Cheers & Jeers

CHEERS to Santa’s little helpers in Summerside and Charlottetown for figuring out a way to move forward with their Christmas parades in the face of public health restrictions. Summerside’s fire department is setting up floats in a parking lot that people will be able to view as they drive by. The City of Charlottetown is holding a roving parade, which will travel through all of the city’s seven neighbourhoods. Nice to see organizers thinking outside the box to come up with innovative ways to spread the Christmas cheer.

JEERS to the provincial government’s plan for providing reliable internet service to rural P.E.I. That plan, which involves a large amount of federal funding, falls short of bringing acceptable internet speeds to all Islanders. The Canadian RadioTelevision and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) sets the standard for download speeds at 50 megabits. That’s a far cry from what some Islanders are getting and will continue to get as their communities are left out of Bell and Xplornet’s expansions. Smaller providers are filling some, but not all of the gap. The COVID-19 pandemic and the need to work from home served as a harsh reminder that all Islanders need and deserve good, reliable internet service. It seems many of them will have to wait a lot longer to get it.

JEERS to the public works committee for the City of Charlottetown who has recommended the city suspend its snow alert system. On-street parking is restricted beginning Nov. 15 to April 15 every year, but not every night in that timeframe experiences ice and snow. Sometimes it will seem fine out, but crews still want to clear side streets without having to worry about damaging vehicles. The alert means that residents can usually use their own judgment to park without worrying about being ticketed or towed on clear nights if the city decides that’s the night to wing back the banks on their street. It’s a courtesy we hope the city continues to extend.