By Susan Irwin, Executive Director / Lawyer, Rural Legal Services

If the Ontario government has its way, the purchase of cigarettes from a road-side “smoke shack” could get a lot more expensive thanks to the recently introduced Supporting Smoke-Free Ontario by Reducing Contraband Tobacco Act, 2011. The introduction of the act didn’t seem to attract as much attention as one might have expected, but it may have been lost in the background noise thanks to the federal election and its announcement on the eve of the Easter long weekend.

The new legislation proposes numerous amendments to the existing Tobacco Tax Act, the upshot of which for people used to buying contraband cigarettes will be a whole new approach to dealing with these untaxed tobacco products. Not only will law enforcement officers have the clear right to seize untaxed tobacco products (legal cigarettes are identified by a yellow tear strip around the package confirming the payment of duty), but people possessing such products for their own use will face fines of between $100 and $500, plus a levy for unpaid tobacco taxes. Harsher penalties will also be imposed on people who are found to be selling such products.

Interestingly, smokers charged under the proposed act will not simply be issued a ticket – they will be required to attend at court. Taking a morning off work will be another expense to be considered when pondering the purchase of cheap cigarettes if the new law comes into force.

The proposed new scheme clarifies the power of the police to seize contraband tobacco products that are in plain view. At present, rather than just seizing the contraband tobacco, police may take the position that dealing with small amounts of such products is a job for the Ontario Ministry of Revenue. However, when police have made the call to the ministry, people have been in for a surprise as the assessment of penalties under the existing Tobacco Tax Act is severe. One person was shocked to find that his plastic baggie of cigarettes, noticed by a police officer when stopping him for an unrelated matter, was going to cost him about $800! And he lost the cigarettes …

The changes being proposed are just one more example of the government’s Smoke-Free Ontario Strategy: a strategy that has resulted in, among other things, the banning of smoking in restaurants, as well as in automobiles when children are present.

The issues surrounding the sale of contraband tobacco are many, and no doubt the new legislation will result in much discussion. To a lot of small store owners, who cannot compete in pricing because of taxes (purchase price- about $47 a carton); the changes – if enforced – are long overdue. Others may argue that the provincial government has no right to interfere in a trade that some consider be a traditional activity protected by treaty rights.

Before the act is passed into law, if indeed that occurs before the scheduled provincial election this fall, all the arguments for and against access to contraband tobacco (or any tobacco at all, for that matter) are likely to be heard. Those arguments will likely overshadow the other aspects of the legislation that are aimed at helping people to quit smoking and which, for space reasons, have not been dealt with in this column. It is difficult, however, to ignore the “white elephant” in the room when discussing the purchase and sale of tobacco: according to the Ontario government about 13,000 people die in Ontario each year as a result of tobacco use and we pay out about $1.93 billion in health care costs each year that are directly attributed to tobacco-related disease.

Legalese is a column of general information and opinion on legal topics by the lawyers of Rural Legal Services, Box 359, Sharbot Lake, ON, K0H2P0, 613-279-3252, or 1-888-777-8916. This column is not intended to provide legal advice. You should contact a lawyer to determine your legal rights and obligations.

Forty-one people gathered at the annual cancer canvassers’ dinner hosted by the Mountain Grove United Church Women.

Greetings and updates on cancer services were brought by Claire Mcfarlane, President of the Frontenac Lennox and Addington Unit, also Craig Faucette, Unit Manager, and Joan Gowsell, Fund Raising Co-ordinator.

The guest speaker, Lynda Wolsey, a canvasser and a cancer survivor, spoke on her journey through several cancer bouts and thanked the canvassers for being instrumental in making possible all the medications she has benefited from. Her closing remarks were, “Look at me - I'm fine. Thank You."

Claire Mcfarlane, Transportation Chairperson, reported that 230 patients were transported a distance of 19,271 km at a cost of $6000. She stated that more drivers are always welcomed and needed.

Mary Howes, Chairperson for door-to-door canvas, North and Central Frontenac, reported $14,834 collected with several canvassers still to report. Canvassers recognized for service with certificates and pins were: 5 years - Bonnie Weise, Cheryl Weber, Lynda Wolsey, Cindy Hannah, Carol Stinchcombe, Helen Hawley; 10 years: Joanne McCullough, Donna Howes; 15 years. Charlotte Brown, Levi Ducharme, Dawn Gillam, Pam Woods; 20 years: Tina Howes; 35 years: Judy Gray

In her closing remarks Mary Howes expressed her thanks and gratitude to all the captains and

canvassers and reminded them "we are making a difference". She reminded those present of several people who have been in the news and are proof that "Cancer can be beaten" as they speak at schools or walk across the country promoting healthy practices. She stated we should encourage everyone to eat less red meat - breast cancer could be halved just by this simple act.

She closed her thanks by informing all canvassers as they knock on doors they are giving the people of North and Central Frontenac the opportunity to be part of something wonderful—discovering the cure for cancer.

Editorial by Jeff Green

A month ago, Claudette Richardson, the Chair of the Library Board, a volunteer position, was asked if the board is currently considering closing any branches.

“Not to my knowledge”, she said.

So even though Ms. Richardson invited a number of library users from Ompah to the April library board meeting, it came as something as a surprise when, in the context of considering the request for the reinstatement of the lost two hours a week for the Ompah branch, as had been requested by the Ompah library users, a motion was made and passed to close the Ompah branch instead.

The closing is the first branch closure since the Frontenac and Kingston libraries amalgamated in 1998.

It marks a formal turning point. Until now, despite two reports that lean heavily towards branch closures, and the documented concerns of some members of the board and staff, the founding organizing principle of the old Frontenac Library has held: the local townships provided the space and paid for the lights, heat and upkeep, and the library provided the materials for borrowing, and staffing for the branches.

All this changed when, on a simple motion from the floor, the library board closed a branch. The library board mediates a partnership between the City of Kingston, Frontenac County and the local townships that all contribute financially to the KFPL, yet neither Frontenac County nor North Frontenac Council were consulted before the branch was closed.

It should not be that simple to close a library branch.

One would think that before closing a branch, a staff report would be presented to the board with specific reasons for the branch to close at this time, but that did not happen.

Instead of closing the branch, the board could have asked staff to prepare a report outlining the savings that a closure will bring, but they did not do that either.

This is not really the way a municipally accountable organization should have acted.

Ultimately, the library board has the right to close the Ompah branch. They had the right to say that the cost of providing service for a population of 500 people is too high for a library system that serves a population of 200,000 people to manage.

But the board did not make this argument to the public or to any of their partners. They simply acted on an impulse that has been in place for years and has become self-justifying over time. They did not demonstrate that the Ompah branch is a burden to the system and how much that burden amounts to, in real dollars.

In other words, they did not show what benefits, if any, will come the decision to close the branch. This leaves them open to the suggestion that they closed the branch simply because they don’t like it, and because they are fed up with hearing from the Ompah library users.

They also sent a message to politicians and library users in other Frontenac townships, who pay the facility costs of the branches, because the closing of the Ompah branch is inexorably tied to the decision by North Frontenac Council to upgrade the Plevna branch two years ago.

The message to the townships that is the when you invest in the branch in one community, the branch in a neighbouring community is doomed.

There are four branches in Central Frontenac and the board has indicated they would like to see a new branch in Sharbot Lake. For years, people from Arden, Mountain Grove and Parham have opposed any plans by Central Frontenac Council to build a new branch in Sharbot Lake, on the grounds that it would cost them their local branch.

The KFPL board has given a form and substance to that fear.

Photo: Loretta and Randall Wieting of Kingston Nurseries in Harrowsmith

Though its official opening is not until Friday May 20, Kingston Nurseries, the new garden and landscape design centre located just south of Harrowsmith, has unofficially been open since May 7. Owners Loretta and Randall Wieting opened the business since relocating to Kingston from the United States. Loretta is originally from the Kingston area and wanted to be closer to her family, who live in Kingston and the greater Toronto area.

The couple purchased the 6.5 acre property in October 2010 and began construction almost immediately. Currently the business consists of a two-storey office and store, a 4600 sq. ft. greenhouse and a 1200 sq. ft. tool shed. Eventually the site will also include two large hoop houses for growing.

Kingston Nurseries sells a wide selection of garden and landscaping merchandise, including perennials, annuals and tropicals, potted patio baskets, garden ornaments, furniture, sculpture and gift ware. One of their main focuses will be a wide variety of larger trees and shrubs, including cypress, magnolia, lilacs, and rhododendrons, along with hollies, andromeda and mountain laurels. Randall explained, “The nice thing about planting larger trees and shrubs is that you don't have to wait the usual five or ten years until your garden looks complete.” The Wietings also plan to offer a wide selection of dwarf conifers.

The professional and highly organized layout of Kingston Nurseries demonstrates that the Wietings do indeed know a thing or two about the business. Randall ran his own large landscape design build company in the States for 35 years and brings a lot of expertise to this new Harrowsmith venture. A large part of the businesses focus will be custom landscape design and installation, for which Randall has won numerous awards. The couple are already working on a number of designs for property owners in the area. “Basically we can build and install pretty much anything a customer wants, including patios and terraces, outdoor rooms, entryways, fences, retaining walls, water features, masonry, you name it.” Eventually, when the season hits full throttle, they anticipate having no less than 15 full-time staff members, including two landscape architects.

So far the Wietings are getting a very positive response. “People seem very excited to have us here and we are hoping to become a destination that people will make a special trip to”, Loretta said. “And the people in the area have been incredibly friendly and helpful.” For those who are looking to spruce up their outdoor living space or who need some advice about where to begin, Kingston Nurseries is a great place to start. For those who are building brand new homes, but might be unsure of how to proceed, Loretta says that getting a professional consultation can never hurt. “People can sometimes make some very expensive errors. A few hundred dollars for a one-on-one consultation can be money very well spent.” As far as customer education, goes Loretta and Randall are also planning to hold do-it-yourself seminars. “We're hoping also to teach people how to have success with whatever they plant or build and to show people the different options available to them.”

Loretta then reminds me of a basic fact that those who love their gardens need no convincing of. “Gardens are as much for living in as they are for looking at.”

For those who have yet to visit Kingston Nurseries, ‘tis the season. For more information visit their website at www.kingstonnurseries.com or give them a call at 613-389-7071. Their hours are Monday-Thursday 9-6, Fridays 9-8, Saturdays 9-5 and Sundays 10-5.

Conservative - Scott Reid

Green - John Baranyi

Independent - Ralph Lee

Liberal -Dave Remington

NDP - Doug Smyth

Conservative - Scott Reid

The first question that came to mind when interviewing Scott Reid is what motivates him to seek term after term in a Parliament that seems to get closer and closer to a political stalemate with each passing year.

“I’ve got a series of policy objectives I’d like to see put in place. That’s what got me into politics in the first place, and it sometimes takes a long time to bring some of these things about. Issues related to democratic reform, property rights, and rural emergency care are all long-term objectives of mine,” he said when interviewed earlier this week.

Many of Reid's policy objectives stem from the political ideology that Reid developed when he was a student and a policy adviser to Preston Manning, and later, to Stockwell Day.

But one very practical idea that he has become identified with came, indirectly, from one of Reid’s political opponents, former Liberal Prime Minister Jean Chrétien.

Reid was a first-term MP from the upstart Canadian Alliance party after narrowly defeating a Liberal incumbent in 2000, when he took exception to a $20,000 salary hike for MPs.

While almost all the other MPs took the raise, Joe Clark and Scott Reid decided not to. Reid consulted his constituents and the response he received urged him not to return the $20,000 but to donate it to a local charity instead.

Someone suggested buying defibrillators, which cost $8,000 at the time, and that was the start of a public defibrillator program that has since spread throughout the riding.

“They are a relatively inexpensive way to make a real difference,” Reid said.

Now, 10 years later, defibrillators are a common sight throughout the riding and the Conservative party platform in this election includes putting defibrillators in every hockey arena across the country.

While democratic reform has been a harder sell, particularly in parliamentary elections, Reid has been able to push his own party in that direction in the way they elect their leaders, through rule changes that curtail the influence the party bureaucracy has in the selection of a leader.

His party favours an elected Senate, and if that comes about it may bring opportunities for a voting system to be established that is something other than the “first past the post system”, which has seen the preferred party of about 40% of the population run the government for most of the last century.

Property rights are another of Scott Reid's long-term objectives.

Reid believes that it is only fair that full and complete compensation be paid to landowners if, for any reason, their ability to make profit from the use of their land needs to be curtailed for the public good, whether it is for road construction, protection of habitat, or any other reason.

This goal was a founding principle of the Lanark Landowners Association, which was started up at Scott Reid's kitchen table and has been the springboard for the political career of Randy Hillier in Ontario.

Reid shares office space with Hillier, the current Ontario MPP for LFL&A, and it is in the Ontario legislature that the push for property rights is now focused.

Scott Reid has been associated with Prime Minister Stephen Harper for many years. He worked on the Harper campaign to become leader of the Canadian Alliance Party and was heavily involved in the amalgamation talks between that party and the Progressive Conservative Party, which led to the formation of the Conservative Party that has been in power since 2006.

Scott Reid said that contrary to how he is often portrayed by opponents and the national media, Stephen Harper is someone with a lot of “people skills and a great deal of patience. You can't lead a political party for that many years without being able to work with people. Stephen Harper has been working for 25 years towards bringing Canada a smaller government that allows individuals more opportunity to live their own lives and control their own future. That has been his focus from the start and remains his focus today.”

Scott Reid remains a student of the democratic process and at dissolution he was the Deputy Government House Leader and chair of the Human Rights Committee.

Green - John Baranyi

John Baranyi is soft spoken for a politician.

When speaking as a Green Party candidate he is careful to research his answers to questions and to ensure that he has a thorough understanding of the Green Party program.

He takes a deliberate approach to politics because of his commitment to the political process and to making sure that environmental issues are bought to political campaigns each time around. This election is his third federal election. He ran as an independent in Lanark Carleton in 2000, and for the Green Party in 2004, and he also ran for the Green Party in the 2003 Ontario election.

“Elections bring an opportunity to discuss ideas that don’t always get aired at other times,” he said, “and the Green Party's message is an important one.”

While the environment was a top issue in the 2008 campaign, “there has been less talk about environment and climate change in this campaign from the other parties as they focus on economic recovery. It's my job to keep reminding people that environment and economy cannot be separated from each other,” he said.

John Baranyi has been strong in pushing the tax shift policies of his party.

“We need to stop taxing the good and start taxing the bad,” he says, “you do that by taxing carbon and cutting payroll taxes, Canada Pension Plan payments, Employment Insurance, and others. We need to encourage more hiring and more Green industries and less energy intensive activity.”

This, Baranyi said, would mean a higher gas price equally balanced by lower income taxes, making it revenue neutral; net taxes do not go up.

“The party platform is extensive on this,” Baranyi said, “ and it includes provisions for rural and lower income people to help with the tax shift. We recognize, of course, that rural Canadians do not have access to public transit. We have incentives in place, however, to help with the purchase of hybrid and electric vehicles, which would make a difference.”

John Baranyi is originally from Elliott Lake, where he still has family. He has lived in Lanark County for many years with his wife Christine Kilgour and their family. Since 1993, with Christine, he has been running Pulse Foods, a company that prepares frozen, gluten-free, vegan entrees that are sold across the province.

As this campaign has developed, Baranyi says that he has been well supported by the national party in spite of the fact that the party leader, Elizabeth May, has been less visible nationally than she was in 2008.

Not only was May not included in the televised debates, which was not her idea and which she fought in court, to no avail, but she has also focused her efforts on winning the BC riding of Saanich/Gulf Islands.

“I think she has done the right thing,” said Baranyi. “The best thing for us and for the environment would be to have her voice in the House of Commons. I have been well supported by the national party. The party has a very good set of policies on all of the issues. We are not a one-issue party. We do take the future of the planet into account at all levels, but social and economic justice go along with that as well.”

While he is sympathetic to a lot of the positions that the New Democratic Party takes, Baranyi said that the Greens are able to attract voters from other quarters, including disaffected Conservatives, who would never support the NDP.

“I don't know if our vote percentage will go up in this election in our riding, but in general the support we have had here has been going up each time the Green Party has run. People come to us from all of the other parties,” he said.

Independent - Ralph Lee

Send a message to Ottawa

Ralph Lee is a relative newcomer to Eastern Ontario. He moved to Carleton Place about 2 years ago when his wife got a teaching job in a Perth area public school, and he set up a general law office in Carleton Place.

When interviewed this week he said that he has fallen in love with Carleton Place and the surrounding region, and at the same time he has grown increasingly disenchanted with the way the political process has been developing in Canada.

His political experience goes back to his university days at Concordia in his native Montreal, where he served as the vice president of the student union.

“What I liked about student politics was the way we could work hard and really accomplish something for our efforts,” he said.

One particular project at Concordia was the opening of a student advocacy centre, which he was at the centre of.

“That centre is still around. It has a $100,000 budget and employs a number of students,” Lee said. “So, I see that political effort can have a long term impact if the conditions are right.”

The political conditions in Canada right now are anything but right, according to Ralph Lee. In the run up to the current election, Ralph Lee was talking to another lawyer in Carleton Place, expressing his frustration that in a country with a number of major problems, federal politics had descended to partisan bickering and name calling.

“He told me I should run, and I began thinking about it,” Lee said.

He says that he wasn't sure until the election was called, but, “When all the parties said they didn't want the election and began blaming each other, it justified my original reason for wanting to run.”

Included in Ralph Lee's platform are measures for rural health care, a seniors' bill of rights, and tax-free enterprise zones in rural Canada for small business start ups.

But the reason he is running, as an independent, lies mainly in his belief that the constituents in LFL&A are not being served by any of the political parties.

“Four elections in seven years, at a cost of $1.2 billion. It's pathetic,” he said, “The voters should send a message telling the government that enough is enough. Although some things are getting done in Ottawa, it is not enough, because the parties are mired in partisan bickering. Let’s look at the track record of the NDP, the Liberals and the Conservatives. None of them are serious about changing the political culture in Ottawa and it needs to change.”

While the opposition parties have tended to lay the blame for the political stalemate in Ottawa at the feet of Prime Minister Harper, Ralph Lee doesn't agree. “I think they all bear an amount of responsibility for the dysfunctional situation in Ottawa. There is enough blame to go around to all of them,” Ralph Lee said.

He said that he does not treat his candidacy lightly and that in the reception he has received at voters' doors and at all-candidates’ meetings he has found that the electorate is sympathetic to his views.

“I'm running to get elected,” he said, “and people responded. They agree that rural doctors need to be encouraged; that rural business needs a hand; and that seniors are important and deserve respect. I have a serious platform and people are listening.”

Liberal - Dave Remington 

In the fall of 2008, David Remington ran an energetic campaign in LFL&A in his first attempt to unseat Scott Reid as MP, and he received less support than he needed - a lot less.

With just under 12,000 votes he finished in a distant second place, over 18,000 votes and 34% percentage points behind Reid.

Given the volatility of the political scene in Canada after that election, the LFL&A Liberal Association decided early in 2009 to select a candidate so that whenever the next election was called they would have someone in place.

David Remington stepped forward again, and for over two years, since March of 2009, he has been travelling the riding on evenings and weekends, preparing the ground for the campaign that finally arrived in earnest this month.

“People call me the Ever Ready bunny; I keep running and running,” David Remington said when interviewed on a rare day off from campaigning. “I feel that this is a winnable riding for our party. That's a big motivation for me.”

Visiting with people in the numerous communities that make up the sprawling three-county riding is the kind of thing that Remington enjoys, and it fits with his ideas not only about campaigning, but also about the job of a member of parliament.

“I always think that you have to earn the support, try to represent the style of an MP that I would like to be, which is one who remains in the community. I think it means a lot to people; they appreciate the fact that I keep going. That's what I feel is happening in this campaign. Green, NDP, and Conservative supporters are coming to us every day.” he said.

Even in the Conservative stronghold territory of Lanark County, which is home to about 45% of the voters in riding, Remington says he has been well received this time around.

“I was going door-to-door in the village of Lanark last week, meeting with store owners and homeowners, and I had a very good response. The last time around people just thought I was brave to be there. So I think things have changed. It feels like a totally different campaign.”

David Remington's own political career started in the municipal world. He served first as a Napanee councilor and then as mayor. Later, he served as parliamentary assistant to Larry McCormick in the Hastings, Frontenac, Lennox and Addington riding. He has a background in small business and has been working as a program supervisor for the Ontario Ministry of Children and Youth.

He considers his political style as that of a consensus builder. “My style is to be able to work across party lines, putting the resident ahead of party politics. I'm not really partisan; I'm really not. Some people are very partisan, but that's against my style. And I think the reaction at the door - and I've knocked on about 2,000 doors - has been that people don't like the fear mongering that the Harper government has been doing in his push for a majority. They want to know that their politicians are willing to work between party lines.”

In terms of issues that are dominant in his riding in this election, Remington said that health care and the economy have been at the top of people's minds.

NDP - Doug SmythIn the LFL&A riding, which was created in 2004 and has seen one provincial and three federal elections, the NDP has run a distant third in all of them, closer in support to the fourth-place Green Party than to the second-place Liberals.

In this election, it was one week into the five-week campaign when the local NDP association chose Doug Smyth as their candidate.

Smyth is a newcomer to politics. When interviewed, he said he has been living in Carleton Place for over 15 years, after working in a management position for a number of major corporations, General Electric, Domtar, and Procter and Gamble, in Toronto and Edmonton. He now works with the Eastern Ontario division for Wagonmaster, a technology company for the automobile servicing industry.

“I was looking for a way of giving. I had a little bit more time available, even though it hasn't worked out too well on that score, and since I feel the NDP is taking a nice fresh approach to the difficulties the country is facing, I contacted the local office and put my name forward,” he said.

Smyth said that he appreciates the NDP approach to the major issues facing local voters.

“A lot of people in this riding are struggling, living from pay check to pay check and trying to avoid slipping into real poverty and worrying about keeping their jobs. The impact of the HST has really hit home this winter. Only the NDP understands these kinds of problems, and is willing to look at heating oils and gasoline pricing,” he said.

Smyth also thinks it is appropriate to halt the drive for tax relief for large corporations. “The corporations are now sitting on large pools of money. Their profits are going to be phenomenal this year, and tax relief from Canada will not make them invest in new production here when there are cheaper conditions all across the world. Studies that show that tax relief for corporations creates jobs are all dated, and the business world is now totally global. The NDP plan to help small business is more realistic because that is where the jobs are being created. We needed to have competitive corporate tax rates, but we reached that point about $60 billion ago,” he said.

Doug Smyth also believes that of the national leaders, Jack Layton has the advantage of “being the sort of guy that will work day and night for us. I feel I can trust him with the future of my family.”

He said that the issues that are coming up in terms of the ageing population and the future of health care will require “the best minds working together to bring lots of input into how to deal with these problems, and this is not how Stephen Harper works.”

While thus far the campaign has been a charmed one for NDP National Leader Jack Layton, in spite of health problems that were slowing him down at the start, his LFL&A candidate has had some problems.

Doug Smyth was out campaigning for the first week of April, but from the start he knew he would have to miss the third week, including the all-candidates’ meetings in Kaladar and Perth, because of a long-standing work commitment in Toronto. Then he got hit with a health issue of his own. He developed a muscle problem with one eye that has left him with double vision and dizziness, hopefully temporary. That kept him on the sidelines for the following week, so he has not been able to get out for door-to door campaigning and has missed three more all-candidates meetings - in Verona, Napanee, and at a student forum at Sharbot Lake High School.

As it stood coming into the final week of the campaign, Dough Smyth said he hopes to attend the meeting in Carleton Place on Wednesday, although he said, “I will look a bit like a pirate because I will be wearing a patch over my eye.” 

Budget finalised

Frontenac County Council staggered to the finish line and approved the 2011 budget at their regular monthly meeting last Wednesday, April 20.

By taking advantage of some uploaded social service costs, the county will decrease the amount it collects from ratepayers by 4.2% in 2011, creating what County Chief Administrator Liz Savill called “tax room” in the budgets of the member townships of the county (see “Taxes up for Central, South Frontenac residents”).

The main budget issue item that was left for council’s consideration on April 20 was the creation of a new clerical staff position at the county office.

The budget originally included two positions, a communications co-ordinator and a clerk for the finance office, but council had made it clear at the previous meeting they were only willing to consider one new position.

Liz Savill said that the workload in her office and in the finance office has increased to the point where existing staff are scrambling to get work done, causing inefficiency. With only one position on the table, Savill said that the position would be shared between finance and communications.

The cost of the position is $48,000 per year, and council decided to leave it in the budget.

North Frontenac Mayor Bud Clayton brought up the request from Pine Meadow Nursing Home for $25,000 a year for 10 years towards its capital redevelopment program. This item has been brought to county council each year for several years and has been turned down each time, as it was again this time.

Clayton wondered why council was willing to give $54,000 each year to the Kingston General Hospital building fund, but not Pine Meadow. “They are both health care dollars,” he said, “and they both support people from our county. Why one and not the other?”

Council defeated a motion to grant the $25,000.

“I think we need some more time to get information about this,” said Warden Gary Davison. “We are not going forward at this time, but we are not closing the door.”

At the request of Warden Davison, Council decided to transfer $510,000 in gas tax rebate reserves to the townships, a move that did not affect county taxation because the money came from the federal government.

Before the budget vote was taken, Councilor David Jones from Frontenac Islands asked to address council.

“I think it is appropriate that I speak for the good people of the islands. I don’t see anything substantive coming out of these programs. I recognise this is a democratic process, but I see nothing coming from this. I’m going to have to sell this to my constituents. There are programs that have a pronounced bias towards the mainland townships. It is unfortunate that Councilor Doyle cannot be here today because he would have reiterated the same,” Jones said.

The budget passed in a 6-2 vote, with Councilors Jones and Clayton casting the dissenting votes.

County scuttles plans to move northern ambulance base back to Ardoch Road

A proposal that would have seen the Frontenac County Paramedic Service build a stand-alone ambulance base in the vicinity of Highway 509 and Ardoch Road was defeated at county council last week. The proposal would have reversed a directive from the county from last year to build a base at Ompah in conjunction with a new North Frontenac Fire Station.

But the issues that have stopped the Ompah construction from proceeding have not been resolved, leaving the entire project in limbo.

Meanwhile a 12-hour a day ambulance remains parked outside at the Lavant Road garage each day, with the car running all winter in order to keep medicines from freezing.

This is the latest twist in a matter that county council first looked at two years ago when a consultant’s report recommended building a new base at Road 509 and Ardoch Road.

That proposal was strenuously opposed by then North Frontenac Mayor Ron Maguire. In response, Paul Charbonneau, the Emergency Services manager for Frontenac County, brought forward an alternate proposal for a combined ambulance base and fire hall in Ompah. This proposal was endorsed by county council in February of 2010.

Central Frontenac Mayor Janet Gutowski opposed the Ompah plan at the time. She had two concerns: firstly, she argued that the decision was essentially a political one that was not supported by information about its impact on response times, and secondly because the Ompah plan also included replacing the existing Parham base with a new one in Sharbot Lake to serve Highway 7.

As has been documented over the last year in the News, the Ompah plan has run into trouble because the county and North Frontenac Township have not been able to agree on a cost-sharing plan for the project.

When North Frontenac brought the matter to the county table on March 16, hoping only to address the cost sharing problem and not the viability of the entire project, county council halted the project pending a staff report, to be prepared for the April meeting,

That report made use of some new mapping of recent call volumes by the County GIS department and a population projection study that has just been completed.

At the conclusion of the report, Paul Charbonneau wrote: “The location analysis … indicate[a] an affirmative view for a new land ambulance station in the vicinity of Ardoch Road and Road 509. Both drive time/distance mapping and total call volume capture are best achieved from this location. A land ambulance station location in the vicinity of Ardoch Road and Road 509 would maximize ambulance coverage within the more densely populated area of the eastern portion of the Township of North Frontenac and the north portion of the Township of Central Frontenac.”

North Frontenac Mayor Bud Clayton bristled at the idea of moving the base away from Ompah.

“I came here today to try and put the financial model for the Ompah project into line so we can go forward. I can talk very little more about eliminating the project altogether other than to say the people in that district will be terribly disappointed if they don’t get the ambulance base they have been promised,” he said.

John Purdon, from Central Frontenac, said, “I think there are a lot of questions here that we can’t identify today.

Central Frontenac Mayor Janet Gutowski did not see any reason to wait.

“I am comfortable with making a decision today,” she said. “We have a duty to today and we have a duty to tomorrow. The correct move is for us to move forward. It is not going to be to the detriment of the citizens of the community in the north to have the service move to the 509/Ardoch Road location. I would like to put a motion on the floor to direct staff to look at options for an ambulance base on Ardoch road.”

That motion was defeated, in a 4-4 tied vote.

County Councilors Inglis, Clayton, Purdon, and Jones voted against it, and County Councilors Gutowski, McDougall and Warden Davison (who carries two votes as Mayor of South Frontenac) voted in favour. Dennis Doyle from the Frontenac Islands was not at the meeting.

When contacted afterwards, Paul Charbonneau said that he would now “re-engage with North Frontenac County staff towards building a joint base in Ompah. The County has $300,000 budgeted for the project.”

Garrison Shores condominium agreement accepted – A number of people who live on the shores of Garrison Lake near Arden stood up and cheered when council approved a land-based condominium agreement for the properties that some of them have owned for over 20 years. They own property in a development called Garrison Shores that was not divided according to planning standards when they bought their lots up to 30 years ago. The condominium agreement has been in the works ever since municipal amalgamation in 1998 and has cost the Garrison Shores property owners hundreds of thousands of dollars.

by Faye Prettie (Grade 9, Sydenham High School)

Photo by Jack Prettie

On Tuesday, May 3, a barn was engulfed in flames in Bellrock, west of Verona. It was spotted around three o'clock by students on the high school bus coming home from school.

It was a cloudy day and raining slightly when one of the students spotted the smoke. The smoke was darker than the other clouds and hundreds of feet in the air. At first they thought it was just dark rain clouds, but soon they realized it was smoke. Looking to the north side of Bellrock Road they spotted the building engulfed in flames. Once the bus drove closer they realized it was a barn.

The students who spotted it were neighbours of the people who owned the farm. When the students got off the bus they called fire department. Fire trucks and an ambulance arrived by 3:30 pm. The roof had caved in by this point and all you could see were flames high in the air. The horses were running wild and spooked in the field. By 4:00 pm there was nothing left of the barn, just flames.

Customers of Omniglobe Networks fixed wireless Internet service in the Mountain Grove/Arden and Plevna/Cloyne regions have been in limbo for the last two weeks after the company went bankrupt. Omniglobe had received grants from two programs to develop its network of towers, which serve three schools, the North Frontenac Township office, and a number of commercial operations and private homeowners.

Barrett Xplore, a company that has also been active in Frontenac and neighbouring counties and has received a number of matching grants as well, completed the purchase of most of Omniglobe’s Ontario assets earlier this week.

According to Barrett Xplore’s Vice President Bob Davie, the company is working to get service back up and running in locations where it has been interrupted. To do so he is asking that former Omniglobe customers who are currently without service to call 1-866-971-5062.

“We need to hear immediately from people who have lost service so we can get them back online as soon as possible,” Davie said.

Barrett Xplore will contact the rest of Omniglobe’s customers in the coming days to talk about re-instating contracts.

“But we want to get people who don’t have service back online,” Davies said, “and if we don’t hear from them we won’t know they are out there.”

Davie said that Barrett intends to honour the terms of the contracts that people have signed with Omniglobe.

“We will also respect the wishes of those people who reacted to Omniglobe Service going down by seeking other Internet options.” Davie said.

Naturalist, author and professor Michael Runtz

Bursts of colour seem hard to come by in mid-January but naturalist and author Michael Runtz put an end to that on Jan.17 at his presentation on the role of colour in nature titled Sex, Survival, and Success.

Presented as a partnership between the Nature Lover’s Bookshop in Lanark and the Mississippi Madawaska Land Trust Conservancy (MMLTC), Runtz’s talk was the first in the bookshop’s winter workshop series.

Runtz has been a naturalist all of his life and has published nine books on natural history. He currently teaches natural history and ornithology at Carleton University.

A lively and entertaining speaker, Runtz captivated the large audience that gathered at the Lanark Legion and began his talk/slideshow by stating that “Just about every single colour under the sun can be found in nature.”

Next he challenged the audience’s preconceptions on the topic, stressing the fact that plants use colour to exploit insects and other animals. Focusing on flowers in particular, he stressed that the gorgeous colours found on a wide variety of flowers exists “for the eyes of the insects that the flower wants to exploit for its own purposes” (reproduction and proliferation).

For example, the colorful patterns found on the Canada violet and wood sorrel flower are known as nectar guides. These guides act like runway lights at an airport directing the insect to nectar and pollen, thereby guaranteeing the plants’ future chance at survival.

In the same way blueberry plants exploit bears, attracting them to their ripe, swollen fruit which they consume and later excrete, spreading the plants’ seeds.

In the animal world Runtz pointed out how colour functions for a variety of reasons. Male creatures are often brightly coloured to attract a mate. Female mallard ducks, for example, are known to choose their mates by the brightness of the green on their heads.

Coloration can also function as camouflage. The female spruce grouse, whose vivid feathered patterns match the sunlit patterns of the surrounding forest, demonstrated this function perfectly.

A slide of the sphinx moth showed how colour can act as a weapon. When the moth opens its wings, a striking pattern of two wide, brightly coloured glaring eyes functions to startle a potential predator.

Certain animals like the tree frog and the snowshoe hare will change colours at varying rates to blend in with their environments, protecting them from predators.

Insects and animals use two different kinds of mimicry to fend off predators. The first is called Batesian mimicry, named after Henry Bates, an English entomologist. In this case a harmless animal will mimic the coloration of a harmful one the way a viceroy butterfly mimics the colouration and patterning of a monarch butterfly. The latter is poisonous in its caterpillar form. A second example is the harmless hover fly that in coloration and pattern closely resembles its bee stinging cousin.

Mullerian mimicry, named after German zoologist Hans Muller, occurs when multiple species resemble each other and are all harmful. The yellow and black coloration of many stinging species of bees and wasps are an example of this type of mimicry.

Runtz’s talk was entertaining and educational which is something that he aims for. “I’m hoping to educate people and turn them onto nature by creating an interest in it. If people want to preserve something like they do with MMLTC, there first has to be an interest. For me, understanding inspires interest and interest inspires the need to preserve and conserve.”

Store owner Mary Vandenhoff was thrilled to have Runtz as a presenter for their winter series of talks and said, “We are delighted to have him. He really loves and values nature and is committed to it for the long term which reflects the feelings and aims of our store and the land trust.”

Michael Runtz’s books are available at the Nature Lover’s Bookshop.

Next in the series is a talk by artist Blair Paul titled “On the Edge of Discovery” at the bookshop on Saturday January 23 from 2-4pm. This event is free

By Susan Irwin, Executive Director / Lawyer, Rural Legal Services

Insurance is one of those things that we often don’t think about – until we need it! In fact many of us just tune out when it comes to this topic. After all, there are so many different types to consider: life, mortgage, fire, disability, automobile, wage replacement, critical illness and so forth. Then there is the seemingly endless advertising that assures us of the reliability of older drivers, or else starts with the question “Are you hard to insure?” Unfortunately some types of insurance cannot be ignored. A failure to have proper insurance for your automobile can result in serious and costly trouble, while failure to have insurance on your home can result in tremendous hardship and financial loss in the event of a catastrophe, such as a fire.

Many tenants do not take advantage of special policies that can cover their losses in the event their rental unit and possessions are destroyed. Although the landlord should have insurance on the building to cover his or her losses in the event of a fire, that insurance usually does not offer any coverage to assist tenants in replacing their lost belongings, or finding temporary shelter, etc. As a tenant, you may not think you have enough furniture and so forth to warrant spending $20 or $30 a month for “contents” or “tenants” insurance, but have you actually thought about how much it would cost to replace your property, including all your clothes and items like televisions and computers?

A recent fire that destroyed an 18 unit apartment building in Ottawa and left the tenants with nothing but what they could grab as the flames consumed their homes is a good illustration of the problem. When the CBC investigated the plight of these families, many with no insurance, it discovered that fewer than half of all renters in Canada bother with tenants insurance. For an average cost of $309 a year in 2008, according to Statistics Canada, it is something that every tenant should at least look into: you can’t buy it after the fire or flood! The article can be found at: http://www.cbc.ca/canada/ottawa/story/2010/01/19/ottawa-renters-insurance.html.

While tenants are not required by law to have insurance, automobile owners are, and sometime late this spring or early summer, they should start to receive information about changes to their policies. Reforms are coming to the nature of the mandatory basic coverage. The reforms are supposed to provide many improvements to benefit consumers, and they may actually help to speed up the payment of claims in the event of an accident, but drivers should be warned that benefits are being reduced in many areas dealing with personal injuries. In particular, automobile owners ought to be concerned that there will be significant cuts in coverage for such things as medical and rehabilitation expenses, caregiver payments, and in a whole host of other areas that are of great importance to people who are seriously injured in an accident.

When the information starts to arrive, we would encourage people to look beyond the premium notices, and ask questions about the coverage being offered in the event of serious injuries as the result of an accident. Most companies will likely be providing customers the opportunity to purchase additional coverage to bring them up to the existing minimum levels, and it’s an option worth considering. There are, as the annoying insurance advertisements point out, many things that are either not covered, or not covered fully, under our public health insurance scheme, especially in the area of rehabilitation and physiotherapy. Details of the proposed auto insurance reforms can be found at: http://news.ontario.ca/mof/en/2009/11/ontarios-proposed-auto-insurance-reforms.html 

Like it or not, insurance of one form or another is a fact of life for most people in our society. It is not a bad idea to give it some thought – before you need it.

Legalese is a column of general information and opinion on legal topics by the lawyers of Rural Legal Services, Box 359, Sharbot Lake, ON, K0H2P0, 613-279-3252, or 1-888-777-8916. This column is not intended to provide legal advice. You should contact a lawyer to determine your legal rights and obligations.