Editorials - Oct. 29, 2020
Keeping the herd safe
Following the rules is sometimes difficult, and the longer that this pandemic holds on, the harder it is to stick to the two-metre physical distancing and to remember to keep a spare mask in the glovebox. (Is it now a maskbox?)
While other areas of the province and country are experiencing spikes in case counts, Huron and Perth counties have remained relatively unscathed. We are now two weeks past the Thanksgiving holiday and it appears most people in our region followed the guidelines and stuck to smaller family gatherings or stayed outdoors. With only one active case in the region, we are luckier than most and we definitely want to stay that way.
Thank you to the folks in our region who are sticking with the guidelines, and thank you to the Huron Perth Public Health team that is helping us all to stay safe! – DS
Three’s company
Alright, run the list: Hunter Biden, Mitch McConnell, Nancy Pelosi, Rudy Giuliani, Bernie Sanders, AOC+3 (Representatives Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Ayanna Pressley, Ilhan Omar and Rashida Tlaib), Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, Andrew Cuomo, Gretchen Whitmer, Kim Jong Un, Vladmir Putin, Xi Jinping and Anthony Fauci. What does this eclectic list of people have in common? None are running for president.
In the final U.S. presidential debate before the Nov. 3 election, the two men actually running for the position – incumbent Donald Trump and former Vice-President Joe Biden – spent less time picking one another apart than they did scrutinizing their opponent’s circle of friends.
Those tuning in hoping for a thoughtful dissection of the issues and the strengths and weaknesses of each candidate will be disappointed, though it was certainly more controlled than the first debate.
Democratic candidate Joe Biden did spend most of his time focused on Trump and his three-and-a-half-year reign. Trump repeatedly worked to tie Biden to the “radical left” to scare undecided voters away with scary socialism and drudged up discredited stories about Biden’s son and the family’s foreign interests.
Debates like last week’s frustrate people with politics. When someone posits that you can never get a straight answer from a politician, debates like last week’s can be used as Exhibit A. With over 223,000 Americans dead from COVID-19, tremendous social unrest, a recession looming and a long, challenging winter ahead for many, there are plenty of issues to debate, but Trump and Biden robbed voters of a thoughtful, insightful debate on those issues. Instead, they chose to pick apart each other’s friend circles and families like a schoolyard yelling match. – SL
Thinking forward
Tim Hortons, alongside some other fast food chains, marked Waste Reduction Week (last week) with a number of announcements about how the company, which is synonymous with Canadian identity for some, will be reducing its negative impact on the environment.
The changes range from using different kinds of napkins made from 100 per cent recycled material and 25 per cent less material to using paper-based wrappers for sandwiches and bagels that are recyclable.
One of the biggest announcements, however, was that the company will be working with Loop, a zero-waste platform owned by TerraCycle. Loop is a pilot program that will allow customers to get their take-out goods in reusable containers that can be returned to the restaurant with a deposit that will be returned when the containers are brought back.
The program will see Loop sanitize and clean the containers before they go back into circulation. The pilot is set to start next year in Toronto.
It’s good to see companies start to take part in these programs because it means that environmentalism isn’t just being considered at the grassroots level. From the federal government changing which plastics are allowed in the country to the province changing the blue box system to private corporations buying in, it shows that the sustainability of humanity is finally being taken seriously by some. – JDS