PelhamToday received the following letter in reaction to writer James Culic's latest column:
Oh! Dear me! Where do we start with James Culic’s attempt at humour in a put-down of citizens who have been waiting to have something, anything, to applaud a unanimous decision made by a council elected to serve them? Doesn’t that indicate that a measure of democracy may still exist in local government?
If he has been a city reporter for a decade, and he still cannot see the growing decline in the increasing lack of respect and contempt shown by both councils and their staff, for those citizens who still bother to attend council meetings, I can’t imagine what utopian city halls he has been in for the past decade.
Just how many delegations has he reported on when a citizen is addressing concerns they have, about decisions council has made, only been met with blank stares from council, not a single question asked and just a ‘Thank You’ and on to the next item on the agenda?
And incidentally, I do know he sees himself as a sort of humorous writer and reporter, but when writing about respect does he not even understand how he shows a total and unfunny disrespect to all those he so obviously and publicly, disrespects?
Proper decorum and respect would be good, but to pretend council meetings are ‘hallowed grounds’ in today’s world, where politicians and their bureaucrats increasingly ignore any citizen who questions their policies, is a total disrespect to those who elected them, and the staff who are employed by them.
Respect has to be earned, something most politicians and bureaucrats stopped trying to do years ago. And if he is naïve enough to believe that any sitting council or their staff have any respect for the communities they profess to serve, I would be grateful if he could tell me where I should move to find such a place.
I still love my home, just as it is, regardless.
As for the gas plant expansion?
Very strange from every aspect! When McGuinty inflicted the Green Energy Act on Ontario one of the first things that happened was that at least someone in government was actually taking notice and realized that neither wind nor solar could ever supply any energy without a 100 percent, 24/7, 365 days a year online backup energy supply. Both wind and solar continue to be far too unreliable, even today. So, all those green energy advocates all flocked to support the additional ‘green energy’ that 'natural' gas then became! It was never seen as an independent, additional energy source, just a backup for wind and solar. I can’t think of a bigger hypocrisy ever perpetrated within the entire green energy debate than that.
And of course, being true activists, and 20 years later, as natural gas is a fossil fuel that is now a target for eco activists regardless of any further rational debate.
I doubt very much if any of those who applauded their council after that vote would even see themselves as green activists, just normal citizens who have been made to believe expanding gas plants must be wrong, so they applauded their council for doing just that.
Good luck to James, and his plea for a nuclear and ‘natural gas’ solution to our energy problems. That door is already closed and if he believes that all the eco-warriors out there will ever accept either as a viable solution to our future energy needs, he is living in a fool’s paradise.
Our energy problems remain a total mess, and we no longer have any grown-ups taking part in the debate.
And that’s a shame, as this world still has so much to offer to anyone prepared to work for a better future.
Andrew Watts
Wainfleet
