The Library
October 31, 2011
Check the UPDATE at the end of the article.
Every politician has known it for years: you don’t say anything against the local library if you want to get elected again. That’s why it became a national story when Toronto Mayor Rob Ford and his brother Doug violated this taboo and earned a trimming from the sharp pen of Margaret Atwood.
My one time as a television advocate occurred some years ago while a member of the Smiths Falls Public Library Board. Head Librarian Karen Schecter had devised an innovative response to a budget cut: she closed the library for one day a week to compensate for the reduced funding. A photo of Karen and the closed sign on the door made the front page of the Ottawa Citizen just before a municipal election.
So I duly stepped up to a microphone at the all-candidates meeting at the 560 Legion Hall. Local cable TV cameras recorded events like this in Smiths Falls and rebroadcast them on their own channel. My question went to each of the ten candidates arrayed in a row across the front of the room: “How about the Library? Do you support cuts to its budget?”
Councilor Bill Widenmaier caught on immediately and heaped praise upon the Smiths Falls Public Library, built in 1904 with a gift from the Andrew Carnegie Foundation. He explained that Carnegie used his fortune to build libraries to promote literacy and provide an example of fine architecture in towns and cities all across North America, and the Smiths Falls site was the last Carnegie Library still in use. Bill stated that, if re-elected, he would vote against any cutbacks to this vital institution. Period.
Not every candidate fell into line at this time, though most realized the political advantage and took it. I remember two hard-liners who questioned the value of the library. Voters dumped them. Widenmaier topped the polls. The new council restored Karen’s budget and services returned to normal.
They are big readers in Smiths Falls. A town of 10,000 at that time, our library boasted just over 6,000 registered members and a circulation which was the envy of all of the local communities.
My wife Bet is a voracious reader. One of her apprehensions about moving back to the country involved separation from the contents of the beloved yellow building just two blocks from our house. But then we discovered the Portland Public Library. And the one in Newboro. And the main branch in Elgin, and the one in Delta. Bet even visits the South Elmsley Branch near Lombardy.
She’s delighted with the local offerings. The scattered branches have taken advantage of technology with an online catalogue, an efficient courier and Internet services I could only dream about as a board member in the late ‘90s. Bet’s tracked down titles from all over Ontario through Inter-library loan.
On a given day in summer you’ll see the library parking lots dotted with out-of-province license plates. Visitors with laptops stop and park to access wireless Internet at all hours of day and night. Others venture inside to use the computers. The library is a comfortable place to read magazines and newspapers. I suppose quite a few visitors even take out books, as well.
When asked to make a lunchtime speech recently I decided I would need a slide show if I were to have any hope of holding an audience for the appointed time. It’s been a while since I have taught a class, so I didn’t know where to look for audio-visual materials.
Then I found Sue Warren’s name on the Rideau Lakes Public Library website, so I dropped her an email to ask if they had any sort of projector I could link to my trusty laptop. Sue assured me that they do have such a device.
It took some doing to get the Windows-oriented projector to work with my MacBook, but eventually I found the correct cable, and away it went.
As the days grow cold and November gray encroaches on our psyche, at least we have the Library as a destination, a source of variety and light. Its stacks are a rich vein of information, and there’s also fiction to allow us escape to another, sunnier world for a few hours at a time.
Check out the Rideau Lakes Public Library website to see the range of information services they provide, free of charge, to the community.
As Sand Lake resident Paola Durando commented on my blog: “Libraries will get you through times of no money better than money will get you through times of no libraries!”
UPDATE:
Roz sent along the following link to a highly unusual library mystery:
http://www.npr.org/blogs/krulwich/2011/10/28/141795907/who-left-a-tree-then-a-coffin-in-the-library?f=5500502&ft=1
The Third Annual Tired Iron Tour
October 16, 2011
Last year’s tour was a bit too eventful, with two tractors of four requiring repairs after the run up Foley Mountain. This year Peter Myers scheduled the event a couple of weeks earlier to avoid the blizzard conditions of the drive last year, as well. But the plan was to cross at Narrows Lock and make a run down the north shore to Rideau Ferry, with the return trip along the Old Kingston Road. That’s a long way on an antique tractor.
All week through the wretched weather I’d rehearsed my excuses. Saturday I gave the Massey Harris a chance to vote on our participation in this year’s run. It sputtered so badly I barely made it home from Forfar. A call to Peter to cancel just resulted in a house call to the ailing Massey. Once the newly-cleaned carburetor had a final adjustment it worked fine, so the trip was a go.
At 10:00 Sunday morning we started off. It was a pretty nice day by the standards of these things. The gusts of wind only buffeted the tractor a little; most times I had no trouble at all keeping it on the road. Doing anything else while driving the beast was quite another matter, though. It took me almost the length of the Big Rideau to tighten the velcro straps on the sleeves of my coat: only one hand was available at a time, and I didn’t dare risk losing a glove. Fortunately my coat’s hood was easy to put up and secure with one hand.
Burt Mattice joined us along the route with a different ride: a mid-40’s Cockshutt 30 with a high-low range adaptor he installed himself. While no show model like the McCormick W30 he left at home, the Cockshutt ran reliably throughout the day. Over the winter Burt did locate a new exhaust manifold to replace the one which the W30 grenaded on Foley Mountain last year, but he wisely chose to bring the newer machine on this trip.
The shortcut from the Stanleyville road to the Rideau Ferry Road is a picturesque bit of Canadian Shield with occasional gentrified settlements, all in all a beautiful drive on a bright fall afternoon. I could tell the scenery was nice when the convoy slowed down frequently to enjoy the view. Peter has developed a tendency to race his John Deere A from one sheltered patch to another on cold, windy days, so the journey had moved along quite quickly this morning.
My Massey seems to have reconciled itself to higher engine revolutions, running well past the throttle gate in order to keep up with the tractors with larger back wheels, but I refused to run at full emergency power for fear of a repeat of last year’s debacle with a broken rotor and ignition points welded together.
Keeping the chain snug during the long tow home behind Peter’s “A” had worn half the life off the Massey’s pristine brake pads.
I noticed a lot of nut trees growing along the fence of Murphy’s Point Provincial Park. Some looked like black walnuts, others like the strain of butternuts which grow in my woodlot. Black walnuts don’t usually grow in the thin soil of the Canadian Shield. Perhaps they are two different strains of butternut. In any case things were going by too steadily for more than a quick look, and after a single attempt to take photos I gave up and concentrated upon keeping warm.
As we backed into parking spaces at the lunch stop I noticed Chris Myers cranking hard on his John Deere B’s steering wheel to get it to turn. Maybe that’s the purpose of the Tired Iron Tour: to give these old gems enough exercise that they don’t seize up from disuse.
The dining room at the Rideau Ferry Inn boasts a large box stove which was extremely welcome to this tractor driver. The food was good.
Water surrounds the Rideau Ferry Inn, with the Upper Rideau on one side and the Lower Rideau on the other, divided by the iconic bridge which gives the community its name.
The whitecaps out there made boating an uninviting prospect today. All in all I felt better off to be driving an antique tractor to God knows where down a back road, rather than bouncing around on Big Rideau swells in a craft of similar vintage and reliability, trying to get back to Merrickville for winter storage.
Thoughts of getting stranded in a windy bay while the light fades don’t have the same appeal now that they had thirty years ago. If the tractor quits I can get off and catch a ride home, or even walk. I won’t likely freeze or drown.
But the freshly-tuned Massey worked like a trooper all day, and it coasted into its spot in my backyard at about 2:30. An uneventful trip! Trouble with such a debacle for a columnist is that it doesn’t provide any narrative fodder for readers.
Oh well. Peter’s now talking about a run to Perth Road Village next year. I hope they’ve fixed the Hutchings Road by then.
For more action, check: https://rodcroskery.wordpress.com/2010/10/31/the-second-annual-tired-iron-tour/
Below please note the only usable photo from the trip. I missed some fine scenery. The tractor requires a surprising amount of driving; the camera is too complex to operate without two hands and some attention. Sorry about that.
The War of 1812
October 13, 2011
When he gave it to me Grandpa Charlie told me that the old musket once saw action in the Battle of Crysler’s Farm. Apparently my great-great-great-grandfather sent his hired man to serve in his stead when the militia call went out. The gun came back, but the unnamed hired man was killed in the fighting. This may be an apocryphal tale, but the gun looks like the ones in the film.
Last night I watched both halves of the History Channel take on the War of 1812. It’s hard to believe that this 2004 film documents the same war I remember from Canadian history and family tradition. The film does not mention Tecumseh, or Isaac Brock, for example. The fall of Detroit, a brilliant deception by Tecumseh, they attributed to cowardice and incompetence on the part of its defenders. The subjects of Queenston Heights and Crysler’s Farm did not come up.
The narrator does mention casually that York was burned by American raiders, explaining that Britain used that peccadillo as justification for an all-out assault on Washington and the burning of the White House. He also mention the sacking of villages in the area and the rape of surviving women by British soldiers. I’d never heard that one before. But the film’s main energy is devoted to the burning of Washington, the defense of Baltimore and the Battle of New Orleans. These segments are myth-makers, with James Madison and Andrew Jackson the prime beneficiaries.
I guess the most egregious fault in the film is the complete absence of aboriginal characters. Indians did the bulk of the fighting for the British in hope that under British rule they would be protected from the genocidal practices of the expanding American states. In this propaganda film for American consumers, I can understand the exalted presence of black warriors defending their homeland, but the failure to identify Tecumseh as the only competent military leader on either side in the early part of the war is just bad history.
So what was the point of wheeling out this expensive piece of American revisionism at this time? The film makes much of the destruction of Washington, the camera working lovingly over an artfully-burned miniature of the White House, showing this as the absolute low point in the fortunes of the young nation.
It turns out that God was indeed on the American side, with a sudden, cataclysmic storm and later a tornado decimating the British forces for this profanation of the New Jerusalem which the poorly-led militia had failed to defend.
Then it was up to James Madison and his first lady to drag their countrymen up by their bootstraps. And so they did, with Madison quickly reconvening his cabinet and governing from the only public building still standing, the Washington post office.
Smarting from the Washington defeat, merchants and citizen militia defended the commercial centre, Baltimore, from the British fleet by sinking their own merchant ships to block the entrance to the harbour. The self-sacrifice and heroism of the wealthy merchants and the free black men, farmers, privateers, and everyone in between, combined in this massive, concerted effort to save what they had achieved from certain destruction.
And there were flags, two of them in turn triumphantly waving from the fort as the British ships hoisted anchor and sailed away after a night of bombardment. Francis Scott Key wrote his heroic poem. Someone fitted it to the tune of a British drinking song, and the rousing Star Spangled Banner was born.
A nation which would be strong enshrines its greatest defeats in memory to inspire its citizens never to allow them to happen again. So this telling of the loss of Detroit, the sacking of Washington, must reverberate in the minds of Americans and inspire them to make sacrifices and work together to make their nation once again great. That’s what nationalist propaganda is all about.
But this film offers little to Canadians apart from providing the backstory of an excellent national anthem. If we wish to understand our own historical roots, clearly we need a telling of the Canadian version, as The War of 1812 shows we certainly can’t rely on American sources for this one.
If Stephen Harper wants to spend $25 million to make Canadians more aware of this important part of our history, it’s O.K. by me. As long as he doesn’t spend most of it on a painting of Tony Clement in a heroic pose.
The blogger’s quandary: for whom should I vote?
October 5, 2011
This should be easy. Each of the candidates has dutifully presented himself at my door, sat down on my sofa, and given me an uninterrupted hour of his time while I asked whatever questions came into my head.
But it’s not.
Progressive Conservative MPP Steve Clark greeted me like an old friend, and I suppose he is. I worked with Steve during the planning for the International Plowing Match on our property in 2007. But Steve quit halfway through the three-year-process, leaving everyone in the lurch. Bob Runciman called from Toronto, and Steve was off to greener pastures. No doubt Steve Clark is an enthusiastic advocate at Queen’s Park, and I wish him well, but that initial abandonment sticks in my mind.
Green Party Candidate Charlie Taylor is no politician, and I mean that in the best possible way. The guy is very bright, candid, energetic. I greatly enjoyed our interview because the educator in me saw the potential this guy has in just about any field. Charlie’s the one who would best fit in to the annual maple syrup team at the farm. The Green Party is the perfect place to lodge a protest vote, and I have kicked myself ever since the last election for not voting for Neil Kudrinko, who in my mind was the best candidate. Instead I continued to grit my teeth and vote Liberal, for a candidate who barely gave me the time of day.
Liberal Candidate Ray Heffernan’s a nice guy, but running for MPP is no way to while away a long convalescence after a car crash. He’s out of his league. But I greatly respect Dalton McGuinty and want him to continue as our premier. I like the guy’s vision, his integrity. This may fly in the face of the Tory bloggers who call him a liar. So be it. Dalton McGuinty has a history of doing what he thinks needs to be done and taking the heat politically for doing the right thing. Like a good parent. His kids like him. So does his wife. The McGuinty campaign doesn’t have to harp about family values. They’re so obvious they don’t need mentioning.
Dalton McGuinty is the antithesis of Mike Harris, and this has caused me to vote for a number of local pylons over the last few elections.
Then we come to NDP Candidate David Lundy, whose name I originally misspelled as “Lamb” after our interview. He turned up an hour late for our interview. Apparently “noon” means something different to an NDP staffer than it does to a Leeds County farmer.
But Lundy was worth the wait. He’s a public service union executive, a boardroom type. For the first time in an interview (apart from the one last year with Michael Ignatieff) I felt as though I was above my pay grade here. Lundy controlled the interview, giving me precise and well-thought-out answers.
At one point he launched into a bit of dialectic about voter apathy I had heard from Heffernan and again from Taylor, so I called him on it. “Those guys have been stealing my ideas ever since the first all-candidates meeting. By the time my turn comes all of my best arguments have been said by the other two.” Come to think of it, Ray Heffernan had mangled the dialectic as though he didn’t really understand what he was saying, though Charlie Taylor had nailed it. Points to Lundy.
Lundy evaded questions about Bob Rae’s legacy with the elegance of a figure skater. His initial anecdote about Stephen Harper’s arrogance resonated with me. The only time he was off guard was when I wheeled out a quote from a Sun Energy executive naming Crosby the solar-panel capital of Canada. “Where was that reported?” he asked urgently.
“I haven’t written it yet. It’s still in my notes.”
So who should get my vote in a race where the only real question is whether Steve Clark will get more than two-thirds of the votes, or less?
David Lundy won it with his comment, “The Liberals are not a factor in Leeds-Grenville.” But I’m still cheering for Dalton, and hoping for a Liberal majority.
It must be an exciting time to be an NDP.
I met Stephen Harper once on Parliament Hill while I was lobbying for Working Families. He came across as arrogant and dismissive. I shook his hand. As soon as I identified myself as a labour activist he said, “Oh, you’re one of those.” He ripped his hand from mine, spun on his heel and turned away.
What have you learned campaigning in Leeds-Grenville?
People here are hard-working and they are really struggling to get by.
The NDP this time seems to be running on pocketbook issues, rather than ideals.
I kind of disagree with that question. I don’t think it’s idealistic to put families first. We have always advocated for the services families need to live a good life. That is what the NDP has historically tried to do.
Andrea Horwath gave a good account of herself in the debate.
Absolutely. In terms of a popular summer movie, Andrea has magic, and the other two are Muggles. She is the most down-to-earth and likeable of the three major candidates. She has real leadership qualities and has put forth the most financially responsible platform.
In the September 13th issue of the CCPA Monitor, economist Jim Stanford pointed out that there is a $10 billion hole in the Conservative platform. And not one graphic in the Change Book is to scale.
Now you slag the Liberal platform.
No need. The Liberals are not a factor in Leeds-Grenville.
Which is the more powerful influence on the campaign? Jack Layton or the memory of Bob Rae’s NDP government?
Definitely Jack Layton. People are longing to vote for something positive. At the door I get a lot of: “Are you running a negative campaign? No? Ok we’ll vote for you.”
Jack’s life and especially his letter spoke to Canadians, encouraging them to make a positive choice. Working together we can do better. He gave Canadians the opportunity to make a positive choice.
Campaigning on slurs like “The Tax Man” isn’t educating the public, it’s scaring them. If your platform has real worth, then you should be able to run on it. I’m running on mine.
As of this morning, an aggregation of the polls has the NDP with the support of 25.2% of Ontario residents over the age of 18. Can you get these Ontarians to polls?
That’s always the challenge. The third or fourth most often-heard statement at the door has been, “I don’t vote because things never change and my vote won’t make a difference. These guys all say one thing and do something else.” My response to that has been that by not voting, you are accepting the status quo, and has that worked for you?
If you want things to change, you have to take a chance, get off the couch, go to the polls and have your say. That is the only way we can ever change. Ten years ago in Florida it took less than 700 votes to elect a President. Your vote counts.
With Steve Clark shooting to beat the 67% he got last time?
As we walked out of the meeting with the Ottawa Citizen Editorial Board, Steve turned to me and remarked, “Well, I guess I won’t be mailing this one in.”
On Sunday John Ivison of the National Post called your leader, Andrea Horwath, “the most dangerous woman in Ontario.”
She’s determined, resourceful, capable and likeable. Those are all great attributes which any woman would be pleased to claim as her own, and any man would be pleased to associate with.
I don’t think that’s what he meant. She looks as though she will be holding the balance of power come Friday, October 7th, and that causes Ivison some worry because of her lack of experience at governance.
We are running to win, and we have formed government before.
The Rae crew meant well but were inexperienced.
But when we look at fiscal responsibility across the board at the provincial level, NDP provincial parties have been the most fiscally responsible, while meeting the social needs of the constituents.
What happened to the NDP’s green platform?
We do support green energy as a way to bring jobs, opportunity and money back into rural Ontario. Andrea Horwach is on record as supporting that, as am I.
At a meeting in Crosby last week a Sun Energy representative said that Crosby is about to become the solar panel capital of Canada.
I think it’s great. It will bring jobs, money and opportunities to rural Leeds-Grenville and reverse two decades of zombie economics as practiced by the Liberals and Conservatives which has drained away our youth, our opportunity, and the money that makes our local economy healthy.
How about trees?
Harris dismantled the reforestation program which had served Ontario since 1919. McGuinty replaced it with a privatized shadow of itself which produces approximately a quarter of the seedlings formerly produced.
This is a similar story in far too many government services. Just today we hear on the radio that Hudak is going to dismantle the LHINs and shift responsibility for administration back to the Ministry of Health. But under the Harris Government of which Hudak was a part, Ministry of Health staffing was slashed by more than half. They no longer have the expertise nor the staffing to be able to do that job. Staff went from just over 5000 to less than 2500 now. It’s irresponsible.
Is the welfare state dead in Canada?
If Harper has anything to do with it, yes. I believe, the NDP believes, that everyone should have an opportunity to succeed and to live a life that is as fulfilling and rewarding as possible.
Did Stephen Harper drive a stake through Tim Hudak’s chances when he made his trifecta comment last summer at Rob Ford’s barbecue?
A little bit of the arrogance slipped out. I think he did. Harper is taking Ontario voters for granted.
But this time in Leeds-Grenville they are worried: Tim Hudak has been here twice to prop up Steve’s campaign. Seeing our NDP surge, Andrea Howath has been here to speak to Leeds-Grenville twice. Dalton McGuinty, recognizing the trend, has stayed away.
How to install a mobile base on a heavy shop tool
October 1, 2011
The problem with a small workshop is moving the stationary tools around to make space for others or to handle long stock. Up till now the other tools made way for the old Poitras B2800 shaper, but I needed to make a bannister to replace the temporary one I screwed to the stairway in the house three years ago, so I would need 16′ of clearance at either end of the machine.
Short of cutting a hole in the wall, this would involve wheeling the shaper around, so I bought the heaviest mobile base I could find (700 lb rating) and ordered it online through Busy Bee Machine Tools. Familiar with the routine from installing one on the Unisaw, I ripped through the assembly process with the help of a 13 mm socket and the 3/8″ impact wrench.
But the shaper weighs 380 pounds, plus motor. Plus fence. Plus power feeder. The cast iron base sits flat on the concrete floor. It has enough flex that it doesn’t wobble. Getting the assembled base under the shaper would be a challenge.
So I assembled the corners, then the side rails, leaving me with two opposing units. Tipping the thing a bit was quite easy. It’s top-heavy and I used the mast of the power feeder for leverage. The back rail unit was in place. Then the fun began. I decided to drive small oak wedges into place to raise the front. Nope. The cast base flexed enough I feared cracking it. The tiniest of wedges pulverized, rather than lifting the base. The next size couldn’t get into the narrow opening I managed to create with the first.
The pry bar was still on the roof from the most recent incomplete project. While looking around for a suitable implement I happened upon the shingle shovel. It looked strong and designed to pry. Perfect. In it went and up came the shaper, without effort. I had clearance enough with it in place to insert the end bars into the two halves of the base unit, and start tapping them together with a rubber mallet. Then it just became a matter of figuring out where to place the thing at the ends of the shaper to enable me gradually to wiggle the side unit fully into place. A quick walk around the unit with the impact wrench and the job was done.
When a new tool comes to the farm you never quite know what role it will find for itself. Tom Stutzman’s shingle shovel has proven a handy machinery jack.
Your leader, Mike Schreiner, has been shut out of the Leaders’ Debate by T.V. Ontario, CBC, Global and Sun TV, even though Manitoba Green Party leader James Beddome debated on CBC this week, and B.C., New Brunswick, and P.E.I. have had Green participation in their televised debates.
Obviously it’s disappointing that Mike was shut out. We received 8% of the popular vote in the last election. Over 350,000 Ontarians voted for the Green Party. These people deserve to see the leader of the party they support matched up against the leaders of the old parties.
The media are corporate entities and they have a vested interest in maintaining the status quo because the status quo works quite well for corporations. They keep getting raising the bar as the Green Party grows and enjoys more success. This is why I tell people that it’s really important to vote for the Green Party at this point because we have been working for several decades to build support for the Green Party and we’re on the verge of a breakthrough.
What’s the point of preaching proportional representation when the big three do everything they can to keep you away from the table?
Some form of proportional representation is crucial because there is still this idea lingering that a vote for the Green Party is a wasted ballot because we might not win in any particular riding. This leads to strategic voting whereby people vote against the choice they find the most odious, but not in favour of the one they actually prefer.
When you consider that people who vote for the Green Party are really voting their conscience and not voting strategically, it is remarkable that we got 8% of the popular vote in the last election. Now if we were to switch to a proportional representation system or a single transferable vote system (which I prefer) I think we would see the Green Party vote double overnight because so many people like the Green Party but choose not to vote for us for strategic reasons.
I’ll bite: what is a single transferable vote system?
STV is a system they have in Ireland. Basically you get a ballot and you rank your choices. First, everybody’s first choice is counted. Then the candidate with the fewest first choices is eliminated, and then all those ballots which had that candidate as a first choice then have the second choice counted, and so on.
In the local by-election in 2010 the PC candidate won with 67% of the vote. What are you trying to achieve in running against the blue machine?
7.5 to 8% of voters in Leeds-Grenville favour the Green Party and they have the right to express that at the ballot box. We need to run to ensure we don’t lose the credibility we have built up over the last two decades.
It is frustrating obviously to run in this riding. There is the feeling that the Conservatives are the legacy party. I think there is a certain amount of intellectual laziness: people don’t really bother to inform themselves that the flavour of the PC party has changed since the days of their fathers and grandfathers. It’s definitely no longer a party which emphasizes fiscal responsibility, wholesome values, and a concern for the common good.
Solar farms are on everyone’s mind in this area.
The green energy act that the Liberals introduced was a great piece of legislation that was horribly implemented. And it was done so badly that there’s has been a backlash against green energy. This is very, very dangerous. It puts us in a position that there is a real danger that Tim Hudak and the Conservatives may get into power and send us back to the dark ages as far as energy is concerned.
What makes green energy work in countries like Germany and Denmark is community ownership. Green energy projects should be a revenue generator for individuals and communities who are willing participants in the projects. In Ontario the Green Energy Act has turned into just another corporate cash grab.
Rather than giving billion dollar contracts to Samsung and allowing them to make money at the expense of Ontario residents, we think Ontario residents should be investing in the infrastructure so that they’d be getting cheques from the power company rather than bills. I think you’ll find that communities are much more accepting of wind and solar projects if they are making money from them.
In 2009 when I asked a friend in high tech about the health-records debacle which had cost taxpayers a billion dollars over ten years, he shrugged and dismissed the mess with: “Sometimes that happens.”
eHealth was a governance problem created by the Conservatives, but the Liberals didn’t do it any favours. Once again, poor implementation has soured the public on a good piece of legislation. Having health records online makes sense, but there’s no reason why it should cost a billion dollars.
One of the problems in Ontario is that there are very limited consequences for mismanagement in the political sphere. The three old parties take turns misgoverning the province. And when people get fed up, they rotate in a new flavour of the same old stuff and nothing really changes. That’s why we need a new party.
And why will the new party not end up just like the others when it has had a turn at the rotation?
To me it is a question of philosophy, and the Green Party has a fundamentally different philosophy from the old parties. We really feel that the old parties represent big government, big corporations, and big labour. The Green Party is all about empowering individuals and communities to take ownership of their own destinies.
We don’t offer up easy-sounding, quick-fix solutions to complex problems. We try to find the right solution, even if it doesn’t seem politically appealing on the surface. The other parties are promising candy and we say, “Eat your vegetables.”
Dalton McGuinty’s running on his record. How is this a good thing?
When the Liberals took office after the Harris/Eves years, our health care system was a mess. We had long wait times, our nursing staff was demoralized, and there was a doctor shortage. Under the McGuinty Government we have hired nurses back, built new hospitals and renovated those which had fallen into disrepair. The major rebuild of the hospital in Smiths Falls is a good example.
We are encouraging new doctors to locate in rural areas, and we have gone from having the longest surgical wait times in the county to the shortest.
With whom would you rather have lunch, Rob Ford or Margaret Atwood?
Definitely Margaret Atwood, because she thinks. It’s as simple as that. Margaret has long been renowned for her opinions and writing about things that a lot of contemporary authors shy away from. Rob Ford, on the other side, hasn’t read any of her books…
What has the McGuinty Government done for Leeds-Grenville in the last eight years?
Burnbrae, Trillium Pharmaceuticals, and Northern Cable come immediately to mind.
It sounds as though Tim Hudak is trying to make Ontario into a hate state like Arizona with his comments on the $10,000 business grant.
Hudak is talking about immigrants jumping the queue, and that is absolutely not the case. These are hardworking Canadian Citizens already working in Canada, but who need upgrading in order to meet Canadian certification standards in their fields. We’re talking about getting doctors and pharmacists and engineers out of a cab or a restaurant kitchen and into the careers that they have already spent many years to do. The meanest part is that Hudek is villainizing immigrants, blaming them for using our tax dollars, taking our jobs, when that is absolutely not the case.
We are putting together job programs targeted to the specific areas. In Eastern Ontario we are doing the Eastern Ontario Development Fund. We realize that job creation is not a one-size-fits-all task. We have to tailor it to fit the very diverse needs of the people of our province.
What is the EODF? It’s a fund to support job creation and entrepreneurial spirit because it recognized Ontario is economically depressed. Funding for the new egg-grading station at Burnbrea came through the EODF, for example.
I have seen bad government and government that disregards peoples’ needs and their history. I spent a lot of time in Belarus and have seen what a dictator like Lukashenko can do to demoralize a nation. When our leaders start making divisive, mean-spirited comments just to gain points in an election or in public opinion polls, people lose faith in our system. Whether they are new Canadians or Canadians who have been in this country for over five generations like me.
With T.V. and Internet, Facebook and all of our social media, we have gotten to a point where we care less about the truth and more about the sound bite. And that is not the country or province that I brought my children here to experience. In our family Canada Day is as big a holiday as Christmas.
It surprises me that no one in the media (except me) mentions the 50 Million Trees Program which the McGuinty Government started in 2007.
Which is huge. It’s had a massive impact on our green presence in Ontario. Ontario is absolutely healthier because of this program. The small amount spent on this project is restoring the health of our kids. We have fewer kids on asthma inhalers now than ten years ago.
Winston Churchill once said, the best argument against democracy is to talk to a voter for five minutes.
You get what you want from our government because you are involved. “I don’t get anything because I am the average person.” “What have you ever asked your government for?” “Nothing.” “Then you get exactly what you have asked for.” Our government can’t function without each of us being part of it, and when we sit back and vote apathetically, or vote not at all, or vote our prejudices and our wallets, we are going to get the government that we deserve.
People in Leeds-Grenville have complained for decades that we are ignored by Toronto, that it‘s going downhill, yet we have sent the exact same party to Queen’s park for over nine decades. How can you expect a different result when you constantly do the same thing?
Anything to say to the readers?
Without a solid family unit, you can’t go anywhere in politics.
As a lifelong political junkie I used to watch Jean and Aline Chrétien when he got up to speak. She would give him a look and you could see the fear and nervousness melt away and he would give the most phenomenal speech.
I look at Connie and my kids when nervous, and everything changes. Politics in our family has been very important. In this election my older daughter will get to cast her first ballot as a Canadian. She is so excited.
Steve Clark MPP, P.C. Candidate for Leeds-Grenville, would like to have lunch with Margaret Atwood… as long as Rob Ford is invited too
September 12, 2011
Steve, this is the first time we have talked since your election to the Ontario Legislature in 2010. Do you have any anecdotes about getting to and from your new job at Queen’s Park?
I told this one last week at a fish fry in Elgin: With my hairline in winter I have a collection of about five toques and I alternate them at random. It’s an eight-minute walk to the Legislature. One day an elderly woman commented that she liked my toque. Not remembering which one I was wearing, I pulled it off and saw the square yellow Farmers-feed-cities logo and pointed it out to her. But she gazed upward at the smooth dome which the toque had revealed. “Maybe you could talk to the hair farmers and they could help you out,” she suggested. It was an interesting comment at 7:30 in the morning a block away from Queen’s Park.
I wrote a column last winter about how Mike Harris eliminated the pension plan for MPPs. Have the Queen’s Park Caucus found a replacement for it yet?
I read that column. I was surprised, because most people you talk to think that MPPs have a gold-plated pension plan. But at the provincial level we don’t. We have an RSP which is just a 10% salary holdback. I knew when I ran for the office that a pension wasn’t there and it didn’t influence me in running. It’s just a fact of the job.
Whom would you like to have lunch with, Margaret Atwood or Rob Ford?
I think a more interesting lunch would be with Margaret Atwood AND Rob Ford. It would be a lively session with a lot to talk about.
A Toronto Star colleague from Renfrew County recently commented upon how the Eastern Ontario ridings are gradually falling to the Hillier faction of the Ontario PC Party, with Renfrew-Nipissing-Pembroke, Lanark-Frontenac-Lennox and Addington, Carleton-Mississippi Mills, turning dark Blue. How about Leeds-Grenville? Are you a red Tory or a blue Tory?
I don’t think of myself as red or blue. I represent people. But if I have to paint myself, the colour is blue.
Fresh out of Queen’s I ran against a sitting mayor to give the people of Brockville choice. Then I ran against Bob Runciman in 1987 for the P.C. nomination when the riding of Leeds-Grenville was created. Some years later I went to work for him as his executive assistant. Then when Bob was appointed to the Senate I was part of the contested nomination to fill his seat, and I won.
Some of the talk in this election has to do with the contested nomination in Carleton-Mississippi Mills. I have run against an incumbent mayor, and against a sitting MPP, and I think part of our democracy is that that option is available for candidates and citizens.
Tim Hudak has gone negative on a small program to help doctors, accountants and architects get their non-Canadian qualifications upgraded so they can practice here. His attack ad makes Ontario sound like one of the American hate states. What’s your take on this?
I’ve been asked this lots of times in the last week. First of all, the Liberals keep changing their explanation on this subject. I’m not running away from the fact that we called it an affirmative action plan for foreign workers. But we still believe even today that it is unfair and unequal. It shouldn’t matter whether you are here in Canada for one year or twenty years, you have to have a program which is fair and equal for all.
But there’s a doctor shortage.
Yes, there is a doctor shortage. The two pillars of our program are health and education. And I think from my experience in the last 18 months we should put as many dollars as possible into front-line health care, including funds to support doctors and nurses.
The Local Health Integration Network (LHIN) is a health bureaucracy which has been set up by the McGuinty Government to act as a political cover for the Minister of Health. Under a Tim Hudak Ontario PC government, the LHINs would be abolished, and all of those dollars put into front-line health care. Physicians are agreeing with me that our position is the right way to go.
In the Legislature I have said many times that these unelected, unaccountable, and largely anonymous bodies aren’t meeting our communities’ needs.
Solar panels are a big deal here.
In the House I have talked about the solar operations in Rideau Lakes Township, but the McGuinty Green Energy Act takes planning authority for solar projects away from local government. We believe there should be respect for local decision-making on renewable energy projects. If local council can approve or deny an application for a subdivision, there should be the same respect regarding a solar farm.
For people with existing contracts under MICROFIT the burning question is whether we are going to honour those contracts. Yes, we are. If you have a signed agreement in place, we are going to honour it. In some cases across other parts of Ontario there are larger, controversial plans for wind and solar installations which we may have to review. We’ll have to deal with those on a case-by case basis.
We refer to the Green Energy Act as the failed energy experiment. The rate has to become more sustainable. People in the solar industry tell me that the rates come down as the projects move forward.
Then you see solar farms as here to stay.
No party is against renewable energy. It is here to stay. The issue is sustainability and affordability. Moving forward we have to have an open, fair and transparent process for pricing.
Anything to say to the readers?
Over the last year and a half I have tried to be an extremely active MPP. I have attended as many community events as possible. I like to talk about Leeds-Grenville in the House. I like to talk about the people, the activities, and the communities which make up my riding. It is a beautiful corner of Ontario and it would be an honour for me to continue to represent the people of Leeds-Grenville at Queen’s Park after October 6th.
the Walnut Diary 