By Stephen Vance, Editor
Meaford was hopping earlier this week with Canada Day celebrations taking place throughout the municipality. From Bognor to Woodford, Leith to St. Vincent, and down to Meaford’s harbour, a sea of red and white greeted the first of July.
Granted, the parade (all two minutes of it) on Tuesday seemed to be missing much when compared to Canada Day parades in recent years, but that didn’t dampen the spirits of the hoards of people who invaded the harbour area to celebrate with music, balloons, food, and a giant Canadian flag cake. And this after a weekend that featured the return of Meaford’s Soap Box Derby along with a sidewalk sale downtown, and of course Meaford’s infamous, though not overly speedy Duck Race.
As usual, Meaford’s quirky and energetic Scarecrow Kazoo band was a visible and audible force to be reckoned with as they brought smiles to faces young and old throughout the weekend. Though, I will say that while the Scarecrow Kazoo Band claimed to be taking requests, they let me down when they declined to perform Bohemian Rhapsody.
Our members of provincial and federal parliament, both Conservatives, were sporting red from head to toe on July 1, though when this was pointed out to them by this particular scribe, MP Larry Miller joked that “it’s just a colour, and it’s just for one day.”
Laughter seemed to be the unofficial theme of this year’s Canada Day Celebrations in this municipality, and through all of the smiles and laughs, and through all of the miniature flags and not so miniature flags, for one weekend Meaford and its residents were briefly united in celebration under that red and white maple leaf emblazoned flag.
Once again this community amazed me with the hard work and dedication shown by volunteers, community groups, and the municipality. Out in Bognor, the park across from the community hall was beautifully decorated with numerous red and white flags awaiting the festivities.
If this were a normal year, Canada Day would signal the ‘unofficial official’ start of summer, and it is, however this year it is also a sign that municipal election campaigning should soon kick into high gear.
I suspect the next few weeks will see an influx of newly announcing candidates for council seats, and based on rumours I keep hearing, for the mayor’s seat as well.
And then the fun begins. And by ‘fun’ I fear I really mean anything but.
From my perch at the council media table, and from all the various meetings I’ve covered over the last two years in particular, it looks like we are heading for a potentially nasty, divisive campaign that will pit rural interests against urban interests. This might be particularly so with the mayoral race. I anticipate a lot of finger pointing and frustration as each sector of our amalgamated municipality jostles for influence at the council table.
The standoff between urban and rural Meaford is practically inevitable given the turmoil over the last couple of years, and the rumblings of dissatisfaction in the rural areas will most likely continue to blossom into full blown drum beats of frustration before the October 27 election day.
I hope none of that happens. I hope we have a nice friendly campaign filled with respect and common decency. But I’m no fool, and I can see (and hear) where this campaign is heading.
And while I fully agree that the urban-rural standoff that has gripped this municipality over the last decade or more should be thoroughly debated, and rural residents in particular deserve the opportunity to bring focus to their issues of concern, however I do hope for one thing.
I hope that as the candidates begin defining their platforms and the heated verbal exchanges begin, let’s all think back to this Canada Day weekend, when this community was united under one flag. Somehow, for a few days, those ‘major issues’ that so many of us claim to have were virtually invisible, and I’m sure were the furthest thing from most people’s minds.
That begs a question.
If our long list of ‘major issues’ in this municipality can be put on hold for the better part of a week in favour of fun, laughs, and celebration, I wonder how ‘major’ our problems really are?
