Re: Dec. 14 Letter from the assistant editor on Argyle Street bridge
Reading Mike Renzella’s column and MPP Bobby Ann Brady’s efforts over the continuing inaction of the Doug Ford government to replace the deteriorating Argyle St. Bridge, I was heartened by the unequivocal criticism from Ms. Brady and Councillor Dan Lawrence.
While Ms. Brady’s refreshing outspokenness is something that we would surely never have witnessed if she was the successful Conservative candidate, as an independent she is free to make foremost the issues of her constituents. She quite clearly and forcefully made her case for the advancement of work on the bridge and asked point blank for Minister of Transportation Sarkaria to commit to a start date, but was only able to secure meaningless platitudes about a commitment to safety and the spending on roads and infrastructure… elsewhere. Sarkaria did say however, that they have made “significant progress” but are waiting for final approvals to begin constructions. But approvals from who remained the question?
Perhaps Dan Lawrence was more successful in shedding light on these questions when he spoke to the Minister of Indigenous Affairs, Greg Rickford, who said there are “dynamics at play you have no idea about or cannot understand.” And there you have it.
Mr. Rickford may think that those outside of the rarefied air of Queen’s Park backrooms might not know how things work, but as a Caledonia resident for over 30 years, I believe I understand exactly what “dynamics” are at play and what “approvals” are being sought. The fact that this information is coming from the Minister of Indigenous Affairs would only seem to cement my assumptions.
To me, it is glaringly obvious that the provincial government has found itself trapped in yet another game of Three Card Monte (an unwinnable con game) between the Six Nations’ elected and hereditary councils, the Haudenosaunee Development Institute, possibly Skyler William’s Land Back group, the Men’s Lodge, the Clan Mothers, or who knows what other groups who might have emerged to dispute the work proceeding.
We hear much talk about “reconciliation”, The Two Row Wampum, and two nations coexisting peaceably, but whether it’s replacing the bridge in Cayuga, developers bending over backward with a land swap arranged through elected council, or just the city of Hamilton trying to scrape poisons from the bottom of a contaminated creek bed, various groups seem to exalt in playing games of “Mother May I?” under the guise of treaty rights, and being more interested in driving home those rights by delaying projects than making any real effort at reconciliation.
But now, these apparent obstructions have come to a point where they are potentially endangering the lives of those who are compelled to use the only bridge in town. And Minister Rickford may well be correct in saying that I am unable to grasp the dynamics, but if there are indeed such impediments as I have come to perceive, then it would not only be Doug Ford who will have blood on his hands in the event of a catastrophic bridge collapse.
Robert Sorrell, Caledonia
What’s happening with the Nanticoke MZO?
I can understand Stelco’s concern about allowing residences to be built too close to their facility. Homeowners sometimes will purchase a home close to a highway or an airport for their convenience and then later complain about the noise when traffic gets heavy or a plane is noisy during takeoff. However, if those facilities were already in place before the home was built, the homeowner should be aware that there could be more noise in the future as demand increases. The same holds for farmers in the area. Farms create dust and odors that home owners often complain about. However, again the farms were there before the new home was built.
I have worked in industry all of my working life as a contractor and can assert that the plants and factories that I have worked in are full of machines and equipment that even when properly maintained can sometimes break down and create shut downs and unexpected dust or smoke to be exhausted into the environment. You can properly maintain your car, but sometimes they breakdown. Cars are also just machines.
In Stelco’s case, when they built the plant at Nanticoke, there were already homes in the area. My understanding is that the company has provided cleanup at their cost for existing homes that have had excessive dust from the plant cover their homes. I can understand Stelco’s concern if thousands of new homes are installed on previously zoned industrial property, especially if allowed to be built closer than the previously regulated distances from the plant.
If I were Stelco, I would probably be less concerned if the developer or homeowner or County or Province covered any cleanup costs or noise complaints for any future homes built near the plant in the areas under discussion for the Nanticoke MZO request. Personally, as a tax payer, I prefer that the developer or homeowner pay those costs so that those costs do not come out of my property tax assessment.
Bob Rankin, Townsend
Wealth tax – is it time?
It has been stated to me that I have been picking on the Conservative Party and I would not say anything bad about the Liberals. For the record, I was pointing out why, in my opinion, we need to stop voting for the same people and parties. And on the same thought line, I will point out something I really don’t like about the Liberal government.
There are some things I think the Liberals are doing well. Some things I don’t like what they have done. But for me it’s what they haven’t done. And this concern has been going on for many governments. Red or blue doesn’t matter. The Deputy Prime Minster for the past three years is Chrystia Freeland. This finance minister wrote a book entitled “Plutocrats: The Rise of the New Global Super-Rich and the Fall of Everyone Else.”
In this book Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister cleary spelled out how the rich are bleeding the economies of the world for their own personal gain. How if these super rich where not legislated to help move more money into the tax system, that the world economies would collapse under the over burden on the rest of people not being able to support the democratic system.
We are watching the demise of our fundamental democratic system. We no longer can support our healthcare, our infrastructure needs. The number of homeless grows and grows. The number of working poor grows and grows. More and more people are getting close to losing their homes because of mortgage rates and food inflation. This list is endless.
And in this day, we have a Finance Minister who wrote a book talking about how this was going to happen if the super rich were left unchecked. What has she done about these real serious concerns? How has she addressed the need for the super rich to pay their fair share of taxes? The Finance Minister increased the rate of taxation for the rich. Which is good except the loopholes in the tax system are still so big that this group of people still pays almost nothing in taxes. A perfect example is Warren Buffet, who is worth $118 billion, has been noted as telling people how his administrative assistant pays more in taxes than he does.
Wealth tax is way overdue in my opinion if want to save or way of life.
Patrick Cook, Hagersville
