Letters & Op-Ed, September 22 2021

I’m very disappointed with Dean Allison's backtracking.

Off-label use of any drug makes no sense when the vaccines were developed by science. We are in a much better situation compared to a year ago because of the quick development of vaccine. The mandatory use of vaccine will probably be the real way to minimize the case numbers.

Dean Allison is another example of a politician who skews the scientific facts. A horse wormer is not a human cure. I understand he just moved to Pelham and built a mansion on the river. Time to end the era of entitlement for any politician, and that should apply to political pensions.

Rick Kavanagh Via Voice website

Being the politician that he is, Dean Allison is attempting to play both sides at once.

He declares that vaccination is the way to go to fight Covid, and then excuses himself from vaccination by declaring he is “medically exempt.” For the most part, Canadian citizens can expect that their medical histories and conditions are private, but politicians cannot always enjoy such privacy.

I, and many others, do not believe Mr. Allison’s claim to a genuine medical exemption. Prove me and the rest wrong and shut us up, Mr. Allison, by clearly stating the nature of your medical exemption from vaccination.

David Fowler Wainfleet

Regarding MP Dean Allison’s letter to the editor last week, “Trudeau ‘demonizing’ those with opposing views,” [Letters, Sept. 15, p.4], he states unequivocally and “for the record” that he never endorsed any alternative treatment, including therapeutics, as a cure for Covid-19. [the_ad id="16715"]

For the record, here’s what Mr. Allison said recently:

On August 12, 2021, Mr. Allison posted on his Twitter account: “Wondering why our federal government is not spending more time and energy looking into therapeutics.” The image posted along with his statement included a package of Ivermectin.

On March 25, 2021, Mr. Allison presented a petition, e-3256, (https://petitions.ourcommons.ca/en/Petition/Details?Petition=e-3265) to Parliament that read, “Ivermectin has been proven to be 100 percent safe, and can eliminate COVID and all the variants by 95 percent within 24 hours, and Ivermectin is already approved in Canada for anti-parasitic use.”

Mr. Allison states he never endorsed an alternate treatment. Never? I count twice that he has, and on the record to boot. Perhaps Mr. Allison has trouble telling the truth, or perhaps he’s just being deceitful. Perhaps both.

Whichever it is, I agree with Mr. Bingham—it’s clear to me that Allison really does not have his constituents or our community’s best interests at heart. Not even close.

Mr. Allison, no amount of hemming and hawing, back-peddling, or damage control will get you out of this one. Shame on you for treating your constituents as fools, and shame on you for irresponsibly endangering the lives and health of those in our community.

And one more thing. Mr Allison says he has a medical exemption for the Covid-19 vaccine. I guess we’ll just have to take his word for it—however, with his lack of integrity and inability to tell the truth on full display of late, I’ll take this dog whistle with an enormous grain of salt.

Peter Schafrick Fonthill

I’m considered mobility challenged and use a walker. My mobility was surely challenged when I went to cast my ballot at the Advanced Poll on Thursday, September 10. The facility was not “user friendly.” I needed help to avoid curbing at a “handicap” parking spot, and needed more help to navigate a stairway. When selecting voting sites, more consideration needs to be given to handicap issues, so that our affected citizens can access the facility with relative ease and can thereby participate in our precious democratic voting process.

Jane Jackson Ridgeville

This is a plea to farmers and landowners who have previously allowed hunters on their property. When you allow this, is it a snap decision, thinking you are helping your fellow man who is going to think positive of you for allowing the use of your land?

On the other hand, what about your neighbours who have to be subjected to the noise pollution of shotguns and rifles filling the autumn air. Are there neighbours with little ones, sick ones, tired workers and what about all of them when you so freely offer your land over to hunters.

Why is it that a small minority gets to overshadow everybody else's chance to enjoy a peaceful quiet autumn season?

Why would you go out and pay for permits, hunting attire, equipment, if you have no actual land belonging to you to hunt on? Rather presumptuous.

Short Hills Provincial Park has been another thorny issue since 2013. Are we not taught in most circles to “Do unto to others as we would have them do onto us”? Political correctness aside, why should one group discover a park around 2013 and take over all that it was meant to be up until then. Peaceful oasis enjoyed for generations by many and suddenly from an old treaty there is no compromise or understanding.

It is simply our way or the highway.

No matter what culture, hunters all seem to wear this self- absorbed robe of entitlement with the Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry following exactly what they are told. Listen, that does not help the majority of the population who worked and created the park and suddenly are silenced.

Is that any way to treat your neighbour?

This year some persons reached out to Wainfleet Township and Pelham asking for no hunting due to the high population growth in certain areas. Have yet to hear a straight answer one way or the other, so suspicious how it will play out as once again hunters no matter what culture seem to be able to bully their way through.

This is not the 1800s, so let's do the right thing for a change and cut out hunting and allow the rest of us to enjoy autumn for a deserved change.

Truly it is the anti-hunters turn, don't you agree?

Faye Suthons Wainfleet

Everyone has the right to clean drinking water. Justin Trudeau has failed to deliver clean water to Indigenous communities. Promises made, promises broken.

Again.

L. Morgan Fonthill

Who ever said that politics can’t be fun—even silly sometimes? Both of these elements are alive and well in Niagara West.

First, let me provide some background. Last week, the Voice published comments I wished to express under the heading: “Campaign signs stolen—but Allison signs remain” [Letters, Sept. 15, p.5].

The Bingham campaign replaced the two signs which were removed, but the story doesn’t end there. On Saturday afternoon, the 18th, as I was backing out of my driveway to run an errand in the village, I noticed an Allison sign at the edge of the field opposite our home. It was aimed, it seems, directly at my garage. It was about 3 PM, but we hadn’t noticed this new sign, because it was not visible to us from the house. Since the sign was pointed directly north, motorists driving east or west on Tice could not see it either. The only way it was visible was from our driveway.

I caught sight of the sign on my rearview camera as I was backing up. I had to put on the brakes before going any farther because I was laughing so hard. It was fairly clear that this sign was intended to remind me that I was living in Conservative territory. Tit-for-tat? Retribution? One-upmanship?

I can’t imagine the labour pains that must have accompanied the birth of this brilliant idea! It is clear to me that this was the brainchild of supporters from the Allison campaign. Allow me the plural “supporters” in this case, because I am not convinced that the logistics of such a caper could have been carried out by just one adherent to the Allison campaign. It must have taken a whole gaggle of them.

But I digress. I was flattered that my comments had aroused such sentiments, and even more impressed that they would warrant the presence of that sign. Imagine this: someone (or “someones”) had taken the time and trouble to look up my address, procure the sign in question, and then drive to our home to install it. That’s dedication to a cause! Why, the price of gas alone these days would classify this response as a supreme sacrifice for the cause.

As I drove to the village I had a wide smile on my face. The Allison campaign had made my day.

And I’m still smiling!

Don MacRae Ridgeville

Wait, there is a sequel to the sequel.

Perhaps my little tale was too charitable. This morning, Sunday the 19th, the day before the election, the Allison sign is still proudly standing opposite our driveway. I would never think of removing it. However our Bingham signs and those of our Liberal neighbour down the road have once again been removed, perhaps by the same idiots who were involved the first time. I don’t know.

Is this what the Conservative party is willing to allow? Childish behaviour such as this tells me that supporters like these won’t allow another point of view which does not coincide with their own. “My way or the highway” seems to be their motto. I really do pity them, but at the same time I fear that their behaviour may be an early manifestation of far more consequential actions.

But the bottom line is this: I’m still smiling, thanks to the Allison campaign.

A few days ago, as I exited from my vehicle on Main Street in Welland, I was approached by a very disoriented, unstable and disheveled young man. Interestingly, he asked for some bottled water and claimed he was “dying of thirst.” Unfortunately, I didn’t have any water on board and he stumbled away without asking for money, as I expected.

It was a disturbing encounter, and while I declare that I am not qualified to diagnose his condition, I guessed this young man to be in some form of a drug-induced state.

Shortly after that encounter I had was reading about another eruption this society is facing in addition to the Covid-19 pandemic. The press and the medical community have labeled this as the opioid epidemic.

According to readily available Niagara Health reports, in 2019 there were 499 suspected opioid overdoses that were responded to by EMS personnel. In the first eight months of 2021 there were 639 suspected opioid overdoses responded to by that same health system. That is more than a 20 percent increase in the number of reported cases and it would appear that rate of increase is not abating.

Over 75 percent of these overdoses were male, 60 percent in the 25 – 44 age group, and almost half of the cases occurred in St. Catharines. Nearly a quarter of them occurred in Niagara Falls.

According to national records, between January 2016 and September 2020 there were some 19,000 opioid-overdose fatalities in Canada. Last year, opioid overdoses killed 521 people in Toronto. That number was a 78 percent increase over the previous year.

There are a number of opioids and synthetics in use today and these are primarily intended to alleviate pain in those suffering grievous illnesses or painful injuries. Oxycontin was one of the first opioids developed and put on the market in 1996 by Purdue Pharmaceutical. Since that time, that company has reportedly profited by about $10 billion dollars from the sales of the drug. Currently, a large percentage of opioid-overdose deaths result from the use of another drug known as fentanyl. As a measure of its potency, it is said to be about 100 times more potent than morphine. To the peril of drug users, fentanyl is often mixed with heroin or cocaine and tragically without the knowledge of addicts and recreational drug users.

So, a mere scanning of the available statistics associated with illicit drug usage, one can readily conclude there is a drug epidemic. The eruption of this condition is both severe, fast growing and deadly.

Measures need be introduced both on the demand and the supply side. Clearly, there is a great need for the early introduction of educational programs that will effectively deter young people from experimenting with harmful drugs. Additionally, stricter measures need be implemented to deter the illegal distribution of these chemical killers.

There is no doubting there are plenty of societal issues to be addressed. The opioid epidemic need be among the highest priorities. ◆

So-o-o. I can’t help but feel that maybe, just maybe, the authorities are using the wrong approach when it comes to trying to increase vaccination numbers. We have all read about anti-vaxers that, after making loud proclamations about how there is no pandemic, and that Covid-19 is a government hoax, their death is reported and their last proclamation is, “Please, get the vaccine.” This approach does not seem to be working as well as it should, perhaps because most of us tune out the bad news, and “death” stories are losing their punch. Maybe it is time to focus on what can happen if we all get the shots.

The latest “good news country” that is currently in the forefront is Denmark. They have reached the enviable goal of having 96 percent of their eligible residents over 50 years of age vaccinated, and have ended all coronavirus safety protocols. Last week they hosted an outdoor rock concert with some 50,000 in attendance, again with no masks required, and obviously no social distancing. With a population of just under 6 million, their latest seven-day average of new cases is 359, with seven-day average of deaths at two. Maybe if our government focused on success stories like Denmark’s, people would be more inclined to get the jab.

Moving on.

Another week and another disruption in the repair at Sulphur Springs Drive. Here’s the timeline.

September 9—NPCA enforcement officer appears on site, stays for 30-second meeting, then storms off shouting, “I will be issuing a ticket!” Public Works Director Jason Marr not given an opportunity to say a thing, later phones the NPCA CEO to complain of unprofessional behaviour of this employee.

September 13—On-site meeting Monday morning. Those in attendance agree that there was no room for three-metre sandbags, and that the earthen cofferdam was doing excellent job. NCPA official recommends contractor buy and install new type of silt cloth. Contractor buys and installs recommended silt cloth, as instructed.

September 16—NCPA shuts down the site, because contractor has installed silt cloth as instructed. Also, earthen cofferdam, that was all right on Monday, is now cited as an infraction.

Round and round it goes. It absolutely amazes me that anything is accomplished under the direction of this agency. After seeing how this agency functions I have renewed respect for the professionalism that our Town staff exhibits, day after day. ◆