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.
What a waste...
Following what is happening with the cost of security for the G20 and G8 conferences in Toronto and Huntsville respectively, there is little doubt in taxpayers’ minds that the inmates are running the asylum.
Reported costs for security alone are reported to be 1.2 billion dollars. Can you believe it? That is 1200 one million dollar cheques of our hard-earned tax dollars that are literally being flushed down the drain.
Just think if the federal government suddenly decided to choose 1200 communities across Canada and give them each a cheque for a million bucks to use for whatever purpose they felt would help their community.
I can imagine how the hard-working volunteers on the Cottage Hospital Foundation would feel if that were to happen. They would be ecstatic.
But it won't happen because downtown Toronto is being turned into a war zone so a few world leaders and their hundreds of support staff can meet and discuss what is best for the world. Nothing new. It will be the same old, same old as the last G8 gathering. A lot of talk. Shake hands. Have the photo shot and then head back home.
Outside we will have the protesters. Some legitimate, but many hangers-on who love to hit the streets and create havoc. Half won't even know what they are protesting but, in their sick minds, it will be fun to threaten the police, smash store windows and disrupt normal life for a few days.
What I can never figure out is, if these meetings are necessary why do they always pick large cities where all of this heavy-duty security is necessary? Why not pick some far-off island where security would not be a problem?
How about chartering a cruise ship and sailing around the Atlantic Ocean for three days? Very little security would be needed if they were to do this, and no disruption to the lives of ordinary people.
In this world of hi-tech communication why don't they just sit in their offices and tele-conference? Have a huge TV screen so they could see each other and go about their business. Private corporations and associations have been doing this for years at a tremendous cost saving to the bottom line.
The buzzword here is 'bottom line'. You see, politicians don't even know what that word means. They spend like drunken sailors and when they run out of money they just increase taxes and start all over again.
“Profit”, they say. “That's something we tax”.
So we will go through all this tremendous waste of tax dollars and the leaders will leave along with hundreds of support staff, having accomplished very little and wait for the invite to the next meeting.
And we, the taxpayers, will complain bitterly and do nothing about it.
Only in Canada, you say. Pity!
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A real controversy storming through council concerning the filling of the abandoned gravel pits within Uxbridge Township.
To me, it is sad that the average resident is paying little attention to the plan being proposed by some councillors to allow fill to be brought in from various construction projects, etc., and fill these crater size holes.
The plan sounds great if you listen to some. The Township will benefit through the charges levied to dump the fill. They see it as a win-win situation. The pits get filled and so do the coffers of the Township, so let's climb on the financial bandwagon.
But in life nothing comes easy. There is a downside to most good things and in the case of the pits, it is the cost of policing and guaranteeing that the fill being trucked in is of high quality and contains no chemicals or contaminants.
Who determines whether the fill is clean and acceptable? Also what is the cost of testing every one of the hundreds of trucks? If every truck isn't tested, who is to know what type of crud we could be allowing to be dumped into these pits?
If it turns out to contain toxic materials, what effect could this have if it was allowed to seep into the ground and affect the water table - which, in turn, could be devastating to our supply of safe drinking water?
I have heard all kind of dollar figures thrown around and how this will be a financial bonus for our community. But what good is having a bank full of dollars if we allow the ruination of the lifestyle that we love and enjoy as residents of Uxbridge Township?
This is an election year. You will have candidates knocking on your door seeking your support. I would suggest that you ask a lot of questions regarding this plan to fill the pits. Council has a lot of important matters to deal with but, to me, there is none more important than this.
Let's not fall into the trap of going for the almighty dollar at the risk of ruining the enjoyment and pride of living in one of the best communities in Ontario.
