Mugs of eggnog and a lump of coal

(December 22) - Forget all that rubbish from the lunatics who say Christmas is under attack by invading hordes of immigrants. It isn’t. It was beaten senseless by the credit card companies ages ago.

You don’t have to be a practising Christian to have a pleasant Christmas, or to wish a merry one to people you meet. I’m not and I do.

It’s the season for remembering friends and giving a little something to people you don’t know. That’s why we buy a couple of extra non-perishables with our groceries. Instead of bringing them home, we drop them in a food bank bin. Not knowing who will be on the receiving end makes the giving more meaningful.

The same spirit lurks in the background of the very successful United Way drive this year. The $2.66 million raised will go a long way for those who have been hit hard by the recession. Tough times bring out the generosity in most folk.

It is time to hand out warming mugs of eggnog. First in line should be all of you who donated to one or both of the United Way and the food bank. Without you, a lot of families would not have much of a Christmas at all.

I’ll offer another mug to our mayor and councillors. They did a good job of dealing with the mess left behind by higher levels of government. Regular readers know I would have liked to see a higher tax increase to preserve the services we need. Oh well. That’s behind us now.

We lost bus service on holidays, but kept sidewalk snow plowing.

We delayed the opening of the east side library branch, but helped downtown businesses by keeping free on-street parking in the downtown.

I’ll offer an extra mug of eggnog to Coun. Maggie Laidlaw. She made a motion, which went un-seconded, not to delay the library branch opening. The delay has been accepted by the library board. Laidlaw’s motion had no hope of success, but it was a graceful gesture. It would have been nice if the Ward 1 councillors had supported it, just as a nod to the good people on the other side of Victoria. I hope those residents understand that in June they will have a library branch to be proud of. It will be worth the wait.

It appears we can’t put the toothpaste back in the tube. I have raged against the Laird Road interchange on the Hanlon for many years. I don’t intend to stop. But the raging shouldn’t happen on Carden Street. Take it down Woolwich Street to MPP Liz Sandals’ office.

The problem is with the province. I am told they have a hold on land east of the Hanlon, which can’t be developed until the interchange is built. So no eggnog for the bureaucrats at the Ministry of Transportation who refuse to let go of outdated traffic flow concepts. Give them a lump of coal instead. They are the ones who can alter the plan and unlink its components.

We started squeezing the Hanlon land 30 years ago. Much of it was run of the mill farmland. Not particularly sacred, but the corn was good. When the province decided to build a four-lane highway from an arbitrary spot on the 401 to Woodlawn Road, they unleashed a chain of events with its own internal dynamic. It is hard, almost impossible, to stop.

I’ll offer a mega-mug of eggnog to the first person to come up with an effective plan to divert the provincial government from its mega-project mentality.

Whatever you celebrate at this time of year, do it wisely.