HomeMy WebLinkAboutLakeshore Advance, 2013-10-23, Page 5Wednesday, October 23, 2013 • Lakeshore Advance 5
Community
Talking about food
I have been thinking about
food a lot lately. Every time 1
go out into my 10 -acre gar-
den 1 am reminded that the
food that 1 grew with such
pride through the summer is
melting away into pockets of
rot. The garden becomes
'dark' as they say in the thea-
tre business. But I and here
to tell you that there is an
encore happening in your
garden and celebration is
lot finished.
Leeks. Leeks are run-
ning my life these days. 1
grew more than I can
count on account of the
fact that when I sowed four packets of
their seeds 1 had 110% germination (an
impossibility, I know, but this is how h
feels to be successful in the garden).
Every gardener has had this experience.
Often it is with zucchini: you sow a few
measly little seeds in May and they all
germinate into steroidal plants with
fruit the size of dinosaur eggs.
I am in just such a situation with
leeks right now. My wife Mary makes
leek soup and freezes it. Her criteria for
using the recipe that she does? It uses
more leeks than any other recipe that
she could find. You will find it online at
www.markcullen.conl under the Ilot
Topic heading.
Leeks enjoy the cold, especially tem-
peratures below freezing. They get big-
ger and better by the day.
Column
Mark Cullen
www.markcullen.com
Carrots are (much the
same. Bring on the cold
weather, they say to one
another as they huddle
shoulder to shoulder in the
cold, sandy soil. I suggest
that you dig them soon and
put therm in bushel baskets of
dry sand to hold theta over
the next couple of months in
your garage or cold cellar.
Ditto with parsnips.
Pumpkins. You will no
doubt he picking up a
pumpkin at your local
food retailer soon. 1 sug-
gest that you keep it on
your porch or in your
garage until 1 Ialloween just to prevent It
from being hit by hard frost and going
gooey and rotten before the big day.
Best of all is to drive out to a farmers
market and pick your own. Shouldn't
every kid have this experience? Show
them where pumpkins grow and help
them understand why you cannot grow
o11e in your townhouse hack yard. They
would take over the neighbourhood if
you tried, much like the zucchini.
1 remind you that pumpkins are 90%
water. 'Therefore throwing them out or
disposing of them at the end of your
driveway makes no sense. 'Think about
all of the garbage trucks In early Novem-
ber that are driving around with Targe
orange vegetables: neat packages full of
water. It makes so much more sense to
just place it on the surface of the soil in
your garden and let Another
Nature rot it down Into some-
thing useful for your soil. In
time it will assist in building
microbes and organic matter
there.
Rhubarb. It -you have a huge
rhubarb plant in the garden,
now is it good time to dig It up,
divide It into smaller root por-
tions and replant It or give away
some of the divisions. This is
also true for hostas, dayliles,
monarda, and many other per-
ennial flowering plants.
It may he late October and
you were planning on going for
a walk in the park this weekend,
but don't forget that the garden
still needs some of your
attention.
Corniest Ernie Hardeman won't rest until a law mandates CO detectors in all Ontario dwellings.
Larry Cornles
OMI Agency
Oxford MPP Ernie Ilardeman is
nothing if not determined.
Four times he's tried to get the
Ontario legislature to pass a private
'Member's bill to tnake carbon monox-
ide (CO) detectors mandatory in all
dwellings in the province; four tinnes
events have conspired to thwart his
efforts.
Now, amid a fractured legislature in
which his party, the Progressive Con-
servatives, are sitting in Opposition but
unwilling to deal with the Premier Kath-
leen Wynne's Liberals on Hutch of any-
thing of importance, he's trying again.
And ironically, it's now --- in the face
of a minority government that lurches
from crisis to crisis under the constant
threat of a snap election -- that I lnrde-
man has managed to reach his point of
greatest hope.
The spark that lit this flatne in 111111
originated in the awful events of the first
week of December 2008, when Laurie
Hawkins, 41, her husband Richard, 40,
their daughter Cassandra, 14, and their
son Jordan, 12, all died of carbon mon-
oxide poisoning because of a poorly
vented fireplace in the basement of
their Woodstock, Ont., home.
Laurie was especially well-known
because of her role as chief media
spokesperson for the Oxford OPP,
which had followed 19 years on the
road as a constable and higKh-proflle
community safety officer who visited
schools, seniors residences, camps and
civic organizations.
While the rest of her family had died
in the poisoned house, Laurie clung to
life In hospital for a few days until she,
too, succumbed.
Within two days Of Laurie's death,
Ilardeman had introduced the
t lawklns GIgnac Act (Glgnne was l.au-
rle's maiden name) to snake CO detec-
tors compulsory In Ontario homes.
'the private member's hill passed sec-
ond reading in the spring of 2009 and
was sent to a committee for study, but
died on the order paper when Premier
Dalton McGuinty prorogued the legis-
lature in March 2010.
Ilardeman reintroduced the meas
ure as Hill 69 two months later. It
passed second reading and was
referred to committee, but w8S
spiked by another McGuinty
prorogation in dune 2011.
Ilardeman tried 41 third time
late that year, Bill 20 as 11 was
labelled this tins', was reintro
deiced in December and passed
second reading in March 2012.11
went for hearings before the leg
islature's social policy commit-
tee, which then reported hark to
the house. But the hill died on
the order paper when the
McGuinty prorogued the Iegtsln
lure in October of that year.
Ilardeman tried it fourth
time. The I lnwkins Lignac Act
was reintroduced in February
as 11111 18. In hope of quick pas
sage, the Oxford MPP revised
the hill as requested by the Lib-
eral government and reintro -
deiced It as 1111177 in May.
Seeing the summer recess on
the horizon, Ilardeman moved
for unanimous consent for sec
otul and third readings of the
I lnwkins (;Ignar Act in lune, but
was rebuffed by the Liberal and
NDP house lenders.
Now, he's making a fifth
attempt. The l lnwkins Glgnac
Act, Bill 77 this time, is sched-
uled for second reading on Oct.
:t 1 . Barring a snap election, a
prorogation or a meteorite strik-
ing Queen's Park, the hill stands
a chance of becoming law by
the time the legislature rises for
the Christmas break - five
years after the Woodstock
tragedy.
Should chill happen, [lank -
man will breathe a sigh of relief.
The cause has become more
1114111 just it piece of legislation
for him; It's become symbolic of
the need for politicians from all
patties to recognize a policy gap
and to act In the public Interest.
It will also, In my view, dem-
onstrate the doggedness with
which a politician must some-
times pursue an agenda about
which they feel strongly - and
about which they must just p141111
refuse to give ftp, even in the face
of repeated cynical prorogations
and other roadblocks.
When and If the Hawkins
(igne Act becomes law --- as it
surely must -- the foundation
created for public education
and to push for CO detectors in
every Canadian home will sim-
ply go on doing what it's been
doing.
Laurie's uncle John ('ignac,
chair of the Hawkins Gignac
Foundation for CO Education,
based in Brantford, Ont., sant
this week his organization
would simply shift its focus to
other provinces. So far, only the
Yukon has a law mandating the
use of CO detectors In homes.
'There's still plenty of work to do
across the country.
It's a testament to Hartle -
man's determination that he's
still trying to make this impor-
tant difference. And it's just
plain wrong that, so far, a per
ferny reasonable measure has
been repeatedly nixed by the
Liberals' purely political
calculations.
Larry Comics is al London
journalist and educator. corn-
les(i)gnualLcotn