tree

Wednesday December 7, 2022

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Wednesday December 7, 2022

Get’em while you can: Hamilton Christmas tree hunters scrambling amid shortage

Don’t dally, Christmas tree hunters: some local farms are already out of seasonal evergreens amid a chronic shortage exacerbated by inflation and extreme weather.

December 4, 2021

In the Hamilton area, several tree farms are warning their fields could be bare by next weekend — while a few are already sold out or not opening at all.

Jim Watson is selling only pre-cut evergreens this year — and only on weekends — because a series of “terrible, dry summers” wiped out fields of trees that might otherwise be open for the U-cut crowd.

But that didn’t stop eager tree hunters from flooding his Mount Hope farm the day it opened Nov. 26. “People are really trying to get a tree early,” Watson said, adding he would be surprised if he has enough pre-cut fir, spruce and pine to stay open beyond the Dec. 10 weekend.

Saturday November 28, 2020

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Saturday November 28, 2020

The COVID that stole Christmas: How the pandemic is dismantling many of our holiday traditions

All across Canada, the Grinch is making his move — not in a one-night kleptomaniacal blitz, but a piecemeal dismantling of annual Christmas traditions as COVID-19 rules restrict what many Canadians look forward to about the holiday season.

September 12, 2020

As yet, the holiday season hasn’t been completely scrapped, although food and toy drives, visits with mall Santas, and annual Christmas festivals and parades have all felt the impact of stringent pandemic rules as provinces scramble to contain the second wave of cases.

At the Agassiz Senior Community, in Agassiz, B.C., just north of Chilliwack, the care home has asked the community to donate outdoor Christmas decorations to beautify the grounds and brighten the holiday season for the residents, turning it into a “winter wonderland,” according to a memo from the home.

With visits and other activities curtailed at care homes across the country because of COVID-19, the company said doing indoor festivities wasn’t a safe option this year, but at least residents could look outdoors and see some Christmas cheer.

Ian West, the vice-president, operations, of Park Place Seniors Living, confirmed any decorations indoors would need regular cleaning, making them unfeasible. The outdoor decorations was a way to make the best of the situation, he said.

“This is another way of getting the community involved in the home and the residents’ lives,” West said.

December 8, 2018

The Calgary Firefighters Toy Association, which has been providing toys to those in need since the 1940s, has cancelled its toy drive this year, saying it was a blow to the people who work on the annual initiative. They had already found a workaround to the indoor event, and were planning on hosting a drive-thru, but opted to scrap that given the latest — and strictest — COVID-19 rules that came into effect in Alberta this week.

“It was a major emotional blow,” said Mark Hagel, the president of the association. “There was a lot of emotional investment and a lot of time investment into the event this year.” A news release says they’re still looking for ways to get gifts to children.

“We do have to take into consideration the safety of our clientele, the safety of our volunteers,” said Hagel.

Another annual event, in Edmonton, the Festival of Trees, has gone virtual, instead of the local Christmas gala it normally is, to raise money for the University Hospital Foundation.

December 9, 2017

In Toronto, the 116-year-old Santa Claus Parade, which normally draws tens of thousands of people along the parade route, will go broadcast-only this year. A two-hour special is planned for the evening of Dec. 5th, with floats, musical guests and the traditional “celebrity clowns.”

Food drives have also been forced to make changes for their busiest giving season. The Edmonton Christmas Bureau is instead giving out grocery gift cards. In Ottawa, where the mayor hosts an annual celebration to raise money for the food bank, the event has been cancelled, although the city notes that Christmas lights will still go up at city hall.

Pandemic Times

As Martyn Bennett, a professor of modern history at Nottingham Trent University writes in The Conversation, Christmas has been cancelled in the past. After the English Civil War, for example, the government tried to ban Christmas. In some places, Bennett writes, people “celebrated Christmas rowdily,” and “young men with spiked clubs patrolled the streets,”  insisting shops remain closed for the holidays.

“Taking up arms and breaking the rules weren’t just about experiencing the fun of the season. Fighting against the prohibition of Christmas was a political act,” Bennett writes. (National Post) 

 

Thursday July 30, 2020

July 30, 2020

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Thursday July 30, 2020

The Kielburgers boys’ self-described ‘labyrinth’ organizational structure is still murky

July 24, 2020

WE Charity. ME to WE Foundation. ME to WE Social Enterprise. WEllbeing Foundation. Imagine1day. WE 365 LP, and at least two other entities that sound like the prototype numbers for do-gooder androids. There is such a long list of entities in the WE umbrella that the former chair of WE Charity’s board, Michelle Douglas, wasn’t confident enough to say how many.

The brothers clarified that they need to incorporate in every country where they operate. And under Canada Revenue Agency rules, charities can’t operate as businesses in the administration of “social enterprise,” said Craig. So they had to “build a labyrinth to adhere to Canadian laws and regulations.”

Marc later explained the two started the charity when they were children. He said it’s like building a house. “You add a wing, and add a skylight, and add a swimming pool for your kids,” he said. “This wasn’t out of malice.” A global consulting firm, Korn Ferry, has been hired to help streamline the structure.

July 11, 2020

The Kielburgers said the government was fully briefed on the fact they planned to use a separate nonprofit entity, the WE Charity Foundation—which had been set up to help limit liability—as a party to the contribution agreement. (In the agreement, WE agreed to full liability for participants in the program.)

Former board chair Michelle Douglas, in her testimony, described concerns around the executive team’s refusal to provide substantial financial records that would allow the board to fulfill its functions.

“I did not resign as a routine matter or as part of a planned board transition. I resigned because I could not do my job. I could not discharge my governance duties,” she said in an opening statement.

February 18, 2004

She described in March, the executive—including Marc and Craig—had not fulfilled requests for evidence, reports or data that could support their rationale for laying employees off during the pandemic. In a March 25 phone call, she alleged that Craig asked for her resignation. She gave it. Most of the rest of the board left the organization shortly thereafter, although Craig claimed in committee that this could be explained by an existing “renewal” process.

Douglas said she had also raised concerns, in early 2018, about the WE Charity Foundation. “The board was never satisfied that the operation of this foundation was in the best interests of the charity or its various stakeholders,” she said, adding her understanding at the time was that the organization was intended to hold property. In their testimony, the Kielburgers dismissed the real estate claim as an inaccuracy, saying there were “multitudes of purposes” for such an entity.

Although Douglas said nothing in the organization’s operations caused her “deep concern,” she described a climate characteristic of “founder-led” organizations: “We were always striving to get greater insight into the work.” (Maclean’s)



 

Tuesday February 4, 2020

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Tuesday February 4, 2020

Ford blames union leaders again as teachers plan week of walkouts

Ontario Premier Doug Ford again dismissed the widespread walkouts planned this week by the province’s three largest teacher unions as a matter of union bosses forcing their beleaguered members to march against their will.

January 18, 2020

“They’re getting frustrated that the heads of their unions are forcing their teachers to walk out,” Premier Ford said in Wiarton on Sunday morning, insisting he has teachers telling him they don’t want to strike. “I have had numerous texts from teachers saying ‘I don’t want to be doing this.’”

Negotiations between Ford’s government and the unions have seen little progress since the summer, as he is asking all unions to accept larger class sizes, a hard one-percent cap on wage increases, and two mandatory e-learning courses for all secondary students.

His argument that union leadership is forcing teachers to engage in strike action flies in the face of strike votes held by all three unions, where between 95 and 98 per cent of members in each union voted in favour of strike action.

“I support the frontline teachers I think the men and women who are serving out there work their backs off, they do a great job,” Ford said. “I don’t support the heads of the unions who are causing all these problems right across the province.”

November 22, 2019

Ford said he takes his tone from what hears from the public, and said that all over Ontario, people keep telling him “don’t buckle” to the teachers, who are asking for wage increases in line with inflation.

For their part, the unions say they are acting in the interests of students and the public is behind them.

Ontario Secondary School Teacher’s Federation (OSSTF) President Harvey Bischof said on Sunday that he is “convinced” his members want to engage in strike action, and if Ford feels they’re being forced, he has things he can do to find out.

“If he believes I am the impediment to a deal, he has the right to put a vote directly to my members, to require them to vote on his offer. So let’s see if his offer of reduced course options, larger classes and mandatory e-learning are things my members are willing to accept.”

The three largest teacher’s unions in the province are planning strikes that will impact some or all of the GTA’s school boards every single day this coming week. (CTV)