Tuesday, March 4, 2025

Editorial

Protecting Our Shoreline is Expensive, But It’s Money Well Spent

The next phase of shoreline rehabilitation along Bayfield Street is to be undertaken this coming September after council approved the award of tender to local company Naturally Green Landscaping Ltd., at Monday's council meeting. Though the water level in the bay has dropped over the past two years, lessening the risk of damage to our shoreline on extremely windy days,...

Council Has Made Short-Term Rentals Their Top Priority, but Should it Be?

After being elected in October of last year, the seven members of Meaford's council established their priorities for this four-year term, and topping their list is short-term rentals, an issue that this and the previous council have heard complaints about from a handful of residents over the past few years. This month, council got the ball rolling, and they have...

This Community Has Responded Splendidly in Wake of Johnny B’s Fire

In the wake of a major structure fire on Thursday evening that saw a local auto repair shop destroyed, and caused concern for the potential for contamination of our municipal water system, this community, from first responders, to municipal staff, to local business owners and residents have responded in a fabulous way. Meaford's fire department, along with neighbouring departments that...

Meaford is Open For Summer

With the Victoria Day long weekend, often referred to as the 'unofficial start of summer', now behind us, Meaford is open for summer. Memorial Park is now open to campers, and the marina has filled up with boats ready for another season. Last week we saw outdoor patios returning to restaurant row on Sykes Street. Those patios have become popular...

Council Makes the Best of a Bad Situation, Allowing the Blue Dolphin Pool to Open This Season

When I was a child in the 1970s, on a hot summer day I would roller skate to the local swimming pool with my beach towel draped around my neck. Once at the pool I would pay the quarter, or whatever the minimal cost was, and I would enjoy some time splashing, swimming, and cooling off. Most of us...

Funding Requests From Community Well-being Bursary Program Far Exceed What’s Available

Over the course of two sessions held on Monday and Tuesday of this week, members of council heard from nearly 30 local organizations hoping to secure funding from the municipal Community Well-being Bursary Program, which has replaced the previous community grant program. The annual funding for this program is $40,000, while the 29 applications submitted seek some $83,350 in...

Farmers’ Market Season Will Soon Be Upon Us

Though it has felt slow in coming, we have arrived at the month of May. The damp and chilly April we have experienced is shifting to what many of us hope will be warmer and sunnier weather, and one of the things I get excited about as May moves toward June, is the start of a new farmers' market...

Will We Know What to Believe in the Future?

Last week a media outlet in India unveiled its first full-time artificial intelligence (AI) news anchor. German public broadcaster Deutsche Welle (DW) reported that the bot, named Sana, appears as human as the news anchors to which we are accustomed, and presents news updates on the India Today Group's Aaj Tak news channel several times each day. "She is bright, gorgeous,...

Good Ideas, Bad Ideas, Council Must Entertain Them All

It is not uncommon for me to hear from frustrated residents, often unfamiliar with council procedure, who are angered that council would consider a proposal for which the resident, or a group of residents, is wildly opposed. 'How dare council consider this proposal that I/we don't like?' I have heard folks say. 'Why in the world would council entertain such...

Why Are Some of Us So Easily Offended?

Recent news articles about some Florida parents who were offended by Michelangelo's famous statue of David, so offended that the Tallahassee Classical School fired their principal, has gotten me thinking about, and talking to folks about why some are so easily offended these days. The Florida story seemed crazy to me. A sixth grade art-history class was shown a photo...