Letters: May 30/13

May 29, 2013

Re: Councilor Accuses Warden of Influence Peddling

After reading the Frontenac News last week, I was wondering when the county became a dictatorship, and if I missed something, or is it just the warden doing whatever she wants to suit her own agenda?

I mean – come on – wanting to take action against those who do not support you or vote against you?

I thought we lived in a democratic society where votes counted and mattered and people were free to vote without the fear of being punished. This latest episode by our warden only strengthens my opinion that the warden is a disgrace to the Office of Warden and Mayor of Central Frontenac and should resign from both offices while she has some dignity left. I also wonder what concerns Mayor Clayton had about Fairmount that he could not address publicly. After all, does he not hold public office, and was he not put in office by the public? Something about this whole thing seems off to me, and I wonder how many others share my opinions.

Justin Gray

Abolish Senate

NDP Leader Thomas Mulcair is right to launch a "roll-up-the-red-carpet" campaign to abolish the Senate.

As a long-time supporter of Prime Minister Stephen Harper, I have come to realize that quite apart from tradition or expense, the Senate is antithetical to life in a democracy.

There is no room in our democracy for such things as an "unelected official" (an oxymoron). Here we elect all officials. Otherwise we cripple the value of a democratic vote by allowing the government of the day to install its goons--to offset the weight of the elected Members of Parliament.

We must abolish the Senate NOW! Under the financial weight and the embarrassment of "unelected officials" defrauding tax-payers, we must neuter the influence of miscreants who think they are above the law.

And where are the criminal charges that would normally follow fraud? Does the RCMP accept the abusers of the public purse as role models and treat them differently than they do us, the lemmings of society?

If we really want a "house of sober second thought", let's charge the abusers with fraud and give them their day in court. Let's remove a salary from "serving" on the Senate. That way Senators can become legitimate public servants without the distraction of greed.

Let's get real: We can't afford to pay millions of dollars for this Punch & Judy show!

G. Leslie Balogh

Don’t use Treasure Trunk as a dump

Sometimes good people do bad things. We all have moments when we forget that our convenience is extra work for someone else. In Sharbot Lake we have a lot of good things, often supported and run by a relatively small group of people, many of whom are volunteers.

The Treasure Trunk is a valuable resource, and a means for many of us to side-step large corporations, to reduce our own clutter and re-use what otherwise might become waste. But there is a problem. Every week a few people, good people, make the mistake of reducing and encouraging re-use at the expense of the workers at the Treasure Trunk. As a result, the staff have to allocate their volunteers, as well as hire extra workers, to take junk to the dump. This costs time and money, wear and tear on vehicles, as well as extra gasoline.

The Treasure Trunk is a business that takes great efforts to provide our community with bargains. They take pride in what they sell. These are donated items, the result of someone upgrading or down-sizing, clothing and merchandise that is used, but still perfectly good, at a price that can't be matched anywhere else.

We cannot use the Treasure Trunk as another dump. When you drop stuff off, after hours, it is not a good idea. Although you may think that there are some valuable or useful items, perhaps too good to simply take to the landfill, the staff are the only ones who should make that final decision.

Lately the people who work so tirelessly at the Treasure Trunk have become disheartened. Every morning, especially Mondays, greets them with more broken toys, sodden mattresses, ripped clothing and damaged household goods. The “good stuff” is so often offset by the mess, the work, the sorting and extra truckloads of junk that they have to take to the dump.

Please do not drop off damaged items from your garage, basement and cupboards. The dump is for that. Appliances and bed frames, furniture and machinery can be advertised there, but storing it has become an impossibility at this time. So many donations left outside become damaged by the rain.

Please don't turn our second-hand store into an expensive and time-consuming garbage sorting and dump delivery service.

The Treasure Trunk welcomes good donations. Take an extra few minutes to check the clothing you plan on bringing. Torn or stained clothing make perfect cleaning rags. Help keep our second-hand store a functioning asset in the community.

Mike and Jocelyne Steeves

Cloudy thinking on marijuana

Talk about cloudy thinking on marijuana! It seems that misinformation is the main strategy of the municipal drug strategy committee which recently submitted an article to this paper.

For starters, it is only the flowers of the plant that are smoked; the leaves are used in baking, and the stems and seeds are usually discarded.

More serious misleading is done in the linking together of disparate statistics. The fact that “47,000 Canadian deaths are linked to substance abuse annually” has nothing to do with the percentage of Canadians who toke, but everything to do with the percentage who use the substances linked to their deaths, mainly alcohol, which claims over 8,000, and tobacco, with over 37,000 deaths annually. Zero deaths are attributable to marijuana.

While some marijuana users go on to use harder drugs, I submit that this is more a matter of tendency and availability than a trait of the drug itself – people who have a tendency to be willing to try different intoxicants are going to start with those most easily available, in this society usually alcohol or tobacco first, and marijuana or prescription drugs next. If none of those satisfy, they may go looking beyond.

Marijuana is not like alcohol. It is far less destructive to both the user and others. People do not get stoned and get in fights, and do not kill themselves and others driving stoned, while we all know those are serious, common effects of drunkenness.

Marijuana does have medicinal effects, but that does not mean it needs to be over-regulated. It has no serious contra-indications, and is almost impossible to over-dose on. Some of its properties are only mildly medical, such as relaxing the muscles and just making people feel “better”. And its non-medicinal use can go beyond “recreational”, assisting in creation of art, completion of housework, and other tasks (such as composition of letters to the editor).

It could be treated in some ways like tobacco, with age and location limitations, and factual information on the true dangers of smoking advertised, but since it is clearly not as dangerous, it shouldn't be treated the same.

Make up your own mind, and choose your intoxicants carefully.

Peri Livesey

Taking back our country

This is what most thinking Canadians want to do - Take back control of our lives. We search for ways to rescue ourselves from political forces that serve only the interests of the banks and corporate businesses.

The older of us with good memories recall the 1940s, 1950s ,1960s as the time when a jobless economy was followed by full employment, followed by benefits for returning veterans, universal health care, family allowances and major public works (a seaway and the Trans Canada Hwy). Inflation was of little concern, and the nation's debts were easily managed.

Those of us who have studied the reasons for the prosperity during those thirty years understand the wisdom of borrowing from our own bank – the Bank of Canada - so that the money created gets spent into the economy and any interest charged is returned to the federal treasury. Otherwise, the government runs deficits, borrows from the chartered banks and pays the going rate of interest. Each year's deficit gets added to the nation's debt and the compound interest becomes an ever larger portion of the annual budget.

Since the mid 1970s, our federal governments have failed to operate in our interest. They have allowed banks to de-regulate - removing most restrictions on required reserves, interest charges and term limits.

Joining the G7 included abiding by the stricture of the Bank for International Settlements, forbidding the borrowing from our own central bank.

The consequences? Runaway inflation in the late 70s, interest at 20%, globalizing our economy and handing over control of our nation's resources and businesses to global powerhouses that corrupt national governments and ensure that only THEIR interests are served. Canada's debt stands now at nearly $600 billion. We pay $160 million every day in unnecessary interest. (since 1974 - ONE trillion!)

So, what's to be done? Who-How-Where and When can we force the changes that will benefit every Canadian?

Please don't suggest that we work to change this political party two years hence. Before then, omnibus legislation will have destroyed opportunities for real change. Disastrous unfair global trade agreements will remove any recourse. Our environment will be sacrificed and dissent will be further criminalized. The captive media will offer "Orwellian" propaganda. Instead, let's ACT.

Go to takingourcountryback.ca for information. There is a rally Saturday June 1, 12:15 pm on the stairs of Parliament Hill. Paul Hellyer has notified our Minister of Finance of our demands. Ann Emmett, representing us all in the lawsuit against the government for not using our bank, will be there. Who else? You?

Jerry Ackerman

Re-energizing democracy – locally!

Out here in the country we may feel a bit smug about the scandals swirling around Parliament Hill and Toronto City Hall. We have our local dust-ups from time to time, but we're free from the major perversities that turn "big government" into a bitter joke.

But we should not be complacent. The threats to democracy here are more subtle, but they are very real.

Our local governments are subject to the same forces that are eroding our democratic birthright at other levels. The trends are clear – less and less representation, a narrow focus on finances, a dangerous dependency on bureaucrats and outside consultants, and an obsession with secrecy and top-down control. Citizens end up like the proverbial mushroom – kept in the dark and fed manure.

Look at some of the recent decisions by local governments about fire and rescue capabilities, ambulances and paramedics, and overall service delivery. Too often, public input is minimized or ignored while the pronouncements of consultants or staff are uncritically accepted. Issues are presented and discussed in terms of short-term cost savings, pushing aside public safety and common sense. Dissent is actively discouraged: once a council decision is made, even by a slim margin after incomplete discussion, everyone is expected to shut up and move on.

This is not democracy. Nor is it the law. Ontario's Municipal Act sets out the role of council: "to represent the public and to consider the well-being and interests of the municipality" – that is, of its citizens. As the Handbook for Municipal Councillors explains, this requires council members to "ascertain and understand the needs and wishes of the municipality's citizens, and respond proactively." Contrary to the imposed myth that they should all "speak with one voice," councillors have every right to publicly express independent opinions on any public issue.

In fact, it's each councillor's duty to speak and act on our behalf and promote the common good. Of course, part of that involves making the best possible use of the money we pay for services – in other words, our taxes. But that doesn't automatically mean reducing spending. It means looking comprehensively at both costs and benefits, weighing and minimizing risks and problems while optimizing necessary services.

Today's municipal practices tend to produce the opposite result. The financial bottom line is frequently the only element seriously considered in providing information and making decisions. For example, the fancy service delivery review by the global accounting firm KPMG in North Frontenac did not even touch on the adequacy or otherwise of the services being delivered. Instead, it focused only on potential cost savings (which, it turns out, would be minimal.) The whole thing was based on statistics, documents, and input from current councillors and staff, with none from community organizations or the public at large.

Even more serious is the erosion of democracy within the decision-making process. The administrative "chain of command" can easily screen out inconvenient information on a given issue, and our elected councillors are kept from interacting with those most directly involved, such as volunteer firefighters. This top-down corporate model has nothing to do with the public good; it is all about central control, hoarding of information, and limiting debate. Current proposals to reduce the size of municipal councils would only make the problem worse.

"If you want to re-energize democracy," wrote John Ralston Saul, "it can be done. But it is going to require the persistent stubbornness of the citizen." Here in our rural communities, we all need to exercise that "persistent stubbornness" to reclaim control of our local governments and our daily lives.

Helen Forsey