Harry Stemp May 21, 2009
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.
Previous
Cry me a river
Interesting watching former PM Brian Mulroney give his teary-eyed testimony on national TV at the Oliphant hearing into his dealings with Karlheinz Schreiber.
It was so touching to see him burst into tears as he told of the damage the Airbus scandal did to his reputation and to his family. Apparently a couple of journalists laughed out loud at one of Mulroney's statements concerning his family and this caused the tearful outbreak.
For a while it was enough to take viewers away from Coronation Street.
Mulroney, tap-dancing around why he didn't claim the cash ($225,000 according to Mulroney; $300,000 according to Schreiber) as income when it was first received.
And Schrieber, trying to nail the former PM with every e-mail and scrap of paper he has collected for years. Evidence he feels will help him prove his charges against Mulroney, and, at the sane time, delay extradition to his native Germany where he faces serious charges of tax evasion.
Where will all this end? Who knows? We do know the hearing will cost a ton of tax dollars. Once it is over Schreiber will be sent back to Germany to face tax evasion charges in his homeland. And will Mulroney, like most PM's charged with improper conduct, simply get a slap on the wrist and be sent on his way?
So the real question here is not what Canadians will think of Mulroney after this is all over. But rather whether those who hold the highest office in the country will be held accountable for their actions.
Stay tuned.
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We are always hearing about members of council looking for ways to save money. Budgets are tight and councillors do everything in their power to hold the line on the taxes we have to pay. Something we all appreciate.
In my opinion, if councillors are serious about saving tax dollars they should take a look at the Durham bus service, which runs between the communities in the northern part of Durham Region. I see the bus often while walking around our community. Most of the time there are only one or two people on board and, and more often than not, it is empty.
It could be that I am not seeing the bus at peak times and my passenger count is a bit out of whack, but I talk to a lot of people and they agree with my assessment.
Checked to see what this service is costing the taxpayers of Durham Region. If my sources are correct, the bus service costs every home in Durham Region $300 per year.
Wow! Our Durham council reps should be taking a long look at this cost, and do something about it. Seems to me if the passenger count is as low as it appears, we would be better to find out if there are residents who really need this service and take care of their needs by using taxis. Would cost taxpayers thousands less than the bus.
And another disturbing incident. One day I watched a lady get off the bus arriving from Port Perry carrying several shopping bags from merchants in that community.
Not only a costly service to taxpayers, it hardly fits in with the 'shop locally' campaign being pushed by Council and the local B.I.A. Wouldn't you agree?
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Got to hand it to a Kenyan man who is suing an activist group that urged women to boycott sex with their husbands for a week to protest rivalries among political leaders, deemed to be harmful to the common good.
In his suit James Kimondo claims the boycott has 'caused mental anguish, stress, backaches, lack of concentration' and has 'interfered with his happy marriage'.
Mentioned this to a lot of my male friends who all said, “only a week? I should have it so good”.
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Everyone loves a bargain but sometimes one has to ask whether it is worth it or not. Such was the case at the Canadian Tire Gas Bar on Tuesday.
“Better get down there right away, Harry”, said a golfing buddy. “Gas is going at 5c off a liter”.
So down I went and was not surprised to see vehicles lined up right back to Rona waiting to get to the pumps and the cheap gas.
Not one to enjoy waiting in line for anything, I did a quick calculation. I needed about 30 liters of gas - saving $1.50.
By the time I calculated how much gas I would use sitting in line waiting to reach the pumps, as well as how much of my time would be wasted, I drove away and said 'thanks, but no thanks' to the bargain. It just wasn't worth it.
