HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Lucknow Sentinel, 1988-08-03, Page 10Page 10--Lucknow Sentinel, Wednesday, August 3,1988
Reader
says Editor "lacks culture , exposure"
Re: Article, June 22/88 Issue, "On The
Side" by Rob Bundy
Dear Mr. Bundy,
As a former Lucknowite, I look forward
to receiving the .Sentinel and its news of
relatives and families and friends I grew
up with. I left Lucknow in the early 60s and
made my home in London, Ontario; Lon-
don, England; and finally Toronto. I have
been in Toronto close to twenty years and
regard this fair city fondly as my 'home
port'.
I had guests in my apartment as I was
reading your article about your visit to
Toronto during the Summit. We all had the
same reaction — "he obviously has no
understanding or appreciation of what
Toronto is and has to offer or he wouldn't
speak so negatively about it".
We Torontonians are proud that Toronto
was chosen to host the Summit. We did not
mind the inconvenience of the traffic
restrictions, security and cavalcades. I did
not even object to a police search of my
gym bag as I passed the doors of the King
Edward Hotel on my doorstep where
Margaret Thatcher stayed. She had a
warm smile and wave for the crowds who
awaited her motorcade to greet her. It is
unfortunate that you chose to visit the city
that particular weekend. The streets may
have been littered at that time due to the
influx of visitors, but no more so than
Lucknow's streets were following Jam-
boree '83. In fact, Toronto is normally in-
ternationally notorious for its cleanliness,
especially the subways.
Yes we do pay to ride our transit system
which is superior. At least it is a means of
getting about and making connections with
air, train, bus; to get to work and get
home; to shop and visit friends etc. For
$1.05 you can cross this great city from
Kipling to Warden or Union to Finch and
points in between. For this convenience
and speed ride, we do not object to paying
such a small amount. I am sure the fare is
more in Montreal, New York, Paris or
London.
The Eaton Centre is always a `zoo'. It is
the main downtown attraction for shopp-
ing and a meeting place. The crowds can
be frustrating sometimes but as long as
you know where you want to go and how to
get there, it is not difficult to make your
way through the crowd.
True, there are panhandlers and street
vendors in our city. Most of us wish they
were non-existant but we live and let live
with things that are beyond our control or
not our personal business. City officials
have, to some extent, posed restrictions on
many areas of the city. Most of these folk
are young people who should be at home or
still in school. Finding these kids on the
street is indicative of a societal problem
which I am sure is not peculiar to Toronto.
If it bothers you, ignore it.
Yes, it gets hot in the city in the summer.
If you do not have air-conditioning, you
can cool off in a park or go to Harbourfont
and have a chilled wine and escargots by
the water and watch the world pass by.
Toronto's waterfront is a great asset. If the
city becomes too hectic, we raise the sails
on our 30 ft. sailboat and head for cooler
waters or perhaps New York State.
There are endless things to do in this ci-
ty; one just has to have an interest — art -
galleries, museums, ballet, opera, theatre,
movies, dining, dancing, hiking, skiing,.
cycling, sailing, shopping, tennis, squash,
swimming etc, etc. At least, there are
facilities and activities available for those
who wish to partake. We were recently
i
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present at the Black and White Polo Ball
attended by elite society and also the an-
nual Polo Match for Charity. These types
of events are usually not held in rural
areas.
I also read your follow-up article in
which you state that city`dwellers are un-
friendly and neighbours do not speak to
each other. I know practically everyone in
my apartment complex and we do speak to
each other. I never have a problem getting
a pet -sitter, or a neighbour to close my
windows while I'm at work or to check
whether I've left my coffee pot on or an ap-
pliance plugged in' or even to video-tape a
TV program. Those who do not speak to
their neighbours probably value their
privacy, respect the privacy of others, or
are simply not outgoing people. We are all
not extroverts. I firmly believe that life is
what you make it and we basically all have
the same opportunities.
It was interesting too, to read of
Lucknow's present interest in attracting
tourists. Where in Lucknow, can one get a
motel room or find a bed -and -breakfast
establishment? City folk originating from
Lucknow might make more frequent visits
if there were things to do while one is
there. Some examples are:
- licensed street cafes or restaurants in
close proximity to either of the rivers that
pass through the village.
- hiking/skiing/cycling trails along the
river routes or the old rail lines (similar to
the Bruce Trail that traverses the coun-
tryside from Queenston to Tobermory).
- cycle routes with rent -a -bikes,
squash/tennis courts with rent-a-raquet.
In other words my personal view is that
wu attract tourists an area has to offer
something, otherwise why would they
come and what will they do when they get
there? I believe that a bed -and -breakfast
establishment that provides transporta-
tion to the lake insummer'and ski trails in
the winter might fill a need. Tourists
travelling to the lake, unless they had peo-
ple to visit in Lucknow, would not likely
stop except for gas, ice or some other
necessity.
Accommodation and attractions, mostly
recreational, are the basis for bringing in
the tourist dollar. I, and many others like
me, would need more reason to stop and
spend some time than to buy a cheap, inex-
pensive souvenir with a town's name on it.
Souvenirs are usually regarded as a
memento of a good time, e.g. a sweatshirt
from Lake Placid, former scene of the
winter olympics. Besides being a pretty
pictoral town nestled amongst lakes and
mountains, it boasts this fame. The same
type of thing can be said about Stowe, Ver-
mont or Banff, Alberta.
Rural, pastoral areas are to be ap-
preciated for sure, but so are large
metropolises. What appeals to some does
not necessarily appeal to all. We found
your article to be of a limited perspective
(perhaps due to lack of culture and ex-
posure to city living), and expressive of
narrow mindedness. We cope with in-
conveniences such as the heat, traffic
snarls, etc. which occur everywhere, not
just in Toronto. The good outweighs the
bad.
I hope this will serve as an indication
that your views of Toronto are not shared
by all, whether they hail from Lucknow,
Ripley or Dungannon, or from Montreal,
Toronto or Ottawa.
Very truly yours
Ms. Elizabeth A. Wall
Torontonian and
former Lucknowite
New leadership program
for rural. challenges
The challenges and opportunities facing
rural Ontario are perhaps greater now than
ever before. Complex issues, that arise
every day in a modern world are not far
away -they're on our doorstep. To face
them, future leaders must be well educated
in provincial, national and international af-
fairs, familiar with the needs of oursociety
and able to view changes in rural Ontario
with a broad perspective.
A new leadership development program
in Ontario, the Advanced Agricultural
Leadership Program, is preparing rural
leaders for tomorrow's challenges.
These words, taken from a publication
from the Advanced Agricultural Leadership
Program (AALP), clearly demonstrate
what the program's objectives are: to
educate rural leaders.
Two rural leaders from Seaforth, Bryan
Vincent and Bill Wallace, have been active
with the AALP for the past year and a half,
and recently completed a two week North
American tour which included Washington
DC, Rhode Island, Canada's Maritime Pro-
vinces and Quebec. Throughout the tour
they met with people who make a difference
in agriculture: marketing organizations,
farmers' groups, and representatives from
government and business.
The idea behind this program is to take 30
individuals who have shown leadership in
rural Ontario in the past, and give them
skills and knowledge which will help them
be better leaders in the future.
This North American tour was designed to
help participants develop an awareness and
appreciation for agricultural issues in other
parts of Canada and on the other side of the
border. It is also intended to allow the par-
ticipants the opportunity to meet
agricultural leaders and others involved in
policy and decision making. It haallowed
the participants to meet and exch(nge ideas
with participants in Agriculture Leader-
ship Programs in the northeastern USA.
"There's a big world beyond the farm
gate," is how Mr. Wallace sums it all up.
The tour involved the class of 30 in-
dividuals who, are currently "students" with
AALP, and it began on a bus bound for
Washington.
Washington was one of the key stops on
the tour, which included 3,400 miles and 16
days on a bus. There Mr. Wallace and Mr.
Vincent got some first hand information
about the U.S. government.
They met with an environmental protec-
tion agency and discussed a variety of
issues. Among the largest concerns was
acid rain, and the agency admitted it has
very little power to make. changes.
Pesticides and chemicals were other issues
brought up.
The Canadian ambassador was introduc-
ed and he gave the participants frank infor-
mation concerning the differences between
the Canadian and American governments.
The visitors also saw the World Bank, and
the July 4th celebration in the U.S. capital in
which $110,000 was spent on fireworks. They
met with the U.S. Farm Bureau, which is
the American equivalent of our Federation
of Agriculture, and discussed issues faced in
American farming.
And they spent most of a day at the U.S.
Department of Agriculture where they talk-
ed about free trade, the drought in the U.S.
and Canada, the upcoming election, and
farm subsidies which the Americans want to
see done away with by the year 2000.
While at the USDA they met someone with
a tie to Huron. The secretary of the Senate
Agriculture Committee, Chuck
Riemenschneider, had been an exchange
student in this area and stayed on the farm
of Con Eckert.
From Washington the group went to
Flemington, New Jersey to one of the
largest milk processing plants in the U.S.
This was of particular interest to Mr.
Wallace who runs a dairy operation. The
plant is called the Johanna plant and is own-
ed by John Labatt Limited. It processes the
milk from 2.5 million cows, which is the
same amount as all the cows in Canada
combined.
Mr. Wallace said this showed the group
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