Letters: August 19

Re: Sydenham Water Plant, Alastair Lamb

Re: Census, Jean Brown

Re: Clear Garbage bags in Central Frontenac, Bernie Slavin

“Je me souviens”, Christiane Dodd

LHINs a Train Wreck? Bob Webster

Re: Sydenham Water Plant

I was dismayed, but not really surprised, when I read Wilma Kenny's article “Four-year-old water plant needs million dollar upgrade”, in your publication dated August 5, 2010. My dismay stemmed from the fact that a capital project with an initial cost of around 8 million dollars required an investment of an additional one million dollars after such a brief period of operation. My lack of surprise stemmed from the fact that many close observers of the Sydenham water plant project raised concerns regarding the quality of engineering being exercised throughout the life of this project. It seems that these concerns have been justified through the need to address some seemingly basic shortcomings of the current system – shortcomings that should have been properly addressed in the first instance – after such a short period of time. I do hope that the township and their lawyers are engaged in discussion with Totten Sims and Hubicki, the plant design engineers, regarding the cost for this upgrade, otherwise the people of South Frontenac or more accurately the Village of Sydenham will likely be left paying the bill to continue to feed this white elephant.

Alastair Lamb

Re: Census

I would like to add my voice to the many opposed to the elimination of the long form census, and to note that the United Church of Canada (UCC) is also protesting this action. The Rev. Bruce Gregerson, General Council Officer for Programs has stated that it is a step backward at a time when Canadians need access to reliable census information to help build a more equitable and just society. The long-form census also contains questions related to religion, and losing it would be a great loss to faith communities, charities, and to the country in understanding the multiplicity and richness of the spiritual makeup of Canada.

Church leaders also note that demographic changes resulting in amalgamations, closures and new ways of being the church rely heavily on census information to make informed decisions, along of course with prayer, discernment, discussion, reflection.

The General Secretary of the UCC, Nora Sanders also echoes the concerns raised by both the Canadian Jewish Congress and the Evangelical Fellowship of Canada with regard to the significance of questions related to religion contained in the long-form census, however feels that statistically valid information is necessary to plan for the future. As well, many non-profit organizations and charities benefit from the wealth of data that is collected and analyzed by Statistics Canada.

Thank you for this newspaper forum to air our views with our neighbours.

(Rev.) Jean Brown- Henderson

Re: Clear garbage bags in Central Frontenac

Make recycling programs more user friendly

I add my voice to those who question the wisdom of switching to clear garbage bags in Central Frontenac. While I applaud Council for their efforts to address a substantial problem, I am not convinced that clear bags is the answer. There is no question that our landfill site, well Wemp Rd. anyway, is a borderline disaster area. I am told that this has resulted in large part from only a 20% buy-in to the recycling program by area residents. The problem, I'm told, will be remedied by adding a few more bins and introducing clear plastic bags. I seriously doubt that this will make any significant difference. If the answer lies in increasing the level of participation in recycling, efforts should be directed towards encouraging people to participate rather than attempting to shame them into compliance. Presently, the conditions at our landfill site, particularly around the recycling bins, are much more likely to be a turn-off for people currently participating in the program than an encouragement for others to start. Recycling is a voluntary program willingly entered into by civic-minded folks who care about the environment. Rather than introducing clear bags and a Garbage Inspector, the duties and powers of whom have yet to be disclosed to us, efforts should be directed towards making the recycling areas much more user friendly, and giving the appearance that the recycling program does in fact work.

Bernie Slavin

“Je me souviens”

Complete and utter silence as the cattle are being sold off. Instead of telling us why he thinks this is such a good idea, our farm killing Conservative MP Scott Reid chooses to "Keep in Touch" by sending me material bashing the French and the French language?

An election is imminent. Back in Quebec (a founding province of Canada) the license plates read: "Je me souviens" (I will remember) for a reason.

Christiane Dodd

LHINs a Train Wreck?

Dalton McGuinty - “When it comes to LHINs, they’re still relatively new creatures,” he said after touring a hospital in Sudbury. “They're still kind of learning how to run, and we’ve got to make sure that we provide appropriate guidelines as they carry out their responsibilities.”

They have been run by highly paid managers for 3 years now and they haven't figured it out yet? Did no one at the Ministry of Health or in the governing party take the time to plan this new layer of health cost spending? Were any measurables set out? Have we any view on whether or not the measurables (assuming there are some of course) are close to being met?

Globe and Mail, August 13, 2010 - "The opposition parties and health-care advocates were fuming because Mr. McGuinty has postponed an already overdue review of the health networks until after next year’s provincial election."

After the election? That sounds truly open and transparent. My guess is that the LHINs are even more of a train wreck than it currently appears. Does the government of Ontario not have any idea how incompetent and uncaring they appear to the average person in Ontario? Especially with the long line of other train wrecks littering the Ontario Liberal tracks.

I actually voted Liberal in the last election, frankly entirely due to the insane platform of education spending put forward by John Tory. I can't imagine how I could be convinced to do that again.

Bob Webster