It’s that time of year again, the time of year for holiday season festivities as this year comes to an end, and a new year is about to begin.
It has been another long year, and after this week’s newspaper hits newsstands, the Meaford Independent team is taking its annual break, and our first newspaper of 2026 will be published on January 8.
For a small rural community newspaper, opportunities to take a break are few, so for more than a decade the Meaford Independent team has taken advantage of the late December holiday season to shut down for two weeks to allow for some rest, and time with friends and family.
As I wrote in last week’s editorial, 2025 was another busy year for our municipal council, but it has also been a busy year for the community as a whole. Thanks to Meaford’s enthusiastic volunteers, we had plenty of fun this year. From Summerfest to the Scarecrow Invasion, to Canada Day celebrations to the recent Christmas on the Bay event, and many other events in between, there was no shortage of fun to be had in our community this year.
Our impressive number of volunteers don’t just make events happen, they also work hard to help those in our community that need it. From the local food bank to the Rotary House thrift shop, to the folks collecting socks and non-perishable food goods during the Santa Claus parade, this is a community that cares, and we have many volunteers focused on making this a better, safer, more vibrant community for everyone, and those volunteers can never receive enough thanks or praise.
Like last year, 2025 has been a struggle for many. The sometimes crippling increases to our cost of living in the post pandemic years have hurt the family budgets of many. The rising cost of food and the drastic increases in housing costs have caused significant angst for many. Recently, I was talking to a local real estate agent who mentioned the word ‘affordable’ when discussing a new housing development, and I suggested that ‘affordable’ is relative, noting that ‘If you are earning $50,000 you are not getting into the housing market’, to which the real estate agent responded, ‘If you are only making $50,000 you aren’t getting into an apartment either’. A depressing reality that makes me wonder how younger generations will cope as wages continue to fall behind the cost of living. As we reported in November, the calculated ‘living wage’, the wage required to pay the bills and have enough food on the table while still being able to pay the rent has risen to $24.60 per hour in Grey-Bruce while Ontario’s minimum wage is just $17.60 per hour. So folks can work hard at a full time job and still not earn enough to survive, and that is a sad statement on our current society. As I have written too many times in the past, if someone works a full time job, or the equivalent of a full time job by cobbling together two or three part-time jobs, they should be able to afford an apartment, and groceries, and transportation, and even a few gifts under the Christmas tree, but that is not the reality for far too many unfortunately.
The holiday season can add to those financial pressures, and as you read this column many are feeling that holiday season pressure. Whether it’s stressing about not having the funds to purchase Christmas gifts, or agonizing over how to afford a turkey for Christmas dinner, the struggle is real for many, and it is only getting worse. Something to keep in mind as the festive holiday season is upon us.
As this is our final newspaper of 2025, if you are concerned about not having any local news to consume over the next two weeks, fear not. While we are taking our annual break, as I have done in the past years I will still be updating our website with any important news that happens over the holiday period – no rest for the wicked my grandmother used to say.
To our readers, I’d like to thank you for another year of support and engagement with this newspaper through letters, email messages, and informal chats on the sidewalk. Community newspapers have been disappearing at an alarming rate over the past couple of decades, and many communities that once had a community weekly now long for those days. I hear from such folks with regularity, folks who miss having a local newspaper, and some that are angered that their local councils now have nobody watching and reporting on behalf of the people. I would also like to thank our advertisers without whom we would not be able to keep the doors open.
I am looking forward to the break that this time of year provides, but I know that after a week or so, I will be itching for the return of council, and getting back into the routine of publishing our newspaper each week. I will however do my best over the next two weeks to enjoy the break and to recharge my ole batteries before another busy year begins, a year that will include a municipal election in October, so it will be a busy year indeed for this scribe.
While this is a festive time of year, it is also often a tragic time of year, with the combination of festive imbibing along with at times nasty winter weather resulting in fatal collisions on our roads and highways. I hope that all of our readers make the smart choice over the holiday season by not drinking and driving. Call a taxi, call a friend, or walk the few blocks home, but don’t get behind the wheel if you have been drinking: it’s just not worth the risk to yourself, and more importantly to others.
Whatever you might be celebrating in the coming days, or if you celebrate nothing at all, I hope that the traditional holiday season brings you joy.
Happy holidays, and see you in 2026.
