It's Cold Out Already

Oh I know it is not winter yet but it certainly feels cold out as far as I'm concerned. Days of clouds don't make this weather any better right now.  I have seen some nice rains coming down to making my Condo residence horribly wet. At least, I don't have to watch our Condo-retained snow removal company removing drifts of snow. So far anyway.

I have to admit that I check out the weather probably too much. But I like doing so. It is so interesting to go to some of the weather sites and watch their service suggest how the clouds are going to form over the next few hours and what their prediction on the weather is. I have to say though that I'm not sure how "accurate" they are in their predictions these days. Lots of times I've seen the weather company predict that rain will start at a certain time and it does not. In fact, on occasion, I have not seen any rain at all.

No problem though. I'll keep following what the weather forecasters are predicting and plan what I shall do, and also what I will recommend that my family should do as well. However, I will not say a lot to my wife and kids as I have agreed. They don't need to listen to so much nonsense concerning the weather from me.

One thing certainly that I know what will happen when I see all of these clouds and remember that the weather forecasters are predicting a miserable day is that I have the opportunity to write some articles for my readers. Here are some now.

THE BORDER AGAIN

I know that I am not supposed to write very much about the border file anymore and that I won't unless I have a really good reason to do so. Well, I'm going to write a very short one now. I know that you will understand what my "really good reason" is after reading it.

Anne Jarvis wrote this column in the Windsor Star on November 1, 2017: "Ambassador Bridge wants to be connected to the parkway." There is no real need for me to talk very much about what is in her article.  Here is what Dan Stamper of the Ambassador Bridge Company stated:

"We’ve heard this is a road to nowhere,” Stamper said, referring to what people have said the road will be if the Gordie Howe isn’t built. “But that’s not true. We got a nine-kilometre improvement. We do appreciate that.”

That leaves a 4.5-km gap with 10 traffic lights between the parkway’s exit for Huron Church and the bridge.

“We would expect that one way or the other, that’s going to get fixed,” Stamper said. “It makes sense. There are plans, although nobody wants to talk about it, for how to connect the Herb Gray Parkway to us."

Come on. That was the plan more than a decade ago. I think it was always the intention of the Government to build a second Ambassador Bridge right beside the first one with a special, high-speed road that leads right to the new bridge. It was never the intention to have border traffic go to the new bridge going down Huron Church Road.

Of course you doubt me. What do I know, right? Well here is what I do know. Go do some research for yourself and see what happened in Sarnia when they built their second bridge. It is exactly what you are going to see here, dear reader. A new, second bridge built beside the existing bridge, not away from it!

Give me a break. Do you expect the Government of Canada to spend $4-5 billion to build a bridge a few miles away when the Bridge Company can spend another $500 million to build a new crossing between Windsor and Detroit now. Of course, before the Government can build a bridge, we could see at least a decade long lawsuit started by the Bridge Company probably in both Canada and United States preventing the Canadian Government from building it in the first place. I think the Bridge Company would win it as well.  I also believe that the Governments on both sides of the river also believe it or they would have built their bridge, or at least tried to, a long time ago.

I am sure that there is going to be a whole bunch of stories in the media over who knows how long that will discuss this matter. There might even be some new lawsuits too.

Ignore it all.

Just accept what I have said in this column about what is going to happen because it is really not all that different from what I have said in all of my columns previously for so long!

What the Governments need to do to get this moving quickly is to do a deal already over the building of the new bridge with the Ambassador Bridge Company that will give them shares in the Bridge Company. All that they have to do is pay the money needed to build this second bridge, a relatively small amount, and get a piece of the Company that owns and operates the two crossings.

It really is that easy.

UPDATE: 

In another article in the Windsor Star, Anne Jarvis makes it clear, as far as I am concerned, that it only makes sense to build a second Ambassador Bridge and to forget about the other one:

"Two new six-lane bridges between Windsor and Detroit that could cost $5 billion will be “highly underutilized,” predicts a border policy research institute.

Traffic on the Ambassador Bridge plunged 45 per cent between 2000 and 2016. Yet Canada and bridge owner Matty Moroun are each building new six-lane crossings, tripling capacity. Moroun’s new span, immediately west of the Ambassador, will replace it. The government’s, two kilometres downriver, is an additional one.

“From a straight-up traffic data standpoint, all indications point to them being highly underutilized,” said Laurie Trautman, director of the Border Policy Research Institute at Western Washington University, near the Canada-U.S. border. “From just a capacity standpoint, it seems like a very strange use of funding.” (Anne Jarvis, Windsor Star, November 2, 2017)

Why waste any money for something so ridiculous! The reality is that only the second Ambassador Bridge will be built.

PHONE MEDICINE

An interesting comment but do you accept it, dear reader:

"Walk-in medical clinics where patients are seeing doctors by video have popped up recently in the Windsor area, leading the president of the local medical society to question why they’re coming here since the technology is largely designed to assist patients in underserved and remote locations, such as northern Ontario.

“I struggle to see what they are adding,” said Dr. Amit Bagga, who represents 460 physician members of the Essex County Medical Society. “Maybe 20 years ago, when we were underserviced, but that’s not the case any more. You have lots of physicians here of good quality…”

“There might be benefits in remote locations. But a place like Windsor you have enough quality physicians to take care of health needs,” he said." (Dave Battagello, Windsor Star, November 1, 2017) 

I have to admit that I was not exactly sure what this section of the medical system was all about. When I first read the Star story, I thought it had to do with patients who weren't feeling well seeing a doctor right away through a video system. I thought frankly that it referred to any doctor that a patient might want to see especially the equivalent of a "family doctor."  However, I don't think that is correct. I read this online at Ontario Telemedicine Network where it appears that people are dealing with specialists through the system. I assume that one must have one's own doctor locally who refers the person to a specialist through this system:

"Why should you talk to your doctor about OTN?

-to access a specialist from anywhere in Ontario in a timely manner.

-to receive care closer to your home.

-to reduce travel to appointments, saving time and money."

If that is so, I would not think that there should be much concern since there seems to be a very big backlog still in seeing specialists here because it takes so long to get into their offices.  Moreover, some of the illnesses are so severe in this region that specialists here need to refer people to more senior specialist doctors located in a small number of hospitals around the Province. If that is so, then I would think that OTN is helpful for the patients and does not jeopardize our local doctors.

WHO IS RUNNING FOR OFFICE

For the City of Windsor, here is what the newspaper article is talking about:

"With just under a year to go before the next municipal election, most city councillors are talking like they want to run again." (Brian Cross, Windsor Star, November 1, 2017) 

It will be interesting to see if anyone runs against some of these Councillors who are seeking re-election. In my opinion, if good candidates decide to run against any of them, I would expect to see quite an election campaign taking place. It would not surprise me at all to see a bunch of the Councillors lose. I know that I would have some difficulty in voting for a number of the Councillors in Windsor if they decided to run again. I have not been impressed with many of them at all.

With respect to the election for Mayor, I think I would be surprised to see Drew Dilkens running again. I just don't think his chances are good now anyway plus I also expect someone's brother to be out there running. Dilkens seems to be out there these days getting a lot of publicity that would help him for re-election but I wonder if it is for a nonelected-political job that he is seeking. As an example, if Bill Marra ran for Mayor, and I don't think he's going to do so based on what he said in that article, I think he could easily defeat Dilkens.

Have fun watching what happens out there in the City of Windsor, dear reader. For those of you who live in one of the smaller towns outside Windsor, as I do, follow the election in your area as well. There is no doubt in my mind that there will be some major issues that will involve the smaller towns in the next 4 years including amalgamation into one major city with the City of Windsor.