Thursday, January 30, 2025

Editorial

Are Meaford Residents Suffering From Burn-Out – or Apathy?

By Stephen Vance, Editor It was somewhat shocking to see such a sparse crowd at the public input session for the current municipal branding initiative held at Meaford Hall on June 2nd.  Perhaps more shocking that the session held the following evening in Woodford attracted just one participant who was also one that had attended the workshop the day before.   Some suggested...

Council Logic Can Be Difficult to Follow

By Stephen Vance, Editor There are times when I sit in the Meaford council chamber that all I can do is bite my tongue and shake my head. It is either that or draw the conclusion that there must be some secret initiation process for councillors, during which special logic distorting microchips are implanted into the brains of the newly...

Meaford to Get Branded

By Stephen Vance, Editor Meaford is about to embark on a “branding exercise”. There is no cause for alarm (or excitement depending on your perspective), I have been assured that no members of council will be harmed during the branding process, though I would anticipate that the project will result in some interesting debate.  In a report submitted to council at the...

Is P3 Funding Really The Way to Go?

By Stephen Vance, Editor It was with some amount of concern that I listened to Meaford CAO Frank Miele pitch the concept of P3 Funding to council on Monday night as a potential solution to some of the infrastructure needs within the municipality.  Specifically Miele talked about the possibility of utilizing this “Public, Private Partnership” model to realize the construction of...

The Truth a Bitter Pill to Swallow

By Kaisha Thompson, Contributing Columnist There are always two sides to every story but when it comes to Ontario drug reform the only side we’re really hearing from is the drug company and pharmacist side.  There are radio attack ads, television ads, petitions and emails. You name it and they are running it.   Yet has anyone looked at the McGuinty government side?...

Where’s The Beef?

By Stephen Vance, Editor Meaford CAO Frank Miele released the municipal 1st Quarter report today. The report is included in the agenda for the Monday night council meeting.   I have to say, I am concerned.  Before I continue, I should say that I think it is excellent that the new CAO has been issuing these quarterly reports to keep council and residents...

Legal Action No Day At The Beach

By Stephen Vance, Editor It is never a good thing when a municipality sues their own residents and taxpayers.   The ongoing legal battle between the Municipality of Meaford and property owners on North Georgian Beach Road escalated last week when on the opening day of the trial a superior court judge ordered Meaford to include more property owners in the legal...

Liberal Government Sacrifices Rural Ontario Yet Again

By Bill Murdoch, MPP You may have already heard the news that the McGuinty Liberals have proposed major funding cuts to community pharmacies in their bid to reduce drug pricing in Ontario.  But Premier Dalton McGuinty yesterday conceded to the fact that he was sacrificing small drug stores in places like Bruce-Grey-Owen Sound for the sake of winning his public relations...

Let’s Get Some Young Guns On Council

By Stephen Vance, Editor With slightly less than seven months until the municipal election, just one candidate has formally declared that their name will be on the ballot, that being current Councillor Harley Greenfield.  A couple of others have been kicking the tires, or dropping hints that they will run such as Councillor Gerald Shortt who back in January said that...

That’s Premier Bognor Bill to you…

By Shane Jolley, Guest Columnist For a while I thought I could resist weighing in on last week’s hoopla over Bill Murdoch’s desire to give Toronto the big rubber boot out of Ontario. After all it’s maple syrup season and time’s-a-wastin’, but after reading several Toronto based commentaries on the fracas, I simply couldn’t sit it out.  A part of me...