Here Are New Stories

There are lots of interesting stories that just seem to appear all of a sudden in my Blogsite. I  just cannot post all of them that are fascinating in the news that I have seen.  I just post some of them that I read which I  hope you will enjoy seeing  here.

When one does Blogs as I do, then I assume that the Blogger has a whole bunch of articles that the person wants to make part of his/her new site story. Accordingly, one tries to figure out exactly what one is going to say and then even starts doing so. Then, the "EXCITING" story appears on the scene. It changes everything. One has to write a new story immediately and then post it instead of those that were planned before. Naturally, that means that the older stories have to be reconsidered and may even be dropped because a bunch of even newer events require new stories to be set up.

I have to tell you that this happens to me on many occasions.  Now that may help explain a bit about the older stories I am posting now.  

MORE WATER WILL CAUSE US MORE DAMAGE

Don't you find it very strange, dear reader, that there is so much flooding seemingly going on these days? I do because I have had to fight it for the last 2 summers when I never had to do so before. It is even more troublesome where people where I am living now have said they've never had flooding in this area for such a long period of time.

I just read in an article what might explain why we are having so much flooding:

"Paving over porous paradise, or any absorbent ground, increases the risk of basement flooding, say researchers using City of Toronto data…

the amount of land people cover with buildings, parking pads, parking lots and more, is linked to the costly rising tide of urban flooding that is expected to worsen in coming years.

“From what we have seen, areas with less green space — mostly developed areas, without any consideration for pervious or green areas — are more likely to have this kind of basement flooding…”

Other factors make basements prone to invasion from “pluvial” flooding — rainwater unable to soak into the ground, as opposed to “fluvial” flooding, which occurs when bodies of water overflow. They include aging, deteriorating sewer pipes and other infrastructure meant to steer rainfall away from homes. In Toronto, some of those pipes are more than a century old and, when overwhelmed by big storms, send untreated sewage from downtown into Lake Ontario." (David Rider, Toronto Star, March 5, 2018)

Oh sure, I have seen newspaper articles telling us that big studies are going to be undertaken in this area soon to try to explain what is going on with all the water that we are seeing. However, one should ask if there is any need to do so given this remark:

"We’re definitely seeing an increase in urban flooding everywhere — it’s not just Toronto, it’s everywhere across the country and it’s because we are paving over what would normally soak up the water — the water has nowhere to go,” Peddle said in an interview.

“Even if we’re having just a little more rain than we used to, the water ends up in basements and flooding roadways, flooding parks. The weather is changing, we are seeing more rain events more often. That combined with increased development, infrastructure that’s aging, us paving over areas that used to be able to soak up the water — the result is more (flood) events and bigger losses, too."

I would guess that a lot of politicians in our area have their fingers crossed before their next municipal election in a few months. They are hoping that we don't see any big rain this summer because if we did get flooding, it could cost them their positions. Perhaps that explains why the studies that are now being undertaken around here will take so long to be completed. It gives to our politicians an excuse for not doing anything right away.

WILL NEW RAIL MONEY EVER BE SPENT HERE

This nonsense about building a high-speed rail line to Windsor just seems so funny. I wonder if it is ever going to happen at all. An election is coming up at the time of this latest Ontario Government action but not very much seems to be planned for our area:

"It’s full speed ahead for Ontario’s proposed high-speed rail system, but with early plans for the Kitchener-to-London leg continuing to divide the region’s voters, the issue could be a central theme in the looming provincial election, at least in southwestern Ontario.

The province kicked off a $15-million study of the impacts of laying down high-speed rail lines between Kitchener and London, the next phase of a plan one expert called “a winning issue for the government." (Megan Stacey, Postmedia News, March 7, 2018) 

The reason is obvious. If you will recall, when this all started, our region was not included in the initial thoughts about building a new rail line. It was only after a lot of opposition being raised that the project was extended to our area of the Province.

So what if some Government money is actually being wasted to get information about the effect of a new rail line in this area. It helps the Government's neck doesn't it. Seriously, how could the Government get any votes in our area if it tells the voters that we are not getting a new rail line here at all. Here is all, we are told:

"The proposed rapid rail system — with an estimated price tag of $20 billion — would make London to Toronto a 73-minute trip as early as 2025. The corridor could be extended to Windsor by about 2031, during a second building phase."

What we are really being told, as far as I am concerned, is that we will never see a new high-speed rail line here because the rail line expansion is going to end by 2025. My pity to the Government leader who will have to say that publicly and still hope to be re-elected.

AMERICAN BORDER ACTION

If one is in the Government Canada, here is a reason to be so careful about not hurting the United States too badly in border matters. Short-term salvation:

"Trump Authorizes Tariffs in Defiance of Allies at Home and Abroad

WASHINGTON — President Trump defied opposition from his own party and protests from overseas on Thursday as he signed an order imposing stiff and sweeping new tariffs on imported steel and aluminum. But he sought to soften the impact on America’s closest allies with a more flexible plan than originally envisioned.

After a week of furious lobbying and a burst of last-minute internal debates and confusion, Mr. Trump agreed to exempt, for now, Canada and Mexico and held out the possibility of later excluding allies such as Australia." (Peter Baker and Ana Swanson, New York Times, March 8, 2018) 

Of course, one can always say that the Americans never intended to hurt Canada, but who knows if that is really true. Take a look at this:

"Canada and Mexico would be exempt pending discussions with both countries about changes that would address Mr. Trump’s concerns about steel and aluminum and no time limit was imposed on the exclusion. But administration officials said they expect to deal with those two countries in short order."

Naturally, if those discussions do not end in a favourable agreement among the 3 countries, it would not be pleasant for Canada and Mexico:

"Mr. Trump indicated that the tariffs would go into effect on Canada and Mexico “if we don’t make the deal on Nafta and if we terminate Nafta because they are unable to make a deal that’s fair.”

HEALTH CARE HAS BECOME A BIG ONTARIO ELECTION ISSUE

So much attention is being paid to this matter. Who knows, maybe it is the way to form the new Government. Here is some fascinating news that I saw over the last little while:

NDP story 1

"The NDP leader said many beds that could be used for mental health patients sit unused — including 89 at Hotel-Dieu Grace Healthcare — while hospitals deal with overcrowding and long wait times. She put the blame squarely on Premier Kathleen Wynne, saying the government has been “short-changing” hospitals for too long…

“It’s shocking when you think about the stress that our hospitals are under,” Horwath said. “Windsor families are struggling with a mental-health system that is in crisis and these beds could alleviate that pressure as well. But Kathleen Wynne is letting these beds remain closed.” (Julie Kotsis, Windsor Star, March 9, 2018) 

One has to agree with the NDP. It is so absurd that so many beds are unused in Windsor when we seem to be having a health crisis here.

Of course, the NDP have suggested a new alternative in the medical industry that most people would find very appealing:

"Everybody should be able to get their prescription drugs covered,” she said. “You should not be going to your doctor, getting a prescription, leaving that office and putting it in your purse or your pocket because you simply can’t afford to fill the prescription. Millions of people are doing that in Ontario today and it’s not acceptable."

To be direct, it is easy to put forward a solution to overcome the problem. However, what will the cost be for doing so and is the amount of money something that the Government can afford to spend.

Liberal election hospital funding story 2

Naturally, the Ontario Government has the power to make changes in the medical system to help out their political position. Here is what they just announced that I am sure that they are hopeful will be viewed positively for them:

"An extra $822 million is expected to head to Ontario hospitals in 2018-19, Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne announced Thursday.

That’s very positive news, Windsor Regional Hospital president and CEO David Musyj said Thursday, even though the hospital doesn’t know how much it will receive. (Sharon Hill, Windsor Star, March 22, 2018) 

Windsor Regional Hospital President and CEO David Musyj is such a nice guy about this. Just take a look at what he had to say:

"The June provincial election shouldn’t spoil the news. Windsor Regional Hospital’s fiscal year starts April 1 and the hospital will be well into the year when the June election is held. Musyj said the hospitals will have to plan for the extra funding. If another party took power, he doesn’t expect any cuts to health-care funding.

“We’re not playing the election game,” Musyj said."