see full letter here

MANOTICK MESSENGER THURSDAY, July 23, 2015 Page 7
The MessengerOPINION
Letters to the Editor
Fraser Institute again pushing its pro-austerity, small-government agenda
The Editor,
Nice to see that the
Manotick
Messenger
has once again handed
over their editorial column to that notorious
gang of fiction writers,
the Fraser Institute, to
push their pro-austerity,
small-government agenda. [“Ontario’s economic
crisis wasn’t caused by a
lack of revenue” Thursday July 16, 2015.] For
those with the stomach
to plow through this load
of neo-con codswallop,
there was nothing new to
be found as it was simply
yet another rehash of the
same right-wing talking
points we hear from these
guys every time someone
is foolish enough to provide them with a forum.
To sum it up, basically
they always tell us how
the federal Conservatives
were innocent victims of
the 2008-2009 recession,
whereas the Ontario Liberals are entirely responsible for their current
economic woes. I’m not a
fan of either government,
but I would respectfully
submit that if a worldwide recession occurred
in 2008-2009, common
sense would suggest both
governments would have
been victims of it.
Our friends at the Fraser Institute really lost
touch with reality when
they got onto the topic
of former TD Bank CEO
Ed Clark, who has apparently signed on to assist
the Ontario Government
with their budgetary
issues. In a desperate attempt to discredit Clark,
we’re told that “back in
2010, Clark favoured hiking the GST to combat the
federal deficit. His recommendation demonstrated a surprising lack of
understanding about the
real source of the federal
deficit.” What a ridiculous
statement! Stephen Harper inherited a government that was running a
surplus of $13.8 billion,
yet managed to push the
country into deficit before
the 2008-2009 recession
by making the second
GST cut. If cutting the
GST caused the country
to go into deficit, wouldn’t
common sense suggest
that hiking the GST would
take the country back
into surplus? How does
that
recommendation
demonstrate a “lack of
understanding about the
real source of the federal
deficit?”
I’m not entirely sure
if our friends over at the
Fraser Institute have ever
actually received any formal training in economics, because what they
come up with seems to
suggest that they have
precious little understanding of modern economic theory. First of all,
in order to have economic
growth, some sector has
to incur debt--that is a
given. Combine that with
the fact that by definition,
the sum of all the deficits
and surpluses across all
three sectors of the economy, the government
sector, the private sector
and the foreign financial
sector, has to be zero. In
practice, what that means
is that when the government goes into deficit, the
private sector goes into
surplus by an equivalent
amount, and vice versa.
No federal government
can ever eliminate debt,
they can really only ever
shift it over to the private sector in the form
of household debt. How
does that help the average
Canadian, who ultimately
carries the debt either
way?
It’s interesting that the
Fraser Institute is still
pushing for government
budgetary balance, when
it’s so clear that they are
riding a bandwagon that
went by years ago. Japan,
for example, has a debtto-GDP ratio of almost
250% and has had interest
rates of less than 1% for 21
years now. They don’t have
runaway inflation and
the Japanese Yen remains
one of the world’s reserve currencies, like the
US dollar and the Euro.
The Japanese experience
has shown the world that
sovereign countries with
their own currency and
their own central bank
(i.e. not any countries in
the Eurozone) can never
face any real constraint
to stimulate jobs through
deficit spending except
an ideological one.
Of course, the facts
generally conflict with
the Fraser Institute narrative, so they tend to avoid
them.
Andy Braid
Ed. Note – Andy, we
hadn’t heard from you in a
couple of weeks so we figured a Fraser Institute editorial would get you going
again.
Active attention must be paid to dangerous stretch of River Road
The Editor,
Like Ms. Spragg’s letter to you last week, I am
concerned that another
death is imminent on
River Road unless active
attention is paid to this
safety concern by the
councillors which were
voted to be our voice.
To the office of Councillor Darouze, I have
specifically
addressed
the condition and speed
infractions on the stretch
of River Road which is
from the intersection of
Nixon and River Road to
where River Road meets
Highway 416. I have also
addressed to his office,
the heavy truck traffic
and the speed of these
trucks beyond 80 km,
which further adds to
the road’s deterioration
and hardly is a welcome
to safely leading potential visitors to the city of
Ottawa if they have left
Highway 416 to take “the
scenic route”. The safety
of drivers, cyclists and
residents is perilous because many areas, namely this section of River
Road requires better road
maintenance (note…it is
not been repaved in the
25 years I have lived on
it!) and a review of speed
zones.
I too have been told
by Councillor Darouze’s
office that there is a 3 5 year plan… I have not
been told the name of
the plan nor any details
of how public input is included in this planning.
Any resident in this
“rural” part of the City of
Ottawa will attest to the
increased usage, of this
section of River Road, by
motorcyclists who seem
to think this stretch of
country road is a trial
test strip for Shannonville Track motorcycling
racing. (All of River Road
is avoided by cyclists
throughout Ottawa, as it
is considered as a highway of death; I note that
the tragedy of the Cycle
Ride last Sept. in which
a cyclist lost her life, has
certainly left many questions in my mind about
how our city planners
are planning and manag-
ing roads in the interest
of public safety). More
specifically, River Road
from its intersection at
Nixon Road is supposed
to be considered the
scenic route to lead tourists from Highway 416.
Yet, you will not see any
leashed dogs and their
owners casually strolling
this section of River Road
without fearing both
lives.
You will seldom see a
walker and runners need
to rethink routes. Country living at its finest!
I hope to read more
concerns in this community paper so as to
bring a stronger voice to
the need for action, by
Councillor Darouze at
the city table, to effectively and expeditiously
improve this section of
River Road before someone is killed. Surely, the
concerns of rural residents from Manotick
and Osgoode can be
heard as well as the concerns we hear daily about
Light Rail Traffic System.
Surely, the LRT focus and
costs will not supersede
the City of Ottawa’s vigilance and maintenance
of River Road where we
live rurally. Surely, both
Councillor Darouze and
Councillor Moffatt can
listen to constituents,
push away their paper
plans and “come and
take a look themselves”.
I know that our Mayor
has tried to experience
the skidoo trails perhaps
Councillor Darouze can
cycle with him or walk
down River Road and this
experience can be inputted back in Ottawa at the
planning tables.
Donna Bekkers-Boyd
Is there a doctor in the house?
I was trying to imagine
what it might have been like
back in the “olden days” for
medical treatment so I read
about the limited resources
and ingenuity they put to
use! For instance, the yarrow plant was used to stop
the flow of blood from a
wound and so it was called
bloodwort or woundwort.
As late as the 1860’s surgeons crushed the yarrow
plants and applied them to
lacerations.
The yarrow has graygreen leaves and large clusters of flowers on tall stems.
The blooms are usually
bright yellow or white; they
are often used for dried
flower arrangements. Apparently, the yarrow came
to America with early settlers from Europe to China.
THis week,
THIS
MONTH
by Larry Ellis
In the Middle Ages, yarrow
was part of an herbal mixture known as Gruit, used
in the flavouring of beer
prior to the use of hops. The
flowers and leaves were
used to make liquors and
bitters. One recipe called
for a mixture of yarrow,
brandy and gunpowder.
It was prescribed to “ease
pain” - I’ll bet it did!
Herbal remedies have
been and continue to be
used to heal today. We’ve
come a long way in the
medical sciences and are
rty
i
d
e
h
t
o
d
s
u
t
e
L
work for you!
prone to expecting miracles from the advances
in modern medical technology. Any MD will tell
you that medicine is not
an exact science. Luckily,
you won’t find a cow patty
on your chest to cure a bad
cough anymore but nor
have we found a miracle
pill. In fact, managing pills
can be a tricky business
with side effects of medication plaguing many a
patient.
At the end of the day,
be thankful for those who
heal and the options we
have to choose from but
most of all, speak up, ask
questions and read the information the pharmacist
puts in the bag with your
prescription: it’s your body,
it’s your responsibility.
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