By Stephen Vance, Editor
If you pick up some raspberries or blueberries at the farmers' market this week, they quite likely arrived in your kitchen with a little help from some friends, maybe even some of your own friends.
This week I was an arms-length witness to the true nature of a small town like Meaford, a community that responds when...
By Stephen Vance, Editor
I'm often asked how I and my fellow reporters manage to endure sitting through council meetings. Don't you get frustrated? Don't you get bored? Isn't it just a big waste of time?
If I were a fan of brevity, I would answer those three questions with – sometimes, not really, and absolutely not.
Brevity however has never been...
By Stephen Vance, Editor
In July four years ago we were starving for municipal election candidates, particularly for the position of councillor. At that time there were three mayoral candidates, however candidates for council were severely lacking. Even by the end of August in 2010, there were just three candidates announced for council seats.
That quickly changed with a surge of...
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...
By Stephen Vance, Editor
The warm, summer-like weather has finally arrived, students have heard the final bell of the year, June is soon to be a memory, and July is on the horizon, and that can only mean one thing...we are four months from the 2014 municipal election.
In recent weeks I've been putting together questions to include in a package...
By Stephen Vance, Editor
I have lived in Meaford for nearly a decade, and this community never ceases to amaze me with its wonderfully strange mix of character traits.
Mention Meaford outside of our borders, and it is likely you will hear about a community that always seems to be up in arms about something. Wind turbines, cell towers, waste incinerators,...
By Stephen Vance, Editor
Her party weathered a storm of scandals and suspected scandals for months, they endured the shadow of a less than beloved former Premier, and yet in a somewhat stunning turn of events, Kathleen Wynne becomes Ontario's first elected female Premier, and her Liberal party will form a majority government, ending a tumultuous period of minority government...
By Stephen Vance, Editor
As with the last municipal election, we've had several readers contacting us seeking thoughts and advice on who they should vote for in the upcoming election, or wondering if we will be publishing a list of candidates that we endorse.
We've had similar questions with regard to the upcoming June 12 provincial election.There is a long tradition...
By Stephen Vance, Editor
I'm having a difficult time rounding up any enthusiasm for the upcoming provincial election, which is odd for me as I have always been somewhat of a political junkie.
I felt much the same the last time we were heading to the polls to elect our provincial government in 2011. A boring election campaign, with a lack...
By Stephen Vance, Editor
Five years ago the first Earth Day clean-up at Meaford's Memorial Park attracted a small handful of volunteers who tromped through the park on a chilly Sunday in April gathering up every piece of trash and dog droppings they could find.
For the most part, the volunteers who participated in the first two years are the same...
