SO WHY IS TRANSPARENCY IMPORTANT? ASK THE GOVERNMENT OF JAPAN?

When we natter on today, especially during elections full of promises and testimonials, about trustworthy government, “transparency” seems such an important word with a significant meaning to all that is democratic.....and the guarantee we will all be able to see and appreciate first hand, what our government is up to on an hour by hour basis.

Now every time I hear or read about transparency, and its good graces toward newly restored and invigorated democracy, I just can’t help thinking about Japan and nuclear power plants. It seems their concept of transparency isn’t the textbook definition......or at least the definition that makes us contented here in Canada, we’re not going to suffer from radiation poisoning in some form or other.

As an ever-questioning newshound, I knew from the beginning, getting the truth from the respective sources responsible for the nuclear plant in crisis, would be a shred of what reality actually prevails. I wrote about it shortly after the earthquake and tsunami. I had a bad feeling about the power company, responsible for the plant, and some genuine concern the government would not be eager to tell the world it was operating a tsunami-vulnerable nuclear site. So to add further risk to a devastated population, trying to survive the aftermath of an horrific natural disaster, both the power company and the government, in my opinion, began minimizing the significance of the crisis.....when in fact they should have increased the evacuation zone to double what they declared.

They were reluctant to ask for help from those nations, with abundant talent and resources in the nuclear industry. Even evacuating citizens from the crisis area seemed latent and far too limited to protect the population from radiation exposure. As for transparency? And here’s the danger of not being transparent. The nuclear disaster is well on its way to becoming a major world event that will imprint seriously in history.....not because it was part of a wicked natural disaster but because of the profound failure to admit mistakes, safety design shortfalls, and to seek immediate assistance after the tsunami struck. They have seriously injured the planet and its population, by a chain of failures and cover-up that shows a complete disregard for transparency......although they will, even at this stage, beg to differ. In their collective opinion, or so it seems from here to there, they couldn’t have been more transparent. And while they’re still minimizing the extent of the disaster, at the very least, the nuclear watchdogs have intervened and are giving us a better understanding of the crisis yet to come.

I feel awfully sorry for the poor bastards who have been working in that shambles of a power plant, to help save us all, risking their lives on behalf of a government still readily telling porkies to avoid panic. I think it’s a democratic right to panic if you want to! I certainly think the first step now, without what the world has been watching on the nightly news, is to let us have the complete information, not the sanitized version of current events they’ve been fobbing-off for weeks. The fact we are finding low levels of radiation, on the eastern seaboard of the United States, and that, at least for awhile, some folks downwind have been advised to use powdered milk instead,.... and to avoid leafy vegetables and berries for awhile, is the kind of stark, unsettling fallout, in genuine panic-raising form, that always comes on the heals of such a major misrepresentation of catastrophe. Transparency. Only when cost efficient, part of the public relations protocol, or in the government’s best interests. Well, it also frequently backfires. Then there’s the quickly adopted policy of “apology heals all!” This is what happens when governments decides what we should know, what’s best left unsaid, and what our poor feeble minds can handle.

If I harp at issues of transparency, as bandied about with great luxury and confidence, by our elected, and soon-to-be elected officials, it’s because of examples like nuclear plant disaster “fudging” and “minimization” of actuality. While most elected officials will swear an oath of allegiance to the goodness of “transparency,” it doesn’t take long in office before politicians are being swayed by others, to conceal information for our best interests. I understand that some information must, by law, remain confidential. Much other relevant information is often deemed too revealing and sensitive to government operation, because it would cause an adverse response from citizens......and they simply don’t want to deal with the crumple of angry ratepayers jammed into the council chambers, for the very next meeting. We have seen this many times before at the local level, where a municipal government has decided to purposely avoid public scrutiny because it would get in the way of project initiation and negotiations. We find this at every level of government, and if you’ve been following the federal election campaign, so far, transparency fogging is the biggest deal going. Usually they wait until they get into office. Now they don’t care how they muddy the water.....just that it is muddy enough to confuse the snot out of those trying to sort out which story is more truthful than the other.

I have never......not once in my life, had to plead to family, friends or work associates, that “you can trust me.” When someone says to me, “I know I can trust you,” I am immediately offended. I will walk away from a salesperson who suggests to me, “You can trust me to give you a fair deal!” Seeing as I was brought up to be honest and trustworthy, (God bless my mother for instilling this as a characteristic of honor), I have only one opinion of trust. I follow it! I expect those I’m dealing with to understand this from the onset of our acutely honest relationship. If a salesperson has to bring “trust” and “worthiness” into the discussion, I can only think then, that this particular gem of “trust” bestowed on me, isn’t something generally passed on to customers.....rather a special blip for a special guy like me. To tell me “I trust you,” is an audible and ignorant fart, because nothing turns me off faster, than to be informed my character was in doubt in the first place. If I didn’t have to say it to them, they shouldn’t have said it to me. We can think and decide what we want, but trust is a feeling of security best left unspoken. Not something to debate in person. I have never minded being scrutinized because I live a transparent life. Read my blogs. All my columns. It has nearly caused divorce and family alienation but no one will be misled about our family activities and values. There’s great liberation in honesty......without having to be a nudist....not that there’s anything wrong with nudity!

Trusting us with information is what this is all about. And while the government of Japan decided, early on, what amount of trust we could all handle in this global village, with faulty logic, now it’s out of their control and containment......the radiation and information free for us to consume. I’m pretty sure the Japanese population will be as outraged as the rest of the world, on the extreme liberties taken regarding freedom of information.......that just might have saved lives, and reduced some of the damage this radiation spewing nightmare will cause to mother earth. It is our business. It is our welfare. It has been placed at risk because of a lack of transparency.....on purpose.

So the next time you hear a politician bandy about the words “trust,” “fair,” “honesty,” and “transparency,” think about the definition of each, and what we should demand from those who recklessly, habitually and conveniently slap-down proclamations without conscience, or fear of consequence......but rather with that tell-tale hollow ring that should resonate in all of us, the reason to proceed with suspicion.....carry on with caution, and get a second and third opinion on the same issue.

It is so terribly tragic for the good people of Japan. They will be the first souls to deal harshly with their less than transparent governance. They we’ll have a go at them!

The wind is blowing across the Pacific. Right at us! And what a foul wind it could be! Transparency is critical. Will we get it from our governments? It’s up to us to insist!

THE TEAM APPROACH TO COUNCIL BUSINESS -

GETTING LUMPED IN WITH THE TEAM COULD MEAN A BIG, BIG LOSS

When I joined the protest to save Bracebridge’s Jubilee Park, a number of years ago, there was one aspect of the debacle that struck me.....about as hard as watching a great slice of urban open space sacrificed for development. It was the way council decided to adopt the “one for all, all for one” perspective, as did the next council voted-in prior to the OMB hearing, ruling on the park sacrifice. I couldn’t understand, how such an historically contentious and entirely controversial issue, could be dealt with by a totally “on-board, one-mind” council.....not once, but twice. The issue straddled the end of one council term and the commencement of another.

It was the “Team” approach. The steadfast and stalwart mission, to back this sacrifice of parkland. I have never forgotten the faces on those councillors. Team-players! Solidarity! And yet I’m positive, in the early going, they were not as unanimous or uncaring about opposition as they appeared at public meetings. There was definitely a desire to present a unified, “we want this real bad,” approach to the issue. It was on the minds of many opponents of the project. How is it possible that there isn’t one opposing viewpoint from at least one councillor? The team approach! So much for free speech.

So what’s wrong with the team approach anyway. Well let’s just look at the recent tax debacle in Gravenhurst, where area residents are pissed-off about news of a ten percent or more tax hike. It is largely the result of massive over-spending by a previous council. I do blame them. I feel some sympathy for those newly elected councillors, who must now be wondering what they got themselves in for, running in the fall’s municipal election. I warned them. I warned individual candidates, who I felt would be an asset to council, that the next four year term, because of this overspending, would be one of the most difficult in the town’s history. A few paid attention. Others probably flipped me the bird and dropped reading the blog altogether. Truth is a burden. The real problem today, is that the team approach to adopting the tax gouge, and avoiding placing blame where it belongs, is the very straightforward reality......if the team loses, well, so does its membership. Unless councillors, who were not part of the debacle of the past, step up and speak bluntly about the errors of the past, there is no point whining about the tax revolt headed your way. It’s likely to get more stressful.

There are members of the former council, now on the present council, who will be on the hot-seat for some years to come, and it would be refreshing if they recognized, with an apology, they had been a party to spending beyond their (our) means; and they truly recognize why we’re angry. Most of us know why this isn’t going to happen. Something to do with politics. As for those who might wish to save themselves from the downward spiral of the “team” it may prevail upon them, to drop the “it is what it is” point of view, and recognize the horns of a dilemma, and the damage taxation revolt can do to the Pleasantville, “good times were had by all” municipal overview, they seem to possess. Most of the attention now, is the bickering over what stays in the budget, and what is cut, which is small potatoes, compared to the truthful reckoning that “we were screwed blue by a previous council!” To hear a loud and clear presentation, by just one new councillor, that they appreciate the burden they are placing on the residents and business owners of this town, and how and when it began to collide with sensible, diligent, responsible operation of the municipality. Throwing a previous council under the bus isn’t necessary. We did that. At least in part.

Team-speak guarantees council will carry the burden as a unit. It seems like a noble thing to do. It is not democracy at its finest, however, as free speech and the right to dissent are absorbed in this misguided union of opinion. I’m pretty sure there are some councillors biting their lips hard these days, wishing to voice their concerns about the future for the folks who elected them. The team approach to governance is not in the best interests of democracy. While it is understood speaking out can bring consequences and “shunning,” of which I’m an expert (as one of the most shunned folks in Muskoka), there is such marvellous pleasure in being honest and open about issues, such an amazing rush, a liberation, feeling the life force of a vibrant democracy.....the wind in your sails. If I was a member of council, or an advisor, I would have begged my elected associates, to adopt the kind of transparency that would allow for truthful reaction to the budgetary woes, beyond the obvious admission; “we need to cut back.” The former councillors need to admit that they have played a role in this tax mess, and make a commitment to fix what they, as a team, inspired. As for new councillors, well, it is my advice they consider divorcing themselves from that team strategy, they may have been told is essential to good government, and save themselves. The only teamwork we want to see, is our council members representing the interests and needs of our community......not the solidarity of opinion that there is strength in numbers. It is faulty logic to believe this.

As an historian in this region, I’m telling you this is a particularly critical time in not only our town, but in the wider region......and the failure to understand the economic vulnerabilities in the home district, will perpetuate evermore anger and tax revolt. Council can’t look out at their constituents and ignore, any longer, that the economic burdens of living here, the cost of living in general, is becoming an over-riding concern to a majority of residents. As Gravenhurst has thought it a wonderful idea, to attract the retirement community to our town, you’d think there would be the companion insightfulness, that fixed incomes and tax hikes yearly, aren’t compatible. Do councillors appreciate the damage a 10 percent increase can do to the dynamic of a fixed income? They should. And be very apologetic about it!

I know there are highly responsible, committed and ethical folks on Gravenhurst Council. There have been thousands upon thousands of good and competent elected officials who have lost their election bids because of failings of their party or associate members. It is unfair to blame the present council for this most recent tax invasion. But that’s the way it will carry-on, unless those who are concerned about their futures as elected officials, speak out and make it clear they have little choice but to work with what they were left.....and commit to adopting a new and improved financial administration to avoid tax brutality in the future. There’s no need to go down with the team......unless loyalty prevails above sensibility......which has, afterall, been witnessed so far this spring.

I was critical of last year’s all-candidates’ meeting. For this precise reason. The fundamental muzzling of the audience, only allowing for submitted questions, disallowing citizens from demanding a public response about issues such as over-spending and taxation. Instead of an election debate, we had a manufactured meet and greet. This was a ridiculous event, that served no real purpose........ other than it did almost fill the Opera House. Nice to see.

ARE WE SO FAR REMOVED FROM HISTORY THAT IT NO LONGER MATTERS?

WHAT IS TO BECOME OF THE POOR? IS IT YOUR BUSINESS?

“It is more than usually desirable that we should make some slight provision for the poor and destitute, who suffer greatly at the present time. Many thousands are in want of common comforts, sir.” The reply, “Are there no prisons?” The response, “Plenty of prisons.” The reply again, “And the Union Workhouses? Are they still in operation?” The answer, “They are. Still, I wish I could say they were not.” The response, “The Treadmill and the Poor Law are in full vigor, then?” The answer, “Both very busy, sir.” The retort, “Oh! I was afraid, from what you said at first, that something had occurred to stop them in their useful course. I’m glad to hear it.” The explanation, “Under the impression that they scarcely furnish Christian cheer of mind or body to the multitude, a few of us are endeavouring to raise a fund to buy the poor some meat and drink, and means of warmth. We choose this time, because it is a time, of all others, when want is keenly felt and abundance rejoices. What shall I put you down for?”

“Nothing,” Scrooge replied.

“A Christmas Carol,” by Charles Dickens, isn’t just a seasonal tome meant for hearthside reading. It is about kindnesses bestowed throughout the rolling year, to help others help themselves. It’s an old story. A work of fiction. Yet unlike many books, it is still a timely, relevant, and revered story about suffering, greed, indifference, yet resolution, restitution, kindness and the good graces of spirituality. It still reminds many of us that there is no finer characteristic in civilization, than charity toward the less fortunate in all circumstances. As Scrooge found out, it is always better to give than to receive, and that a good feeling in heart is in itself, the greatest wealth one could hope to achieve. I have been smitten by the insightful work of Mr. Dickens, and his character, Scrooge, since I was a child. My boys were exposed to this wonderful story from childhood as well, and it has been a mainstay at our homestead, here at Birch Hollow, certainly at Christmas.......but as they will vouch, the moral isn’t any less pronounced in February, April, July, September, October or November. It’s an everyday matter of conscience. I will never distance myself from Dickens message, that “mankind is our business.”

When I get angry these days, about local governance, indifference of politicians, and electioneering, it can all be traced back to this historic novel. Does that seem a little flimsy for a critical blogger, to stand-up for the poor and less fortunate, boldly reciting Dickens work of fiction? Well, knowing what was going on in England, at the time Dickens was writing this book, and his knowledge of the history of poverty in his country, the observations are pretty close to the actuality, he witnessed in his life to that point. I wish so much, that I wouldn’t be able to see, and experience such close Dickensian parallels to our own modern times, when indifference is so abundant and frightening. It is indifference that destines our society to tolerate the poor but not much more. I make no apology for consulting Dickens, or asking politicians to pay attention to the suffering of the less fortunate. I’m always discouraged when dynamic initiatives for the poor are lost in the shuffle of more prominent and profitable issues, like jets and G20 Conferences.....and the building of a fake lake, while food banks have clients leaving without full bags of life-sustaining provisions.

There should be no greater emphasis today, by government, than on matters of common health and welfare of this nation’s citizenry. It is a growing and debilitating characteristic of modern times, of indebtedness and post recession recovery, that the less fortunate find themselves unable to escape.....or find a step up to a better, more prosperous future. There is, for many, no spark of light at the end of the tunnel. Just a tunnel. Black and ominous. While the politicians touch on it, everso briefly, to show some tenderness, it is their lack of keen awareness that makes them more like Scrooge and less like the humble Bob Crachit, the working stiff trying to support his family against incredible odds. What makes our leadership find the poor so unappealing, and unworthy of heartfelt attention? Politics is a pursuit for the well endowed, and government is about power and privilege to govern as they see fit. The issues of the poor, and what to do with them, just don’t make for sexy, alluring, sensational, glamorous government. The only reason political hopefuls will wind-up in a soup kitchen or food bank, during this election, is because handlers and public relations advisors, think wearing the poor like a pin on the heart, will show their candidate’s humanity and sensitivity. If this was an election about Canadians, as they boast it is......then they’d start paying some serious attention to the millions of votes that belong to the ranks of the poor. I’m real sick of hearing about the needs of the Middle Class, above the absolute requirements of the less fortunate of our society......who are hungry.

When these election movers and shakers dictate the campaigns the candidates will follow, they can’t find many reasons to waste time on those of limited means. I’d love to see their notepads and rough jottings from brainstorming sessions, in those electric backrooms, to see if I’m right about this......that holding court at a soup kitchen or food bank, or visiting a homeless shelter would be for a photo-op only, to fit perfectly into the “we touched all the bases,” scrapbook, compiled at the end of the campaign. It’s a feel good moment.....or split second, to shake the hand of a homeless person, or scoop a little soup into a bowl, or extend a hand with a package of crackers to someone who may only have one meal a day. Do they, at that moment, feel any sensation of compassion, or come to the point of enlightenment that “this isn’t right in our wonderful country, to have so many doing without?”

What I truly want to see, and experience, is a candidate for election, who flips the bird to handlers, and visits a food bank or soup kitchen because it’s morally, socially, culturally important......realizing that there is suffering right here at home.....in Canada, in Ontario, in our municipalities, because of government indifference and ignorance to the issues of the poverty cycle. I want to find a politician who isn’t out for the photo-op, but has enough awareness of the actuality of poverty, to become immersed, without a safety line, in a social-economic circumstance that is damning the welfare of our country. Avoidance is what we experience. Will this ever change? Will a food bank ever be worth a politician’s time on a busy campaign hustle? My answer is a simple...... “No!”

With the ever-rising food, fuel, hydro, water, taxes and shelter expenses, now seriously affecting food banks and soup kitchens across the country, my advice to all elected, and soon to be elected politicians, is that they take some advice from the good Mr. Dickens. This will become a nightmare scenario that they won’t be able to bypass as they do now. They will be held to account for their inaction. They are forging a length of ponderous chain.

But how encouraging it would be, to find a politician, who would saddle up to a guy like me, and share a good story......like the one written so long ago....that has every relevance to the way we have chosen to live and govern in this so called modern era. A modern era with the same cancer as it had in the early 1800's.

Of the poor and destitute, Scrooge so poignantly noted..... “If they would rather die, they had better do it, and decrease the surplus population.”

Are we so cold and heartless that we might blow off such a statement, as being irrelevant, and the just the imagination of a novelist of yore? Or should we heed its warning that our indifference, and lack of enterprise to help the less fortunate, is as much an indication, many of us do, in fact, choose to look the other way......and feel thankful that we have more than others.

Give us a spark of humanity on this election trail. Show us what heartfelt means to political agenda. And we should be visited by the spirits. It may be our last hope.

CONFUSING AND MANIPULATING THE VOTER - OUR DEMOCRACY AT WORK

CAN YOU EMERGE UNSCATHED, TO DEFEND YOUR FUNDAMENTAL FREEDOM?

In this spring’s federal election, job one, is to be able to keep your head above the free-flowing, abundant, sickening bullshit, tumbling forth in a constant, annoying thud of fiction colliding with reality. Spewing like the Vesuvius of old, during the next five weeks of election vote-wrangling, it will be almost impossible to avoid the current of propaganda, and the whirlpool of exiting sewage, tugging at us to “go with the flow;” “vote for us.....vote for us.....you must vote for us.” Or else you will drown in your own stupidity. The back-room strategists don’t have a high opinion of us, you see, and this is what’s wrong with modern day campaigns. The politicians aren’t standing-up for what is right and honest, by informing strategists, there’s no room for electorate befuddling! A win at the polls, will be a strike for fair play, not evidence Canadians can be hoodwinked by smoke and mirrors, and slight of hand!

The idea, early on, is to abuse and confuse, and hope that their trickery holds the line for all the other misrepresentations, they’ll be building until early May. We are the pawns. We are the “easily shoved-about,” and the “strategically placed,” to attain an objective. Canadians? We are Canadians to the political parties, only as far as our vote goes. To think that they believe us to be anything more than a means to an end is delusional thinking. We are the “tide to turn,” and the “masses to convert.” Nothing more. And to the movers and shakers in the party

“back rooms,” we are the “stunned” and the “hopelessly adrift,” who can be brought onside with clever public relations’ manipulation. A life-ring tossed to the numb-nutters, you might say, so we can climb atop their special brand of bullshit, and float safely to their isle of nirvana.

They will try anything to get the vote for their party, and the truth just doesn’t matter. Nothing else matters. Just massaging our sensitivities and exploiting our weaknesses, like a cult recruiting the most vulnerable. The election is less about issues, and more about screwing with our minds.

So far, I’ve made a point of enduring it, versus pounding on the television remote like it’s a video game to buy some “serenity-now!” There will be a time, soon enough, when I simply have no choice but to use the remote like Shane whipped the bad-guy gunslingers.. For a few more days I want to endure this relentless barrage of political mind-bending, when bare-face lies are no longer lies, and truth is far fetched to whatever horizon they decided to lead us. I want to see just how far these folks are willing to go, to buy an election victory. I want to appreciate just how many issues they will exploit, and promise to address as a majority government, as compared to what they will forget and otherwise ignore, if they do become our nation’s leadership. I know I have to stomach it for awhile longer but I know by the anger brewing in my gut already, it’s simply not healthy to watch too much of this unsavory manipulation of democracy to suit the needs of power vampires.....who just can’t get enough blood to satisfy their ambitions.

As a writer, I know what a public relations concoction can include, and today it’s like a toxic bloom, contaminating what we all need to know and appreciate about the state of our nation. We do need to fully understand the true mission and conquests desired by our political parties. We are important to them for such a short time. We are the “flounders” to catch, program, and release. The audience to captivate. The “aimless” to channel. The “wishy washy” to launder. To the party handlers, we are nothing more than a challenge on their career paths.....and a pain in the arse when we prove more intelligent than the polls revealed.

And afterall, where would we be without polls, you say. In a much better place, I respond! Now that there are polls about every fifteen minutes, about everything imaginable, why not just save the money on the actual election, and let the pollsters call-it? Are the polls part of the manipulation exercise? Does someone out there keep score, how many times the poll results are wrong? Who is policing the pollsters? Are we being fed propaganda through polls? Do we believe what we are force-fed? Do we trust anyone? Is this what being Canadian means today? Being perpetually confused? Needing to be led to our opinions by the caress of the vested interest?

I won’t give up my independence and hard grasp of democracy, despite the manipulations and relentless porky-telling of our political parties. I know what goes on at party central. And so should you. Anchor yourself to the truths you know, and the ideal of the country we have had, and wish to maintain, and demand of candidates an honest campaign, based on realities of the day, spin-free......as the only way to earn our vote.

And put that t.v. remote in your holster. Remember Shane’s quick draw? I’m faster!

SOME MORE PROMISES TO BREAK - A NEW ELECTION CAMPAIGN TO STOMACH

I will be one of millions to admit the present government is arrogant, dictatorial, ego-dominant, and self serving by appearance and application of governing privilege. I will also be one of millions concerned the opposition parties, will provide pretty much the same disconnected perspective, if elected. I’m one of millions who like the idea of having government co-operation, at this tough time in world history and economics, willing to sideline personal ambitions, in order to help us, and help this nation.... weather the near future’s anticipated turbulence. And I’m not the only one of these same millions, who is worried about nuclear catastrophe in the next five weeks. An election campaign could have been delayed. There is a greed factor here that is appalling. Greed for power. So for the next month and a tad, we’ll actually be significant entities to the candidates. After that, it will be back to the usual, less than enthusiastic, citizen-politician relationship, meaning the necessity of “begging for recognition.” The only out-stretched hand will be from Revenue Canada looking for a few more bucks for the hungry coffers.

During the most recent municipal elections, I found much the same attitude. Conciliatory to a fluffy sweetness, as if you, the voter, actually means something beyond a mark on the ballot. Having been through so many of these follies in the past, at all levels, it’s just something anticipated from the get-go, and I’m seldom disappointed. Eagerness at the beginning of an election doesn’t really hold-up over the long haul of a four year term. You become inconsequential soon after their bums are in the council seats we paid for. Then it somehow becomes a lesser ordeal to tell local ratepayers about a potential nose-bleed tax levy for 2011. The excuse becomes as feeble as their willingness to chat on the street, and the new state of the union......a familiar refrain; “That’s the way it is. So suck it up!”

As for a Federal Election, awe geez.....it’ll start all fuzzy-wuzzy, making us poor bastards feel like we count, only to find out we’re nothing more than a notch on the election belt. You know when the new government takes office, it’ll be an entirely different game-plan than the one we voted for, as it always is, and we’ll just take the television remote and flick them off the nightly news! I’ll turn it on and off several times because, frankly, it’s so satisfying to dismiss them casually.....as they fob us off once they’ve got our vote. As I’ve said and written many times, “our democracy guarantees us the right and freedom to vote for a dictator.”

There are times when I start believing that a candidate I’m chatting with, could be different from the rest of them. The exceptions, over my lifetime, have been few. Frank Miller was most certainly a glowing exception. Whether Frank was on the campaign trail or a member of the Provincial Government, he was always approachable......and was always accommodating to his constituents here in Muskoka. I believe his son, Norm Miller is the same in his role as MPP for our riding. I’m not a Conservative Party supporter, as such but I have long appreciated the Miller family’s heartfelt dedication to our region. I’ve always been treated with the utmost respect by both Frank and Norman during their respective campaigns, and during their terms of office. That’s a cornerstone of accountability I need to see in place, before I can feel my voice has representation at a higher level.

This coming election for the feds, simply isn’t needed. Co-operation is! The present government could have negotiated but declined.....no matter what they spin, they had a chance to negotiate with all parties, and glory-glory, what a public relations coup that would have been. To show an insightful, conciliatory side, how wonderfully kind, to the astute citizens they know don’t want the burden of expense, to run yet another election. What a monstrously significant ovation they could have earned by burying the hatchet, setting the egos aside, and working in good faith to find solutions......., tend the fragile economic recovery, and pump-up our democracy by showing that co-operation is infinitely more important than tired old mantra, and the push and shove of today’s dysfunctional democracy. Instead we get another taxpayer burden heaped onto everything else, while the Conservatives will remind, time and again, how it is the other parties that brought rain down on the parade.

I remember being at a junior hockey game, one evening a few years back, and an oldtimer, in the stands, scolding a hometown fan who was screaming at, and taunting, the opposition players. The fan was livid about the dirty play of the visiting club. The gent, in a calm voice, asked the red-faced man, if he had ever studied the handiwork of the team he was cheering for......to see, by chance, if they were the victims of violent assaults, or on-par, equal participants in foul play. He suggested that he take a few moments to eliminate the distinction of the home and visitor colors, and watch the hockey players themselves. So was it true that the home team were angels-on-ice? While the fan blew-off the advice given by the oldtimer, with a flipped bird or something like that, I borrowed the advice for myself. Of course it is true that there is a blindness, to the idea that the hometeam (or political party of choice) can be at fault. Yet as a player for many years, and a fan most of my life, a dirty hit regardless of the sweater color, is still a penalty. Maybe we need to see those replays over and over, to be able to question “our own,” as we criticize “the opposition.” If the Tories had adopted the conciliatory mission statement that good governance for Canada means “fair play” regardless of the color or party mantra......and that compromise and negotiation seem pretty integral to the rights and privileges democracy affords us, or should afford us, every day of our lives........maybe then we could have made this present minority government work a few more years, for our benefit.....our welfare. Is our welfare of concern? For five weeks it will be! Enjoy it while it lasts.

I won’t be putting any political party’s sweater on, in any show of public support. But I will study the platforms, listen to the debates, stomach the propaganda, and exercise my right at the poll, to play a citizen-role in the determination of the next Government of Canada. As far as changing political will, or hoping that our elected representatives will be any more co-operative, and negotiable than usual, I’m just one of those poor bastards that has learned to settle for less from the general pool of elected officials. So I’m seldom more disappointed, about an outcome than the time before, and the time before that. I’m sad to admit this but I have lost faith in the democracy of the present, to put our health and welfare first......before rubbing up against big money interests, on the mistaken premise that successful governance depends on powerful friends, and corporate good neighborliness. I like the “will of the people” ideal lasting through an entire term of office. How ridiculous is this?

There is a growing discontent within the Canadian population, and while it’s a long way from the trigger point of actual rebellion, it will continue to heat-up to an eventual breaking point, if ignored by the next round of mediocre governance. Social welfare is a festering sore.....and while not a glamorous schmooze out on the election hustings, food banks and homeless shelters are worthwhile stops along the way.....for candidates, who are truly interested, as human beings, in the bare truths of their ridings. They should let their souls out for a little air. They might sense then, that what they believed, or were told was “a hale and hardy economy,” “and a prosperous business community,” is instead a reminiscent sketch from a Dickensian novel, where poverty and economic failure, is the inconvenient truth, the lesser lustre of otherwise charming hometown life. Take a spirit-led sprint into the near future, to visit a place where Banks for food have become as well attended, as those other banks of profit.

I want to see a candidate up close and personal, who will attend a food bank on a pre-election visit, who will come back and give a crap, show some concern about its expanding client-load, after the election. And maybe join me, as a volunteer, to help raise funds for this same charitable operation.....that will head into the future on the same wing and prayer it has in the past. What a glorious moment it would be, to see an elected official from any level of government, actually concerned about empty shelves and hungry folks in our midst. There’s still time and plenty of opportunities to show support for local food banks.

I’d love to be your guide.

THE SPIN, POLITICS OF DECEPTION AND YET ANOTHER ELECTION

Working as a feature editor, for a local publisher, I was often given assignments to profile business and industry. It was work. I couldn’t really turn it down. I needed the beer money, and oh yes, funds to pay my rent. I hated to write business features because they were so boring to research and wordsmith, into something that readers would consume. I got pretty good at making these business enterprises appear much more successful and prosperous than they actually were, at that point in time, seeing as at least a quarter of the subject businesses were on their last leg....so to speak. I had numerous occasions when I was asked to visit a business, as a last ditch attempt to save them as clients, or help them last another few weeks until they could pay their advertising account. About a month after doing these stories, most those same enterprises were closed and packing-up. A waste of time? Not to our advertising department.

Maybe I saved a few with my competently written feature stories.....but not many. An advertising staffer, told me once, a client had been in tears, while complimenting the stellar work I’d done on their published story. Well, for a split second, I felt great. While I had apparently hit the mark, and secured an advertising relationship with the subject business, it was impossible to be truly happy about the credit bestowed. I had spun a grand, compelling tale, about a wonderful, landmark business, but I’d been forced to use every trick in the wordsmithing profession, to make them look good. If I’d included the truth, that the business was actually on the brink of collapse, because they hadn’t been very good at their enterprise, how would that have been received by my bosses? While I fought with these upper-management types about news and editorial honesty, all the time, business features were to be tolerated and spun to keep ad content. “Without these advertisers Ted, you wouldn’t have a job.” They told me that every week.

I hated myself for capitulating but there weren’t a lot of writing jobs out there, and a lot of hungry rookie reporters rapping at the door.

The most memorable feature story, was one I did for a local restaurant that was, without my knowledge, on the verge of financial collapse. Apparently I was the cavalry and my feature story on their great food, was going to inspire a magnificent rise from the ashes. I went for a lunch, at my own expense (to sort of protect me from a conflict of interest.....accepting a free meal), and found it adequate. Not a smidgeon more. I must have been having a Hemingway moment, because when I got back to the office, I wrote one of the best reviews a restaurant (that’s not in Paris) could expect from the local rag. Even before it went to press, everyone who read the review, in the office, was eager to visit and try the incredible cuisine. When it was published, the owners were ecstatic, as you might imagine, and presumably made a deal to place many more advertisements.......such that I could keep my job and have a cool one (brew) now and again.

That feature story was very nearly my undoing as a writer. Due to my compelling argument, that all of the food lovers in the world, should visit this local dining-gem, I generated a huge new interest in this modestly proportioned, mediocre-at-best, hole-in-the-wall restaurant. First of all, let me make this clear. I am not an experienced food critic. At that point in my single life, I was having “chips and oyster sauce” sandwiches, when I had any food in my apartment at all. My culinary craft involved opening a can of tuna or beans, and grasping-up a spork. So when I suggested this small restaurant should be given five Michelin Stars, crap, I was in for a grounding like you wouldn’t believe. I’ve written many controversial articles over my career, but nothing could compare to the controversy I created by bestowing credit where it was not deserved.

You see, many folks attended that restaurant, and found that the writer, who had composed that prose, hadn’t been entirely truthful. After hour long waits for cold and tasteless food, and finding nothing remarkable in either the decor or location, (as I had represented better than it appeared), many unhappy diners took up the pen and phone, as soon as they got home. While the restaurant was happy with the business volume, for about a week, I had our ad department going nuts, with calls and letters about the numb-nuts reporter, who sent them to that “dreadful place.” It wasn’t exactly fan mail but I got lots of response to my work.

The point I’m trying to make here, is that with an election on the horizon, or several (provincial is this year as well), the spin masters will be out in full force. And every time I read the crap they produce, I think about the lesson learned, about the importance of being earnest, honest, and responsible to all concerns. What I read, and hear in the pre-election ads, reminds me just how bad it can get, when truth becomes inconvenient.......while down the road, truth becomes a very great burden. It bothered me for years, that the dishonesty of my story had worked for those with a vested interest but not for those who trusted my editorial integrity. When I criticize politicians today, fifty percent of the reason for my chagrin, is due to the positive spin they’ve placed on a negative situation or circumstance. Instead of being straightforward and honest about government business and initiatives, they believe it infinitely more important to fudge and embellish.....even though, as logical folks most of the time, they’re going to get burned when the truth finally prevails. It always does.

I’ve had a raging battle, recently, with those who wish to manipulate the media to satisfy their own self-serving interests and agendas. Their failure is usually always set in the same pattern. They start believing their own bullshit as being the correct version, to promote or protect themselves, or associates, and eventually they lose reality altogether. During the election there’s not much else than bullshit. Telling us about transparency and then when elected, offering no apology for cloaking everything they do thereafter. There’s an awfully big difference between a candidate for office, and an elected official. The candidate will promise the moon and deliver a sliver. The elected official will make excuses why the promises had to be broken, and deliver nary a quiver of the chin, turning and walking away with a grin.

I don’t know how the spin-masters out there can live with themselves. Apparently there’s lot of work around the world these days, for spin writers who can make a disaster look like a picnic, and a radiation quagmire, appear as nothing more than an inconvenience to mankind; little more than a pee on the grass as far as nature’s concerned. Truthfully, my own dark side immersion in “spinning” cost me a lot as a writer. Sure it paid for a dozen beer, some chips and more oyster sauce but as far as satisfaction......it was most definitely the point of departure. It was the last “good times were had by all” business story I’d write. From that point on, I wrote about their businesses honestly, and truthfully, blemishes and failures included, and while it annoyed the advertising department, it was accepted by the respective businesses themselves......as being relevant and timely.....the struggle to survive, the ups and downs, being part of the deal. They liked the new approach without embellishments. They didn’t want customers arriving at their doorstep with unrealistic expectations anyway. But there are some folks who need fiction and delusion in their daily diet. I can’t help these businesses.

When I hear and read what the political parties are farting-out these days, about their willingness to serve us better, and restore democracy, via greater transparency, I wonder how their writers can live with themselves......knowing the end-game is always the same. “We helped elect jerks!” And don’t think for a minute writers aren’t aware that their “spinning of the truth” is not in the best interests of democracy.....ever! But they need the money. Been there! Regretted every moment of it!

My advice, read between the lines. Especially in election advertising and speeches. Put your bullshit detector on!

TEN PERCENT TAX HIKE! PAYING OF FOR OUR EXTRAVAGANCES!

GRAVENHURST COUNCIL TAKING A LONG WALK OFF A SHORT PIER -

I’d like to read a comment from just one councillor, who breaks ranks, to hurl some blame for this pending 10 percent tax hike, for 2011, on the over-spending of a previous council. Normally I don’t like it in federal and provincial politics, when everything that goes wrong is because of a “previous government.” In the case of Gravenhurst Council, it’s pretty obvious the extravagances of the recent past, are complicating the affairs of the newly launched four year term. It’s a pretty rough haul for the mayor, who will now have to sell this large increase, to cottage associations already teed-off about high property assessments, for minimal service use. As for the rest of us, well, it’s just another reason to worry about the cost of living. While there seems to be the same old disenchantment from town departments forced to cut-back, is there a smidgeon of regard for what a ten percent tax hike will mean to families, the disabled, seniors, all those on fixed incomes......with no possibility of off-setting increases from their own income sources? A reduction of library hours sucks but not nearly as much as facing a tax hike and not having the money to pay the bill. This is the humanity we need to be thinking about.

While there’s a lot of lobbying for what should be in the budget, and what should be cut, or reduced, it’s still the case that these issues are on the table largely because of the less-than-frugal previous administration......and I daresay, the burden of chain we will all be hauling about for the next four years. And while councillors will defend this year’s budget hike as a necessary evil, what happens next year, and the year after that......as backed-up and deferred projects have to be dealt with evermore urgently. What about the potential increased operational costs of the new recreation centre? Bracebridge saw a huge increase in operating costs initially, with their new complex. Are we studying the potential of this? I’m not sure how many more surprises we can take here.

I caution this council, to devote a little more time, to the rates being considered for the new recreation centre. I have this uneasy feeling that to make up for over-spending, they will opt to over-charge users. If the pool facility is truly for our community, then it must take into consideration, that setting admission and program rates too high, will eliminate a large number of folks who would greatly benefit from this recreational activity. I’m not asking council to set this up as a losing proposition.....it’s not in my character to do so.......but if they truly desire to meet the needs of the citizenry, they must understand above all else, that we are not a wealthy community, and there are many folks and families without surplus funds to enjoy a trip to the pool. And while some will argue that this is none of their business, and fob it off on the social / welfare realities of the planet, I’m hopeful some intuitive councillors will rally for the less fortunate, and refuse to allow the institution of unfair user fees.....at least without a fight. Knowing there are folks unable to use the pool, that we funded, because of gouging at the “ticket wicket,” would be a travesty to our hometown values.

If we can have the extravagances for councillors, or a new town hall we couldn’t afford, and could justify handing over the old town hall to the Fire Department, then we can surely find it within the realm of possibility, to keep admission and user costs at a level, reflective of our citizens’ capability of affording the service. It would be arrogance to the extreme, to discount how damaging it would be to this town, to start off a bright new facility with an unrealistic fee schedule.....in a hurry-up mode to recoup costs. The best way is to increase attendance by offering affordable admission rates.

As for the 10 percent tax hike? I’m sure there will be a few councillors thinking about jumping ship after ratepayers finish having a whack at them. I warned a few council hopefuls before the election, that the next four year term would be a dandy......and they should toughen up to the fiscal vulnerabilities they’d have to balance, before sailing onto any new projects. I’m witnessing a boat with a lot of holes to patch before there’s any meaningful traverse elsewhere.

DISASTERS, WAR AND A MUSKOKA VACATION

I feel guilty as hell, you know, being a trigger-happy blogger (most of the time) and all, to have taken a writer’s hiatus for the past week, to enjoy a wonderful March Break vacation at home....here in beautiful Muskoka. While many drove, flew and traversed from here to there, for the week’s holiday, Suzanne and I enjoyed a quiet time, by hearthside at Birch Hollow, went antique hunting daily, took two trips south, to antique shops in Orillia and Barrie (business and pleasure), and made it to Bracebridge and Huntsville.....where we enjoyed pleasant strolls and profitable shopping. We’d grab some ice cream treats and sit in the family truckster, at lakeside, and watch the spring settle over the hinterland. We’ve done this for decades and have always found Muskoka to be a worthy host, when we’re in a tourist-way-of-thinking mode.....and a grand place to live when we finally arrive home here to Birch Hollow, overlooking The Bog....full to overflowing with wildlife.....which has long been a stress-release tonic for the work-weary.

I have had the urge, many times this past week, to sit down here and pound out a blog, or a dozen, about the dangers of uranium and plutonium use in earthquake prone areas of the planet, building cities on fault-lines of the earth’s crust, and the reasons why ruthless dictators should be forcibly removed. It has as much been a week of news watching and a certain amount of silence.....contemplating what it must have been like to watch home and family washed out to sea, in Japan, and then finding out that damage to a nuclear facility has destined your community, the nation, to a perpetual, boundless tragedy. It’s hard to be sitting here, in the safe haven of Birch Hollow, and Gravenhurst, and write in any meaningful way, about such enormous human suffering somewhere else. I have no right to do this. And as I was ecstatic initially, that the Libyan freedom movement was going to be supported by international air-power, the suffering on all sides of the nation in crisis, was well beyond any word-smithing, this “out-of-the-action” hack could responsibly represent. Volatility just can’t be appreciated while watching the birds and squirrel at the feeder, outside my window.........or enjoying the sight of wild turkeys pecking at the dried grasses over in the lowland.

If anything I garnered from a week of watching and learning, it’s to once again harp on the issues of global calamities, and their massive imprint on all of us......that there is no escaping, by ignorance or indifference, to the prevailing catastrophes being experienced by our international neighbors. When we give a sigh of relief, about being well away from the main action and crisis erupting, it is a false sense of security. Whether it is with the knowledge we have friends and associates living and travelling in these locations, or experiencing the financial discomfort of higher fuel and grocery prices, the days of being miles and miles out of harm’s way, isn’t any guarantee we won’t feel the pain and suffering of others, a half a world away or not.

I’m not worthy to write about the terrible circumstances happening in Japan and Libya, at this moment, because it requires actuality......of being there.

I hope the Mayor of this town has a group of advisors, who will provide that clear picture of how fast and deadly circumstance can change, such that the clear, settling calm of just another day, can be turned, in an instant, to an epic disaster without precedent. Disaster planning isn’t just a feel-good document, that we can confidently retort, when asked by some pesky reporter..... “Why yes, we have one of those.....somewhere!” After seeing the less than stellar response to the earthquake, by those specially trained to handle these emergencies in Japan, I’d be far more comfortable in this region, knowing the disaster plan is being dusted-off occasionally, and well......read by all those in charge of our municipality and region. After an emergency has occurred, is a crappy time to play catch-up.

One day the Mayor may be asked to perform “the extraordinary” as a responsibility of wearing the chain of office. It’s possibly the most under known of expectations of locally elected office. This is when leadership faces its most extreme test, and our Mayor and council should ponder, what it would have been like, as elected representatives in Japan, to have such a devastating situation develop in their ballywick that may have claimed members of their own family......yet having to work through the carnage, to help save the lives of others. Decision making to save the taxpayers money, and leading the population out of harm’s way, during an emergency, are miles apart in function yet all part of a potential day’s work.

Emergency planning doesn’t get the attention it deserves because we, as humans, like the trappings of complacency. Just as now, I am looking out on such a gentle, inspiring landscape, and feeling happy about my place on this planet. What would happen if this pleasant surroundings I presently enjoy, was torn apart, the landscape opened up with a jagged fault line to the horizon, and a mudslide was tearing away the property I love so dearly? Then I’d be too scared to write!

Disasters don’t feel obliged to schedule their intrusion, to make it convenient for the population.

ADA FLORENCE KINTON DEPICTS HUNTSVILLE IN ART

By Ted Currie

A talented artist, a competent writer, and devotee of the Salvation Army’s international mission-work, Ada Florence Kinton had a wide choice of vocations when she left England, in 1883, aboard the steamship S.S. Sarmatian. She could have had a lengthy career as an art instructor, with private schools in England or Canada. Ada most certainly could have sold her paintings, or worked professionally in the publishing industry as an illustrator. But she felt her passion for art, was secondary to a heartfelt sense of mission to help others. And she did. From the streets of Toronto to international postings, the poor and destitute always had a friend in Ada Kinton.

After the death of her father, (her mother died when she was 10), a devastating turn in her life, Ada had accepted an invitation from her brothers, Ed and Mackie, to stay with them in the pioneer hamlet of Huntsville, Ontario, where both were well entrenched in the business community. After a dreadful storm-plagued voyage aboard the Sarmatian, and a long and exhausting passage west by rail, north by steamship, cart and sleigh, Ada wrote the following description in a letter, posted to her sister Sara Randleson, at this time still residing in England.

"I am happy to say we have safely arrived at last, after being on the journey, on the cars and in the sleigh, from Tuesday evening until Sunday morning. We have just been two days short of three weeks since we left home (England). I didn’t seem to mind the jolting of the train nearly as much as usual. I suppose it was the dreadful shaking-up we had in the Sarmation in the storm."

The weary traveller writes, "We landed at Halifax on Tuesday, and got straight into a Pullman. There was quite a happy little party of us from the ship, and no strangers; about a half dozen young men and Mrs. Hooper (my cabin-mate) and I. We had the train to ourselves. There was only the Pullman and the mails and the luggage, so it was very cosy and select, and we were quite like brothers and sisters together, after the rough time we had at sea, and we walked about and talked. We stopped at meal-time at different stations, and ate steadily for twenty minutes. At Montreal we changed our cars, and from there to Toronto we met with all sorts of disasters. Amongst other things we got snowed-up, and had to wait patiently till we could be dug-out. That was in fifteen hours. It was breakfast time when we started, and happily we had a dining car attached. Eddy (her brother) teased me so about eating sausages at the rate of twenty-five miles an hour. Then we met a freight train off the track and had to wait for that. Then we heard there was a bad collision ahead of us. That took a long time to clear the track. Two freight trains had run into and over one another."

"Next our tender broke, and we had to wait till we could get a fresh engine. Five hours. Then we got to Gravenhurst, and I had my first sleigh-ride. I suppose I shall never forget it. The horses frisked along like kittens and their long tails and manes waved about so prettily. And oh, the ‘tintinnabulation’ of the bells, and the snow and the forest and the quiet of midnight," wrote the artist-voyeur. "Twenty-six miles’ sleigh-ride from Bracebridge to Huntsville. Supper at a little hotel; everyone silent, mutually afraid to speak. Don’t want to show I’m and Englander. Sleigh again. Almost oppressed with the beauty of the winter forest. Scenery gaunt and fantastic in the twilight. Saw grim, weird forms; wondered if there are any Canadian ghosts. Nice to look up, up, up, by the trunks of the slender, towering trees, and see the pale grey-clouds lighted by the snow beneath. Strange, lovely sleigh-ride, packed tight between Ed and the driver, the stars winking at us; the silent trees, the bush, swamp; Lake Vernon, Huntsville; home in the distance."

She pens the following about her emotional state, and the adjustment from busy London, to the hamlet scene in the Muskoka wilds of 1883. "Began to feel utterly done-up and began to cry, but had to quit it; could not manage it and struggle through the snow at the same time. Arrived at the gate panting and gasping. Heard my brother Mackie’s voice again. Kissed Kitty; too agitated to sleep; woke at last in my warm cosy wooden room. Struck with the amount of comfort in this little Canadian village in the midst of the bush."

"The four months’ visit to Huntsville (which her diary covers), was spent chiefly in making exquisitely pretty watercolor sketches of the village as it was then," wrote her sister, Sara Randleson, in the accompanying text of the biography, "Ada Florence Kinton, Just One Blue Bonnet." She adds, "These (sketches) are carefully treasured by Florence’s friends, and will be very valuable if ever Huntsville becomes a city. Considerable attention was also given to baby worship - a new thing for her." Ada joyfully helped out with the children in the Kinton home.

As if painting with words, as she planned out the subjects for her sketch pad, Ada wrote the following brief description of the village scene, as witnessed from the Kinton homestead:

"Cold wind and glare ice, thawed surface of snow frozen over again. Makes walking difficult. Village is very picturesque and quaint in the moonlight, like a lot of miniature toy wooden cottages, chucked down anyhow on the uneven ground, covered over with nice snow and just a light here and there, to make it look pretty; and then all around a dark bordering of great hills fringed with forest; and through the village the river coiling, and under the wooden bridge to the lake, all steely ice except in the middle, where the current is rapid and strong; a dark inky blue bit of stream shows itself in a fitful broken sort of way. Wonder where all the water lilies have hid themselves?"

Observant and a visionary of her time, she could assess the changes to the scene about to come, and she would take a great interest in the welfare of the forests and wildlife it supported. In future issues, we will travel with Ada Kinton, as she roams back into the woodlands to sketch.......as she notes, before the woodsman’s axe fells what’s left of it.

More on Ada Florence Kinton in the next issue. Please join me for Ada’s field studies in the Muskoka woodlands of 1883. This exclusive year-long collection of stories is in support of the Food Bank, operated by the Gravenhurst Salvation Army but it is generally supportive of all the community food banks in our province, run by so many kind and dedicated volunteers. Please help out the food bank in your community.

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WE ARE ALL SO VULNERABLE TO THE WHIMS OF MOTHER EARTH

JAPAN EARTHQUAKE-

When my long-time friend Dave Brown, had his outdoor education centre closed in the late 1990's, largely by political indifference and short-sightedness, (pig-headedness) it clearly meant there were more important uses for the money......than to keep students aware of the nature around them. It was a devastating blow to Dave, who had built a truly dynamic resource centre, largely on his own, and somewhat at his own expense. His programs gave inner city kids a chance to explore nature and learn about man’s place in the grand scheme of earthly life-forms. It was an important way to appreciate the true dynamic of natural occurrences, and the reasons for its conservation. While other outdoor education programs were spared, Dave was sent back to a normal classroom, and it just didn’t work for him.

I could never, and will never forgive any one who would shut down an outdoor education program.

Dave would have found a way to localize, and emphasize, the role of mother earth in this latest earthquake, and Tsunami event in Japan. He would have made a natural-earth-event a learning experience for students of Southern Ontario......he never missed an opportunity to bring events home, so that youngsters could fully appreciate the power of the natural world......by their own immersion. Dave tied the world of nature into his own region, and made youngsters appreciate the fragility yet resourcefulness of mortal-kind. His respect for nature, became ours. He was a damn fine teacher. The earthquake in Japan, would have been his case in point, and from a tragic situation, he would have made every kid in the class appreciate what force was being exerted half a world away.

I was thinking about Dave this morning, while watching news of the earthquake in Japan. I hope teachers in this country will help students understand just how important it is, to know about the capabilities of nature, and the true vulnerabilities of mankind in its wake.

As for outdoor education, fund it! It is an absolute necessity in our ever-changing world, and it could well be the life lesson for our future survival.

ALL CITIZENS NEED REPRESENTATION - NOT JUST PROPERTY OWNERS

WILL RECREATION CENTRE USER FEES BE ATTAINABLE FOR ALL CITIZENS?

I hope the new user fees, at the enhanced recreation centre, here in Gravenhurst, will be set at an acceptable, affordable level, to benefit all regions of the local economy. I’d hate to see all this work and expense result in a new facility that is priced above what some lesser income citizens can afford. I trust town council will appreciate there is a real danger of over-pricing admission, and losing potential users, because believe it or not, some citizens simply don’t have enough disposable income to cover extravagances. Hopefully that won’t include things like public swimming. It would be nothing short of a disaster if this was to happen.

I’ve often wondered whether or not local councillors pay enough attention to the rights and privileges of non-property owners in our town. Even when I bellyache about property taxes, I have to remind myself that the impact of tax increases spreads over the entire population, as landlords have to deal with respective increases......passing them onto tenants. It may be a more subtle application but somehow the increases eventually wind-up as rent hikes. You don’t often read about delegations of “citizens who rent,” approaching council, to defend their rights. It’s pretty much a landowner thing, to take-up issues, in person, with the municipal council. I just wonder, in any given council session, how much time might be devoted to the rights, privileges and well being of those citizens who don’t own cottages, residential properties, commercial buildings etc.? I’d really want to believe they do think about everyone in this community as being equal.

Undoubtedly there will be pool user-rates established, based on fees charged at similar facilities in our region, and possibly beyond. I’d really like to see the town make strong representation, on this issue, to the managing group scheduled to run programs, that fees need to be based on our community’s capability to pay.....versus what happens elsewhere. It will most certainly will be the case that pricing it too high, will exclude hundreds of people simply based on the calculation of...... what is left after food, hydro, water and rent / mortgage payments. If the town is told what will be charged, based on formulas elsewhere, then they should act on the citizens’ best interests instead.......as it is their money, from one source of taxation to another, that has paid for this facility. And they should be able to benefit from it, without having deep pockets.

Priced sensibly, attendance numbers should be enough to make money back. Priced too high, and the bad karma just makes it another resource, a privilege beyond reach......and this negative wave will do far more damage to constituent confidence than anything else......creating the rift between the economies we were attempting to bridge, by building such a recreational resource in the first place.

The Opera House is a good example. Due to the high cost of rentals and the surcharge on ticket sales, many potential users are forced to beg for rent forgiveness or reductions, to run modestly successful events. The high rates might seem reasonable to councillors, elbows on the board table but they’re prohibitive to many show promoters who can’t take the risk of a high user fee, and then a potential low attendance. In the entertainment business, there are lots of inherent risks but having a lower rental fee, from the get-go, dulls at least one blade of the double-edged sword. How much business has been lost, and shows taken elsewhere, because the rent has been too high to gamble on. Considering that the town is losing money by having the site sitting empty, when users are most definitely interested in performing there, is what can happen to the new recreation facility, if rates aren’t managed properly. Penny wise, pound foolish!

When we operate a charity fundraiser, at the Opera House, we can only do so, by taking donations at the door, and hoping to get a good crowd. The donation-only format removes us from the ticket-sale surcharge which is substantial. We would lose a good chunk of what we donate annually, if we had to sell tickets through the Opera House box office. As taxpayers, and understanding the town does need to make a return on their investment, we refuse to ask for a discount.....and instead have found corporate / business sponsors, willing to offset rental costs. While we’re happy to continue doing this, other potential users of the site, are forced to either beg for reductions, pay the piper, or find another venue with a lower rental cost. This shouldn’t happen at the new recreation centre, just to make back the money fast. It won’t work. User confidence is a more important investment to secure right now. And times are lean and getting leaner.

I have worked in a number of charitable positions, over the decades, and we have never taken a break from our annual fundraising efforts in Gravenhurst. I have a good grasp of the social / economic needs of the region, and know how many folks will truly benefit from the pool when opened. Many of these potential users are low income, and range from young to old and all ages in between. And while council might argue that bombastic “Currie” plays both sides of the fence.....wanting us to make money back on one side, but giving discounted fees on the other, the real issue is that the whole project will be a much lesser community resource, as we have financed, if set rates exclude hometowners of lesser resources. So it is something for council to ponder, and hopefully, from within our band of elected officials, we will find an advocate for fair pricing for this dazzling new recreation complex.

As it is my investment, my neighborhood’s investment, my community’s investment, my government’s investment, I shall attend the opening ceremonies with great hope and anticipation......that it is exactly what we needed to improve the social and recreational needs of all us hometowners. And I will extend my heartfelt congratulations to the people at town hall, from council, to respective departments, for so kindly helping our citizens realize an important hometown milestone. And it will be! Expensive yes! A milestone none the less!

TAX INCREASE -

SHOULD WE EXPECT A DECREASE IN FOOD BANK USE?

Why should the Town of Gravenhurst be overly concerned with the present conditions in Libya? Food prices on the rise? Gas? Increases in hydro? Water rate hikes?

Why should the Town of Gravenhurst councillors lose sleep about the steady need for a local food bank to serve their constituents?

Did they really need a new town hall?

Did I read correctly that the BIA is increasing its levy, because it’s the cost of doing business? Seems contradictory but then......

And did I read correctly that the same BIA is worried about maintaining the businesses they have, on the main street, due to prevailing economic circumstances?

Is the town prepared for the considerable new maintenance and operating costs for the new recreation centre, as Bracebridge faced when they opened their newest pool / school / theatre complex? Might be a good idea to meet with their friends in Bracebridge, to get the heads-up before the invoices start flooding in to town hall.

The problem here, as with everyone else on the planet, we have no choice but to fully appreciate and absorb what is going on in Libya as a “new normal.” It does and will impact us for some time to come. As fuel prices increase, and no quick fix appears likely, the ability to pay more is a diminishing reality. Our town isn’t facing “just” a run of-the-mill economic crisis....it’s in the middle and up to its ears, mired in a deep quagmire of their own creation. The town could not afford a new town hall. It could not afford to increase the fire hall space at this time. The pool, while a terrific idea, and a good long term investment, came at an inappropriate time. We couldn’t afford it. I come from a vintage that believed in that sort of thing. And considering that we’ve done without for quite a few years, I think we could have managed a few more years......despite what came from the government, we still couldn’t afford it. We’ve added a pool to an old arena. This will come back to haunt the town. I’m pretty sure the arena alone, needed a substantial makeover, above and beyond spending money on a town pool. I like the pool, and will contribute through our tax bill. But my suggestion is that we get prepared for more bad news; a full appreciation that by this time next year, we will be reading this all again, especially finding unexpected and high operating costs for the new facility.....that we really couldn’t afford but went ahead with regardless. The money from the feds seemed so attractive! Temptations usually are.....but wisdom often prevails that it’s better to opt out, than be burdened by what appeared a really good opportunity......but cost too much to attain.

High gas prices and a high Canadian dollar are not tourist-friendly. We could be looking at a serious downturn here in Muskoka, and that’s the result of a dictator in a far off land. With an 8.9 percent increase in taxes, plus the other rising costs of living, we can expect increasing demand for food bank services. Have any of the town councillors.....and I mean any of them......just one, offered to sit down as a liaison with the Captain of the Salvation Army, to discuss some of the stresses they are facing? For those on fixed incomes, who own property, it is all being complicated by the outrageous re-assessments of real estate in this town....... creating a precarious threat to many of our most vulnerable citizens.....who may in short order, be faced with having to sell their homes or do without food. With the strict provincial social welfare requirements, as they are presently crafted, in order to get assistance, many senior homeowners particularly, are going to face a sad future reality. Food bank? Selling off their security? Do town councillors care about this, now that we’re four years from an election? If they do, then they should start adjusting to the social / economic realities of this town......from the households out, instead of the other way around......that might discourage statements like, “I think they’re doing okay!” “They’ll get by! That’s the way it is.” “We can’t do anything about it.”

When businesses fail and the desire to locate in Gravenhurst seems a tad tepid, has it ever once been the case, a councillor has looked in the mirror and thought to themselves; “is it possible I contributed to this situation.” Yea right? Well, I suggest that it may be time to look in the mirror, and not just for grooming......because the burden being passed on, is an encumbrance that will forge yet another link in a ponderous length of chain, already being pulled along by the average schmoo in this great land. As Charles Dickens pointed out in a Christmas Carol.....and one that should be duly considered by those who assess taxes, “mankind is our business.” Their welfare is our business. And that’s why councillors need to trundle themselves out on a fact finding mission, to see how local families are faring......and how the food bank is trying, against greats odds, to help feed our fellow hometowners. At present, the disconnect is troubling. Now think about how difficult it will be, with rising food and fuel costs, to keep those food bank shelves full. This is the double-edged sword.

Trying to sell an 8.9 percent tax increase will prove interesting, and most certainly provide an early, rigorous test for the rookie mayor, especially explaining how the new recreation centre has increased town costs, to cottage owners already paying a king’s ransom to enjoy lakefront. Keeping in mind of course, that without cottage owners contributing to the pool of town cash....now then, we’d really be screwed. I would hate to be the council representative who has to present and justify tax updates to the cottage associations this summer......especially having to tell them.....like the BTO tune, “You ain’t seen nothing yet!”

As modern day homesteaders, our family has always lived frugally and within our means. We are students of pioneer life and have taken seriously the stories from our family, how they survived the Great Depression, and helped feed many from their neighborhoods at the same time. We will continue to help raise funds for the local food bank, as we have in the past. We hope you will join us this year. I have been running a monthly column, since December, (to run for a year) in a publication known as “Curious; The Tourist Guide,” (you can find it online), regarding the kind and dedicated charitable work of Salvation Army missionary, Ada Florence Kinton, who worked the streets of Toronto in the late 1800's, helping to provide the sick and destitute with food and shelter. She is buried in a tiny cemetery in Huntsville, Ontario. The biography, running over 12 issues, is dedicated to the Gravenhurst Salvation Army Food Bank, and the wonderful folks who volunteer to keep it up and running. Back columns can be found on this blog-site.

Getting news of a tax increase of this magnitude, while disappointing, is what we expect for a town that has over-spent in the past. As we love the town, and have no plans to re-locate, we will trundle on and cut back where necessary. We know where Libya is, and we know the crisis will escalate. As much as we are glad we live away from the real fighting, we do very much understand their passion to remove a dictator. But their respective liberation requires adjustments on our part. As the Middle East crisis continues, my hunch is, we will all have to adapt to new economic stresses we haven’t even thought of, and become more frugal by necessity.

The potential for crisis, in many areas of the economy, should keep us familiar with the word and condition we know as “recession.” We can’t possibly avoid an even worse recession, if spending slows during this supposed recovery period. And while inflation statistics might reflect differently, reality trumps what seems little more than propaganda. You can’t have these sharp escalations in daily living and work costs, as we are seeing, and it not be inflationary to the average Canadian household. Wages are not increasing enough to cover these hikes. Household debt is at a staggering level. So forgive me for my unenthusiastic look at this year’s budget.

If in good economic times we need a food bank......is it time to adjust to a permanent reality that we can’t do without a food bank?

Will the Salvation Army stay in our town forever? Have we ever asked them this question? Maybe we should!

WHAT THE WOODCHESTER EXPERIENCE DID FOR US?

The same young lads who chased each other tirelessly, on the shady hillside lawns of Bracebridge’s Woodchester Villa, and played everso gently with the Victorian era toys, strewn about in the child’s bedroom, now have surrounded themselves with history as a matter of lifestyle and profession.

From their early-age involvement at Woodchester, they’ve seen fit today, to buy, repair and sell vintage musical instruments and nostalgia. They both admit that being surrounded by history for so many years, at the museum and at home, seeped pleasantly into their respective souls. Andrew and Robert are curators of music heritage, and loving every minute of the experience!

Of course it was the privilege of having parents, who were part of the museum intimacy, you might say, and able, without the actual cost of admission, to spend hour upon hour immersed in family and community history. As I helped launch both the Historical Society and the bid to restore the octagonal Bird family house, (Woodchester Villa), I also worked long and hard to convince Suzanne, my bride, to join the museum volunteers. I was devilishly cunning back then. A few years later, and well, the kids had no choice. We spent so much time at Woodchester, in the late 1980's, from tour-guiding to lawn maintenance, program creation and operation, that it was necessary, a lot of the time, to keep the boys with us. So they adapted to Woodchester as if it was a second home. It was immersion, no doubt about it. But it worked to infuse history into our daily lives in a sort of crazy perpetuity...... of chasing and reclaiming all things old. We’ve got a house and shop full of this evidence of historical connectedness.

When I walk into their mainstreet Gravenhurst music shop today, located by the way in the former Muskoka Theatre building, (which is a nostalgic hoot), I can’t help but think those Woodchester days made an early, solid imprint. While it’s also the case that, as antique dealers, we are surrounded by old stuff daily, those years in the museum business, taught them an early respect and reverence for the value of old stuff generally. The only time either one would touch anything in the museum, or house, was when they had our approval. Such was the case in the allegedly haunted child’s room, on the second floor. They had too much else to think about, in that room, beyond what some guests believed was a spiritual occupation.

Years later, working for Roger Crozier, and then the Crozier Foundation, Andrew and Robert were pivotal players in the arrangement of displays and the handling of the valuable memorabilia for the sports hall of fame. Even before I was afforded the showcase, at the Bracebridge arena, paid for by the Foundation, the boys had assisted with the creation of a huge hockey display, during a summer antique show, honoring Crozier’s career in the National Hockey League. We did it strictly as volunteer curators and it was a blast.

When we changed exhibits in the Sports Hall of Fame, I let Andrew and Robert assist with arrangement of the sports relics, trophies, equipment and photographs. When we finished, we’d stand back and admire our handiwork. Every two to three months over twelve years, we’d show up to make the changes, and it was always neat to be able to handle all the history on display. It was a carry-over of Woodchester, where they learned early, about being responsible stewards of history.

Suzanne asked me the other day, after my recent letter to the editor ran in the Bracebridge Examiner (about the future preservation of Woodchester), what those years really meant to me. By this point I’d thought about nothing else for a week. Finding out that it could take, in excess of $500,000 to repair Woodchester Villa, re a front page article in the same paper, had inspired some serious recollection......as you can gather from the blogs written on this site during the past week. The only answer I had for Suzanne, was what I wrote about in the first paragraph of this blog. I felt our boys had benefitted most of all by the exposure to history all those years ago. My parents had taken me to just about every historic site in Southern Ontario, before I hit my twelfth birthday. It kind of rubbed off but I’m pleased they took the time to expose me to our country’s heritage. It’s helped me greatly over a lifetime..... my contenting days as both an historian and antique hunter. I credit them for my long-sustaining passion to preserve our heritage. When I walk into the boys’ music shop now, you can tell in an instant, Andrew and Robert feel the same. Mom and dad don’t lift a finger inside their shop, or make any suggestions about interior decorating or the inventory to stock the shelves. They are young antique hunters, musicians, entrepreneurs and good stewards of our past. I don’t know how many damaged vintage instruments Andrew (the restorer) has saved, but it must now be in the mid-hundreds. Both boys appreciate the old-time, quality sound of a vintage, time-traveled, worn-down instrument, brought back from the brink of the dumpster. And they’ll demonstrate for you, how in many cases, a cheap guitar of fifty years earlier, can sound better and richer than a top of the line, expensive modern-era creation......made from “sort of wood.”

When I think back to our family’s involvement in the operation of Wodchester Villa and Museum, it is a warm and fuzzy reminiscence, especially knowing that the boys don’t hate us today, for what we had to do then, mostly as volunteers, to keep those museum doors open. Their admiration of antiques and collectibles is immeasurable, and ranges from art appreciation, to the three pump organs we’ve saved from demolition. When I first began writing about my early days at the museum, the clearest recollection, was the long, labor-intensive days that beat-up a lot of good hearted volunteers in those lean days of museum life. There were a lot of aggravations and frustrations that I carried about, and it did impact my family. Over the years however, we found a way of incorporating family life and museum operation. It didn’t alleviate or even reduce the daily work load but it was no longer a burdensome responsibility. Those memories of the kids bouncing across the freshly mown lawns, falling and laughing, is still so vivid and contenting, And when we talk about Woodchester today, and weigh over its precarious future, we are sincere about our concern for its welfare. How could we not be? The immersion at Woodchester, for those years, has very much influenced how we live and work today. I can’t find a single negative in what we have long believed was a strikingly positive relationship.

As for the stewards of this property now.....what to do, what to do? I can’t really expect they could possibly possess the same connection to the site, as we enjoyed. So it’s a more “matter of fact” relationship that must prevail. It’s a municipal matter. I don’t expect my opinion will be of any consequence whatsoever, to the future of Woodchester. And that’s all right. I’ve had my say.

WOODCHESTER VILLA WAS A SPECTACULAR VENUE FOR MANY EVENTS

Out on our weekly antique hunt, one pleasant Saturday morning, I found a large piece of local art, awkwardly positioned against a table of masking tape-priced vases, jars, pottery and general bric-a-brac. It had been painted by an artist acquaintance of mine. I won’t include his name because no artist wants to hear or read about their art work showing up at flea markets. This particular sale was an institutional event, selling off some art donations, to put funds raised back into a recreation fund for residents.

The large framed watercolor was more than just a tad familiar. I called Suzanne over and asked if she could identify the scene depicted. She actually took less time to identify the subject, than it had taken me on my first, second and third return-glances. “It’s a Strawberry Social at Woodchester.” Of course it was, and for old times’s sake, we decided it would have to come home with us. When we look at it, to this day, we can catch the scent of cake and berries, hear the social chatter of hundreds of guests and helpers, feel the excitement of another successful event on the museum hillside, and judge by the contented looks on the faces of patrons, that these same folks would be back for many more events after this. And we can look at this painting, and feel exhausted, as if we have just then finished the hours upon hours of preparation and service to the typically large crowd.

I love the painting but it does serve as a reminder just how hard it was to earn this level of appreciation from citizens.....the folks we needed at Woodchester regularly, to make the museum viable. But it was the unending work that made volunteering at the museum

more like a job than a for-fun, helpful recreation. As lovely as the events were, and profitable, there’s no one who worked on-site as a volunteer helper, back in the 1980's particularly, who wouldn’t feel exactly the same emotions staring up at this thought-provoking work of art. A spirited interpretation of good times but having that aura of imposition, that was so exhausting for the cause of local history. It’s calming at first then quite unsettling, and it’s as if, at any time, Carol Scholey, the master of the really big events at Woodchester, is going to come whipping around the corner, screaming for me to come back to the kitchen for yet another load of something or other. Suzanne winces at the thought because Carol was a taskmaster, and to her, there was no shortcut ever, no slacking-off, and absolutely no job too tough to meet, hand to hand, shoulder to the grindstone. She was a hard worker, unflinching, stalwart but we were just not up to her speed. No one was. So she’d do the work of four. But eventually, even Carol started to tire of the fundraising demands of the little museum on the hill.

Thinking about Woodchester over the past week or so, I have recalled many highlights and a few lowlights. One of my fondest recollections, was when the Board of Directors, took advantage of an offer from Gravenhurst’s Muskoka Festival, to bring a “theatre in the round,” event to the museum lawn. I think it was entitled “Paper Wheat,” and was held a few times that summer season, each time enjoyed by large crowds. With the historic theme of the play, and the interaction with the close-by audience, and the sundry other sounds of train horns, a waterfall, infants crying, folks laughing, and the sun’s diamond sparkle in the overhead canopy of leaves, this was a perfect venue for such open air events. It wasn’t just the museum we were benefitting from, it was the amazing property with its picturesque view of the river. What we worried could be an attendance disaster, became one of the best attended events other than the annual socials. The only other event to shatter expectations, is when we held a Christmas in July event, in the late 1980's, and had the lawn full of chairs, lawn chairs and picnic blankets, to hear the large provincial Salvation Army Band. It was fabulous.

The downside of our success, for this event, was that Suzanne and I had both been sick for most of that Christmas in July week and it wasn’t until the Sunday afternoon concert, that things got worse. We also had to look after both our wee lads at the same time. They were fine and full of that vim and vinegar that makes parenting of toddlers so special. We had to get to Woodchester about two hours before the event to set out the chairs, get the museum up and running, make-up lemonade for hundreds, line up rows of drinking glasses, and cut the large cake into small portions. Suzanne set up the front porch with glasses for the lemonade, and we pulled up a table for the cake and cookies. I worked in the downstairs kitchen, making large quantities of lemonade, half asleep, while Andrew played with his dinky toys on the conference room table. When I got up stairs, Suzanne, with a pounding headache, had fallen asleep in the porch rocker, with Robert contenting himself with two cookies pulled off the tray. It was like that for the rest of the day. Trying to rest-up here and there, without looking too obvious about slacking-off. I woke up once, sitting in a chair up by the fountain (now re-situated to Memorial Park), and it wasn’t until Andrew pinched my nose, to get my attention, that I awoke with a start....wondering where I was......and how the hell these people had got into my yard. It was an easy mistake to make because we spent so much time at Woodchester that it did seem, at times, like a second home. We had staff on for the day but not enough volunteers to free us up. There was no way we could have stayed home or the large event, that gave us a near record attendance, would have had to be cancelled. It wasn’t an option that sunny Sunday in July. The museum needed the money.

I remember getting home later that afternoon, covered in cake residue and sick of anything that smelled like lemon, and both of us hitting the sofa at about the same time. We rested comfortably for several moments, until the calls came from the museum,,,,,,, staff facing some conundrum or other......like who got the leftover cake and lemonade. That was a no brainer. “Take as much as you want.....we insist.”

It always took about three to four days before we could even consider a recently held event, no matter how well attended, or profitable, a success in our own honest appraisal. We were harsh critics of our own work. But we also recognized that in order to get to that stage of accomplishment, where every event was done to perfection, would take many more volunteers than we could muster at that point in the museum’s own history. While we could get a mob up that hillside for a special event, which took every resource to operate, the meat and potatoes, day to day fare, left us without the confidence we could drop or decrease the more labor intensive fundraising events. This realization, more than anything else, was the “bitter sweet” side, we see in this painting of the Strawberry Social. We couldn’t make money on admissions alone without major events being run on the property. With large-scale events we needed at least ten volunteers plus staff working in the two museum buildings. When a director suggested to us, “well, then close the museum when you have these events.....to free-up staff to help,” it was the contradiction of operation that became the obstacle we couldn’t bypass. The whole purpose behind the special events, was to bring people up to an “open” museum, as an association-themed-outing, to put strawberries, cake and history together. It would serve no long term advantage to have folks not be able to attend the museum at the same time. But it was a clear reminder just what the future of museum operation, and perpetual funding shortfall meant to all volunteers left standing.

The painting serves as a poignant reminder, just how much of all our lives, in those years, was dedicated to making Woodchester Villa work.......as it should have.....as we believed it could. So it is with some disappointment that I look at this charming painting and still ponder....what if?