LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
Healthcare providers urge council to fund housing
Last year city council heard from concerned community members from all walks of life about the urgent need to address Peterborough's housing shortage. Council responded by (partially) funding the Warming Room to operate year-round and by continuing to fund the rent supplement program. At this year's public budget consultation, council will be hearing from us again.
As a physician I see the impacts of homelessness and precarious housing in the lives of my patients. People with diabetes have nowhere to store their insulin. People with foot infections walk all day to avoid accusations of "loitering." Pregnant women seek unlocked bathroom facilities that don't have a For Customers Only sign on the door to relieve themselves.
Housing is fundamental to health. When people are housed their physical and mental health improves. Their lives stabilize. They require fewer medical interventions, fewer emergency services, and fewer admissions to the hospital. When people lose housing they often lose employment, experience stress in important relationships, and face enormous barriers to stabilize their lives.
As healthcare providers we ask the city to: 1) increase shelter funding for women, people who are non-binary, and transpeople; 2) to fund 24 hour shelters so people can be safe during the day as well as at night; and 3) to increase supportive, rent-geared-to-income housing throughout the city.
Michelle Fraser, MD on behalf of Peterborough Healthcare Providers Against Poverty
Morrow Park market is made up of dedicated local people
It is sad that our market family and friends have been cast into such turmoil by the few unhappy campers that have since moved on leaving us in their wake.
We love our Saturday morning greeting of families with their children and dogs sharing smiles and information. We are happy to talk about our displays, proud to say we grow it, bake it or make it, displaying it here each Saturday morning.
As a skilled 'crafter' throughout my life, I've been at the Peterborough Farmers’ Market since a neighbor suggested it in 2005.
My Ryder’s Signs became Ryder’s Lettering and Landscapes over the years. It was a long wait to be accepted in the farmers market as the ratio of growers had to be met. This I understand. Now we are in 2018, surviving turmoil, moving forward with the strength of family and friends. Our diverse market includes Spirit paintings by the same artist whose murals hang in Rubidge Hall. R.J. Nott's jewellery and carvings are displayed in The Canadian Canoe Museum. Ryder’s Lettering and Landscape-designed and produced Millbrook’s Welcome signs, plus many signs and paintings inspired by our local beauty.
Besides our wood carvers, quilters, unique glass solar lights, bakers and makers of knitting and creative jewellery, we have a pristine selection of skilled crafters along with our local growers. This makes our historical farmers’ market a unique and exceptional place to be on a Saturday morning.
Come on out to see us at the Morrow lot where George and Lansdowne meet, Saturdays 7 a.m. to 1 p.m. You'll be glad you did and so will we.
Barbara Ryder, artist and vendor
Ford’s win echoes Vander Zalm, Harris
The latest provincial election brings many lessons learned to the mind of this old guy.
Back in 1986 a man named Bill Vander Zalm ran to be premier of British Columbia using a system that became known as The Big Bang Campaign. This consisted of skipping as many debates as possible; never really presenting the electorate with a real policy or platform, claiming he would reduce costs and especially the cost of social programs to cover the needs of society leeches.
Three facts are all we need to learn from the Vander Zalm years in BC. He passed any legislation he felt like and claimed it was part of his electoral promises and he was an honest man. He caused a general strike in the province by his treatment of unions in his anti-union Bill 19 which the Corporate Sector loved: and in probably his most heartless move he insisted AIDS sufferers (it was the height of the epidemic) pay $2,000 per year for their drugs.
He eventually was forced to resign for using his political office to line his own pockets.
In Ontario a few years later Mike Harris used the same campaign approach and for those who can’t remember it, the deaths in Walkerton from contaminated water were just the most obvious result of “keeping his promises to cut costs.”
Philosopher George Santayana told us that “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” It’s never too late to learn.
Michael C Dunne, Selwyn
New downtown market deserves public’s support
I often find the world a bewildering place with shifting political currents, the soul numbing effects of environmental degradation and growing poverty rates. The situation is intensely personal for me with friends who, like myself are near or at retirement age and developing health problems such as diabetes and cancer.
Three weeks ago I lost a dear friend and former colleague to cancer who had recently retired from teaching and was looking forward to many activities she had put off for lack of time.
When wondering how I can change things for the better, I have chosen to devote my time and resources to supporting the new Downtown Saturday Farmers’ Market at the Citi Center courtyard on Aylmer St. south of Charlotte St. One of the dreams is to eventually develop an indoor year-round farmers’ market near that location.
This new market offers the shopper full transparency regarding the sources of the products with third-party certification to guarantee that what they sell is truly local. The market also invites community involvement in governance and decision-making. The goal is to provide a wide range of products from a high percentage of local producers and vendors as well as serve as an incubator for new local farmers and their products.
By supporting the new Saturday Downtown Farmers’ Market, I feel I am helping improve peoples’ health, local economic development, and the public image of Peterborough. I encourage others to add their support by shopping at the new market, contributing to the market’s Kickstarter Campaign on the Kickstarter website to raise money for their start-up costs, and by volunteering.
Information can be found on the Peterborough Regional Farmers Network website. See you at the market this Saturday and don’t forget to shop at the Wednesday Peterborough Downtown Farmers’ Market as well. Ruth Bishop, Weller Street