Harry Stemp was born in Uxbridge in 1934. He started his career with the Uxbridge Times-Journal as an apprentice typesetter at age 14. He soon began writing sports for the Times-Journal and eventually owned 10 community newspapers in central Ontario including the Times-Journal. He started writing his award-winning Stemp’s Stew in 1965. The column came to an end shortly after he sold his newspaper chain in 1989, but was rejuvenated in 2006 when Harry became a regular contributor to The Cosmos.
Canada isn't so bad
No one would disagree that most countries around the world are facing tough economic times. Unemployment is at an all-time high in most countries and trying to manage the huge national debts seems to be an impossible task. Although Canada is by no means clear and free of this problem, there are many signs that we are in better shape than most countries.
And it seems to come down to our controlled banking system, a system that has been praised by many leaders around the world. When these problems first started, former U.S. President Bill Clinton told a large audience that if the U.S. had the same controlled banking system as Canada, we would not be in the mess we find ourselves today. And this opinion was backed up by German leader Angela Merkel during her recent visit to Ottawa. During a press conference, along with PM Stephen Harper, Merkel heaped praise on the solid Canadian banking system and added “this country is an excellent example for the world of a country that can emerge from a crisis in a robust manner”.
Canada still has problems that need to be addressed, but it makes one feel good when we hear world leaders praising the way our government is tackling those problems head on and taking the country in the right direction.
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Congratulations to the five-pin bowling team from the Uxbridge Legion that won the gold medal at the Ontario Senior Games held in Brampton last week. Kushal and Wayne Murphy, Al Lowe, Tom Foster and Regional Councillor Jack Ballinger qualified for the finals by winning the Durham Senior Games five-pin bowling championship in Oshawa in May.
In Brampton they came up against teams representing 26 districts from across Ontario. Silver was won by Renfrew and the Bronze by Scarborough. With that kind of stiff competition it was quite the accomplishment for our team to come home with the gold. ------------------
People like to complain but maybe when they are badmouthing Canada they may want to take a look at what is happening around the world. In Moscow, Russia, a court jailed three young members of a feminist punk band to two years in prison by defying the Russian authorities and ridiculing President Vladimir Putin in a church.
Wow! Good thing that law isn’t on the books in Canada. There wouldn’t be enough jails to handle the people I hear badmouthing PM Stephen Harper on a regular basis, as well as some of the other elected leaders across the country. So count our blessings for being Canadian.
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Love my early (early being 5 a.m.) morning walks as I see the GO bus riders loading and our community waking up and preparing for work. The downside is meeting skunks and racoons which can be a bit startling and scary.
Recently I was surprised when I walked along the north side of Sacred Heart Church and saw a long line of young people coming out of the hall, knapsacks on their backs, and gathering at the front of the church. Asking a few questions I learned they were from Scarborough and were walking to a pilgrimage at Midland’s Martyrs Shrine. They planned on doing 30 miles the day I spoke to them.
Churches had been lined up along the route where they could have dinner followed by an overnight stay. A friendly group of young people on an ambitious mission who seemed more surprised than I to have someone who would want to converse with them that early in the morning.
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Oh, what might have been! During a recent visit to Ottawa I came across a beautiful large downtown building and draped from the top down was a large banner which stated: “This is a LEEDS Designated Building - GOLD”.
How impressive, and to think this could have happened in Uxbridge had it not been for sudden collapse of First Leaside. As I admired the huge banner I couldn’t help but think what a wonderful boost that would have been for our community. Imagine the feeling of pride as visitors driving along Brock Street were greeted with a banner like that. How very impressive. But it was not to be and now we look at the unfinished hole in the ground. One can only hope it won’t be for long and we will soon see some type of acceptable development take place.
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In a recent ‘Stew’ I mentioned that council should consider renting out floating billboards on Elgin Pond as a revenue generator. It was a tongue in cheek comment. However, at the time, I didn’t realize that it might turn into a long-term arrangement especially when one realizes that the floating Rib Fest promotion as well as the Highland Games castle still bob along, even though both of these events have been over for a few weeks.
To me, if you are going to be allowed to foul up the peaceful view of Elgin Pond to promote your project, then the least organizers could do is have the decency to make sure they are removed immediately following the event. Of course, if no councillor or dept. head in the Township office cares, then why should the promoters?
And we can’t expect the By-Laws officers to bother with this, because I notice they are busy running around Goodwood making sure that Susan Fedorka (letter to the editor) doesn’t have two ‘for sale’ signs on her property. Can you believe it? Sounds like a make work project to me.
