MAJORITY OF CANDIDATES WEAK WHEN IT COMES TO SOCIAL REALITIES

AND DOING SOMETHING TO HELP OUT-

When we find out there are hungry people in the world, we think to ourselves, “That’s too bad. I’d hate to be hungry.” When we hear or read about the fact, there are Canadians who are going hungry everyday, we snort in disgust, that we could have such a shortfall in the land of plenty. While some take it more seriously, and vow to do something about it, truth is, if more helped out, there would be a much smaller number of hungry folks. And when we are made aware that in our province, there are hungry amongst us, many, many just don’t care. Those who do, are heaven-sent. When we hear of hungry people in our hometown, and in our neighborhoods, well, there must be some mistake. We don’t see hungry people begging for food out on the street afterall! How is this possible in our neat and tidy little community at the Gateway to Muskoka? My question is, how can a town council remain so indifferent, when it should be leading the “good neighbor” example. Maybe if the new mayor was fully up-to-speed about these unfortunate realities, he or she would make it a council priority to keep the issue front and center, and commence plans to spread this awareness, and offer support to the Food Bank in one of many forms. Not all support has to be cash. I’m sure there are many other ways council could help their constituents who require assistance.

One of the major areas of neglect by previous and present town councils, and council hopefuls in this latest round, is their general malaise when it comes to any concern about the social problems we have in this region. While there is certainly more discussion about making ratepayers feel more comfortable and respected in local government, those who don’t own property, industry or business in this community, are severely neglected...... pretty much the unspoken disregard that they won’t play any serious role in determining the election outcome. Yet the folks who most definitely need council understanding and support, are very seldom sought out as a strategy for gaining a base of support. This makes up a fair chunk of votes, so you’d think a few candidates would spare a little space in their advertisements, to address some of the unfortunate actuality going on in their own ballywick.

As a municipality we must represent the needs of all our residents not just property owners. We need to have elected officials who walk the streets, now and again, on fact finding missions, at all times of the day and night. They might be very surprised to know what goes on in the wee hours, along our main corridor. They need to pull their heads out of the sand, and see and experience first hand, the root causes of drug abuse, drug peddling, crime, and vandalism, and recognize clearly that it is our problem, that will require a home grown remedy. The police can’t do much more than enforce the law. Our job is to nip crime in the bud, by a new proactive approach.......the first step, is to actually admit it exists, and to what level, by doing some fundamental research, and doing so with a critical approach, looking at all sides of the issue and comparing available statistics.

One night, just over a week ago (from the time of this posting), we heard five car alarms sounding at about half-hour intervals. It wasn’t the same car. A perpetrator, or several, were attempting to break into cars up and down the street. Earlier in August, we interrupted a would-be thief in out neighbor’s car, scaring the bike-riding bandit off. We called the police immediately, offering as best we could, a description of the suspect. We found out there were more incidents on our street that we never reported. Just as it is most likely, the folks who had cars affected, setting off their alarms, failed to report the incidents to police. A lot of residents now look at these attempted break-ins as “nuisance” only events, and won’t bother informing police. Thus there is a very distorted statistical portrait of this crime in our neighborhood. Now imagine this attitude stretching over the entire community.....people deciding not to get involved because the incidents are so frequent, and the process of reporting them, seemingly a waste of time. Well it’s not! We’re not helping the police or our community by ignoring the attempted break-ins. Sooner or later these brazen attempts will become more aggressive, with a potential for personal injury, if a resident confronts a trespasser on purpose or by accident.

I hear and read very little about our council’s concern about local crime and its prevalence. Why?

When do we hear anything from Council regarding the fact we need the services of the Salvation Army, to help feed our most vulnerable citizens. And for those ignorant of the actuality of the day, and the prevailing economic climate, for God’s sake smarten up. There is NO excuse for any councillor in this town to take for granted or minimize the need in our community.......from the very young to the elderly. Don’t expect to read an election ad suggesting that “I pledge to help the less fortunate,” or “I will be in the front line to help during food drives,” to keep the Food Bank shelves full. How many council hopefuls, for this coming election, know or have been inside our local food bank? Well I have, many times, to drop off donations we have raised during numerous fundraising concerts. And I can tell you, it’s a wonderful feeling, especially when you see how many people will benefit from that generosity bestowed. We can’t have these shortfalls in our community go unrecognized by the local governance, hell bent on spending money we don’t have, on a town hall we really couldn’t afford.

It has been the course of history folks, that when these problems aren’t dealt with, and allowed to increase unabated, wounds past, present and future can not heal. If we are truly the generous and caring community I believe we are, then we need a town hall that is acutely aware of the divides and disadvantages we have come to live with as a norm, simply because it has been mistakenly thought as being of lesser importance, than ratepayer sabre rattling.

As Jacob Marley’s ghost yelled at a miserly Scrooge, in Dickens, “A Christmas Carol,” “Mankind is our business.” It is the business of every elected official in this town, to be aware of the social / economic conditions that prevail.....not simply catering to ratepayers because they are the squeaky wheels.