Stephen Vance, Editor
After a long chilly winter, it's been nice to see more sunshine and slowly rising temperatures in recent weeks. Now that April has arrived, most of the snow is gone, the birds are chirping, and the first dashes of colourful spring blooms have begun to show themselves – and that means it's time for the annual Memorial...
Stephen Vance, Editor
I will be the first to concede that, in general terms, as a collective society we've stretched ourselves too thin when it comes to all of this glorious infrastructure we've built over the past century, and we're finding that as it ages it's too expensive to properly maintain. At some point many communities will need to make...
Stephen Vance, Editor
If you haven't hit one already in these early days of Spring, give it time, you likely will. With the winter snow all but gone, sunny skies have found their way into our daily lives, but so have those frustrating potholes.
In my 30-plus years of driving experience I've found that there are good potholes and bad potholes....
For nearly a decade I've heard many discussions and debates focused on how to turn Meaford into a year-round tourist destination. Most of those discussions end in frustration, but as we've seen proven by Mother Nature over the past week, if you build it, they will come.
While Meaford has become a popular summer and autumn destination for Ontario day-trippers,...
Stephen Vance, Editor
Thursday, March 8 is International Women's Day, a time to celebrate the achievements and contributions of women and to also raise awareness of the challenges that still remain in achieving true gender equality. As is highlighted in an article in this week's paper, in Meaford there's much to celebrate.
A little over a month ago I saw a...
Stephen Vance, Editor
Trash – it's been in the news a lot lately. Overflowing garbage cans in our parks, plastic pop bottles washing up on our shores, fast food packaging littering our trails. Trash is everywhere, and while we can shrug our shoulders and blame others, as was pointed out by the organizers of a new community cleanup event during...
Stephen Vance, Editor
Horrifying and heartbreaking. Those were my immediate thoughts after the first news reports about yet another mass shooting in America, this time at a school in Parkland, Florida. A 19 year-old equipped with an assault rifle, smoke bombs, and a gas mask marched into his former school, and when he was done 17 innocent lives had been...
Stephen Vance, Editor
October 22 is municipal election day, and without doubt there are folks in this municipality who are considering running for a seat at Meaford's council table, but before making any decision there's lots to consider.
Municipal politicians are a special breed that combines a passion for local issues and governance with a thick skin and a bravery (insanity?)...
Stephen Vance, Editor
Many Meaford parents are rightly concerned about the future of school music programs after attending a public meeting during which the initial plans for Meaford's new combined elementary and high school were unveiled.
The plans put before the public included just one music room to be shared by the elementary and high school students. The music room included...
Stephen Vance, Editor
In the wake of the news late last week that Meaford CAO Denyse Morrissey had tendered her resignation, a few readers got in touch to remind me of an editorial I wrote in August of 2015 in which I suggested that the CAO was entering the three to five year window when we could very well expect...
