Editorial

Recycling where it means the most
Louise Sproule
Wednesday, September 1, 2010

Perhaps the initiative is still in the planning stages, but Groupe Convex’s plans to bid on collecting recyclable materials from three municipalities needs some reflection.

Are we really apathetic? Definitely not.
Louise Sproule
Wednesday, August 25, 2010

Much of the editorial energy expended in this newspaper during the past 117 years of its existence has been to inform readers and encourage them to take action. If we give ink to pushing people to action, we must also acknowledge that much of what we write about is, indeed, about people trying to make a difference and speaking out in their communities.

Just because we can - doesn’t mean we should
Louise Sproule
Tuesday, August 17, 2010
If it has been engineered, it's got to be good. Or so we think when government authorities pay the fees required to apply engineering expertise to municipal buildings, sanitary sewers, water treatment systems, bridges, drainage problems, sidewalks, road problems and more. We probably don't realize how much we have come to rely on engineers in almost every domain of our lives.
If we wonder why engineering and similar consulting fees cost so much, we can give that up any time. They charge according to the responsibility they must assume for the decisions they make.
We use electricity like it’s water
Louise Sproule
Wednesday, August 11, 2010
Amid the grumbling about the new Harmonized Sales Tax (HST) comes a friendly notice from Hydro One that TOU (Time-of-Use) prices are coming to theatres near us.
Time-of-Use prices are Hydro One's way of promoting a culture of conservation and are a new way to help us all manage our electricity use (and costs).
We can hardly wait.
The not-so-green grass of home: lawn dare
Louise Sproule
Wednesday, August 4, 2010
It is bad enough in urban areas. Street after street of urban homes sporting their identical green patches of lawn. The bigger the housing development: the bigger the expanse of green lawn, often weedless. Heaven help the neighbour whose lawn is less cared-for, where dandelions and ragged lengths bespeak, dare we say it: left leanings?
For such is the judgement we place on those who lawns are badly kept.
But here is an argument that all lawns are, indeed, kept for bad reasons. And the argument falls hard on the heels of Food Day, which was July 31.
Some thoughts on transparency...
Justin Bromberg
Wednesday, July 28, 2010
In a day and age where everything is recorded and breaking news is a familiar catchphrase, we tend to hear people of all stripes, from businessmen to elected officials, speaking about transparency and the need for more of it.
Transparency, according to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary, is "characterized by visibility or accessibility of information, especially concerning business practices."
Politicians, listen up: it’s time to make our voices heard.
Justin Bromberg
Wednesday, July 21, 2010
Last Tuesday, federal Liberal Party leader Michael Ignatieff visited Hawkesbury and, standing on a terrace after his speech was made, he took a moment to listen to the health-care woes of a Grenville resident, the latter claiming he was being unjustly charged for expenses. Ignatieff spoke with the man briefly, took a copy of the documentation he provided, and handed it to his main assistant.
Don’t ask. We might tell you what we think.
Louise Sproule
Wednesday, July 14, 2010

Here we go again. Community and business leaders are invited to attend a session on July 27 in Casselman or on July 28 in Hawkesbury as part of the upcoming Prescott and Russell Strategic Economic Plan.

What is that story really saying to you?
Louise Sproule
Wednesday, July 7, 2010
As consumers of information from various news sources, we all have to become more discerning. Many times, what seems like an unbiased report of news is really something quite different.
We have to remind ourselves frequently to look beyond the plethora of press releases to figure out what is really going on. It is hard to wade through the pleas for publicity, the aching need of some organizations to get their news out to the community and all the other information that is fed to us to decide what is newsworthy and what is not worthy of our time or yours.
Overtime seems over the top at seniors residence
Louise Sproule
Wednesday, June 30, 2010

Maybe it is wrong of us to ask questions about the management of the Prescott-Russell Residence. What do we know about managing a long-term care home? Actually, what do eight mayors know about managing a long-term care home? Maybe it is wrong of us to ask that question, too.
For years now, Clarence-Rockland's mayor has been asking questions about what he calls the exorbitant costs associated with the Prescott-Russell Residence. An internal study recently analyzed how services were being delivered and studied the ratio of employees to residents.

The 25-75 tax split: 100 per cent broken promises
Louise Sproule
Wednesday, June 23, 2010
Last week’s anonymous rant focused on the idea that farmers who pay 25 per cent of the property taxes on farmland are paying enough, already.  The ranter was sick and tired of hearing municipal councillors talk about lost revenues due to the lower rate of taxes being paid by farmers. What services is a municipality providing to rural farmland, one could ask. Farmers, do, however, pay the full 100 per cent rate on the residential portion of their properties.
Why, when, and how, did we become afraid to speak our minds?
Justin Bromberg
Wednesday, June 16, 2010
You have undoubtedly heard by now about the federal government’s plan to construct a $2-million “fake Muskoka lake” for visiting journalists at the upcoming G20 summit in downtown Toronto and the simultaneous G8 summit in Huntsville.
What do we value about rural life?
Louise Sproule
Wednesday, June 9, 2010
The next time you hear the words, “Rural Sustainability”, stay awake. What those words really refer to is the possibility that our rural way of life is on the way out. A positive take on this idea, of course, is to keep repeating the magic mantra: shop locally. Spending our money at local businesses is a big part of keeping our local economy strong. Many of us remember when there were many shops at which to while away a Saturday. Nowadays, we are more apt to prepare a list of what we cannot find as a justification to head out of town to the city, where we willfully overlook the true cost of our out-of-town purchasing.
What do we want – and expect – from the newspaper?
Louise Sproule
Justin Bromberg
Wednesday, June 2, 2010
Consider: We are living in a watered-down world. There is so much new information that we cannot keep up with it and often spend time sifting through inaccurate or irrelevant information, wasting our research time and therefore having less time to devote to “the real goods.”
Shuffling the numbers game
Louise Sproule
Wednesday, May 26, 2010
Hawkesbury’s claim to fame as one of the worst places to live seems hinged on money, of course. It ranks 179 out of 179 on the MoneySense website, which ranks Hawkesbury lowest in terms of household income.
True perhaps, but many of you called when this story appeared first in one of our competitor newspapers. Were we going to report it in the same negative way, you wanted to know? Ultimately, we said the town had problems, but was not the worst place to live.
Gulf oil spill reveals another cost of energy consumption
Justin Bromberg
Wednesday, May 12, 2010
On Tuesday, April 20, an offshore drilling rig exploded in the Gulf of Mexico, following a blowout, only to sink two days later. The initial explosion resulted in the loss of eleven lives, while the sinking of the Deepwater Horizon rig caused a massive oil spill that now threatens the coast of Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, and Florida.
What you want . . . and is it good for you?
Louise Sproule
Wednesday, May 5, 2010
We hear people asking all the time, “But is this good for us?” But maybe we already know the answer. In many cases, the answer is no.
Investigation request reaffirms the value of the press
Justin Bromberg
Wednesday, April 28, 2010
Each and every day, breaking news stories are delivered to the public from a variety of news organizations around the world. While some stories are global, others are hyper-local, and yet the stated purpose of the reporting source remains the same: releasing information to the public with its best interests in mind.
Should they stay or should they go?
Louise Sproule
Wednesday, April 21, 2010
The municipality of Clarence-Rockland wants to pop the question to its ratepayers as part of the next municipal election. The question could be summed up as: Should our municipality separate from the United Counties of Prescott-Russell?
Losing face or losing faith?
Louise Sproule
Wednesday, April 14, 2010
Here we are once again writing about information that should be available to taxpayers, but isn’t. Yet here we are, lamenting not only that the report and financial statements of the Hawkesbury Commercial and Touristic Society (HCTS) are not available to this newspaper or to taxpayers, but are apparently likewise not available to the Town of Hawkesbury mayor, councillors, or its chief administrative officer.
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