The Lindsay Advocate - February 2021

BENNS’ BELIEF: LABOUR’S FIGHT SHOULD BE OUR FIGHT | FAT BIKING | CORNER STORES FROM LONG AGO

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Unions are good for your

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February 2021 • Vol 3 • Issue 34

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Fireside Publishing House, a proudly Canadian company.

The Lindsay Advocate is published monthly and distributed to a wide variety of businesses and locations within Kawartha Lakes, North Durham and southern Haliburton County. We are a proud member of the Lindsay and District, Fenelon Falls and Bobcaygeon Chamber of Commerce.

TEAM ADVOCATE

CONTENTS KAWARTHA LAKES’ FINEST MAGAZINE

FEATURES

EDITORIAL

Publisher: Roderick Benns Contributing Editor: Trevor Hutchinson Associate Editor: Nancy Payne Research, Strategy & Development: Joli Scheidler-Benns Contributing Writers: Dr. Dennis Raphael and

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Jessica Muller, Jamie Cooke, Colin Matthew, Kirk Winter, Jamie Morris, Ian McKechnie, Trevor Hutchinson Web Developer: Kimberley Durrant LETTERS TO THE EDITOR SEND TO

kawarthalakespublisher@gmail.com ADVERTISING & MARKETING

Advertising/Editorial inquiries: Roderick Benns

705-341-1496

CREATIVE

Graphic Design: Barton Creative Co. Photography: Erin Burrell

Visit www.lindsayadvocate.ca for many more stories FOLLOW US ON

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The Lindsay Advocate @lindsayadvocate Roderick Benns @roderickbenns

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PRINTING

Printed by Maracle Inc. OUR PRIVACY POLICY The Lindsay Advocate is independently owned and operated. The opinions expressed herein are the views of the contributors and do not necessarily reflect those of this magazine. Photos, text, and art work contained in The Lindsay Advocate are copyrighted and may not be published, broadcast, or rewritten without the express permission of the Publisher. Liability for incorrectly displayed advertising is limited to publishing corrections or advertising credit for subsequent issues. The Publisher reserves the right to reject, revise, cancel, omit, discontinue or even decline to print advertising without reason or liability, and without notice. The Publisher has made every effort to ensure information contained herein was accurate at press time. The Publisher does not assume and hereby disclaims any liability to any party for damage, loss, or disruption caused by errors or omissions.

13 10 Editorial: Myth-busting three common complaints about unions.

11 Opinion: Scotland’s

Jamie Cooke explains why basic income matters more than ever in the grip of a worldwide pandemic.

13 Cover Story:

Yes, unions are good for your health. Guest writers Dr. Dennis Raphael and Jessica Muller from York University’s health policy and equity program outline why.

26 ROYAL CANADIAN NAVY MISSION

Inside an anti-drug trafficking operation in the Caribbean with a Canadian Armed Forces officer from Lindsay.

31 Fat biking in Kawartha Lakes

IN EVERY ISSUE

4 Letters to the Editor 6 UpFront 9 Benns’ Belief 36 The Local Kitchen 37 Crossword 39 Friends & Neighbours 40 Just in Time 42 Trevor’s Take

Our Vision

We care about the social wellness of our community and our country. Our vision includes strong public enterprises mixed with healthy small businesses to serve our communities’ needs. We put human values ahead of economic values and many of our stories reflect the society we work to build each day. ~ Roderick and Joli

Advertising Sales: Contact us at 705-341-1496 • kawarthalakespublisher@gmail.com

Toronto, too, has heart A TE

LIN

DSAY

AD O C V

What a waste of time

Robinson Orume’s article (Happiness Comes from Community, not Material Possessions, Jan. edition of the Advocate) reveals the truth regarding suggested recycling efforts on the part of the general public.

We, the householders, thought we were doing our part regarding separating recyclable material from landfill items and, in some cases, composting to “save the environment.”

Now, we find out that municipalities are negating our efforts by dumping everything into landfills just to “save a buck” while continuing to appear “holier than thou” by enforcing the separation of compostable material from recycles.

My faith in “the system” has been irreparably damaged.

J. R. Baldwin, Omemee The Advocate offered the city’s waste management department a chance to respond. Here is that reply, edited for length; Kawartha Lakes has two recycling streams: plastics and fibre. We also have programs to help divert items such as mattresses, and construction and demolition materials, for hazardous waste such as paints and batteries, and even for clean wood. The market for recycling has drastically changed in the past few years. What used to be a profitable space is now even more of an expense as it is extremely difficult to find companies to buy the reused material.

Climate change: We influence our world

Climate change is a natural process, says one of your readers.Yes, it is a natural process. It goes on for millions of years.The two-and-a-half degree of variations in the earth’s axis we take into consideration. The undeniable fact is you don’t have to be an engineer to understand that what we as people do to our world will influence our climate in years to come.

Gunter Schubert, Lindsay

I take complete exception to Gene Balfour’s opening salvo in his most recent (of many) letters to the editor (The “Our Place” Dilemma, Dec. 2020 Advocate).

To call Toronto “impersonal and ruthless” is both wrong and cruel. Aside from having roots in the Kawarthas for seven generations, I also have deep roots in Toronto and live in the same neighbourhood where my great-grandparents resided. We have street parties, we shovel our neighbours’ walkways, we bring food to the elderly on our street, and bang pots every evening at 7:30 p.m. to show our gratitude for frontline workers. What part of any of that fits Mr. Balfour’s description? I hope he is better at doling out advice to flailing investment bankers than he is in describing the city of Toronto.

Biz Agnew, Toronto

Devil is in the details on any kind of Reset

Like Trevor Hutchinson, I am interested in The Great Reset movement (Trevor’s Take, Jan. Advocate) that was formally announced with the slogan “build back better” in June 2020 by the founder and chair of the World Economic Forum (WEF), Dr. Klaus Schwab.

I recently read Schwab’s book The Fourth Industrial Revolution and concluded that he is a very intelligent, highly informed man. As someone with Libertarian-Conservative political views, I did not “freak out” as Trevor suggested, and I don’t see the Reset as conspiracy theory. Instead, I am aware that top-down central planning by well-connected uber-powerful elites may have its merits. However, history also records past attempts by national leaders to centrally plan and economically control their nationstates. Some of these produced the unintended consequences of extreme hardship and even death to many people.

Like many things in life, the devil is always in the details. Knowing the motives behind those planning the agenda is vital. For me, one of the biggest questions is how well will their global agenda align with our best interests?

Gene Balfour, Fenelon Falls

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Climate alarmists versus climate deniers

I was dismayed by assertions made in James Lindsay’s letter on climate change published in the January issue of the Advocate. He suggests that the term “climate change deniers” is offensive, but then goes on to argue that “climate change alarmists” are politically motivated.

The rapid rise (in temperatures) we have seen in the last two centuries, and especially in the past 80 years is at rates substantially more rapid than both geologic and AVAILABLE FOR DELIVERY paleontological data suggest ever occurred during the AND CURBSIDE PICK UP Pleistocene ice age. The post-industrial changes we are Order early and receive a now experiencing are being measured in decades, not in complimentary gift for millennia.

Valentine’s orders delivered The assertion that there is an alarmist United Nations on or before February 12th. agenda on climate change is highly uninformed. The UN’s Code word “roses are red” World Meteorological Organization (WMO) acts as a global coordinator and clearing house of scientific research and policy development on global warming. The Paris www.kentflorist.net • cf Accord is just one of the many outputs of this global 92 Kent St. W. • Lindsay, ON • (705) 324-7314 • (800) 669-4942 initiative aimed at better understanding and responding to global temperature increases.

1 3:30 PM It is suggested that geologic/volcanic events causeKent Florist for1/4.indd the Nazis.

Hutchinson could also review 2021-01-15 what the climate change. This is an inaccurate understanding of Open Society Foundations actually believes. The old the distinction between weather and climate. There can normal was indeed full of injustice and inequality but be little or no dispute that global warming is upon us. if he somehow believes that an Open Society created For example, 2016 and 2020 have been recorded as the by billionaires like Soros would somehow bring about hottest years ever since records began. justice and equality, I suggest Hutchinson is the only one Thus, should we be alarmed about the rate of global wearing a tinfoil hat. warming? Yes. Is being alarmed “politically motivated”?

Gord Travis, Lindsay No. It is plain common sense based on widespread and From the Advocate: The 60 Minutes interview the writer readily available scientific evidence. refers to was broadcast in 1998. According to the WashJohn Rogge, Bobcaygeon ington Post, George Soros, a Hungarian Jew, never Is Hutchinson the worked for the Nazis; he was nine years old when the one with the tinfoil hat?

Second World War started. (An image of another young man, Oskar Groening, in the uniform of the SS, has Since the International Monetary Fund is already circulated online accompanied by the false claim that suggesting that our online presence should be used to it depicts Soros.) Soros survived — unlike 90 per cent calculate credit scores perhaps Trevor Hutchison should of Jewish children in Europe — because a Hungarian rethink what he considers a dog whistle. (Trevor’s Take: Christian took him in. The stated mission of the Open Maybe We Need Some Kind of Reset, Jan. Advocate.)

Society Foundations is “to build vibrant and inclusive The last time I watched 60 Minutes Mr. Soros, the democracies whose governments are accountable to billionaire, was openly admitting how much he enjoyed their citizens.” confiscating his own people’s possessions while he worked

Celebrate in February!

We want your letters! Send us your thoughts to be featured on this page.

The Lindsay Advocate welcomes your Letters to the Editor. We reserve the right to edit letters for clarity or length. Simply email kawarthalakespublisher@gmail.com. Please keep your letters to 200 words or less.

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5

Quantify Numbers that matter

Unions

31% 53%

of workers in Canada belonged to a union in early 2020

UPFRONT

Hagarty takes on new role with Kawartha Lakes Police Service

of unionized workers across Canada are women

Source: StatsCan

Sgt. Deb Hagarty takes on a more visible community role. Photo: Erin Burrell.

Finnish university education is free • Universities are primarily owned by the local or federal government.

• Education is viewed as a civil right rather than something one needs to “buy,” unlike Canada, the U.S. or the U.K. Degrees that students earn are viewed as a public good, rather than as a commodity to be exchanged in the marketplace.

• Students receive money for things such as meals, housing, and health care • The Finnish government strives to give equal educational opportunities to all citizens, regard- less of gender, socio-economic background, cultural background, ethnicity, or geographical location.

• Finland has a higher rate of library usage than any other country, the result of a culture of lifelong learning that is instilled in Finns from an early age.

Sgt. Deb Hagarty is the new public face of Kawartha Lakes Police Service. She has taken over media relations and other duties from Sgt. Dave Murtha, who moves on to being a uniform patrol officer in charge of “A” platoon.

Hagarty is in her 15th year with the service. Her major responsibilities in her new role as administrative sergeant involve working with the media and the public through the Community Response Unit (CRU). It’s her job to share up-to-date information with the public in a timely manner, including on the police service’s Facebook, Twitter and Instagram feeds as well as its website.

As part of the CRU, Hagarty spends two days a week doing community outreach with a mental health nurse from Ross Memorial Hospital. The CRU follows up with people in the community who have encountered police for mental health-related incidents.

Hagarty says she is also out in the community each week, visiting people while accompanied by a counsellor from FourCAST, an agency that provides assistance for people struggling with addictions and homelessness.

During her time with KLPS Hagarty has served as a uniformed patrol officer, an investigator with the Institutional Investigation Unit and Criminal Investigation Branch and was the domestic violence coordinator. She was promoted to sergeant in 2019.

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Business UPFRONT

Fresh Fuell defies pandemic with expansion and move to north ward

Luis and Leanna Segura, owners of Fresh Fuell, have moved and expanded their much-loved business.

Formerly in Lindsay’s downtown near the corner of Kent and Cambridge streets, the business is well-known locally for its fresh salads (with vegan, store-made dressings), wraps, more than 20 smoothie options and nutritious snacks.

The husband-and-wife team headed to the town’s north ward in mid-January, leasing a former Mac’s Milk store at 172 Angeline St. N. Fresh Fuell was soon re-established there, but so was another idea — a coffee shop.

North Ward Coffee will feature fair trade coffee from El Salvador, Luis’s homeland.

During the summer, the Seguras also plan to offer Kawartha Dairy ice cream.

Information about the menu and opening hours are available on the business’s Facebook page. In keeping with pandemic protocols, you can call in your order at 705-878-3835 to have it ready, or order online order at www.freshfuell.com

Unwrapped marks first anniversary Lindsay’s self-described “first zerowaste and sustainable living store” recently celebrated its first anniversary — midpandemic and in the middle of downtown reconstruction. However, owners Jenny Connell and Jessica Moynes say they’re making the most of their situation.

Unwrapped offers plastic-free replacements for everyday items in homes, and bulk refills of natural and Canadian-made personal care and household cleaning products.

“We are trying to stay positive and keep our products as accessible to our community as the rules allow,” Connell says.

Both Connell and Moynes have two youngsters at home, and they’re all busy

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Leanna and Luis Segura have moved but also expanded what they offer to the community. Photo: Erin Burrell

trying to master online learning throughout the day while also doing free deliveries all over Kawartha Lakes.

One of the things they’re most grateful for is the high level of support the store has received. “I think the public are much more comfortable with online shopping from local businesses at this point, which is very helpful,” Connell says.

Visit unwrappedkawartha.com to learn more.

Unwrapped owners Jessica Moynes (top) and Jenny Connell (bottom).

They’re offering free delivery across Kawartha Lakes

7

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We are committed to improving our schools, creating a safe and supportive environment and ensuring equity for all.

Canada’s unions have fought for better wages, benefits, and working conditions for the better part of two centuries.

What we want for ourselves, we want for everyone.

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BENNS’ BELIEF

RODERICK BENNS, Publisher

Labour’s fight should be our fight

The full-time factory job that paid you a living wage in the early 1980s is a relic now. A person of the working class today or — dare I say it — those looking to join the middle class — cannot pay rent, buy food, have a car or pay for insurance, and still have a little left over to feel human. That’s because, when accounting for inflation, real wages haven’t increased in nearly 40 years. People lurch from one gig job to another — and our youngest working generations have never experienced any other reality.

We often give millennials a hard time, but they were born into job-poor circumstances, despite an impressively-rising GDP. (And that’s why this tired statistic should be used sparingly; it does nothing to measure how well off you and your neighbours are.) None of the GDP gains Canada has experienced have trickled down in workers’ favour. Precarious temp jobs, low wages relative to the cost of living, a lack of benefits, and sky-high home prices — this is what greets working young adults when they leave high school. Focusing only on our GDP has enriched our financial markets while impoverishing our people.

Generation X — my generation — has known both worlds. We watched federal leaders sign free trade agreements that told us how amazing things would soon be, once our companies had the chance to compete with China and Mexico. Some of us, decades ago, thought it was a fantastic idea. I was one of them.

Then in the east end of Lindsay, like small towns all over Canada, we watched our fathers, mothers, uncles and aunts walk out of factories for the last time, now mere consumers for the Chinese goods we once made here with pride.

It seems quaint now but once upon a time there existed great co-operation between big business and labour, particularly from the 1950s to the 1970s.

But in a globalized world, accelerated by sweeping free trade agreements, corporations soon discovered that the living wages they paid to Canadians could be massively reduced by setting up overseas.

There was no more incentive to work with labour, to help create the kind of fair country that we’d all want if given half the chance. But hey, we have fresh mangoes and Amazon Prime. We have six or eight brands of whatever we want. It’s just too bad we don’t have enough good jobs anymore.

We need to change that — and we can. We need to make things here again. Medicines. More food. Essential products for a self-sufficient country.

So, if big business only cares about its bottom line, especially since the 1980s, what do unions care about, as we discuss in this issue? Good jobs, decent pay, the environment, workplace safety, retirement security, social justice, ending discrimination in workplaces — the things any Canadian would tell you is important. Are these not the things we should all fight for?

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Chantel M. Lawton barrister, solicitor and notary public

“Guiding Families Forward”

Accredited Family Mediation Services & Collaborative Law 189 Kent St. W., Suite 220 Lindsay, Ontario

705-878-9949 www.chantellawton.com

New Year, New Menu!

All Your Favourites All Day Long.

Make this the year that you Pay it Forward and make someone’s day with a small gesture of kindness.

Yours in Good Health, - The Smitty’s Gang

9

EDITORIAL

Unions: Three myths The achievements of public health care, the Canada Child Benefit and more generous maternity provisions notwithstanding, Canada has largely ignored more progressive European policies. This has been especially true since the 1980s, following the adoption of free trade agreements. This, even though unions have been critical allies for our collective well-being, negotiating higher wages, better and safer working conditions and fair working hours. Unions are even advantageous for your health, as our commentary from Dr. Dennis Raphael and Jessica Muller shows in this issue.

Three myths about unions deserve to be debunked.

Myth 1: Unions are no longer relevant Unions are more relevant than ever. The voices saying otherwise belong to corporatefriendly interests elated by record-breaking shareholder profits. Historically, unions negotiated pension plans, medical coverage, equal pay for equal work and health and safety programs among other benefits. Since corporations are more powerful than ever, unions are needed more than ever to represent workers’ rights.

Myth 2: Unions are too strong The proof that unions aren’t “too strong” is in the globalized pudding, considering Canadians have been putting up with low wages for decades now. “Too strong” more accurately refers to corporations, which have succeeded in increasing their profits while driving down wages for all workers.

Even Canada’s largest unions are a shadow compared to Amazon, Walmart or Suncor.

Myth 3: Lower wages are needed to save jobs People often say unions cause companies to relocate because wages are higher here. Demanding lower wages here to compete with lower wage levels elsewhere is a race to the bottom. Unions fight for fair and reasonable living wages everywhere. Standing together for higher wages for average people — not profits for corporations — is the answer. We must reduce the power of corporations and their hold on government policy.

LETTER SPOTLIGHT Why city and not municipality?

First, I wish to commend Kirk Winter for a very well written article. (Amalgamation 20 Years Later, Jan. Advocate).

My wife and I moved to the then-Somerville Township approximately 18 months pre-amalgamation and remember the upheaval and protests very well after Professor Kitchen’s report.

One question that I wish Kirk had posed to Kitchen for the article, which has bugged me for these past 20 years, is why did he chose the descriptor “city” for the new single-tier municipality’s name when we are so rural and have cows, and horses and chickens everywhere you turn?

The communities of Chatham and Kent (and surrounding area) in southwest Ontario were amalgamated into a single-tier government in 1998 and were re-constituted as the Municipality of Chatham-Kent, not the city of, or the town of, or the community of … but simply the generic non-city, non-urban, non-rural classification of “municipality.”

If Kitchen had proposed the amalgamated area to be styled the Municipality of Kawartha Lakes at least some people would have been a lot less hostile to the outcome. I personally never use “city” even when writing to the city, be it a bureaucrat or politician. I always use “municipality” in oral and written dealings.

Lawrence E. Barker, Fenelon Falls

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OPINION

}} May you live in interesting times We need basic income to create and sustain a fairer society JAMIE COOKE Jamie Cooke is Head of the Royal Scottish Academy in Scotland and a leading basic income advocate. Connect with him on Twitter @JamieACooke.

The year 2020 has demonstrated why the expression “May you live in interesting times” is seen as a curse.

As the world reeled under the loss of life, economic impacts and the removal of opportunities many of us have taken for granted, the desire to move back to more stable times has appeared attractive.

Yet the chaos we continue to live through also offers us a chance to reimagine the world we live in — to challenge the dominant presumptions we entered the pandemic with, and to implement new policies to ensure we build forward better.

One of the key ideas that I believe can underpin a fairer, more secure social contract for the post-COVID world is basic income — a deceptively simple, yet effective idea of providing each individual with a regular, secure and unconditional cash payment. An old idea, it had already been gaining traction before the pandemic struck — COVID-19 has hurtled it to the top of the policy agenda across the world, with our Scottish First Minister, Nicola Sturgeon, describing it as “an idea whose time has come.” Canada has been a leading light within that global discussion — I’ve written previously in this publication about the bravery and creativity of those who participated in the Ontario Basic Income trials; and more recently there have been calls for basic income on both a federal and provincial level in Canada.

Basic income has developed this momentum because the pandemic has highlighted fundamental flaws in prevailing economic and social systems. Insecure jobs have forced people to keep working even when medical advice is to stay at home, particularly as highly conditional social security and welfare systems (with far too many rules

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to be fair) have left them with little recourse to statelevel support. Inequality has been painfully obvious on a national level, where the impacts of COVID-19 have been most stark for deprived and excluded communities, and globally in the hoarding of vaccines by richer countries. The undermining of collective support within the economy, particularly in the diminished position of trade unions, has left workers vulnerable.

Basic income has developed this momentum because the pandemic has highlighted fundamental flaws in prevailing economic and social systems.

This pandemic has been a horrendous loss of life and minimizing further loss must be our priority. However, a crisis also offers an opportunity for real change, if we are brave enough to seize it. That change should be rooted in collaboration — bringing together communities, trade unions, business and wider civic society as a coalition for progress. It offers us a chance to reinvigorate our strained social contracts in a new sense of trust and connectivity, reflecting the powerful empathy and sacrifice we have witnessed from our communities during this crisis, and rooted in an economy that places well-being at its heart.

As a Scot, my affinity and connection to Canada is a natural one. COVID-19 has shown that we are all facing the same storms together, even if our boats may be different. As we look to create a new, fairer world, with a basic income at its foundation, the link between our two nations, will be powerful. Let’s see where that takes us as we build forward from these interesting times.

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Belonging to a union is good for your health DENNIS RAPHAEL AND JESSICA MULLER Dr. Dennis Raphael is a professor of health policy and management at York University. Jessica Muller is an MA student in the graduate program of health policy and equity at York University.

Living and working conditions are the primary factors that shape whether individuals stay healthy or become ill; they are much more important than biological markers or behavioural choices. This truism applies to just about every physical, mental or social affliction that one may encounter. The term social determinants of health (SDOH) has come to stand for these living and working conditions that include income, housing, food security, unemployment, job security and working conditions, as well as thehealth care system and the social safety net, among others. The health care, public health and civil society sectors all accept this conclusion.

Yet even amongst those who have come to accept the concept and work to see it implemented through public policy action, there is a significant blind spot that requires attention: the roles unionization and collective agreements play in shaping the quality and equitable distribution of health outcomes.

This is surprising as unionization and working under collective agreements influence many societal health factors, such as income through wages and benefits, job security and working conditions. At a societal level, income inequality is a decisive predictor of our collective health, be it physical, mental, or social, which is why unionization and collective agreements have important impacts upon health.

We have brought together clear evidence that greater unionization in wealthy nations of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) is related to lower poverty rates, fewer low-waged workers, less income inequality and lower rates of infant mortality and low birthweight.

Canada’s unionization rates are amongst the lowest of many wealthy nations, with just 31 per cent of workers belonging to unions, most of them in the public sector.

By contrast, unionization rates are 65 per cent in Finland,

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67 per cent in Denmark and 67 per cent in Sweden.

And in these nations, union agreements are extended to those who may not be unionized, so that collective employment agreements cover 89 per cent of workers in Finland, 84 per cent in Denmark and 90 per cent in Sweden. In Canada, this extension of agreements simply does not occur. Canada’s poverty rates and income inequality rates are above the OECD average, and its infant mortality and low birthweight rates are also above the OECD average.

In Canada, belonging to a union is related to higher wages, better benefits and greater job security, all of which also have a positive influence on health.

Union members are paid more per hour than nonunion members, with women and youth seeing the biggest differential. Unionization brings more bargaining power, which allows for higher wages. Higher income offers greater access to housing, food security and quality childcare.

Health benefits are more likely in unionized workplaces, with benefits such as pension plans, dental care, vision care, sick pay and disability insurance commonly offered to union members.

Unions push toward better health by creating a standard of higher wages and benefits for not only unionized workers but the broader public. By bringing up lower wages, unions reduce levels of income inequality and poverty.

Health benefits also allow for greater access to drug and dental plans, employment training and mental health services. For those concerned with promoting health and reducing illness, a focus on making it easier to unionize a workplace seems a pressing issue.

Yet, despite these benefits for the average Canadian, Canada’s labour movement has weakened in the past 40 years, with rates of union membership declining from 38 per cent in 1981 to 31 per cent in 2020. Several factors contributed to this decline. Reduced union membership is in part a result of Canada’s response to globalization, which allows companies to easily move abroad in response to labour disputes with unions.

CONT’D ON PAGE 14

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State of the unions In most European nations, and especially in the Nordic ones, when a union negotiates with an employer the collective agreements are often accepted by other, non-unionized employers. This often results in wage gains for everyone.

It’s also common to have ongoing consultation between employers and labour representatives, or commissions made up of labour, business and the state.

Unionization rates in Canada differ between public and private sectors. In 2019 the public sector measured 75.8 per cent union coverage.

The private sector rate was only 16 per cent.

(Statistics Canada, 2020)

Desmond Meenan RN, and Jackie Reid, RN, at Ross Memorial Hospital in Lindsay. Their union, the Ontario Nurses’ Association, represents about 68,000 members working in hospitals, nursing homes, home care, communities, public health, clinics, industry settings, family health teams and community health centres. Photo: John Maclennan.

UNIONS GOOD FOR YOUR HEALTH CONT’D FROM PAGE 13

In addition, provincial governments have made it more difficult to organize a workplace. Until 1977, all workplaces in Canada could be organized by having a majority of workers sign a card indicating a wish for a union — a process called card-check authorization. In 1995, Ontario’s Conservative government under Premier Mike Harris removed this process, requiring an election. This shift allows employers to mobilize opposition to unionization through a range of tactics that make it less likely that certification of a union will occur. Card-check has been restored for the construction industry, but for most workers in Ontario, unionizing a workplace is difficult.

Towns like Lindsay have seen their manufacturing base eroded and, like other towns where this has happened, unless you are fortunate enough to work for the hospital, the local college or the city, then chances are that you are employed in the non-unionized service sector or other lower-wage places with few benefits and little job security. Yet these jobs need not remain precarious, low-waged and without benefits. The COVID-19 pandemic has laid bare many of these employment problems. Perhaps ironically, the pandemic makes it possible to conceive of a government that will consider more deeply the need for better income security — and thus, better health — for its citizens.

In these times of declining citizen power in the face of forces such as globalization, corporate concentration and growing employment precarity and insecurity, unions offer one of the strongest ways to balance out the inequalities in power and influence that are making life more difficult for the average person in Canada.

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LOW WAGE WORKERS

The red bars show the prevalence of unions in various nations, while the blue bars show the extent of collective agreement coverage. Membership in unions in Canada is very low compared to the Nordic countries, and its collective agreement coverage is lower than most other nations. The countries with the lowest prevalence of unions and collective agreements, like Canada, are also the ones with the most low-wage workers. These nations are grouped on the right, indicated by the line graph above.

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CUPE’s 700,000 members are on the front lines to keep our communities strong and safe during these unprecedented times. www.lindsayadvocate.ca

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Ontario Secondary School Teachers' Federation

As we continue to deal with this pandemic, public services have never been more important. The members of OSSTF District 15 remain committed to universal, accessible public education and would like to thank our frontline healthcare workers for persevering under the most challenging of circumstances.

Together we can build a better Ontario.

WE'VE GOT A PLAN We’ve withstood the pandemic by sticking together and supporting each other – and we’ll need to do more.

Canada’s unions have a plan on health care, on jobs and in how we care for each other. Be a part of it.

canadianplan.ca 18

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Unions have a long, proud history of fighting for workers’ rights COLIN MATTHEW Colin Matthew is president of the Ontario Secondary School Teachers’ Federation District 15 (Trillium Lakelands).

Few topics in politics are as divisive, even in polite company, as unionization. While Canadian courts have consistently upheld, and on more than a few occasions greatly expanded the rights of unions, affinity for organized labour has ebbed and flowed since the Royal Commission on the Relations of Labour and Capital said, “the [person] who sells labour should, in selling it, be on an equality with the [person] who buys it” in 1889.

The Royal Commission recognized the inherent power imbalance of industrial capitalism even as industrialization was creating an explosion in the size of the Canadian working class.

As workers exercised their rights to join unions and the labour movement took shape, including spawning the Canadian Labour Congress in 1956, victories came that included shorter workweeks, employment insurance, health and safety regulation and maternity and parental benefits among many others. Many of these gains were achieved by workers exercising their right to strike, including a historic 99-day strike by the United Auto Workers in 1945 that led to paid vacation, as well as mandatory dues collection that came to be called the Rand Formula after the Supreme Court judge who imposed the terms. In part, the Rand Formula recognizes that all workers, whether union members or not, benefit from the gains unions achieve.

While many of the benefits unions attained during this heyday now extend to all workers, we have seen workers’ rights eroded significantly in recent years, particularly under the Doug Ford government, including the elimination of two paid sick days established by the previous Liberal government, and scrapping of a scheduled increase in the minimum wage.

These erosions were facilitated by a drop in unionization that began markedly in 1981 and were felt around the world both in specific labour fights, including in Britain with Margaret Thatcher breaking the Welsh miners,

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in the U.S. with Ronald Reagan and the air traffic controllers and in Canada with Brian Mulroney going to war with the Public Service Alliance of Canada. This was in addition to more sweeping legislative changes that greatly expanded the power of corporations while undermining the rights of labour, including Mulroney signing the North American Free Trade Agreement.

The drop in unionization began markedly in 1981 and was felt around the world, including in Britain with Margaret Thatcher breaking the Welsh miners, in the U.S. with Ronald Reagan and the air traffic controllers and in Canada with Brian Mulroney going to war with the Public Service Alliance of Canada.

This process has accelerated as large corporations globalized under business-friendly free trade policies seeking low taxes, lax regulation and cheap, plentiful labour leading to record corporate profits and an unprecedented concentration of wealth. In short, the equality the Royal Commission spoke of 132 years ago was never actually achieved and has gotten significantly worse over the course of the last few decades.

In 2015, a trio of landmark cases decided by the Supreme Court of Canada expanded the rights of unions, reinforcing the rights of workers to organize and to collectively bargain, and stating for the first time that the right to strike was constitutionally guaranteed.

Following these rulings, there were relatively fewer strikes in Canada.

CONT’D ON PAGE 20

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Nine OPSEU members who work at the Central East Correctional Centre. Pictured are S. Dunn, M Reade, R Gilchrist, J Guthrie, M Sedgwick, S Nelson B Bissoo, K Semple and D. Troost. Photo: John Maclennan.

UNIONS CONT’D FROM PAGE 19

Despite these ongoing legal protections for unions, we have seen large corporations actively seeking to undermine unions in the eyes of their workers. Famously, Walmart has closed stores where workers voted to unionize, including one in Jonquière, Quebec. Lowe’s Canada has hired staff with particular expertise in “union avoidance” and Foodora, a gig-economy food delivery service, chose to leave Canada rather than allow a union to form despite nearly 90 per cent of workers voting yes to unionization.

Large employers are so anxious to protect record corporate profits that union avoidance has become a particular specialty in law. One law firm claims that communication is the greatest tool to keep unions out of workplaces, asserting that it is often perception and not reality that leads workers to unionize. The facts tell a different story, however.

While unions may not be the only way to achieve equality for workers, they remain the most powerful tool available. In 2019 Canadian unionized workers earned on average $5.28 per hour more than non-unionized workers, with a more pronounced disparity for unionized women, who earned $7 more per hour. Unionized workplaces are safer, as evidenced by the construction

industry, where unionized workplaces have 23 per cent fewer claims for lost time and 30 per cent fewer injuries than non-unionized ones.

All Canadians benefit from ongoing advocacy by organized labour including a strong association with the United Way and the Canadian Labour Congress fighting for universal pharmacare, ending workplace discrimination and combatting climate change.

Locally, Lindsay has had a long history of unionism, from its infancy with machinists before the 1919 General Strike in Winnipeg through the manufacturing boom with companies like Union Carbide and others to Armada Toolworks in the present. This history has been drastically affected by globalization and free trade, including the closure of the Fleetwood manufacturing plant in 2007. Today, local unions skew toward public sector workers including CUPE workers at the city, school board and hospital; OPSEU (which is the Ontario Public Service Employees Union), and the education unions, but private sector unions including the IBEW, UFCW and UNIFOR represent workers and maintain an important presence in the area.

The Lindsay and District Labour Council provides an advocacy body and an organizing force for unions and workers. It marks Labour Day with large public picnics and the Day of Mourning on April 28 for killed and injured workers.

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Rights & Freedoms For the Ontario Nurses’ Association and our members, the COVID-19 pandemic will surely be remembered as the challenge of a generation. Our front-line nurses and health-care professionals have risked their own health to protect the well-being of patients.

We’ve had to fight for access to the personal protective equipment we need to stay safe. We’ve weathered the confusion caused by the government’s failure to be proactive, and carried the load in hospitals that have been stretched beyond their capacity. We’ve raised our voices against the chronic shortcomings of our long-term care facilities, where so many lives have been unnecessarily lost during the pandemic.

Vigilance is one of the most important weapons in the fight against COVID-19. It’s also the best defence against the attack on workers’ rights and freedoms that we’re seeing right now in Ontario. Bills 124, 175, and 195 undermine collective bargaining and other constitutional guarantees that labour has fought so hard to gain.

The Ontario Nurses’ Association and our members are carrying the fight for our rights and freedoms all the way to the Supreme Court of Canada.

To be sure, the struggle will continue. It’s why union solidarity matters, and always will.

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NOTES FROM CITY HALL City recommends internet/telephone voting for 2022 election

Kawartha Lakes council unanimously recommended that the city permanently adopt the combination of internet and telephone voting for future municipal elections that was first tried in 2018. City clerk Cathy Ritchie asked that the process of voting by internet or telephone be used for the Oct. 24, 2022 election for mayor, council and school board positions. Ritchie said that the many benefits of online voting include improved voter confidence in the outcome, improved accessibility for voters with limited mobility and modest increases in voter turnout.

She also said the extended 10-day voting period is good for democracy because it allows more people to vote.

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Business, student Environmental Heroes recognized by council

Kawartha Lakes recognized seven local businesses and one group of local students from King Albert Public School in Lindsay for their efforts at environmental stewardship.

The business winners include Boiling Over’s Coffee Vault, Burns Bulk Food, Country Cupboard Health Food Store, Dive Kawartha, Flex Fitness, La Mantia’s Country Market and Unwrapped.

Kawartha Lakes not declaring local state of emergency

Mayor Andy Letham told council at the committee of the whole meeting on Jan. 12 that at least at that time he had “no plan for declaring a local state of emergency.”

Letham was responding to a provincial announcement

by Premier Doug Ford of a second state of emergency.

The provincial state of emergency is in place until Feb. 10 and includes an order requiring residents to stay at home except for essential outings.

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Stay home | Stay safe | Save lives As we continue to navigate through the pandemic, the health and safety of our community remains top priority. As restrictions remain in place, the municipality is continuing to modify the way we work to be able to provide safe access to services.

Looking for more information on municipal services?

We have a dedicated section on our website that is updated as soon as changes are announced. You can also subscribe to receive email updates straight to your inbox.

Looking for more information on COVID-19?

The local Health Unit’s website has a daily report on cases and information for our region. The province’s website also has tools that can provide you with more details for case information across Ontario.

www.kawarthalakes.ca/covid-19

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Keep yourself and our community safe.

Please follow all safety protocols in place.

Call the office to be connected with a staff person (705) 328-0180.

We are here for you!

Email info@vccs.work Visit https://vccs.work/about-us/our-staff/ to access our staff directory

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VCCS Staff remain available to serve you remotely.

23

advertorial

Electrical Workers union proud supporters of Lindsay and District Labour Council ANDREW WHITE

International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) local 353 represents over 13,000 members in several sectors of the electrical industry. Their members are electricians, linemen, communication workers, locksmiths, control technicians, machinists, nuclear workers and many more.

They perform work in Barrie, Kawartha Lakes, Haliburton and Peterborough Counties, Durham Region and Toronto and their surrounding areas. This massive area is where their members live and grow their families.

I caught up to Local 353’s business manager, Lee Caprio. “IBEW Local 353 is committed to a code of excellence which means we provide the highest level of training and safety in the industry,” says Caprio. “Our commitment doesn’t end there. Our journeypersons mentor, teach and support approximately 2,600 apprentices to successfully achieve a license in our industry.”

Their license means they are certified and have passed a provincial qualification exam after completing their apprenticeship hours. If you’re looking for an electrician with the knowledge required to keep you and your family safe, remember to hire someone with the qualifications and license to perform the work.

The members of IBEW Local 353 are proud supporters of the Lindsay and District Labour Council and their events, including the National Day of Mourning and the annual Labour Day picnic. The IBEW has two active members on the local labour council executive, sharing and collaborating with other local unions. “Giving back is our way of building community relations to bring together the much needed supports this world needs,” says Caprio.

“Our work in the communities is vital to ensure that we support those less fortunate and support our children for the future,” he adds.

Caprio shared his concern about the current health crisis. “COVID-19 has been a challenge to all of us.

Most of our workers are deemed essential and thus must continue to work to keep the lights on, infrastruc-

ture running, roads open, hospitals and other essential workplaces open and operating properly. The greatest challenge is not the virus, it’s the mental stress on our workforce.” The IBEW has always committed to the health and safety of its members and their families.

Whether it be ice storms or other power outages, our members diligently work around the clock to safeguard your safety and comfort.

Stop and say thanks if you can. I know it means a lot to our members to know the community recognizes their efforts.

Caprio says the next time you see a work crew at a traffic light or repairing an electrical pole, “remember they are there for you.”

“Whether it be ice storms or other power outages, our members diligently work around the clock to safeguard your safety and comfort. Stop and say thanks if you can. I know it means a lot to our members to know the community recognizes their efforts.”

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IBEW Local 353 is committed to a Code of Excellence. providing the highest level of training and safety in the industry.

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ADVOCATE EXCLUSIVE

Navy public affairs officer from Lindsay takes us inside anti-drug trafficking Operation CARIBBE LT. SHEILA THAM

Lt. Sheila Tham, public affairs officer, grew up in Lindsay.

Photo: The Royal Canadian Navy

Since Oct. 26, 2020, when Her Majesty’s Canadian Ship (HMCS) Summerside departed Halifax for Operation CARIBBE, I have been the voice of the ship’s Facebook page as the deployed public affairs officer. I never expected to find myself on a warship; I’m from Lindsay, and hadn’t been on a ship until the day we left Halifax.

Public affairs is a “purple trade,” meaning we can wear any uniform and work in any element of the Canadian Armed Forces. I’m now a good example of that. I wear the army uniform, I have split my time almost equally between serving with army and with my home position in the air force as the Wing Public Affairs Officer at 8 Wing/CFB Trenton, and now I’ve been attached to the Royal Canadian Navy as well.

On ship I am known as a “rider” — closer to a passenger than a contributing member of the ship’s team, as I don’t have any navy-specific training. As public affairs officers, we are often justifying our existence and explaining our value to the trades around us. Public affairs is a command function, which can be difficult to grasp if you’re not a commander in need of strategic messaging or communications advice. (A command function simply means my work supports the commander’s decisionmaking process and potentially influences the direction that he or she takes in the campaign.)

We also act as the liaison between the public and the military, but as a unit floating in the middle of the Caribbean Sea it’s sometimes difficult to imagine how this contributes to mission success. These issues compound on ship: You are taking up a bunk of a potentially useful member of the ship’s company (strike one), you’re a day worker in a sea of shift workers (strike two), and no one is sure exactly what value you bring (strike three).

There is lots to be done on ship and plenty of opportunities to jump in and help. But, because you don’t have navy training, often the ship’s crew will

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“I owed so much to the ship’s company ­— the troops who run the vessel.”

Photos: Lt. Sheila Tham.

be so busy getting the job done that they won’t have the time to explain or show you how you can be of help. This is a very daunting world to step into and, in my opinion, not for the faint of heart. I woke up most days heavy with the weight of expectation. I owed so much to the ship’s company — the troops who run the vessel. They work hard to keep things going properly and as a “rider,” I didn’t contribute much to the actual day-to-day operation of the ship. As a rule, navy ships must use every single person to their maximum due to lack of physical space.

I was also an outsider in a crew that had done training together, so finding my place was a puzzle I kept trying to piece together daily.

An example of this situation is during lowering of the boats. HMCS Summerside is outfitted with three small boats for Operation CARIBBE that needed to be moved (via a crane on the back of the ship, or the sweep deck) and then lowered into the water. This is an activity that takes a lot of hands holding ropes to control the movement of the boat in the air. People of all trades pitch in, but when I first saw the activity, people seemed to magically find gloves and hard hats; they yelled commands that I didn’t even understand (and responded to them). Everyone was grabbing ropes and moving around the ship like a synchronized dance. The crew worked like a well-oiled machine and sometimes it was hard not to feel like an obstruction.

CONT’D ON PAGE 28

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Lt. Sheila Tham’s Local Roots Tham grew up in Ops township, went to Jack Callaghan P.S. and then I.E. Weldon S.S. Afterwards, she attended Loyalist College in Belleville and Trent University in Peterborough.

“My parents still live in Lindsay in the house I grew up in on Pigeon Lake Road.

Mom works for the Kawartha Lakes Fire Rescue Service and Dad is retired.”

Tham was deployed for six weeks on Operation CARIBBE, from Oct. 26 to Dec. 8, 2020.

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I CHOOSE HERE KL

WHY I CAME BACK TO CALL KAWARTHA LAKES HOME

Photo: Lt. Sheila Tham.

HEATHER RICHARDSON My roots are here in Kawartha Lakes and growing up I always planned to return one day, but being able to do so at the start of my career was an unexpected surprise. After post-secondary education and training outside of the community, I was privileged with the opportunity to return home with my high school sweetheart and join an established and well-respected law practice, which my law partner and I remain honoured to run and grow to serve our local community.

When not working, my preferred family pastime is to visit local parks. Reaboro is a favourite as it’s close to where I grew up, and watching my children run in the playground or walking the Trans Canada Trail behind the local farms takes me back to my happy place.

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OPERATION CARIBBE CONT’D FROM PAGE 27

Instead, I did my best to contribute in the way I knew how — staying out of the way and getting photos of people doing their jobs. I feel really privileged to have had that perspective. The navy is full of skilled people who are excellent at their jobs and often that goes uncaptured; there isn’t usually a photo album at the end of the day.

The job on HMCS Summerside for Operation CARIBBE is nowhere near the job I do in Trenton. The diversity of experiences is another thing I love about public affairs. At 8 Wing, there is a team of imagery technicians who are skilled in photography, videography and graphic design.

On this mission, I hold the camera and am responsible for daily photo or video submissions including editing and metadata/captioning. My experience in speech-writing and arranging media events goes mostly unused, and there’s no liaising with journalists or local media. Instead, I am drafting articles and social media posts for the commander’s review, monitoring social media activity and relaying metrics to (I hope) optimize our engagement. If it were an army deployment, I would say I was in the trenches (or at least taking photos of the people in the trenches).

The members of HMCS Summerside greeted me with open arms and showed me a piece of their world. I have enjoyed capturing the moments — everything from Sunday Sundaes to mission briefings with the intent of stopping illicit drug trafficking in the Caribbean Sea. I was also happy to learn the variety of ways I can pitch in and support the crew in accomplishing their mission. Working with the United

28

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States Coast Guard Law Enforcement Detachment (during a U.S. election, no less) was an interesting and exciting experience. Learning about the culture of the navy and the role of everyone on ship still has me on overload most days.

I will be coming home to Trenton with a new navy perspective that I feel honoured to have gained, as well as a better working knowledge of how to share the story of the people in the Canadian Armed Forces. Because of COVID, I can’t say that I experienced the port visits that so many sailors rave about, but I did experience sailing, acting as a lookout for vessels of interest, long sweaty workdays and being a member of a ship’s crew. I can also say that I’ve swum in the Caribbean Sea during a time when most people are confined to their houses, which is the best consolation prize I’ve ever heard.

Operation CARIBBE is Canada’s contribution to U.S. Enhanced Counternarcotics Operations under U.S. Joint Interagency Task Force South (JIATFS). The intent is to detect, monitor and prevent illicit trafficking in the Caribbean Sea and off the Pacific coast of Central America. To make this happen on this mission, Canadian ships transported eight law enforcement officials from the U.S. Coast Guard who integrated with the Canadian crew. Participants work together to find vessels of interest so they can do their work. The synchronization of capabilities between the Royal Canadian Navy and United States Coast Guard enables greater success in reducing drug trafficking while strengthening the ability of nations to work together in common cause.

Canada has been conducting Operation CARIBBE since 2006, and the Canadian Armed Forces has contributed to the disruption or seizure of approximately 105 tonnes of cocaine and more than six tonnes of marijuana.

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Nominations are open to the community for youth between the ages of 12 – 24 until February 26th for the following categories: The annual Kawartha Lakes Youth Awards was created by the BGCKL to shine a spotlight on youth in our community.

ELIGIBILITY:

All nominees must have strong ties to the City of Kawartha Lakes. For every category, individuals or groups may be nominated. Involvement with the Boys and Girls Clubs of Kawartha Lakes is only required for the BGCKL Club Spirit Award. Any group or individual is welcome to submit a nomination for a Youth Achievement Award.

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q Arts Achievement Award

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Fat bikes can open up new possibilities for fun during the long winter When he was a kid in Ottawa, Andrew Staneland would wrap plumbing chain around tires and rims and deliver papers on bike throughout the winter. Now, 50 years on, among his 13-odd bikes, is a “fat bike,” with oversized, underinflated, metal-studded tires, designed to give traction and stability on ice and snow.

Although the Kawartha Cycling Club member sees 30 or 40 other fat bikes when he rides in Ottawa, Staneland says fat bikes aren’t yet a thing here.

I decide to find out for myself what it’s like to cycle in winter — to get the skinny on fat bikes.

Allen Hussey of Pedego has offered me the loan of a fat bike and I arrange to meet him at The Bike Garage in Lindsay. From there I hope to ride to Omemee and back, taking the Rotary Trail along the Scugog River, then the Kawartha TransCanada Trail.

The temperature is -15 C with the wind chill. Forewarned by Staneland, I’ve dressed in layers. Keeping warm — but not overheating — is the goal.

Hussey introduces me to the bike, a customized Pedego Magnum Ranger with extra-wide, 11-cm tires.

To help me out, it’s electric. (In the promotional literature it’s described as “the monster bike of electric bikes.”)

He’s also recruited Pedego bike mechanic Eric Cardinal to accompany me. Cardinal has a few tips, such as to accelerate and break smoothly and lightly. For clothing, he recommends a thin balaclava under the bike helmet.

Conditions are perfect: overnight there was snowfall, but just a few centimetres. Just as well: deep snow is for snowshoes, not bikes of any description.

We take the Rotary Trail, following the river’s path, then it’s up Dobson Street and onto the Kawartha Trans Canada Trail.

I begin without any electric bike pedal assist and it’s effortful for sure. Soon I add the pedal-assist and combine third gear and assist level 3, with brisk pedalling at 19-20 kph.

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JAMIE MORRIS Writer-at-large

Eric Cardinal, left, with Advocate writer-at-large Jamie Morris on the Rotary Trail. Photo: Glenda Morris.

Satisfied I’m comfortable with the bike, Cardinal heads back and I continue to Omemee. Every so often deeper snow grabs the tire, or the tire drifts a bit but there’s never a feeling of loss of control or danger.

There’s even a feeling of floating as I carve out sweeping curves in the calf-deep, untracked snow.

A succession of roads intersects the trail — Post, Settlers, Lilac, and Heights. Before and after each I slow for sets of bollards. The only sounds are from the crunch of the tires gripping the surface. Around me are open fields, corridors of trees, a few barns. Along the edge of the trail critters have left tracks in the fresh powdery snow.

On the return leg, I meet just four walkers and two dogs, then, just before Dobson St., a middle-aged couple on regular, non-electric fat bikes. I ask what they like about winter fat-biking and for them, it’s the workout.

My verdict on fat bike riding in winter? Staneland was right: doable and exhilarating.

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‘You Got a Friend’

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Victoria Stewart (left) and Ruby Lockhart (right) working on home-cooked meals for local families.

A few months ago, Karen and Gord Ferguson came up with the idea of cooking once a month for another family who could benefit from a wholesome, homecooked meal.

The simple idea quickly caught on as more than 50 volunteer cooks stepped forward to cook for another family. Ruby Lockhart and Victoria Stewart (above) were among the first of the volunteers to pitch in.

Ferguson says she really wanted to keep things simple.

All she needs from a family in need of a home-cooked meal each month is to know where the food should be delivered, the number of adults and children, how best to communicate with the family (phone, email or other) and whether there are any food allergies. (The group is focusing on families for their initiative, not couples or singles.)

“We used to know our neighbours and often knew when they could use some cooking help and now we don’t,” says Ferguson.

To receive a meal every month for at least six months (the commitment length of time from each volunteer), contact Ferguson via her You Got a Friend group via Facebook by joining the group and sending a message.

You can also email yougotafriend@yahoo.com or drop a note through the mail slot at The Lingerie Loft on Kent Street.

www.lindsayadvocate.ca

WINNER, MEDIA EXCELLENCE AWARD 2020 Call 705-341-1496 or email kawarthalakespublisher@gmail.com

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PRESENTED BY Canned tomatoes — with a twist Diane does not like canned tomatoes (she grew up eating them too often). But because they are so much more economical than fresh tomatoes in the winter, she learned to make them delicious in an interesting way. Diane transforms this pantry staple with a gorgeous caramelized flavour. Canned plum tomatoes prepared on the stovetop or in the oven can be used in sandwiches, as a pizza topping and as bruschetta. Try preparing them on the barbecue for a smokier flavour.

Stovetop: Drain a can of whole plum tomatoes (any brand) and cut tomatoes in half lengthwise. Brown 2 tablespoons of butter with a teaspoon of dried basil. Put the tomatoes in the pan, cut side down, until slightly blackened. Flip over and do the same to the outside of the tomato halves.

Broiler: Drain a can of whole plum tomatoes (any brand) and cut tomatoes in half lengthwise. Place them cut side down on a broiler tray (or on a rack on a cookie sheet or pan). Put on oven shelf on highest level and broil. Watch closely; remove when slightly blackened on top.

Flip and drizzle with olive oil and balsamic vinegar, put under broiler and broil until a little bit charred.

Canned Plum Tomato Bruschetta Slice baguette, toast under broiler, and brush one side with olive oil. Spread with basil seasoning paste (found in the refrigerator section) or spread with soft cheese or sprinkle with hard cheese.

Top with prepared plum tomatoes. Dig in and enjoy!

A tip from Diane: Save the strained juice from the can; it is great with vodka!

Story and photos by Sharon Walker

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www.lindsayadvocate.ca

by Olson byBarbara Barbara Olson CROSSWORD ©©ClassiCanadian Crosswords ClassiCanadian Crosswords

by Barbara Olson © ClassiCanadian Crosswords

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You’ll find the solution on page 42

By Barbara Olson © ClassiCanadian Crosswords

37

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38

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FRIENDS & NEIGHBOURS Terry Foster, Citizen of the Year, walks to help others

JAMIE MORRIS Writer-at-large

Good neighbours care, right? They help those in us straight out kids born with CF were lucky to get to need. By this measure Terry Foster is a model neighbour, kindergarten. Now I walk with people in their 40s and richly deserving of his 2020 Citizen of the Year award 50s (who are) still going.” from the Lindsay + District Chamber of Commerce.

Even Terry’s selflessness couldn’t keep life from Over the years he’s participated in 111 10-kilometre throwing a curveball. The fellow who, in 2019, raised fundraising walks and brought in hundreds of thousands over half the $20,000 brought in by that year’s Terry Fox of dollars for worthy causes.

Run, was diagnosed with esophageal The first cause he took up 35 cancer in mid-2020. Suddenly, he, too, years ago was cystic fibrosis. “My stood to benefit from the advances wife, Rebecca had a young relative in treatments. with CF. When we’d visit, her mom His immediate concern was comwould have to pound away on her pleting the 2020 walk. He adjusted back to break up the mucus. She’d do his schedule, collecting pledges right this over and over. I decided to take up to the mid-August start of his part in a Zellers/Kinsmen CF Moontreatments, and completed the walk walk to raise some money.” in late August (still bringing in almost Since then, he’s finished 33 more as much money as the previous year.) walks for CF. He has also walked The other concern, he admits, for the Terry Fox Foundation — 34 was that he might lose his beard. A bit times. of vanity, maybe, but it affected his Occasionally, he admits, the walks usual Christmas plans, too: For the can be challenging. “I’ve walked in past dozen years Terry’s played Santa 85 degrees. One year, for multiple after collecting toys for the Kinsmen sclerosis, I did the whole thing in Club toy drive. a thunderstorm, umbrella in both In August and September Terry hands. Rain was coming down like a underwent 28 radiation and five sheet and I couldn’t see the houses chemo treatments that significantly Terry Foster in Memorial Park, Lindsay.

I passed.” shrank the cancer. An operation in But the walks themselves are just the tip of the fundNovember excised the rest. In December, doctors in raising iceberg.

Peterborough told him he was cancer-free. The beard Chances are if you live in Lindsay you’ve had Terry (which he did lose) is growing back. canvassing at your door. You’d remember. He always Terry himself, as he turns 65, has high hopes and big wears a commemorative T-shirt (“so many darn plans for this year. For the 41st anniversary of the Terry T-shirts”) and has clipboard in hand. And then there’s Fox run he has something special in mind. He will start the long grey beard, which trails below his sternum. from Lindsay’s town hall and, over four days, walk to He hasn’t been clean-shaven since he was 18. the northern, southern, eastern, and western limits of Terry is happy to see progress in treatments for Kawartha Lakes, besting the 130-km walk he did for MS cancer and CF “When I started the CF walks, they told in 2017.

www.lindsayadvocate.ca

39

JUST IN TIME

The corner store

}} A neighbourhood institution

IAN McKECHNIE Writer-at-large

It’s a mild February afternoon 50 or 60 years ago. forget that Charlie Bucket, the hero in Roald Dahl’s Charlie You are nine or 10 years old and are making your and the Chocolate Factory, found the prized Golden Ticket way home from school after a long day. The ground in “a newspaper and stationery shop, the kind that sells is grey with slush but still you pick up the pace as you almost everything, including sweets and cigars”?

Anyone who has lived in this area long enough can make your way towards the little shop a block or so away from your family’s house — remember, you rhyme off a long list of corner stores that once dotted almost every neighbourhood in the town of Lindsay. Families want to get there before it gets too busy!

Reaching the store, you kick the accumulated living at the east end of Bond Street might frequent the snow and slush from your boots on the chipped D&M store at the intersection of Bond and William, while concrete steps outside and open the front door, its others might patronize Langridge’s store at the southwest oil-starved hinges loudly announcing your arrival. corner of Colborne and Adelaide, complete with its British Inside, you fumble in your coat pocket for a nickel Petroleum gasoline pumps. Bigham’s store, on Queen Street, or two ... or three. The kindly storekeeper glances was a destination for those who grew up in the east ward over the counter. He — or she, as is often the case during the 1970s and 1980s.

— not only knows your name, but also knows exactly what you are looking for. After all, you were here only a day or two ago. The storekeeper retrieves a brown paper bag barely large enough to fit your hand in and proceeds to fill it with penny candy: caramels, cinnamon hearts, jujubes, licorice, red berries ... the list is quite long.

Of course, it’s not just sweets that this store carries. Bread, milk, “delicious and refreshing Coca-Cola,” tins of tobacco — all could be found in the small, independently-owned corner stores that predated the emergence of chains like Becker’s and Mac’s.

These stores became institutions in their own right and made their way into popular folklore. A generation of children grew up with Mr. Hooper, the genial proprietor of the store on Sesame Street. Canadian entertainer Raffi Cavoukian serenaded another generation with his lyric about “the Ross Fisher Sr. at the counter of Fisher’s Grocery in January of 1956.

Photos courtesy of Wally Nugent. corner grocery store.” And who can

40

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For young children living east of Lindsay Street, nothing could beat a trip to Doherty’s store, at the corner of Simcoe and Ridout streets. “We went just about every day,” recalls retired firefighter Mike Hannon. May Doherty ran a well-stocked business, says Hannon — even though the store was among the smallest in town. As children, Hannon and his friends would collect discarded glass pop bottles, take them to Doherty, and get two cents a bottle — which might then be spent on candy. “She was a very patient lady,” Hannon observes.

“We all liked her.”

Ada Fisher and her late husband, Ross Fisher Sr., oversaw a popular store at the corner of Durham and Albert streets — current home of The Little Schnitzel House restaurant. Now in her early 90s, Ada remembers that they purchased the store from a Mr. Pitts around 1954 and ran it for about a decade. Fairly young at the time, Ada and Ross were kept busy from 8 in the morning until 10 at night, six days a week. In addition to the usual array of grocery items, the Fishers sold fresh doughnuts and ice cream from Silverwood’s Dairy. “The milkman from Silverwood’s would buy bubble gum for his horse from us,” Ada recalls.

Families living at the July 1, 1975, saw the O’Neill family take over operations at the former east end of Bond Street Fisher store. Florence O’Neill, who might frequent the presided behind the counter for D&M store at the nearly nine years, reminds us that intersection of Bond the storekeeper’s role went far beyond being a merchant. Florence and William. welcomed people — often students from nearby Sir Sandford Fleming College — to the neighbourhood and ensured that they were made to feel at home. Customers often took storekeepers into their confidence.

“Some of the kids [who came to the store] were from troubled families, and we were the ones they talked to,” Florence observes. “You got to know the kids, and you really cared about them.”

People who could not afford to pay for their groceries on the spot could put them on credit until payday came around, a policy that was also observed

by Doherty and the Fishers. “It was all done on the honour system, and you never had to ask people for money,” says Florence. “They were neighbours, and it was a different time.”

When the O’Neills closed up shop for the last time in the spring of 1984, loyal customers, many of them children, presented them with a big cake and stayed until the door was locked for good. “They were an amazing group of kids,” says Florence. “They gave us the best memories.”

What neighbourhood corner stores do you remember when you were younger?

Your memory could appear in the next issue of the Advocate. Let us know by emailing kawarthalakespublisher@gmail.com

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84 KENT STREE T WE ST LINDS AY, ON 41

TREVOR HUTCHINSON Contributing Editor

TREVOR’S TAKE Beware wolves in sheep’s clothing

For reasons that are obvious to anyone who follows polling numbers, Conservative leader Erin O’Toole (and his Canada Proud-associated communications team) have been trying to sell the party as a “big tent” that is open to people who traditionally haven’t voted Conservative in the past. Part of that effort includes an appeal to unionized workers, with O’Toole claiming some working-class “cred.”

This new softer approach on unions surprised many in the political world, including many in his own party. Was this part of a shift in basic conservative strategy championed in the United States by American Compass — a conservative political organization that encourages unionism as part of a more antifree trade policy? Or was this more a case of saying one thing to the broader public and another to his core base? (think: his recent comments on residential schools and his pretend distancing from the right-wing nutbars at The Rebel, to name just a couple.)

O’Toole’s attempt to cast himself as an everyday working-class guy is somewhat dubious. Yes, his father worked at General Motors — in management. His father also served for 10 years as the MPP for the riding O’Toole now represents federally. So, like our prime minister and premier, he is a son of power and privilege. And call me skeptical, but I don’t associate being a Bay Street lawyer (which was O’Toole’s job for six years) with the everyday worker. O’Toole claiming working class roots because he has lived near a GM plant is like me claiming to be a pastry chef because I once walked by the baking aisle in Sobey’s.

But let’s face it: O’Toole isn’t the first and won’t be the last politician to craft an origin story to appeal to a coveted segment of voters. So what about his voting record on union issues? As a member of the Harper government, O’Toole voted in favour of two unabashedly anti-union bills C-377 and C-525.

(One of the first acts of the Trudeau government in 2015 was to repeal both pieces of legislation.) So, not a really pro-union record.

We should also look at the finer points of this new union-related messaging.

Over the last year, O’Toole has been trying to appeal to private-sector unions and has stayed silent on public-sector unions. This is a big tell: It allows O’Toole to be gung-ho for building oil pipelines and remain silent on any platforms that call for dismantling or privatizing health care and education.

This new look seems more to be a play for a few ridings rather than a key policy shift. Given the Reform-era presence in and hard-core conservative base of the party, the appeal to unions rings a little hollow to me.

Whenever the next election comes, we will all be better for voting for policy over platitudes. Voting for something only because we liked what we were told has a history of backfiring on us.

42

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By Barbara Olson © ClassiCanadian Crosswords

www.lindsayadvocate.ca

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LET'S WORK TO ACCOMPLISH GREAT THINGS TOGETHER. Lindsay and District Labour Council | P.O. Box 330, Lindsay, ON K9V 4S3 lindsaylabour.ca | ldlcouncil@gmail.com