The Lindsay Advocate - January 2021

HAPPY TRAILS: SNOWMOBILING IN KAWARTHA LAKES | OPINION: SATISFACTION COMES FROM COMMUNITY, NOT THINGS

THE LINDSAY ADVOCATE KAWARTHA LAKES’ FINEST MAGAZINE

JAN 2021

Amalgamation

20 years later, it’s time to come together

IF APPROACHED FOR A HANDOUT, WHAT SHOULD YOU DO?

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January 2021 • Vol 3 • Issue 33

PUBLISHED BY

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: Kirk Winter, Nancy Payne,

Geoff Coleman, Roderick Benns, Robinson Orume, 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: Sienna Frost, Erin Burrell

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

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The Lindsay Advocate @lindsayadvocate Roderick Benns @roderickbenns

cf /The Lindsay Advocate

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 Photos, text, and art work contained in The Lindsay Advocate are copyrighted and may not be published, broadcast, or rewritten without the express permission of the Publisher.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: Life wasn’t perfect pre-amalgamation, nor is it now. But we must find ways to work together for the good of Kawartha Lakes.

11 Opinion: A Cameroonian man reminds us that keeping wants to a minimum can help our planet.

13 Cover Story:

January is the 20th anniversary of amalgamation. Through multiple community voices, municipal affairs writer Kirk Winter examines why it happened and how it’s worked out.

19 We’ve all been approached by people seeking handouts.

What’s the best thing to do?

24 24 Advocate takes home Media Excellence Award 26 Local snowmobiling club

comes off a 40-year anniversary and shares its members’ passion for ‘sledding.

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

Goodbye Ops Community Centre A TE

LIN

DSAY

AD O C V

Adelaide Place resident supports wage increase for retirement home workers

Residents of my home at Adelaide Place have retired from many different occupations with financial resources and insurance that enables them to live here. As such a resident, I might be expected to support the message of Adrienne West, our executive director (letter, December 2020 Advocate). And I do support her, not only because she assures us of a safe and healthy life, free of COVID-19, but especially because we residents may cause extra work with many of the same ailments afflicting those in long-term care (LTC) homes. We grow old in our home, then eventually may suffer many of the same physical and mental impairments as the occupants of LTC homes.

A fine team of caregivers at Adelaide Place has made it possible for me to enjoy the last years of my long life. This experience leads me to believe that the team at Adelaide Place deserves the same compensation as the caregivers in long-term care homes. Other retirement homes may feel the same way. This financial battle against COVID-19 is funded by the federal and Ontario governments.

Alan Gregory, Lindsay

Stripping powers from conservation authorities short-sighted

Dear Premier Ford, I can’t believe you and your government are moving to take away powers of conservation authorities to protect wetlands and fragile lands during this time of COVID-19.

Many other areas are supporting environmental initiatives so that we come out of the pandemic with a healthier environment. By making this decision, you are putting people at risk of flooding by taking away this protection and by supporting unhealthy development.

I implore you to reverse this short-sighted move and leave our wetlands, forests and other ecological areas alone.

Pat Warren, Bobcaygeon

The Ops Community Centre brought wonderful opportunities that I enjoyed while still living in the community. I don’t know if they realized what they were starting and what the impact would be on our community. The opportunity for people to step up and grow, become leaders that would inspire others. That is what a vibrant, thriving community does. It was our place, built and cared for with pride, and we called it home.

So many people stepped up in various roles. Presidents, committee members, coaches, managers for minor hockey and other groups. The ladies’ group who booked and catered various events in the hall. All the ladies, young and old, who volunteered to cook, serve and to clean up.

Who remembers roller skating on Friday nights after the ice was out? The hockey games we played in, cheered at and volunteered for. The minor hockey dances that we went to with our dates and where we danced with our parents and their friends. When we were old enough we worked the bar. The wedding receptions and showers we attended or catered to.

Curling where we first learned to curl and bonspiels with friends and family. Junior Farmers dances. Volunteering in the concession stand, taking tickets for events and working the penalty box.

For some, it was a first job as a referee or the first volunteer opportunity. Learning how to serve at banquets and receptions. A mingling of youth and adults.

All of it a chance to gather as a community for the benefit of us all. It was a place to meet new people, try new things and make new friends. All of it a wonderful memory and a pretty great place to safely spread your wings, to learn and grow. Thanks to all who brought an idea and this place to life. Thank you to all that worked there and made it a welcoming place. My heart smiles with the memories. So sad to say goodbye to an old friend.

Anne Jackson-Ford Sherwood Park, Alberta

Pipe organ appreciation

Re: Just in Time article on The King of Instruments (December Advocate).

A wonderful musician and good friend, Morley Coombs, loved music and pipe organs. He played at many churches in Lindsay, Peterborough and Toronto.

He also played the organ at Mackey Funeral Home for many years.

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He loved Lindsay and was so knowledgeable of its history, especially the trains. He worked for the executives of CN in Toronto as well as the Lindsay Water Commission.

He loved pipe organs and could take them apart and put them back together. Morley was a wonderful man Judith Hayes, Lindsay

Walt Radda’s cartoon was spot on

As usual, the Radda Man’s cartoon for December slams his point home. Above the chaos of 2020 he writes, “Don’t let the door hit you on the way out.” Well drawn and said.

The Radda Man once filled truck radiators on the GM assembly line — one every minute. Now he fills our lives with insight and laughter — one every month. Thank you, (Walt) Radda.

Walter Murray, Bobcaygeon

Toronto isn’t ‘cold and ruthless’

With respect to the letter to the editor “The Our Place Dilemma,” December Advocate, the letter writer refers to “the impersonal and ruthless city of Toronto.” How one can characterize a city of three million people in such broad strokes, especially one which has, for example, such obvious cultural, educational, economic and financial benefits, staggers the imagination. A realistic appraisal of any environment, urban or otherwise, would suggest areas of weakness as well as strength. The divisiveness mentioned above is abundantly clear south of the border and should be a cautionary tale for those of us who tend to focus on points of commonality rather dissimilarity in our fellow citizens.

R. Mason, Omemee

Second wave wavering

Like Trevor Hutchinson in his December Advocate column, “Ford’s folly a return to form,” I have been pleasantly surprised by Doug Ford’s performance as Ontario’s

premier. However, I consider Ford’s handling of COVID during this second wave to be misguided.

I’d like to think our premier has read The Great Barrington Declaration. It was published on Oct. 4 by three of the world’s top epidemiologists from Harvard, Stanford and Oxford medical research institutions.

To date, this historic document has been endorsed by over 725,000 co-signatories including tens of thousands of medical doctors, public health officers and researchers. The declaration recommends a more balanced approach to pandemic public policy than our current broad-based economic and social lockdowns. The declaration proposed a plan that will continue to protect citizens who are at high risk of serious COVID infections. However, it will also protect millions of other citizens from high risks due to over a dozen categories of health-related consequences caused by lockdowns.

Weighing the advice from such reputable international experts against the advice from domestic health officials and elected political leaders must be challenging for Ford and his team. I hope that Doug Ford follows suit by being premier to all Ontario residents and follows the declaration’s fair and inclusive policy recommendations for the sake of everyone.

Gene Balfour, Fenelon Falls From the Advocate: The declaration referred to in this letter originated with the American Institute for Economic Research, which describes itself as an organization that “envisions a world in which societies are organized according to the principles of pure freedom — in which the role of government is sharply confined to the provision of public goods and individuals can flourish within a truly free market and a free society.”

Although the declaration has been signed by many knowledgeable people, it has been repudiated by many others equally knowledgeable. They point to its false dichotomy between complete lockdown and complete freedom, and the fact that the declaration makes no provision to protect the most vulnerable, such as people in long-term care, who make up 80 per cent of those who have died from COVID-19 in Canada. We encourage readers to research the subject for themselves.

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 thelindsayadvocate@gmail.com. Please keep your letters to 200 words or less.

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5

Quantify A closer look at all things numeric

UPFRONT

Kawartha Lakes Roads

2,700kms of roads to plow

71

main plow routes and multiple secondary plow routes

A single pass of winter maintenance has plow trucks driving the equivalent of the distance to Florida and back

Great Ideas FROM ABROAD Norwegian Prisons • •

•

•

•

Focus on rehabilitation, not punishment.

Many programs available for prisoners, from cooking classes to carpentry.

Prison cells are more like dorm rooms, so less dehumanizing.

Prisoners have windows that look out onto trees and grass, not concrete.

Few Norwegians ever end up in prison.

Those that do usually don’t return.

Recidivism rates in Norway are among the world’s lowest. One study shows just 20 per cent of those released from prison are arrested within two years.

(In the U.K. it’s almost 50 per cent after one year.

In the U.S. about 68 per cent of released prisoners were arrested within three years. No reliable Canadian data is available.)

Emmie Vaughan, who lives at William Place Retirement Residence in Lindsay, turns 100 on Jan. 3. She had seven children, two of whom have died, and has “at least” 135 grandchildren and great grandchildren. (It’s getting hard to keep track.) Vaughan attributes her longevity to her faith in God and her large family.

Kawartha Lakes Public Library

}} Top 3s of 2020

TOP FICTION BOOKS 1 Where the Crawdads Sing (Delia Owens) 2 The Guardians (John Grisham) 3 Blue Moon (Lee Child) TOP NON-FICTION 1 Becoming (Michelle Obama) 2 Educated (Tara Westover) 3 Talking to Strangers (Malcolm Gladwell) TOP MOVIES STREAMED ON HOOPLA 1 Angel Has Fallen 2 The Gentlemen 3 Red Joan

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Business UPFRONT

Kawartha Care offers more services, hours in 2021

The Kawartha Care Wellness Centre team is ready for 2021. Photo: Sienna Frost.

Kawartha Care Wellness Centre is making it easier for clients to obtain help amidst the pandemic, improving their services and offerings for 2021.

Dr. Manju Asdhir, chiropractor and clinic owner, said Kawartha Care is “really focusing on having services accessible to anyone and anywhere.

“This means more tele-health appointments available in the comfort and safety of your home,” she said, including naturopathic medicine, sessions with psychologists and counsellors, postpartum rehabilitation classes, physiotherapy and more.

“We want to make it easy and comfortable and still have patients be able to receive the care they need without having to worry about COVID,” Asdhir said.

Kawartha Care has also extended its hours and is now open 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. on weekdays and 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Saturdays. Services available in person include chiropractic, massage therapy, physiotherapy, foot care and reflexology. Direct billing is always available to patients, and the clinic also offers online booking and contactless payment options. Visit kawarthacare.com

Lindsay local showcases Kawartha Lakes items and Ontario charcuterie in new business launch It was a lifelong passion for artisanal cheese and a drive to start a unique business in her hometown of Lindsay that prompted Danielle Malcolm and her partner (in life and business) Kyle Wolsky to create Muster Point, their newly launched business creating made-to-order cheese and charcuterie boxes.

The “grazing boxes” feature exclusively Ontario-made meats and cheeses sourced by the couple from farms and producers across the province, as well as some locally made bread, dips, produce and items from Lenberg Farms and Mariposa Dairy.

The couple have more than 10 years of food-related experience, most recently in Whistler, B.C.They have also spent time in Kyle’s home country, Australia, and in Europe.

Learn more about Muster Point grazing boxes at musterpoint.ca

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BENNS’ BELIEF

RODERICK BENNS, Publisher

Revamp of employment services needed

If there’s one consistent message I’ve heard from employers — both as a journalist, and as president of the Lindsay + District Chamber of Commerce — it’s that they’re having trouble finding the right people to work.

I don’t think Kawartha Lakes is unique. There are all kinds of barriers to employment everywhere, whether daycare needs, mental health, transportation, lack of skills, disabilities and more.

That’s partly why the Ontario Conservatives are moving ahead with reforming the entire employment services system. On the one hand, this is a laudable goal, and kudos to them for tackling something that needs reform. On the other hand, just how this gets accomplished matters.

In figuring out how best to reform the system, they’ve introduced new “service system managers” (SSMs) in three pilot regions across Ontario. One of those pilot areas is Muskoka-Kawarthas, a vast region that includes Kawartha Lakes.

Fleming College is the chosen SSM here, taking the lead to create a more efficient employment service model to meet the needs of everyone, including those with complex barriers to employment, as well as those on social assistance or with a disability.

However, the other two SSMs — with pilots in Peel and Hamilton-Niagara — are going to be run by an Australian private company and a U.S.-based consortium, respectively. Getting private businesses to run social services is a terrible idea. We need fewer corporate interests in our society, not more. Let’s hope the government evaluates and finds the Fleming model superior.

Fleming is partnering with VCCS Employment Services locally, which is getting an enhanced mandate that supports both the client and the employer on job retention for longer periods of time. Under this new model, VCCS will be working with clients to help them keep their jobs. Does she need extra supports at her new job, like daycare or training? Does he have the skills he needs to communicate well and maintain a good working relationship with his colleagues and superior? Is the employer frustrated with something but isn’t sure how to handle it? By being a part of the process for the first year or two, VCCS’s goal is to help people keep their jobs – and help local employers keep their staff.

Peer-to-peer mentoring will also factor into the enhanced mandate of VCCS. There’s also Magnet, the new multifaceted digital job board that includes “intelligent matching” of businesses and job-seekers.

One of VCCS’s new tools is a virtual-reality career explorer. Participants hook up to a device that gives them an immersive experience of what it feels like to be a welder or a bartender or hundreds of other jobs.

There’s no doubt that employment services are ripe for change in Ontario.

It will be paramount to ensure that change leads to better outcomes for job seekers and local employers.

www.lindsayadvocate.ca

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

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EDITORIAL

All for one, one for all Twenty years ago this month,Victoria County ceased to exist. In its place the City of Kawartha Lakes was born, as vast and rural as the county ever was, dotted with a postcard town and attractive villages.

As our municipal affairs writer, Kirk Winter, soon found when he put together this month’s feature story, the imposed single-tier amalgamation of Victoria County was a watershed moment in local municipal affairs.

It generated a firestorm of passions about local representation that hasn’t cooled completely two decades later.

The Progressive Conservative Party under Mike Harris was well known for its lack of forethought on files such as education and health care.

However, this two-term government also showed a shocking lack of care for municipal reform, too.

Harris embarked on a massive exercise of downloading provincial responsibilities onto the backs of unprepared municipalities.

As Dr. Lydia Miljan of the University of Windsor writes, “Research indicates (that amalgamation results in) significant increases in property taxes, compensation for municipal employees and long-term debt for amalgamated communities.”

However, 20 years later it’s time to settle in and support one another within our imperfect system. And if we’re being honest, life before amalgamation wasn’t all unicorns and rainbows either. There were far fewer services. There were hardly any street lights in rural areas. And yes, there were still potholes.

True, the promised cost savings never materialized, just as the “no amalgamation” side predicted. However, even on quiet rural roads your garbage is getting picked up. There are many more miles of paved roads. There are new fire halls and better equipment for the firefighters.

In so many ways we are stronger together if we can leave the rancour of past debates behind.

What we have in this city — this “community of communities,” to use former Prime Minister Joe Clark’s phrase — is worth working together on for the next 20 years and beyond.

LETTER SPOTLIGHT Climate change is a natural process, says reader

I noticed that Trevor Hutchinson’s column criticizing (Ontario Premier) Doug Ford in your December issue contained the expression “climate-change deniers.” Is he aware that this is an offensive expression which the politically motivated climate alarmists regularly use in attempt to ridicule anyone who dares to dispute the United Nations’ hypothesis claiming that climate change is caused primarily by human-produced carbon dioxide?

Climate change has been ongoing for billions of years due to God-given natural factors and processes without significant human influence. Any climate alarmists who refuse to acknowledge this fact are the real“deniers.” They refuse to admit that the cyclical 2 ½-degree variations in the angle of the earth’s axis relative to the sun, the variations in the earth’s annual orbit around the sun along with other factors such as changes in volcanic and geological activity, all influence climate change.

The UN refused to consider all alternatives and has not been able to provide any mathematical substantiation for their hypothesis, but simply expects that everyone will obediently believe what they are told and admire “The Emperor’s New Clothes” of climate change.

James Lindsay, Lindsay

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OPINION

Happiness comes from community, not material possessions }} Perspectives from a remote African village ROBINSON ORUME Robinson Orume is a student of the Ecosystem Management Technology program at Fleming College in Lindsay. His area of expertise is collaborative protected areas and wildlife management in the tropical rainforests of his homeland, Cameroon.

As a new immigrant to Canada, with little knowledge of domestic waste management realities, I believe the introduction of a producer-pay model in Ontario by 2023 is worth commending.

It was interesting to read that only 9 per cent of plastic waste is recycled nationwide in Canada. Data here shows that incinerators burn just about 5 per cent of the waste, emitting carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, and just over 61 per cent of kitchen and yard waste is composted, while our landfills suck up the greatest portion (72 per cent) and are filling up faster than we may have ever expected.

Worthy of note is the new twist amidst COVID-19, with increasing needs for PPE. According to the World Health Organization, as many as 89 million medical masks, 76 million gloves and 1.6 million goggles are used monthly. Plastic waste could increase by 70 per cent globally by 2050 if we don’t make some kind of change.

It is therefore undoubtedly realistic to agree a paradigm shift may be needed to address our trash problem.

My village of Mokango Bima, located in the most remote part of the southwest region of Cameroon, is disconnected from any drivable road and devoid of any basic social amenities. Until the recent use of motorbikes, the only means of transport was by carrying goods on our heads (known as head loading) and trekking for hours or days to and from nearby villages and towns (please don’t try this at home). With a population of about 600 there is just a single, small “store” selling only the basics in the village with perhaps $2,000 worth of items. Getting anything else outside of just the basics

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requires at least a day of trekking for at least 10 hours or travel by motorbike for those who can afford the $20 transport fare to the nearest town, on top of the cost of whatever they may need from there.

The main sources of basic-level incomes and livelihoods are products from the gardens and the tropical rainforest. All food is sourced locally. The rest, such as electricity, clothing and leisure goods are important but secondary, so just a basic minimum can be afforded.

With about 70 households in 60 houses in a linear pattern, with two lines of houses facing each other from one end of the village to the other, with a common farming area and playground where families meet often, happiness is derived more from the sense of living as a community and the social cohesion this brings instead of how much material wealth we have. Everyone is bound by fate or design to keep their wants, needs and consumption to the barest minimum while using what they already have for as long as possible, thereby minimizing waste.

Of course, sometimes we may easily lose those basic survival instincts once we move out of our small communities to big towns and cities where we learn fast how happiness is more about having or wanting excesses of everything.

Even while in our urban cities, we can still create little communities, reminiscent of our small villages, by introducing mixed-use compact housing designs with common areas for gardening and play. Though cooperation can be part of the answer, more important is the need for individual reflection on our personal needs and wants and our ability to trim our possessions to just what we need to survive in the spirit of reducing, reusing, recycling and regulating. Like the people in my village and many parts of the world, we can survive and still be happy with less, to save our planet especially in these times of multiple global challenges.

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Amalgamation 20 years later

}} Victoria County ceased to exist 20 years

ago this month and the City of Kawartha Lakes was born as a single tier municipality

KIRK WINTER Municipal Affairs

It was perhaps the most divisive political debate in this area since self-government was granted in 1863. Amalgamation — the forced bringing together of the constituent parts of the old Victoria County 20 years ago this month — is a word that still triggers much debate and tests relationships to this day.

The fissures still run deep, particularly amongst those over the age of 50. Many knowledgeable individuals who were there two decades ago have died, developed sudden political amnesia, or refused to become engaged in a retrospective of an issue they wish would just disappear.

THE FIRST 138 YEARS

Pre-amalgamation, Victoria County consisted of 13 townships and six incorporated villages scattered across 2,856 square kilometres of the some of the most beautiful real estate in Ontario.

In 2000, the total population of Victoria County was 69,179 with Lindsay the dominant commercial and population hub with 21,885 people. The population of Victoria County was mainly rural, with only 34 per cent living in settlements, like Woodville or Omemee.

On the eve of amalgamation these 17 areas each had a local council headed by a reeve, warden or mayor to deal with local issues, and sent representatives to a county council, which dealt with costlier issues or ones that affected the whole county such as roads or libraries.

This dual-tier government was run by 96 local politicians who drew small salaries. Faye McGee, former Fenelon area municipal politician and member of county council, said Fenelon Township council, for instance, had salaries of only $25,000 a year for their reeve, deputy reeve and three councillors. Township representatives who sat on county council were paid an additional $100 for their monthly meeting. Some councillors, like those in Sturgeon Point, collected no pay at all, volunteering their time for the betterment of the community.

McGee, the former deputy-reeve and reeve of Fenelon Township, and an opponent of amalgamation, was extremely proud that most of the townships, including her own, carried no debt.

CONT’D ON PAGE 14

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AMALGAMATION CONT’D FROM PAGE 13

“From 1990 to 2001, there had only been a 1 per cent tax increase in Fenelon Township,” McGee said. “There were only five people on council, and we shared offices with our staff. We knew what they were doing, and staff worked with us.”

“There were local experts who know the PETER WEYGANG local problems intimately.

The roads people knew every road and pothole because these were the same roads they drove on a daily basis.

Response time was excellent because the depot was not miles away,” said former mayoral candidate and long-time Bobcaygeon resident Peter Weygang.

THE COMMON SENSE REVOLUTION

EVERYWHERE LIFE TAKES ME

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The new provincial government elected in 1995 was unlike any Ontario had seen before. Mike Harris, a former golf pro and municipal politician from North Bay, led his Progressive Conservative Party to a smashing defeat of the New Democrats under Bob Rae. Harris was an ideologue, and he campaigned on a platform for fundamental change in how government operates and what level of services it should provide. His “Common Sense Revolution” said little about municipal government, but it was soon clear that significant changes to Ontario’s 800-plus municipalities were coming.

“The change that occurred from 1996 to 1999 in the relationship between the province and the municipalities was the most comprehensive reform of municipal governments since the Baldwin Act of 1849,” said Brock University political science Professor David Siegel, who specializes in local government, public policy, and administration.

According to Professor Lydia Miljan of the University of Windsor, amalgamation paved the way for the partial or full downloading of millions of dollars worth of provincial government responsibilities such as social assistance, social housing, transit, roads, policing, public health and ambulance services to help the province balance its own books on the back of these soon-to-be much larger municipalities.

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The Harris government told the people of Ontario that amalgamation of hundreds of disparate municipalities would increase efficiencies and accountabilities of local government and achieve cost savings through an economy of scale, Siegel wrote in a paper prepared for a conference on municipalfederal-provincial relations at Queens University in 2003. And, the government made clear, it was prepared to force the restructuring.

Harris was an ideologue, and he campaigned on a platform for fundamental change in how government operates and what level of services it should provide.

His “Common Sense Revolution” said little about municipal government, but it was soon clear that significant changes to Ontario’s 800-plus municipalities were coming.

“A positive part of a singletier structure is the ability to make broad policy changes like environmental, accessibility, planning and other initiatives more easily. You don’t need to go through so many layers to effect change. On the other hand, because we are one municipality, I don’t think we get the level of grants from the province.”

Former Verulam, Bobcaygeon/ Verulam and Kawartha Lakes councillor Pat Warren.

While some municipalities volunteered to amalgamate “generally, however, amalgamations were imposed on unwilling municipalities,” according to a 2014 report by the Munk School of Global Affairs.

VICTORIA COUNTY COUNCIL REACTS

As forced and voluntary amalgamations began to roll out across Ontario, “We looked closely into amalgamation and we made a decision that ‘no change’ was best for Victoria County,” McGee said.

The province disagreed. “Chris Hodgson (local Conservative MPP at the time and future minister of municipal affairs and housing responsible for amalgamations) made it clear multiple times that real change was coming and if we didn’t do it ourselves it would be imposed,” according to a person intimately familiar with the discussions because of a family member who was present at council at the time. (The person requested anonymity out of fear their small business might face repercussions in the community.).

“Too many folks on Victoria County council chose to ignore Chris’s urging to get with the program or lose all control over the final decisions,” the source added.

“There was little stuff going on like Bobcaygeon and Verulam amalgamating in 1999, Emily and Omemee talking about doing the same thing and Lindsay and Ops trying to figure shared services out, but that wasn’t enough for the province. Harris wanted the whole enchilada and local folks thought they could run the clock out on amalgamation, hoping soon the Conservatives would tire of it.”

CONT’D ON PAGE 16

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“Amalgamation has turned local governance into a bureaucratic vacuum. It has crippled the ability to obtain grants from upper levels of government and has created a divide between Lindsay and the rest of us.

We need to stop trying to be a big city because we can’t afford it.”

Councillor Emmett Yeo

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ALMALGAMATION CONT’D FROM PAGE 15

THE COMMISSIONER ARRIVES

PROFESSOR HARRY KITCHEN

Victoria County Townships: Bexley Carden Dalton Eldon Emily Fenelon Laxton, Digby and Longford Manvers Mariposa Ops Somerville Verulam Towns & villages: Bobcaygeon Fenelon Falls Lindsay Omemee Sturgeon Point Woodville

Under the provincial legislation governing amalgamations, a commissioner could only be appointed to oversee a change in county structure if they were invited in by one of the affected counties.

Victoria County council “believed that no one would break ranks after a ‘no change’ vote had been recorded locally. Council was furious when Emily Township and Lindsay called for a commissioner,” said another council insider. The person was granted anonymity because their comments were based on an in-camera (non-public) discussion.

The province appointed economics professor Harry Kitchen, who had a long history of work with, and for, municipal councils.

“I had absolute power,” Kitchen told the Advocate, “but at the same time there was tremendous pressure on the commissioner to get the job done.

“At minimum I was to provide a draft report, have one public meeting and then produce a final report. I felt abandoned by the province. I kept asking myself, ‘How do I do this?’” Kitchen said.

Kitchen was appointed in December of 1999 and soon discovered how difficult the task would be. “This was going to be a highly contentious issue,” Kitchen said. “I ended up with plainclothes OPP police protection as I travelled to and from my meetings and dealt with a public death threat levelled at a meeting in Bobcaygeon.”

Kitchen’s final report to the province created a firestorm of controversy.

His call for a one-tier system with a mayor and 16 councillors, and to rename Victoria County the City of Kawartha Lakes, split local residents into two intellectually opposed camps: one supporting the call for amalgamation and one calling for the report to be rescinded.

Kitchen met with every council and its staff, and what he discovered concerned him. “There was total dysfunction at county council. There was jealousy between the local communities. I understand that folks get fired up and get jealous about changing boundaries, but they ignored the fact that Harris was saying ‘amalgamate or you won’t get funding from the province.’” Kitchen even hired an independent accountant because he didn’t trust the numbers he was being given by local councils.

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Councillor Tracy Richardson. “Sometimes we need to focus on what we have and not what we don’t.” Photo: Erin Burrell.

Opinion at four public meetings ran largely in favour of maintaining the two-tier system.

“Kitchen received 613 submissions, 75 per cent calling for the status quo,” former reeve McGee said, “and ignored them all.”

After looking at four different options — keeping the status quo, a new single-tier government, a new dualtier government made up of three municipalities representing the north, central and southern sections of the county and three new free-standing counties — Kitchen decided on a single tier.

“The single tier was cheaper, and it would end duplication. There was no advantage to the dual-tier proposals, or at least none that was apparent to me,” Kitchen said.

“I also decided to create different ward boundaries to force a paradigm shift and end the parochialism that could come from the previous county structure,” Kitchen added.

The late Art Truax, first mayor of the newly amalgamated entity told Kitchen that “the new boundaries were the most successful thing to come out of amalgamation.”

Kitchen also said that twice during the deliberations MPP Chris Hodgson tried to influence the final decisions, and twice was rebuffed by the commissioner. Hodgson did not return the Advocate’s calls for this story.

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Kitchen’s final report to the province created a firestorm of controversy. His call for a one-tier system with a mayor and 16 councillors, and to rename Victoria County the City of Kawartha Lakes, split local residents into two intellectually opposed camps: one supporting the call for amalgamation and one calling for the report to be rescinded.

John Panter, a former Verulam Township resident and member of Voices of Central Ontario (an antiamalgamation group united largely by libertarian principles), said amalgamation was designed “to benefit Lindsay. Harris wanted to create municipalities capable of accepting the financial burden of anticipated downloading. Those of us living in the rural areas … wanted our taxes to be kept low and for us to be left alone.”

“Rural people were getting a free ride on the back of Lindsay,” Kitchen countered, “and Lindsay was being taken advantage of by the rural areas who used the parks, ball diamonds and arenas paid for by Lindsay taxpayers.

“Amalgamation ensured a better sharing of the tax base right across the city.” Townships and villages that previously had very little tax income now had access to a larger pool of money spread over the whole area — albeit with more expenses as a result of downloading.

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ALMALGAMATION CONT’D FROM PAGE 17

MOVING ON

As Kawartha Lakes enters its third decade of existence, Mayor Andy Letham says he chooses to “focus on the future and not the past. It is what it is, and we need to keep the momentum going,” Letham said. Letham, who operated a successful textile manufacturing business in Lindsay for 14 years, did not enter municipal politics until 2003 as a councillor for Ward 11.

It’s not quite that simple, said Councillor Emmett Yeo, who represents the northernmost, least-populated ward in Kawartha Lakes.“Until everyone comes to terms that we are not a city, we are a collection of communities that service a cottage industry, we will continue to tread water.”

Councillor Pat Dunn of Lindsay said amalgamation has worked “surprisingly well.”

His colleague Doug Elmslie, who represents the Fenelon area, agreed but said there’s room for improvement. “The city needs to be more responsive, communicate better and try to provide the best possible service we can.”

Councillor Kathleen Seymour-Fagan suggested “maybe stronger knowledge of how things have worked out in favour of residents in the entire municipality (is necessary).”

There remains a vocal contingent of rural citizens, though, who believe they have been rebuffed and dismissed under a single-tier government. Councillor Ron Ashmore said many people in his ward “feel they are left out and forgotten.”

One way to improve this, he said, would be for the city to allow councillors to “monitor and access case files opened on constituent concerns.

As a result, communication and trust in the system would vastly improve.”

Elmslie noted things like emergency services, roads, parks and recreation and engineering “are probably more efficient and provide a more even and economical service,” under a single-tier government, but acknowledged the advertised cost savings never occurred.

“We did not see the reduction in taxes,” said Dunn, “but I believe we are in a much better place both in services and the cost of providing them.”

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Making the charitable choice }} If you’re approached on a local street for a handout, what’s the right thing to do?

NANCY PAYNE Associate Editor

David Tilley, executive director, A Place Called Home. Photo: Sienna Frost.

It’s a cold early winter day in Lindsay. The lighter grey of afternoon is darkening and the wind is picking up.

The woman is probably in her early 30s. Her long brown hair is topped with a patterned tuque and her coat is unzipped over a sweater. She approaches with purpose but without aggression across the grocery store parking lot. “Excuse me, but could you spare some change for the bus?”

Running into a situation like this in Toronto is one thing, and over the past few years, it’s become increasingly common even in Peterborough. But in Lindsay?

Panhandling is unusual enough here that this particular appeal — a true story, by the way — lingers in the mind long after it’s over.

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After all, this is a small, close-knit community where everyone knows everyone and we look after each other.

So encountering someone begging for money feels more shocking here, somehow, and not so easy to brush off.

Should you give the woman money or not?

It’s easy to be paralyzed when it feels like there’s no right answer. On the one hand, you don’t really believe the thing about the bus, and can’t help but suspect that the purchase is more likely to involve something that makes you uncomfortable. On the other, you just dropped $150 on groceries, so it seems just plain mean not to hand over a paltry toonie. But even if you did, what difference could a few dollars possibly make?

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Reverend Linda Park, St. Andrew’s Presbyterian Church. Photo: Sienna Frost.

PANHANDLING CONT’D FROM PAGE 19

“It’s certainly an awkward situation,” acknowledged David Tilley, executive director of the shelter for homeless people, A Place Called Home. “You don’t know them. They don’t know you. And you don’t know if that money would be used in the best manner.”

It’s a tough decision to make on the spot in just a few seconds, said Rev. Linda Park of St. Andrew’s Presbyterian Church in Lindsay. “I feel for them.”

While some churches in town set aside a little money for clergy to give according to their discretion to people in truly desperate situations, St. Andrew’s no longer does. “We’ve done it in the past,” Park said, “but it’s very hard to discern who’s truly in need.”

Instead of a cash handout, the church offers food, asks the person looking for help what they need and directs them to other agencies. Pre-COVID, it provided facilities, staffed by volunteers from its own membership and others in the community, for a soup kitchen. During the pandemic it shifted to offering box lunches.

Rather than giving money, another option is to have some $5 gift cards for chain restaurants with you. That way, you know you’re providing food or a hot drink, right? Sure. Maybe. But unless you take the person to a restaurant and buy something for them, they may just sell your gift card if what they really want is money. And if we’re being honest, this approach is mostly meant to assuage our own concerns, given how clearly it suggests that we know better than the recipient what that person needs.

If uncertainty abounds for those of us trying to decide what the right thing is, Tilley, whose organization works with those who are homeless in our community, has no such doubts. “I generally don’t encourage panhandling. When I’m approached, I typically say I give to charity.”

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His experience has taught him that money is better used elsewhere. “A social agency like ours and others is able to take those dollars and multiply them. That brings better value to the community.”

The kitchen at A Place Called Home is a good example, he said. Volunteers and staff can buy supplies in large quantities and make multiple servings of a nourishing meal for those who are homeless, stretching a donation much farther than an individual could.

Local social agencies have strong connections to each other; they and the churches refer people to organizations such as Women’s Resources, the many food banks supported by Kawartha Lakes Food Source, A Place Called Home, second-hand clothing stores and sources of help such as the Canadian Mental Health Association, the city’s social services department and Community Care.

“We feed everybody. We shelter everybody. If they need food there are food banks. There’s no need to panhandle,” Tilley said.

Making your conscience feel better for a few minutes can actually backfire, he added. “It typically creates a snowball effect in the community. If it works, more and more people will try it.”

If that feels a bit cold, you’re forgetting an important part of the equation: the other person. “I think every individual, no matter their situation, needs to be acknowledged,” said Park. “Everyone deserves respect and dignity.”

When she was studying in Montreal, she remembers trying to avoid people begging for change outside subway stations. “My goal was not to look them in the eye.”

That all changed when she actually spoke to one of the people asking for help. “She told me the hardest thing was all the people who won’t even acknowledge them.”

Even if you’re saying no to a request, Park said, taking a moment to look the person in the eye and speak to them makes a connection. “It’s huge. You break any barriers between you by doing that.” Sure, some people will tell you off, but that’s still a human interaction.

It’s hard to say no to someone in our community who’s mustered the courage to ask for help. For the price of a few dollars, you might feel a little better, but you may well be making things worse. And if someone comes up to you in a parking lot and you feel moved to give, that’s a compassionate impulse — feeling like you’re making a difference, however small, in someone else’s life is a powerful thing.

But perhaps most important of all is to stop, smile and acknowledge the other person and their humanity, even if the next thing you say is, “I give to several local charities.

I’m sorry I can’t help you today.”

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CITY NOTES O’Reilly re-elected deputy mayor

Councillor Patrick O’Reilly was re-elected deputy mayor for 2021, defeating fellow councillor Ron Ashmore. Councillor Doug Elmslie nominated O’Reilly, saying he deserved another year as deputy because he “really didn’t get a fair chance, given the pandemic.”

Councillor Kathleen Seymour-Fagan seconded the nomination.

City to help train workers of the future

The city approved an agreement with VCCS and Fleming College to pioneer a program that will train manufacturing and agricultural workers, who are desperately needed by local employers.

Mayor Andy Letham told council that the Economic Recovery Task Force heard from employers that they were facing problems finding trained employees in these two fields. The program will consist of four weeks of classroom training and a two-week co-op placement where candidates apply what they have learned.

This program will be fully funded by the province.

The first intake of 18 candidates into the manufacturing stream will start in January. The agricultural stream will begin in March.

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Councillors appointed to ATV task force

Mayor Letham chose councillors Tracy Richardson, Pat Dunn and Kathleen Seymour-Fagan to serve on the ATV task force that begins its work in the new year.

The task force will determine where all-terrain vehicles should be allowed to enter and use city-owned road allowances.

Garbage to landfills gets more expensive

Council approved an increase in the minimum cost to dump garbage at city landfills, known as a tippage fee, from $5 to $10, effective January 1, 2021

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Advocate takes home MEDIA EXCELLENCE award The Lindsay Advocate has won the Media Excellence award through the Lindsay + District Chamber of Commerce’s 2020 Awards of Excellence.

As well, the Advocate’s design team, Barton Creative, has won the Marketing Excellence award while The Advocate Podcast sponsor, Jason Ward of Wards Lawyers has been named COVID-19 Hero. This was a special award for 2020 for Ward’s near-daily posts on explaining complex government programs and health unit directives in plain language for the community, especially at the height of the pandemic.

Since the Advocate was founded nearly three years ago it has won New Business of the Year, and an Innovation Award through the Kawartha Lakes Community Futures Development Corporation.

The Chamber, partnering with Cogeco, recognized local individuals, groups and businesses that go above and beyond to provide innovative products or services, develop exceptional new practices, and improve the community for all. Here is a complete list of the winners: 1. Business Leader of the Year — Chad Broad,

Home Hardware 2. Citizen of the Year — Terry Foster 3. Customer Service — Helix Hearing 4. Design Excellence — IG Wealth Management 5. Employer of the Year — The Commonwell

Mutual Insurance 6. Health and Wellness — Adelaide Clinic 7. Innovation — Whitney Plastics 8. Media Excellence — The Lindsay Advocate 9. New Business — Cardinal (Homes) Plumbing

& Electric 10. Not-for-Profit — Women’s Resources 11. Marketing Excellence — Barton Creative 12. COVID-19 Hero — Jason Ward

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The Lindsay Advocate is the proud winner of the 2020 LDCC Award for

“Recognizing visionaries in all forms of media. The Media Excellence Award evolved through a need to recognize and celebrate creativity, innovation, and those pushing the bounds of creative excellence…”

Lindsay + District Chamber of Commerce

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New Business of the Year Award 2019 (LDCC)

Innovation Award 2018 (KLCFDC) The Lindsay Advocate

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Happy Trails

}} As it celebrates its 40th anniversary,

local snowmobiling club has much to be proud of

The strength of the organization is its volunteers who maintain trails, among other activities. Photo: Liz Phillips.

GEOFF COLEMAN Writer-at-large

The local snowmobile trails have long been a popular destination for sledders, as they’re affectionately called. With nearly 200 kilometres of crisp trails to enjoy, it’s easy to see why.

In the early 2000s ridership on Kawartha Lakes Snowmobile Club (KLSC) trails climbed to the point where volunteers were stretched thin from trying to maintain them. Maintenance involves keeping trails clear of windfalls and repairing grooming equipment.

Fortunately, with an increase in riders came an influx of volunteers, and the club reorganized to more efficiently address the jobs that had to be done.

Now, as the club’s 40th anniversary in 2020 just past, club treasurer Liz Phillips says they have a consistent “push to get better.”

What was once a small organization has turned into a nationally-honoured club with more than 1,000 members.

The work has paid off. In 2004 the club received the Newsletter of the Year award from the Ontario Federation of Snowmobile Clubs and in 2005 was named top club in the province. In 2006 the KLSC earned honours as the best snowmobile club in Canada.

Phillips says the strength of the organization is its volunteers. The core are passionate snowmobilers eager to promote safe snowmobiling and protect the environment while maintaining a good public image.

She believes the secret to the club’s success is knowing the individual strengths of the membership of 1,100 to 1,400, and not being afraid to ask people to help. Phillips herself has an accounting background and signed on as treasurer after being asked to do so at her first meeting. She says when a project is proposed and members are asked to volunteer, the response is almost always positive.

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What was once a small organization has turned into a nationally-honoured club with more than 1,000 members. Photos: Liz Phillips.

Phillips says it is not unusual to count several hundred sleds using the trails in a few hours on a weekend, and when talking to fellow snowmobilers she is not averse to asking them if they would like to be involved in the club’s activities. More often than not, they agree.

That involvement could include driving the groomer, clearing fallen trees, dealing with water crossing the trails, installing markers and signage, and dozens of other unforeseen issues that come with responsibility for these vast woodland trails.

The club is keenly aware that without the co-operation of more than 40 landowners who allow snowmobiles to cross their properties, the quantity and quality of the system would be vastly different. Maintaining healthy relationships with landowners is a top priority for the executive, and partners receive an honorarium.

However, occasionally access is revoked. Such a decision was made just before the start of this season after irresponsible riders left the trail last season and damaged a farm field. As a result, trails suddenly had to be rerouted, which involved obtaining permits from the city for a construction company to excavate an area.

While the bulk of the club’s volunteer hours are spent on and around the trails, KLSC members have also hosted a Family Fun Ride for the past 20 years. Sponsored by as many as 130 local businesses, the rides raised money for the Salvation Army, Women’s Resources, the Lindsay Boys and Girls Club and local school breakfast programs.

At least $3,000 was donated after each event.

Responsible snowmobiling

Maintain your snowmobile.

We have a duty to protect the wildlife and our local environment, and a properly running engine with silencers can help preserve the trails you love and improve the chance of spotting a deer or fox.

Ensure the snow is deep enough.

Snowmobile tracks can destroy plants that are trying to survive underneath the snow. Make sure there’s enough snow before heading out.

Be kind to neighbours, wildlife, and livestock.

Avoid revving your engine unnecessarily, which irritates people and animals alike.Observe animals from a distance, with binoculars — don’t chase animals in hope of getting closer.

What

snowmobiling costs For a seasonal fee of $270, a snowmobiler can ride anywhere in the province. A daily permit is $45. If you ride a sled made before 2000, you may qualify for a “classic” permit at an annual cost of $180.

CONT’D ON PAGE 28

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I CHOOSE HERE KL

WHY I CAME BACK TO CALL KAWARTHA LAKES HOME

SNOWMOBILING CONT’D FROM PAGE 27

Economic

spinoffs

More than 60 per cent of snowmobilers have an annual household income over $100,000. During the 2018‐2019 Ontario snowmobile season, riders spent a staggering $842,870,778 in the province — and that was a poor snow year.

DR. JULIE JOHNSON Family is the reason I returned to Lindsay. When I finished school, my family in Lindsay consisted of my fiancé (now husband), who also grew up here, and my parents, who settled here in 1965 when my dad opened his dental practice. The opportunity to join my dad in his practice and to raise a family of my own in my hometown sounded ideal. Now that our two children have grown and I have been practicing for more than 25 years, I realize that my family is much larger than I thought. My staff, patients, neighbours, new friends and childhood friends who have also returned to this area all feel like family.

Phillips expects this will be a banner year for snowmobiling in the Kawarthas. With so many people staying home during the pandemic she anticipates an uptick in snowmobiling like the ones we saw with boating and ATV use in the summer. Already, used snowmobiles on are selling quickly and frequently online for more than the asking price, and dealers locally and across Canada are having trouble keeping up with demand for new sleds.

She goes on to say that empty nesters who snowmobiled in their youth are coming back to the sport and finding things have changed significantly. Snowmobile suspensions, overall reliability and fuel economy are greatly improved, and the advent of heated hand grips, and battery-powered heated boots, jackets and mitts have increased rider comfort dramatically.

Many restaurants, hotels and inns, gas stations have clued in that snowmobilers are spenders looking to fill up both on food for themselves and gas for their machines at least once during the day. Signs and maps direct sledders to these amenities, and trail conditions or closures can be checked online. Further, one trail permit gets you on trails anywhere in the province.

Liz Phillips pointed out that while many things have changed, the best aspects of snowmobiling haven’t. The charm of getting outside and enjoying the scenery and local wildlife remains. Listening to the excitement in her voice as she describes riding through the Pinery north of Burnt River in untouched powder as the sun peeks through snow-covered boughs is enough to make anyone want to take a ride.

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ALMALGAMATION CONT’D FROM PAGE 18

Compared with the old system, one-tier government is “more efficient in co-ordinating city-wide priorities and local services,” said Kawartha Lakes Chief Administrative Officer Ron Taylor. “Services are delivered more equitably, and political and administrative perspectives are city-wide and not localized.”

And besides, lower costs were never the focal point for the new system, said Harry Kitchen. “Amalgamation made for a stronger municipality that was more able to deal with problems,” he added, “and that is far more important than any cost savings that might have been accrued.”

The new reality didn’t always match up with old expectations. “Because we are now a larger and more complex organization it takes longer to get things done and this results in frustrations for some folks,” said Elmslie.

Councillor Pat Dunn said attitudes about Lindsay’s central role in the 20-year-old city also play a part. “Our rural citizens have been shopping, socializing, and eventually retiring in our major centres for years. Their children go to school here (in Lindsay) and often times end up working and living in our larger towns,” Dunn said, and yet resentment about Lindsay still lingers.

Councillor Tracy Richardson said she has lived her entire life in a rural area by choice. “Sometimes it’s not always convenient but I am certainly proud to be part of the Kawartha Lakes community. Sometimes we need to focus on what we have and not what we don’t.”

While some people might choose to move on, as Kawartha Lakes enters its third decade of existence, some believe it is never too late to recognize the 1993 referendum on amalgamation where 51 per cent of local voters chose to return to a two-tier governmental structure like the one in Peterborough County. It was a referendum that then-opposition leader Dalton McGuinty said he would respect, but never acted on.

“We were given the right to choose,” said amalgamation opponent Faye McGee. “Hodgson gave us the referendum. Dalton McGuinty gave us a letter promising to support the outcome and then his representative John Gerretsen came to council once they were in power and said ‘not at this time.’”

Like McGee, John Panter says de-amalgamation is still possible. “It would simply take a politician with some courage to admit amalgamation was a mistake.”

While some are still hanging on to the cause of de-amalgamation, most residents of Kawartha Lakes are simply getting on with life, whether they remember the restructuring fight or not.

Even though de-amalgamation and a return to the old Victoria County is not likely, even the keenest supporters of the single-tier city talk about for the importance of nurturing individual communities while fostering a sense of belonging to something larger.

“Communities were upset they would lose their identities,” said Pat Warren, a councillor in both Victoria County and Kawartha Lakes. “Twenty years on, many communities have retained their identities and in some cases improved their sense of place through volunteerism.”

Seymour-Fagan agreed. “Every village and hamlet has its own identity and pride. We still have our challenges, although we are well on our way to working efficiently as a single-tier municipality.”

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The Advocate Podcast: Stories from Kawartha Lakes

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Memories are windows to the past.

Let’s celebrate them. Traditional or cremation services, ask us how we can help celebrate your memories.

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Local entrepreneur gets COVID smell tester product approved by Health Canada Local entrepreneur Michael Bryant has turned his attention to developing an easy-to-use COVID-19 test, which Health Canada has now authorized for sale. The Anosmic COVID-19 Smell Tester is the first (and only, according to Bryant) authorized product that can screen people in their own homes to control the spread of the novel coronavirus.

Simply spray a little of the substance on a tissue or your wrist, then sniff from five centimetres away. If you can detect a distinct odour, that’s normal.

But if you do the test daily and find it’s getting harder to smell from one day to the next, then you may have COVID and it will be important to isolate and get a confirmation test.

Losing one’s sense of smell is often one of the first indications of COVID-19.

“Helping people and business survive — that’s the part that I think is so rewarding,” Bryant told the Advocate. “We refined the formula in February for COVID-19.”

He sees the test being used by families, front-line health care workers, restaurants, other businesses, schools and churches.

“It’s a 30-second test — the perfect screening,” he said, since it hardly takes any time. He added that it can be used safely each day, and is low-cost, natural, and non-invasive. The entrepreneur said company data show the test to be highly reliable. A bottle is $24.99, which equals about 75 tests.

Local entrepreneur Michael Bryant.

Bryant has two plants ready to produce the COVID smell tester, one in Ontario and the other in Maryland. He says the company is close to approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

Bryant found himself in Hong Kong during the SARS crisis in 2003 and dreamed of a product to test oneself for upper respiratory illnesses.

“I’ve been working on this for other illnesses, too,” he said, including for early detection of multiple sclerosis, Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s, among other diseases. Bryant said his team has been working on the tests for “about six to seven years.”

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If you were a resident in a long-term care home wouldn’t you want 4 hours of direct care and better working conditions and wages for care providers?

Wouldn’t you want your residence to feel like home and have every dollar spent on your place, not profits for big companies?

Wouldn’t you want to see consistent standards, so every Canadian has equal treatment in long-term care?

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31

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These discs usually are securely in place in between each vertebrae. When cracks form in the disc due to bad posture, excess weight, or stress, the inner part of the disc pushes outward. This is what is known as a disc herniation, or a slipped disc. Sometimes, this disc may press on a nerve, which sends tingling and numbness sensations down the limb nearby. It may also result in weakness and pain.

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Dismissal of basic income class action lawsuit to be appealed

RODERICK BENNS Publisher

Tracey Mechefske and Dana Bowman, two of the plaintiffs, left, with local lawyer Mike Perry.

A decision made in December by a Superior Court of Justice judge to dismiss the Ontario basic income class action lawsuit will be appealed.

The lawsuit was initiated by four Lindsay residents — Dana Bowman, Grace Marie Doyle Hillion, Susan Lindsay and Tracey Mechefske. They argued through their lawyers that the early termination of the Ontario Basic Income pilot’s payments amounted to “a breach of contract, a breach of undertaking, negligence … and a breach of section 7 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms” — and that as a result they have suffered damages.

After discussions with the four plaintiffs, the Toronto law firm that represents them, Cavalluzzo LLP, opted to file an appeal.

The Advocate obtained a copy of the letter the law firm sent to all members participating in the class action lawsuit. In it, the legal advisers set out what they would consider success in the next stages.

Lawyers for the plaintiffs, Stephen Moreau and Kaley Duff, wrote that certification is the first major step in a class action proceeding. When the court certifies a class action, this means that the court agrees the plaintiffs’

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issues in their Statement of Claim can be decided together, on a class-wide basis.

If a lawsuit is certified, they write, the plaintiffs still must win on the merits by having the key questions (like whether the pilot was a contract) answered in favour of the class. When a court does not certify a class action, then that means the class action cannot proceed at all.

Ontario’s Conservative government cancelled the Ontario Basic Income pilot in one of the first policy decisions it made when it came to office in 2018 — despite an explicit campaign promise to let the threeyear pilot play out.

“I personally think (Premier Doug) Ford cancelling basic income was inhumane,” said Lauretta Blackman, who was on basic income and is participating in the class action suit.

“We were an experiment for the betterment of the future and then got devastated emotionally, physically and financially when they stopped the pilot abruptly after promising to let it go its course,” she said.

CONT’D ON PAGE 35

33

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BASIC INCOME CONT’D FROM PAGE 33

Ontario’s Conservative government cancelled the Ontario Basic Income pilot in one of the first policy decisions it made when it came to office in 2018 — despite an explicit campaign promise to let the three-year pilot play out.

Dana Bowman, one of the plaintiffs, said she is grateful for the appeal. “The lawyers have given us hope and faith of a better tomorrow, which I really need right now.”

Bowman says the “rug was pulled out from under us” when Ford cancelled the pilot. “I will not forget that day — how it affected me and others around me.”

The pilot was initiated by the province in 2017 under the Liberal government of Kathleen Wynne. It was set up in three areas: the Hamilton region, the Thunder Bay area and Lindsay. Almost 4,000 people were involved, with 1,840 participants from Lindsay. The pilot was set to run for three years, but payments ended prematurely in March 2019, leaving hundreds of people scrambling.

The appeal was to be filed by the end of 2020, with written arguments submitted in late January or early February.

“We expect the appeal will be heard sometime in mid-2021,” the lawyers wrote, “as the Court continues to conduct hearings remotely during the pandemic.”

The Basic Income Canada Network released a survey report, Signposts to Success, in March 2019, documenting the experiences of recipients in the pilot. It provided compelling indicators of lives remarkably changed for the better.

Responses from more than 400 recipients showed that the pilot was working — enabling participants to get and keep jobs, start businesses, pursue education and training, overcome barriers and improve health and well-being for themselves and their families.

For instance, 58 per cent improved their housing situation, 34 per cent found the basic income supported employment by affording transportation to work, child care or ability to start or expand a business, and 32 per cent of respondents were able to go back to school or upgrade their skills. ~ Full disclosure: Roderick Benns is a member of the Basic Income Canada Network.

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35

The Local with Kitchen

Diane Reesor

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PRESENTED BY When she was young, Diane knew a man who would pick onions out of the ground and eat them right there. This made her curious about onions, so she started experimenting with them.

There are three main ways to prepare onions: Fried Onions: Chop onions and fry in butter or oil with salt and pepper until they are the colour you prefer (Diane likes them a wee bit black).

Crispy Onions: Chop onions. Soak in salt water (teaspoon salt to 2-3 cups of water) for one hour. Drain. Spread onions on a kitchen cloth overnight.

Cook them with oil in a pan on medium until crispy, for 10-15 minutes.

These will keep in a jar.

Caramelized Onions: Slice 2 large onions very thin. Add oil or butter to a low heat pan.

Add onions, 1 teaspoon of salt, 1 1/2 tablespoons of cider vinegar, 2 tablespoons of brown sugar, and 1 teaspoon of thyme. Cook slowly, lidded, for 20 minutes or until the colour of a caramel candy. These can be kept in the fridge.

5 Onion Pizza Make dough (add dehydrated onion) or use a pre-made pizza shell.

Spread with 1/2 cup of parsley or carrot top pesto. Sprinkle 1 cup sharp, extra old cheddar cheese (or any flavourful cheese). Add thinly sliced red or white onions. Top with 1/2 cup caramelized onions.

Bake on an oiled baking sheet or preheated pizza stone at 550*F for 10-12 minutes. When the pizza comes out, top with chopped green onions and crispy onions.

Story and photos by Sharon Walker

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www.lindsayadvocate.ca

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

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By Barbara Olson © ClassiCanadian Crosswords

37

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FRIENDS & NEIGHBOURS Fleming College attracts man escaping oppressive Cameroon government

JAMIE MORRIS Writer-at-large

Robinson Orume is the only fellow I know who can Which is what brought him to the Kawarthas. distinguish among species of pangolins or tell you how to After some online investigation he settled on the Ecosystem Management Technology (EMT) program at Flemuse chili peppers to deter elephants. ing’s Frost campus here in Lindsay.

Robinson grew up in a village in the rainforest region of Cameroon (see his article on pg. 12). He worked as “EMT was the perfect fit for me,” he says. “I like small communities and when I talked to instructors, they exa national park ranger and saw first-hand the poaching plained how the program would give me more options.” and agricultural expansion that threatened the richly diverse tropical ecosystem. He soon founded the Korup He was admitted into the third year of EMT based on Rainforest Conservation Society to support educational his past credentials, and one of the instructors (Barbara opportunities through scholarships, and training in enviHendenreich) offered him the guest house on her 200ronmentally-friendly business ideas like acre property in Bailieboro. seed-collection and beekeeping.

“The generous warmth and will to He was making important contribuhelp me in any way they can from all tions in his homeland but unfortunately, the faculty at Fleming has been mindCameroon has been under the control blowing,” he says.

Robinson’s been immersing himof a brutal 40-year dictatorship. When self in courses that range from Habitat the French-speaking powers started Assessment to Environmental Ecocracking down on the English-speaking minority, Robinson was repeatedly nomics, and completing a team project arrested without cause. for the Ontario Land Trust Alliance.

He and his wife, Pamela, decided He’s enjoying his studies — and the Cameroon was no place to raise their Kawarthas. He may have grown up in a three children, Edison, Bryan and Ronella. tropical rainforest, but he isn’t the least When Robinson was invited to bit intimidated by Canadian winters present a paper at a conference on (an introduction to snowshoeing in community-based conservation in HalOttawa made him a fan). ifax just over two years ago, he took It’s been more than two years the opportunity to apply for asylum. He Robinson Orume has embraced Canadian winters. since Robinson has seen his wife and was granted refugee status and settled in children. So above all he’s looking forOttawa, finding jobs where could, at Value Village and ward to completing the citizenship process. In November then as a security guard. In his spare time, he volunteered 2020, he applied for permanent resident status, so he with Nature Canada and CUSO. could have them join him here in Canada. Once he’s comHis goal was to find work in his own field and he pleted his Diploma in Ecosystem Management Technoloapplied for positions in Nunavut and Banff but soon regy, he hopes to contribute to conservation efforts in his alized that he needed Canadian credentials. This, despite adopted homeland. Fleming instructor Barb Elliot thinks the wealth of Cameroonian experience and his two he should be optimistic. degrees (which included an M. Sc. in Protected Area “I see him going places here in Canada,” she says.

Management earned on scholarship at Australia’s James “There are many non-government organizations that Cook University). would value his talents.”

www.lindsayadvocate.ca

39

JUST IN TIME

Art Truax (1935-2011)

}} ‘Quiet leadership:’ Remembering the

IAN McKECHNIE Writer-at-large

last mayor of Lindsay and the first of Kawartha Lakes

Among the favourite wintertime activities enjoyed by any youngster living north of Colborne Street in Lindsay is tobogganing on the hill in Mayor James Flynn Park. So named in honour of the town’s 46th mayor, it is home to the Mayor’s Walk — a circuitous path along which some 50 trees have been planted, one in honour of each mayor who served the Town of Lindsay. The path begins with Robert Lang, who called the first council meeting to order in 1857. It ends with Art Truax.

Like a toboggan grinding to a halt at the bottom of the hill, this unique stroll through history abruptly stops when pedestrians reach the late Truax’s tree, for in 2000 Lindsay ceased to be an incorporated town.

As Kirk Winter reminds us elsewhere in this issue, the process of amalgamation — which came to completion on Jan. 1, 2001 — was fraught with challenges, growing pains and regional divisions.

Shepherding the municipality through this time of transition was Arthur D. “Art” Truax, the last mayor of Lindsay and the first mayor of the newly created City of Kawartha Lakes.

Born in 1935 to Everett Henry Truax and Margaret Christina McMillan, Lindsay’s last mayor traced his roots back to a family of Protestants named du Trieux, who lived where the borders of Belgium, Germany and Luxembourg meet. His direct ancestors arrived in Somerville Township a few years before the County of Victoria came into being in 1861.

When Art Truax was born, Percival Pickering was occupying the mayor’s chair in Lindsay’s council chambers, and Samuel Endicott, Reeve of Ops Township, was taking his turn as warden of Victoria County. The Great Depression was at its height, and by the time Truax entered King Albert Public School, the world was again at war. The Truax family

lived simply at a house on Russell Street, adjacent to the bowling alley. Truax’s father worked as cab driver, and even chauffeured Lady Eaton’s two sisters around town before going into the cartage business. Margaret Truax, meanwhile, operated a boarding house.

The Lindsay of Art Truax’s boyhood was a haven for anyone interested in competitive sports — as indeed he was, playing baseball, basketball, football and hockey. During his high school days at Lindsay Collegiate Institute Truax cleaned the ice at the local arena. He set up pins at the bowling lanes, and even sold ice cream cones. Later, when he was enrolled in the Bachelor of Commerce program at Queen’s University,

Former mayor of Lindsay, Art Truax.

40

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he returned to Lindsay during the summer months to work at Union Carbide and served as a playground supervisor at two local parks.

Truax married Barbara Lewis in 1957, and they were in due course blessed with a daughter and a son. After a year managing gas stations for Imperial Oil in Toronto, Truax went into teaching, and was hired on at his alma mater, L.C.I., in 1959, where he taught courses in business.

His first foray into municipal politics happened in 1965, when he won a seat on Lindsay’s town council, a role he carried on for six years. For the next quarter of a century, Truax’s career was spent, quite literally, in the halls of public education. At 40, he became the eighth principal of the renamed Lindsay Collegiate & Vocational Institute, and in 1982 he was appointed as a superintendent with the Victoria County School Board.

After retirement in 1996, Truax returned to local politics. He was elected mayor of Lindsay in 1997 and urged his fellow citizens to “brag” about their 140 year-old town ahead of millennium celebrations three years later. By that point, of course, rumblings about imminent amalgamation were in the air. Upon securing election as the new municipality’s mayor late in 2000, Truax had the formidable task His quiet leadership before him of bringing a multiplicity brought all voices of local governments to the same together,” remembered table —many still firmly objecting to former Lindsay and the new state of affairs.

“His quiet leadership brought all current Kawartha Lakes voices together,” remembered forcouncillor Pat O’Reilly, mer Lindsay and current Kawartha who also played hockey Lakes councillor Pat O’Reilly, who also with Truax. “And he played hockey with Truax. “And he did it with respect and did it with respect and competency.”

Not long after amalgamation, competency.”

Truax was diagnosed with cancer.

Undeterred, he carried on his duties as mayor, attending a variety of formal receptions, pancake breakfasts, ribboncuttings and other events at which he drew attention to the good work being done by local citizens. “A bad politician is in the game for himself,” said Ross Smyth, who knew Truax for years when both worked in school administration.

However, Smyth continued, “A good one uses political skills to get the best from people on behalf of their community. Art did that, both in education and in politics.”

After stepping down as mayor in 2003, Truax served on a variety of boards, clubs and committees, and was active in the life of St. Paul’s Anglican Church, where his funeral took place on Dec. 7, 2011. The first hymn sung at his celebration of life implored its singers to “love each other.” It could be difficult to do that during the heated debates surrounding amalgamation, but Art Truax’s calm demeanour did indeed make a difference then and should inspire young leaders today.

“He was a strong competitor,” Barbara Truax remembers, “but he took life as it came, enjoyed the moment, stayed calm, and didn’t take life’s wins and losses too seriously.”

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41

TREVOR’S TAKE TREVOR HUTCHINSON Contributing Editor

Maybe we need some kind of Reset

As we start to think about how we will recover economically from COVID-19, it’s been kind of fun watching the hard right freak out about “the Great Reset.”

Federal PC finance critic Pierre Poilievre is leading this fight against what he perceives as an effort by “global elites” to use any COVID recovery plan to “reengineer economies and societies to empower the elites at the expense of the people.” He seems convinced that the government’s plan to “build back better” is part of an evil globalist agenda.

It’s important to recognize the dog-whistle of anti-Semitism that frequently comes with these words. Poilievre and his supporters often mention George Soros — the investor and billionaire who has donated $32 billion to the support justice, human rights and education through the Open Society Foundations — when they are peddling their conspiracy theories. Ask any historian of antiSemitism and you will find that raising the alarm about “international financial elites” has led to the persecution of Jewish people for centuries.

Poilievre, on his website, says he wants to protect “the lives and livelihoods of hardworking people.” He also wants to protect our freedom! Which is nice. Granted, he himself is pretty protected and free, having been an MP since he was 25. The old (pre-Reset) system seems to have been working for him, having long ago qualified for the gold-plated MP pension and setting him up with a net worth beyond most “hardworking people.” But I digress.

For Poilievre and his ilk, building back better is a threat to the status quo.

A lot of us, after almost a year of the pandemic, want to get back to “normal.”

But that normal was full of inequality and injustice for a lot of people. Maybe it’s time to have some bigger ideas.

I, for one, welcome the opportunity to reset a system that sees the wealthiest one per cent of Canadian families having 20 per cent of our wealth. I am okay with tweaking an economic system that has seen lower and middle class Canadians collectively hold less and less of our country’s wealth. Heck, I am okay with dismantling a neo-liberal economic system that has done nothing but enrich the richest, with only modest improvements for those of us on the lower tiers.

But fairly taxing a group of billionaires is not going to effect all the change we need. Without moving toward a green, sustainable economy, we are merely rearranging deck chairs on the,Titanic. We ignore addressing climate change at our peril.

Our world is changing incredibly fast. The speed and success of developing a vaccine in a year for a disease never before seen on Earth shows us what we can do if we work together. We now have a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to address all of the challenges that face us.

It will no doubt drive the tinfoil-hat crowd a little crazy. But hitting the Great Reset button could forever change and improve our world.

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cf SOLUTION

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By Barbara Olson © ClassiCanadian Crosswords

www.lindsayadvocate.ca

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