To the editor,
Spring has arrived and it’s nice to finally see the unmasking of winter-worn faces smiling once again – and early morning walkers who do not have to cross the street when approaching other walkers just to observe social distancing.
If you recall in the early days of COVID, some two years ago, this was a common occurrence.
Further to our liberation, we now see more social gatherings in a village where we can “wing-it” on both corners downtown. And at one, with some 115 different flavours of chicken wings to choose from! Now that’s culinary progress.
On the political scene, it’s good to hear that South Brue council next month will come out from hiding behind the Zoom screens and meet in public. Perhaps, if meetings are not too contrived or controlled, they may even come in contact with their own constituents and perhaps open themselves to questions critical to a small community’s future.
Questions as to whether we remain a cordial rural community with a spirit not found in the big cities who boast of economic development and high wages. For the most part, these places have “paved paradise to put up a parking lot” or a 10-acre Amazon warehouse, served by a massive subdivision with several thousand LEGO looking townhouses.
Such is progress they say.
We can go there if we want. It’s being done with our neighbours along the Lake Huron shoreline where municipal councillors boast of the coming swell of a nuclear-powered growth and high paying “Sunshine List” jobs. Decades of growth that will bring thousands to the shoreline. Never mind the traffic jam along Highway 21 or housing prices that have doubled in the last few years. Or affordable rental units that have gone missing. This is indeed the nature of progress and there is no standing in the way of it.
All this and more is ours for the taking, courtesy of our friends at the Nuclear Waste Management Organization, who have already showered us with over $4 million in (no-strings-attached) community health benefits. Is this indeed an offer we can’t refuse? Or in the coming months will we look this gift horse in the mouth and ask tough questions of our local council, or from those who run for council this year just where they stand on the issues?
For the masks are off, and so are the gloves. We do indeed have a choice on our community’s future and in October it is there for us to vote on.
David Wood
Mildmay
