MEASLES MAKES A COMEBACK

Measles.

An old world disease, vanquished in this part of the globe since 1996, yet coming back like gangbusters.

And all of it thanks to our recalcitrant couldn’t-give-a-hoot about anybody other than themselves anti-vaxxers.

You know the type.  The type where nobody tells them what to do.  The type that doubles down on their ignorance rather than accept the facts of medicine and medical science.

The type that would rather bring harm to the rest of us than to grow up and maybe crawl out of their self-imposed ignorance.  The type who would willingly place their own children in harm’s way to make a really bad and uninformed choice.

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POILIEVRE, BY-ELECTIONS, AND OFFICIAL RESIDENCES

Rideau Cottage, Stornaway, and 24 Sussex Drive.

Three of Canada’s official residences, two in stages of disrepair, while the third is, well, a cottage.

The Americans have their White House, the South Koreans have their Blue House, and most of the world’s nations have some form of presidential palace, although the word palace doesn’t really have a good Canadian feel to it.  That said, the point is that most countries have an official residence for their head of state, although I’m not counting Hitler’s Führerbunker, since that place wasn’t really big on splashy amenities and I don’t recall any elaborate state dinners being held at the place that served as home for the Nazi dictator’s final days.  To fit into my discussion, I’d prefer there not be bullet-hole pockmarks in the brickwork, bomb damage to the exterior and the grounds, and the torched remains of the owners in the front court.  Decidedly not the look and feel I’m going after here.

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TRANSPARENCY IS BLIND

Renfrew Council goes into closed section a lot.  Like, an awful lot.

And how is one supposed to know if these closed sessions are legitimate?  As in some of them?  All of them?  None of them?

Of course, that last one would never apply, because there are legitimate reasons for a council to meet in-camera, a term I’m surprised I don’t hear more often from the pretentious bunch who otherwise like to stick to their in-house admin vocabulary, because I guess they feel it makes them sound smart.  Or at least smarter than us.

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PARKING REPORT TENDERED

I’ll come right out and say it, I’m no expert at parking.  And as painful as it is to personally admit such a shortcoming, I’ve never been tasked to look into parking on the scale required for a municipality of some 8,000 souls, give or take a dozen.

The working group formed to study parking in Renfrew and make recommendations has done so, and much to my surprise, it came back with recommendations and I’m still alive.  I had suggested that the whole working group thing was just another piece of due diligence, which may be a bit of an over-reach, but I suppose such steps are part of any healthy exercise by which a municipality can come to grips with its current parking policy, and adjust it to fit the emerging needs of the community.  Such gatherings usually take time, and more time, and then more time, because people like to talk, and then talk some more, and then even more still.  But this group somehow got it all done in a few months.  And I’m still alive!

With respect to parking, there’s no standing still.

Which brings me to one point, the point where it’s recommended that all prohibitions against standing — stopping your vehicle for a period of time with you still in it, often with the engine idling — will be removed.  

I think.

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STAMP OF APPROVAL

It’s by no means a strange thing for a nation to commemorate influential inspirational people on their currency and their postage products like stamps.

Every time you touch money, or every time you post a letter, you’ve been hands-on with this idea.  Honestly, if your picture makes  a currency denomination or a postage stamp, then you’re a big deal, and almost always in a good way.

That’s why I’m absolutely convinced that Donald Trump will be commemorated on a national postage stamp.

I just happen to believe that the postage stamp in question will be Canadian.

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THE BED BLOCKERS

By now, pretty-much every one of us has some understanding of the acute shortages that plague our health care system.   Doctors, nurses, and medical technicians make the news on a semi-regular basis, so much so that the general public kind of tunes out on the issue, unless they happen to be someone who is either in hospital, awaiting a hospital stay or surgery, or have a loved one in that situation.  But the rest of us, somewhat unfortunately, have no idea, or if we do, it gets kicked back into the back seat of our brain.

What I haven’t mentioned is the acute shortage of beds in hospitals.  While doctors, nurses, and technicians are absolutely essential, hospitals are usually measured in the currency of beds, as in how many they have.  And then after that, how many they have open.  Which is generally not many.

In hospital medicine, while not an official philosophy or anything, it’s generally accepted that the rule of thumb is “get them in, get them fixed, then get them out.”  What you don’t want if you can avoid it is the prospect of a long-term stay, which removes a bed from the equation.  And given the number of people awaiting a hospital bed, it’s a rather crucial workflow concept.

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LEFT/CENTRE LANE MERGE?

Conservatives and Liberals, the Blues and the Reds, have been political combatants in this country from the very beginning.  They’ve contested every election ever sense, with the Liberals taking enough of those contests to be regarded at one time as Canada’s “Natural Governing Party.”

When you butt heads that often, over that many years, it’s completely understandable that a natural enmity would emerge between the two, something that leaks right down to the roots, right down into generations of families identifying themselves as being one or the other.  And if they go red, then they hate blue, and if blue, then red.  

It’s one of the reasons why political discussions at dinner parties are a 50-50 proposition. 

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COUNCIL IS NOT STORY TIME

Please, don’t read to me.

I’ve seen this phenomenon a lot over the years, mostly in education, but often enough in other spheres, like government and politics as well.

There’s no feeling of personal fulfillment greater than when you read through documents released in advance, only to have those same documents read back to you, word-for-word, by somebody tasked with giving a report or a presentation.

So if I’m a councillor in a municipal context, I’m going to get my information from the pre-meeting release of the agenda, then attend the meeting to get an in-person report from the officer in charge, whether that’s a manager, or a director, or whatever.

But don’t freaking read to me.

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THE CAPTAIN WHO WENT DOWN WITHOUT HIS SHIP

Pierre Poilievre exhorted voters to “Bring it Home.”

The voters in his riding responded with “Send him Home.”

And so they did, those very wise people of Carleton, a riding in the South Ottawa area.  They gave the seat to Bruce Fanjoy, the Liberal, instead.

It was an election that defied explanation, and yet I understand pretty much everything about how it went down and came to pass.  But understanding is not the same as agreement.

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PETER EMON AS MAYOR?

What makes a mayor a good mayor?

I ask this because I believe I just witnessed a good mayor in action.  The only thing is, the guy’s not the mayor.  He’s the reeve.

Peter Emon sat in the big chair last Tuesday and played the role of Master of Ceremonies for that evening’s Town Council meeting, and I have to say he didn’t look out of place, not one bit.

To some, this might have the appearance of me being a cheerleader for Emon’s mayoral prospects in 2026, assuming the man is even in the running for the position.  I recently penned an article outlining a recent integrity complaint against the reeve, the second one since I’ve taken an interest in the workings and personalities of our local government.  In the first one, he was found to be in the wrong, and in the second, he was found to be not.

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