Dear Editor:
I first want to express my appreciation to John Francis for his excellent editorial in the last issue of your paper. As a year-round resident of North Bruce I couldn’t agree more with several of his points and would like to add my voice to his comments.
Yes, the light in Tobermory is required and I’m sure the residents of Tobermory will appreciate it. I live on the Lake Huron side directly across from Lion’s Head and to be honest I avoid Tobermory like the plague from July 1st until after Labour Day. Much as my wife and I enjoy the occasional lunch or dinner out and shopping the local businesses there, it simply isn’t worth the stress during the tourist season.
This being said I will strongly express our desire for lights at the Ferndale intersection.
There are times during the summer when one must take one’s life in their hands to simply cross Hwy 6 to get to Lion’s Head. Despite the best efforts of the OPP, people still race through Ferndale, and even when you should have enough space to cross if drivers were even close to the speed limit, it’s risky because most are driving way too fast.
I understand that local businesses need tourism to survive and I am not opposed to the summer influx, but we need the infrastructure to be able to support it. Strides are being made, but we have a long way to go, to not only deal with necessary tourism, but maintain the beauty of the Bruce while doing it.
As for one road in and out, Mr. Francis brings up a valid point about potential disasters and the challenges this would present. I would just like to say that given the climate related events of this year alone, it is no longer a case of if or maybe something will happen on the Bruce, it is now a case of when it will happen. Complacency is simply no longer an option.
Finally, although I’m sure we could all go on and on, I would like to speak to his point on taxes. Let me be clear that I am happy to offer criticism of both Conservative and Liberal governments so this is not an attempt to point a finger at one or the other. North Bruce is a safe Conservative area so we really don’t matter to either party. They simply don’t care because they know how the majority will vote. Even if one party were to offer great things for us it would simply mean another broken promise because they are all the same in that regard. Witness Mr. Ford’s promise to never touch the Greenbelt or to never consider any form of healthcare privatization, or Mr. Trudeau’s promise that we were voting in the last first past the post election if we elected the Liberals. It doesn’t matter who they are, once they get their nose in the trough their big money donors and friends are all that matter. All you need to do is look at the constant scandals and money thrown away by both parties to truly understand politics in this country.
I am not saying that we should simply give up and sit on our hands, but if we really want things to change a lot more of us need to speak up.
Regards,
Mike Leslie
Lion’s Head
