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.
Giving like Santa
Is there no end to the various ways that our elected representatives waste our heard-earned tax dollars? Last ‘Stew’ I mentioned the millions of dollars thrown at leaders of the various Indian bands across Canada. While at the same time many of the residents on the reservations live below the poverty line, lacking proper clean water and sewage disposal facilities.
On the heels of that news hitting the headlines, a Conservative MP is worried his own government is paying too much for legal aid for refugees. Tim Uppal, the Conservative MP for Edmonton-Sherwood Park, has pressed Immigration Minister Jason Kenney to explain why his department was spending millions more on legal fees this year. Uppal pointed to a request for the Immigration Department to send an additional $2 million to the Justice Department, which handles legal cases for the federal government.
“How much are we spending annually on this? Are we paying for appeal after appeal for failed refugee claimants to exploit loopholes just so they can stay here year after year?”
Uppal asked Kenney these questions as he appeared before MPs to discuss spending at his department.
“These funds are used, in part, to pay for representation on appeals,” Kenney said. Officials in Kenney’s department told MPs they pay approximately $15 million a year for legal aid destined for refugee claimants.
The spike in costs for the legal aid is due to “the overall inventory of asylum claimants, which includes the irregular mass arrivals of the Tamil migrants,” said an Immigration official. The federal government pays for lawyers for refugee claimants needing legal aid at both the Immigration and Refugee Board and at the Federal Court level. A person that fails at the Immigration and Refugee Board can appeal to the Federal Court, which can order a new hearing.
And all this money comes from one pot – the pockets of the taxpayers. Not sure about you but in all my years I have never been able to send any of my legal bills down to Ottawa to be paid by my fellow taxpayers. Had I done so I can imagine the reply I would have received. But these people have all their legal bills paid time and time again because they know how to milk the system. Only in Canada you say – pity!!!
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We are blessed with a lot of hard-working volunteers who are involved in the many charitable and community projects that are an integral part of improving life in Uxbridge.
Among those are the members of the Lucy Maud Montgomery Society of Ontario. These dedicated volunteers have spent countless hours preserving the fact that this wonderful Canadian author lived in Leaskdale and authored a large number of the Anne of Green Gables books while her husband Ewan Macdonald was minister at the local Presbyterian Church between 1911 and 1926.
They have preserved the manse and purchased the church and all of this comes with a heavy burden in the form of a $200,000 mortgage the paying of which is taking a lot of energy which could be devoted to making the property a famous tourist attraction for our community. Well, they have come up with a novel idea to rid themselves of this burden. They are hoping to find a couple of hundred residents who are willing to pledge a thousand dollar donation towards burning the mortgage. Seems like a lot but it doesn’t have to be a lump sum. You can pledge $20 a week, $100 a month or if you want to get it out of the way in a hurry write a cheque for $1000.
There are a lot of people who have trouble figuring what to get that certain person for Christmas, so here is a great idea. How about a pledge to this project in the name of that special person?
I have no idea how they plan to recognize the givers. But we raised a lot of money selling bricks to complete the Uxbridge Library addition. You can see the names of those donors prominently displayed when you visit the library. The wall of pucks prominently displayed at the Uxbridge Arena raised a lot of money towards completing the second ice pad addition. With a little imagination I am confident the organizers can come up with a similar idea to get rid of this huge burden hanging over this wonderful, historical attraction in Leaskdale.
And wouldn’t that be luverley to see that day?
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A major department store in the U.S. has fired Santa Claus. That’s right. The man had worked as a Santa at the store for 28 years but, this year, some parents complained that he was telling raunchy jokes so he was given the heave-ho. The joke that upset the parents came when they asked Santa why he was always smiling.
“Because I know where all the naughty girls live,” was his reply.
Guess some folks have lost their sense of humour. And speaking of Santa Claus I have often wondered how this longstanding institution avoided the wrath of the women’s libbers that always attack anything that is male dominated. I’ve never seen a female Santa Claus waiting to greet excited kids every Christmas.
Well, the puzzle was solved the other day when a lady told me “Harry, it’s not puzzling at all. Where would you ever find a woman who would agree to wear the same outfit year after year?”
Now that makes sense.
