Editorials - Feb. 24, 2023
The human spirit
As Turkey and Syria dig out of the rubble left from the devastating earthquake that struck on Feb. 6, two new aftershocks last weekend measuring over six on the Richter scale have caused further casualties to add to the estimated 46,000 killed in the original 7.8 quake. The region had continued to be rocked by more than 7,000 aftershocks, but the ones on Sunday were particularly large and killed six and injured hundreds more, causing even more unimaginable hardship.
Officials announced on Sunday that the country was winding down rescue operations with little hope that anyone could survive any longer while trapped under the tons of debris that was left when scores of buildings collapsed. The human spirit displayed its resiliency, though, as survivors were being pulled out of seemingly unsurvivable chaos days and weeks after the disaster. In fact, people were still being found alive as long as 278 hours (nearly 12 full days) after their homes had collapsed on top of them, including multi-storey apartment buildings.
As rescue missions give way to recovery operations, it will become a much more difficult task for the hundreds of people involved. Each time someone was found alive, it surely gave strength and encouragement to the rescuers to go on despite freezing temperatures and hard work to dig through the rubble. Now, with little hope of finding anyone still alive, the crews will need to soldier on to retrieve the dead to provide closure to loved ones and prepare the area for rebuilding. – DS
Waging war
When you Google slogans used by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) over the years, the first one that comes up is from 1977 and it reads, “Bringing Canadians Together”. Well, that may have been true in 1977, but now, not so much.
Federal Conservative Party Leader Pierre Poilievre has made no bones about the fact that, if given the chance, he plans to defund the CBC, saying that the national broadcaster is campaigning for Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and spreading Liberal propaganda. Last week, he stepped up that rhetoric, refusing to answer a question from a CBC reporter about Poilievre’s support of the so-called Freedom Convoy, deflecting and taking the opportunity to slander the CBC. He has since engaged in a war of words with CBC President Catherine Tait.
If you feel like you’re seeing Donald Trump vs. CNN 2.0, you don’t have to clean your glasses. Poilievre’s war with the CBC is similar, even down to whipping his supporters into a frenzy against the public broadcaster. Perhaps Poilievre knows something we don’t and sees battering the CBC as his path to 24 Sussex Drive, but for many others, it’s seen as petty, irrelevant and deflecting from his own mistakes.
Regardless of who comes out on top, this war being waged with the CBC is doing nothing more than acting as a diversion and detracting from the real issues facing Canadians in their day-to-day lives. Not unlike Twitter owner Elon Musk’s seemingly never-ending quest to discredit “elitist” journalists (perhaps the greatest accomplishment of the man worth nearly $200 billion has been convincing his minions that poorly-paid journalists are an elite class of snobs out to get you), Poilievre is taking aim at those working to find the truth and, when it doesn’t serve his interests, he seems to cry fake news. – SL
He’s coming home
Late last week, the Toronto Maple Leafs completed a three-team trade that brought Seaforth native Ryan O’Reilly to the team and back to his home province for the first time in his professional hockey career.
It’s being heralded as a great move for the team, which, while rich in young talent, has lacked the veteran leadership needed to push the Leafs to the next level come playoff time. However, when it comes to that off-ice component (selling jerseys, tickets and merchandise) it’s a move that will be hard to beat, especially for hockey fans here in Huron County.
The Stanley Cup winner has been the apple of the community’s eye for several years and that adoration reached a new level when the St. Louis Blues, captained by O’Reilly won the Stanley Cup in 2019. O’Reilly brought the cup back to Huron County, hosting parades in both Seaforth and Goderich and making visits in Clinton.
While it’s safe to say that not everyone in Huron County pulls for the storied Toronto Maple Leafs, O’Reilly being on the Leafs is a big deal for the youngest local hockey fans. Not unlike Blyth native Justin Peters winning an Olympic medal as a member of the Canadian national men’s hockey team at the 2018 Olympics, success found on the ice by players who grew up skating on the same ice at the same arenas as today’s young men and women will work wonders for their confidence.
You can’t be what you can’t see. The young people of Huron County see a Stanley Cup winner who grew up here suiting up for their local National Hockey League team, one of the most celebrated in the league’s history. For many, seeing that can’t help but spur on their own dreams, full of hopes that maybe they too, one day, may hoist the cup. – SL