Editorials - July 8, 2022

Homeward bound  

One outcome of the pandemic that many feared would come to pass has begun. The number of pets surrendered to Toronto shelters so far in 2022 is up 75 per cent over the same period last year. Pandemic pets are being given up for adoption at an alarming rate as their owners return to work or inflation outstrips their ability to care for their animals.
   

In many cases, these dogs are no longer puppies and they are suffering from separation anxiety after becoming accustomed to their owners being with them during the long shutdowns of the COVID-19 pandemic. Due to the influx of animals, there is a wait list for surrenders and Toronto Animal Services is providing more resources to help owners keep their pets, including mobile clinics providing microchip, rabies shots and licensing at reduced fees, free dog and cat food while supplies last and providing spay and neuter services to low-income families.
   

It is a good reminder that pet ownership extends far beyond simply picking out a cute puppy. Doing some research on breeds to help find a pet that will fit into your long-term lifestyle is important. Consider where you will be five years from now, 10 years from now and what that dog will need from you for each stage of its life. 
 

These pet owners wouldn’t consider putting their children up for adoption when it’s time to return to the office full-time, perhaps their fur babies deserve the same consideration, especially if there are additional resources to keep them in their home. – DS

The tipping point

While most celebrated Canada Day, whether it be with fireworks, camping or spending some quiet time with their family, a few unlucky locals likely needed emergency medical assistance and last weekend those people found themselves with limited options. 
   

Ahead of the long weekend, the Clinton Public and Listowel Memorial Hospitals announced that they were both forced to close their emergency departments. The Clinton department has been closed overnight since before the COVID-19 pandemic and has been subject to periodic closures several times since the pandemic was declared. 
   

However, Huron County is not alone. Hospitals, especially emergency departments, have been facing staffing shortages and outbreak-related closures for over two years now and the problem is only getting worse. Stories can easily be found from across the country, especially in rural areas, of hospital emergency departments being closed for one reason or another - often due to staffing shortages.
   

Canada’s healthcare system is often held up as a shining example of a country caring for its people, regardless of their ability to pay a medical bill. While some neighbours to the south would love to dance on our socialized system’s grave, it is one of our greatest attributes, but it’s clearly in peril as staffing concerns rage and burnout persists. 
   

Rolling closures like the ones we saw over the weekend may pass without thought for those of us who didn’t need care, but they are a concerning symptom of a much bigger problem and we should all be taking notice because you never know when you’ll be the one on the wrong side of a locked emergency department door. – SL 

Everything to everyone 

While mud has been slung, changes have been made and feelings have been hurt as a result of the art installation at the Greenway Trail, the real question of the day is what the project was meant to be in the first place and if it accomplished that goal, bridging an impossible gap.
   

The art piece, an interpretation of a map of Blyth by celebrated local artist Randy Jones, was unveiled earlier this month at the trailhead, located just off of Queen Street, and was nearly immediately blasted by North Huron Council members and some residents for its content, style and the fact that it was placed seemingly without township permission.
   

While the latter has been cleared up, as council did approve a memorandum of understanding about the piece, the question of how the installation is meant to function is still yet to be answered.
   

Ignoring the issues of artistic integrity and the process that saw the art piece installed, the goal, from the start, was to have a piece of art to encourage people to come to downtown Blyth. What was produced, however nice a piece it is, may fall more on the artistic mural side, rather than a functioning map that could guide trail users to downtown Blyth. While the map, which beautifully renders some of Blyth’s biggest landmarks, would fit perfectly as a mural on the side of a building, something a little more functional may have better accomplished the task of enticing trail users into the village instead of having them bypass Blyth’s commercial core and continue on their way.
   

In a community that prides itself on providing some of the greatest Canadian art there is, the question of utility becomes paramount when there is a stated vision and goal for that art, and that question remains to be answered with Blyth’s newest conversation piece, which perhaps tried to be two things at once and unfortunately ended up as neither. – JDS