HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Citizen, 2015-02-05, Page 5THE CITIZEN, THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 5, 2015. PAGE 5.
Canadians have long been relegated to
mere ‘hewers of wood and drawers of
water’ – fit only for menial tasks on the
world stage.
Pure horse pucky. Canada produces plenty
of refined products for world consumption.
And not just the obvious ones like maple
syrup, hockey players and Alice Munro.
This country also does mayors. No other
nation in the world can measure up to
Canada’s mayoral output. I first came upon
this natural phenomenon when I lived in
Thunder Bay, Ontario some years ago. Back
then, the Lakehead had a mayor by the name of
Walter (Jolly Wally) Assef. He was a
diminutive man, standing perhaps 5' 2" in his
stocking feet – but a stick of dynamite is pretty
small too. The analogy is apt, and in Wally’s
case, the fuse was short.
Mayor Assef was renowned for, shall we say,
spirited outbursts at unpredictable times. But,
hey, this was Thunder Bay, a town that was full
of characters. Wally’s oratorical pyrotechnics
didn’t distinguish him all that much. What did
was patting the Queen on the bum.
Or so legend has it. It is certainly true that
Wally profusely thanked the Duke of
Edinburgh for bringing his ‘good wife’ to the
city during a royal tour. Whether the mayoral
hand slipped southwards as he was helping
Her Royal Highness into a chair is still a
matter of some debate.
One thing that’s beyond debate: Canadian
cities have a habit of picking remarkable
mayors. Take Winnipeg: Citizens there have
just elected Brian Bowman. Mayor Bowman is
Metis – and that makes Winnipeg the first large
city to be governed by one of Canada’s
aboriginal peoples.
Or how about Calgary? That city now has
possibly the most progressive and
cosmopolitan mayor in the country. His
name is Naheed Nenshi and he is a Muslim.
Calgary used to be known as Cowtown. Not
any more.
Quebec City has a mayor named Rene
Labeaume, a man who’s been called a one-
man reality television show. That’s because he
has a tendency to behave in a way that most
politicians instinctively shy away from: Mayor
Labeaume actually says what he thinks. He
compared a local union leader to “a militia
colonel vying to overthrow a democratically
elected government”.
Does such talk get him in trouble? Oh yeah.
As he told a reporter: “I tend to drop the ball
once a month or so.”
The image of chief city executives dropping
balls brings to mind, inevitably, an image of
the only Canadian mayor to go truly supernova
on the world stage – ex-Toronto Mayor Rob
Ford, staggering across a football field and
pitching onto the turf during an abortive
ceremonial kick-off.
Methinks we shall not see his like again.
Probably just as well.
Arthur
Black
Shawn
Loughlin
Shawn’s Sense
There’s an old adage that every
generation thinks the one that follows it
is the worst ever but every day I’m
finding evidence that it isn’t an antiquated
notion.
One of the parts of my day I look forward to
the most is checking out my RSS feed, a tool
that anyone who regularly uses the internet
should be very interested in.
RSS feeds (accessed through a usually-free
RSS reader) are feeds from certain websites
that show what has recently been posted on
websites.
Today (Monday), I flipped over to mine
during my lunch break and found a story about
the University of Waterloo.
Now, UW is not my alma matter, its
neighbour Wilfrid Laurier University, literally
a few blocks down the street, is. That said, I
got fairly familiar with the UW campus when
I worked there for a brief period at a small
start-up company.
It was a long walk (okay, only four
kilometres, but long enough) from the building
where most of my classes were at WLU to the
research and technology park that sat north of
UW’s main campus, but I made it, rain, snow,
sleet or shine, and then made it the three
kilometres back to University Avenue and
King Street to catch my bus home to
Kitchener.
As long a walk as it might have been,
however, I don’t think there was a single
day I didn’t make it due to snow, so I was a
little shocked when my RSS feed featured a
story by CBC titled “Students lash out at
University of Waterloo for staying open during
storm”.
The story, which came complete with
pictures that looked almost exactly like Blyth
did Monday morning, showing snow-covered
vehicles and landscapes, shows that students
have been complaining because the school
decided to stay open to those who could get
there safely.
When I was at school, both in Waterloo
and Brantford, snow days were few and far
between, but each and every time it
happened, I looked out my window,
shrugged and chalked it up to city living.
People in the city (including students) just
weren’t as hardy as folks from my home
county of Huron.
Looking back now, however, I realize that
I’ve adjusted my thinking.
I didn’t just think the snow days were a
waste because of the relatively tame weather
that caused them but also because I knew the
cost of the class I was missing because of it.
Maybe the problem is these complainant
students’ parents are footing their education
bill or maybe, like me, they have student loans,
so they aren’t making the connection between
the course and the class (unlike me there, I
knew very well what each class cost, I broke it
down by the number of classes and how much
my tuition was).
I’ve been out of school for just under a
decade now and I’m still paying back my
student loans and these students are
complaining because they have to dig their car
out before they drive to class.
I don’t want to turn in to one of those old
guys who didn’t have boots in the winter and
went up hill both ways here, but I didn’t have
a car.
I had an apartment in Kitchener. I walked
three blocks to catch my bus, which I sat on for
just under an hour, and then arrived at school
usually to work at the on-campus Tim Hortons
for several hours before I started class. (To be
fair, I have a very good friend a few blocks
away who also went to WLU with whom I was
able to catch a ride with on occasion, but, for
the most part, I took the bus).
The only possible time I would ever
miss class due to weather is if the buses
weren’t running and I can’t imagine the school
would stay open if the buses weren’t able to
run.
To be honest, snow days are still kind of a
foreign concept to me. I attended Robertson
Memorial Public School in Goderich which
had no students bused in so we had very
few school days. I also, when I was in high
school, lived a few blocks away from the
school and you can bet that if the school
was open (regardless of the buses being
cancelled), my mother expected me to be there
and not sitting at home.
To be honest, I guess the real frustration
here comes from the whole student loan
situation.
I worked, on campus, (or, in the case of my
time in Brantford, in a building adjacent to
campus) so I could afford to go to class and
if I decided I couldn’t make it to a class,
there was typically a good reason for it,
not “Oh my gosh, you can’t see the lines in
the parking lot.” (That’s an actual complaint
made by a UW student, in case you’re
wondering.)
It’s enough to make me think that young
people should be more responsible for their
education right up to post-secondary.
I’m not saying we should punish people
who come from affluent families, but if
everyone had to do something to equate the
value of a single class to a dollar amount, I
think fewer of them would be complaining and
more would be putting on their boots and
scarves and making the trek to the school and
being glad that they can continue their
education.
I guess the other frustration I have is that
UW, through its various social media
presences, stated in plain words that each
student, faculty and staff member is
responsible for deciding what is safe to travel
in and what is not.
Each person has to be an adult and, if you’re
a post-secondary student, odds are you are
between the ages of 17 and 25 and able to be
responsible and mature and make that
decision.
That said, I would imagine almost all the
students live in either Kitchener or Waterloo,
which features a very comprehensive mass
transit system, so safety of travel isn’t really an
issue.
I guess all I can do is talk to my siblings,
my cousins and any future family members
of mine and remind them that being in
post-secondary education is a privilege not
everyone has. It shouldn’t be viewed as
something to be avoided but a learning
experience to be appreciated.
Denny
Scott
Denny’s Den
No straight line
Members of the Brussels Agricultural
Society were faced with an
interesting conundrum last Friday: to
be, or not to be... part of the 2017 International
Plowing Match?
Jacquie Bishop, chair of the 2017
International Plowing Match (IPM)
Committee, made an ambitious presentation to
members of the society Friday night at their
annual meeting. It included a lot of facts and
figures about the historical match, set to take
place in Walton in just over two and a half
years. At the heart of the presentation was a
proposition that the IPM and the Brussels Fall
Fair partner, since both events will be
happening on the exact same days, less than 10
minutes away from one another.
There are a ton of pros to this idea and there
are also a ton of cons to the concept as well.
Mostly, however, there are uncertainties.
On the surface, it’s easy to see the positives
that would be associated with a partnership
between the IPM and the Brussels Fall Fair.
The first thing that comes to mind – for me,
anyway – is the immediate and astronomical
increase in attendance.
I have been going to the fair for a number of
years now. I have sat on the bleachers on those
warm September afternoons as local children
show their animals as part of their 4-H
achievement program. I am often among a
small group of people.
When Bishop told society members that 4-H
shows could potentially be hosted in the
Dodge Ram Rodeo show ring, I immediately
thought how great it would be for those local
4-H members.
I remember as a kid playing baseball in front
of a larger crowd than we often had. Whether
it be at a park on a long weekend, or in a
popular stadium, it was thrilling to have
hundreds of people watch, when we normally
averaged crowds of dozens. That’s a thrill that
every young person should have, no matter
which hobby they practise.
I also thought about how many visitors –
thousands per day – would be able to take in
the fair’s exhibits, as well as potentially the
parade, adding to the thrill factor and perhaps
even driving up fair participation for 2017, and
hopefully beyond.
Unfortunately, however, it just isn’t that
easy, as I saw as soon as the floor was opened
to questions after Bishop’s Friday night
presentation.
It was then when I started thinking about
reasons why a partnership won’t work. Just
like with the positives, a few glaring examples
jumped out to me almost immediately.
The first is admission costs. The beauty of
the Brussels Fall Fair, and many other
community events like it, is that it’s free to all.
Events like the fair’s 4-H competition, its
parade and student activities would have to
now be viewed through the lens of an
admission cost (one that is rather high at $18
for adults, and lower for children – $5 for the
2014 IPM in Simcoe). And while some
residents may be prepared to pay that to a local
service club, they may not be to the Ontario
Plowmen’s Association, as local as some
members may be.
There are also plenty of other concerns, such
as having to leave out established aspects of
the fair, or creating a sort of hybrid fair that fits
the IPM for 2017.
Partnering with the IPM could be a great
opportunity for the 2017 Brussels Fall Fair, but
there are certain risks as well. There is
certainly no easy path to this decision and I
don’t envy those who have to make it.
Other Views
Entitlement is out of control
Our most famous product: mayors
You have enemies? Good. That means
you've stood up for something, sometime in
your life.
– Winston Churchill
Final Thought