The Many Faces of PTSD: Stéphane Beaudin Speaks Out

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The Many Faces of PTSD: Stéphane Beaudin Speaks Out

Curled up around his shoulders is Stéphane's "Angel" cat Léopold.

"He knows my schedule, and waits for me by the door.

He sits next to the tub while I take a shower and lays beside me at night."

We have all experienced traumas in our life, from a sudden illness that knocked us off our feet for a while, to dealing with some level of abuse from loved ones or even friends. Other times, we take on jobs or embark in careers that come with high amounts of stress or where one has to look death straight in the eye on a regular basis. Over time, we heal. However, some of us don’t and that’s where it gets complicated.

Try functioning “normally” with sleep-deprivation, agitation, feeling disconnected from your own body and thoughts. All those strange and usual sensations can inhibit your ability to have a fulfilling relationship or even find decent employment. Your support system can also wax and wane, leaving you feeling very isolated. These symptoms and much more can go on for days, months or even years.

Say hello to Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. 

I would like to introduce you to Montreal-born, Stéphane Beaudin. He’s just your average guy, loves his family, full of community-spirit, and has a soft spot for political advocacy. What you don’t know is that Stéphane has a shadow that looms over him and that shadow is called Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (otherwise known short form as PTSD).

Stéphane has lived a tumultuous life, moving from Montreal to Windsor at a very young age, dealing with abusive relationships, bouts of poverty and more than most people could wrap their heads around. Although there were some very dark days (thankfully manageable now), these circumstances have not stopped him from fighting hard to overcome the hold that PTSD tries to grip many of our lives.

Below is my Q&A with Stéphane. 

1. Our society seems to be on stress-overload, yet it’s pretty amazing how some people are able to manage and are more resilient, while others just cannot cope and encounter debilitating anxiety and struggle with mental health conditions. When was the moment you realized that you were out of control and PTSD was taking over your life?

I’d have to say there were many indicators that I ignored for a long time. As a child, my step-fathers were very authoritarian and abusive. I was regularly “punished” for things as simple as leaving a glass on the counter. When people did things that were “against the rules,” I would fly into a rage, especially if they were not “punished” as I was. I’m not saying this on-going abuse was the only cause of my PTSD, but it surely didn’t help.

At 17 years old, I was enlisted into the Army. My mom signed me up and I was a tank driver, and armoured reconnaissance. I was trained to locate and destroy enemy targets. During a training exercise, on of my Captains who recently got back from Serbia started to display mental health problems and became very unstable. He ended up by accident, injuring me. I decided after that incident I would become a medic. I wanted to help people like him transition back to regular life. I guess that’s when I realized what I was going through and when the healing began.

2. What barriers have you faced in your professional and every day life and on the flip side, what strengths have you gained with having this diagnosis? 

No one knew until now what I was going through, and still dealing with on a daily basis. As one friend put it, “I put on a good show,” to which I reply, “fake it till you make it!”

It’s been a while since I left the army, but I still think like a soldier. I can’t let it get the best of me... that’s reserved for my family and friends.

I have lost good paying jobs and people sometimes think that I’m just an awkward guy trying to make friends. Truth be told, yes I am a little awkward, but that’s not always necessarily a bad thing. I do get discouraged sometimes and shut down, or become self damaging. As soon as I start to notice this pattern, I tell myself to do the opposite of what I want to do. It does help, but I find reaching out to my few close friends can really make a big difference.

3. What are the most troubling symptoms that still occur for you and how do you deal with them?

Here’s where it gets a little dark, but this is the reality of living with PTSD. I tried to hurt myself. Not once, not twice, but three times.

First time was at the age of 16. I tried to hang myself. Before I did it, I said to myself that if there is a reason for me being here tell me now. There was no reply but the rope snapped. The second time, was a repeat of the first and happened in my early 20’s. During my third and final attempt, my cat Léopold ended up saving me. I actually hated cats, but obviously from this experience, I feel different. This little guy will be 14 years old this year. He is truly my angel.

On the days when I feel hopeless and worthless, like I can’t do anything, l I think about that day, as well as my wife and kids. It helps me get through.

4. People who suffer with PTSD often describe some of their sensations like a TV remote that is constantly switching channels in their brain. The painful memories can often be distorted yet feel like the encounters are happening all over again. What kind of strategies do you use when you are having an attack? 

You’re right. For me, it’s like a TV show where I’m the star... the ratings are bad and some of the episodes should have never aired, but they are there, and I am playing it out, over and over again.

I found taking up different hobbies helps. Anything to get out of your head. I love gardening, and wine-making. I also like painting and enjoy volunteering my time. Of course, physical activity is really important for me, so going to the gym to workout and maintaining a proper diet really does wonders.

Another step is having someone to talk to when you see the dark cloud coming. For me, Léopold fits that category. He’s a good listener and doesn’t want to compare battle scars.

5. What is one misconception about PTSD that you would like to put to rest? 

Well, it’s not just first responders that suffer from PTSD. The average person who has never even been to battle can suffer. We don't always need to be medicated, we need proper outlets to deal with it.

6. What makes life worth living for you? 

My wife and kids are my world. I feel blessed to have them in my life. I will also include other family, like my aunts, uncles, siblings and parents. As I stated above, my hobbies (yup, I love my wine! Lol) and Léopold hold dear to my heart.

Thank you Stéphane for opening up and sharing your journey with PTSD. I hope that others will have the courage and strength to keep fighting like you have in your life.

If you or a loved one is in crisis or require help in the Windsor-Essex County area, please contact any of the following: 

https://windsoressex.cmha.ca/

https://www.hdgh.org/crisis

https://www.hdgh.org/transitionalstabilitycentre

Finally, It Is To Get Warmer

Sure it is April but it has been so cold up until now. On the day that I started writing this Blog, last Friday, it even snowed. Believe it or not!

Could it all be changing shortly considering this---even if it is only for a few days and even if there is a bit of rain:

It is nice to see a higher temperature and no snow. Mind you, looking at the temperature today just before I posted this article now shows it 3 degrees lower on the 12th and 7 degrees colder on the 13th!  What a change so quickly.

However, I have to admit that I am not very happy when it's raining out because I would like to go for a walk in some warmer temperature finally. As you know, that is what I have generally been doing for the last few summers. It is such a pleasure being able to do so and being able to see so many fascinating sites around this area while going out several times a day for a stroll.

Keep your fingers crossed, dear reader, that our weather really will be changing soon so that we can go out for a walk. And by the way, let's hope that the Summer cannot become unrealistically hot so that we cannot go on for long strolls but get stuck in our house to get some air conditioning to keep us cool.

In the meantime, I still have some time to stay inside and do some writing. Here are some new matters that I have seen recently and for which I am doing this article.

WHAT A REMARKABLE ACTION

Can you imagine all those people complaining! How silly they are. Our Windsor politicians know exactly what they should be doing.

Oh, I know that some of you got so upset because Windsor was going to get rid of its main Library branch downtown. How foolish you were. There was, of course, a real reason for this to happen. Here it is now:

"Windsor police are not just walking city streets — they've also started patrolling stacks of books to protect library patrons.

The Windsor Public Library has hired police officers to monitor the central library as a proactive measure to take on drug activity and violence.

"Because this is a public building, it's open to everybody. [Making sure] everybody feels welcome and they feel safe, that is a really high priority for us," explained the library's CEO Kitty Pope." (Meg Roberts, CBC News, April 5, 2018) 

There, the real reason that has just been announced so that you can praise the Mayor and Councillors for their magnificence in the way that they acted.

NO WONDER PEOPLE HAVE FINANCIAL DIFFICULTIES

It is becoming much more difficult for people to carry on well financially anymore.

Just consider the price of groceries as one example of how expensive it is becoming for people to live these days. The price of food and other products that we buy at grocery stores does increase. Sometimes the increase is high because the food is brought in from other areas and even countries. Think about gasoline prices that are supposed to really rise later on this year. Have you noticed how high the price of the house has risen recently and might go up even higher.

The problem is when the increase in price covers products that are so fundamental to us. We have to pay it and there is not very much we can do about it. Notwithstanding what I have pointed out above, as examples, we must not forget that there is one way that we lose a lot of money every year and there is very little that we can do about it.

This story that I saw in the Toronto Sun tells you how bad the situation has become and how difficult it will be for most people to live a very good life without working very, very hard. It may be even more difficult for so many more people many months after it was published...

"This country badly needs a tax revolt.

According to a report released this week by Vancouver’s Fraser Institute, the average Canadian family earned just over $82,000 in 2016 and paid taxes of just over $35,000.

That means the typical family saw 42.5% of its income gobbled up by one level of government or another.

That’s a higher percentage than families in every other G7 country, except France." (Lorne Gunter, TorontoSun, August 26, 2017) 

Go take a look at this story and see how the author makes a number of comparisons that should make you quite upset in my opinion. Here is just one:

"According to Fraser, the 42.5% we surrender to federal, provincial and municipal governments is more than we pay for food, clothing and shelter – combined! We pay 37.4% for the basic necessities."

While I would like to post some other comments from this story for you to read, I am not going to do so. I want you to read the story yourself to see what will make you feel quite upset about what he has written.

The issue we have to face is how do we resolve these financial difficulties. Regretfully, I cannot give you an easy answer. One does need to consider the person who receives our vote as Legislator and hope that this person can start making the situation better for us.

WHO WILL GET THE CREDIT

Here is something reported that could be great news for us in Canada:

"White House Tries to Pull Nafta Back From Brink as Deadlines Loom

WASHINGTON — After months of fraught negotiations and stalled talks, the Trump administration is aiming to announce a preliminary deal on the North American Free Trade Agreement this month, moving to resolve one trading conflict as a separate clash with China looms.

A final agreement is far from guaranteed, but the White House is revising some of its more aggressive demands, particularly related to automobiles, which had been a source of tension with Canada and Mexico. A new proposal would require an automobile to contain components made by workers earning a specific wage level to qualify for Nafta’s preferential tariffs. The administration had previously demanded that vehicles contain a large percentage of auto parts produced in the United States...

President Trump, who earlier this week called Nafta an “embarrassment,” said at an event in West Virginia on Thursday that a deal could be announced shortly. “We’re working very hard on Nafta with Mexico and Canada,” he said. “We’ll have something I think fairly soon.” (Ana Swanson, New YorkTimes, April 5, 2018) 

Seriously, we have had problems in the past making us think that the whole thing might fall apart. Then there were stories saying that we might finally get a resolution. Then it fell apart again and now it looks better.  

"The talks, which appeared to be on the brink of collapse just a few months ago, kicked back into gear in recent weeks as political and practical realities prompted a newfound urgency among American negotiators."

Whew, that is pretty tough stuff for us residents in Canada to handle since the auto industry is so important for our economy.

Of course, NAFTA is very important for our region from an economic perspective. Our automobile industry is quite dependent on it. Naturally then, what our people do would have to be considered if thanks are to be given out for helping to obtain an Agreement that is positive for us.  Take a look at what was written in the Windsor Star recently. It was about some recommendations given to the Government of Canada. Here though is important one:

"Our message is (that) on top of huge international issues they are working on, there are some really local pressing ones from the Windsor-Essex region they need to know about,” said Justin Falconer, senior manager for Workforce WindsorEssex, which assembled the report...

A primary recommendation of the report is the recognition of the auto sector as a “key priority” throughout negotiations. The supply chain for the industry can not be negatively impacted, the report said.

“As (Tecumseh Mayor Gary McNamara) said, ‘Let’s see them build a car without this agreement,’” Falconer said." (Dave Battagello, Windsor Star, April 6, 2018) 

As you can see, dear reader, pressure is being put on by local people to make sure that our region's needs are to be viewed as important if there is to be any kind of a resolution. This action has to be constantly undertaken considering that the Canadian people who are negotiating this deal are not from our area and may not really appreciate how vital our role is in negotiating a good settlement.

We can only hope that a positive agreement will be negotiated soon by the three Country Governments. That action will clearly help our economic position and keep people working.

What Do I Enjoy Doing Now

As I am sure that you understand, dear reader, my life has changed pretty dramatically over the last few years as I have recovered from my serious illness.

I have to admit that I enjoyed doing what I did before even though it put a lot of pressure on me. That was being an editor and a writer on a Website where I did a lot of work posting about events happening around this area. My enjoyment really was doing so much writing almost every day. It was a lot different compared with my "legal" career that I carried on for so many years working for a number of organizations in both Toronto and Windsor, both law firms and corporations.

Just a short time before I fell ill, I decided to get out of the "business" of being a writer. The reality has to be that my Fate "approved" my action and made sure that I followed my plan. You know how miserable my existence was for so long as I was making the recovery I did. I could not have continued being in the business of writing even if I wanted to do so.

While I am not in the "writing business" any longer, you will note, that I do write even now many articles on here. There is a difference however. I only post articles when I decide to write some. Oh sure, I have written a lot of them in the wintertime, more than in summer, but certainly a lot less than I had to do before. I just do it now because I still enjoy it. I do not have a writing job now. Rather, I do some writing because of what I have seen and what I want to talk about rather than having the duty to write one at a specific time. It just gives me pleasure, hoping, of course, that I am doing something that may interest you as well.

Here are some more interesting issues that I have seen recently and which I am pleased to discuss with you.

SIGNIFICANT BORDER CHANGES

There is some discussion going on now about changing the border operation. This has been talked about before but it may be more important to have it actually undertaken now.

What is being proposed is that vehicles entering Canada from the US will be examined in the US before crossing the border and not after. In other words, it is very similar to what happens to passengers who travel by air from Canada to the US. They are examined by US officers in Canada before they enter into the US. Here is why it is being proposed:

"While Canada has not yet deployed inspection personnel to the United States to facilitate pre-clearance movement into Canada, we hope to see steps on this in the near-future. Perhaps in a pilot project in Scottsdale, or in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., for example," said Kenneth Merten, a deputy assistant U.S. secretary of state.

"Such deployments can only make cross-border commerce and travel more efficient. ... With the world growing smaller every day, we look to these and other programs to further facilitate trade and travel flows." (Alexander Panetta, The Canadian Press, March 26, 2018) 

While this may sound interesting, this is probably the reason why it should be done as soon as possible. It is the saving of a lot of money:

"A Canadian official speaking at the conference says speeding up the border is an economic imperative. He said border wait times cost the Canadian economy somewhere between one per cent and 1.8 per cent of GDP in 2010."

I'm sure that this cost is even higher today and would be even higher in the future if nothing was done.

Here though is something fascinating but extremely practical about the issues that have to be solved before this project really makes any sense. People who understand it know well  about the border crossing business:

"Jennifer Fox expressed her concern that all these big-picture modernization efforts will be for naught if the countries fail to improve the smaller details. She said she was speaking from experience, with frustrations about red tape…

She said these technical details need to be straightened out first, before the countries create new systems that don't work."

WHEW, NOT AN ELECTION ISSUE

Members of Windsor City Council must be pleased. The concerns about Windsor sewers flooding is no longer an election issue. Oh sure, I am certain that Members of Council who are going to be running again must have been quite concerned that they could be in big trouble considering the flooding that we have had over the last 2 years with all the rain in the summertime.

Now, no longer is this an issue. EVEN IF THERE IS FLOODING AGAIN!

I'm sure that you can wonder how I can make such a comment. It is so easy. Here's how:

"A sweeping plan to overhaul Windsor’s sewer system is flowing along.

During a meeting Monday night, Windsor City Council received and approved the first quarterly update into the implementation of the city’s eight-point master plan, designed to find solutions to occurrences of flooding in the city. The project also takes into account water quality and the effects of climate change.

One of the key components of the first update is a new public engagement strategy." (Mark Brown, BlackburnNews, March 26, 2018)

So what if there was flooding all over during the last 2 summers. That was very difficult for Council members to handle. Fortunately, they learned how to do it. Well, not to prevent it from happening again but to make it appear as if they are doing something very serious to prevent it from taking place again.

I can just imagine what they will say if, in fact, we get another storm that causes flooding again this year, and more damage. I wonder if you can think so as well. After all, it won't be their fault because they are doing so much to have the problem solved and themselves re-elected!

As was written before, in a different story:

"The development of the plan will be a two year process meant to give residents a chance to share their stories." (CTV Windsor,March 22, 2018)

Writing More Blog Stories

I do like writing stories for you, dear reader. I have been doing it for so many years that I just cannot believe it. It is something that I must admit that I never expected to do. It is quite enjoyable for me to do the research on something that interests me and then to post it on here for you to read.

Naturally, I expect that you will agree with what I say. After all, I have done so much work about the subject so how could I possibly be wrong. Unfortunately, that is not always true. Sometimes, what I say may be so unacceptable to you that you could never support my position.

However, as I have written before, your opposition is acceptable to me. I would not like that you are not on my side, but sometimes you are not because you have a completely different point of view. It may even force me to re-consider what I have just written to see if what I had said is correct or not.

Another matter that I am dealing with differently is how to do all the typing for my stories on a particular day. I'm hardly a good typist in the first place. At one time, when I first learned how to type in school, I typed properly using all of my fingers to hit the letters on the typewriter keyboard. However, over the years when I was working in my various jobs, I did not actually do any typing. Rather, I just did the dictating. I had a legal secretary who did all the typing that she took from myself directly or a dictation machine that I used.

Obviously, when I started doing typing for myself, and especially when I did all of the articles on the various news sites on which I worked, I had to do the actual typing by myself. I was not in position to hire anyone to do it for me. I really forgot how to use all my fingers for the typing work and instead, just used one finger on each hand to do it for me.

Sure, that was workable and I was able to type relatively quickly doing the two finger typing. Nevertheless, it was difficult and tiring. Since I was not fast typing that way all the time either, it took quite some time for me to type my articles especially considering their length. I needed an approach to accomplish what I was trying to do. Luckily, I had found one!

I must admit I cannot remember how I first discovered it, but my salvation in typing was a product called "Dragon NaturallySpeaking."

I have used it for a number of years starting quite some time ago. The version that I use today is an older one: Version 12. I was quite fortunate in getting this one because I did a review on it that the Owner was free to use as required. There is a newer version that is available now if you are looking for a software product to use, dear reader.

This program is really fantastic for all of the work that I do. I have to admit that what I do is not all that complicated from a typing perspective. Yet, it makes what I do so simple that it is enjoyable. It plays the role of my "secretary" to whom I dictate my article. It does perfectly all of the typing for me as I dictate to it my story in the style that I want it done. The system can be changed to whatever typing style I want to use.

What is quite spectacular for me is that it has value in how much it can do, how quickly and how few the number of mistakes are. It makes it so much easier for me that I can dictate and have typed at exactly the same time such long articles that you can see on my Website.  It makes my day a lot shorter in doing the work that I perform.

It did take some time to learn how to use the software system for dictation, but not a lot. What is quite amazing for me in this version of the software compared with what I had in the past is my much higher speed of dictation and its accuracy in typing out what I am saying. Of course, there can be typing mistakes that are made in my dictation, but they are so easily corrected as well.

This might be something for you to consider, dear reader, especially if typing a lot bothers you. I have to admit that I do not know if there are "free" dictation typing systems out there for you to use or cheaper ones than the Dragon system that I'm using. Who knows, there may even be better ones than the software system that I'm using. However, all I know is that I really enjoy this one quite a bit. It makes the work I'm doing to produce articles for you, dear reader, so much easier for me. Accordingly, if you are looking for a product to assist you, then I strongly urge you to take a good hard look at the Dragon software.

Now it is time for me to let you know about some interesting stories that I have seen recently.

THE BORDER BACKUP GAME

There is still plenty of trouble crossing the border between Canada and the United States because it takes so long so many times.  It happens even though the volume of traffic between the 2 countries has dropped so significantly although, to be direct, it can take much longer for a border official to approve entry into the United States or Canada for a particular vehicle.

It is so obvious that I do not understand why the Federal Government continues playing its game in its handling of the car and truck traffic at our border crossing. Their border backup game has been going on for so many years. Why it is being done is clearly obvious, as pointed out by Dan Stamper of the Ambassador Bridge Company:

"It’s a crisis,” said Stamper who added it’s been created for political purposes to justify another bridge crossing.

“It feels to us like a punishment to travellers and consumers. They’ve got to have delays to justify the Gordie Howe Bridge,” Stamper said." (Mary Caton, Windsor Star, March 23, 2018)

I do find it strange considering that the Ambassador Bridge Company is moving forward and the Gordie Howe Bridge cost to be built is only around $10 billion now. That amount is a gigantic increase from only a few years ago. Why the Government wants to spend so much tax money is just beyond my belief.

What is also quite strange to me is how much money it is costing private businesses:

"It’s an absolute disaster,” Zekelman said of the truck backlog into Canada. “I’ve been complaining about this for 15 years.

“It limits our ability to be competitive, it limits our ability to draw truckers to come over to pick up loads. It’s hurt our city. It’s hurt tourism. It’s hurt business. It’s an absolute catastrophe.”

Zekelman said delays getting trucks across the bridge into Canada cost Zekelman Industries between $3 million to $5 million annually."

Dan Stamper also raised these points about the reasons for the border delay:

"This is an issue of CBSA has booths available and then don't man them. They won't open the lanes when traffic backs up, and it ends up on the freeway [I-75 in Detroit] and then they scramble around, get a few more people, open a couple more booths — it takes hours to clear it up again."

 

Dan Stamper says the CBSA refuses to use 6 truck inspection lanes that were completed west of Huron Church Road in 2007." (Jonathan Pinto, CBC News, March 23, 2018) 

Hold on, I think I have a solution. Perhaps some of the trucking companies might want to start a nice lawsuit to get back their losses in income every year because of the Government action. Moreover, that might solve the border crossing problems very quickly, forcing the Government to act properly to do a deal. Right now.

WHAT A POOR EXCUSE

I am sorry but the defence put forward by Essex MPP Taras Natyshak about his removal from the Ontario Legislature a few weeks ago for his improper action in the Legislature was not acceptable to me.

His big issue in the Legislature was his action in relation to what he put forward as water pollution that contaminated residents' wells in the relevant area. He held up a bottle of dirty water from the area to prove his point. Here is his comment about what happened:

"I knew, because the rules state that you can’t bring in a prop into the legislature, I had a suspicion that they were going to call me out," Natyshak said. "But sometimes civil disobedience is required to get the message through.

"And I was ready to take that chance that I would be … possibly ejected because I think its important for members of the house to have a visual reference of what the government is saying is clean to drink (in Chatham-Kent)."  (Julie Kotsis, Windsor Star, March 9,2018)

How wonderful! He is an MPP that acted improperly. What a magnificent move on his part. NOT!

In my opinion, not only what he did was wrong but what he said he is still prepared to do is even worse:

"Thursday was the first time Natyshak has been ejected from the legislature, an expulsion that lasted for the rest of the day, but he said he’d do it again.

“I tell you I would do it over and over again because water is life,” he said. “Nothing survives without water. You gotta go to the wall on these things.”

I am truly sorry that he takes such an attitude. I do not see how people will get on his side because he acted so poorly. There certainly are other ways that he could have achieved what he wanted to do in a much more professional and proper fashion than what he carried out.

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."