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.
Only in Canada
Uxbridge Council, along with residents of Uxbridge, received quite a shock when the Federal Elections Boundaries Commission released their boundary redistribution plan which will be used during the next federal election in 2015.
Not only is Uxbridge included in the massive new riding of Haliburton-Uxbridge, our community is split and for the first time residents will be served by two different members. Zephyr, Sandford, Leaskdale and Udora will be part of the riding of York-Simcoe.
This does not sit well with Mayor O’Connor, as well as some members of council and I would think that the majority of Uxbridge residents would agree with her stand. Having our municipality represented by two different MPs could be a nightmare as politicians are noted for passing the buck. And if those representatives should be from two different parties, perhaps one with the sitting government and the other in opposition or just a member of the minority third party, negotiating problems on behalf of residents could be a nightmare.
And take a look at the size of the new riding. From Uxbridge to the northern boundary of the riding is close to 200 kilometres. And the eastern boundary is just a stone’s throw from Bancroft. Hard to get any kind of cohesion in a riding of the size of Haliburton-Uxbridge and the small communities in the northern part of the riding have nothing in common with the southern municipalities. Anyone thinking of running for office had better have a well-oiled team of hundreds of volunteers to cover the territory. And what a nightmare if a candidate decided to try and go door-to-door or attend candidate meetings.
Residents, as well as council members, will have a chance to voice their opinions at the public meetings which will be held before the boundaries become cast in stone. The final report to the Chief Electoral Officer of Canada is to be submitted no later than February 21, 2013.
Mayor O`Connor has not announced whether council will hold public meetings on the matter but I will be surprised if this does not happen. This council has always been interested in resident input on important matters affecting our municipality. And this is a very important change.
So talk it up amongst your neighbours and be ready to support Mayor O`Connor`s stand that she does not want to see Uxbridge Township split when it comes to choosing our Federal representative.
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If there is one thing that disgusts a large majority of Canadians it is our lax court system. Criminals who are found guilty of a variety of crimes are often given a slap on the wrist, a short jail sentence and are soon are back on the street able to terrorize law-abiding citizens. Many Canadians felt it was only Canada that tended to ignore the victims and treat the criminals with kid gloves.
Now we learn Canada isn’t the only country which follows this soft-hearted approach as the recent trial and sentencing of Anders Breivik in a Norwegian court would not give a good feeling to law abiding people around the world.
When news spread that Breivik had detonated a car bomb in front of an Oslo, Norway government office causing widespread death and destruction everyone was shocked. But this wasn’t the end as following this he travelled to a youth camp and randomly killed innocent young campers in cold blood. Seventy-seven innocent people were dead when his killing spree was ended. It was one of the worst peacetime tragedies in the history of Norway.
Recently Breivik was declared sane and stood trial. He was found guilty and sentenced to the maximum – under Norwegian law – to 21 years in prison. The sentence can be extended if he is determined to be a risk to society at that time. This low sentence is enough to make the average person fill with rage, but it gets worse.
Because authorities feel he would be in danger of harm if he was placed amongst hardened criminals, Breivik will not spend those 21 years as part of the normal prison population. This criminal whose only statement made in court when being found guilty was “I am sorry I did not kill more during my attacks” will be treated with kid gloves. The Norwegian taxpayers will be hit with the cost of building a special isolated cell which will be more like a small apartment. He will have his own well-equipped small gym and supplied with a laptop computer and access to the internet. Hopefully censored and not allowed to spread his hate over the world-wide net. But don’t count on that. It might infringe on his rights.
The amount of disgust that I feel I’m sure is minimal when I think of what those who lost loved ones during this senseless killing spree are feeling. But who cares about them? Remember they are the victims, and nowadays victims are not important in our sad ‘kid glove’ treatment of criminals.
Only in Canada? No, sadly the bleeding hearts can be found all around the world. A pity!
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For the third year in a row the parking lot at the Uxbridge Legion will be crowded with motorcycles, large and small, this Sunday, Sept. 9, as riders gather for the Ride For Our Veterans poker run. Organizer Blair Emmerson has laid out an interesting ride which will take riders through Durham Region, Northumberland and Kawartha Lakes and back to the Uxbridge Legion. As Blair says, “the ride gets better every year”.
Everything starts with a breakfast and registration at 8 a.m. at the Legion and the ride begins at 9.30. Cost is $40 per driver and $20 for passengers. Or you can register in advance by calling Blair at 649-961-0358 or online at legion170@powergate.ca
To date this popular ride has raised $8000 to help the veterans of this community and I can assure you that our veterans appreciate the help they receive from this project. So polish up the bike, enjoy a great ride and wonderful comradeship while raising big dollars for those who gave so much that we may enjoy the freedoms we cherish as Canadians.
