The Lindsay Advocate - June 2023

Workplace mental health supports seen as imperative

Ten years later: Remembering The Lindsay Post

Gone but not forgotten: Family businesses of the past

Kawartha Lakes’ Premier News Magazine * June 2023

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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

June 2023 * Vol. 6 * Issue 61

The business of journalism must be part of a new ecology — one that is not separate from community, pretending always to be objective — but rather one that is deeply embedded in community, its intentions made plain. We advocate for a community of prosperity, socially and economically, with no one left behind.

— Roderick Benns, Publisher

Publisher: Roderick Benns Editor-at-Large/Business Development Rebekah McCracken Contributing Editor: Trevor Hutchinson Contributing Writers: Nancy Payne Ian McKechnie Geoff Coleman Ginny Colling Trevor Hutchinson Roderick Benns Lisa Hart Art Direction + Design: Barton Creative Co. Christina Dedes Photographers: Sienna Frost Web Developer: Kimberly Durrant Published By Fireside Publishing House Printed By Cofax Printing Cover Image: Jason Bain, the last editor of The Lindsay Post, stands with Lindsay's Baia Segura, posing as a paper-girl. Photo: Sienna Frost.

Please send advertising & editorial inquiries to Roderick Benns at: The Lindsay Advocate 1 Russel Street E. Lindsay ON, K9V 1Z7 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Photos, text & art work contained in The Lindsay Advocate are copyrighted & may not be published, broadcast or rewritten without the express permission of the Publisher.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.

Feature 12

Cover 18

Feature 28

The value of good workplace mental heath

The Post's closure was the end of an era

Family businesses of the past in Kawartha Lakes

EVERY ISSUE Letters to the Editor 4 * UpFront 6 * Benns’ Belief 9 Great Reads 45 * Cool Tips for a Hot Planet 47 * Just in Time 48 The Affordable Kitchen 50 * Trevor’s Take 54

To advertise in the Advocate please contact us by telephone at (705) 341-1496 or by email at kawarthalakespublisher@gmail.com

“Don't you like to write letters? I do because it's such a swell way to keep from working and yet feel you've done something.”

— Ernest Hemingway

to the editor Driving in downtown Lindsay ‘a nightmare’ says reader

Climate change and extreme weather

I don't recall any councillor or town planner asking the opinion of the public regarding the so-called beautification of downtown Kent Street in Lindsay. They were thinking of summer walking tourists who are not here in winter.

Town residents rarely walk all the way from Victoria Avenue to Lindsay Street. The little shops are very nice but unless you go in and out of each it is hard to know their contents. Taxpayer money was spent to make extra wide and unnecessary sidewalks and jut-outs, only to reduce the traffic lanes and parking spaces on what used to be the widest main street in Ontario. They lost at least 20 spaces to have extra wide sidewalks half the extra width would have been sufficient for people with disabilities.

Re: Just in Time column, “Tornado watch: When the winds walloped our community,” in May’s Advocate.

Please do not prohibit cars parking on Kent Street from Cambridge to Lindsay Street. People try to shop as close to, and on the same side of, the street as the place they want to enter. Driving in downtown Lindsay is a nightmare with the crosswalks and the jut-outs. Maybe that’s why people prefer to shop on Kent Street West. I love living in Lindsay but the extravagant spending of council bugs me.

Kudos to Ian McKechnie for this well researched article, highlighting the major extreme weather events that have hit the Kawarthas during the last century. Included are 1) June 11, 1911 “a dramatic windstorm described as a ‘cyclone’ which tore through old Victoria County. 2) July 28, 1938 “A powerful tornado unleashed its fury on downtown Lindsay.” 3) May 21, 2022 “a powerful derecho rolled across southern Ontario.” By contrast, in the previous month’s Advocate, Ginny Colling in “Believe in the gravity of gravity---and science” also makes reference to “the derecho storm which swept southern Ontario last May.” However she uses it as an example of the devastation caused by global heating. She makes no mention oft the other major storms that McKechnie cites, but of course those earlier ones could not be blamed on the burning of fossil fuels. In the same breath, Collins links hurricane Fiona to climate change, while remaining silent on the deadliest hurricane in US history, the Galviston hurricane, which occurred in 1900, long before the Industrial Revolution and the subsequent rise in carbon emissions.

— Rosalind Doble, Lindsay

— Carl Sweetman, Lindsay

The city, in fact, held two public meetings to ask for feedback on the downtown revitalization. They were quite well attended, with 150 people at the first one and about 200 people at the second one. The city’s website also welcomed ongoing feedback regarding the project. As for parking spaces, we checked with city officials. Including the reconfiguration of William and Cambridge Streets, the downtown, in fact, didn’t lose 20 parking spots and it didn’t gain any either. It was approximately a breakeven scenario.

To suggest that the rise in carbon emissions is a uniquely 20th century phenomenon seems to be both scientifically and historically inaccurate. After all, many people immigrated or moved in the 19th century to escape the effects of air pollution. — Ian McKechnie

— The Advocate

Send us your thoughts to be featured here!

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When scientists talk about the amount of global heating being 1.2 degrees Celsius, they are measuring the temperature against record averages in the 1850-1900 range. And two thirds of that increase in temperature have taken place since about 1980. No surprise, then, that human-caused climate influences weren’t felt in 1911 or 1938. — Ginny Colling

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. lindsayadvocate.ca

Men’s clothier Greg Nisbett’s death triggers community outpouring R.I.P. Greg. You were a special person and I thank you for encouraging the kids of Lindsay to be physically fit. The town has lost a great ambassador.

— Alf Blackburn

So sorry to hear this. It seems I’ve known Greg forever.

He will be missed greatly. Condolences to his family and friends.

— Lorrie Polito

As a clothing rep from 1970 to 2000 I enjoyed every visit with Greg. Always happy and wanted to trade jokes with me. He was a trooper in the clothing business as he always knew what he wanted and didn’t need. You couldn’t fool him. He was wise beyond his years. Very saddened by his passing. Too soon for such a hard working retailer. Sadly missed by all who knew him. R.I.P. — Brian Francis

Greg was an amazing human being and always treated me like gold anytime I shopped there or ran into him. He will be truly missed in the business community and surely as a great man. Rest in paradise.

— Sheldon Arnold

This is so sad and I liked Greg so much! We talked, we laughed, we said things that only guy friends say to each other. We crossed into each others athletic worlds without hesitation and I truly understood the magnitude of his accomplishments. He was truly a superhuman living amongst us and I will miss him.

— Craig Creighton

So sad. Such a good man and he was so kind when I had a house fire and lost everything. He gave my boyfriend and my son clothes and donated vouchers; he was very kind and courteous, always smiling.

— Jane Carlson 5

* UPFRONT * Lindsay Seniors Association looking for more members

Call for homes for Christmas house tour in Lindsay

Wilf Ludlam is one of the welcoming faces you might see at the senior's association. Photo: Sienna Frost.

This beautiful home near Oakwood is one of many houses available to see on the tour.

The Lindsay Seniors Association has been providing a recreational, social and creative outlet for seniors since 1965.

And they’re always on the lookout for new members.

A non-profit volunteer run organization, the association provides more than 20 activities. This includes card and table games, creative arts, exercise, floor games, and music groups.

Membership is purchased on an annual basis for a small fee.

Every two years a volunteer board of executives and directors is elected and supported by a volunteer office staff.

Frances Moore, vice president of the board, says all activities are run by volunteer conveners and assistants on a weekly basis from September through May. Some activities are offered year-round.

“The Lindsay Seniors Association has much to be thankful for,” says Moore. “The support from Kawartha Lakes and the local community, along with the dedicated volunteers who keep the organization alive is what makes Lindsay such a special place to live.

For more information about the Lindsay Seniors Association visit lindsayseniors.com, email lindsayseniors@gmail.com or call 705-878-8261.

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Have you ever cycled, driven, or walked past some of Lindsay’s most aesthetically and architecturally-unique homes and wondered what delights in decor might grace their interiors?

For over a quarter of a century now, hospitable homeowners have been inviting the public into their homes, to admire their clever handiwork in making comfortable and attractive living spaces out of homes both ancient and modern.

Organized by St. Paul’s Anglican Church and the Kawartha Lakes Museum, the Christmas House Tour, to be held this year on Dec. 2, has become for many long-time residents and visitors alike an annual tradition.

Do you like to decorate your home for the Christmas season? Would you like to have your home featured in this year’s tour? Just use the contact information below.

For further information call Barb Truax at 705-324-6257.

lindsayadvocate.ca

* BUSINESS UPFRONT * Kingsway Optical sees success in Bobcaygeon

Kawartha Candle Company has new ‘Sunsets on Sturgeon’ scent

Holly Wreggitt of Kingsway Optical.

After 20 years of serving the Kawartha Lakes eyewear community for another business, Holly Wreggitt decided to follow her dream of starting her own optical store.

Over time, she had become somewhat disillusioned with what she determined to be a “profit over product” mentality. In April of 2022 she and her partner Jeff Johnston opened the doors of Kingsway Optical in Bobcaygeon.

“Jeff and I are so grateful to the whole community for their continued support in our first year of business.”

From the extensive selection of frame styles, colours and trends and the added convenience of an on-site lab, Kingsway Optical provides fast, friendly, and affordable eyewear to a growing number of eyewear consumers.

As well, Kingsway has been able to provide an “at home” service to patients who find it difficult to make the trip to the shop.

Ruthie Hayes, owner of Kawartha Candle Co. Photo: Sienna Frost.

Ruthie Hayes has been providing quality soy candles since COVID, when she took over Kawartha Candle Company.

Hayes says she loves interacting with customers at local vendor markets and supporting other local businesses by “providing them with a great affordable product to provide to their customers.”

With scents like Farmhouse, Citrus + Cedarwood, or her number one seller, Maple Butter, there’s many choices. In addition to Maple Butter, Hayes has two other favourite scents.

Wreggitt helps her patients choose a frame to suit their style and then guides them through the critical process of choosing the perfect lenses for their individual lifestyle.

“That’s what I find most rewarding,” she says.

The first one she cites is Stargazing, which is vanilla almond and sandalwood blended “to create a sweet and clean scent that’s perfect year-round.” She also loves Sunsets on Sturgeon, her new favourite scent for summer 2023, with an emphasis on fruit scents.

Call 705-738-2020 or visit kingswayoptical.ca

Visit Kawartha Candle Company on Facebook or call 705-340-1551

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Not the library from your childhood

Celebrating

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(but we still love doing storytime)

DISCOVER EXPLORE BE ENTERTAINED Millions of opportunities.

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* BENNS' BELIEF *

Community journalism lives on

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By Roderick Benns Publisher

When I was a kid I delivered the Peterborough Examiner to my east ward neighbourhood in Lindsay. As I placed that newspaper in mailboxes, The Lindsay Daily Post was often there, too. It was common to subscribe to more than one newspaper in the early 1980s. Sometimes I’d cross paths with the Post paper boy and sometimes his sisters would help, too. We had critical jobs; we were information carriers at a time when the news moved far more slowly (and thoughtfully.) We were the final part of a news cycle that everyone counted on – and everyone trusted.

As I discovered when we first moved to Lindsay when I was a young child, the Post, it seemed, had been around forever. Our old basement had stacks of them that someone had been saving.

I still remember one paper from 1935 had scandalously low prices, like 31 cents for a dozen eggs. (Not the ridiculously high $1.25 we had to pay in the early 1980s.)

The idea of news and telling community stories stayed with me. I enrolled in a journalism program and quickly realized my calling would inevitably be tied to writing, whether it was news, features, books, or otherwise.

I sold my first published story to The Lindsay Daily Post to a young editor named Mike Puffer. I told him I just wanted the byline. He said he’d at least give me something for my time. I soon pocketed a $25 cheque; my writing career had just been officially monetized.

I would go on to write full time for The Guelph Mercury for a while. (It closed in 2016.) Later, I worked full time in Lindsay for the Post’s overtly Conservative rival (at least at the time) in the mid-1990s, Lindsay This Week, before leaving the area for 20 years to explore other opportunities. Although I had moved away, the Post seemed a reliable and balanced way to catch up on local issues when I’d visit family back home.

I was shocked when the Post closed in 2013, although was certainly familiar with the seismic shift news was undergoing, ravaged by online choices. Then social media algorithms offered more news than ever, but seldom a differing viewpoint.

The Post’s demise – more than any other single thing – got me thinking about how to serve my old hometown, journalistically. About four years later, the Advocate took root. And it did so for many reasons. First, there’s our dedicated and loyal readership. There are our committed advertisers who understand that being associated with a product that is much loved pays dividends for them, too. Then there’s our team of writers, editors, and creatives who find joy in playing a pivotal role in telling our community’s stories.

As we reflect on the demise of the Post 10 years later, we give thanks that we may carry on with community journalism through the Advocate for the well-being of our community.

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* EDITORIAL * Long live local news Creative destruction. That’s what the Austrian-born economist, Joseph Schumpeter wrote about in the 1950s as a theory of economic innovation. That’s what our society is in the middle of right now, as we undergo an information revolution in many ways, but most certainly in how we consume news at a mass level.

It’s been 10 years since The Lindsay Post fell, as the Advocate’s Nancy Payne writes about in our cover story this month. The Post was certainly a victim of these forces. But using terms like creative destruction has a smug detachment about it.

Analyzing this only through the long lens of history ignores the fact that there were real, local people who were affected. Journalists and support staff lost their jobs; readers lost a piece of their community.

In Social Media and Democracy Rasmus Kleis Nielsen and Richard Fletcher write that “empirical research suggests that independent, professionally produced news has helped inform the public, helped people make sense of the world through analysis, interpretation…and helped members of the public…see themselves as part of a community.”

3 reasons

to choose the Advocate for your advertising

What do we have now, in the main? A digital-first media environment that is increasingly defined by algorithmically-based kinds of personalization.

In the not-so-old days, most of us learned about things going on from a direct discovery of the news. If we didn’t just rely on television, then we picked up a newspaper or magazine and read its curated content and became informed of local or national issues.

But if people rely only on social media, we now only discover the content we are fed. That is dangerous for democracy, as Fenelon’s Tim Wisener points out in this edition’s ‘Lunch with Roderick Benns’ feature.

The Advocate is not immune to the forces that killed the Post, but we are better poised to succeed, simply because we are small and independent. We do not require massive sums of money needed to fund a huge corporation.

1 2 3

As long as we continue to have the support of our community, we look forward to serving Kawartha Lakes for many years to come.

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lindsayadvocate.ca

Households with income of $150K+ are drawn to magazines.

Print magazines are #1 in reaching affluent influential consumers.

Magazines show the highest return on advertising spending—the ultimate Key Performance Indicator.

A full 61% of readers are inspired to take action after seeing a print magazine ad.

– The Association of Magazine Media

* OPINION * Thanks for nothing, Mr. Mulroney Kirk Winter is the Advocate’s municipal affairs and education writer. He also frequently writes on provincial and federal matters.

There are few Canadian prime ministers in my lifetime who did more damage to the nation with a single signature than Brian Mulroney did when he signed on to the Canadian-United States Free Trade Agreement (CUSFTA) in 1987.

The deal that would later grow to include Mexico in 1994 was supposed to give Canadian business people access to the largest and richest market in the world, the United States of America.

Some parts of Canada, namely areas that extracted raw materials like lumber, wheat and minerals, benefited from the deal. But Canada’s industrial heartland, largely located in Ontario, was hollowed out in less than a decade. American companies, which no longer needed their Canadian branch plants because tariffs had all but disappeared, simply closed their Canadian operations and added another shift at their U.S. based plants to supply the Canadian market.

Lindsay’s industrial east ward went from a bustling engine of prosperity to a collection of half empty buildings and vacant lots where successful companies once stood.

Mulroney’s legacy, almost four decades on, once again raised its ugly head at Kawartha Lakes council as the city released the winning bidders on eight different city contracts.

Two in particular caught my eye. One was the contract for renovations to the Janetville Community Hall, and the second was the demolition and rebuilding of washroom facilities at Lindsay’s Memorial Park.

The winning bidder for the Janetville renovations, located in Brighton, won the job with a $295,000 bid, beating out four other firms including a very well-respected local contractor who finished third with a bid of $334,000. A similar situation occurred in the washroom demolition and rebuild competition where the same Brighton contractor

won the job with a $612,000 bid, and the same reputable Lindsay-based firm finished second with a bid of $618,000.

I was shocked that in both cases the city chose the outside firm, whose payroll will likely be generously spent in East Northumberland County, rather than in Kawartha Lakes.

I understand from covering council for many years that they have virtually no leeway to reward local firms, but particularly with the Memorial Park bids separated by less than one per cent I wondered if there was anything that could have been done to keep that money in the city.

Launa Macey, supervisor of procurements for Kawartha Lakes, made clear that all municipal tenders put forward

by Kawartha Lakes are open to all companies from across North America as laid out in CUSFTA, and that the city cannot give preference to any bidder based on location or possible economic benefit to the city as a whole.

“To allow an award to go to a vendor based on location, no matter how close they are in price, would not be in compliance with the Canadian Free Trade Agreement,” Macey said.

It is clear from this explanation that the city has significant constraints that they must abide by. It is also clear that CUSFTA handcuffs what the city might want to do, but can’t, to keep Kawartha Lakes tax dollars in the hands of local employers and their employees.

Thanks again for nothing, Mr. Mulroney.

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ADVERTORIAL

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Working hard for good mental health How local companies and organizations are advocating for better workplace mental health for their employees

By Geoff Coleman

Being in poor physical health doesn’t mean you will get a physical illness. Lots of people can’t run a marathon, and never develop tuberculosis. Similarly, poor mental health does not necessarily lead to bi-polar disorder.

Mental health is a spectrum and relates to one’s state of mind, feelings and emotions. Like physical health, it can be improved, and local companies who see the value of a healthy workforce are cultivating just that in traditional and creative ways.

According to Jack Veitch, manager of community engagement and education for the Canadian Mental Health Association Haliburton, Kawartha, Pine Ridge, “mental health-related issues are the leading cause of short and long-term disability claims in Canada,” which is a pretty compelling reason for employers to address it. Veitch believes that good employers invest in the complete health of their employees.

“Hard hats and fall arrest harnesses obviously are needed on many jobsites, but so are mental health initiatives…because they pay dividends. Employee turn over is lower, and engagement is higher in a workplace culture that recognizes the importance of mental health.”

Those sentiments are echoed by Richard Hammill, human resources manager at Armada Toolworks in Lindsay. The plant — best known for making automotive parts — employs about 300 people and Hammill has no question about the importance of a physically and mentally healthy staff.

“We make parts that go on $400,000 cars. Quality control is critical, and when our workers are mentally healthy, it improves the efficiency of our product. Quality control is better, and people are more focused, noticing concerns before they become problems.”

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He notes that stress at home and in the workplace contributes to mental health issues, and they can’t be compartmentalized. Things that happen at work affect one at home and vice versa. He says finances are a common trigger outside the job, and interpersonal conflicts are a stressor at work. With 300 people working together, friction between personalities is inevitable.

“Even just one person having a bad day in a department of 30 can create a significant loss of cohesiveness and productivity.”

He goes on to say that many “bad days” relate to anxiety.

Younger and newer employees, in particular, express fear of not doing a good job, of making a mistake, and of not fitting in with the team. Jack Veitch says this observation is substantiated by polling of Human Resource managers nationally who claim the biggest, most consistent trend they see across the board is a younger workforce showing generalized anxiety.

Jason Ward can — and does — talk with experience about anxiety and the stresses of work. The lawyer-turned-professional speaker found that after practicing law for more than 20 years, he struggled to manage the sky-high expectations of a demanding job and the responsibilities of a family.

“I felt like I had to achieve perfection in everything if I wanted to climb the legal ladder, so I was at the office most, if not all, of the time I wasn’t sleeping. I would be in by 8 am and wouldn’t leave until 9 pm or later, but when my first child was born in 2002, I realized how crushing that culture was. For the first six months of his life, I spent more time at work than at home.”

lindsayadvocate.ca

Do workers game the system?

Almost all small business owners I spoke to off the record pointed out the elephant in the room: men es tal health problems are easy to fake. All had stori and ed offer orts supp the of employees manipulating as taking advantage of the system. “Comp Workers” and m they were sometimes called, know the syste play out the line until they reach the end of the benefits program before returning.

Jack Veitch acknowledged that there is a problem ly with workers gaming the system. It is common t don’ s leave s stres on le held that 10 per cent of peop that adds he , really need them. On the other hand n20-30 per cent of employees who should take adva tage of services do not, and research shows 36 per t cent of employees don’t even feel comfortable abou . boss their with broaching mental health concerns – G.C. Jack Veitch, manager of community engagement and education for the Canadian Mental Health Association Haliburton, Kawartha, Pine Ridge.

The next year, looking for an escape, he started the Wards Lawyers firm in Lindsay, but with the advent of email and cell phones he still felt chained to the desk, driven by anxiety, depression and resentment toward his job. Fifteen years later things had deteriorated to the point where mornings began with him sitting in his vehicle for an hour outside the office.

“I would stare at the big glass doors with my name on them, summoning whatever I needed to get into the building. It was usually the thought of drinking at the end of the day — two dozen bottles of wine were delivered to my house every week — that got me through it. Eventually, I started showing up to the office drunk for our weekly evening meetings. Other nights, I would go into the office to ‘catch up’ on work. Instead, I would sit alone, drinking in my office. One day, my wife patiently told me that if I didn’t get help, she would leave me.”

By 2020 with the help of a sobriety coach and therapist he dried out, but was still self-medicating with THC, unable to go into work without the help of mind-altering substances.

He retired from law in December of 2021 and successfully spent 30 days in a rehabilitation centre in Montreal.

While Ward’s case may be an extreme example, his spiral did begin with feelings of pressure to measure up.

So, what can be done to create a workplace that is conducive to solid mental health?

Like many large companies, Armada has an employee assistance plan that allows employees access to 24 hour a day help to set up a therapy or counselling session. And, they have gone so far as to call in an external counselling service after a crisis event. It did not happen at the plant, but directly involved an employee, and the wellbeing of coworkers was a concern.

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Jason Ward, lawyer turned speaker. 'I felt like I had to achieve perfection in everything if I wanted to climb the legal ladder.'

Photo: Sienna Frost.

On the factory floor, Hammill is a big fan of informally letting people know their value. He himself was a former plant manager, and he tried to connect with workers daily.

“Instead of just addressing problems, I felt it was important to praise and recognize employees when things were going well. I tried to say something positive to people every day.

I think it was appreciated because they sure let me now about it if I missed a few days.”

As might be expected, Wards Lawyers boasts a very progressive work environment in terms of mental health.

“We have appointed a non-corporate Mental Health First Aid Officer in our workplace, formally by bylaw, with a 16

Richard Hammill, human resources manager at Armada Toolworks in Lindsay. Photo: Sienna Frost.

confidential and independent mandate, and formal training and certification. This person supports mental health generally in the workplace, by keeping it front and centre in everyone’s busy day. If approached in our workplace to identify and discuss any mental health-related event or condition, this person will then prepare and identify for the clerk or lawyer a list of optimal resources to obtain the necessary support. It is very well utilized and has been a great program for everyone.”

They also have a weekly Mental Health Day where the firm provides a healthy lunch accompanied by fun, short activities arranged with a positive mental health theme. Additionally, staff make use of a lounge-style room, replete with

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a yoga mat and other activities, intended to be a mental health time-out space for everyone at any time.

And to address the absence of any professional development for those just entering the profession, Wards will soon initiate a round-table series focusing on setting yourself up for success in the legal profession, particularly managing your mental health effectively, involving a series of speakers addressing practice management and mental health awareness. That’s in addition to twice-annual wellness retreats for everyone in the firm which might include a stay at a resort for a weekend, with spouses, or a day-long activity, like a local cruise.

Like Richard Hammill, Ward likes to “fairly regularly check in with our lawyers, and often clerks, about their work management and mental health. That may be a casual conversation, or I may send them information about the importance of identifying and managing mental wellness.

I also blog about mental health weekly (on his new website mentallyspeaking.ca) and share those with everyone at the firm, not only the lawyers.”

Self-employed individuals in some ways have the most stress, and the least help available to them. David Evans recently sold his thriving multi-clinic physiotherapy business in Toronto and has opened a solo practice — Evans Physiotherapy — in Fenelon Falls where he lives. Since many business owners don’t have the time and resources required to focus on mental health in the same way Armada and Wards has, he suggests doing one thing that costs neither.

He believes that expending mental energy “worrying about your competitors and what they are doing comes to be of no help. You can only control the quality, integrity and delivery of your own services (whatever the industry). If you do that well, you are doing the best you can. So, worry less and execute a quality business product.”

Awareness of the importance of mental health has evolved in workplaces not traditionally viewed as places where any form of ‘weakness’ is tolerated. Today, CFL quarterbacks, NHL goalies and your first responders can all access supports.

What you can do for a colleague themselves in variMental health concerns manifest a few common red ous ways on the job, but there are rking next to you. flags to watch for in the person wo If your co-worker: Seems withdrawn from others Takes a lot of time off al Appears less productive than usu king decisions ma g, tin tra cen con e Has a hard tim or remembering things dlines or poor work • Makes excuses for missed dea s others for prob• Shows a lot of anger or blame lems a conversation with . . . Then it may be time for of “I statements,” them. Veitch recommends the use asking a coworker, when having that talk. Instead of ch today?”, it’s bet“Why are you screwing up so mu struggling today.” ter to say, “I notice you seem to be

• • • •

the course. If there From there, let your colleague set workplace, a family isn’t assistance available at the can be of assistance. doctor, a church, or the CMHA tor’s referral, and The CMHA does not require a doc most services are free.

– G.C.

Volunteer firefighters in Kawartha Lakes for example, have access to the city’s human resources department, but also the critical incident stress management peer support team.

The volunteer group is trained in assisting individuals in crisis following an upsetting call. They let the individual know the science behind why they are stressed by what they encountered, that there is no stigma associated with what they are experiencing, and that professional help is just a phone call away.

And that goes for everyone.

LA

17

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* COVER STORY *

The Last Post Taking stock a decade after the newspaper’s closure

By Nancy Payne

Everybody knew The Lindsay Post was in trouble. It went from a daily to publishing twice a week. It got thinner and thinner. Its offices moved from the fine old building that still bears its name to an unexceptional storefront. But when a newspaper serves a community for a century, its death is still kind of unthinkable. Until it isn’t. The end was brutal in its simplicity. The item in the June 14, 2013, paper begins, “This is the last edition of The Lindsay Post.”

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In his statement, publisher Darren Murphy added, “I have been involved with The Lindsay Post in different roles for almost 10 years and we have made numerous attempts to change the business model to try and make this operation sustainable. Unfortunately the market has not been able to support the continued publication of the newspaper.” Everyone who had joked about the Post or claimed never to read it (while never missing an issue) or complained about how there was nothing in it any more had to accept that it was gone for good.

It’s hard to understand just how fiercely competitive the newspaper business was when The Canadian Post started publishing in Beaverton in 1857. When it moved to Lindsay in 1861, there were already two newspapers on the go: the Lindsay Herald and, believe it or not, the Lindsay Advocate. (The latter was founded in 1855, with the intention of “furthering the interests of this Town and County and advocating whatever will, in any way, tend to their well-being and improvement,” a fact unknown to the founder of this magazine when choosing a name.) Over the decades, other publications such as the Victoria Warder, the Lindsay Watchman and the Lindsay Expositor came, went and merged.

When the Wilson family bought the paper in 1895, they changed it from a weekly to a daily. They sold the Post to media giant Thomson in the 1980s, who in turn sold it to Conrad Black’s Hollinger Group in 1995. Osprey Media group took it over in 2001, selling to Quebecor’s Sun Media chain six years later. In 2007, the paper changed its name from The Lindsay Daily Post and cut back to twice-weekly publication. At the end, it was publishing a subscription paper on Tuesdays and a free one on Fridays.

Jason Bain reads the last edition ever published of The Lindsay Post.

Photo: Sienna Frost.

The 2007 reduction was the real signal the end was nigh, says Stefanie Lynch, former business office manager at the Post. “We lost our access to that local daily news. It all came down to saving money to make the paper more viable.”

Over her 26 years with the paper Lynch did pretty much everything that didn’t involve reporting or editing. Starting as a proofreader, she moved on to layout and then distribution and managing payroll and other aspects of the business side. In that time, she worked under 10 different owners and saw previously unimaginable upheavals. When the Wilsons sold to Thomson, the new owners centralized printing and other operations, cutting staff at smaller papers like the Post. Computerized composing meant further job losses. Lynch estimates that when she started with the Post in 1987, there were more than 60 staff; by the time it closed, there were fewer than 10.

Jason Bain started with the Post on a high school co-op placement, becoming a staff reporter in 2004 and editor in 2007. “I saw more change in that relatively short time than some newspaper folks would have experienced over decades.”

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When the money was rolling in from ads and subscriptions in the 1980s, no one could possibly have foreseen the internet or its array of free news that would spell the end for so many storied newspapers. “Different corporate entities are going to have different levels of patience when it comes to the long term. The shortfall in print wasn’t being compensated for by the gains in digital. That wasn’t a Post thing, that was an industry-wide thing,” Bain says. Good-faith attempts to attract readers and adapt to digital formats failed one after another, creating an inevitable death spiral.

After the Post died, people often expressed their sadness to her, but when she asked if they subscribed, the answer was almost always no.

Social media, with its ability to disseminate ads and information (not to mention misinterpretation and outright untruths) instantly and cheaply was perhaps the final blow.

“Like a lot of newspapers in that era, we were into struggles where social media was in some ways winning the war.

Clearly the advertiser base (for print publications) wasn’t there,” says Lisa Gervais, a Post reporter who now edits The Highlander in Haliburton.

Classifieds and display ads for local businesses dropped away and readership dwindled. “It was the people who didn’t subscribe to the newspaper who closed it,” says Lynch. After the Post died, people often expressed their sadness to her, but when she asked if they subscribed, the answer was almost always no.

“It just quietly closed. In some ways, that’s a bit sad,” says Gervais. “I think papers were taken a bit for granted — that they would always be there.” With the Post gone, the only local print news outlets left were the twice-monthly Kawartha Promoter, now digital-only, and Kawartha Lakes This Week, which had subsumed the Bobcaygeon Independent and Fenelon Falls Gazette a decade earlier. Seven months after the closure of the Post, KLTW went down to one issue a week.

As someone who was born and raised in the community, and whose grandmother had subscribed for more than 50 years, “working there was personal,” says Bain. “It was a connection. I enjoyed getting phone calls from regular readers who had a bee in their bonnet about an issue.” He still recognizes the names of subscribers and frequent letter writers when he reads local death notices.

Former Lindsay mayor and Victoria County councillor Lorne Chester remembers the first time he saw the Post.

“Having classified ads on the front page was interesting,”

lindsayadvocate.ca

When the money was rolling in from ads and subscriptions in the 1980s, no one could possibly have foreseen the internet or its array of free news that would spell the end for so many storied newspapers.

he laughs, adding that he subscribed as soon as he moved to the area and read every edition. “It was an integral part of the community. I felt a lot more informed when the Post was active. You knew what the issue of the day was.”

He recalls the days when the Post and other local news outlets had reporters at every council meeting. Likewise, he says, it was important to have a daily newspaper to let people know about local events and celebrations such as Lindsay’s 125th anniversary in 1982.

“We reflected the community,” says Gervais, “whether that was the bake sale or the important hospital story or that lovely community story. I think that’s what a good community newspaper should do.”

In the years after the closure of the Post, it became clear that for many local residents, online listings of concerts, fundraisers, plays, church suppers and the hundreds of

things that bind a community together weren’t filling the gap. Not only was internet coverage spotty in many parts of Kawartha Lakes, plenty of people were uncomfortable with or didn’t understand how to use online platforms, and weren’t interested in social media. Combined with reduced local news coverage, the results showed up in civic life and participation. “Generally speaking, people are a lot less engaged,” says Chester.

If people have to work to find local news and information, many just won’t bother, or will believe rumour and disinformation in the absence of neutral reporting. “It kind of breaks my heart that we are where we are,” says Bain. “And to see good journalists being abused verbally — no one ever told me what to write or how to write it.”

Now the managing editor of Ontario Out of Doors magazine, Bain has a new perspective on the local media scene.

“It warms my heart to see the Advocate working to fill that gap, to hear people talking about reading the Advocate. I think the social justice angle is really interesting — seeing it more as a service than a business.”

The more local coverage, the better, Bain says, when it comes to boosting local connections and helping people understand issues that affect Kawartha Lakes. “Hopefully more folks will recognize the value in the community of quality journalism — of being informed and making good decisions.” LA 23

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* COMMUNITY *

Toastmasters member has been raising a glass for 50 years

By Lisa Hart

Nelson has watched a lot of uncomfortable people walk through the door to their first meeting. Most of them cannot hide that it is the last place they want to be. Still, they take this first important step for a variety of personal and professional reasons.

Some people join Toastmasters for the opportunity to interact with others, the chance to gain confidence, or to prepare to give a special toast at a social function. Others join to prepare for job interviews, learn the skills needed to effectively lead a meeting, or to further their career. Meetings can provide a positive coaching environment for those learning English as a second language. With members from so many different backgrounds and interests, every meeting offers the chance to learn something new through the stories of fellow members.

For Nelson, Toastmasters gave him the confidence to turn his desire to become a teacher in Waterloo Region into a reality. Nelson taught Grade 7 for 20 years and conducted public speaking lessons in his classroom just like a Toastmasters meeting. As his students graduated into higher grades, Nelson’s teaching colleagues could identify the students he had taught by the positive traits he had instilled in them -- traits that Nelson credits to the Toastmaster’s system.

Everyone is assigned a job at a Toastmaster’s meeting and everyone gets feedback. That’s the key to improving, the longtime member says. Members become proficient in using techniques such as pauses, gestures and vocal variety when they speak, as well as learning the critical skill of reading their audience.

Tony Nelson, of Toastmasters. Photo: Lisa Hart.

“Toastmasters is not just a club of skilled speakers,” explains long-time member Tony Nelson. “It is a place to go to learn to become a skilled speaker.” Nelson would know, as he has been a member of Toastmasters for more than 50 years.

He stays for kinshhip and because he wants to help others to get better.

Two years is the average stay for members, says Nelson; most leave after gaining the skills they want. The Lindsay and District Club, in which he serves on the executive, has hung on to a higher percentage of long-term members than the typical Toastmasters club. Prior to his time with Lindsay’s club, Nelson was a member of London, Waterloo, Kitchener, and Cambridge.

“Toastmasters gives people a voice,” says Nelson. It helps them to become organized and comfortable on their feet by giving them the tools to adjust when faced with unexpected situations. It also teaches its members what not to do.

For instance, Nelson has a pet peeve about speakers who end by thanking their audience. After all, “the speaker has a harder job than the audience.” A professional speaker, he says, will end a speech by challenging their audience to take the information they have learned and turn it into an action, depending on the topic.

Nelson credits Toastmasters with having a positive impact in many areas of his life. He believes the training he received as a member has set him up for success, allowing him to be adaptable and to persevere.

“He is someone we all look up to and respect so much,” says fellow Toastmaster Suzanne Seryck.

To learn more about Toastmasters, contact Tony Nelson at 705-887-4936 or at irish1277@gmail.com.

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* DINING REVIEW * Eganridge

Stunning view and incredible cuisine

By Rebekah McCracken and Roderick Benns

Many restaurants have incredible cuisine. But rare is the restaurant that offers both amazing food and a gorgeous setting. However, that choice is available to diners in Kawartha Lakes and for the many tourists who visit – and its name is Eganridge.

Eganridge, the restaurant, also happens to be a resort, country club and spa. It is spacious, and its physicality emphasizes one of its greatest assets – the view of Sturgeon Lake.

When we dined, Carly looked after us with professionalism and a perfect sense of timing for fine dining pacing.

While an impressive wine list awaits those so inclined, we kicked things off with gin martinis, made with dry vermouth, olive brine, and garnished with olives. If you’re looking for a second cocktail or an alternative, the Manhattan is a flavourful go-to choice at Eganridge, made from rye whisky, sweet vermouth, bitters and garnished with a cherry.

We started with fresh baked focaccia, made with a house made olive tapenade and balsamic dressing. Order this one right away, as it takes 20 minutes to bake. We loved the olive tapanade and balsamic blend, the perfect sweet and salty mix to stimulate the tastebuds. It’s a generous portion and could easily have been shareable for four, let alone two.

Worth the wait.

The winter rocket salad was our other starter, comprised of arugula, roasted apple, cranberry, smoked bacon, Pecorino and maple cider dressing. Winter is a misnomer, as this salad is light and refreshing, even though it admittedly contains elements of the harvest, like cranberry and roasted apple.

Eganridge is one of the best places in the region if you’re a duck lover. Their Ontario duck duo is an exquisitely roasted duck breast, perfectly plated by Chef Charles. With this entrée is a citrus confit leg spring roll, cauliflower puree, turnip, and port red current jus.

If red meat is what you’re after, look no further than the Asian sticky short rib selection. This is a slow braised boneless short rib, tender as can be, painted with a honey ginger glaze. It’s surrounded by a yam puree that was divine.

When it came time for dessert, Carly informed us of several choices for the evening, including the salted caramel cheesecake. This French-style cheesecake didn’t disappoint.

(French-style cheesecake is made with a sponge cake base and cream cheese mousse, rather than relying on butter for fat.) Delicious, and lighter than its North American counterpart. For a more a decadent choice, the white chocolate lava cake is mostly darker chocolate with a white centre.

A jolt of deliciousness that could easily have been shared, given how sweet it was.

To cap your evening during nice weather months, why not head downstairs and outside to soak up the evening air and extend your time with beautiful Sturgeon Lake? If you’re lucky, a warm fire will be going to help reinforce your good memories at Eganridge.

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Remembering local family businesses from times past

By Ian McKechnie

“Fifty years ago, the stores of Lindsay were family businesses, often of some antiquity,” wrote Watson Kirkconnell in 1967. “Since that time the spread of great chainstore corporations across the continent has presented the little man with inexorable competition in costing and merchandizing.”

Some of the family-run businesses presented here have indeed disappeared on account of the changing economic landscape Kirkconnell describes. Others met their fate when the founding proprietor’s children or grandchildren left the family business to pursue other ventures. Regardless, these are just a handful of once-thriving family businesses in Kawartha Lakes that are no longer with us.

one his patrons were looking for. The store was a place to exchange news, mail a letter, and enjoy a good story in the company of neighbours.

Outlasting many of its peers, the Argyle General Store closed in 1984. The rural retail landscape was undergoing tremendous changes, and once-essential crossroads communities were being bypassed by motorists enroute to shop in larger urban centres. Although it enjoyed a brief reprise as a tearoom, gift shop, and convenience store for a few years in the early 2000s, this family business is no more.

The Argyle Store, Argyle Opened in the 1880s, the Argyle General Store passed through several proprietors – including Steve Keown, Andy McIntyre, and Tom Myers – before being purchased by the late Victor and Myrtle Fleming in the late spring of 1937. Fleming’s father, who ran the store at nearby Eldon Station, facilitated the purchase via loan of $3,000.

Like virtually every other general store in 20th century rural Canada, the store stocked almost everything. Canned food, clothing, dairy products, groceries, hardware, kitchen utensils, and spices could be purchased from the Flemings in what one local poet likened to Charles Dickens’ ‘Old Curiosity Shop.’ Thirsty patrons might have enjoyed a bottle of Orange Crush pop outside on hot days while Victor Fleming pumped White Rose gasoline – or dug through his legendary mountain of used tires in search of just the

Victor & Myrtle Fleming, Proprietors of the Argyle Store.

Photo courtesy the estate of Rae Fleming.

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Gregory’s Drug Store, Lindsay Few of the family-run businesses in this area could match Gregory’s Drug Store when it came to longevity. For over 120 years, the Gregory family compounded drugs, dispensed medications, and supplied the community with everything needed to cure ailments afflicting their fellow citizens.

The English-born Edmund Gregory had long dreamt of owning and operating a drugstore – no doubt inspired by two uncles who worked as chemists (as pharmacists were once called – and still are in the United Kingdom). After immigrating to Upper Canada, Edmund compounded drugs for a physician in Colborne before going to work as a druggist in Millbrook. Here he met John Knowlson, and together they formed the Knowlson-Gregory pharmacy in 1858. Not quite a decade later, in 1867, the 30-yearold Edmund became a founding member of the Canadian Pharmaceutical Society and the College of Pharmacy, respectively.

W.A. Goodwin's Art Store, Cambridge Street North.

Photo courtesy of Kawartha Lakes Public Library.

Goodwin’s Art Store, Lindsay Agnostic. Socialist. Vegetarian. The late W.A. Goodwin came to be known for many things over the course of his long life – but for three generations of Victoria County residents, he was best known for the art supply shop he and his children ran in downtown Lindsay.

Goodwin’s Art Store traced its origins back to about 1860, when 20-year-old William Alfred Goodwin arrived in Lindsay from Port Hope and went into the painting and decorating business. For several years prior to Confederation, Goodwin travelled around the countryside with his business partner James Winters to paint houses and hang wallpaper. By 1877, Goodwin had opened a retail store at the northwest corner of Cambridge and Peel Streets – a frame building that still stands today.

Over the course of the next few decades, Goodwin’s Art Store would occupy close to half a dozen locations downtown, with three of the patriarch’s six children selling art supplies, picture frames, wallpaper and other home décor products from behind the counter.

W.A. Goodwin died in 1940, age 99. While his grandsons, Harvey and Edward Goodwin carried on an electricians’ business from the family home on Cambridge Street North well into the 1960s, the art store had vanished from the retail landscape by the end of the Second World War. 32

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Edmund Gregory, founder of Gregory's Drug Store.

Photo courtesy of Jane Gregory-Gill.

Descendants of Edmund Gregory operated pharmacies in Collingwood, Hanover, Stratford, Toronto, Cobourg, Fenelon Falls, Lindsay, Gravenhurst, Port Hope, and Oshawa. In Lindsay, the business was passed down to Edmund’s son, Alfred Edmund Gregory and his grandsons E. Neill Gregory and Charles Arthur “Bill” Gregory, before proprietorship went to great-grandson, Wellington Neill Gregory, whom everyone knew as Sonny.

Anyone entering the old pharmacy at the northeast corner of Kent and William Streets in Lindsay could expect courteous and efficient service. Typical of a family business, the Gregory children regularly helped out around the store stocking shelves, doing inventory, unpacking orders, serving customers, working the cash register, and helping their father deliver prescriptions. Sonny Gregory retired in 1979 and, believing in the importance of family-run pharmacies, refused to sell out to ‘big pharma.’ Thus ended a 121-year run for a Lindsay institution.

Located in the old Sylvester Manufacturing Company complex at the southwest corner of Kent Street and Victoria Avenue, the Kawartha Lumber Company operated for close to three decades. Apart from dressed lumber, the company also produced cottage furniture, mouldings, and windows. A retail operation was located adjacent to the manufacturing facility.

The business was very much a family-run affair: James’ son, Walter, managed the business starting in the 1930s while another son, Stewart, served as shop superintendent. “My best memory as a youth was the huge Belgian gelding horse that was resident at the factory property,” says Walter’s son, Bill Peel. “In the absence of forklift trucks, every board was piled onto wagons and moved around the yard by horse. I spent many hours visiting and patting the horse.”

By the 1950s, larger brand-name firms offering a greater range of products had appeared on the scene, making it difficult for smaller companies to compete. The Kawartha Lumber Company’s retail business was sold to the nationally-known chain Beaver Lumber, while its machinery went to the privately-run Bagshaw Lumber, located west of Lindsay.

Robson’s Farm Equipment, Fenelon Falls Not all family-run businesses began from scratch. Many emerged when a key figure acquired the assets of an existing firm, renamed it, and expanded its offerings. That was certainly the case in 1877, when Thomas and William Robson purchased a fledgling foundry from Fenelon Falls’ William Hamilton and went into the business of making agricultural implements.

James A. Peel, founder of Kawartha Lumber Co. Photo courtesy of William Peel.

Kawartha Lumber Co., Lindsay James Albert Peel established the Kawartha Lumber Co., in 1922 to plane rough-cut lumber into dressed lumber for shipment across Ontario by rail. Peel, a 48 year-old lawyer, already had close to a decade of experience in the lumber industry thanks to his involvement with Coboconk’s Gull River Lumber Company, which he and his brother, Charles, cofounded in 1913.

Under the name Cameron Lake Foundry, the Robsons produced a dizzying assortment of cast iron goods. The April 14, 1883 edition of the Fenelon Falls Gazette invited prospective customers to visit their 640 square-foot showroom at the corner of Colborne and Francis Streets. “The idea is a good one,” observed the Gazette, “as they have long felt the need of a showroom nearer the business centre than the foundry is.”

This development foreshadowed the future of the Robson family’s business. Ten years later, a fire would reduce the foundry to ruins and the family would concentrate on the retail side of farm equipment, operating a Massey-Harris dealership in downtown Fenelon Falls.

The business thrived for nearly 70 years thereafter under the leadership of Thomas Robson’s nephew, W.T. Robson, who subsequently passed the reins to his son, Monty Robson. Newell Watson acquired the business in 1959, and Robson’s passed into Fenelon Falls’ commercial history.

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Ever the entrepreneur, Thomas White went on to be instrumental in launching the Canadian Christmas tree industry after planting Scotch pine trees on Pontypool’s sandy soil to mitigate erosion. He later established economy stores in Bowmanville and Lindsay, the latter still a fixture in town. Although these White-owned enterprises would continue to thrive under the leadership of Thomas’s sons, Lawrence and Stan, the summer resort business is now a mere memory in Manvers Township. LA

Monty Robson at Kinmount Fair.

Photo courtesy of Maryboro Lodge: The Fenelon Museum.

White’s Summer Resort, Pontypool Some family-run businesses reflected the cultural and religious diversity of Kawartha Lakes over the last century.

One of the most well-known of these enterprises was a now-gone summer resort in Pontypool, owned and operated by the late Thomas [Toviah] White, a Jewish entrepreneur.

Born in 1899 to Russian immigrants, White was raised by his older sister Clara and her husband, Barnett Breslov in Lotus, a tiny farming community in Manvers Township.

It was a far cry from the vast resort business springing to life in nearby Pontypool, where, starting in the 1930s, several Jewish families began establishing summer resorts.

Though not the first family to run a resort, the White family’s operation was certainly one of the most popular. Starting around 1944 and continuing into the 1960s, Thomas White and his nine children rented a group of cottages to Jewish excursionists. A large dining hall, capable of feeding 150 people, was always busy – as was a snack bar from which guests could purchase gum, pop, chocolate bars, and other sweet things.

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Isaac White and Thomas White.

Photo courtesy of Dianne Carnaghan.

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Conversations with interesting people in Kawartha Lakes

Tim Wisener, co-owner of Home by Tim + Chris.

All photos: Geoff Coleman.

Tim Wisener on eschewing labels, the demise of good politics, and finding our common humanity

mer in a glass, so I had beverage envy within three seconds.

It’s a cool spring afternoon at Fenelon Falls Brewing Company. The garage-style door is thrown up, allowing for insistent sunbeams to press light onto our table, just as Tim Wisener strolls in.

The dynamic duo also own the gorgeous Colborne Street Gallery (same building), a contemporary art space blessed with abundant natural light and a primo downtown location.

Wisener gives off a Nordic vibe – fair haired, tall and lean.

He likes my Scandinavian assessment of him but confesses he only has “Nordic aspirations.” In fact, it’s a blended background with dominantly Scottish-Irish ancestry. He also appears to be one of those rare people who looks perpetually amicable, which is, literally, a nice quality to have.

Wisener and Van Lierop have been a permanent fixture in Fenelon Falls for the past six years.

It’s a reliable pint of Vienna lager for me and a Yuzu citrus seltzer for Wisener. The seltzer pretty much looks like sum40

The 44-year-old Wisener didn’t have far to walk. He’s one half of Home by Tim + Chris, the design and renovation company on Colborne Street in the heart of Fenelon Falls which he runs with his partner – and life partner – Chris Van Lierop.

Born and raised in Calgary, Wisener spent every summer of his life here, owing to the family’s local roots. “My family goes back to the 1820s in Lindsay. My great great grandfather was an early mayor of Lindsay. This has always been part of my life. It’s a community I adore,” he says.

lindsayadvocate.ca

Wisener and Van Lierop started spending two-week vacations here, then four weeks, and then longer. “The draw became stronger,” he says.

Years ago, Wisener was the young company manager for Alberta Ballet. Van Lierop was a post-secondary accounting student in Victoria. They met at a bar one night after Wisener had a show in Victoria. Wisener’s ballet company position would soon take him to China for a tour but they maintained a long distance relationship for a few months.

Eventually, Van Lierop would move out to Calgary where Wisener was based.

“Eighteen years together now. He’s my best friend. We’re two peas in a pod all the way.”

The server interrupts to take our orders and Wisener homes in on a Quinoa bowl and I choose their deluxe grilled cheese.

While some couples may have difficulty working as a team, Wisener says they have always just done life really well together. “We’ve always had projects on the go together, even with separate careers and we’ve always been supporters of one another.”

The China trip was not anomalous in Wisener’s stint with the ballet. Alberta Ballet would also take him all over Canada, the U.S. and Egypt, among other places. “I loved that work. But it’s a young person’s job because you’re away for half the year.”

After that, Wisener went to a large concert hall in Calgary as director of client and patron services and then it was on to Toronto to Canadian Stage as an associate producer.

It was then that Wisener and Van Lierop first started doing their home business work, first on the side. They quickly realized it was time to fully take on this next adventure.

“We put so much importance on a home,” as a society, Wisener says, noting that perhaps HGTV is partially responsible for that.

“Our living space and our lived experience in those spaces is so important, and it’s great fun to be a part of that with people.”

Home by Tim + Chris is often hired to help create a second home for a family, or a shared vacation property. “How you use that kind of space is very different from how you use a home,” he says, acknowledging this is the bulk of their work. Conversely, they sometimes take vacation properties and help people turn these into homes.

While they used to envision, conceptualize and even coordinate the hammers and nails part of the business, more and more Wisener says they are focused on the planning stages.

Tim Wisener with Jasper.

“We try to take people through the conceptualization and vision of what they want. Helping them see what their space can be. Understanding what they want. We want to know how the client wants to use the space. Beautiful, yes, but it must be functional.”

Tim Wisener speaks with Jenis Kempt, their senior interior designer.

One of their signature projects they’re working on now is Pinnguaq’s recent acquisition of 12 Peel St. near downtown Lindsay, where a world-class STEAM education and entrepreneurship centre is envisioned.

“We’re so excited to work with them because of what they do. There’s a real opportunity for that to be a flagship building that can turn some heads and engage people.”

Of course, there’s also their own unique space that has just opened. Called Room by Tim + Chris, it’s essentially the south part of the old Kawartha Store, which they had already taken over last year. Wisener calls it a “design forward” space, with home accessories, textiles, furniture and “beautiful things.”

There will be a focus on Canadian makers, brands, small crafters, and artisans as much as possible.

“Fenelon’s growing. People are going to need things for these spaces. People looking for a nice set of sheets will want a place to go,” without leaving the village.

The business owners are also exploring becoming a B Corporation, which are companies that meet high standards of social and environmental performance, accountability, and transparency.

“It’s about purpose and profit,” said Wisener. “It’s an acknowledgment the economy has to work for everyone, not just the people at the top.”

He cites living wages, treating the environment well, sourcing ethically-made goods, and just generally doing business in a way that benefits everyone.

While Wisener may have left the arts world to embark on a home design career, he says he now believes he’s come “full circle” as he gestures toward the wooded area containing the Grove Theatre, of which he was a co-founder, along with Christina Yael and Sean Cox, artistic directors.

When asked what the relationship is like between Grove Theatre and other theatres in the city, such as Globus or the Academy, Wisener says he thinks that “art begets art.”

“We’re all doing quite different things. And it doesn’t take a theatre person to be able to identify that.”

Wisener says a great community is one where there’s a vi42

brant arts scene and one can see multiple plays in different venues. “We’re the new guy on the turf but I think the hope is we’ll all benefit from each other and grow together.”

The theatre lover notes that Grove may be one of the biggest employers in town within 10 years, the way it’s going.

“There’s no reason our trajectory can’t be like this. Time will tell.”

However, housing is a big concern for the Grove, as it is for Globus and most other theatres across Canada, given this country’s continuing housing supply issues.

“For the theatre, there are limited selections for patrons who want to come and stay. For actors and for crew to be

lindsayadvocate.ca

He says he’s also dismayed that the ability to disagree with someone’s viewpoint on politics and yet still appreciate that person “seems to have evaporated.”

He’s not talking about Fenelon Falls though. “I am consistently impressed how open and welcoming this village is.”

“I have a very good friend here in town who is on the opposite side of the political spectrum from myself, and we can get along and debate and have good conversations. We can do that, but overall, in society it seems to be in short supply.

I feel like we’ve lost something.”

When I ask why that seems to be the case, he says, “echo chambers that only reinforce our own views” and “too much access to shitty information.”

Wisener says politics has become this place of “getting the next sucker punch in.”

“And that’s really sad.”

It’s particularly disheartening, he says, considering how similar everyone is when it comes down to the basics.

“Fundamentally, we all want damn close to the same thing, right? Safety, security, good communities, a decent job…”

His voice trails off as he thinks more deeply about our common humanity. I point out it sounds like he’s candidate material himself.

“Chris and I considered me running for a good period of time. But I am just resolved in thinking that we can have much more effect in our community by volunteering and doing the things we love without putting up with all that,” he says, referencing the political polarization.

able to run the shows, it’s really difficult if you can’t find a place to stay. It’s happening all over. So, it then becomes more and more expensive to produce theatre when you can’t find places to put people up.”

That gets Wisener talking about policy in general. “In Kawartha Lakes we need housing at all levels. Affordable housing. Geared to income housing. More housing for families and seniors. I mean, we have million-dollar condos in Fenelon Falls – my mind explodes that there’s demand for this!”

Democracy is also on Wisener’s mind these days, specifically the threats to it. “I worry for the UN, for Ukraine, for what’s going on in Taiwan.”

It’s the political parties that are a big part of the problem, he says. “I’d run if we could get rid of parties. Municipal is theoretically supposed to be like that, but it’s not,” meaning there’s usually unspoken alliances with existing parties.

“I’m from the LGBTQ2S+LMNOP group,” he says. “I know the label game. But I don’t feel that need. We have to admit that we as humans can be more complex than just whatever the first letter of the acronym is that we subscribe to. You can have divergent views and even have competing views within yourself.”

He warms up to his topic.

“Labels are for soup cans. I’d sure like to live in a world with no political parties. Maybe that would solve things.

Then maybe you’d get people in there who just want to do the right thing.” LA 43

BOARD RECRUITMENT POSTING

The City of Kawartha Lakes Family Health Team (CKLFHT) is seeking individuals who are passionate about primary health care and embrace our vision, mission and values, to apply to two (2) vacant positions on the Board of Directors.

Our Board has recently changed the governance structure from a full-physician Board to a mixed, skill-based Board with representation from our community in the CKL region. We would like to add two (2) non-physician Board members, and who reflect the growing diversity in the CKL region. We encourage applicants from a broad range of backgrounds, perspectives and experiences to apply, however, at this time, based on our gap analysis, we are particularly interested in candidates with one or more of the following experiences: • Finance and/or Accounting • Law • Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) • Capital and Strategic Planning

To apply, please submit your resume to: Dr. Ruth Wilson, President | c/o Aasif Khakoo, Executive Director a.khakoo@cklfamilyhealthteam.com

About the City of Kawartha Lakes Family Health Team City of Kawartha Lakes Family Health Team (CKLFHT) and our affiliated physicians who form the Family Health Organization (FHO), provide team-based interprofessional care to approximately 35,000 individuals and families via at least 9 locations in the City of Kawartha Lakes. The model of team-based primary care practiced at the CKLFHT has proven to offer more timely access to comprehensive, coordinated, and continuous care to patients while leading to cost savings for our health care system. Team-based primary care is also a key aspect of health transformation to bring together coordinated and integrated care for Ontarians.

Working collaboratively, CKLFHT supports the community through the skills and expertise of family doctors, nurse practitioners, nurses, registered dietitians, pharmacists, social workers, receptionists, phlebotomists, an occupational therapist, and a respiratory therapist.

CKLFHT’s vision is for every resident of the City of Kawartha Lakes to have access to local team-based primary care. CKLFHT’s mission is deliver coordinated, high-quality, cost- effective, patient-centered primary care in a collaborative team model.

UNATTACHED URGENT CARE CLINIC The City of Kawartha Lakes Family Health Team is offering an urgent care clinic run by nurses, nurse practitioners and social workers for the residents of the City of Kawartha Lakes who do not currently have a family doctor or nurse practitioner, anywhere in Ontario.

Location: 55 Angeline St. N, Lindsay, Suite 2/3 (Giant Tiger Plaza) Dates: Fridays ONLY (closed on statutory holidays) Hours: 10 a.m. – 2 p.m.

To Book an Appointment: Call 705-328-9853 Ext. 296 on Fridays between 8 a.m. – 9:30 a.m. or book online at cklfamilyhealthteam.com/urgent-care-clinic/ This clinic sees patients by appointments only.

Who can attend the clinic? Only those without a health care provider (doctor or NP) anywhere in Ontario and you live in Kawartha Lakes.

Can I book an appointment in advance? No, you can book an appointment the same day of the clinic (Fridays) 8 am to 9:30 am by phone or online. Do not come to the clinic without an appointment OR to book one.

What kind of appointments are available? This clinic will see patients for non-crisis mental health issues, diabetes, prescription refills (excluding Narcotics), cough, cold, flu like symptoms, urinary tract infections, skin concerns, stitch removal, aches and pains, etc.

Can I get medical forms/notes filled out? No, the staff at the clinic will not be able to fill out medical forms such as ODSP, hearing aids, WSIB, sick notes.

If I don’t have an OHIP card, can I attend? No, this clinic can only see patients who have an OHIP card. For those without an OHIP card, visit the After-Hours Clinic.

This book was selected from the Kawartha Lakes Public Library’s NextReads Newsletters. Register to receive monthly or bi-monthly e-newsletters with enticing book suggestions.

www.kawarthalakeslibrary.ca/nextbook

The first in a brand new series, Star and Smoke by Marie Lu will have you anxiously waiting for the sequel.

Pop star Winter and young spy Sydney find their worlds colliding in this book filled with romance, adventure and just a hint of glamour and danger.

45

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lindsayadvocate.ca

Where have all the insects gone?

Sometimes you’re the windshield. Sometimes, you’re the bug, sang Dire Straits. I can relate. My daughter, not so much. There aren’t that many bug splatters on windshields these days. That makes car washing easier, but it doesn’t bode well for us.

Studies tell us we’ve lost 45 per cent of our insects in four decades. And that’s a problem. Bugs pollinate one third of the food we eat, and about three quarters of our flowering plants. They’re also decomposers. It literally would be a rotten world without them. Many creatures survive on a diet of bugs. More than 90 per cent of land birds rear their young on caterpillars, so it’s no surprise that our bird population in North America has declined by almost three billion since 1970.

University of Delaware bug expert Douglas Tallamy recommends that anyone with a yard can help by ensuring that 70 per cent of their woody plants and 50 per cent of flowers be native. He points out a native oak tree feeds over 500 insect species. In contrast, a Norway maple supports fewer than 10. They are also invasive, choking out our native maples in many of our forests and ravines.

Planting natives is one thing. Pulling invasives is something else we can do. At home, we’re in a pitched battle with garlic mustard, common buckthorn, and that periwinkle we planted. We’re seeing fewer and fewer trilliums as a result.

What else can we do?

•

Create a pollinator garden, heavy on the native plants, or open up your existing gardens or balcony pots to natives. They have evolved with our insects. Even if non-native flowers lure butterflies and bees, studies are beginning to show they may not provide the nutritional value our insects need. That’s also the case for cultivars of native plants.

•

Reduce light pollution with motion activated outdoor lights or yellow LEDs. A study published in 2020 concluded that light pollution is contributing to insect decline.

•

Leave the leaves and stems in the fall and well into the spring. Many of our native insects over-winter there.

Insect Armageddon is happening for many reasons, including habitat loss to development, climate change, industrial agriculture, pesticide use, invasive species, our obsession with large lawns, and the popularity of imported plants.

When we built our house 30-odd years ago, we kept some natural treed areas on the property, but we also did the large lawn thing. And we planted gardens full of beautiful daffodils, tulips, hostas, Lily of the Valley, tiger lilies, lilacs, periwinkle and butterfly bush – exotic imports our insects don’t fancy. Things changed when I learned that many native plants help the climate because their deeper roots store more carbon in the soil. Another big benefit: native plants feed our native insects, which feed our birds. We now have added hundreds of natives like pale purple coneflower, wild blue indigo, bee balm, hairy beardtongue, butterfly weed (a type of milkweed) and black-eyed Susans. And surprise surprise, the insects love them.

Kawartha Lakes is a designated Bee City. To put your garden on the pollinator pathway map, go to the Bee City Kawartha Lakes web page.

By going native, you can rest assured you’re helping feed the birds and frogs, while keeping car washes in business.

Bring on those bug splatters!

47

pers 20 gave in their names, and have worked like beavers,” the Post informed its readers on Oct. 4, 1895.

In the lead to win a new “stout set of clothes” were S. Ferguson (who sold 1,590 papers) and a W. McHugh (who sold 1,370 papers).

Competitions like this no doubt incentivized newsboys in what could be dangerous and unpleasant work, undertaken for minimum pay. Local newsboys were no doubt aware of violent strike action taken by their counterparts in New York City in the summer of 1899 over unfair compensation. Their parents, by contrast, were probably more concerned about their offspring working on streets and entering places of ill repute.

Indeed, a provincial committee tasked with studying child labour recommended in 1907 that laws be passed to govern the “street trades, such as newspaper vending.”

Read all about it: Newsboys and paper carriers in Kawartha Lakes Imagine you have just picked up the latest issue of The Lindsay Advocate – no, not the magazine you are presently perusing, but rather a broadsheet by the same name published by Edward Deanes Hand a few years before Lindsay was formally incorporated as a town. The year is 1855, and you are among the Advocate’s first subscribers. Although you have to make your way down to Hand’s office to pick up your paper and pay your subscription of ten shillings per annum, other publishers are employing a novel concept in spreading the news.

Some 860 kilometres away, the New York Sun has been hiring boys to peddle its paper on the Big Apple’s streets.

“Wouldn’t it be great to buy a paper on the street – or even better, have it delivered directly to my doorstep?” you ask yourself.

While it is unlikely that E.D. Hand employed newsboys to hawk his paper in those formative years, there is no question that they were a presence on local streets by the end of the nineteenth century. Hand sold the Advocate to Christopher B. Robinson’s Canadian Post around 1866, and within 30 years the Post was running competitions for its newsboys to see which of them could sell the greatest quantity of papers in a month. “The competition was keen – out of the large number who daily call for the pa48

Stanley Dayton delivers the Lindsay Daily Post. Photo courtesy of the Kawartha Lakes Museum & Archives.

lindsayadvocate.ca

now enter hotels to sell their papers, doing so remained taboo. Paul Skipworth delivered the Globe & Mail in the 1940s to residents living at the Kent Hotel in downtown Lindsay, and remembers the ominous warnings issued by his mother: “you deliver the papers and then get out of there.”

Things had changed by the mid-1970s, when Dan McQuarrie took up a Lindsay Daily Post route and regularly ventured into not only local bars and hotels to deliver papers, but also the “rickety and dark” apartments above the Stedmans store on Kent Street. “I think there was one incandescent lightbulb for the two floors,” he recalls, adding that “the back door was always open, with snow coming in.”

Other places were more inviting, and McQuarrie especially remembers the hospitality of Annie Nesbitt – a widow from Glenarm who had relocated to an apartment adjacent to the Grand Hotel. “On my collection days, she would prepare a boiled hotdog on a piece of white bread and hot chocolate with boiled water – no milk,” McQuarrie says.

“She would chat and chat and chat, and I was usually there for a good 15 or 20 minutes. In the wintertime it was a little bit longer, but I didn’t mind staying there and staying warm.” With tips accumulated en route, McQuarrie might have treated himself to a tray of French fries at Deighton’s chip truck or a Laura Secord chocolate bar at Sylvestre’s Pharmacy. Otherwise, McQuarrie says, it was back to the Post building on William Street where bills were paid up “and whatever change was left in your pockets was your profit for the week.”

Picking up papers was always an interesting experience, particularly when the Post’s ancient printing presses failed.

“It wasn’t uncommon for the presses to break down, and you might be sitting for half an hour or an hour for your papers,” McQuarrie recalls. To pass time, some paper carriers played amid the giant rolls of newsprint supplied to the Post by the Abitibi Paper Co. This handbook was issued to paper carriers in both the United States and Canada in the early 1960s. From the collection of Jim McKechnie.

On the heels of this report, in the spring of 1908, the local police chief issued a directive ordering newsboys to steer clear of bar-rooms or “other licensed premises in which liquor is dispensed.”

By the 1930s, the newsboy who hawked his wares from the street corner had by and large evolved into the paper carrier with a dedicated delivery route. Even though carriers could

Outside of Lindsay, the Post employed local agents to deliver the paper and collect subscriptions. Perhaps the most well-known of these was the late Stanley Dayton (profiled in the July 2018 Advocate), who did the job in Little Britain for more than half a century. More than 30 years after Dayton’s death in 1990, the rural subscription agent has become an anachronism and the paper carrier may well one day become a thing of the past as Canadians turn to online platforms for their news, rather than turn to newsprint.

Nevertheless, the faithfulness with which these individuals urged us to “read all about it” remains an important part of media history here in Kawartha Lakes. LA 49

STEP 1: CHOOSE YOUR BASE Greens ⋅ Quinoa ⋅ Sweet potato, peeled + roasted

STEP 2: ADD YOUR TOPPINGS Toppings can be chopped, diced or grated

Carrot ⋅ Broccoli ⋅ Cucumber ⋅ Red Onion Radish ⋅ Beets ⋅ Cherry Tomatoes

CHOOSE YOUR OWN ADVENTURE SALAD

STEP 3: ADD SOME FUN

Salads make wonderful side dishes, as well as delicious, hearty meals all by themselves. This month’s recipe is a choose your own adventure road map to making your own, unique, dream salad. Combine your favourite ingredients, then top with one of the homemade salad dressings from last month’s edition!

One delectable combination is quinoa topped with arugula, roasted cubed beets, goat cheese, walnuts and a sprinkling of balsamic vinegar.

Dried fruit (cranberries, etc.) ⋅ Blueberries Strawberries ⋅ Nuts (walnuts, etc.)

Cheese (feta, goat cheese, etc.) ⋅ Apple, diced Seeds (sunflower, pumpkin, etc.)

STEP 4: ENJOY!

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FUNDED BY THE MINISTRY OF LABOUR, IMMIGRATION, TRAINING AND SKILLS DEVELOPMENT

Stepping Down Across 1 Cherry's sidekick, once 8 Los ___ (New Mexico city) 14 Within cell phone calling distance

by Barbara Olson © ClassiCanadian Crosswords 1

2

18 Camelot lady 19 Wee sizes: Abbr.

25 Tour takers' trips, often

8

27

23

10

11

12

13

25

32 36 43 49

20 26

33 37

34 38

44

46 52

51

58

40

41

42

61

62

47 53

56

55

63

39

45

50

21

30

29

35

57

24

28

31

48

9

19 22

30 Love handle?

34 ___Hammarskjold ('50s U.N. head)

7

17

18

54

32 Boozers

6

16

27 Easily taken by whim 31 "Am ___ the right track?"

5

15

20 Archie's "Dingbat" 22 Old French coins

4

14

15 Group of ants or nudists 16 Garden ingredients for minestrone, say

3

59

64

60 65

67

68

69

70

66

35 Close, to Coleridge 37 Parkinson's treatment 39 Frosty's makeup 43 Fish caught in a pot 45 Becomes compost 47 Lei wearer's instrument, for short 48 Dismissed as foolish 52 Reacts to an insult, maybe 54 Get closer to, as the truth 56 Dirt biker's road hazards 57 Lay ___ (bomb bigtime) 58 Beyond rescue, in the E.R. 60 Alias abbrs.

63 The whole gamut ... and how the circled words progress 67 Drill "chill" 68 Canoeist 69 Strings that stand taller than their players 70 Skirmishes Down

5 Letter carrier?: Abbr.

41 "Crisis" town in 1990 Quebec news

6 Word with new or old

42 Hump day, on a cal.

7 Photo reprint needs, once, briefly

44 Head-scratchers

4 Pom or peke

8 Behaves like a brat

46 Name that sounds like a meat dish

9 Hawaii's Mauna ___

48 Rock's ___ Na Na

10 Province named for Queen Victoria's rebellious daughter

49 Casual conversation?

11 Shaped wooden strips

51 Old birds?

12 Silverware brand 13 Part of iOS

53 Prepares to give an ovation, maybe

17 Ambassador's bldg.

55 ___-TURN (road sign)

21 Residence: Abbr.

59 Dr.'s visit

23 "Let me think" sounds

61 "Suits you to ___!"

24 German fruit bread

62 States under Stalin: Abbr.

26 Anesthetist, say

64 180º from NNW

27 Jaws' ominous protrusion

65 Greek T

28 Lévesque's law

66 Needs naloxone, say

50 Code of silence, in Mafia lingo

29 Jan. 1 till now, to a CPA

1 ___ en scène (stage setting)

33 Coll. girls' group

2 Soon, once

36 Words before an attempt

3 Aboard the Titanic, prior to 11:40 p.m.

38 Disc in a '90s fad 40 Definitely no Einstein * Crossword solution on page 44 *

51

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Feeling the June Jollies

By Trevor Hutchinson Contributing Editor

The kids in my house are already on their end-of-school countdown, which praise be to God, is at least at the end of the month on the 29th, and not earlier. Not that I don’t like kids or love mine. It’s just that this was the first almost normal year in a few years.

I should, as someone who claims to love punk rock, hate normal. I should be celebrating and uplifting the sheer and utter anarchy that comes with being a parent in a house with out-ofschool primary kids. It appears, sadly, that I am a hypocrite in this regard.

I do not ‘live’ the songs I like to sing with my fellow Gen X geezers when we get together for way less beers at way less volume than we used to.

Or, and I’m clearly looking for any rationalization here, maybe after a few years of most-definitely-not-normal, perhaps a change is as good as a rest.

Talk to any parent with young kids and most will testify that 2020 into 2023 was messed up for kids. But the return to a full year of in-person school started the return of structure and consistency which even future punk rockers need, I would guess.

I’m sure the ‘school summer’ (July and August) will be fun, but June is my ‘jam’ (as people younger than me say), at least as far as the warmest months go.

June just has a lot of things going for it. It’s Pride Month in Canada. (Al54

though Kawartha Lakes Pride week doesn't start until July.) June has National Indigenous People’s Day on the 21st and Canadian Multiculturalism Day on the 27th. Not to mention the start of one of the busiest outdoor concert and festival seasons we have seen in years. So, there will be lots of opportunities to celebrate the beautiful diversity of this great country.

But it’s not just events that make June special: June is so cute even the full moon is called the Strawberry Moon.

And let's face it, an overabundance of a mediocre fruit is a small price to pay for nice weather!

And the best part? We can choose to celebrate whatever it is we are celebrating on a patio!

Of course, maybe I am only looking forward to this June because I am not going to a wedding every weekend.

That happens at a few different times in our lives when wedding invitations are swirling around like expensive mosquitos. If that’s you this year, I have felt your pain deeply. I mean, ahem, have a great month of celebrating love. Every.

Freaking. Weekend.

This year I plan to relish the first 29 days of June, with their hint of order and promise of the summer to come.

As long as International Asteroid Day on the 30th doesn’t get too literal, I think we are in for a good one.

Happy June and go Jays go! lindsayadvocate.ca

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

MIKE GALLAGHER

JOE REDSHAW

Business Manager

President

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 International Union of Operating Engineers Local 793 2245 Speers Road, Oakville, Ontario, Canada L6L 6X8 Phone: 1-877-793-4863 | Website: www.iuoelocal793.org

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FLATO Developments is a residential and commercial real estate builder in southern Ontario committed to giving back and supporting the communities where they build and operate. To learn more about FLATO’s past and future developments, community commitment, and philanthropic support, visit flatogroup.com.