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Sunshine List does not tell the whole story The Editor,
Wild and wonderful
Wildlife is one of those issues that can really make people wild. Few are indifferent about animals. Some look at a forest creature and see a prospective trophy or meal. Others admire beasts and see cuddly critters that are so darn cute that they are tempted to go vegan. But all would agree that wild animals are to be respected, because they are, after all, wild. Which brings us to the changing seasons and increased encounters with fauna. You have no doubt noticed that raccoons are all over the place; many have been squashed by vehicles. Skunks are emerging from their hibernal slum- ber. As are other, less innocuous creatures -- bears. The Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources and the Ontario Provincial Police are wor- king together to protect and educate people about ursus ater. The public is reminded that black bears that come into a populated area aren’t always a threat to public safety. Call 911 if a black bear poses an immediate threat to personal safety by exhibiting threatening or aggressive behaviour. Police are the first responder for any emergency situation. At the request of police, during daylight hours the Ministry of Natural Resources will respond to emergency situations to assist. If you have a non-emergency encounter, call the BearWise reporting line at 1-866-514- 2327. Visit ontario.ca/bearwise for tips and to learn about bears. Jarring experience There are bad roads everywhere but few are as challenging as some of the routes on the Québec side, such as the hilly tracks in Grenville-sur-la-Rouge. Take the Kilmar Road, please. Like the Rouge River Road, the Kilmar, the one that goes up to the Colacem cement plant, has always been rough. So people learn to adjust their driving habits, and take the rosary beads out of the glove compartment, when they embark on a leisurely tour of that picturesque part of the world. No matter how well prepared you are, the experience is jarring. Crawling along at a top speed of 10 kilometres per hour, dental fillings loosen as the car’s suspension shrieks while the poor thing is mercilessly battered. On one side of the road is a sharp embank- ment leading to a roaring river, on the other there is a wall of rock and trees. If you weren’t fearing for your life, the views would be actually quite pleasant. The beaten up road, filled with ruts, crevices and craters, is shared with massive trucks that zip along the gravel tracks, their drivers seemingly oblivious to the potential ha- zards. The operators of the behemoths give ‘er as they gun up hills, then pick up speed on the rare straight and level sections before gearing down for yet another corner and sharp decline. There is one upside to this trek – after surviving a trip up the Kilmar, the mottled streets of Hawkesbury seem almost smooth. Branding Speaking of Hawkesbury, the town has been called a lot of things over the years. But don’t you think it is high time the town had its own official, feel-good slogan? We are told that when it comes to marketing, branding is vital if a product, a com- pany or a town is to stand out among the crowd. However, coming up with an effective tagline is not easy. Vankleek Hill, for example, has for year touted itself as being the “Gin- gerbread Capital of Ontario,” in reference to its house treatments. But some outsiders think gingerbread refers to the cookie or the small houses people make at Christmas. So a new motto is in the works. “Busiest Town in Ontario” is one suggestion. Considering all the people who have such great ideas in Hawkesbury, surely some ci- tizen could come up with a clever and captivating title for the big village on the Ottawa. This could be a simple and relatively cheap undertaking – the town need not embark on another study or hire a consultant to guide Hawkesburgers through this process.
I read with interest Richard Mahoney’s April 2, 2014 article on firefighter salaries, Les capitaines les mieux payés en Ontario, published in Le Carillon. I’d like to try and provide some clarity on the issue. The Sunshine List is an annual publication of the names of any broader public sector employee whose income for that year ex- ceeds $100,000. The Harris government put this law in place in 1996, and it was designed to ensure that the public is always aware of the compensation levels for government employees. While the Sunshine List makes public an individual’s total compensation, it does not tell the whole story. For example, reading the Sunshine List doesn’t tell us: Firefighters work a 42-hour week, which is about 5 hours per week more than the average public servant (which equals 260 hours more per year, which equals 7 weeks more per year); The firefighter’s salary in Hawkesbury is $80,568.34 which is well be- low $100,000 per year and well below the average in the province which is $86,760.00. All of the firefighters on the Sunshine List are Captains who have been on the job many years and provide experience and leadership for the Hawkesbury Fire Depart- ment; Front-line captains appearing on the Sunshine List usually do so because of one- time lump sum payments such as .retroac- tive payments triggered through a negotia- ted settlement or arbitration award. The captains of the Hawkesbury Fire De- partment also appear on the list because of overtime they worked in 2013. They are often required to work for 14 days in a row to fill in for current vacant positions. The Hawkesbury Fire Department has been run- ning short one captain position since 2010 and for the better part of 2013 there was an Saviez-vous qu’il n’y a aucune obligation légale pour une municipalité d’avoir un ser- vice des loisirs. Alors pourquoi un service des loisirs à Hawkesbury? Une partie de la population comprend d’emblée son importance puisque le sport et l’activité physique sont des composantes essentielles à leur vie. Pour d’autres, ce sera à peine plus difficile à comprendre car ils voient bien que les enfants, leurs enfants et petits-enfants, ont besoin d’activités phy- siques pour se développer sainement, tant physiquement que psychologiquement. Il y a cependant la réalité économique. Et si on tient compte de cela, il faut reconnaître que ça coûte beaucoup trop cher. Imaginez un instant que je viens de dénicher un emploi dans la région. Moi et ma famille évaluons à quel endroit nous allons vivre, où nous allons acheter notre maison… Hawkesbury, L’Orignal, Vankleek Hill, Grenville, Alexandria, La- chute, Alfred, autres? Quels facteurs influencent mon choix? Ma langue, ma culture, les gens que je connais dans la région, le lieu de mon emploi, les
Jérémie Bourgeoys
additional captain-position vacancy in the suppression division. The Sunshine List doesn’t tell us anything about the value firefighters provide. Highly skilled firefighters are on duty 24 hours a day, seven days a week. We are prepared to respond in minutes to almost any kind of emergency: fires, medical calls, Haz- Mat calls, floods, ice storms, rescues, and highway accidents. We respond to emergencies that can take a great toll on our health and welfare. We also conduct public education and inspec- tions in addition to the countless hours at community events both on- and off-duty. While I think it’s important to provide the public with information about public sec- tor salaries, I think it’s important to give all the facts. Let’s consider what firefighters do each and every day and focus less on a list that appears once a year.
Jérémie Bourgeoys President Local 1677 Hawkesbury Professional Fire Fighters Association
Pourquoi un service des loisirs à Hawkesbury?
écoles pour mes enfants, les résidences pour mes parents, les soins de santé, les taxes, les routes, la beauté de l’endroit, la sécurité, auront tous une influence. Pensez-vous vraiment que les loisirs offerts ont une influence sur mon choix? Quelqu’un en doute? Pourquoi dans cer- taines villes (disons-le, mieux gérées!) le service des loisirs relève directement du di- recteur général ou du développement éco- nomique? Les administrateurs municipaux et nos élus actuels ne comprennent donc pas le lien direct entre loisirs, qualité de vie et développement économique! Des gens plus avisés l’ont compris bien avant vous en construisant un magnifique complexe sportif, peut-être nous faut-il un nouveau groupe d’élus pour ramener le gros bon sens à Hawkesbury? Il faut certai- nement changer le service de loisirs actuel! Une unité régionale de loisirs est une évi- dence, mais bon, une étape à la fois… La question devrait donc être; A-t-on les moyens de se passer d’un service des loisirs compétent et efficace? André Goyette, Hawkesbury
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Bertrand Castonguay , President, bertrand@eap.on.ca Roger Duplantie , D.G. / G.M., roger@eap.on.ca François Bélair , Sales & Development, fbelair@eap.on.ca François Legault , Directeur de l’information/News Editor, francois.legault@eap.on.ca Yvan Joly , Sales director (Hawkesbury), yvan@eap.on.ca François Leblanc , Directeur (Lachute), francois.leblanc@eap.on.ca Gilles Normand , Production & Distribution Mgr., gilles.normand@eap.on.ca Julien Boisvenue , Layout & Prepress Mgr., julien.boisvenue@eap.on.ca
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