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Letters: week of June 20

Coun. Bird’s very serious allegations should be investigated Sir: At the May 27 city council meeting Coun. Margaret Bird made very serious allegations about the out-of-chamber conduct of some of her colleagues.
Letters to the editor

Coun. Bird’s very serious allegations should be investigated

Sir: At the May 27 city council meeting Coun. Margaret Bird made very serious allegations about the out-of-chamber conduct of some of her colleagues.

Taken to task for a lack of detail supporting three Notices of Motion she wanted to discuss, Bird defended the omission of substance on the grounds that had she presented her motions with more than mere subject headings other unnamed councillors would have conspired to thwart her intention.

She claimed this had already happened to her on another occasion, and that some councillors had held illegal meetings to plot against her.

If there is any truth whatsoever behind this accusation, it needs to be supported with evidence and must be brought to the Integrity Commissioner for investigation.

If the allegation is verified, Coun. Bird has been very seriously wronged. If the allegation is not verified, Coun. Bird has just as seriously wronged her colleagues.

Proven or unproven, these charges show this new council, after a mere six months, is well on its way to a state of dysfunction and faction as bad as the final twelve months of the previous council.

Coun. Bird has every right to bring forward subjects for council’s consideration. Coun. Bird has every right to express herself on matters of city business without fear of conspiracy to suppress her voice.

Coun. Bird does not have the right to make accusations of unlawful behaviour without evidence, or to smear her colleagues without presenting proof of wrongful behaviour.

Bryan Trothen

Sarnia


Put tampons in vending machines

Sir: I would like to talk about the issue of providing free menstrual products in municipal buildings in a more realistic way.

I think proponent Michelle Parks means well by trying to help women in need, but I feel putting free menstrual products in public washrooms is a mistake.

If this happens, vending machines is the way to go. Not free, for heaven’s sake.

We have a huge problem with scavengers (thieves) stealing copper and rummaging through garbage to stealing donated clothing, for example at the St. Vincent de Paul thrift stores.

The only ones going to benefit from free products are people going around town with their packsacks and gathering up what they can get for nothing.

The Inn of the Good Shepard and many other organizations are there to help anyone in need.

In my opinion, this is also discriminatory. What about helping males with personal products, or the elderly with diapers or bladder pads, or free condoms in all public washrooms to prevent AIDS?

For those who use the toilet paper comparison, that’s ridiculous.

Vending machines are the proper and more efficient way, and will prevent a whole lot of problems.

Marie Timperley

Sarnia


A solution proposed for our plastic waste problem

Sir: With a ship bringing our contaminated plastic waste back to Canada, to the embarrassment and cost of our government, what do we do with it?

Bury it in a landfill? No.

I suggest we convert the closed Lambton Generating Station into an electricity producing incinerator fueled by single-use waste plastics.

The smoke stack with its pollution scrubber and most of the infrastructure is still there. It shouldn’t be too hard for engineers to redesign it into a state-of-the-art facility.

With local industries producing basic plastics and creating jobs, we as a community have a responsibility to take care of the waste created.

Zig Berzins

Sarnia


Trudeau’s pointless carbon tax needlessly penalizing Canadians

Sir:   Earlier this month my wife, the amazing June, and I got off a plane in Shanghai – a city of 24 million. Add the suburbs and you have Canada’s population.

We didn’t have to spend too much time in this ancient country to realize how pointless Justin Trudeau’s federal carbon tax is. I invite comment from any bike-riding, tree-hugging vegans who may disagree.

The definition of carbon footprint is the amount of carbon dioxide and other carbons emitted due to the consumption of fossil fuels. As I write, most of China’s electricity (62%) is produced by coal.

In 2018, The European Commission and Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency released data stating the mega tonnes of C02 emissions various countries puke into our atmosphere each year.

China is good for 10,877,218. India is right up there too. Our American neighbours account for 5,107,393 mega tonnes a year.

Canada, with a population of 35 million, mostly crouched near the American border, coughs out 617,301 mega tonnes.

We aren’t causing our polar regions to melt at a record rate. There simply isn’t enough of us to accomplish such a thing. However, wildfires ignited by lighting deliver significant amounts of smoke that no carbon tax is going to reduce.

The villages we call cities do generate concentrated amounts C02-flavoured smog. The answer to that is keep motor vehicles out of these population centres. It’s being done in other countries at this moment.

Instead, the sunny ways, selfie-loving fop currently holding a clear majority in Parliament has chosen to show the world how he can set an example to nations like China and India, who will never get their carbon footprint to where ours is today.

This genius has concluded the best way to improve our status at the next global meeting on climate change is to penalize Canadians who often drive substantial distances to their jobs and who live in a climate that requires their homes to be heated for much of the year.

If you voted for this yo-yo give your head a shake.

Ed Williamson

Sarnia


Author thanks Sarnia historical society for warm welcome

Sir: Just a short note to say thank you to the Sarnia Historical Society, along with Phil Egan, Ron RealeSmith, Randy Evans and the others who made my time in Sarnia interesting and educational.

I spoke to the Society recently as the author of Grace & Wisdom on the subject of Patrick Kerwin, Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Canada (and my grandfather).

I was made to feel welcome as they listened to the story of ‘young Pat’ in Sarnia watching his father, a Great Lakes shipping Captain, sail off to do his work from the Sarnia basin and more.

I believe SHS members are doing important work and hope they, and Mayor Mike Bradley, make a city museum a reality in the near future. Sincerely,

Stephen G. McKenna

Ottawa


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