Letters: June 28

Our Disrespected Flag…C’mon people show some pride, Vern Martyn

Letter to Xplornet, Rick and Donna Beasley

Our Disrespected Flag…C’mon people show some pride

Here it is again, Canada Day approaches – a time when most of us annually wrap ourselves in our national pride and flag and celebrate our fantastic lives being Canadian. We do this at other times too; national sporting events such as junior hockey games, track and field events, national curling events and, of course, such international events as the Summer and Winter Olympic games. Too bad some of us don’t feel this way all year, I mean we have a genuine desire to display our pride by hoisting or displaying our flag on Canada Day and yet as I drive around the Frontenacs, I see worn, faded, ripped and tattered Canadian Flags at people’s houses. It seems that the pride of displaying our flag dissipates immediately after Canada Day (as evidenced by the damaged flag) and some of us don’t feel the need to do anything about it until the following year’s celebrations.

In my opinion, I would prefer that those folks keep their national pride to themselves and don’t bother with any flag display whatsoever. It is really disgusting some of the flag remnants that I have seen recently in our area. That’s the way I see it anyway.

Vern Martyn

Letter to Xplornet

We are writing to object strongly to the proposed placing of a communications tower at 2716 Crow Lake Road, RR1, Tichborne.

The proposed 45-metre tower will be located very close to Sharbot Lake, though the diagram in the Frontenac News fails to show the close proximity to the lake. While there is no technical description of the tower, it will rise roughly 70 to 100 feet above the natural beauty of the rock outcroppings and trees that make up the shoreline and skyline of McCrimmon Bay on Sharbot Lake, polluting the sightlines and damaging the visual environment for several kilometres around the bay. In fact, the proposed tower would become the primary feature of the skyline around the bay for current and future generations of residents and tourists. Given similar towers in the area, this proposed tower may well become the primary visual feature on the skyline for the entire east basin of Sharbot Lake.

We, as residents of the community, cannot condone such a big environmental mistake when alternatives are so easily available. We cannot imagine that either the Central Frontenac council or Sharbot Lake Property Owners Association (SLPOA), both shepherds of the environment around the lake, would support such a tower location.

Xplornet, as a responsible business member of our community, should seek another location in the vast area of Central Frontenac for this tower: a location that meets its needs without compromising and polluting the environment of one of Central Frontenac’s greatest assets - Sharbot Lake.

Xplornet should immediately withdraw its plan for this tower and work to find another location much further away from the natural beauty of Sharbot Lake.

Rick and Donna Beasley

Re: Scott Reid's Surveys

Obviously, Paul Isaacs (Re: Scott Reid's Surveys, letters, Jun 21/12), has forgotten his high school Pol Sc 101 course when he asks readers of the Frontenac News whether an MP’s (in this case Scott Reid) “first loyalty is to his party or to his constituents?”

A quick overview: Canada’s parliamentary system is fundamentally a party-based system and as a consequence political parties offer “their candidates” for election. If elected, the member is obligated to be supportive and adhere to their party’s political platform and agenda, including promoting “political propaganda”. All political parties and members act in this way - otherwise their only other choice is to sit as an “Independent Member” of the House of Commons.

Most people are aware that all MPs have an obligation and responsibility to serve both constituents and party interest. Sometimes there are competing political interests that the local MP needs to balance between constituents’ interest and the bigger picture. The world of politics is rarely black and white as Mr. Isaac suggests it is by his framing his issue of loyalty in an A or B question.

A more helpful question might be - How effective is Mr. Reid at representing his riding? That question will be answered at the ballot box at the next general election.

Mark Tinlin