Welcome Back To The News, Time For a Break

Jeff Green | Dec 18, 2024

For some of you, this is the first that you have heard from us in over a month. I must say it is nice to be able to once again deliver papers to postal outlets around the region, and have Canada Post take care of getting the papers safely into your post box for us.

For four weeks we have been getting the paper out as best we can. And as many of you know, thanks to the great support we have received from community groups and local businesses*, we have been able to deliver newspapers to communities across our vast region. But it is not as easy for readers to get the paper just walking to the mailbox at their home, at a community box, or a postal outlet.

Still others have continued to read the paper online at frontenacnews.ca, where we post all of our content on an ongoing basis.

People have taken many positions regarding the postal strike. In the end, I feel most for the workers who were on the picket line, seeking wage increases that have become common in other sectors, such as police forces across the province. They have lost a month’s wages for no apparent gain. The future of Canada Post, and their jobs, remains precarious. For a business like the Frontenac News who rely on Canada Post, the past month underlines the reality that we may not have Canada Post service, certainly in its current form, in the medium to long term.

But for now, we are pleased to be back in your post box with our Christmas edition, which is anchored by the winning drawings and some honourable mentions from our 23rd annual Christmas drawing contest (I'll have to check that. This is also the 25th Christmas edition since David Brison and Sarah Carpenter purchased the newspaper in July of 2000. David's wife Jule Koch, started working at the paper soon after the purchase, took on the ownership and management when David died in 2002, and was the impetus behind the Christmas edition and the drawing contest as well.

We think of Jule a fair bit around here, certainly at Christmas time.

Reflecting on the past year is difficult because so much has happened, much of it disturbing, from my point of view, at least. I wrote a year ago about the Israeli incursion into Palestine, which has only increased in intensity over the past 12 months, leading to accurate charges of genocide against Israel by the United Nations and the World Court, all while larger wealthy nations like Canada and the United States continue to support the Israeli government in every way they can.

The war in Ukraine continues and is approaching its third anniversary (we are re-running a “Christmas in Ukraine” article from 2004 in this paper as a reminder of the cultural values that are at stake in this war, along with the lives of millions of Ukrainians who are still suffering from an attack from Russia that is all about global ambitions, with no regard for the lives of those who are fighting, Russian or Ukrainian.

In Canada, our government is teetering, to put it mildly. Two weeks ago, I wrote an editorial saying Justin Trudeau had a good week in the way he was handling the incoming Trump administration. It is fair to say he is having a very bad week this week. It is early yet as I write this, but it appears the Prime Minister may not survive much longer in his role. The timing for this could not be worse, as an explicit threat to Canada's trade relationship with our largest market will be under threat, starting in less than a month.

In the good old days, Trudeau could resign and prorogue Parliament until a new leader is chosen in the spring, at which time the increasingly frustrated and hostile Pierre Pollievre would finally get his chance. But with an aggressive, and irrational, government coming into power in the US, on January 20th, a power vacuum in Ottawa is not an option.

We leave all that to the New Year, however.

Locally, our communities are continuing to thrive, although housing is a challenge for many, as are food prices . This Christmas season has been as full of parades, concerts, festivals, Santa visits, feasts and other gatherings as was the case before the pandemic.

New people are moving here, bringing new energy. The cost of living, and wages that have not kept up, continue to be a challenge, and it stretches our communities to help neighbours cope with poverty, and our public institutions are not able to address these issues. Our local food banks only get busier, month after month. The loss of the Employment Centre in Sharbot Lake has been a blow, in the northern part of the region. Over its 14-year history, it helped connect employers with employees, providing skills, training, subsidies, and encouragement that benefited local workers and entrepreneurs, who are now being left with no service at the present time, and no real promise of a service of anywhere near the level that the centre provided.

Despite all the pressures we face, this region continues to be blessed with clean air and water, food and shelter for most of us, and opportunities for the future. We need to be thankful for that.

On behalf of our Frontenac News writers and staff, we wish all a Happy Christmas and New Year, and look forward to returning to your mailbox on January 9th.

*Special thanks to the following businesses who made space for the newspapers during the postal strike; Hope Store, Godfrey General Store, LD Powersports, Toppers, Asselstine’s Hardware, Verona Hardware, Verona Lions Club, Nicole’s Gifts, Verona PharmaWell Drugmart, Food Less Traveled, Verona Foodland, CP Racing Fuels, Harrowsmith Pharmasave, Thrift Addicts, Sydenham One Stop, Sydenham Foodland, Atkinson’s Home Hardware, Trousdale’s Home Hardware, Sydenham Convenience Store, Inverary Home Hardware, Lavalee’s Cookery, Mrs. Garrett’s Bake Shop, Ormsbee’s Mercantile, Storrington Lions Club, Frontenac Arena, Mike Dean’s Local Grocer, Cardinal Café, Sharbot Lake Chiropractic and Wellness Centre, Ram’s Esso, Sharbot Lake General Store, North of 7, Glaeser’s Store, Rosie’s General Store. Apologies to any that we may have missed.