met and married his wife Gwen in 1950. The couple later had four children.

Clair had multiple jobs throughout his work ing career, including at Orenda Engines working on the Iroquois engine for the Avro Arrow plane.

Clair worked hard to support and show love for his family, Rob said.

“I guess the thing that really impressed me the most was hard work. He didn’t shy away from it at all….When he got home [from work], he was always on a project or something. The instance of doing your own work and doing it well,” Rob added.

“He was a ’20s-30s-40s type male. He was the kind of guy that figured the man of the house had to do the man’s work and the women’s work was the

women’s work, which is a bit misguided today,” Rob explained

It was the care for his family that has stuck with Rob through the years.

“He was concerned about family. He worked hard for it [and did] a lot of stuff himself, put addi tions on the house we lived in in Mississauga and built the garage. He used to buy cars, fix them up and sell them to make a little bit of profit,” Rob explained.

“He was a good person. He was very concerned about family and making a home for his family. He was one of six kids, and he was the only one to go to high school. Because of that, his siblings insisted that he be the one that kind of manoeuvred everything that needed to be done to take care of his mother when she went into a nursing home.”

Clair, who died in April 2019 at the age of 94, left one important lesson even those who did not know him can take away from his life.

“Without being too specific about my dad –because he was not special in any given way, except to us – it’s just that family is really the thing that every body needs. And it’s made a difference to us as kids to have the trust in him. It took away any concerns we had about what’s next. It means a lot that he was a foundation for the family,”

pile of rubble was all the remained of the Maryhill fire hall by Wednesday as demolition got under way this week. The site is being cleared for a new, $1.6-million station.

▢

Professional Clinical Health Advice

Younger patients have a variety of options for knee issues.

REMEMBRANCE: For his dad, it was all

Donald Brooks Hawn who was killed in Italy in 1944.

A

Steve Kannon

Individual ‘pies’ that feel special

Who needs a whole pie when everyone can have their own personal pie jar for Thanksgiving? This unique take on banana cream pie should be on your holiday table.

2 ripe bananas

5 tablespoons sugar

3 large egg yolks

1 tablespoon cornstarch

1/8 teaspoon table salt

For a rich, smooth, and creamy custard, we turned to three tips.

First, we use a tech nique called tempering to slowly warm up the egg yolks so that they thicken the custard but don't turn into scrambled eggs.

Then, we constantly stir the custard as it finishes

Banana Cream Pie in a Jar

▢ 1 1/4 cups half-and-half

2 tablespoons unsalted butter

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 whole graham crackers,

cooking and press it through a strainer to catch any solid bits. Finally, pressing plastic wrap directly onto the surface of the custard prevents a solid "skin" from forming as it chills.

broken into pieces (or 1/3 cup store-bought graham cracker crumbs) ▢ Whipped cream

1. Slice one banana into 1/2-inchthick circles. In a large bowl, whisk sugar, egg yolks, corn starch and salt until smooth and pale yellow, about 1 minute.

2. In a medium saucepan, combine half-and-half and sliced banana. Place saucepan over medium heat and cook, stirring occasionally with rubber spatula, until mixture comes to simmer, 5 to 7 minutes (small bubbles should break often across surface of mixture). Turn off heat.

3. Place bowl with egg yolk mixture on top of a damp dish towel. Use a ladle to measure 1/2 cup hot half-andhalf mixture into a liquid measur ing cup. Slowly pour into egg yolk mixture, whisking constantly (the towel will keep the bowl steady).

4. Pour warm egg yolk mixture back into saucepan with half-and-half mixture. Return saucepan to medium heat and cook, using rubber spatula to stir gently but constantly, until mixture begins to bubble and is thickened and pudding-like, about 2 minutes. Remove from heat.

5. Place a fine-mesh strainer over a medium bowl. Use a rubber spatula to scrape custard into the fine-mesh strainer. Gently stir and press custard through the strainer (do not try to force banana pieces through the strainer). Discard solids in strainer.

6. Add butter and vanilla to custard and whisk until butter is melted. Press a sheet of plastic wrap directly onto the surface of the custard. Place bowl in refrigerator and chill for at least 1 hour and up to 24 hours.

7. When custard is chilled, place cracker pieces in a large zipperlock plastic bag. Press out as much air as possible from bag and seal bag. Use rolling pin to gently crush graham crackers into crumbs. Place 1 tablespoon crumbs in the bottom of each of four jars.

8. Peel remaining banana. Slice banana into 1/2-inch-thick circles. Use a clean rubber spatula to divide chilled custard evenly among jars. Top each jar with whipped cream, banana slices, and remaining graham cracker crumbs, dividing evenly. Serve.

ↆ For 25 years, confident cooks in the know have relied on America's Test Kitchen for rigourously tested recipes developed by professional test cooks and vetted by 60,000 at-home recipe testers. See more online at www.amercastestkitchen.com

Thank you!

It’s an honour to serve as your Chair. I respect the trust you have placed in me through re-election.

I look forward to the next four years. There are challenges ahead, but I am committed to working with you to build Waterloo Region as an inclusive, equitable, thriving and sustainable community that fosters opportunity for all.

Thank you for your continued support.

- Karen Redman

KAREN REDMAN

Chair

• Waterloo Region

▢ America's Test Kitchen

Rigorously tested recipes that work.

The Elmira Legion marked Remembrance Day with a ceremony Nov. 6 at the cenotaph in Elmira. Among those laying wreaths were Kitchener-Conestoga MPP Mike Harris and MP Tim Louis.

Bill Atwood

Morrie, and it was just a very rewarding role to play. It really stretched me. Morrie is a two-person play, so it really stretched both of us and pushed me in a way I didn’t think I could be pushed. So I always hold Tuesdays with Morrie pretty close to my heart,” said Strong, noting he also loves directing and helping others grow.

Caldwell also reflects on what keeps her going with Theatre Wellesley. “I think the sense of community, and also I really have a lot of fun. I feel like I grow as a person because I’m always doing new things and learning new skills,” she said.

The latest skills she learned through the group include the work of being a stage manager  and learning how to make natural hairlines in theatre makeup when making someone look older.

Both Caldwell and Strong mention how they enjoy mentoring the younger people who come into the group and end up growing and enjoying the experience.

A major challenge the group had to face was moving performance spaces. Originally they performed in the fellowship hall, which became a preschool space. They’ll be facing a similar challenge again once the new Wellesley Township recreation centre is complete.

“They have a beautiful gymnasium room. They don’t have a stage, so we have to figure out what we want to do around a stage

when the new community centre is built,” she said.

“The portable stage that they have will not be big enough.”

Despite all the changes, the theatre groups just keeps on going, however.

“We’ve always had a strong executive, with different people over the years, but we’ve always had a strong executive with a strong vision in terms of our philosophy,” said Caldwell.

She noted the group has the support of the township, which provides rehearsal space so that they needed only to raise money for shows. She also mentioned how the community and local businesses have supported them as well.

“People are there because they want to be there. Because we want to grow, we want to develop, and we just love doing.

The camaraderie of being in a group and working together and at the end of the production sitting

back and going, ‘Wow, we did this.’ And also the desire to give back to the community and provide something to the community,” said Strong.

This year, after a hiatus due to the pandemic, the group is excited to present their fall comedy show, “For Better or Wurst.”

“This is our first big show in three years. So the last time we did something was 2019. And navigating the COVID waters and trying to figure out how we do this, with all the background of the pandemic, has been challenging. And we’re just very excited to be able to do this again,” said Strong.

“It’s a story about a private eye detective, Nick Noir, preparing to marry his fiancé at a small, simple wedding in Las Vegas. The fiancé, who has not been truthful to her family about her Noir, comes from an extremely wealthy family who gained their wealth through their hotdog empire.

“All sorts of shenanigans and silliness abound, along with murder. So it’s a whodunit, a play on those Film Noir detective movies and novels of the 30s and 40s,” said Strong.

“Come out. Enjoy the show. See your friends, neighbors and other people working very hard to entertain you and to have fun.”

The show runs November 17-18 at the Wellesley Community Centre. Tickets are $18, available at Pym’s Village Market in Wellesley or at the website, www.TheatreWellesley.com.

→ FROM 16

ANNIVERSARY: Group has seen many changes over the years, but the theatrical goal remains the same

Theatre Wellesley's past performances include Cocktails with Mimi and Art of Murder. Submitted

A scene from Chateau La Roach.