Cheers &Jeers
CHEERS: To Ellen Taylor, for organizing a recent public forum on mental health and addictions. Taylor spoke to SaltWire Network in January about her struggles with addiction and said she organized the forum to try to draw attention to issues with addiction treatment in P.E.I. The recent event in Charlottetown saw several other people talk about their own experiences with addictions or mental health issues. Both have become pressing issues in a province that is struggling to provide services for those in need. Any event drawing attention to them is welcome. All those who spoke of their own experiences should also be commended for speaking out about matters that can be very personal and tough to talk about in public.
JEERS: To the City of Charlottetown for its snow-clearing efforts this winter (Summerside has not been entirely stellar at times either). Every time it snows the city takes days to clear streets in the downtown area, regardless of how much falls. The past week was a good example of the city’s efforts falling short of what should be considered acceptable. Snow in the winter is nothing new and neither is cars using city streets. It’s 2020. Certainly, there are challenges to clearing snow in a place like Charlottetown but whatever efforts the city has made to improve its methods over the years don’t seem to have worked. Downtown residents and business owners should, rightfully, be unsatisfied and unhappy with a service their tax dollars are paying for.
CHEERS: To Island residents who live near the intersection of Routes 24 and 315 in Caledonia. SaltWire Network spent an afternoon talking to them last week after learning that the provincial government will construct a roundabout this spring, to address the numerous accidents and deaths that have occurred there over the years. These residents have raced to the scene after each accident, trying to do whatever they could before first responders arrived. One woman has held the hand of people as they were dying while others helped carry people to the ambulance. It is impossible to imagine what they have seen and the heartbreak that has surrounded almost every accident.
JEERS: To the parents of P.E.I.'s children of divorce who are not doing the bare-minimum in sending money to their former spouses to help with things like food, clothing and education, when ordered to by the courts.
CHEERS: To the Miltonvale Community Players for their enthusiastic portrayals in Sheep on the Lamb. Their volunteer efforts will raise needed funds to keep the Milton Community Hall up and running. Kudos also to Shari MacDonald, community administrator, for going beyond the call of duty. When her workday is over–and on her days off– she often volunteers at the hall. It is her commitment to her community that keeps the halls many programs successfully running.