The Lindsay Advocate - February 2023

The doctor will see you now (eventually)

Punching Out: The demise of local factories and good union jobs

How the labour movement shaped our community

Kawartha Lakes’ Premier News Magazine * February 2023

Don’t lose the farm!

Divorces, by their nature, are very complex. This is especially true for hardworking farm families, as these divorces involve dispersing land, livestock, and machinery that cannot be easily divided.

You need a firm that has experience in dealing with divorces involving the division of farm land and equipment.

The Riley Divorce & Family Law Firm knows how to guide you through marriage dissolution so that you can protect your children and minimize your legal and financial risks.

Isn’t it time to move on with your life? www.therileyfirm.ca 223 Kent Street West, Lindsay 705.535.0996

Kawartha Lakes divorce lawyer, Paul Riley Get a free consult today.

The Advocate is published monthly & distributed through diverse businesses & locations throughout Kawartha Lakes, North Durham & southern Haliburton County.

We are a proud member of the Lindsay & District, Fenelon Falls & Bobcaygeon Chambers of Commerce.

our vision

February 2023 * Vol. 5 * Issue 57

The Advocate cares about the social wellness of our community & 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 & many of our stories reflect the society we work to build each day.

Publisher: Roderick Benns Editor-at-Large/Business Development Rebekah McCracken Contributing Editor: Trevor Hutchinson Contributing Writers: Kirk Winter Dr. Avis Glaze James Mulhern David Rapaport Ian McKechnie Ginny Colling Trevor Hutchinson Roderick Benns Art Direction + Design: Barton Creative Co. Christina Dedes Photographers: Sienna Frost Web Developer: Kimberly Durrant Published By Fireside Publishing House Printed By Cofax Printing

Please send advertising & editorial inquiries to Roderick Benns at: The Lindsay Advocate 1 Russel Street E. Lindsay ON, K9V 1Z7 kawarthalakespublisher@gmail.com

(705) 341 - 1496

PRIVACY POLICY: The Lindsay Advocate is independently owned & operated. The opinions expressed herein are the views of the contributors & do not necessarily reflect those of this magazine.

Photos, text & art work contained in The Lindsay Advocate are copyrighted & may not be published, broadcast or rewritten without the express permission of the Publisher.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, & without notice. The Publisher has made every effort to ensure information contained herein was accurate at press time. The Publisher does not assume & hereby disclaims any liability to any party for damage, loss, or disruption caused by errors or omissions.

12 feature

18 cover

26 feature

Too many local residents have no family doctor. Steps are being taken to change that.

Good union jobs disappeared when local manufacturing was ravaged by globalization.

Union power is returning as a foil against corporate and government excess.

every issue Letters to the Editor 4 * UpFront 6 * Benns’ Belief 9 Cool Tips for a Hot Planet 39 * Just in Time 42 The Affordable Kitchen 44 * Trevor’s Take 46 To advertise in the Advocate please contact us by telephone at (705) 341-1496 or by email at kawarthalakespublisher@gmail.com

“Like locks of hair, letters encapsulate some essential element of the personality of whoever holds the pen.”

- Charlotte Gray

Get rid of cars in Lindsay’s downtown

New council should say yes to more patios: reader

A couple of decades ago, when I moved into Lindsay, I saw a tremendous opportunity for the downtown core.

Kent Street was filled with cars and trucks. Despite the beautiful Victorian buildings, the overall sight was totally ugly. The predominant image was steel and glass and rubber. That image, although lessened, still dominates.

Re: Your editorial (Council: The Time to Think About Patios is Now, January Advocate) I have also stood in Port Perry amazed at the downtown activity and wondered what Lindsay was missing. We have great shops and restaurants. I agree we could use more restaurants with patios. We should be a destination for day trippers, but how?

Advertising maybe waterside events like art shows? More curb appeal on Kent Street? Planning ahead instead of trying to catch up later is hopefully how the new council will help Lindsay become a daytripper’s destination.

I spoke to the former mayor, Andy Letham, and filled out the survey making the following suggestion.

No parking on Kent Street from Victoria to Lindsay Street, a total of four blocks. Go with one lane of traffic in each direction. Add a central boulevard of trees and benches. Widen the sidewalks and plant many trees.

The result would be to change the image of the downtown from an ugly uninviting core to a beautiful, inviting, people-friendly one. A tepid design was chosen, as a result the basic issue remains.

Extending the patios, as the Advocate’s January editorial calls for, is excellent.

However, the smell and taste of oil, gasoline and rubber does not improve the eating experience. A serious reduction of cars and trucks is critical.

And build parking garages, behind Kent Street.

– Wayne Medford, Lindsay

– L Cameron, Lindsay

Reader doesn’t want to be charged for water he’s not using I read with interest the article in the January issue of the Advocate (Water costs could rise 3 per cent if council passes motion in February) regarding the increase in local water rates.

up to city water and sewer have to pay for water and wastewater.”

Tell that to the other over 130 homeowners, who like myself are being charged for city water and wastewater even though we are on our own wells and septic systems and do not need or want to be hooked up to city systems.

This has been going on since 2018 and although numerous letters have been written and presentations made to council to have this policy changed, nothing has happened.

Under the previous council, four councillors voted to drop the charge and four councillors, including then-councillor Doug Elmslie, voted to keep it in place. Mayor Andy Letham broke the tie vote by voting to keep the charge.

We can only hope that the new council with newly elected people will see how wrong this policy is and vote to stop charging people for water and wastewater they are not hooked up to and do not use.

– Paul G. Grassie, Lindsay

I was especially interested in the statement by Dr. Adam Found, manager of engineering and corporate assets, who stated when answering councillors questions that “the entirewater and waste water budget is funded through user fees and only residents who are hooked

The Advocate welcomes your letters. We do not publish anonymous letters unless it’s a matter of public importance and/or someone risks harm by writing us. We publish under strict guidelines & only if we can verify the person’s identity. Simply email kawarthalakespublisher@gmail.com.

Keep your letters to 200 words or less.

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Crosswalks should have lights overhead, says reader Every time I walk in downtown Lindsay, I am almost hit by a driver at the crosswalk. When a person goes across on the sign of the pedestrian the cars and other vehicles should stop but they don't. All the crosswalks in Lindsay are installed wrong because the lights should be in the middle of the crosswalk where you can see them better, not at the end of the crosswalk. This matter needs urgent attention and the police are not taking this situation very seriously. Does someone have to die first before anything is done?

Rebekah McCracken

– Fred Bannister, Lindsay

Building more houses is not the whole solution Ontario Premier Doug Ford would have us believe that increasing the supply of housing will solve the housing affordability crisis. If only economies were that simple.

Economies are multi-faceted and there are multiple relationships that interact with each other. Change one, and there is a domino effect.

Supply and demand is the most widely known economic relationship, thus it’s often put out there for public consumption. Another more relevant relationship with regards to housing affordability is the average annual increase in the price of a house compared to the average annual increase in wages.

Since 2012 the average increase in house prices for Canada has been 7.7 per cent per year. Some markets, such as Toronto, would be higher. The mechanism is simple. As house prices rise, demand for houses falls.

Trying to increase supply by putting more money in the pockets of developers is very bad policy when the supply is currently unaffordable for many. You just have to wait until wage increases catch up to housing prices, or house prices fall.

So how did we get in this mess? I would think a major factor was reducing the minimum down payment from 10 per cent to 5 per cent. The 10 per cent rule and $20,000 down qualified for a $200,000 home purchase. The 5 per cent rule with the same down payment now qualified for a $400,000 home purchase. This put upward pressure on house prices and increased the amount of debt one could assume.

Encouraging people to take on more debt and putting upward pressure on house prices is bad public policy and bad economic policy.

– Bill Steffler, Lindsay

Rebekah has recently joined Team Advocate in a part-time capacity in the role of Editor-at-Large/Business Development. In this newly created position, she is editing the magazine’s feature stories and columns, helping the publisher to set editorial direction, doing event planning and advertising sales.

She is the former owner of Hamilton Creek clothing store in downtown Lindsay and prior to that was a district manager with several corporate clothing companies.

Rebekah is looking forward to co-planning new events and initiatives under the Advocate banner for the betterment of our community.

Correction The photo in last month’s Just in Time local history column was incorrectly captioned. It should have read: The late Dr. Bob Watson driving his little horse-drawn cutter. Photo courtesy of Margaret Jean Watson. The Advocate regrets this oversight.

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New executive director for Community Foundation of Kawartha Lakes

Lawyer Jason Ward talks candidly about his substance abuse, mental health issues to help others Special Advocate Podcast

Laurie Dillon-Schalk will be new executive director of The Community Foundation of Kawartha Lakes. Photo: Sienna Frost.

The Community Foundation of Kawartha Lakes has announced Laurie Dillon-Schalk as their new executive director.

Dillon-Schalk has more than 20 years’ experience in the private sector including 12 years in senior strategy roles at major advertising agencies.

The new ED also brings non-profit leadership and fundraising experience from her role as a co-founder of Conquer COVID-19, one of Canada’s fastest growing national pandemic relief efforts in 2020. She worked closely with the Bobcaygeon Relief Fund’s leadership team to ensure this region was included in relief efforts.

A seasonal cottager and property manager in Kawartha Lakes for more than 20 years, in 2018 she and her family decided to buy a maple syrup hobby farm near Bobcaygeon. During the pandemic, they relocated from Toronto to Kawartha Lakes.

The Community Foundation of Kawartha Lakes is focused on strengthening local philanthropic networks to address gaps in local human services, public infrastructure, agriculture and community economic development.

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Jason Ward speaks about his personal struggles in the latest edition of The Advocate Podcast: Stories from Kawartha Lakes.

Photo: Sienna Frost.

High profile lawyer Jason Ward, who recently stepped away from practicing law at Wards Lawyers, has come forward to speak openly with The Advocate Podcast about the struggles that pushed him to the brink of his professional and personal life.

Ward first spoke with the Canadian Bar Association’s podcast but wanted to tell his story locally, too. In a special episode of The Advocate Podcast: Stories from Kawartha Lakes, host Denis Grignon sits down for a frank discussion with Ward who doesn’t hold back from talking about his alcoholism, his challenge with legal drugs, and his anxiety about ever returning to practice law -- at least yet.

Just under a year ago Ward left the law firm, poised to run for mayor in last November’s election. But he dropped out of the race early, telling the Advocate last March that giving everything to Wards Lawyers over the years came “at a personal price.”

“As it turns out, in my own journey, I neglected one, important thing–my own mental health and wellbeing.”

Listen to this special episode of The Advocate Podcast on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, PodBean, or on the home page of lindsayadvocate.ca by scrolling down to Podcasts

lindsayadvocate.ca

The Sweet Kitchen bringing sweet treats to Lindsay's downtown

Locker At The Falls in Fenelon has rich history

Owner Samena Kennedy chats with Mathew Flynn, who also works at The Locker At The Falls. Photo: Geoff Coleman.

Jen Arnold, owner of The Sweet Kitchen. Photo: Sienna Frost.

The Sweet Kitchen has only been a part of Lindsay’s downtown for about three months so far, but it already feels like it belongs. Before that, Jen Arnold – with 25 years experience as a pastry chef – operated out of her home.

When the BIA’s Melissa McFarland suggested last summer that her bakery should move into the old Unwrapped space, Jen had a look and loved the idea. “Things just started falling into place,” Jen says.

Samena Kennedy was just 12 years old when she went looking for her first summer job and found one at The Locker at the Falls (then the Fallsview Restaurant) in Fenelon Falls.

Today, as the owner of this restaurant with its deep roots in the Kawartha Lakes community, Kennedy has created a friendly, family style restaurant and pub that has enduring popularity among locals and newcomers for its tasty food and an incredible view of the falls – especially in the summer months.

She credits her whole team for the popularity of the restaurant, from the back kitchen to dedicated servers.

Kennedy says a large part of her community driven culture is to support youth through sponsorships and her hiring practices.

As much as her butter tarts, lemon lavender scones and salted caramel brownies are hits, there will also be new treats coming as 2023 unfolds.

“The Locker At The Falls gives them an opportunity to learn and advance through different roles in the service industry,” she says.

Call 705-328-2599 or visit thesweetkitchen.ca

Find them at 9 Lindsay St., Fenelon Falls, or call 705-887-6211

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JOIN OUR TEAM OF

VOLUNTEER SUPERHEROES! As a Community Care Volunteer, you learn new skills, gain experience, make new friends and become part of the Community Care family.

Visit our website to learn more about the available volunteer opportunities that are flexible to fit your schedule and interests.

Join Community Care and feel great about using your superpowers to help others in your community!

WE HAVE A VOLUNTEER OPPORTUNITY FOR EVERYONE! If interested, please call us at 705-324-7323 x 466 or fill out an application at www.ccckl.ca

Celebrating

25 years

Proactive Planning for a solid future 344 Logie Street, Lindsay, ON K9V 0N4 705.878.3530 / 877.854.2919 / mabeeandassociatespwm.com Investors Group Financial Services Inc.

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Unions: Too powerful or too weak?

By Roderick Benns Publisher

I remember having a discussion with my late father about unions, somewhere around 1990. He told me they were “a good thing once.”

And then he added, “But they’ve gotten too strong.”

Too strong. I started to hear that a lot over the years. In hindsight, it’s amazing to me how the perspective of the corporate world so quickly found its way into the average person’s mind. It’s exactly what they wanted us to believe -- that strong unions were impeding the growth of jobs. After all, didn’t we all want more jobs?

We did, but it took a long, long time for society to realize the kind of jobs corporations preferred to give were the ones that didn’t pay very well, often didn’t have benefits, and might not even be full time. All that pesky union talk which involved negotiating (how time consuming!) just got in the way of enormous companies doling out their crap jobs that kept corporate profits so high.

420 Eldon Road, Little Britain (705) 748-3848 4075 County Road 121, Kinmount (705) 488-9963 401 Kent Street West, Lindsay (705) 324-1978

So given this, why were people like my dad beginning to parrot the corporate line about unions becoming too strong?

It’s a process identified by scholar Antonio Gramsci, “by which the ideas and values of the wealthy and powerful are imposed upon and accepted by those being dominated,” according to York University professor Dennis Raphael.

In this case, the accepted belief is that somehow unions are too strong and are to be avoided whenever possible. This is the height of irony, then, that globally powerful corporations convinced average people that it was the unions which were too strong.

Unionization rates are also low because of an assist from governments, too, which are far too cozy with corporate interests. Until 1977, workplaces in Canada could be organized by having a majority of workers sign a card indicating a wish for a union.

But five provinces have removed this process in favour of an election: Alberta, British Columbia, Nova Scotia, Ontario and Saskatchewan, which makes up 70 per cent of Canada’s workforce.

“This shift allows employers to mobilize opposition to unionization through a range of tactics — some of them questionable — making it unlikely that certification of a union will occur,” Raphael writes.

Now, as corporate profits are soaring, too many of us are working multiple jobs and are struggling to provide the basics for our families. This, incidentally, has ignited the political polarization being felt in all western nations.

So many people are angry because they have become economically marginalized and are looking for an outlet for their anger. All of this can be traced back to the rise of corporate power and the relative demise of union strength.

If we look at evidence, we know that unionized workers have higher wages, more benefits and better health outcomes than the non-unionized. Unions care about good jobs, decent pay, retirement security — things any of us would want.

Too strong, Dad? No. Not strong enough – and that needs to change.

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Unions are standing up for workers In November last year, more than 30 public and privatesector unions got together to threaten a province-wide general strike if Premier Doug Ford’s government didn’t change its bargaining approach with educational workers.

The Progressive Conservative government obliterated bargaining rights and imposed a contract on the sector’s lowest paid workers by invoking the notwithstanding clause of the constitution. The government was determined to win even if it required using the ‘nuclear option’ of suspending the constitutional rights of this group of workers.

It was the biggest unified show of union power in decades.

It was also a diverse set of union voices. It even included unions that had endorsed the PCs in the last election.

An hour before the unions were to hold a joint press conference announcing an indefinite province-wide strike, the Ford government folded. In a rare loss (not counting everything the government has spent millions on fighting and losing in court) Ford capitulated and offered to return to the bargaining table. This was no small win to get a government with a sizable majority to change course.

Strikes and job actions are, by their very design, disruptive and will have negative consequences for many. But, as James Mulhern and David Rapaport write about in this issue, that’s how we got things like a weekend, an end to child labour, health and safety regulations, pension plans, minimum wage, 40-hour work weeks, maternity and parental leave, to name just a few of the things we all benefit from and now take for granted. None of these things came from the kind-hearted generosity of corporations or governments. They came from people collectively expressing power.

And it’s time to flex that collective power again. All the great societal victories that unions achieved could not have happened without non-union community support.

We have a clear choice. We can continue our race-to-the bottom and capitulate to corporations and their friendly government enablers. Or we can stand up for the Ontario all workers deserve.

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More buses please We have written several letters to our city council, MPP, TOK bus lines, GO Transit, encouraging them to work on a better service for Kawartha Lakes.

We have students that cannot afford to live in the GTA (and so who live here) that need to get to places of higher education. We have people who need extra medical procedures and specialists who must get to the GTA. We have family members needing to travel for visiting and others who would like to get to the GTA for shopping, sporting events or theatre shows.

City of Toronto politicians are always talking about traffic woes and yet they do not work with the government to enhance better transit systems for large communities like Kawartha Lakes.

We have a challenged son who lives outside of Kawartha Lakes who loves to visit his parents monthly. The only bus that services this area has changed their schedule to Monday, Wednesday and Friday because everyone prefers the regular GO Transit schedule better. Smaller communities than ours are serviced already by GO Transit.

We would like everyone who finds a need for better bus service to write to their MPP and city council and GO Transit to encourage a better system.

– Bill and Heather Peter, Kawartha Lakes

lindsayadvocate.ca

Black History Month can help promote unity and inclusion

By Dr. Avis Glaze Glaze is a former director of education for the Kawartha Pine Ridge District School Board. She was Ontario’s Education Commissioner and has worked with educators in over 50 jurisdictions worldwide. She is currently an international education adviser to Scotland.

There are many who ask why we need Black History Month, celebrated each February. I would welcome the day when we do not need a reminder of the key roles, contributions and sacrifices that people in general, and Black people specifically, have made throughout history.

For Black people, it is a time to celebrate diversity, equity and inclusion and to keep alive the many stories of bravery, fortitude and resilience of individuals of African descent.

But, while we have, and continue to make many strides, we have not yet reached the mountaintop.

I am filled with optimism, though, after reading a piece by Michael Adams and Andrew Parkin in the Globe and Mail at the end of 2022, who wrote about their recent polling on diversity. They conclude that “Diversity has become more important to us as we have become more diverse. Canadians are not only adapting to change, they are embracing it.”

Opinions converge on the notion that learning Black history helps us understand Canadian history and who we are as a country. It has the potential to promote unity and our goal of becoming a truly inclusive society. It highlights the achievements of Black people – their struggles, ambitions, and successes, whether as scientists, inventors, politicians, teachers, artists, business or trades people.

Criticism about Black History Month still exists. It promotes discomfort and feelings of guilt, some say. Or it makes white children feel uncomfortable and guilty about their identities, say others. Some lawmakers in the U.S. (and some politicians here) are unleashing attacks on Black history under the guise of protecting white children from “discomfort.” Some states are banning the teaching of critical race theory. Many want to cancel discussions on uncomfortable histories such as the Holocaust and offensive campaigns against Indigenous peoples.

Some don’t want teachers to have discussions on these topics for fear the subject matter is too sensitive. And yet those are exactly the kinds of discussions we need to have and what many teachers do so well.

Most Canadian schools observe Back History Month.

Many teachers across Kawartha Lakes encourage their students to do projects and hold discussions on this aspect of the curriculum. I will always remember having dinner with a friend (a white family) in Nova Scotia a few years ago.

His son, who was about nine at the time, talked to me with confidence and enthusiasm about his project for Black History Month. I was truly impressed and felt grateful for his teacher who encouraged what I would describe as curiosity-driven research, learning and empathetic understanding across cultures.

As an educator, my concerns are for the children in our schools. Will the lessons learned in school about diversity, equity and inclusion become enduring and lifelong goals?

Will they develop the empathy that is the essence of positive interpersonal relationships? Will they be motivated to promote and defend for all, the rights so many Canadians cherish?

I have great faith in our teachers who work to prepare our students to become citizens who think critically and analytically, who feel deeply and empathically and who act wisely and ethically. This is so important when fake news and misinformation are rampant.

Participating in Black History is a part of this journey toward a fairer society for all.

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Doctoring a solution Thousands of local residents have no family doctor.

Here’s why – and what we must do to get more.

By Kirk Winter

One of the most pressing problems facing Kawartha Lakes is the lack of family doctors willing to practise in the area.

According to the Kawartha Lakes Health Care Initiative (KLHCI), the city is short between 15-18 doctors leaving 6,000 residents without a family doctor and another 25,000 having to travel outside the city for primary care.

The challenges of recruiting doctors for rural areas

Kawartha Lakes remains chronically underserviced with only 35 family doctors currently practising -- and a number of those GPs are either very close to, or on the cusp of, retirement.

“The number one problem,” Snider says, “is finding work for the spouse. Family doctors can go anywhere to work and they are looking for guaranteed employment for both.”

For the last 19 years the KLHCI, a non-profit charitable organization with one full-time employee and a board of dedicated volunteers, has taken up the challenge to find more doctors for the city and has been successful in recruiting 43 family doctors.

“Generally, new doctors want to be no more than an hour away from extended family,” Snider says. “They want grandparents to be close by for support with childcare and when the time comes and parents are aging themselves, they (the child with medical training) want to be close by to assist with that too.”

Their task is a challenging one, competing against almost every other region in Canada for the services of recent graduates. Our area also competes for those who have arrived in Canada after receiving their training in other nations, or doctors who might be looking to move for personal or professional reasons.

When asked why most doctors do not want to practice in rural areas, like Kawartha Lakes, Snider and van der Veen itemized a number of critical issues that can make, or break convincing a doctor to locate and practise in the city.

Location is also a key issue for many new doctors.

Proximity to nightlife and entertainment opportunities is also an issue the KLHCI deal with. KLHCI makes a point of illustrating to potential recruits how close Kawartha Lakes is to Toronto, Peterborough and Oshawa for entertainment not available locally.

The vision of the KLHCI is that “all Kawartha Lakes citizens have access to a local family doctor,” but that is easier said than done.

“Until we get the potential recruit to the city for medical training or a visit we suffer from being off the 401 (highway) corridor,” Snider says.

Cindy Snider, recruitment and retention coordinator for the KLHCI and Barbara van der Veen, acting president of the board of directors of the KLHCI, spoke with the Advocate about the challenges the local group faces.

“They don’t realize how close we are to Toronto until they spend some time here,” van der Veen noted. “A recent medical school survey tells us that only eight per cent of doctors want to practice rurally…that isn’t much.”

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Both van der Veen and Snider agree that almost three years of the pandemic have stopped many medical students and medical residents from training in rural areas, even if they wanted to.

“If we can get them here for a residency, 80 per cent of them stay,” van der Veen says.

When asked if the lack of ethnic diversity in Kawartha Lakes makes doctor recruitment more difficult, Snider says that both the local medical community and the city itself are becoming more diverse and that she hopes that isn’t the issue that it used to be.

Finally, those who are interested in clinical practise are typically not interested in rural practices as quite often a rural practice includes the additional responsibilities of working in the ER, delivering babies and assisting at long term care homes.

Problems faced by new family doctors When new doctors receive their license, they are faced with a myriad of decisions including where to practise. They also need to determine if they want to complete fellowship training and become a specialist, along with how they are going to pay down the staggering debt that most are carrying.

“The average debt for new doctors is between $350,000 and $500,000,” Snider says. “If they decide to become family doctors, they will find themselves the lowest paid doctors in the province.”

“Their payment model is lower and their business model is challenging,” Snider says. “They are only paid for seeing patients. They don’t get paid to do paperwork. Doctors need small business advice as they have to pay their expenses, hire staff and find money left over to pay down their student debt, none of which they are trained for.”

“Many new family doctors (when faced with these challenges) prefer a locum (covering for another doctor or working part-time) where they have no overhead and significant flexibility,” Snider says.

“New family doctors are looking for a different family-work balance than those general practitioners who came before them.”

“They want smaller practices,” Snider adds. “We find we need two and a half new family doctors to replace each current family doctor that retires.

The province has given permission to split patient rosters from retiring doctors to hopefully make the practice more attractive to a new physician.”

Fifty per cent of new doctors are female, Snider says, and many want to start their families. Overall, she notes female physicians continue to be most responsible for childcare.

“Many new doctors are also looking for variety in their workday such as surgical assist, emergency medicine or hospitalist medicine. Seeing 30 patients in a day is not how they want to practise,” van der Veen adds.

"They are only paid for seeing patients. They don’t get paid to do paperwork. Doctors need small business advice as they have to pay their expenses, hire staff and find money left over to pay down their student debt, none of which they are trained for."

Taking the pressure off family doctors?

When asked if the community paramedic program that began in Kawartha Lakes in 2019 and the expanded power for pharmacists to prescribe a limited number of medications without a doctor’s note might help the current situation, Snider said these programs may be beneficial as the province struggles with providing primary care.

“Right now,” Snider says, “it takes six years to train a family doctor and there is even talk of adding another year to the residency so doctors are better prepared for what awaits them in their own practice.”

Snider and van der Veen are hopeful that the province recommits to the “Practice Ready” program that allows internationally-trained physicians to re-qualify with an abbreviated six-month residency or supervision.

“It is very hard for these physicians to re-qualify,” Snider said. “We hope the province will reintroduce this program.”

When asked if additional nurse practitioners might be a step in the right direction, Snider returned to the issue of provincial funding that impacts every health care decision made in Ontario.

“Nurse practitioners are also funded by the province. There are limited positions available and with most being women they face the same partner pressures and family situations (that female doctors do),” Snider said.

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The City believes that a positive business climate in Kawartha Lakes will make doctor recruitment easier to achieve.

Can the municipality be doing more?

Kawartha Lakes is fighting an uphill battle in recruiting family physicians. Other jurisdictions in Canada, the United States and Australia are quite prepared to incentivize primary care physicians to move to underserviced rural areas.

The National Rural Health Association, that represents many of the states in the American Midwest realizes that money talks in doctor recruitment.

Brock Slaback, senior vice president of the National Rural Health Association, freely admits that, “offering incentive or reimbursement programs that would pay part or all of a physician’s student debt has proven to be a great way to bring these doctors to rural communities. Paying of signing bonuses is another way to bring in a physician who no longer has student debt.”

Kawartha Lakes CAO, Ron Taylor, was asked if the city should be doing more than they are right now to recruit badly needed family doctors to the area, and whether the provision of office space and clerical support at minimum might make the job of the KLHCI easier.

“The Municipal Act prevents the municipality from giving assistance directly or indirectly to any manufacturing business or commercial enterprise. A doctor’s office is considered a commercial enterprise, so we’re limited in the assistance that we can provide to potential new doctors and their practices,” Taylor says.

“However,” Taylor continues, “the city does annually provide funding to the Kawartha Lakes Health Care Initiative (KLCHI) for physician recruitment through the Ross Memorial Hospital.”

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He says the proposed amount of funding for the program in the 2023 budget is about $113,000. They also established a reserve of funds used to support physician incentives to move, locate and establish their practices here.

“In addition to that funding, the city has a partnership with the Victorian Order of Nurses (VON) and their Nurse Practitioner Professional Practice,” he says.

The proposed amount of funding in the 2023 budget is about $109,000 to support the services provided by a Nurse Practitioner to those who are unattached and require a primary care provider.

“Furthermore,” Taylor adds, “Kawartha Lakes in partnership with the Coboconk Norland and Area Chamber of Commerce, has committed funding and debenture support, if needed, to the Summit Wellness Centre (in Coboconk) which will be an attractive option for new health practitioners looking to move to the area in the future.”

Taylor believes that a positive business climate in Kawartha Lakes will make doctor recruitment easier to achieve.

“Our Economic Development team is working on several initiatives aimed at bringing workforce-aged people to the municipality; downtown revitalization in Lindsay, Fenelon Falls and Omemee, resources for new business start-up and expansion, and targeted marketing to bring workforce-aged residents and business owners to Kawartha Lakes,” Taylor says.

“Although not healthcare specific, these programs that are in place can help attract new doctors to the area to help establish their business. It is often the case that the spouse of a physician requires a community that offers career or entrepreneurial opportunities, and Kawartha Lakes offers a thriving business community.”

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Taylor suggests that the ease of which a doctor can set up a practice in the area won’t be the only deciding factor when it comes to opening a new practice here. “They’ll also want to know whether they can live an enjoyable life in Kawartha Lakes and we’re confident that our business development programs and new business recruitment campaigns will show them that they can,” Taylor adds.

How we can help with doctor retention Both van der Veen and Snider believe that doctor retention is as important as recruitment of new doctors, and patients across the city can play an important role in keeping the doctors we already have.

“The community needs to understand the challenges faced by family physicians,” van der Veen said. “Doctors are feeling so pressured (by first the challenges of the pandemic and now the fallout of a post-pandemic world) and now many patients are more acute. Patients are becoming more demanding (or entitled) which can strain their relationship with their primary caregiver.”

Even basic patient gratitude and understanding is always appreciated, says van der Veen.

The future With an average age of 40-50, some of the 35 remaining family physicians in Kawartha Lakes are likely closer to the end of their careers than the beginning, and this never-ending cycle of retirements puts real pressure on KLHCI to find replacements.

“We are currently working to replace the five doctors we have lost (during the pandemic). We expect more retirements to be announced in 2023,” Snider says.

Multiple community-based sources have confirmed with the Advocate that two additional veteran family physicians with well established decades-long practices are soon to inform their patients they will be shuttering their practices with one retiring completely and another leaving to focus solely on surgery.

When asked what the rules are for informing patients regarding retirement, Snider said the College of Physician and Surgeons of Ontario has stated that doctors must inform patients in writing no later than three months before they close their offices to give patients a chance to look for a new care provider and get a copy of their patient file to take with them. LA 15

Unions work together to make our community fair for everyone.

We have a long and proud history of fighting for the rights of working Weallhave a longpeople. and

proud history of •fighting Weekends • 8-hour work day rights • Ending Child Labour • Work Breaks, including paid lunch breaks for the • Paid Vacations • Equal Pay for Equal Work for Women • Abolition of Sweatshops • Sick Leave • Canada Pension Plan • Not for Profit Universal Health Care • Minimum Wage • Pregnancy Leave of all working people.

• The Right to Strike • Anti-discrimination Rules at Work • Overtime Pay • 40 Hour Work Week

Here are just some of the victories unions have fought for and won for everyone:

• Occupational Health & Safety • Workers’ Compensation • Unemployment Insurance • Pensions • Sexual Harassment Laws • Holiday Pay • Collective Bargaining Rights for Employees

When workers unite, they achieve better things for everyone. Unions stand up together for decent wages, safe workplaces and fair working hours.

When workers unite, they achieve better things for everyone.

LET'S GREATwages, THINGS UnionsWORK stand TO up ACCOMPLISH together for decent safeTOGETHER. workplaces Lindsay and District Labour Council | P.O. Box 330, Lindsay, ON K9V 4S3 and fair working hours. lindsaylabour.ca • ldlcouncil@gmail.com

LET'S WORK TO ACCOMPLISH GREAT THINGS TOGETHER.

Affiliated local unions to the Lindsay and District Labour Council. We encourage local unions to participate, affiliate and to communicate with the labour council.

Lindsay and District Labour Council | P.O. Box 330, Lindsay, ON K9V 4S3 lindsaylabour.ca | ldlcouncil@gmail.com

1. Lindsay Professional Fire Fighters 2. CUPE L 1909 Ross Memorial Hospital 3. CUPE L 855 City of Kawartha Lakes 4. CUPE L 997 Education Workers of Trillium Lakeland District School Board 5. Power Workers Union – Hydro One 6. OSSTF D15 – Trillium Lakelands Secondary Teachers 7. Trillium Lakelands Elementary Teachers Local 8. PVNCC OECTA – Catholic School Teachers 9. OPSEU l 309 - Paramedical Lab in the Ross, John Howard Society, Herdsmen’s of Ontario 10. OPSEU L 368 – CECC, Ontario Government, ON Courts 11. OPSEU L 352 – Fleming Academic Staff 12. OPSEU L 334 – Kawartha – Haliburton Children’s Aid Society 13. United Food & Commercial Workers L 175/633 - Compass Extendcare Lindsay, Food Basics, Country Estates Retirement Home, Rexall, Aramark Fleming, Dexterra Fleming 14. CUPW l 564 – Postal Workers 15. IBEW L 353 – Electrical Workers

Punching out The good old days of prolific factory work in Kawartha Lakes largely ended due to global forces. But are there signs of life on the horizon for local manufacturing?

By Ian McKechnie

Trent Rubber, formerly Dominion Arsenals.

Courtesy Lindsay Legion.

From the flour mills, sawmills, and woollen mills of the nineteenth century to the sprawling industrial complexes of the mid-twentieth century and beyond, factories have long provided steady jobs to local citizens. By the time Lindsay celebrated its 125th birthday in 1982, the town could claim over 20 industries.

The jobs – many of which were unionized – were plentiful, and job security seemed assured. Until it wasn’t.

Over the span of less than a decade at the beginning of the current century, Lindsay lost three of its largest industrial employers representing more than 400 jobs: Viskase in 2000, Trent Rubber in 2005, and Fleetwood in 2007. Of those three, only Fleetwood’s sprawling facility on Highway 36 remains and has since become home to Brooklin Concrete Products. The enormous Trent Rubber and Viskase plants have long since been demolished – leaving behind a few scattered foundations, overgrown fields, and asphalt leading to nowhere.

What happened? How did three once-thriving factories close only within a few years of each other, and what was the impact of their closure on the town?

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Viskase was the first to go. Founded in 1925 as Visking, the Chicago-based company specialized in plastic packaging products for the meat processing industry. Within a quarter of a century, the firm was a recognized leader in the field of cellulose casings for sausages. Lindsay, looking to build up its industrial sector after the Second World War, managed to attract the attention of Visking and a massive new factory opened for business on Colborne Street East in 1950. By the middle of that decade, Visking had become a public corporation and was recording sales of $58 million (U.S. dollars).

Union Carbide, a giant in the field of polyethylene film, acquired the Visking assets over the course of 1956 and 1957 and expansion continued unabated. In 1967, some 452 people were employed at the company’s Colborne Street complex. Six years later, that number rose to 500. Company newsletters of the period are replete with pictures of happy-looking employees attending Christmas parties, bowling games, and company-sponsored picnics.

In 1984, Union Carbide’s pesticide plant in Bhopal, India, suffered a gas leak that killed over 2,000 people and resulted in significant litigation.

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A year later, a gas leak at a Union Carbide-owned facility in West Virginia led to a $1.3 million fine. Faced with these problems, the company was soon forced to reorganize itself to reduce debt. Union Carbide’s ongoing financial difficulties in the mid-1980s, together with apparently declining margins on products manufactured in Lindsay, forced them to close down its film packaging plant on Colborne Street in 1989.

Viskase (as Visking had been called since Envirodyne acquired the assets from Union Carbide in 1986) carried on with other operations at the Lindsay factory – but the halcyon days were clearly over.

Among other things, Union Carbide’s closure served to hasten the slow and steady decline of rail transportation to Lindsay. Carload traffic had declined along the Canadian National Railway’s Lindsay trackage over the years, with only 132 carloads of freight being shipped in 1989 (compared to 252 a year before).

Moreover, track infrastructure in and around Lindsay was generally in poor shape, and the National Transportation Agency concluded in October of 1990, “that the revenue which would be generated by the estimated increase of 72 carloads would be insufficient to offset the actual losses incurred in the operation of this segment and the additional costs to maintain the branch line at current weight limits into the foreseeable future.”

The town accused CN of denying proper service to local industries like Viskase, resulting in what it perceived to be an underutilized rail network – but the writing was on the wall, and CN removed its industrial trackage in Lindsay between 1990 and 1993.

In 1998, a few years after the tracks were taken up, nearly 30 positions at Viskase were cut as part of a global restructuring process. Corporate leadership assured the community that the impacts on personnel would be “fair.” This didn’t satisfy authorities in the Graphic Communications International Union, which represented Viskase employees, and it pushed to have more than two weeks’ severance pay for at least a portion of those being laid off.

The final blow came not long after the Lindsay plant celebrated its fiftieth anniversary. A company called Bemis Incorporated acquired Viskase on July 7, 2000 and elected to shut down the operation on Colborne Street East. From a workforce of 400-500 people in the 1970s, Viskase had a mere 55 employees when it shut its doors for the last time in the fall of 2000.

Abandoned industrial trackage, St. Peter Street, Lindsay.

Photo: Danny Allen.

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Three kilometres southwest of Viskase, Trent Rubber’s vast operation at the corner of Mary and Albert Streets had been merrily humming along since 1969, when it took over the old Dominion Arsenal buildings that dated back to 1917.

Specializing in rubber inner tubes for tires, the firm was acquired by parent company Polysar in 1974, before company employees assumed almost full ownership in 1978. In less than a decade, the company’s payroll had reached 150 people. The 200,000 square feet of space, where 260 women had turned out munitions 70 years earlier, were now being used to manufacture rubber products – both inner tubes and a synthetic roof membrane.

Shirring Department, Union Carbide.

Kawartha Lakes Museum & Archives Collection.

Not only was Trent Rubber a success story insofar as it represented a clever reuse of a former factory site, but they were also considered to be one of the country’s most progressive companies in terms of corporate structure and organization. So progressive, in fact, that its employees weren’t even unionized.

As journalist Martin Dewey pointed out in the Feb. 11, 1980 edition of The Globe & Mail, “the plant is a topsy-turvey place where textbook distinctions between capitalist and worker have been blurred beyond recognition.”

Dewey’s readers discovered that “of the 132 men and women who work there, 85 per cent are part-owners of the operation, some of them convinced that they are pioneering a new kind of industrial democracy.” Karl Marx, Dewey remarked, “would have had an attack of vertigo within a mile of the place.”

Mr. Marx and his followers would indeed have looked kindly on how Trent Rubber operated. Of the company’s nine-person board, three members were elected from the factory floor. Company president David Hay, proudly told The Globe & Mail that this arrangement led to increased productivity, and chairman of the board George Plummer optimistically added that, “I have no doubt that the next generation of capitalism will involve employee participation. If you want people to be responsible, you must give them ownership.” Profit-sharing had been one of Trent Rubber’s corporate values from its inception – along with a self-financed sick pay plan and promotion from within employee ranks.

Unlike Viskase, which was merely one of several branch plants ultimately owned by a large American industrial empire, Trent Rubber was, in its heyday, entirely locally owned. Said machinist Fred Coffey in an interview with Dewey, “Nobody can come and say they’re closing it down and moving it somewhere else. This is a Lindsay plant, owned and operated by Lindsay people.”

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Trent Rubber filled an important niche in the automotive industry. Some seven tire manufacturers were operating in Canada by the late 1960s – but only four produced inner tubes, and the factory on Albert Street South supplied tubes to the remaining three. Alas, changes in automotive manufacturing by the turn of the 21st century would eventually catch up with Trent Rubber – notably, the fact that vehicles were increasingly being fitted with tubeless tires. Regardless of Trent Rubber’s undisputed reputation for quality products, the hard realities of supply and demand vis-à-vis rubber tubes were lurking in the background. Likewise – and despite Coffey’s pride in local ownership – it was also true that Trent Rubber could not exist without raw materials imported from the United States, and that it was subject to forces affecting all aspects of the international rubber industry.

In 1990, Trent Rubber was sold to Toronto’s Viceroy Rubber and Plastics Ltd., and employees were asked to take a 10 per cent reduction in wages. Financial problems plagued the firm for another decade, and when the company became insolvent and closed for good in July of 2005, speculation swirled in the local press about whether fluctuating global oil prices (oil being a key ingredient in the manufacture of rubber products), and a low Canadian dollar might have undermined its bottom line. Longtime employees were unceremoniously given their pink slips by upper management, and those being let go felt that they had been excluded from the communication loop. It was a far cry from the good old days, when workers were kept informed about changes.

Trent Rubber’s demise was a tough pill to swallow for the town of Lindsay, which was still reeling from the closure of Viskase five years earlier. (Ironically, the front page of the Lindsay Daily Post on July 12, 2000 announced that Trent Rubber was on the verge of creating up to 100 new jobs, while an adjacent headline announced that Viskase would be closing its doors.)

20

Frank McCall rolling the Visking casing, 1965.

Kawartha Lakes Museum & Archives Collection.

Back in Lindsay’s east ward industrial park, Viskase acquired a new neighbour when Fleetwood Canada set up shop almost around the corner in 1973. Founded in California in 1950 as Coach Specialties Company and rechristened as Fleetwood Enterprises in 1957, the company joined the Fortune 500 list in the same year it opened its Lindsay plant. Located in a vast production facility on Mount Hope Street, the company eventually expanded into a 78,000 square-foot space on Highway 36. By 1992, Fleetwood employed 235 people and was making 2,500 to 3,500 trailers of various types and sizes per year.

21

Union Carbide, 1964. Aerial photograph of the entire plant.

Kawartha Lakes Museum & Archives Collection.

As with Viskase and other large, American-owned entities, a slew of corporate changes came together to create a perfect storm that ultimately put Fleetwood’s Lindsay plant out of business. By the time the new millennium rolled around, Fleetwood’s trailer division was losing its competitive advantage. Soaring gasoline prices, a low Canadian dollar, excess inventory, and even weather, were all cited as reasons for downsizing in 2004, when 48 Fleetwood employees were sent packing.

By the spring of 2007, Fleetwood had consolidated its two Lindsay plants, leading to more layoffs. On July 25, the trailer-maker shut down its Canadian operations entirely. More than 300 people lost their jobs – and they weren’t the only ones. Lippert Components, a Lindsay business responsible for supplying Fleetwood with chassis, was directly affected by the closure and laid off 20 workers. Despite the efforts of then-Member of Parliament Barry Devolin to facilitate discussions between Fleetwood and Unite Here Canada – the union representing Fleetwood workers – about keeping the plant open, the deed was done. No more Lindsay-made trailers would be rolling into the country’s campgrounds.

Decisions made at faraway head offices, the loss of critical infrastructure (i.e. railways), and the economy’s evershifting winds, all conspired to close three of Lindsay’s largest factories in the early 21st century – in spite of interventions from unions representing Fleetwood and Viskase workers, and in spite of the unique relationship Trent Rubber employees had with their oncebenevolent employer.

Fortunately for Lindsay, their closure did not spell an end to large-scale manufacturing in the community and today, Armada, Cameron Steel, Holsag, Mariposa Dairy, Northern Casket, Pickseed, TS Manufacturing, among others, provide employment to several hundred people.

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Still, the $64 question among those who remember the closure of Viskase, Trent Rubber, and Fleetwood is: could it happen again? “There are a number of factors that can contribute to a business’s decision to close, whether it’s independent operational decisions or external factors that impact their business,” says Lindsey Schoenmakers, the City’s economic development officer responsible for business development. “Through the relationships that we’ve developed with our local manufacturing facilities, we work to understand what the major hurdles are in each industry, which helps us tailor our programming to support them,” Schoenmakers adds.

Today, the City's Economic Development department has a variety of tools, many unheard of 15-20 years ago, to support the sustainability of manufacturers, attract new investment into local communities, and support businesses throughout their lifecycle. These include enabling local businesses to upgrade technology and infrastructure through provincial and federal funding; supporting businesses to attract, retain, and upskill their workforce through the Pathways to Prosperity and Community Concierge programs; and helping businesses looking to invest or expand in Kawartha Lakes to navigate the development aspects of their projects with the newly launched Development Concierge Program.

Schoenmakers is optimistic about the future. “Recently, we’ve seen the expansion of many advanced manufacturing facilities in our community, including TS Manufacturing’s recently obtained funding to expand their facilities, the new distribution centre for Kawartha Dairy, as well as Brooklin Concrete’s new investment and relocation to Lindsay,” she says. “Economic Development programming always adapts to meet the demands of our local industry, while maintaining key principles of business retention, expansion and investment attraction.” LA

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ESTATE ADMINISTRATION How do I find the Will?

Who can see the Will?

Do I need a lawyer?

What does a Trustee do?

What is probate?

How long does probate take?

What happens to the house?

What if there isn't a Will?

Is probate always required?

IF YOU HAVE QUESTIONS,

WE HAVE ANSWERS

84 Kent St. W., Lindsay, ON | 705.324.9273 | wardlegal.ca

25

The Operating Engineers Training Institute of Ontario (OETIO) is IUOE Local 793’s training division, offering state-of-the-art training through two campuses - one located in Oakville and the other in Morrisburg.

OETIO is an approved training delivery agent for the Ministry of Labour, Immigration, Training and Skills Development and is registered

as a private career college under the Private Career Collages Act, 2005.

OETIO offers apprenticeship training programs in heavy equipment (dozer, excavator and tractor loader backhoe),

tower and mobile crane, and concrete pump. Other training programs offered to IUOE Local 793 members and fee payers are heavy equipment, drill rig, and commercial truck driving. OETIO and IUOE Local 793 are dedicated to providing quality training consistent with evolving industry needs and government standards to ensure a safe, efficient and effective construction industry.

TO FIND OUT MORE, VISIT OETIO.COM OR CALL 1-877-793-4863 • INTERNATIONAL UNION OF OPERATING ENGINEERS, LOCAL 793 • 2245 Speers Road, Oakville, Ontario, L6L 6X8 Phone: 1-877-793-4863 | Website: www.iuoelocal793.org

A LONG AND PROUD HISTORY OF ENSURING THE HEALTH AND SAFETY OF ITS MEMBERS, PROVIDING SKILLS TRAINING, AND NEGOTIATING INDUSTRY-LEADING WAGES, PENSIONS AND BENEFITS

MIKE GALLAGHER Business Manager

JOE REDSHAW President

• INTERNATIONAL UNION OF OPERATING ENGINEERS, LOCAL 793 • 2245 Speers Road, Oakville, Ontario, L6L 6X8 Phone: 1-877-793-4863 | Website: www.iuoelocal793.org

How the local labour movement helped shape Kawartha Lakes

By James Mulhern and David Rapaport James Mulhern is the president of the Lindsay and District Labour Council and David Rapaport is an adjunct professor of sociology, Trent University. Both live in Lindsay.

On Friday, Nov. 4 and Monday, Nov. 7, hundreds of Kawartha Lakes education workers joined tens of thousands striking education workers across the province to protest Bill 28. With their picket signs and union flags, they marched on Lindsay Street between Kent Street and Wellington Street in front of MPP Laurie Scott's office. Bill 28 was back-to-work legislation to impose a new contract for these workers and prohibit a strike. It didn't work. CUPE workers recognized the attack on their democratic rights and their need for a reasonable wage increase. And they took action.

Hundreds of unionized workers march on King Street in Lindsay.

What we witnessed in early November was the proverbial ‘power of the union’ backed by worker members who demanded a fair contract and good-faith collective bargaining. The action was representative of the revival of activism and influence of the Canadian labour movement -- in the country, in the province and in Kawartha Lakes. It is worth taking a closer look.

There are two strands in the history of the Canadian labour movement. The first strand is the more obvious; the representation of workers in their efforts to achieve a better standard of living. This strand is about improving the material conditions of life for workers, in opposition to the excesses of economic inequality. Unions use collective bargaining as the tool to achieve these ends, with the union negotiating directly with the employer on behalf of workers.

The second strand is about recognition and participation in the political and economic life of the country and the workplace. Until 1872 unions were illegal in Canada. That changed when our first prime minister, John A. Macdonald, passed the Trade Union Act. In 1943, the Privy Council legitimized unions and collective bargaining by putting the legal onus on employers to negotiate with their employees in good faith where workers have democratically displayed 26

a desire to be represented by a union, usually through a certification vote. The 1945 strike at the Ford factory in Windsor resulted in the Rand Formula, with automatic union dues deduction for all workers represented by the union. Those rights were reinforced in 2014 by the Canadian Supreme Court through its ruling that collective bargaining rights were indeed Charter Rights as guaranteed through the right of association. Thus, unions and collective bargaining are part and parcel of our social, economic and political landscape.

Unions in Kawartha Lakes Unions have a strong and active history and presence in Kawartha Lakes.

In 1957, the Lindsay and District Labour Council was established by 10 unions, representing workers in the construction trades, the textile industry, the public sector, Hydro, and the Steelworkers. It received its charter from the national labour body, the Canadian Labour Congress (CLC) to represent workers and unions in Victoria County and Haliburton County. The Lindsay and District Labour Council made its political mark early under the leadership.

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A labour council is a localized central body comprised of union locals to act on behalf of all unions and all workers– to educate, to lobby, to form coalitions with like-minded groups and to establish a labour presence. Currently there are nine unions, comprised of 14 locals representing about 6,000 workers. This includes OPSEU, CUPE, Firefighters, OSSTF, EFTO, OECTA, UFCW, CUPW and IBEW. The Lindsay & District Labour Council encourages all local unions to participate, affiliate and communicate with the council.

Public support seemed high for workers, according to union feedback and polling.

The Lindsay Labour Council organizes the local National Day of Mourning every April 28 at Victoria Park to recognize workers who died or were injured on the job - with the slogan "we mourn for the dead but fight for the living." It organizes the Labour Day picnic, and local political lobbying often in step with Canadian Labour Congress (CLC) and Ontario Federation of Labour (OFL) campaigns. The labour movement participated in the campaigns to increase the minimum wage and to improve the CPP benefit for all Canadian retirees. The local branch of the Ontario Health Coalition is also a partner of the Labour Council, advocating for our universal health care system for all Canadians.

The Labour Council also plays an important role as a community partner, such as local food drives or the Big Brothers Big Sisters Bowl for Kids Sake. It participates in the Lindsay Fair parade, the Santa Clause parade and it contributes a booth at the Lindsay Fair.

The list of accomplishments for the Canadian labour movement is long and it is universal. What follows is a partial list; weekends, the eight-hour work day, child labour laws, paid vacations, equal pay for equal work for all workers regardless of race or gender, public and improved Canada Pension Plan, minimum wage, anti-discrimination legislation, overtime pay, Occupational Health & Safety legislation, protection from sexual harassment laws and paid holidays.

These economic benefits have been of mainstream benefit for all of society. Income and wealth concentrated at the top-end is hardly smart economic or social policy.

Before the labour movement gained recognition and legitimacy, a large percentage of Canadian workers were living in poverty, with little or no access to decent health care and housing, with low literacy levels, with no sense of job security, no maternity leave, no pensions, no holidays, no weekends and no sick time.

The history of Canadian unions is a history of advocacy for the downward redistribution of wealth and income. This benefits its own members, certainly, but it helps all workers as well. Minimum wage levels are influenced by wages negotiated in collective bargaining.

Not the library from your childhood (but we still love doing storytime)

DISCOVER EXPLORE BE ENTERTAINED Millions of opportunities.

One exceptional library.

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The Canada Pension Plan came into play in 1965 after years of persistent lobbying by the labour movement for all Canadian workers. Employment Insurance appeared in 1940. The main issue of the 1981 strike by the Canadian Union of Postal Workers was maternity leave and benefits.

This ultimately worked its way into Employment Standards regulations for all Canadian workers over the next few decades. It is not unusual to trace benefits that we now take for granted as either originating in collective bargaining or advocated by the labour movement.

More recently, Canadian unions have responded to the plight of workers in the precarious labour market and the gig economy. The United Food and Commercial Workers and the Canadian Union of Postal Workers are organizing workers at Uber and Uber Eats. There have also been union-organizing drives at Starbucks, Walmart and Amazon.

CUPE education workers in Kawartha Lakes say no to Bill 28 Bill Campbell is the president of CUPE local 977, representing education workers at the Trillium Lakelands District School Board; 850 workers in 52 schools. CUPE 997 members occupy non-teacher positions, such as custodians, education assistants, administrative workers and IT workers. Campbell reflects on those two days of political action by the membership of his local along with their 55,000 CUPE colleagues across the province.

“Over the past decade, CUPE education workers have received meager compensation increases due to regressive legislation; Bill 115 by the Liberal Government in 2012 and certainly by Bill 124, introduced by the Ford Government in 2018.” Both either eliminated or severely restricted compensation rates. According to Campbell, education workers in Kawartha Lakes lost 11 per cent of their income in the past decade by not keeping up with the cost of living.

Local 997 represents education workers in Kawartha Lakes, Haliburton County and Muskoka County. Campbell joined the Lindsay picket line on the Friday protest and the Bracebridge picket line on Monday. “We estimate that about 650 people joined our picket line in Lindsay,” making it one of the largest picket lines in local labour history.

“Local members supported the union and the two-day strike,” he said. “We did a lot of work in the year before November to explain the union strategy. They understood that their collective bargaining rights were being eroded, rights that offered the means to a proper standard of living.”

The Advocate asked Campbell about whether there was blowback from the public, particularly parents who were inconvenienced.

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CUPE workers stand together at Kent and Lindsay Streets in Lindsay.

Campbell said it was quite the opposite. “Parents by and large supported us. People off the street joined our lines.

Businesses delivered pizza, doughnuts and coffee. The horn honking of support was overwhelming. The public was on our side.”

He said the public and their own members knew the meaning of our action.

“Not only was the quality of education at risk, not only were the living standards of education workers who look after our kids at risk, but so was democracy. The Ford government went too far and everybody knew it.” LA

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Let me help with yours. cindyray.ca 705.340.1188

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The time to fix long-term care is NOW. Stand strong. Stand as one.

Support long-term care workers at Caressant Care Nursing Home McLaughlin Rd. and Caressant Care Nursing and Retirement Home Mary Street.

COURAGE. COMPASSION. COMMITMENT. CUPE. CUPE.CA CUPE’S 715,000 MEMBERS ARE ON THE FRONT LINES KEEPING YOUR COMMUNITY STRONG.

Join the growing list of

Applying for a Record Suspension (Pardon)?

The John Howard Society of Kawartha Lakes & Haliburton can help!

Our Record Suspension Services Program, funded by Public Safety Canada, helps individuals complete record suspension applications.

To find out if you are eligible, contact us today: Brianne Rupay, brupay@jhscklh.ca, (705) 879-3715

Grace King * Heather Muir * Maria Bennett * Barb Evans Alan Gregory * William Steffler * Sandra Scriver Lauren Drew * Barb Taylor * Peter + Kathy Anderson Zita Devan * Nanci Byer * Joe + Joyce McGuire Glenda Morris * Ivory Conover * Jamie Swift Eileen MacDonald * Ross Smyth Christine Wilson * Nora Steffler * Linda Friend Jim Buchanan + Donna Gushue * Neil Campbell Bruce + Debbie Peck * Maurice + Marie Jackson Leslie King * Deborah Smith * Cam Finley Peter + Sandra MacArthur * Catherine Hennings Janet Smith * David + Margaret Robertson Leslie King * John + Pauline Hunter * Cordula Winkelaar David Holloway * Bob & Carol Barkwell Go to lindsayadvocate.ca and choose Support Us from the menu bar or send a cheque made out to Fireside Publishing House to The Lindsay Advocate: 1 Russell St. E, Lindsay, ON K9V 1Z7 or contact 705-341-1496 or kawarthalakespublisher@gmail.com.

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ADVERTORIAL

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

1377 Lawrence Ave East, North York, Ontario

416-510-3530 • www.Ibew353.org c Facebook @ibewlocal353 f Instagram @ibewlocal353

SPONSORED CONTENT

IBEW Local 353 Celebrates 120 Year Anniversary

by Andrew T. White

In 1890, the St. Louis Exposition featured “electrical wonders of the era,” and as such, electricians and line workers flocked to St. Louis Missouri. After long days of setting up exhibits and wiring buildings, the workers would get together and discuss the toil and working conditions of this Exposition. They were working long days, 7 days a week, for very low pay, and training and safety in the workplaces was non-existent.

Forming a Union was the next logical step and so a group of electricians in St. Louis asked the American Federation of Labour (AFL) to help them. In 1890, the AFL chartered them as the Electrical Wiremen and Lineman’s Union and a St. Louis lineman, Henry Miller, was elected their first President.

This year we celebrate our 120th Anniversary. We continue to fight for workers’ rights, fair wages, health benefits and safety, and integrity of the industry.

On November 21, 1891, they held the very first convention in a small room above a dance hall in a poor section of St. Louis. There were 10 delegates in attendance, including Henry Miller, representing 286 members. At that convention, they changed the name to the National Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (NBEW) and adopted a logo consisting of a fist grasping lightning bolts.

The NBEW continued to grow and build solidarity amongst the workers, and those workers started to make better wages and work in safer environments. On December 20, 1899, the NBEW came to Canada and set roots in Ottawa Ontario. That same year, at the 6th convention of the NBEW, the name changed once again to the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW).

The IBEW continued to expand throughout North America, and Local 353 was chartered with the IBEW February 2nd, 1903. This year we celebrate our 120th Anniversary.

We continue to fight for workers’ rights, fair wages, health benefits and safety, and integrity of the industry.

Along with fair pay, health benefits, a pension, and Union representation to aid in their employment negotiations, local 353 boasts 3 training centres with many courses available to our members. The electrical industry is ever-changing and IBEW Local 353 is committed to continually developing the programs that will keep our members on the leading edge of tomorrow’s technology. As our membership grows so shall we, as it remains our mission to ensure we provide the highest level of education for our membership as possible.

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

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

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Made where?

It’s getting harder to figure out where products are made.

And that’s exactly what corporations are counting on.

By Kirk Winter

There are many different considerations that go into purchasing something, at least for most people. The decisions include whether the product meets my needs, if it is affordable, and whether the manufacturer is known for making a product that will last and if they’ll stand behind it.

I would like to suggest we should also be conscious of what kind of regime we are supporting as consumers by buying products made in that nation.

My wife, for example, will buy nothing made in either Bangladesh or Cambodia because of their well-publicized mistreatment of employees and their continued opposition to workers organizing for better pay and improved working conditions.

It is tough enough to balance all those competing forces when one goes shopping, and some manufacturers only make it more difficult by intentionally or unintentionally obfuscating where they do business.

I had this happen to me over Christmas. On the recommendation of my foot doctor, I decided to look for a casual slipon boot. After standing on cement floors for more than 30 years and running up and down soccer fields in cleats likely too narrow for my feet, my feet are a painful mess.

34

As I age, laced shoes in particular aggravate my plantar fasciitis and cost me many hours of interrupted sleep. A slipon boot with fewer pressure points seemed like something worth investigating.

Upon arrival at a big box store in Peterborough, it was clear that this style of boot is dominated by two companies both based in the land of vegemite and Paul Hogan.

The first pair of boots that I tried on, proudly advertised with multiple labels that they were made in the “Land Downunder” and always would be. Unfortunately, my stupidly high insteps made their fit untenable.

The second pair of boots I tried on fit much better than the first, and a brief glance at the box said in no fewer than four places that the company is also based in the southernmost region of the southernmost inhabited continent on Earth.

The brochure inside spoke of the company’s long roots in that nation stretching back to 1850. A cursory glance at the boots indicated nothing that would contradict what I wanted to believe -- that these boots were made in a nation where pay is compensatory and working conditions are safe.

lindsayadvocate.ca

I purchased the boots and brought them home where my wife inspected them more closely, only to discover a tag the size of my baby fingernail that indicated the boots were made in Mexico. I was gobsmacked.

Later I learned of the company’s decision in 2007 to abandon their home to manufacture their boots in places like Thailand, India and Mexico. That decision cost close to 360 highly skilled bootmakers their jobs and earned the company the wrath of organized labour in their country of origin who organized a boycott of the company’s products later that year that continued for sometime.

If the boots were not a part of a possible treatment for a worsening health issue, they would have gone back.

Discussions with friends since this incident have led to many shared conversations about disingenuous labelling and packaging. As a young adult, I remember the powerful “Look for the Union Label” advertisements sponsored by the International Ladies Garment Workers Union that flooded prime time American television programming in the late 1970s as that union and others fought desperately to stop needlework jobs from being sent to low wage countries.

"I purchased the boots and brought them home where my wife inspected them more closely, only to discover a tag the size of my baby fingernail that indicated the boots were made in Mexico. I was gobsmacked."

A stroll of the aisles in one large hardware store found “designed in,” “engineered in,” and “inspired by,” or “assembled in” that allowed one nation’s flag to be featured prominently on the box while the actual place of manufacture is discretely tucked away elsewhere.

In my experience, even if you find the true place of manufacture you might need a political atlas to decipher what that country is. When people didn’t want to support apartheid in South Africa, oranges arrived in Canada labelled “Product of RSA” (Republic of South Africa.)

I want to be a responsible consumer. My wife wants to be a responsible consumer. It is becoming increasingly difficult to do that. When we are shopping for things we need, too often there isn’t an option that is manufactured in Canada or any other environmentally and socially responsible nation. Manufacturers seem to be going out of their way to make that even more difficult with sketchy labelling that only benefits them in the long run.

We will continue to be vigilant when we’re shopping– and we’ll also be looking for the union label as an added bonus. LA

A news magazine program that speaks to you with stories that celebrate life in our community, but also examine our challenges.

Presented by

My long-time preference for Levi Strauss jeans is at least partially inspired by their nearly century-long cooperative relationship with their mostly unionized workforce that has kept thousand of middle-class jobs in Canada and the United States. Levi Strauss still proudly displays the union label on their products assuring buyers of who made their pants and where they were made.

Both our vehicles feature a UAW sticker front and centre in the window leaving little doubt of their place of manufacture or the pride in which they were assembled with parts manufactured in Canada and the United States.

Of late, I have noticed that many packages gracing our store shelves are full of weasel words that do not necessarily make it easy to be a fully informed consumer.

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Baby It’s Hot Outside My good friend’s granddaughter was born shortly after the Paris climate accord was signed. That little girl’s family lives in California, where she has experienced severe drought and pollution from wildfire smoke almost every year since.

When she was two, her babysitter’s family home burned in the blazes.

Those kinds of impacts are getting more frequent and closer to home. Some young adults are so concerned they’re rethinking how many children they want to bring into this over-heated world – if any. In 2021, a global study in the Lancet reported that almost 40 per cent of the 10,000 16-25 year olds surveyed said climate change made them hesitant to have children one day. In 2019, singer Miley Cyrus made headlines when she said she wouldn’t have a baby on this “piece of shit planet.” That same year, Prince Harry and wife Meghan publicly committed to having a maximum of two children to reduce their impact on the environment.

For some, the concern is the world their babies would inherit. For others, it’s because more babies mean more planet-warming pollution. And before we point any fingers at large family sizes in poorer nations, consider this: The annual greenhouse gas emissions (GHGs) per Canadian in 2019 was 20.7 metric tons. For the average person in Bangladesh: 1.5.

In 2019 Canadian university student Emma Lim started the online pledge #NoFuture,NoChildren. By 2020, 10,000 young people across the world had signed on. That reluctance to have kids isn’t just created by the floods, droughts, and fires they’re hearing about. It’s largely because of the lack of serious action being taken by our governments, according to the Lancet study.

But while some are rethinking parenthood, others consider having a child an act of hope and a motivation to fight climate disruption. Britt Wray, one of the researchers for the Lancet study, moderates the recently released CBC documentary The Climate Baby Dilemma. By the end of the film, we see a very pregnant Wray talking about her decision to have a baby. “For me, not having a child was a commitment to fear, while having a child was a commitment to joy – and the responsibility to engage in climate action.”

I’m well beyond child-bearing years, but I’m deeply saddened by the baby dilemma. What can people like me do?

For one, remember that it’s largely 35 years of political inaction that’s causing their anxiety. Now UN climate scientists are saying we have just seven years to cut GHGs in half to keep planetary warming in check. We can also: 1. Actively encourage politicians to reduce fossil fuel use – less natural gas and coal, more electric vehicles and heat pumps. Sign petitions, email, or call them. Contact them in support of policies that preserve natural areas that store carbon – our forests, wetlands and grasslands.

2. Keep our eyes on the prize – the cleaner, healthier world we want to create. Then take action on a personal level to make it happen. We no longer have the luxury of waiting for the politicians to do all the heavy lifting.

As David Suzuki’s 12-year-old daughter told the Rio climate summit some 30 years ago: “You grown-ups say you love us, but I challenge you, please: Make your actions reflect your words.”

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41

The CNR men aren’t the only ones who relish a meal at Cragg’s; travelling salesmen and individuals employed by Lindsay’s public works department are also frequent customers.

Not long after the Second World War (probably in 1946 or 1947), Earl and Mary Cragg purchased a small store on the northeast corner of Durham and William Streets from Mr. Noel Rivers for $7,000 and renovated it upstairs and down.

Thus, was born Cragg’s Box Lunch, which for over a quarter of a century thereafter grew to become one of Lindsay’s culinary institutions.

Sandwiches and such: The story of Cragg’s Box Lunch It’s a crisp February day in Lindsay more than 70 years ago. Train No. 93, Belleville-bound, waits in the Canadian National Railway’s Durham Street yards while passengers keep warm in the adjacent station.

Across the way, at Cragg’s Box Lunch, the clock strikes noon as three denim-clad men stroll through the front door and take their places on stools by the lunch counter.

They are veteran railroaders, all of them, and have been regulars at Cragg’s ever since it opened a few years back. Each of them orders a mini-meat pie and a cup of piping-hot coffee; one of them asks Mrs. Cragg when she will again be making her famous cake doughnuts.

As they eat, the railroad men talk among themselves about their collective wish for better benefits and higher wages.

They agree that a strike is inevitable.

While strained relations between management and employees on the CNR have left a bad taste in their mouths, Mary Cragg’s desserts and home-cooked meals have been nothing short of mouth watering and are eagerly anticipated before each shift.

42

Born in Cambray in 1904, Earl Cragg had a background in retail and was anxious to get back into that line of work after spending the war years in Toronto. Mary, seven years younger, originally hailed from Glenarm. While Earl operated a small grocery store on the premises, Mary dreamt of operating a catering business and lunch counter.

The building opposite the railway station offered space for both, and business boomed through the 1950s and 1960s.

(The eatery’s proximity to the CNR property was fortuitous, and Earl Cragg had a contract with the railway that had him providing food to emergency work train crews when they were called out on an unpredictable schedule.)

Cragg’s offered a variety of food services. Best remembered by railroaders like Ernie Rainbow, Wes Swinson, and Harvey Wallace, who frequented the restaurant, was the lunch counter. In addition to the aforementioned cake doughnuts and meat pies, the lunch counter also offered a smattering of sandwiches, pies, tarts, and milkshakes.

“Each sandwich was cut diagonal, stacked, and wrapped in wax paper, prepackaged each morning and stored in the cooler, ready for sale,” recalls John Cragg, who as a young adult helped his parents with a multitude of tasks.

Among those tasks was handling the variety of take-out options offered by Mary Cragg. Due to space restrictions and municipal licensing rules, there was limited seating available inside Cragg’s Box Lunch, which made take-out a lucrative part of the business – and something much appreciated by hungry patrons passing through town by train.

“I often took a large wicker basket full of food items to the station and walked through the passenger cars selling it – mostly the noon hour trains, but quite often the suppertime arrivals as well,” Cragg remembers.

lindsayadvocate.ca

On top of the take-out and in-house offerings, Cragg’s was famous for its catering. John Cragg remembers his mother providing a roast beef supper at the Victoria Park Armoury for up to 600 members of the Lindsay Kiwanis Club, and box lunches to some 200 Ministry of Lands & Forests personnel assembled at the provincial government building on Kent Street West.

According to Cragg, these consisted of two sandwiches, a piece of pie, an apple or orange, and a small paper cup of coleslaw or pickles – all packed together with plastic utensils and a paper napkin in a cardboard container slightly smaller than a shoe box. Other catering contracts involved providing lunch or supper to local politicians and executives representing major Lindsay-area industrial concerns.

While strained relations between management and employees on the CNR have left a bad taste in their mouths, Mary Cragg’s desserts and home-cooked meals have been nothing short of mouth watering and are eagerly anticipated before each shift.

Whether a banquet fit for a king or something smaller and more intimate in Premier Leslie Frost’s dining room, all catering jobs involved a great deal of logistical planning.

“Everything was prepared in the store’s small kitchen, then transported in our Pontiac station wagon, set up, served, cleaned up, reloaded in the car, and returned to the store for washing – which was usually my job,” says John Cragg.

Jean Green, Mary Cragg’s niece, remembers that the catering preparations were very much an all hands-on-deck affair. “My job would be buttering bread and passing it on to maybe Dad or my sister to add the filling,” she says. “I must add that, even when preparing for a large event, the sandwiches needed for the boxed lunches or over the counter sales also had to be prepared.”

Top: Mary Cragg, cofounder of Cragg's Box Lunch, 1958.

Bottom: Cragg's Box Lunch, now home of Texas Burger at the corner of Durham and William Streets.

Photos courtesy of John and Rhona Cragg.

Cragg’s Box Lunch closed in 1971, a year after Earl Cragg died of a heart attack. His widow, Mary, eventually retired to Edmonton and died there in 2001. The building once occupied by Cragg’s later became home to the much-loved Durham Café, carrying on a storied tradition of offering food and fellowship to locals and visitors alike. LA 43

1. Grease an 8 or 9 inch pan.

2. In large bowl, combine water, yeast and sugar and let sit 5 minutes until foamy. Add 1 ½ cups of flour, the milk, soft butter and salt. Stir and add more flour until dough is smooth.

3. Knead dough on floured surface for around 5 minutes, adding flour until dough is soft, smooth, and elastic.

HERBY GARLIC BUNS These homemade buns dipped in “garlicy herby” butter make a delicious side to any winter soup or stew. Feel free to mix and match the herbs used to complement your main dish. ½ cup warm water 1 tbsp sugar 1 ¼ tsp active dry yeast 2 ½ - 3 cups flour ½ cup milk

1 tbsp butter, softened ¾ tsp salt ¼ cup butter, melted 1 tbsp rosemary, chopped 2 cloves garlic, minced

4. Stir together melted butter, the herbs and the garlic in a small bowl. Cut dough into about a dozen 1-inch pieces. Dip in butter mixture, and place into greased pan in a single layer.

5. Cover buns and let rise in warm place until doubled in size, around 1 hour.

6. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Bake buns for 45 minutes or until golden brown. Cool in pan about 10 minutes, then brush with remaining melted butter mixture and sprinkle with additional large salt kernels.

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lindsayadvocate.ca

You Gotta Be Kidding Across

1 Cold cuts counter

5 Stack of platters on a hi-fi

8 Bedelia who drew the curtains, literally

by Barbara Olson © ClassiCanadian Crosswords 1

2

3

17 Showing annoyance, as a teen toward a parent 19 Goofballs

20 Squeak silencer

21 Mark with permanent ink, briefly

22 Henry and Jane Fonda film, 1981 27 False start?

30 La-la lead-in

31 "Moving right along ..."

32 1973 Toni Morrison novel 34 Husky competitor

5

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9

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13

39

40

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63

18 20 22 28

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59 65

38

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8 16

19

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14 Not a repro

15 Unrealistic plans

4

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68 70

69 72

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37 Spokescow for Borden

41 Chicken Little's doomsday cry 44 Canada's "Omertà" rapper

45 Vancouver-born funny man Rogen 46 Annoyingly self-satisfied 47 "Uno + due"

5 Res. care worker

39 ___ to one's ears (swamped)

7 Sewing basket item

42 Canning jar brand

6 Slop-py eater?

8 "Hello" singer, and others

9 One who's no longer a miss?

49 Kosovo's continent: Abbr.

10 Extra-wide, shoewise

52 Department store honcho

12 "In other words

40 Like quiche or custard 43 Give ___ (embrace)

48 Sends by hitting "send"

50 Breath-taking symbol, to a musician?

51 Be a peeping Tom, with "on"

11 ___ rest (bury)

58 Flamenco dancer's cry

13 Like chocolates in a box: Abbr.

53 Gaucho's grassy plain

64 Funny situations, and a hint to the puzzle theme

18 Ain't proper?

55 "Duck Dynasty" channel ___ E

69 Basemen and shortstop

24 Camel's filling station

70 Move about like a moth

25 Coward, or Christmas

71 Math subgroups

26 Pre-election pulse takers

57 The first word of 17-, 22-, 41-, 52- and 64-Across, in text shorthand

72 Grave message?

27 Founded, as a town: Abbr.

73 It's more, in a writing rule

28 '80s Oilers goalie Grant

59 Mouse battery size

60 Absorb, as with a sponge

Down

1 Flat-bottomed boat 2 Buck tail?

3 Tomlin of "Grace and Frankie" 4 Arctic dome home

"

52 Acid found in green veggies

16 Title girl in a Barenaked Ladies song

54 You have to break these to make "une omelette"

23 Ominous cloud colour

56 To swim: Fr.

29 Pet peeve?

33 Request one's attendance at 35 Calgary-to-Lethbridge dir.

36 "It's not my cup ___"

38 City dwellers in a video game

61 Brazilian soccer great

62 Leon who wrote "Exodus" 63 Levies not paid in Alta.

65 Give, to Robbie Burns 66 All worked (up)

67 Test taken lying down 68 Nile biter

45

“Guiding Families Forward”

Rechecking my assumptions

By Trevor Hutchinson Contributing Editor

A year ago in this space I opined how February was the worst month of the year and that it sucks beyond measure.

I know this to still be the undisputed gospel truth.

But my recent Christmas column made more than a few readers really, really angry. Some said really, really mean things about me, and because I am so ‘woke,’ I have spent the better part of 2023 in tears. I can barely be sarcastic anymore, what with the constant pain of criticism.

But every problem is just a hidden solution, as they say (or at least motivational poster freaks say that). With a chin up attitude, I decided to re-examine any previous controversial takes to see, God forbid, if I had perhaps missed some nuance, or gasp, an opposing view. No matter that an opinion column is just that -- one take from one idiot on one day and it needn’t be balanced.

Again, that’s pretty clear. Even a gymnast couldn’t find a beam that balanced.

There were of course a few COIVD-related pieces. Nothing to walk back here, folks: COVID is real, vaccines work and the freedumbers weren’t truckers and the hot tubs had little to do with COVID. How about my claim that raisins are the devil’s work and don’t belong in a butter tart? No, that checks out. That is past fact. It’s possibly scripture.

But then I got to my February 2022 column, which was a straight-out, full-on attack on the month itself.

I’m clearly biased, but the piece made several amazing and irrefutable arguments. (It’s worth a Google if you happened to miss it.)

My take on climate change? Nah it’s real, it’s happening and we will make the planet uninhabitable if we don’t change our ways. So that one’s good.

But, and I am more than ashamed to admit this, I totally missed Extraterrestrial Culture Day. Somewhat fortuitously, it lands this year on Feb. 14.

(I’ve always thought Feb 14 deserved a special occasion.) As probably everyone knows, Extraterrestrial Culture Day celebrates and honours all past, present, and future extraterrestrial visitors. To those of us who have spent any time living with someone who is seemingly from another world, this day is sacred. It should have been weighed against the cold, bills, depression and weird spelling of February.

What about my several statements saying that today's Conservative party is really just the Reform Party and great progressive conservatives like Leslie Frost would not recognize it?

And for that I would like to sincerely, and without reservation, apologize.

All I can do is to try harder. And wish everyone a most joyous Extraterrestrial Culture Day.

But I have been privileged to write in this space since April 2019 and I have touched on more than a few topics.

With plenteous tears that could drown the world (to paraphrase Shakespeare), I flipped through paper copies of the Advocate, just to double check.

46

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