With the writ dropped, the gloves come off in Kitchener-Conestoga
Julian Gavaghan Observer Staff
KITCHENER-CONESTOGA
MPP MIKE HARRIS JR.
defended his boss Doug Ford calling a snap election for February 27 after rival candidates fighting for his seat said the vote was unnecessary and accused the Ontario Premier of “grandstanding” over the American tariff threat.
The Conservative, who also serves as Minister of Red Tape Reduction, said it was vital to give his own party another fouryear term to provide a stable provincial government during Donald Trump’s full period in the White House.
“We have laid out our plan. We have said, ‘Here’s what Ontario is going to do,’ and we feel that it was important to go out to the people to get that mandate,” Harris told The Observer on Tuesday.
Among the measures Ford has proposed is a $22-billion stimulus package to support workers if Trump does launch a trade war, after the American leader paused planned 25-per-cent tariffs on virtually all Canadian goods at the last minute on Monday.
“So far, I can tell you, from the folks that we’ve spoken with, the overwhelming majority of them are quite keen on seeing us
continue to fight and marrying up that four-year term with the U.S. presidential term.
“Because the last thing we need is, six months to a year from now, going into an election where things could be really in upheaval. We want to make sure that we have a stable government here in Ontario that will be able to match what’s happening in the U.S. from a timing perspective.”
He also said that Ford, as premier of Canada’s biggest province, had a vital role in defending the national interest from economic attacks.
However, both the NDP candidate Jodi Szimanski and her Liberal rival Joe Gowing said there was no need to call an election now, given that the Tories already have a big majority and did not need to go to the polls until June 2026.
“I think it’s a waste of taxpayers’ money and it’s a waste of time,” said Gowing, a 42-yearold businessman who first ran in the riding in 2018.
“We had 16 months on a regular general election fixed date, we should have let it go. There was no need to call this, other than for personal gain.
“That being said, am I happy there is one now? Yes, because I’m able to now show that Mike isn’t the person that we need.”
Future of Menno Street remains an unknown
Steve Kannon
ADD “DO NOTHING” TO THE list of options for Menno Street as development promises to disrupt that section of Breslau. Planning for the future extension of Ottawa Street from Kitchener, Woolwich has been looking at renaming a portion of Menno Street. The changes would also fit in with the new Madwest subdivision that would see some 1,500 new homes on about 145 acres of land between the existing Elroy Acres subdivision and Fountain Street. With the township originally looking to retain the Menno Street label on the residential stretch, council was leaning toward maintaining the name on the section between Fountain Street and Shantz Station Road following an appeal last month from Conestoga Meats.
Meeting Tuesday night, councillors suggested another option, change nothing, before opting to defer the matter.
The residents of the 15 homes on the small stretch of the street are asking the Menno label remain with them. Matthew VanderMeer said every homeowner signed a petition asking the township to do just that.
Pointing to a longstanding policy that uses numbers to →
Elmira’s Jenn Basler with her golden retriever Griffin on Sunday at Riverside PS before heading out with her pack on their 3-km walk, which can help work on dog training and socialization. See story on p. 12. Andrea Eymann
The Linwood Snofest held last Saturday saw about 200 people come out to the firefighter breakfast, along with several more for the sno-pitch games. Top left: Erick Traplin plays tunes for the kids, with his bubble machine getting kids excited and dancing. Middle left: Larry Biesinger and George Burchatzki (right) are seen playing Solo. Centre: Emily and 2-year-old Rory Brubacher out in the sunny, minus-11 degree weather. Bottom left: Izzy Therrien, Josiy Freeman and Nicola Nally pose for a shot after they were seen dancing on the stage during the breakfast portion of the day. Andrea Eymann
News tips are always welcome.
Email: newsroom@woolwichobserver.com Online: observerxtra.com/tips
A card game that helps people visualize the impacts of climate change
Ethan Braund
SUSTAINABLE WATERLOO REGION (SWR) GOT together with some of its members and friends in the community to play a climate-based card game.
Climate Fresk derives its name from the French fresque or fresco – a picture painted directly onto wall plaster – because its goal is to help players develop a portrait of the causes and effects of climate change.
SWR is a locally founded social enterprise nonprofit that works in organizational and community-level sustainability, primarily considering climate change mitigation and reducing our environmental impact.
“It is a game where we work through the impacts of climate change, what the areas of influence are, that sort of thing. And so, they will be interactive. It’s meant to be fun. It’s meant to be engaging,” said executive director Tova Davidson.
Players at the event went through various sets of cards, and placed them on the table in proper order based on climate change causes and effects. Along with arranging cards, players discussed climate issues, personal experiences and the game itself.
Anna Harrison, the Woolwich Township’s climate action & sustainability coordinator, said she enjoyed the experience.
“It was great. Working together in small groups, it
helped to visualize climate change and see how everything is so connected and interrelated, which is impactful,” said Harrison.
Even being more versed in climate issues than the average person, Harrisonsaid she still found there was much to learn.
“The facilitators, I found, were fantastic. They guided the process and were very thorough by asking thought-provoking questions that spurred some great conversations with my group,” said Harrison.
One of the processes that participants went through after the game was finished was to discuss their emotions. That was very therapeuticfor many, noted Harrison.
“It felt refreshing to discuss this with other people and discover that everyone is feeling a mix of emotions when it comes to climate change, especially now – everything from anxiety to frustration and sadness. But there were also a lot of positive sentiments that were shared by members in my group.”
Harrison said that Climate Fresk could be a great tool for not only organizations to learn about climate change but also for schools to help students.
“This would be a great exercise for students because they can learn about the process. And they tend to have more hope than adults, so they might get even more out of it than we do,” said Harrison.
Having given notice of their intent to approve the 2025 budget on Feb. 18, Woolwich councillors meeting this week dove into some accounting minutia but made no substantive changes. A 10% tax hike remains the goal. The average homeowner will pay an extra $116 this year. Combined with the regional tax increase of $265, the total in extra taxes for 2025 would be $381.
St. Jacobs company behind redevelopment of former institution near Listowel
Julian Gavaghan Observer Staff
A CONTROVERSIAL FORMER GOVERNMENT-RUN INSTITUTION for mentally disabled children has been bought by a St. Jacobs-based consortium planning to convert it into homes and a retirement facility.
The 160-acre site of what was once the Midwestern Regional Centre, near Listowel, is owned by a group called Eden Grove Village, according to a provincial business registry.
Observer, the former institution that closed its doors to patients in 1998 is being developed as a property for the Mennonite community.
This includes an application to build 328 residential units on the site of the old regional centre, which was included in a 2016 class action lawsuit where ex-patients won $36 million in compensation following revelations of abuse.
These include 90 townhouses and 64 semi-detached homes, according to plans that can be seen online.
wants to develop 100 assisted living suites and 50 seniors’ apartments.
→ FRESK 5 plans.
Under plans seen by The
The consortium also
It has also planned to increase the number of units for a nursing home from the permitted 100 to 154 units, noted Perth County planner Nathan Garland.
Additionally, the developers want permission for a private elementary school for 100 students, a church and a restaurant.
At this stage, the firm, in which St. Jacobs resident Ronald Martin was previously reported as a board member after speaking to a council meeting, still requires approval for these
“Currently, the county is awaiting additional information from the applicant addressing previous technical comments, responding to agency comments, providing information on servicing, environmental, road access, stormwater management and clarification on policy direction,” said Garland.
Eden Grove Village, a non-profit corporation that does not have a website with contact details, purchased the site in 2021.
The firm, which first submitted a planning
Eden Grove Village was once the notorious Midwestern Region Centre, where mentally disabled children faced abuse. Julian Gavaghan
Harris defends timing of election call, as
The Liberal said he believes Ford is cynically exploiting a national crisis and promoting himself as a Canadian leader to extend his employment.
He hopes voters see through it and punish the Conservatives.
“Honestly, it is grandstanding,” said Gowing.
“We do need to be able to have a response to counter the tariffs, 100 per cent, but you need to work with the federal government to come up with a plan to figure that out.
“We may need to subsidize, like we did through COVID, for the short-term if tariffs come to fruition.
“But for him to say that’s the number-one issue, when he just gave out $3 billion in cheques, when our hospitals are crumbling, we still have hallway health care, it’s just his excuse.
“And he found a key point to call this election that is just a dog and pony show, smoke and mirrors, or whatever the term you want to use.
“It has nothing to do with the tariffs and helping people, because he
could have been doing it the last seven years and he hasn’t.”
Szimanski, a 51-year-old University of Waterloo communications officer standing for the first time, noted that both her party’s boss, Opposition Leader Marit Stiles, and Liberal leader Bonnie Crombie had pledged to work with Ford and unite over the tariff threat.
The New Democrat candidate, whose party came second in Kitchener-Conestoga in 2022 when Karen Meissner ran, also pointed out that a winter election would deter voters from going to the polls.
“It puts people at a disadvantage. For example, seniors, who always get out there and vote, but if there’s a bad snowstorm that day, are they going to be out to vote?” said Szimanski, who lives in Wellesley village.
“I’ve spoken with a few folks who are snowbirds, including one couple in Europe right now who were scrambling a little bit with the Elections Ontario website to try and get a mail-in ballot because
Now Open to Accepting New
Residents
challengers
they won’t be back until mid-March.”
Both Gowing and Szimanski said they would engage more with constituents and listen more than Harris if elected, with each accusing the incumbent of ignoring residents.
“He’s not doing anything. He’s not very easy to get a hold of. I personally have tried to get a hold of him, but I think his security is better than Fort Knox,” said Gowing, who lives within the riding in the Forest Heights neighbourhood of Kitchener with his wife and two step-daughters.
“It’s just one of those things that, if you’re an elected official and I need to get a hold of you, I should be able to get a hold of you.
“You represent me, not your party. And I feel like he’s got it backwards.
“And that’s something that really resonates with me, because I’m one of those people that are out to help people. I’m not in it for myself.”
Both the Liberal and New Democrat cited Region of Waterloo’s battle to buy farmland in Wilmot
decry
as prime examples of Harris not taking on board public opposition and avoiding engaging with residents.
it as cynical, costly and unnecessary and getting educated for a career in finance had shaped him, also said the land grab was unnecessary.
“Folks are concerned, and they’ve been trying to meet with Harris since April of last year, and only just got a phone call last week,” said Szimanski, a married mother-of-one who said her upbringing made her particularly value honesty and believes the cost-of-living crisis is the biggest issue of the election.
She was deeply angered by the attempt to pave over farmland, the issue that inspired her more than any other to run.
“I grew up around farms. Both sides of my family are filled with farmers and someone coming along and telling folks that they need to get off their land incenses me, especially at a time when I think our food is more important than ever,” she said.
“And the thing that actually bothers me the most about it is the secrecy and the lack of transparency around the whole deal.”
Gowing, who noted that growing up in poverty
“I get that we need industrial growth, but not at the expense of our farmers,” he explained.
Harris, a 39-year-old married father-of-five who said he lives within the riding in West Kitchener but wouldn’t specify where, told The Observer that he “quite frankly and categorically” disagreed with claims he isn’t listening to voters.
“People are going to get political about those types of conversations. And, you know what? I don’t think I’ve ever had Joe or Jodi try and reach out,” he said.
“We’re not going to get into political games with this kind of stuff.
“We’re always approachable. We’re always there. We’re always doing our best for what we can do for folks within the riding.”
In terms of the Wilmot land, the MPP, who also noted that his father, former Premier Mike Harris Sr., had helped him prepare for a political life and that his previous
business experience had also been valuable, said it was important to promote industrial growth.
He noted that the region had missed out on previous expansion opportunities, such as a proposed Dr Oetker facility, which went to London instead, and the loss of the Schneiders meat plant in 2015.
“Listen, I want to be clear on this too, like nobody, nobody is planning to expropriate land,” said Harris.
“We want to be fair and open and transparent with the landowners.”
He added: “But this is about making sure that there’s a fair deal for the folks who own the land, own the property, and that ultimately we can have good paying jobs, with pensions, with benefits here in Waterloo Region, as we continue to grow.”
Also standing in Kitchener-Conestoga are Brayden Wagenaar of the Green Party and Jim Karahalios of the New Blue Party.
A candidates’ debate has been scheduled for the Wilmot Rod & Gun Club on February 20 at 6:30 p.m.
Canada among top ten countries when it comes to energy transition
Ethan Braund LJI reporter
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CANADA CRACKED THE TOP TEN in energy transition investment and GDP share in 2024 after a $35.2 billion investment on the road to meeting its net-zero emissions target.
Investing grew 19 per cent in 2024 and jumped into the top ten globally for the first time. Mainland China led the way this year, with the U.S. in second place.
is energy security for countries, and that’s why we’re not going to see Asian countries slowing down in their investments in clean energy technologies because that brings better energy security for those countries.”
Smith noted that Canada is now involved in the global race for transition energy investments for the first time, arguing we can’t afford to fall behind.
fied heat, clean shipping and electrified transport, hydrogen, carbon capture and sequestration, nuclear, energy storage and renewable energy,” the organization said in a release.
Waterloo Region has also been promoting these investments locally, said Matthew Day of WR Community Energy.
solar panels to more locations, though that form accounts for just one per cent of the region’s energy, says Day.
“The real opportunity for our community is to use local renewable heat, replacing natural gas for space heating,” said Day.
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The world also grew in total investment, hitting $2 trillion in spending for the first time, said Merran Smith, president of New Economy Canada.
To continue to rise on the leaderboards, Canada needs to promote investment in clean energy technology and infrastructure upgrades, says New Economy Canada.
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“This is a global transition. This is a long-term transition. The real driver of this energy transition
“These investments include those made in deploying power grids, clean industry, electri -
The local group is a first-of-its-kind partnership with the region and its utilities to ensure the energy transition in Waterloo Region benefits everyone and makes smart, coordinated, targeted energy investments.
The region has various types of energy investments, and some groups are working on adding
That said, he noted that natural gas will be needed for industry for the foreseeable future since steel melts at 1500 degrees Celsius and natural gas burns at 2000 degrees.
“That’s a good use of natural gas, but burning natural gas at 2000 degrees to heat our houses at 22 degrees is a bad idea,” he added of the easier shift at the residential level.
PC incumbent Mike Harris is being challenged for the Kitchener-Conestoga seat by Liberal Joe Gowing and the NDP’s Jodi Szimanski. Ontarians go to the polls Feb. 27 Julian Gavaghan
CANDIDATES:
WCS gearing up for the Coldest Night of the Year fundraiser
Andrea Eymann Observer Staff
HUNDREDS OF PEOPLE
ARE EXPECTED to brave the frosty night in Elmira to raise $80,000 for those facing homelessness and hunger this winter.
It’s the seventh annual Coldest Night of the Year event organized by Woolwich Community Services (WCS), one of hundreds of locations across the provinces, on February 22.
Walkers of all ages will leave from Woodside Bible Fellowship at 5 p.m., choosing either a 2-km or a 5-km route, which will both finish back at the church, where they will join in for a light dinner and social time at 6 p.m.
Melissa Petty, the event, fundraising and promotion coordinator for WCS,
told The Observer that the initial goal of registering 25 teams had already been exceeded by one.
“We hope to have over 200 walkers this year,” she noted, adding there were 109 participants registered as of Tuesday.
Last year, the event raised $88,000. So far, they are 60 per cent the way through at $48,000.
Petty is “thrilled” with the amount raised so far, and she is hopeful they will meet their goal.
“We have an awesome community, and everyone looks out for each other. We have 36 sponsors for this event, and we are grateful for them all,” she said.
“The team captains are the driving force behind the event; they are the leaders who rally walk-
ers and fund fundraising efforts to make it a success.”
Four teams have already raised more than $2,500, with Doug Treleaven and the Kitchener-Conestoga Conservatives at $3,380.
Children who raise $75 and adults who donate $150 will also be given a Coldest Night of the Year toque.
WCS is still taking registrations. People can either start their own team or join an existing team, but “the intention of walking is to raise money for WCS, so we ask that walkers sign up prior to the day of the event to give them time to raise funds,” Petty noted, as there are 17 days left from today.
The Coldest Night of the Year is the biggest
fundraiser of the year, and has turned into a great annual event that involves the entire community in supporting the hurt, hungry and homeless, she said.
Funds collected go to support victims of domestic violence through WCS’ family violence prevention program, as well as to support the food bank and its various food programs.
“An entire community has an opportunity to come together for good. By hiking through the cold, people feel a hint of the challenges faced by those experiencing homelessness during the winter months,” Petty added.
If you would like to register to walk, donate or volunteer, visit www.cnoy. org/elmira.
TRANSITIONS: Canada
“I definitely would highly recommend this to any organization. Municipalities would benefit because there are so many connections between infrastructure, climate resilience and everything that everybody works on. Everybody has roles to play.”
Climate change can be overwhelming, with lots of stats and graphs that can get people to check out and feel that the problem is too big for them to help, said Harrison.
“Just to be able to talk to other people about it and get that off your chest was almost therapeutic.
“We need this kind of collaboration and teamwork to combat climate change and to continue the fight. So, it was very inspiring. I felt inspired and motivated after leaving that workshop.”
More information about Climate Fresk can be found online at www.climatefresk.org.
looking to draw more investment in the sector, making up some lost ground
→ FROM 4
Day wrote a report last year that stated the region produces enough heat to warm the community ten times over.
He notes there’s a greater potential for geothermal technology, which uses the briny, salty aquifer below the ground that is not used for anything else.
“It’s great because it’s a steady supply of temperature. So, you pump that water up; it’s 10 degrees in the summer, which is cool, and it’s 10 degrees in the winter, which is warm. Then you convert that to an air pump and heat buildings with it,” Day explained.
Conestoga College has various buildings that heat on geothermal projects, and the Evolv1 – the Waterloo structure that was
Boosting building standards to help combat emissions
Ethan Braund
reporter
LJI
BUILDINGS MAKE
UP ONE OF the largest contributors to greenhouse gases in Waterloo Region; with new best practices and development standards, local governments hope to change that.
The region finished the second draft of its new high-performance development standards (HPDS), which aims to build new buildings in the region’s future that are energy efficient, affordable, and able to withstand extreme weather.
Now, it’s looking for public input on the process, including a session this evening (Thursday) at the Bill Gies Recreation Centre in Wellesley from 5:30-7 p.m.
In Woolwich, the event is set for February 13 at the township administration building in Elmira, also from 5:30-7 p.m.
There will be a presentation at 6:30 for each session and drop-in tables where staff will be at the event to answer any community questions.
Following these sessions, the region hopes to have the final draft ready for implementation by spring of 2026.
The new standards are about promoting growth in the region and ensur-
ing it is done smartly, said Matthew Day of WR Community Energy.
“If we don’t set standards for smart energy use now on new construction, the region will face expensive infrastructure and utility upgrades in the future, and existing homeowners and businesses would shoulder these costs through higher taxes and higher fees,” said Day.
“We’re growing. We’re going quickly, and we need to do it wisely. We need to ensure our future growth doesn’t impact those who have been here forever. It’s about growing wisely for the current and future community residents.”
The new standards will look to support sustainability and resilience through measures like water efficiency, transition to low-carbon development, electric vehicle parking and charging, and tree planting, according to the region.
“Tree planting and canopies are a great way to cool. Trees are shady in the summer, so the sun doesn’t boil your house, and then there are no leaves in the winter so the sun can come through. Some studies talk about how trees make people happier and healthier, so the environmental benefits areunending,” said Day.
Canada’s first zero-carbon building – uses open-loop geo-exchange. Day once hired a consultant to come to the region and do some studies, and he found that we were sitting atop an energy goldmine.
Other local examples include the biogas facility in Elmira that produces energy from organics and biowaste.
“By cracking the top 10 countries, attracting investments in clean energy technology and infrastructure, Canada is in the game. But we’re in catch-up mode, trying to make up for lagging investments in the past. We need to keep this momentum going by providing policy and regulatory stability that’s coveted in an uncertain world. Let’s get things built,” said Smith.
Melissa Petty, the event, fundraising and promotion coordinator, and Kelly Christie, executive director at Woolwich Community Services, are ready to host the Coldest Night of the Year on Feb. 22, hoping to raise $80,000. Andrea Eymann
Climate Fresk players place sets of cards and draw arrows to show a visual of the causes and effects of climate change. Ethan Braund
WLU prof. part of team looking at resilient food systems
Ethan Braund LJI reporter
LAURIER PROF. ALISON
BLAY-PALMER HAS been selected to lead a team of experts looking to build a new resilient food system.
Blay-Palmer, the UNESCO Chair on Food, Biodiversity and Sustainability Studies at Wilfrid Laurier University, and the drafting committee that looks to provide the United Nations with examples and road maps to building resilient food systems.
“The team was selected based on a rigorous selection process, which includes general principles of scientific and technical relevance and regional expertise,” according to a release from The Committee on World Food Security.
“We’ll provide information about what’s out there and existing projects that could help improve policy and provide examples of pathways forward in how to build more resilient food systems,” said BlayPalmer.
Blay-Palmer described this report as almost a “choose your own adventure” for the UN by giving them the tools and direction to fix the problem.
The report will be presented in person at the Committee on World
Food Security (CFS). The panel will present a report on building resilient food systems at the 53rd plenary session of the CFS in October.
“One of the big goals is to consider questions of equity as part of resilience and transformation because one of the challenges that we have in the global food system is that more than three billion people can’t afford a healthy diet, including people in Canada.
“It’s also really important that we think about the environment because the food system contributes over 30 per cent of greenhouse gasses to the climate crisis, and it’s responsible for about 80 per cent of biodiversity loss and uses a huge amount of water.”
As the committee leader, Blay-Palmer faces the task of ensuring that the report is coherent, doesn’t have any huge gaps and addresses all of the key issues.
“My expertise is in sustainable food systems, so I have a big-picture perspective on how the food system works and how it could be improved,” she said.
The committee is comprised of 10 experts from all over the globe with expertise in different disciplines.
→ WLU 7
New report pushes for accounting of natural assets
Ethan Braund LJI reporter
BEYOND INFRASTRUC-
TURE SUCH AS ROADS and buildings, government accounting should also include natural assets, says the author of a new study from the University of Waterloo’s Intact Centre on Climate Adaptation.
“Things like our schools and our roads are managed rigorously and are reported on and valued financially, but we don’t do the same thing to our natural assets,” said Joanna Eyquem, author of the new guide and the centre’s managing director, climate-resilient infrastructure.
In the past, natural assets were not given the same standing asmanmade assets. The new guide looks to provide a roadmap to more inclusive accounting practices.
The goal is to help local governments assess the likes of wetlands, forests, rivers and natural ecosystems. Those natural features offer services such as storing water to protect from flooding or sheltering communities from extreme heat.
These services and natural assets do not get reported on financial statements, noted Eyquem.
“Basically, it’s a guide that helps people do the work to ensure we under-
application in October 2022 with an amendment in May 2023, already has permission to use the 167,000-square-foot main building and other existing outbuildings as a hotel and conference centre with up to 266 rooms.
On top of that, it can build up to 100 attached residential houses on the site, a commercial fitness centre and swimming pool, and a private ninehole golf course.
Garland said the developer was limited by agricultural zoning as well as environmental restrictions, including a “wooded area” and “several open water features scattered throughout the property.”
When The Observer visited this week, there was a variety of building equipment and material on site and the roads within the estate were ploughed and
stand those services, manage them effectively and report on them publicly,” she explained of the new guide, adding that failing to account for those resources means that there’s no clear record when they disappear.
“It’s not transparent, and it doesn’t show up anywhere. And then, when we realize it, it’s too late.”
Say, for example, a flood occurred after the removal of a natural buffer such as a wetland that prevented flooding in the past. If there had been an accounting of that feature’s value beforehand, perhaps its role could have been recognized before rather than after the fact.
“By recognizing the role and financial value, we will be more careful and manage those more responsibly,” Eyquem suggested.
The guide was developed in partnership with and supported by the Standards Council of Canada,
KPMG LLP and the Natural Assets Initiative, with input from more than 120 experts across the country, said Eyquem.
“Canada is leading in incorporating natural assets into financial management globally at the local government level, said Eyquem.”
Forty-one countries worldwide are doing national natural capital accounting at the federal level, but as you drill down lower, you will see that not many local governments are doing this work, she noted.
“This new guide was developed with and for local governments, with input from finance and accounting experts,” said report contributor Bailey Church, lead for Public Sector Accounting Advisory at KPMG LLP.
“It clearly explains a suite of metrics that can be used to report on the state of nature and the services it provides, from
basic descriptive information to more sophisticated financial valuations. There is a place to start for every community,” she noted in a release.
The guide offers various metrics, including natural asset types and classes, such as the identification of ecosystems like forests, wetlands and coastal dunes on which the community depends for services.
“The aim of the guide is really to get people on the path and to demonstrate that it’s not just a larger government, that there’s a point of entry for everybody. And actually, this work isn’t that costly to get done,” said Eyquem.
Some local governments have already started working on the reporting of natural assets, and Eyquem also explained that conservation authorities have been very supportive.
Just now, Eyquem and her team are trying to get the International Public Sector Accounting Standards Board to change their standards to include these values in financial statements.
“Currently, we can only put the disclosures in the qualitative information. That’s like an auditor. But if PSAB were to adopt this international standard, we could put those values in the statement once it’s finalized,” said Eyquem.
There have been several attempts to repurpose the site
well maintained.
Security guards could also be seen patrolling the area.
While the main building appeared to be in good condition, some of the outbuildings looked considerably shabbier.
In its heyday, after opening in 1963, the Midwestern Regional Centre, which had its own water wells and pumping station, held a maximum of 225 patients, children over the age of six.
It was one of 19 regional centres operated by the Ontario government, established at a time when the developmentally challenged and other disabled people were often institutionalized, rather than living within the community as they do now.
Parents were discouraged from visiting children in care and there were instances of abuse by staff.
Straitjackets were routinely used on boys and girls who didn’t comply with the rules and, in some cases, cattle prods were used on patients.
Midwestern was one of 12 regional centres where former patients won a 2016 class action lawsuit that the province ultimately settled.
Ontario’s then attorney general, Madeleine Meilleur, admitted the treatment of many patients had been appalling.
“These individuals were harmed in a place that was intended to provide them with care, and while we cannot change the past, it is my hope that this settlement will help these individuals – and their families – to heal,” said Meilleur.
There was also a separate $35-million settlement for the abused residents at the notorious
Huronia Regional Centre in Orillia, which prompted a formal apology from the-premier Kathleen Wynne.
The province separately agreed to a $32.7-million payout to ex-residents of the Rideau Regional Centre in Smiths Falls and the Southwestern Regional Centre near Chatham. Since the Midwestern Regional Centre’s closure, it was first purchased by the Village Green Lifestyle Community in 2003 to be used as a senior citizens home.
But plans fell through due to reported funding issues.
In 2010, the property was then sold to the Cham Shan Temple for use as a Buddhist retreat.
The Observer was unable to speak to Martin about the plans, despite several attempts to make contact.
This new guide will help local governments report natural assets like rivers and wetlands on financial statements.Paniramio
ↆ POLICE R EPORT
Police investigating thefts from electric vehicle charging stations
Waterloo Regional Police are encouraging local businesses to be alert after continued wire thefts from electric vehicle (EV) charging stations throughout Waterloo Region.
Between January 14-26, wire cables were stolen from EV charging stations at eight locations in the region. Locations targeted included car dealerships and other commercial businesses.
JANUARY 28
6: 29 PM | Waterloo Regional Police received a report of a single-vehicle collision on Chilligo Road in Woolwich Township. A white Chevrolet was heading south on Chilligo Road when it slid off the road on a curve and struck two chevron signs. Road conditions at the time included heavy snow drifts. There were no physical injuries reported.
JANUARY 29
6:39 AM | Police received a report of single-vehicle collision on Arthur Street North south of Township Road 3 in Woolwich Township. A black Toyota was travelling north when the driver lost control due to poor road and weather conditions. The vehicle entered a ditch on the side of the road. There were no physical injuries reported.
1:03 PM | A single- vehicle collision was reported on Foerster Road in Woolwich Township. A white Volkswagen was travelling east on Foerster Road when the vehicle struck ice and spun into a hydro pole. There were no physical injuries reported. Road conditions at the time were poor.
3:22 PM | Police received a report of a shoplifting incident at a business on Farmers Market Road south of St. Jacobs. An
The thefts occurred during the overnight and early morning hours. Most recently, on January 26 at approximately 6 a.m., a male suspect attended the University of Waterloo campus and cut cables off of four EV charging stations. The male then attempted to gain access to several parked vehicles. University of Waterloo special constables attended the area,
unknown male suspect entered the store, and put various products, including toilet paper and Lego into a shopping cart. The suspect then exited the business through a fire exit without making any attempt to pay for the merchandise. The male was last seen leaving the area in a Kia sedan. The suspect is described as a White male, between 20-30-years old, wearing a black jacket, red and white baseball hat, and khaki pants. Anyone with information is asked to call police or Crime Stoppers.
JANUARY 31
4: 30 PM | Waterloo Regional Police arrested a male after he fled from police in a vehicle in Woolwich Township. Police had responded to the area of Menno Street and Woolwich Street in Breslau for a report of a disturbance. Upon arriving in the area, officers attempted to speak with an involved individual driving a motor vehicle. The individual fled from police at a high rate of speed on Woolwich Street South. While heading north on Woolwich
arrested the male, and contacted police.
Officers responded to the university and continued the investigation. Charging cables, bolt cutters, wire cutters, a crowbar and knives were located in the bag carried by the male.
As a result of the investigation, a 44-yearold Waterloo man, was charged with ‘theft under $5,000,’ ‘possession of break-in instruments,’
Street South, the driver drove into the oncoming southbound lane, causing another driver heading south to stop to avoid a collision. The vehicle continued to head north on Woolwich Street South towards Victoria Street North and failed to stop for police who attempted to stop the car. Officers safely brought the vehicle to a stop on Victoria Street North near Shirley Drive and placed the male driver under arrest. The 18-yearold Woolwich man was charged with several offences, including ‘flight from peace officer’ (two counts), ‘dangerous operation,’ ‘take motor vehicle without consent’ and ‘fail to stop when directed by police.’ The accused was held in police custody for a bail hearing.
FEBRUARY 1
5: 02 AM | Police responded to a report of a suspicious vehicle in the area of Church and Duke streets in Elmira. Upon arrival, police located an older-model BMW idling, with no rear plates, and a fake, printed paper plate on the front bumper. Police identified the driver and determined that he was a suspended driver, and through investigation, placed him under arrest for driving while under suspension. As part of the investigation, officers located a hand drawn licence plate and a BB gun.
‘theft under $5,000 from a motor vehicle – attempt,’ and ‘failure to comply with release order.’
The accused was held in police custody for a bail hearing.
Police are encouraging businesses to ensure EV charging stations are installed in busy, well-lit areas and to consider installing security cameras to monitor the charging area. Members
The driver, a 21-year-old male, was charged with several offences under the Highway Traffic Act, including ‘driving while under suspension,’ ‘driver motor vehicle no permit,’ ‘fail to apply for permit on becoming owner,’ ‘driver motor vehicle fail to display two plates,’ and ‘confuse identity of plate.’ The driver was also charged with ‘owner operate motor vehicle on a highway – no insurance.’
FEBRUARY
3
6:40 AM | Emergency services responded to Line 86 near Lavery Road in Wellesley Township for multiple reports of a collision. As part of the initial investigation, officers determined that three vehicles, a white Dodge Caravan, a blue box truck, and a white transport truck, were involved in a collision. The Dodge Caravan entered an oncoming traffic lane and was struck by the oncoming box truck. The driver of the Dodge, a 67-year-old male from Kitchener, was pronounced deceased at the scene. The transport truck and box truck drivers did not sustain any physical injuries. The investigation remains ongoing. Anyone who may have witnessed the collision or have dash camera video footage is asked to call the Traffic Services Unit at 519-570-9777, extension 8856.
of the public are also encouraged to contact police if they observe suspicious behaviour around EV charging stations.
The investigation into these incidents is ongoing.
Anyone with information is asked to call police at 519-570-9777. To provide anonymous information, please call Crime Stoppers at 1-800222-8477or submit online at www.waterloocrimestoppers.com.
WLU: Consultation period to follow release of report’s first draft
→ FROM 6
“There’s someone who’s an expert in food law and human rights, and there’s somebody else who’s a nutrition expert, and somebody else who’s an expert in Indigenous food systems. So, the expertise is far-ranging.”
Almost all committee meetings occur over Zoom, except one in-person meeting in Rome last October.
The committee will be releasingits first draft of the report for e-consultation, where anyone can read and comment before moving on to the next process step.
When the report comes out, it will be available online at www.fao.org/cfs/ cfs-hlpe/en.
MENNO STREET: Issue to be revisited when council meets Feb. 18
→ FROM 1
decide about such name changes, he noted that the 15 properties on his segment of the road trump the six on the other portion.
“We all know that nobody wants their street renamed. Ask anyone, they’re going to say no,” he said, adding that while he was sympathetic to Conestoga Meats’ request, the policy in place is clear.
“There’s a process for this, and the process is mathematical numeracy: 15 versus six.”
That position was echoed by fellow Menno Street resident Grace Sudden, a former Woolwich councillor.
“That’s the plan,” she said, calling for the township to stick with it. “To make changes at this point, it would be significant.”
VanderMeer also argued that the name change was dropped on residents at the eleventh hour, catching them off-guard long after the new subdivision was approved.
“How did we not know that we had to rename Menno Street when they approved the subdivision that completely changed Breslau? How did that happen?” he asked, calling the events shocking, adding that there didn’t seem to be a need given that there’s no bridge in place to extend Ottawa Street from Kitchener.
“Ottawa Street is going across the river, probably not in our lifetime, because we’re still waiting for Highway 7 – 40 years ago,” he said.
Stephen Dykstra, Woolwich’s senior planner, noted numbering will have to change to accommodate all the new homes coming with the subdivision. That prompted suggestions from council that the roadway through the new subdivision be renamed instead, leaving Menno Street in place.
A decision on the matter was put off, with staff expected to bring more information to the next council meeting set for February 18.
Police are seeking this supect following a shoplifting incident Jan. 29.
Canada dealing with a bully in Trump’s fake trade dispute
Tariffs weren’t a big talking point in the quarter century that followed the contentious ratification of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) back in 1993. That all changed with the first election of Donald Trump.
Arriving at the White House in 2017, Trump beat the drums of an “America first” strategy that included threats of tariffs as a matter of course. That included, in typical Trump-first manner, insisting that NAFTA be renegotiated. A few minor tweaks later, we had the United States–Mexico–Canada Agreement (USMCA), which took effect July 1, 2020.
After a four-year absence, Trump returned to the presidency last month in even more bombastic fashion, with talk galore of tariffs – along with a host of other even more troubling threats that include making Canada the 51st state and the takeover of Greenland and the Panama Canal.
Even prior to Trump’s inauguration, his constant social media posts had nations on tariff alert. Though he had implemented the USMCA, Trump threatened 25 per cent tariffs on Canada and Mexico, which he announced would begin on February 1. On Monday, he announced a 30-day deferral first for Mexico and then, later that day, for Canada.
Those extensions were prompted by pledges from Canada and Mexico to boost border security.
Where tariffs and counter-tariffs would typically be part of trade disputes, for example, Trump didn’t bother to be coy about linking his demands to wider, non-trade-related issues. Even then, his arguments about illegal immigration and drugs have little basis in reality when it comes to the Canada-U.S. border. It was just a pretext for preening and bullying, long-established behaviour on Trump’s part.
The U.S. has some legitimate concerns about its southern border. Likewise, there are issues around the offshoring of American manufacturing jobs. Trump’s take on trade is motivated by his rhetoric about putting America first. Hundreds of thousands of manufacturing jobs were lost as companies headed to Mexico, exploiting workers and destroying the environment in the name of increased profits, as goods could be shipped to the U.S. without tariffs.
What happened reflects the real intent of trade deals, a rather disingenuous term. The real goal is the ability to move capital with the intent of securely off-shoring jobs, extending the likes of pharmaceutical patents to raise the cost of drugs and reducing government oversight. The mess that follows is a feature, not a bug, as far as corporate interests are concerned.
Particularly inflammatory to Trump are the trade imbalances that exist. Along with believing that tariffs are paid for by the exporting country – rather than by American consumers, in reality – he seems to think trade deficits amount to subsidies to other countries. When it comes to Canada, the deficit is the result of us selling to them the resources upon which their economy relies. Absent even the energy sector, the likes of Alberta oil, the U.S. would have a trade surplus with Canada.
Favourable pricing for bitumen and hydroelectric power hardly seems like a disadvantage.
Canadians, in turn, buy all kinds of value-added products from the U.S., a boon for their economy. Given the difference in manufacturing capacity and large discrepancy in population, Canadians will buy more finished goods from the U.S. than vice-versa.
But reality is not part of the equation where the current U.S. administration is concerned. As such, Canadians have to brace for a rocky road ahead. A 30-day stay of execution won’t solve the tariff situation. There will be consequences, including higher prices. For now, calls to buy Canadian and avoid U.S. goods and services, including boycotting American companies, from McDonald’s to Walmart, are the order of the day. Keeping things cordial – the Canadian way – doesn’t preclude looking out for ourselves. Or prevent us from standing up to a bully.
ANALYSIS OF CURRENT WORLD EVENTS
Trump’s ravings don’t make sense, but Canada should prepare
US President Donald Trump’s imposition of 25 per cent tariffs on all Canadian exports to the United States cannot be justified by the false claim that illegal immigrants and large amounts of the synthetic opioid drug fenatanyl are flooding in across the Canadian border.
The accusation about fentanyl is preposterous, since the total amount intercepted at the Canadian-US border in the past year is far less than one per cent of the amount stopped at the Mexican-US border. Tariffs on Mexico might make sense as an incentive to stop the flow, perhaps, but why on Canada?
As for the alleged border-crossers, why would any migrant who is already safely in Canada (generous to asylum-seekers, gun control, universal health-care, few crazies, and pretty relaxed about race) want to sneak into the United States (deportations, medical bankruptcies, guns everywhere, racism rampant, and ‘Christian nationalists’ in charge)?
There is no flow of illegal immigrants entering the United States from Canada. It is a fantasy. Unless Trump is simply obsessed with symmetry (‘What
I do on the southern border I must also do on the northern border’) he must have some other motive for including Canada in the top three targets on his tariff hit list (Canada, Mexico, China).
Don’t get hung up on the fact that Trump is using the fentanyl problem in order to have a legal pretext for ‘emergency’ action that would normally require a congressional decision. Yes, he is using it for that purpose too, but it doesn’t explain why he has chosen Canada as a high-priority target.
Neither does the fact that Canada sells a lot more to the United States than it buys from it. Including sales of oil, gas and electricity, Canada sells $41 billion more to the US than it buys from it – but if you exclude fossil fuels and hydropower, which involve special bilateral deals, the trade balance is $68 billion in America’s favour.
However weird and confused it may seem, therefore, Trump’s frequently repeated intention to annex Canada should be taken seriously. So far he continues
to say that he will achieve this exclusively by ‘economic pressure,’ and Canadians will cling to this assurance – but they should not bet the farm on it. The reason it’s hard to take the ‘American threat’ seriously is because countries just don’t behave like this anymore. (Well, okay, Russia does, but it’s the only other country to act on such an ambition, or even to express such an intention, for a very long time.) Nevertheless, Trump’s intention is probably real. Just listen to how he speaks.
On February 2, he wrote on Truth Social that Canada “should become our Cherished 51st State. Much lower taxes, and far better military protection for the people of Canada — AND NO TARIFFS!”
“We don’t need anything they have. We have unlimited Energy, should make our own Cars, and have more Lumber than we can ever use. Without this massive subsidy, Canada ceases to exist as a viable Country.”
It’s a waste of time to rebut Trump’s lies and distortions line by line – there’s one in almost every sentence – but three things are worth noting.
GWYNNE DYER
Global Outlook on World Affairs
The Trump bust will hit small towns the hardest – and they’re not ready
Lost in the ruckus over Trump’s tariff threat are the fates of Canada’s small towns.
Canada’s top exports to the U.S. are natural resources, such as oil, potash and critical minerals, which are mainly produced outside our major urban areas. A 25 per cent tariff on all Canadian exports to the U.S. will hit the whole country hard but hit rural communities the hardest.
Nowhere is more vulnerable than Fort McMurray, Alta. According to a recent study from Statistics Canada, nearly a quarter of jobs in the area depend on exports to the U.S. Dozens of smaller towns in the broader Athabasca and Wood Buffalo regions are in the same boat.
That’s because almost all of the oil produced in the Alberta oil sands ends
▢ Hadrian Mertins-Kirkwood Guest Column
up at American refineries. If the U.S. stops buying, Canada stops producing. Oil towns aren’t alone. Many parts of the country depend on U.S. buyers for forestry products, including B.C.’s Cariboo region and the areas around Edmundston, New Brunswick, and Sherbrooke, Quebec.
The same goes for towns that produce metals, minerals and agricultural products. For example, more than half the lobster produced on Nova Scotia’s South Shore gets shipped south of the border. A sixth of workers in the region depend on U.S. trade for their livelihoods.
Canada has a long and ugly history of resource busts. A Trump bust will
be worse.
First: Trump’s tariffs will hit more than just resources. Manufacturing towns, such as Sarnia, Ontario, and Drummondville, Quebec, are in the crosshairs, too.
Second: Trump’s tariffs will hit every industry and every region at the same time, making it that much harder for governments, communities and workers to respond. There will be few opportunities to retrain or relocate workers if every sector and region is hurting.
Third: Trump’s tariffs are likely to increase corporate consolidation and foreign takeovers as bigger firms – including American investors bolstered by a weakened Canadian dollar – buy up struggling Canadian companies.
Fourth: Trump’s tariffs –
which are driven by ideology and politics, not sound economics – could stick around for a long time. There is simply no guarantee that the U.S. will return to being a reliable trading partner, even if Canadian governments bend a knee to Trump’s demands.
In a worst-case scenario, the Canadian industries battered by Trump’s bully tactics may never bounce back. The oil industry, in particular, is living on borrowed time as the global economy electrifies. The sector is already in a long-term decline, and a Trump bust is a blow from which it may never recover.
Altogether, these factors spell disaster for rural communities across the country.
So, what can be done about it?
DYER: Canadians have no interest in jumping aboard the crazy train
First, Canada’s geography means that the only country that can pose a direct military threat to it is the United States. Second, there is no US subsidy of any kind to the Canadian economy. And third, he really means it.
I’m certainly not suggesting that Trump has a plan for invading Canada, or even (as he claims) a step-by-step strategy for squeezing Canada economically until it gives up and surrenders its sovereignty. Neither do I think that he will necessarily succeed in his ambition. But I am saying that he poses an existential threat to the Canadian confederation.
Why do people have such difficulty in believing this? Only 23 years ago another American president, George W. Bush, actually invaded the wrong country. (Iraq had no weapons of mass destruc-
tion, and no connection with the 9/11 attacks.)
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Not one Canadian in ten would freely choose to become part of the angry and divided society to the south, but they may have to endure a long and miserable economic siege to avoid that fate. Everybody else will sympathize, but nobody else will or even can help much as Trump batters at the door. And at some point Canadians may even have to ‘blow the bridges,’ at least metaphorically. → FROM 8
Trump is even more ignorant than Bush, and certainly more impulsive. He has already begun the economic pressure on Canada, and Canada has already responded with like-for-like tariffs. That may be the end of it, for Trump is opening trade wars on many other fronts as well – but when somebody says they are going to hurt you, it’s wise to take precautions.
LETTER TO THE EDITOR
Taxes – what are they thinking?
To the Editor, Financial responsibility and fiscal accountability were two words heard during our last election. Sadly it seems that council today has thrown these terms out of the window with a proposal to increase our property taxes a whopping 10 per cent.
Sure it is only a few dollars extra a year they will say, but as retirees, we will feel this impact for the remainder of our retirement years as our pension and savings will certainly not increase by such measures.
In 2023, we had an increase of well over eight per cent – just over two times the inflation for that year and in 2024 a solid eight per cent increase
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that was just about three and a half times the inflation rate that year. That trend continues as this year’s proposed 10 per cent is five times the expected inflation for 2025.
I have always learned from my grandparents that what you don’t have, you cannot spend. Not a rule that is very complex. Dear council members, would you mind thinking about people who don’t earn generous salaries and spend according to your means? New elections in 2026 will certainly focus on that financial accountability and I, for one, noted that on my calendar so that even if absentmindedness strikes me, I will be reminded to vote for wisdom and not for screwups.
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Local politicians might want to aim a little higher. Better still, local voters should do the same.
René Martin ELMIRA
Sports tips are always welcome.
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Snowshoes become showshoes – it’s a Canadian thing
Almost every Canadian outdoor enthusiast
I know owns at least one pair of snowshoes — along with four to five pairs of what I call showshoes. There is a difference.
Showshoes are the snowshoes you no longer use. They are the ones that you hang on some wall or outbuilding, or keep in the basement, just in case your newer snowshoes ever wear out. Which, given the amount of snowshoeing that most of use do, is never going to happen.
But who am I kidding? Even then, you wouldn’t use those showshoes. You’d buy a new pair. The problem with showshoes is that they once worked but now have somehow lost their magical ability to keep you afloat high atop the snow.
Who can say why? They worked great 20 years and 40 pounds ago.
Often, they are handme-downs of unique design that are perhaps better suited to specific circumstances. For instance, I happen to own one pair of Ojibwe-style snowshoes that are perfect
in the woods, provided there is a 40-foot diameter clearing at every place I need to turn. I’m not saying they are long, but I will say I arrive at the place the tip sets down in a half an hour later.
Regardless of their original intent, showshoes still have a purpose.
For instance, if unexpected company visits on a lovely winter day, you can ask them if they want to go snowshoeing. Then they will invariably say, “I’d love to but we left our snowshoes at home.”
That’s when you point to the showshoes on the wall and say, “No problem, we have enough extras to outfit you … hey, where did they go?”
There are other great uses for them, too.
For instance, let's say a bat somehow got into your house and you do not have any tennis rackets handy… I’m sure there are other uses, too.
→ GALEA 12
The KW Titans this week announced the addition of Antoine Mason to the squad. The son of former NBA player Anthony Mason, the 6’4” guard from Queens, NY played college ball at Auburn University. His first game with the Titans is set for tonight (Feb. 6) in Windsor against the Express. EDSS athletes have a busy day today (Thursday) as the Waterloo County Secondary School Athletics Association (WCSSAA) qualifiers get underway. The junior girls’ volleyball team takes on KCI, while the junior boys’ basketball team is at Grand River Collegiate. The boys' hockey squad, meanwhile, welcomes Huron Heights to the WMC.
and Avery Schultz.
Pair of Hericanes teams strike gold at Orangeville tournament
Andrea Eymann Observer Staff
THE TWIN CENTRE HERICANES U11C and U13C girls’ hockey teams both struck gold at the Orangeville Tigers Sweetheart Tournament January 24-26. The U13 faced the Strat-
ford Aces in the first game with a scoreless tie but took a 3-0 victory in the final against the Aces.
“All season long, we’ve played Stratford a few times and we struggled to score against them – they have a very good goalie – and our girls just did a fantastic job of pouring
pucks into the net and just attacking, and we were able to squeak a few by her,” said coach Chris Cook of the outcome in the final match.
“They play us hard all the time, and we came out on top,” he added, noting they clashed against three squads in the round-
robin. Throughout the night, their main focus was burying the biscuit and maximizing all their opportunities.
In the first game against Stratford, the Hericanes managed 42 shots, all of which were → HERICANES 11
Kings split weekend games, move up in GOJHL standings
Steve Kannon Observer Staff
THE ELMIRA SUGAR KINGS MOVED up one notch to sixth in the GOJHL’s Midwestern Conference after splitting a pair of games on home ice last weekend. The team lost a tight
game against the conference-leading St. Marys Lincolns by a score of 3-2 on Saturday before bouncing back the following day to defeat the Strathroy Rockets 4-1.
The Lincolns came into Elmira Saturday night riding a 12-game winning streak, having defeated
the LaSalle Vipers 7-0 the previous night. They’re also the first team in the conference to clinch a playoff spot.
It was St. Marys that drew first blood, scoring the only goal of the opening period when Ethan Coups beat Elmira netminder Jacob Gibbons
at 10:12.
In the second, the visitors went up 2-0 when Blake Elzinga scored at 7:40. The Kings cut that lead in half when Brett Warrilow, from Brady Schwindt and Joey Martin, buried one at 13:44, but St. Marys restored the two-goal lead when Chase
Do you nd yourself scouting for bathrooms when shopping/travelling/ driving?
▪ Dribbling after you void?
▪ Bladder pain syndrome?
▪ Frequent UTI’s?
MacQueen-Spence scored at 16:22. The period would end with the score 3-1.
Elmira’s Ryan Forwell got the home side within one with his goal at 13:56 of the third, with assists going to Baeddan Pollett and Tyler Kelly. But that would prove to be the period’s lone goal, with the → KINGS 12
Kings falling 3-2 when the final buzzer sounded. Shots were 31-26 in favour of the Kings, who went 0-6 on the power play, while St. Marys was 0-1. Gibbons turned aside 23 in the losing effort.
“St. Marys was a good game. I really liked our
The U13C Hericanes girls’ hockey team won gold at the Orangeville Tigers Sweetheart Tournament Jan. 24-26. Back row: Kim Finn, Joel Bisson, Emma Vale, Hayley Stemmler, Zoe Stemmler, Alessia Snell, Adelyn Lubbers, Chris Cook, Shannon Martin, and Dennis Lubbers. Front row: Karah Bisson, Abby Kranendonk, Whitney Cook, Allie Vale, Adriana Martin, Lily Reid, and Emilia DaSilva. Absent: Grace Kittel
Submitted
Jacks fall to Norwich, but remain in fourth place
Julian Gavaghan Observer Staff
THE WELLESLEY APPLEJACKS LOST 5-1
to the Norwich Merchants on home ice as the side extended a losing skid to three games last weekend.
While closely matched on shots, with the winners narrowly edging that contest 35-32, the Jacks were not able to capitalize on their efforts in the same way.
Only a single third-period goal by Liam Wadel spared the possibility of the PJHL South Doherty Division title challengers getting a shutout victory.
The disappointing result at the Wellesley rec. centre on Saturday leaves the Jacks with 44 points and a record of 21-15-1-0-1.
With four games left in the regular season and Wellesley still poised for home-ice advantage in the playoffs, the side remains in fourth place, seven points ahead of the Dorchester Dolphins.
However, the new leaders, the New Hamburg Firebirds, are 16 points ahead with 60, while Norwich dropped into second place with 58, but have two games in hand.
The Woodstock Navy Vets, in third, have 55 points, which is 11 more than Wellesley.
turned away. In the final, they managed 32 shots, but three found the mark courtesy of Abby Kranendonk’s hat trick.
Cook pointed out that during the tournament, they finished second in the skills competition, but in the relay race, Emma Vale, Alessia Snell, Allie Vale, Lily Reid, Karah Bisson, Adelyn Lubbers and Whitney Cook came out on top.
“In the first half a lap, the girls killed the relay race version of it. That was just teamwork, hard work and focus,” he noted.
They practiced and practiced this competition and wanted to get better: “They were working for each other instead of for themselves; it was a team-first mentality,” Cook said.
That mindset prevailed throughout the tournament, which set the tone where the competitors knew they had to skate hard to keep up with the Hericanes.
“Saturday was a disappointing outcome,” said Wellesley head coach Derek Lebold.
“I thought our prep was pretty good but execution did not match that preparation.
“We need more energy across our lineup, especially from some of our higher end guys.
“They know that, though, and I am confident after some positive reinforcement this week we will come out with better efforts heading into this weekend.”
There were also some positives to take from the weekend, the coach admitted.
“I did think Hudson Parker played with a lot of jam on Saturday night,” said Lebold.
“He is continuing to learn the game at this level and carries himself like an old player. Hopefully we see more of that spark from him as we head into the playoffs.”
The Jacks got off to a poor start against the Merchants, after slipping to an early deficit when the visitors’ Owen Rainey scored at 1:14.
From that point on, Norwich rained blows on their host, with the shot count reading 15-7 for the first period.
However, Wellesley
Staying focused also helped the girls get past the ties in the first two games against Stratford and the Strathroy Bluewater Hawks, both of which were winnable, said Cook.
“After those first two games, scoring no goals, the girls rallied together, they didn’t quit, they just wanted to keep fighting, and it paid off,” he said of the 14 players on the squad.
The captain, Adelyne Lobbers, was instrumental in helping keep everyone calm and encouraging them to still have a chance to win it.
The Orangeville tourney was their second first-place success of the season, having also taken top spot during a tournament in Ottawa December 12-14.
Orangeville was also good for the younger U11C group, with coach Mark Kropf saying he was excited for and proud of his players taking the gold, adding they had never played any of these teams previously. They
managed to hold off Norwich’s advances for a further 13 minutes and 51 seconds until another Owen, this time Harris, netted in what would turn out to be his first goal of a hat trick.
In the second period, Joel Storoschuk scored the only maker of a much tighter frame at 12:51, with both sides making 10 on-target attempts.
Going into the third, Wellesley had reason for some hope, but the visitors quickly turned the screws, with Harris netting at 1:01 to bring the tally to 4-0.
With the visitors going 15-10 on shots in the final frame, Harris buried the biscuit again at 9:57 to complete his hat trick. At this point, with the Jack’s now only playing for a thin sliver of pride, Wadel scored his fifth goal of the season with the ever-determined Evan Silveira assisting at 11:42. But, with the frustration of losing etched on many players’ faces, tempers eventually boiled over and at 16:31 both Wellesley’s Luke Schofield and Norwich’s Logan Van Den Akker were ejected from the ice for 10 minutes following an altercation. The score remained 5-1 at the end after Jacks’ netminder Jordan Abbott was only able to turn away 30 of the 35 shots he faced. The defeat was the third in a row Wellesley has suffered following losses to Norwich and the Paris Titans the previous weekend.
Lebold had hoped the 10 goals scored in two wins against Dorchester on January 18 and 19 would provide enough impetus for the Jacks to push on. This weekend, the Jacks face the Firebirds in New Hamburg on Friday night, then host the Tavistock Braves at the Bill Gies Recreation Centre at 7:30 p.m. on Saturday.
in the first two games, the Hericanes found a bit more space in a 5-1 victory over the Kincardine Kinucks.
“Then the rest of the team really picked it up in the semis and finals, that pulled us through,” Kropf said.
He said the early challenges the young athletes faced at the tournament, against two strong competitors back to back, pushed them to their limit.
They overcame it by sticking with the plan to find the back of the net throughout the tourney.
emerged undefeated nonetheless.
In the final, they edged the Saugeen Shores Storm 3-2.
“It was a tough battle. It was very tight the whole game, but we pulled ahead 2-1 in the second period.
Then the Storm scored with one minute remaining after they pulled their goaltender – “but the girls held strong and were able to pull out the win,” Kropf said.
The encounter was a complete team effort to achieve victory from start to finish, and every player contributed to the victory, he noted, lauding the girls for their strong start and the fact that they took control of the play.
A key part of the victory was netminder Ellie Hergott, along with their great defence, he added.
The Hericanes got goals from Maeva Buck
and Anna Whittsit
the second period. In the third, Penny Kropf notched the winning goal, part of a good weekend for the young player.
“She had a great time and led us through the first two tough battles in the round-robin, facing Temiskaming Shores Puckhounds, a 1-0 triumph, and then a 2-1 victory against Saugeen Shores Storms.”
After close battles
“We’re a fast and strong team. We’re gritty, and our game plan is to get the puck down low, wear the other team out, and get some shots and dig in,” Kropf said, noting how during their regular “C” season, the 15-player crew came undefeated and moved up to the “B” tier. Now, they are competing in the playoffs, facing Ontario’s top 10 B teams. “They are doing a great job this year.”
The Applejacks lost 5-1 to the Norwich Merchants Saturday night in Wellesley. Top photo: Evan Silveira fights to take control of the puck, with Norwich’s Tyler Magoffin closely behind. Bottom left: Hudson Parker shoots on goaltender Thomas Staszczyszyn. Bottom right: Austin Stemmler in game action. Andrea Eymann
The U11C Hericanes went undefeated at the Orangeville Sweetheart Tournament on Jan. 24-26. Front row: Ellie Hergott, Katherine Peters, Anna Whittsit, Avery Hergott, Eden McKay, Cailey Cole. Middle row: Holly Pembleton, Aubrey Givlin, Noemi Snell, Penny Kropf, Slaone Soehner, Maeva Buck, Brinley Johnston. Back row: John Cole, Ruth Kropf, Mark Kropf, and Jeff Stemmler. Absent: Kylie Gerber, Ainsley Schultz, Laura Gerber, Derrick Schultz. Submitted
in
WOOLWICH WILD
■ U15LL #1
02/01/2025 vs. Guelph Jr
Gryphons #1
HOME: 1 VISITOR: 3
GOALS: Maddy Collison
■ U15LL #2
01/30/2025 vs. Guelph
HOME: 1 VISITOR: 3
GOALS: Sophie Vogel
ASSISTS: Aurora Dobson
■ U13LL
02/01/2025 vs. Twin Center
Hurricanes
HOME: 2 VISITOR: 3
GOALS: Delilah Woolner (2)
ASSISTS: Evelyn Helmuth
KINGS: Sole game of weekend sees team look to gain ground on Listowel
effort, the way we held our own,” said head coach Dane Horvat. “That’s a really good hockey team on that side, and I thought we did a good job of stepping up. We played them hard. We definitely made it hard on them, that’s for sure.”
The Kings took the energy from that game into the match the following night at the WMC, where Gibbons let just one of the 31 Strathroy shots he faced get past him.
The Kings got on the board first when Warrilow, from Sam Ratcliffe and Nate Gravelle, scored at 9:47. Less than two minutes later, Martin scored what would end up being the winner, assisted by Elijah Weiss. The period ended with Elmira up 2-0 Just past the midway point of the second, Ratcliffe’s tenth goal of the season made it 3-0, which is how things would stand the rest of the way through the period.
Strathroy’s lone goal, scored by Josh Denes, came on a power play at 13:36 of the final frame, making it 3-1. But Martin, from Nolan Battler, added an empty-netter with just 17 seconds left to seal the 4-1 victory. The goal gave him 31 on the season, tied for the league lead with linemate Luke Della Croce. With 72 points (31-41), Martin leads the league in points, followed by Della Croce at 63 (31-32).
The Kings outshot the Rockets 39-31. Elmira had no power-play opportuni-
ties, while Strathroy went 1-5.
“That was the fourth time we played Strathroy, and the first time we beat them,” said Horvat. Heading into that game, I think we had all the confidence that we were able to generate from the night prior against St. Marys.
“It was nice to finally beat that Strathroy team. We knew we were a better hockey team than them, and we just had to go and prove it. I thought we did that on Sunday.”
The win helped put some space between the Kings at 49 points versus Strathroy’s 41 as Elmira jockeys for playoff seeding.
“It was a big game for us, with them being behind us in the standings. I think it created a little bit more separation and gave us, a little bit more cushion as we had down our final nine games of the season,” said the coach.
There’s just one game on the schedule this weekend for the Kings (23-15-3) as they head to Listowel Friday night to take on the fifth-place Cyclones (25-11-2-1).
Horvat noted Listowel will be looking for a bit of payback after last week’s 6-5 shootout loss, while the kings will be looking to gain some group. Four points separate the teams. That Elmira’s got just one game this weekend means there’ll be energy to burn.
“We’ve got nothing else, so we can empty the tanks. We can pour everything we’ve got into that game.”
Group provides social outings for dogs ... and their owners
Andrea Eymann Observer Staff
LOCAL DOG OWNERS
ARE HITTING the trails in packs, logging nearly 300 kilometres since July 2022 with their furry companions.
The dog-walking group, dubbed ‘Elmira Pack Walks,’ helps these furry friends work on training between 2.5-km to 3.5-km treks, while including structured socialization so the pups can coexist peacefully.
“It’s pretty cool to see the group grow as time has passed,” said group leader Jenn Basler, 42, noting the outings see anywhere from four to 20 dogs come out.
It was just the height of the pandemic when Basler got her golden retriever, Griffin, which didn’t allow for many training opportunities during the lockdowns.
“So once we started being able to be out more
and interacting with others, he had quite a few negative interactions, where he’d be rushed by off-leash dogs in the neighbourhood,” she said.
It was then she started attending Lili Romeo’s Leader of the Pack’s Dog-Walking Club, based out of Waterloo, which has routes mainly in the Kitchener and Waterloo areas.
Over time, she would run into other people from Elmira at these get-togethers, giving her and Annie Morgan the idea for a group closer to home.
“We wanted it to be free for people to use. It’s not replacing dog training, it’s implementing dog training, helping you practice skills and working on things together,” Basler said, noting she loves a good trail hike.
Participants tend to stroll through the neighbourhoods but also go through some trails, such as the one behind Lions
Parks, which goes to Listowel Road.
But they have ventured down to Waterloo Park, St. Jacobs and Guelph to broaden their dogs’ experience.
Pack walks are generally a weekly occurrence, drawing members from Elmira, Guelph, Drayton, Kitchener, Waterloo, Breslau and Listowel.
During their latest outing last Sunday, the minus-6 degree weather didn’t prevent more than a dozen dogs from attending, including Dee Gavric’s white German shepherd, Juneau, who has been wandering with the squad for two years.
Gavric told The Observer taking part allows her to be active with her dog while joining in with a community that she loves.
Madison Liese, who joined the group just last month with her Great Dane, Delta, also enthused about the people involved.
While there were only a few people out for her first trek, that didn’t stop her from returning, as Liese found it a lovely group.
“Jenn is really, really friendly and great,” she added of Basler.
“Jenn is amazing,” agreed Rachel Uridge, who joined a year and a half ago with her little pup, Mac, dressed and ready for the hike in his winter jacket, booties and reflective light.
Uridge said she loves being able to socialize with Mac, but within the rules that are in place, such as a maximum six-foot leash, giving space to other people around, and letting the canines greet each other only after the walk and with permission.
She added that the socializing has been excellent for Mac, but also from the human standpoint as she and her partner, Mike, have made friends within the group.
→ DOGS 28
GALEA: Those old snowshoes are as safe as houses, wherever you leave them
→ FROM 10
Frankly, it doesn’t matter. Some Canadians have snowshoe collections that would make Imelda Marcos blush, and they’re not getting rid of them anytime soon.
I think this is because we Canadians form a bond with our snowshoes that is difficult for people in other countries to comprehend. Maybe it’s because that pair of
snowshoes on the wall saved your life or, more importantly, your dignity on some snowshoeing excursion long ago. It might have been the thing you brought to a house party that people laughed at and mocked you for – until the bat got in the house.
Or perhaps it was the pair that you were wearing when you proposed to your wife and she
said yes. It doesn’t even matter that the question you proposed was, “Do you want to hang these snowshoes up in the basement and never use them again?”
What matters is she said yes.
There are a lot of things you can say about showshoes, but another reason I think Canadians love them is that they are the one item that no other
Canadian would ever steal. That’s why you see often see them attached to garages, outbuildings, and near the front doors of houses for years on end. Unfortunately, showshoes are becoming a thing of the past because no one hangs aluminum snowshoes on their walls or garages for decorations. Or maybe they did, and they just got stolen.
On Sunday, the Elmira Pack Walk group set out on their 3-km walk in Elmira from Riverside Public School. Top photo: Livpreet Kaur, Joban Singh and Lexie; Breanne Cox and Kyran; Dee Gavric and Juneau; Mike and Rachel Uridge and Mac; Madison Liese and Delta; Laura Zettler and Beau; Jackie Fackoury and Blue; Tiffany Pilon and Luna; Jenn Basler and Griffin; Sandra Schroeder and Loki; Chris Foley and Oakley; Dana Wamsley and Blur; Michelle Rawlings and Rosie. Bottom left photo: Madison Liese with her Great Dane, Delta. Bottom middle: Paul Miskinis with Luna. Bottom right: Dee Gavric with her white German shepherd, Juneau. Andrea Eymann
The Sugar Kings celebrate Brett Warrilow’s first-period goal Sunday night at the WMC, where Elmira defeated the visiting Strathroy Rockets 4-1. Andrea Eymann
In January, 329 homes were sold in the Waterloo Region via the MLS System of the Cornerstone Association of Realtors, down 12% from a year earlier. The average sale price for all residential properties was $755,859, down 1% from January 2024 and 0.6% from December. The average price of a detached home was $882,941, a drop of 3.1% from a year earlier and 1.2% from December.
Round One in the trade fight is a draw
In the trade fight started by US President Donald Trump, Canada can claim a draw in Round One… by approaching the challenge the Canadian way, through quiet diplomacy.
Announcing countervailing tariffs isn’t “quiet” in the classic sense of the word. Nor is strategically erecting Made In Canada signage to discourage American-made product purchases.
But consider how even Ontario Premier Doug Ford tried to calmly, cooly and compassionately appeal to US citizens. We’ll fight if attacked, and who wouldn’t, he said in a widely watched CNN interview. But we’d rather be friends and carry on the traditional mutually beneficial relationship we’ve long enjoyed.
Same with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. We’re allies, he told Americans at his news conference on the weekend, smiling all the way. The niceties eventually subsided and out came the countervailing tariff announcement. But not from the mouth of a mad dog.
In the tense, eleventh-hour lead-up to Monday’s announcement that the US would delay slapping tariffs on products from Canada (and Mexico) for a month, it was unclear if the threat of countervailing tariffs was enough to bring Trump to the negotiating table.
But if indeed the tariff threats were really about reducing drugs and illegal immigrants from crossing borders into the US, then the agreement by the three countries to address those problems worked. Trump
could have approached it more diplomatically from the start, but that’s not his way.
Scraping away the rhetoric, Canada may have actually come out of Round One ahead. As a country, Canada is not nearly as big a problem for America when it comes to drugs and immigrants, as America is for Canada when it comes to guns. If a billiondollars-plus is about to be poured into adding resources at the border to deter drug trafficking and illegal immigration, hopefully it will reduce gun smuggling, too. Meanwhile, we should expect more bombshells from Trump. Don’t be surprised if Round Two of the tiff starts with little warning, before the 30-day tariff delay that all countries have agreed to. With drugs and immigration addressed, the low-hanging fruit is natural resources and agriculture. They’re much better if they’re shared and traded in a business-like manner like they mostly are now, but that’s not what happens in a tariff fight. So, let’s get ready for the next volley. The tariff threats prompted a hasty yet thorough examination of US-Canada interdependence, the clear need to diversify our trading partners and find ways to eliminate inter-provincial trade barriers. That is urgent. Because who knows if diplomacy will get us
15
→ ROBERTS
Breslau’s Conestoga Meats was the winner in the “most food sorted” category in The Food Bank of Waterloo Region’s Great Food Sort Challenge, sorting 3,162 pounds of foodstuffs. Thirty teams took part over three days last month, raising 168,555 meals for people struggling to afford to put food on the table.
This area not immune to havoc wrought by Trump’s tariffs
Even as U.S. president backs down from Feb. 1 timeline, uncertainty abounds over future crossborder business
Julian Gavaghan Observer Staff
WATERLOO REGION’S EXPORTERS REMAINED DEEPLY uncertain about future U.S sales after Donald Trump pulled back from the brink of a trade war with Canada and postponed sweeping new tariffs this week.
Bosses breathed a sigh of relief as the president paused plans to punish America’s closest trade partner three days after he announced on Saturday that virtually all Canadian goods crossing the border would be hit with a 25 per cent import tax, with a lower 10 per cent levy on oil.
On Monday, as reopening stock markets around the world slumped amid the threat of Trump’s apparent willingness to wreck a global economic system that his own country built and prospered on for decades, local firms grappled with what the tariffs might actually mean for them.
“It’s concerning, there’s no question about that. But right now, I have no idea what the impact will be on any of the cross-border movement that we do,” said Lyman Smith, of Elmira-based Thur Transport, which trucks
livestock to the U.S. “Watching the whole thing unfold, I feel a sense of betrayal,” he added. Others in the region were equally scathing about the risks of what the previously Trump-backing Wall Street Journal called “the dumbest trade war in history” and which had prompted citizens of arguably the world’s politest nation to boo the U.S. anthem at NHL games in Ottawa, Vancouver and Calgary.
“You’ve got a madman running the largest democracy in the world, who’s bent on destroying it from within,” said Tony LaMantia, the president of the Waterloo Region
Economic Development Corporation, as he warned that tens of thousands of jobs in this area could be at risk, particularly at manufacturers such as Toyota.
Amid this anger, Ottawa had promised equal retaliatory tariffs and Ontario Premier Doug Ford said he would strip American alcohol from LCBO shelves, rip up a $100-million contract with Elon Musk’s Starlink and ban U.S. firms from bidding on provincial contracts.
been a steadfast alliance. The University of Waterloo’s Centre for International Governance Innovation had also suggested in a new report that this country faced a campaign of economic warfare after Trump had repeatedly called for Canada to submit to becoming America’s 51st state.
“There is no question that we’re being bullied,” said Raquel Garbers, a visiting fellow from the Department of National Defence.
Despite Trump’s previous flip-flopping, many experts felt there was a sense of grim inevitability this time about tariffs and the upending of what had →
“Is it economic warfare? My answer to that is: not yet. But that’s not to say it can’t get there.”
A Toyota worker searches for imperfections on a car hood (top) at the Cambridge plant, with other images of production below. The automaker exports most of the best-selling RAV4s it makes there to the U.S. and is heavily exposed to the threat of Donald Trump’s tariffs. Julian Gavaghan
through Round Two.
Trump The Conqueror has publicly drooled at the prospect of annexing Canada. That leaves us trying to diplomatically deal with the illogical leader of the world’s strongest military.
Trump might have been swayed to hold off the trade war by the army of US experts who argued it would hurt the US and leave Trump open to criticism, which he can’t stand.
Most Americans want to avoid a trade war. Canada can help them understand why it’s a bad idea for them, and for everyone.
TARRIFS: Many Canadians are worried that a Trump-led U.S. can no longer be trusted
Yet, at lunchtime on Monday, came the news that Mexico, which had also faced 25 per cent tariffs, had gained a reprieve for at least a month after its president, Claudia Sheinbaum, spoke to Trump and agreed to send 10,000 troops to its border with the United States in an effort to stem the smuggling of both drugs and illegal migrants.
Hours later, following another phone call between Trump and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau that was scheduled for 3 p.m., the American leader agreed at the last minute to also suspend taxing Canadian imports for the time being.
Ford immediately paused Ontario’s retalia-
tory measures, but said he “won’t hesitate” to punish American businesses in the future, while also promising a $22-billion stimulus package to help the province’s workers weather the chaos of Trump’s presidency if he is re-elected as premier.
Back in Elmira, Smith said uncertainty would continue to haunt businesses like his, noting that he had spent much of the day contacting customs brokers and receivers on both sides of the border who were every bit as puzzled as him by Trump’s actions.
Indeed, the sorry episode has left many people, in Canada and elsewhere, concerned that America can no longer be trusted.
Think of groundwater before salting
Many commentators noted the added insult that Trump had hit America’s democratic allies with a 25 per cent border tax, while authoritarian China, its biggest economic adversary, would endure only a 10 per cent levy.
“This reminds us of the old Bernard Lewis joke that it’s risky to be America’s enemy but it can be fatal to be its friend,” the Wall Street Journal stated in its editorial.
Trump had vowed to break the United States–Mexico–Canada Agreement (CUSMA) he had signed to replace NAFTA in 2018 by using claims of fentanyl being smuggled across America’s northern border as a pretext to trigger an emergency loophole in the free-trade deal.
This was despite seizures at the border with Canada representing just 0.2 per cent of the total haul of the opioid captured by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration last year.
Trump has also complained about illegal migrants crossing the northern border, even though, as with fentanyl, the number is dwarfed by those entering from Mexico.
The president, who has introduced a flurry of executive orders since beginning his second term on January 20, including suspending all international aid, has also complained about low Canadian defence spending, which is proportionally the fourth
lowest among the 30 NATO member states and has also been criticized by other allies recently as well.
But, despite these concerns, he has been most vocal about his country’s trade deficit and has repeatedly insisted that America does not need cars made in Canada nor its lumber, both of which accounted for a big chunk of the US$418.6 billion of Canadian exports to his country.
However, many experts have noted that, when you take away Canadian oil, a heavier crude variety that the U.S. needs to mix with its own lighter product in order to refine gasoline, the Americans actually have a trade surplus with Canada.
Local stories that inspire.
Email: newsroom@woolwichobserver.com
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Local favourite Ben Rollo returns to The Registry Theatre Friday night (Feb. 7) for Great Canadian Singer-Songwriters Vol. VIII: The Acoustic Sessions. The popular annual concert this time around features special guests Claire Voy (SHEBAD), Christine Bougie (Bahamas), and Emma Cooper & Jacob Macpherson. Show time is 8 p.m. www.registrytheatre.com
www.jeremyhotz.com
Tim Schmalz’s latest project is close to home
Local sculptor wants to place a version of Tennyson’s ‘Lady of Shallot’ in Wellesley to honour his father and uncle
remember the identical twins, Peter and Paul.
LOOKING TO CELEBRATE THE MEMORY
of his father, St. Jacob’s artist Tim Schmalz plans to donate a sculpture to Wellesley Township.
‘Lady of Shallot’ is named after Alfred, Lord Tennyson’s 1833 poem, one of the artist’s favourite literary works, as he first heard it when he was around 20.
The piece of art is proposed for a spot by the pond in Wellesley village’s Albert Erb Park.
“The idea was to put a sculpture in a spot where the community can appreciate it, and consequently, the memory of my father [Paul] and my uncle [Peter] can live on in a positive way, in a sense, contributing to the community that they grew up in by putting beauty within that small community,” Schmalz, 55, said.
“It is more or less what I perceive as my father giving a gift to Wellesley,” he emphasized.
“It’s not a tombstone… the whole project is a gift to the Township of Wellesley on behalf of my father, and I do believe that the sculpture is something that will be universally appreciated because it is such a universally accepted poem.”
But Schmalz noted there might be some excitement because it is honouring some past residents who used to live there, adding that some older people might
They were born October 22, 1938, and grew up at the local gas station, garage and lunch stop, which sat on the main street with the river running behind the property. Both attended EDSS, where Paul met his wife, Myrna.
Schmalz told The Observer his father was head of the English department at Kitchener-Waterloo Collegiate, while his uncle was head of the history department at Walkerton High School.
Paul died during the summer of 2024 at the age of 85. Peter died in 2021 at 82.
“They were both involved in the arts and humanities, so to have a sculpture that was really kind of a pinnacle of the arts, captured by the poem and represented by the sculptor, is very important,” he explained of the motivation for the art project.
Schmalz said his father was a big influence on him, boosting the arts and encouraging him when he wanted to pursue an artistic career.
“I had conversations about philosophy, and we would sit even right before he passed. We would have great discussions about philosophy, art and literature throughout our whole lives, and I enjoyed that,” the son said of his favourite memories of his father.
The Wellesley sculpture will be the second version of ‘Lady of Shallot,’ with his first version to be
found on the Isle of Wight in England, where Tennyson lived. It’s displayed at Dimbla Museum and Galleries in Freshwater, one of many international installations of his sculptures, from Philadelphia to
the Vatican.
Schmalz’s planned donation is currently being reviewed by Wellesley council, which discussed the idea last week before deferring a decision until after some
public consultation. The matter is expected to be back on the table February 11.
“I think I’d like to hear a little bit more from the residents of the town to see what their feelings are
on this,” said Mayor Joe Nowak at the January 27 meeting.
“It is their ponds, our pond, the township’s pond, it’s multi-layered.”
Schmalz thinks one “stumbling block” for some community members is they won’t know who Lord Tennyson is.
“But my hope is also that a plaque is created near the sculpture that celebrates the poem by actually having a carved out or a QR code that will bring people to the poem so they can read the poem,” Schmalz said.
Additionally, the lifesized bronze sculpture, created from some 2,000 pounds of clay, depicts Lady Shallot in a boat, where Schmalz carves scenes from the composition onto the statue itself, which provides visual cues to the narrative.
For example, if it mentions the moon, he includes a depiction of the moon.
Nowak remarked: “I think it’s a great idea, and it could open a whole new era of arts and culture in the village and the township, but I still think we should try to get some input from the community on this as possible.”
Schmalz will be responsible for all the installation costs, including preparation, shipping and placing the sculpture.
If the plan is approved, the installation would likely take place in the spring.
If you have any comments about this creation, contact a Wellesley councillor or the township clerk, Grace Kosch, at gkosch@wellesley.ca.
Canadian comedian Jeremy Hotz brings his award-winning brand of observational comedy to Guelph’s River Run Centre on Saturday (Feb. 8). The stop is part of his 10th national tour, dubbed Très Misérables, offering up fresh takes on life’s absurdities.
Andrea Eymann Observer Staff
Identical twins, Paul and Peter Schmalz, the artist’s father and uncle, who the statue will honour. The photo on the right shows the proposed location of the sculpture in Wellesley village’s Albert Erb Park, at the southeastern corner of the pond. Submitted
Tim Schmalz works on another project in his Elmira-based workshop as he waits to hear back from Wellesley Township about his plans to donate a sculpture. Andrea Eymann
Phone: 519-669-5790 ext 104
Email: ads@woolwichobserver.com Job Posts: jobs.observerxtra.com
Join a young, dynamic team that keeps growing! Woodland Horizon Ltd designs, manufacturers, finishes and installs high quality custom cabinetry. Our shop and showroom are located in the town of Drayton. At Woodland, one of our core values is Respect - for our team members and for our customers. Continuous improvement is also a big part of who we are. We are constantly looking for new and innovative ways to make our team members jobs easier and more efficient.
We are looking to add a motivated and professional individual to our Cabinet Engineering team. The successful applicant will have experience in cabinet building, cabinet design or installation and preferrable Cabinet Vision Software. In this position you will be taking drawings from the Sales team and getting them ready for production.
We are looking for a
Kitchen Engineer
to join our team. Reporting to our Engineering Manager, you will be using Cabinet Vision software, to create detailed shop drawings, CNC files and production cut lists.
Required skills
•Respectful, Motivated and Enthusiastic
•Courteous, Friendly and Dependable
•Ability to read blueprints
•Cabinet Building and Install, Cabinet Vision experience will be an asset
•No post secondary education required
This position is full time, with benefits after probationary period.
If you are interested in joining a vibrant and growing company, please send your resume to laverne@woodlandhorizon.com or call 519.638.5961 ext 104
Only those receiving an interview will be contacted.
Work
Wanted
RELIABLE HOUSE CLEANING SERVICES. Call for details. 226-747-9487.
For Sale
COUNTRY LANE
FABRICS SPRING Sale. February 10th - 22nd. 10% less on fabrics, quilt and comforter batts, tableflex, gloves, hosiery, box cards, rubber stamps and accessories. Selected fabrics and small ware items at half price. 519-664-0701.
Ag. Services
BAGGED PINE SHAVINGS AGRICULTURAL Spray Lime, 22.5kg. bag; feed grade lime, 25kg. Delivered. Call George Haffner Trucking, 519-574-4141 or 519-669-2045.
FERTILIZER AND SEED GRAIN - AT competitive pricing. Call George Haffner Trucking, 519-574-4141.
ICE SALT & ICE MELT IN 20KG BAGS. CALL George Haffner Trucking, 519-574-4141 or 519-669-2045.
KILN DRIED CORN DELIVERED BY Einwechter. Minimum 15 ton lots. Call George Haffner Trucking 519-574-4141 or 519-669-2045.
WE ARE BUYING GOLD JEWELLERY, silver cutlery, paper money, wrist - Rolex & Omega & pocket watches. 43 years experience. Call Terry in Elmira at 519-242-6900 or gallamore@golden.net. Will pick up, fair honest prices!!
WILLING TO BUY - DIE CAST REPLICAS OF farm tractors and equipment; Industrial equipment and Tonka sandbox toys. In any useable condition. No collection too large or too small. Ask Dwayne for details. 519-669-5500.
Coming Events
KARATE! CLASSES BEGIN FEB. 17TH. SCHWEITZER'S MARTIAL ARTS Self-defense, Self-discipline, Self-confidence. GROUP CLASSES FOR AGES 7 TO ADULT Taught by Renshi Becky Schweitzer, 4th Degree Black Belt and 12X World Karate Champion Location St. Peters Lutheran Church -2925 Lobsinger Line, Heidelberg. EARLY BIRD SPECIAL ONLY $105+HST FOR 9 WEEKS. Uniform extra. Special ends Feb. 10. Regular price $125+HST. Call 519-580-1418 or e-mail becky_ schweitzer@hotmail. com www.schweitzers martialarts.com
COMMITTEE OF ADJUSTMENT NOTICE OF HEARING
MONDAY February 24, 2025, at 4:30 P.M.
Pursuant to the Planning Act and Ontario Regulations 197/96 and 200/96 take notice that the Committee of Adjustment for the Township of Woolwich will meet for the purpose of hearing all persons interested in support of or opposition to the following application as described below.
Committee of Adjustment meetings are held virtually via Zoom where public attendance can be arranged with staff, if required. Below is information on how you can view or participate in the meeting as well as how to submit comments. Please contact the Committee Secretary by email to planning@woolwich.ca or by phone at 519-669-6040 if you have any questions.
MINOR VARIANCE APPLICATION A2/2025 – Elizabeth Brubacher
PROPERTY: Vacant lands (adjacent to 421 Katherine Street North), GCT Part Lot 75, RP 58R11270 Part 2
ZONE / USE: Agricultural / Vacant Land
PROPOSAL: The applicant is proposing to construct a new dwelling on the property and is requesting the following:
• a reduction to the calculated Minimum Distance Separation from 123 metres to approximately 58 metres between the new dwelling and the existing livestock facilities located at 421 Katherine Street North;
• a reduction to the calculated Minimum Distance Separation from 123 metres to approximately 78 metres between the new dwelling and the existing manure storage facilities located at 421 Katherine Street North; and
• a reduction from the required 180 metres to approximately 21 metres between the new dwelling and the existing On Farm Diversified Use – woodworking shop located at 421 Katherine Street North.
MINOR VARIANCE APPLICATION A1/2025 – David and Erma Horst
PROPERTY: 3778 Arthur Street North, GCT Part Lot 96, J Erb Survey Plan 607 Lots 24 to 30, Lots 37 to 41 and Part Lot 42
ZONE / USE: Agricultural / Single detached dwelling, accessory buildings, livestock barn and manure storage area
PROPOSAL: The applicant is proposing a 1,388 square metre addition to the existing livestock barn and is requesting the following reductions to the calculated Minimum Distance Separations:
3781 Arthur Street North
• from the calculated separation of 214 metres to the actual separation of approximately 142 metres between the existing manure storage pit and the dwelling located at 3781 Arthur Street North; and
• from the calculated separation of 126 metres to the actual separation of approximately 90 metres between the proposed livestock barn addition and the dwelling located at 3781 Arthur Street North.
3818 Arthur Street North
The applicant is also proposing to construct a new livestock barn on the property which will meet the calculated Minimum Distance Separation of 39 metres between the new livestock barn and the existing dwelling at 421 Katherine Street North.
MINOR VARIANCE APPLICATION A3/2025 – Madwest Breslau
Limited and Woolwich South Holdings Limited
PROPERTY: 231 Woolwich Street South, 110 and 118 Menno Street and 33, 37 and 38 Mader’s Lane, Breslau, Draft Plan of Subdivision 30T20701
ZONE / USE: Residential Zones R5A, R6A and R7A, Open Space O-2 and Site Specific regulations in Section 16.272 / Vacant residential subdivision lands
PROPOSAL: The applicant has received zoning and subdivision approval for development of the subject lands and is requesting the following variances:
• All lots within the R-5A zone, requesting permission for an interior side yard setback of 0.6 metres provided the total distance to the abutting residential unit is not less than 1.2 metres whereas a minimum setback of 1.8 metres between adjacent dwellings is required in Sections 7.3 f) i) and 7.4 d) of Zoning By-law 242024 and
• from the calculated separation of 214 metres to the actual separation of approximately 105 metres between the existing manure storage pit and the dwelling located at 3818 Arthur Street North; and
• from the calculated separation of 126 metres to the actual separation of approximately 59 metres between the proposed livestock barn addition and the dwelling located at 3818 Arthur Street North.
3843 Arthur Street North
• from the calculated separation of 214 metres to the actual separation of approximately 164 metres between the existing manure storage pit and the dwelling located at 3843 Arthur Street North; and
• from the calculated separation of 126 metres to the actual separation of approximately 113 metres between the proposed livestock barn addition and the dwelling located at 3843 Arthur Street North.
3859 Arthur Street North
• within the R-5A, R-6A and R-7A zones, requesting permission to reduce the internal minimum width to 3.0 metres, for a single car garage that is used to satisfy the required parking for the residential use on the premise, whereas a minimum width between 3.35 and 5.5 metres in required for the Garage – Single Car definition in Section 3 of Zoning By-law 26-2024.
HOW TO PARTICIPATE
As in-person meetings are not an option at this time, you can view or participate in the meeting as follows:
• view the Committee of Adjustment livestream on the Woolwich Township YouTube channel at the following link @woolwichtownship9588 OR
• from the calculated separation of 214 metres to the actual separation of approximately 190 metres between the existing manure storage pit and the dwelling located at 3859 Arthur Street North.
3860 Arthur Street North
• from the calculated separation of 214 metres to the actual separation of approximately 152 metres between the existing manure storage pit and the dwelling located at 3860 Arthur Street North; and
• from the calculated separation of 126 metres to the actual separation of approximately 113 metres between the proposed livestock barn addition and the dwelling located at 3860 Arthur Street North.
A portion of the existing barn is proposed to be demolished to accommodate the new addition.
• participate by registering with the Committee Secretary on or before 12 noon on Wednesday February 19th. To register please email planning@woolwich.ca or phone 519-669-6040. When registering you must provide your name, phone number, email and the application number you would like to comment on. Once you are registered the Committee Secretary will forward information on how to connect to the Zoom meeting (i.e. zoom Wi-Fi login or conference call number).
If you are unsure whether or not you would like to speak at the meeting but want to listen and have the option to comment on a particular application, please register with the Committee Secretary (see above information). You will not be required to speak if you do not want to.
WHY REGISTER
By registering staff can ensure that you are permitted access to the virtual meeting, we know which application you are commenting on and, can call on you at the appropriate time to comment if you wish to do so. As it is virtual, registering will provide a level of security that is necessary to prevent unwanted guests from disrupting the meeting. Applicants and their consultants will be automatically registered and contacted accordingly by the Committee Secretary ahead of the meeting.
Notice continued to next page
Community Information Page
Notice continued from previous page
SUBMITTING COMMENTS
If you would like to comment on a particular application, staff always recommend that you do so by:
• submitting a letter by mail or delivering it to the Township office at 24 Church Street West, Elmira and placing it in the drop box on the Maple Street side of the building; or
Phone: 519-669-1647 or 877-969-0094 Fax: 519-669-1820
• submit an email to planning@woolwich.ca
After Hours Emergency: 519-575-4400 www.woolwich.ca
You can also contact the Township Planner at 519-669-6033 to discuss any comments / concerns however, this is not considered a formal comment.
The Committee will consider submissions for or against the applications. All submissions must be made no later than 4:30 p.m. on Thursday February 13, 2025 (Note that this date is before the meeting). Any submissions received will be included in a comment package and presented at the meeting. This information is collected and maintained for the purpose of creating a record that is available to the general public at the Committee of Adjustment hearing. Please note that while the Committee may redact some personal information such as email addresses and phone numbers, your submissions will otherwise be made public in their entirety.
This notice has been sent to commenting agencies, and to owners of property located within 60 metres (200 feet) of the subject properties. If you wish to be notified of any last minute changes to the agenda (i.e. withdrawal of an application) you must contact the Committee Secretary at 519-669-6040 or 1-877-969-0094 (Ext. 6040) or by email to planning@woolwich.ca.
Notice of Decision: Within 10 days of the meeting, a copy of each decision will be sent to owners, agents, those who submit written comments, and people who register for the meeting. If you wish to be notified of the decision of the Committee of Adjustment in respect to this application, you must submit a written request to the Committee Secretary or register ahead of the meeting. This will also entitle you to be advised of a possible Ontario Land Tribunal appeal.
Appeal of Minor Variance and Consent Applications: There is a 20-day appeal period before a decision becomes final and binding. In accordance with Section 45(12) of the Planning Act and Bill 23 – More Homes Built Faster Act only the applicant, the municipality, certain public bodies or specified person (as defined in the Planning Act) and the Minister, that have an interest in the matter have the right to appeal a decision to the Ontario Land Tribunal.
QUESTIONS / FURTHER INFORMATION
Please feel free to reach out to Township Staff by phone or email to assist you should you have any questions. Contact the Committee Secretary at 519-669-6040 or 1-877-969-0094 (Ext. 6040) or by email to planning@woolwich.ca
DEVELOPMENT STANDARD:
Public input sessions start Thursday in Wellesley
He noted that we need local standards and practices because every region and municipality is different, and there is no one-size-fits-all fix.
“We are leveraging our local resources and expertise, so our local heat sources are excellent here. It’s not excellent in Mississauga, but this isn’t going to happen organically. We need to work together. These new practices align with the region’s goal of reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 80 per cent by 2050.
For more information, see www.engagewr.ca.
NOTICE TO RESIDENTS
• Tax-supported operating budget
• Capital budget
• Water budget
TAKE NOTICE that the Council of the Township of Woolwich intends to adopt the following 2025 budgets:
• Wastewater budget at the regularly scheduled Council meeting on February 18, 2025, starting at 7:00 PM in the Council Chambers situated at 24 Church Street West in Elmira and on Zoom and livestreamed to the Township of Woolwich YouTube Channel.
Colm Lynn, Director of Financial Services & Treasurer
PUZZLE S OLUTIONS
Obituary
Kupfer, Deborah (nee Honey)
Passed away peacefully with her husband by her side, after a lengthy illness, on Wednesday, January 29, 2025 at the age of 75 years. Beloved wife of Peter Kupfer for 56 years. Loving mother of Christopher (Sherri) and Michael (Jennifer). Cherished Oma of Lucas, Zachary and loving grandma of Macey, Benjamin, Aleigha, Kyle, Ryan and Andrew. Survived by sister Judith Waterworth. Will be missed by many nieces, nephews and their families, and her constant companion Carling. Predeceased by her parents Mel and Marion Honey and sister Jane Tovell. Cremation has taken place. A celebration of life will be held at a later date. A special thank you to the PSWs, doctors and all who cared for mom during her illness. As expressions of sympathy, donations to University Health Network (UHN) Foundation, CNIB Foundation, or Trinity United Church, Elmira, would be appreciated and may be made through the Dreisinger Funeral Home. www.dreisingerfuneralhome.com
Obituary
Hanley, James ‘Jim’
Passed away peacefully on Saturday, February 1, 2025 at The Village of Winston Park, Kitchener at the age of 86 years. Beloved husband of the late Norma (2022). Devoted father to Ron (Stephanie), Mike (Tina) and his late son Rick (2011). Cherished Bumpa to Michelle (Jonas), Adrienne (Zac), Kyle (Cassie), Matthew (Robin), Jeremy (Brianna), Staci and Taylor, and greatBumpa to Hazel, Theodore, Eleanor, Montgomery, Jared and Jayce. Will be missed by his brothers Bernard (Rose), Billy (Anne), Pat (Marianna), and sisters-in-law Marie Hanley-Willms, and Marie Hanley. Predeceased by his parents Wilfred and Nellie Hanley, siblings Jack (Helen), Dennis, Helen (Wesley) Kershaw, and Allen. Jim loved spending time with his family and friends, and was always up for a good card game. At Jim’s request, cremation has taken place and there will be no visitation. A memorial service will be held at 10:30 a.m. on Thursday, February 6, 2025 at St. Teresa of Avila RC Church, 19 Flamingo Dr., Elmira. A reception will follow the service, and interment will take place in the spring. A special thank you to the staff and support workers at Winston Park LTC for the kind and compassionate care given to Jim. As expressions of sympathy, donations to Community Care Concepts would be appreciated and may be made through the Dreisinger Funeral Home.
www.dreisingerfuneralhome.com
Obituary
Fischer, Lorraine
Passed away peacefully at Grand River Hospital on Saturday, February 1, 2025 at the age of 90. Now reunited with her husband of over 50 years, Roy Fischer (2010). Beloved mother to Dave Fischer of New Hamburg and Jeff Fischer of Ottawa. Will be missed by nieces and nephews Karen (Perry) Weber, Brian Eix, Ross (Karen) Jantzi, Carolyn (Jim) Triglia and Janet (Tom) Greytock. Predeceased by her parents Milton and Pearl (Hilliard) Eix, sister Myrtle Jantzi, brothers Harry (Doris) Eix, and Carl Eix. Lorraine was born and raised in Floradale, and spent the majority of her life in Kitchener. She enjoyed gardening and camping, and loved time spent at the trailer at Green Acres. Visitation took place at the Dreisinger Funeral Home, 62 Arthur St. S., Elmira on Thursday, February 6, 2025, from noon until the time of service at 1 p.m., with Rev. Joe Das presiding. Family interment followed in Elmira Union Cemetery. Donations to Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada would be appreciated by the family, and may be made through the funeral home.
www.dreisingerfuneralhome.com
Martin, Eva
Passed away peacefully surrounded by her family on Monday, February 3, 2025 at Hospice Waterloo Region, at the age of 87 years. Beloved wife of the late Willis Martin (2021). Loving mother of Greg (Yvette) of St. Jacobs, and Heather Martin of Vancouver Island, BC. Proud grandma of Hailey and Joshua. Will be missed by her siblings Floyd Bauman, Ina Frey, Howard (Ruth) Bauman, and Doris (Al) Jantzi. Predeceased by her parents Harvey S. and Saloma Bauman, sister Lorraine Bauman, sister-in-law Pauline Bauman, and brother-inlaw Amsey Frey. Eva was a longtime member of St. Jacobs Mennonite Church, and was involved with various committees and groups which were a vital part of the life and growth of the church. In her spare time, she enjoyed knitting for those in need. Cremation has taken place. Visitation will be held on Thursday, February 6, 2025 from 5-8 p.m. at the Dreisinger Funeral Home, 62 Arthur St. S., Elmira. A memorial service will take place at 2 p.m. on Friday, February 7, 2025 at St. Jacobs Mennonite Church, 1310 King St. N., St. Jacobs followed by a reception. As expressions of sympathy, donations to Hospice Waterloo Region or the Children and Youth Program at St. Jacobs Mennonite Church would be appreciated and may be made through the funeral home.
www.dreisingerfuneralhome.com
The new fundraiser event for the Wellesley Fall Fair, Hicktown Hoedown, saw just over 200 people dust off their Stetson and boots to do some line dancing Feb. 1 at the Bill Gies Rec. Centre. Top left: Sarah Stiles, Jon Stiles, and Wayne Kneisel, also shown on the top right, hammering a nail into a tree stump. Second row right: people laughing as they figure out the line dancing moves, with Ashley Sindall and Sherilyn Houle on the right, wearing their pink cowgirl hats. Third row: Drayton’s Bonnie Frey, Pam Wideman, Marlene Kuepfer and Wellesley Fall Fair ambassador Katie Musselman. Fourth row right: Musselman tries to hammer nails into a tree stump. The last row shows people having fun at the first-time event. Andrea Eymann
Leading the way reporting about the people and places of home.
Email: newsroom@woolwichobserver.com Report it: observerxtra.com/tips
Breslau flight centre holds first event for high schoolers
Some 300 people turned out to explore opportunities in the aviation industry
like a passion, Quinn said.
HUNDREDS OF ASPIRING PILOTS AND their parents flocked to the Waterloo-Wellington Flight Centre (WWFC) last week to explore the world of aviation.
Among the 300 or so Grade 11 and 12 students was Ella Quinn, 16. She and her mom, Jennifer Williams, travelled some 114 kilometres from Markham to Breslau on January 30 for the centre’s first high school night, letting the teens tour the facility, chat with instructors and current trainees, and even experience the flight simulator.
“It was not that long ago I decided that flying was something I was interested in, and my mom went to the University of Waterloo, so when I found out that they had a program that I could get everything done at, that was really interesting to me,” said Quinn, referencing Canada’s largest university-level aviation program.
She came to the flight centre for the first time last October for a discovery training session. When she got in the air and saw the world from above, the experience was exhilarating, and made flying feel less like work and more
“It was something I was doing for fun, kind of like a hobby, and it was something that appealed to me for a future job that didn’t seem like work; it was something that was so much fun.”
Taking part in that first piloting experience will be something she will always remember, Quinn noted. “I knew that when I was able to get that memory, that it was something that I wanted to do for the rest of my life.”
Her mom chimed in, saying that this was something she thought about, talked about, and watched all the time, and once she flew, “she was hooked.”
“It’s pretty exciting to see someone with that much passion for something, so I’m all for it,” Williams said.
But when her daughter first told her she wanted to be a pilot, she was a bit apprehensive.
“It’s way out of my realm,” Williams said, noting that she loves to fly but as a passenger.
She added: “It’s just unreal to me; it just feels like it feels like so much work. There’s so much you need to know. It was a little scary for me, but, honestly, when you see somebody with that much dedication
→ TAKING FLIGHT 27
The moribund Peel Street bridge project showed some signs of life this week, as Woolwich councillors voted Tuesday to apply for a federal grant that, if awarded, cover 60% of the cost to rehabilitate the historic steel span for pedestrian use. The township would be left to cover about $1 million of the $2.6-million price tag.
Ringing the bell to mark a happy day
Family of five-year-old Harrison Achkar celebrate as gruelling treatment for leukemia leads to remission
Julian Gavaghan Observer Staff
AN ELMIRA MOTHER PRAISED HER “little warrior” son after the five-year-old survived a two-and-a-half-year cancer battle.
Halle Revell said it was so inspiring to see “happy” Harrison Achkar ring the remission bell after receiving his last chemotherapy treatment for a type of leukemia.
“He’s really strong and really resilient and
positive,” she told The Observer, adding that her son’s incredible bravery had helped her and husband Andrew Achkar get through “every parent’s worst nightmare,” an ordeal that started after the boy was misdiagnosed with a routine virus when he was aged two.
“He was my strength. I thought, ‘If he can do this, I can do this,’” said mother-of-two Revell, who also noted that Harrison had needed to learn to walk again because his sickness
had left him so bedridden and weak that he had forgotten how.
Among the ways in which the John Mahood Public School senior kindergarten student showed his mettle was being able to take vast quantities of oral medicines, even while he was still a toddler, without needing a nose tube.
“There were times when he was taking five, six things a day, and he took them all. He took every single medicine for 850 days,” explained the mother, who was grieving over the COVID-19-caused death of her 66-year-old
father, Kevin Revell, when her son was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukemia in March 2022. Medics often told her how amazed they were by how well Harrison withstood a gruelling treatment regime that included more than 20 blood product transfusions, 25 sedated lumbar puncture procedures, more than 60 nights in hospital, hundreds of IV chemo infusions and more than 10 trips to the emergency room, including after catching COVID.
“He’s just always gonna try, he’s never gonna just
Alma photographer Sharon Grose, whose photographs capture moments in farm and rural life, won silver and bronze at The Canadian Farm Writers’ Federation (CFWF) awards banquet in Halifax. She took silver in the John Philips Award - Landscape Photography category and a bronze in Don Baron Award - People category.
Elmira’s Halle Revell holds her cancer-surviving son, Harrison Achkar, alongside her older son, Chase Achkar, after revealing her family’s two-and-a-half-year ordeal. Julian Gavaghan
Andrea Eymann Observer Staff
FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 7
▢ Valentine/Friendship Luncheon at the Royal Canadian Legion, Elmira. 12:30 p.m. to 2:30 p.m. Cost is $15 per person. Enjoy sandwiches, sweet pastries, tea, coffee, entertainment and an afternoon of fun. Tickets can be purchased at the Woolwich Seniors Association office, 24 Snyder Avenue South, Elmira, 519-669-5044 (inside the Woolwich Memorial Centre) until Monday, February 3. Open to anyone. Tickets will not be sold at the door.
WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 12
▢ Senior’s Community Dining at Wellesley Recreation Complex. Community Care Concepts invites you to join us at noon for lunch and fellowship. Cost: $14. Please call to register by February 7 by calling 519-664-1900.
▢ Wednesday Noon Movie. 12 p.m. to 1 p.m. at The Junction, 47 Arthur St. S., Elmira. Join us to watch The Chosen, Season 2. All are invited to enjoy this series every Wednesday at noon from January through February. Bringing your lunch to eat during the video is an option. Call Marilyn @ 519-669-5548 for more info.
THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 13
▢ Woodside Evergreen for Seniors, 10:30 a.m. at Woodside Church, Elmira. The feature is “Hospice 101- More Than a Bed” by Alex Allen, Hospice Waterloo Region. Devotional Speaker: Harold Paisley, Special Music: Zamira- Ladies Barbershop Quartette. Please register by February 9 at woodsidechurch. ca/evergreen or 519-669-1296. $10 includes a hot lunch at noon.
MONDAY, FEBRUARY 17
▢ February Speaker. Woolwich Gardeners presents Janet Cox “Pruning for Plant Health and Beauty” at St. James Lutheran Church, 60 Arthur St., S., Elmira, use Wyatt St. entrance. 7 p.m. to 8:30 p.m.; Open to the public! Bring your own mug for refreshments and treats.
TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 18
▢ Gale Presbyterian Church Tuesday Luncheon. Join us for our luncheon by take-out (11:30 a.m.to 12:15 p.m.) or eat-in (12:15 p.m. to 1 p.m.) $12/person. Menu: meat loaf, mashed potatoes with gravy, vegetable, salad, homemade bread and cherry cheesecake. Order by phone-519-669-2852 ext.3 or by email to richard.mcfadden@galepresbyterian.com. Payment by cash/cheque or by e-transfer to bookkeeper@galepresbyterian.com.
SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 23
▢ Elmira Legion’s All You Can East Breakfast. Bring your family and join us from 8:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. Menu includes ham, sausage, fried or scrambled eggs, home fries, pancakes, baked beans, toast, jam, coffee, tea and juice. $10/adult, $5/6-10 years, free for 5 and under. Proceeds to benefit Encore Dance Studio.
WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 26
▢ Senior’s Community Dining at Linwood Community Centre. Community Care Concepts invites you to join us at noon for lunch and fellowship. Cost: $14. Please call to register by February 21 by calling 519-664-1900.
ↆ
Busy weeknights call for quick recipes
We love scalloped potatoes, but most recipes call for more than an hour of oven time to soften the potatoes, so we wanted a streamlined recipe that could be made any night of the week. We started by parboiling sliced russet potatoes in a combination of heavy cream and chicken broth
on the stovetop. Then we stirred in some sharp cheddar cheese and transferred the gooey, cheesy potato mixture to a baking dish to finish cooking in the oven.
Cheddar Scalloped Potatoes
▢ 2 pounds russet potatoes, peeled and sliced 1/4-inch thick
▢ 1 1/4 cups heavy cream
▢ 1 cup chicken broth
1. 1Adjust oven rack to upper-middle position and heat oven to 425 degrees. Bring potatoes, cream, broth, salt, and pepper to simmer in a large saucepan over medium-high heat.
▢ 1 teaspoon salt
▢ 1/2 teaspoon pepper
▢ 8 ounces sharp cheddar cheese, shredded (2 cups)
dar. Bake until bubbling around edges and top is golden brown, about 20 minutes. Let cool for 15 minutes. Serve.
TO MAKE AHEAD: At the end of Step 2, transfer potato mixture to a 13-by 9-inch baking dish and let cool completely. Cover with aluminum foil and refrigerate for up to 24 hours.
2. Reduce heat to medium, cover, and cook, stirring occasionally, until a paring knife can be slipped in and out of potatoes with no resistance, about 8 minutes, adjusting heat as necessary to maintain gentle simmer. Off heat, gently stir in 1 cup cheddar.
3. Transfer potato mixture to a 13-by 9-inch baking dish, spread into an even layer, and sprinkle with remaining 1 cup ched-
To serve, keep covered with foil and bake until heated through, about 20 minutes. Uncover, sprinkle with remaining 1 cup cheddar, and continue to bake, uncovered, until bubbling around edges and top is spotty brown, about 20 minutes longer.
DEAR MAYO CLINIC: My doctor recommended that I add more fruits and vegetables to my diet. I have slowly increased my intake over the past two months, but lately I have begun to experience increased gas and bloating. Are there certain foods to avoid to limit abdominal distress? How can I embrace a more healthful diet but banish the discomfort?
ANSWER: Congratulations on working to embrace a more nutritious diet. Incorporating more fruits and vegetables, which provide valuable fiber, is a step in the right direction to help manage cholesterol, blood pressure, blood sugar and overall weight. However, if you are not used to consuming fiber-rich foods in your diet, you will want to do so slowly to avoid bloating and abdominal pain. The amount of fiber
Mayo Clinic Professional Clinical Health Advice
each person needs is based on age. Generally, men aged 50 and younger should aim for 38 grams of fiber daily, whereas women of this age would target 25 grams daily. As we age, fiber intake recommendations decrease. Men aged 51 and older should aim for 30 grams of fiber daily; women should aim for 21 grams daily. Also, be mindful that certain foods — and drinks — can trigger excess digestive discomfort. Consider avoiding some common offenders and you can continue on your path to a more nutritious lifestyle. Fruits with high fructose content
Many people avoid fruit because fruit has sugar, including fructose and sorbitol, which can cause inflammation and gas. But
How to avoid bloating
fruit contains fiber, which is important for a healthy diet, and beneficial vitamins and minerals. Avoid fruits that are high in fructose, such as apples, pears and watermelon. Instead, choose bananas, oranges, cantaloupe and darker-hued fruit — such as blackberries, blueberries and strawberries — which contain valuable antioxidants.
Beans and lentils
Though beans and lentils are excellent sources of protein and fiber, these foods also contain complex sugars called oligosaccharides, which cause bloating and gas as they pass through the digestive system. To reduce the amount of sugar, always rinse canned beans and ensure they are thoroughly cooked. Cooking beans until they are very soft helps to decrease gas production.
Alternative, easier-to-digest options that will cause
LITTLE WARRIOR: Triumph at the end of an ordeal
lie down,” one physiotherapist told the mother.
Revell, 37, said she wanted to share the incredible story, ahead of International Childhood Cancer Awareness Day on February 15, to thank everyone who helped and supported Harrison and her family and because it is important to speak about the disease and, perhaps, help other parents who might go through the same experience.
Among the organizations that made a huge difference was the Ronald McDonald House in Hamilton, where she stayed for 35 days after Harrison’s sickness was finally discovered and he was airlifted to McMaster Hospital.
Family and friends also rallied around.
Perhaps most notably, her father-in-law, Marc Achkar, who was visiting from Montreal when Harrison was rushed to McMaster, immediately cancelled plans to make the 650 km return trip and stayed in their house in Elmira for all of the 35 days that Harrison was initially in hospital.
“He had just arrived that day. But he just said, ‘I can’t leave until you’re back home,’” explained Revell, who noted that her mother, Gay Revell, had also been a huge help supporting Chase, the family’s other son, who
is two years older than Harrison.
She said the ordeal for the older sibling was especially hard as he worried about his brother and spending a lot of time away from his parents.
When Harrison, who will be six in May, began getting sick, doctors at first did not notice that it was something so sinister.
“I thought he had a cold or something, and when I took him to his doctor they gave him antibiotics, and so we went home,” said Revell.
A week later, after she felt the medicine wasn’t working and could see a rash, she took him back to the same doctor, who said the boy had internal bleeding under the skin and needed to go to an emergency room immediately. There, medics were soon able to give the mother the bad news.
“The doctor said, ‘I’m so sorry. I wish I didn’t have to tell you that your son has leukemia.’
“And I just grabbed his arm, and I was squeezing his arm, and I was just screaming, ‘No.’ And I just was going, ‘No, no, no.’
“And then the doctor started crying, and said, ‘I have kids too. I wish I could just tell you it was a virus. I wish I could send you home.’”
At that moment, Revell feared the worst about her son: “I was looking at him thinking, ‘He’s gonna die.’”
To save his life, he
less bloating include tofu, tempeh or quinoa.
Cruciferous vegetables
Broccoli, cauliflower, brussels sprouts, and cabbage are among the most challenging to digest due to their complex fibers, which tend to ferment in the gut, causing gas and bloating. Alternative nutrient-rich foods that are easier on the gut include dark leafy greens like kale, spinach and Swiss chard.
Onions and garlic
such as basil, ginger and oregano, to add depth to your meals without the fear of digestive issues.
With some adjustments, you can ease the bloating and discomfort you currently experience.
Additional tips include:
needed an immediate platelet transfusion, but to do that, the boy needed to be airlifted to McMaster.
There, he also began chemotherapy.
At first doctors weren’t sure what the prognosis was because the leukemia had been caught relatively late.
But, eventually, having arrived on St. Patrick’s Day, Harrison was finally well enough to return home on Easter Saturday.
From then it was a continuous regime of chemotherapy visits and other medicines.
All of which left Harrison’s immune system highly compromised and meant he was at risk of devastating infections. That meant several ER trips.
But eventually, in July 2024, two and a half years after the ordeal began, the little boy was told he would no longer need treatment.
The tradition for such patients that have reached that point is to ring a bell and so Harrison, who was always happy to get toys in hospital, gladly went to the oncology clinic again.
The moment was perhaps more poignant for his mother, however.
“It was just the best day in my life,” said Revell, who, having given up her job to care for Harrison, is now inspired to live her life as fully as possible and has begun training to be a yoga teacher.
Many allium family varieties, including red and yellow onions and garlic, can be difficult to digest. This is because they contain something called fructan, which can ferment in the gut and cause nausea, bloating, gas and diarrhea. To reduce sensitivity, cook the vegetables well or soak in water for at least 15 minutes if eating them raw. You may also consider using powdered versions — although some people may still have sensitivity. To enhance flavor in your dishes, look to alternatives such as celery, fennel, shallots or chives. You can also add other spices and herbs,
Eat smaller meals, more frequently. Instead of eating large meals, eat smaller portions more frequently throughout the day. This approach can help your digestive system process food more efficiently, reducing the chances of bloating.
Eat slowly. Taking time to chew your food thoroughly can help ensure that food is properly broken down in your mouth, which aids digestion and reduces the strain on your stomach. This also helps you to avoid overeating, which can put unnecessary pressure on your digestive system and cause more bloating.
Stay hydrated. Ensure you drink enough water daily to support healthy digestion. Being properly hydrated helps move food smoothly through your digestive tract.
Avoid carbonated beverages. Soda and other
carbonated beverages introduce excess air into the digestive system, which leads to more bloating and gas. Instead, drink still or flat water or try peppermint, chamomile or ginger tea after meals, which can help promote digestion and soothe your gut.
Keep a food journal. As you adjust your diet, consider tracking what you eat and how you feel afterward in a food journal. This practice can help you identify specific trigger foods and let you make further adjustments for your comfort. You can continue enjoying your new diet without unpleasant side effects by incorporating small changes. Fiber has many benefits, including improved gut health over time. However, if you find that you still experience bloating, gas or other abdominal discomfort, talk with your primary healthcare specialist. He or she can rule out food allergies or other conditions.
Your livestock donation makes a di erence!
Money raised at the sale will go towards the relief, development and peacebuilding work of Mennonite Central Committee. This work started in Ukraine in 1920 and continues to support the most vulnerable there, in Ontario and around the world. Donors
Donated animals will be sold as part of the regularly scheduled sale on Feb 18 and 20. Donors are responsible for delivery to the sale and will not be contacted in advance. Truck drivers must indicate if an animal is designated for the relief sale.
Thank you to our sponsor:
Playtime
(Informal)
ACROSS
1. UK public broadcaster
4. Trample with force
9. Seize power
14. Bucharest's bucks
15. Meat prep by Muslim law
16. South Pacific island nation
17. Complicated situation
19. Unlock
20. Song of praise
21. Fans
23. Latin for 'thing, matter, affair'
25. Black-tie affair
26. First coat of paint
29. Luxury boat
32. Public squares
36. Make spending cuts
38. Soccer team size
40. Retirement account (US)
41. Proposals made in committees
43. Table scrap
44. Surrender (2wrds)
46. Icarus's father
48. Appear to be
49. Proofreading note to ignore correction
51. Skeletal thin
52. Two of a kind
54. Cunning
56. All the world's
oceans (2wrds)
61. Short piece of writing
65. Ready for action
66. Land of 10,000 Lakes
68. Swamp creature
69. Live broadcast (2wrds)
70. Close to the ground
71. A sign of sleep apnea
72. Full-contact sport 73. Mischievous devil DOWN
Minor problem
Pulpit 3. Dice shape 4. Emitted light
5. The "you're it" game
6. Spanish earthenware pot
7. Unmarried young woman
8. Till the soil
9. Typical
10. Capital of New Mexico
11. Raised part of a shield
12. Lion's cry
13. Golfer's goals
18. Uncommon
22. Vice principal's concern
24. Brief overview
26. Military prison cells
27. Eagle's nest
28. Postpone something bad
30. Part of a play
31. Scold
33. Convex molding
34. Broadcast again, and again
35. Restless
37. Large flightless bird
39. '60s 'trip' ticket
42. Quaker's grain
45. Caesar, for one
47. Bottomless pit
50. Minor quake
53. Cavern, in poetry
55. Distrustful
56. Droops down
57. Vigorous enthusiasm
58. Presidential "No"
59. Hokkaido native 60. Unforeseen difficulty
62. Solo performance
63. Basic unit of matter
Utter a loud, harsh cry
Writing tip
TAKING FLIGHT: WWFC offers a number of paths, including partnership with UW aviation program
→ FROM 23 Aviation (BSc) programs.
and passion for something, it just makes you proud.”
The flight centre event showed high schoolers the ins and outs of the facility last week.
“I think a lot of people don’t realize… that they can do pilot training right here in Waterloo Region,” said WWFC’s Julie Mudry, noting the facility has been around for 91 years.
The centre has a fleet size of 35 aircraft, with some 500 trainees enrolled. That includes students in the 18-month Airline Transport Pilot (ATP) training program and the four-year UW program, as well as individuals looking to get their licence at their own set pace, Mudry explained.
In conjunction with the flight centre, the University of Waterloo offers Geography and Aviation (BES) and Science and
Trent Harris, 21, decided to achieve his pilot license through the UW partnership and has now been approved to be a Class 4 instructor at the Breslau facility starting in the spring.
Harris started flying at a Manitoba Air Cadets program, where he took his first flight with an instructor on July 4, 2022.
Then, nine days later, he flew his first solo and has racked up 265 hours of air time since.
“It was nerve-wracking, but I knew that my instructor trusted me, and I was ready for it, so I had to trust in what I learned,” he explained of his 10-minute piloting adventure in a rectangle route.
Yet, no matter where a student takes their first solo, they will all have the same case of nerves, Harris noted.
“I’ve been interested in
aviation since I was really young. I went on a plane once when I was three and thought it was cool,” Harris said.
“The greatest thing for me is that it’s the marriage of kind of an art, in a way – the art of flying – and it’s also just technical,” he noted.
“There’s a technique behind it when you’re doing flight manoeuvres, and there are different procedures… there’s a freedom to it,” he added of his passion for the aviation industry.
Yet, his favourite part about the training is the community spirit.
“There’s a geography and science program; they’re separated because they don’t really go together other than the flying classes, so the society tries to bring the two together and foster a community of all the aviation students,” he explained.
Some 300 or so aspiring Grade 11 and 12 pilots flocked to the Waterloo-Wellington Flight Centre in Breslau Jan. 30 to tour the facility, speak with instructors, and current students, and experience the flight simulator. Top: 21-year-old Trent Harris, a UW student, sits in one of the planes at the high school event. Middle left: Toronto’s Jose Moren, 15, as he tests out the airplane’s driver’s seat. Middle right: Markham’s Ella Quinn, 16, with her mother, Jennifer Williams. Bottom left: Greg Side, director of maintenance, and Lesley Gome, the front-end manager, with a Diamond DA 40 aircraft. Bottom left: Brody Hamon, 17, from Cambridge, aspires to fly, following a family history in aviation. Andrea Eymann
Drivers take extra precaution while managing your vehicles in downtown Elmira on Arthur Street, which is filled with several potholes this winter season from the freezing and thawing of the snow that has weakened the road’s surface. Andrea Eymann
MERTINS-KIRKWOOD: Developing an industrial policy is key in finding alternatives in the wake of Trump
→ FROM 9
In the short term, we need emergency support for the workers, communities and small businesses hit hardest by Trump’s trade measures. Income top-ups similar to the ones introduced during the COVID-19 pandemic could keep businesses operating and workers working for the time being.
More accessible and generous Employment Insurance benefits can help mitigate the damage of inevitable layoffs. In the long term, Canadian governments
and communities need to reevaluate their dependence on resource exports to the U.S.
We desperately need to extract more value from the resources produced in Canada. We also need to find other buyers.
Major investments in domestic processing and manufacturing capacity could allow Canada to produce more valueadded goods, such as batteries and vehicles, for global markets. It would also give rural communities stable local buyers for their resources.
But more than anything else, we need to make plans for a different future. The Trump bust may be cruel and unnecessary, but it is a clear sign that our current economic strategy of U.S. integration is untenable.
Every Canadian small town staring down the barrel of the Trump presidency needs an industrial policy plan. Their futures – and Canada’s future –depend on it.
ↆ Hadrian Mertins-Kirkwood is a senior researcher with the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives.
DOGS: The benefits extend beyond getting out for a walk
“We’re already focused on structured socialization, where they learn to peacefully coexist with each other, not get too excited or too amped up, and learn to be around dogs without the need to play constantly,” Basler said, noting her own dog has benefited from getting acclimatized to the process.
“Griffin is so neutral now because he’s been on over 100 of these walks.”
She notes her four-yearold golden retriever’s has learned only basic tricks, as she likes to focus more on his behaviour than on a lot of tricks, but he can wave and high-five.
To help with a little bit of training and to make sure everyone is comfortable, Basler may offer one-on-one sessions for someone who may be feeling a tad anxious about bringing their pup to a group.
“We might meet up with them… just doing laps in a parking lot and give each other lots of space, and eventually try to get them a little bit closer, strolling in front of the other without interacting,” she
trainer herself, has spent a fair bit of time around animals and always has recommendations for trainers, as she stresses these pack walks are not training replacements.
“We support any training method,” Basler said. “There’s no judgement on training tools that the people use, everyone is really supportive and respectful of each other’s choices.”
explained.
Group training sessions happen during the warmer months, but the walks will be year-round, typically on a weekly basis.
If someone has an over-excitable four-legged friend, Basler recommends always showing up early and getting their pooch moving, and as other canines show up, they can watch the canines while still working on their sauntering around.
Basler, who is not a dog
Her favourite part of running the Elmira-based doggy group has been helping other dogs deal with reactivity or other challenges… they start to settle, and you see the growth they experience with their confidence just being a part of the pack.
As with others, it’s the social aspect that’s a key ingredient for Basler, who has made friends with many who’ve come out.
“The community has really been amazing and stepping up and supporting the group,” she added.
You can find their group on Facebook under the name ‘Elmira pack walks and group training sessions,’ where you can stay tuned for the upcoming treks.
Rachel Uridge and her trusty companion, Mac, dressed in his winter jacket, booties and reflective light for the minus-6 degree weather on Sunday. Andrea Eymann