Surprised to see a Champion grader plowing court

 

London, like much of North America, is getting snow, lots of snow. And when snow comes, the snowplows are not far behind. (Oh heck, I confess, in truth the plows can be quite far behind. There have been times when two, even three days, have passed before a plow appeared to clear our suburban street. On occasion the plow never shows up at all. The city just leaves it to the sun to clear the street and court.)

But today I was happy to see a plow. I was also surprised to note that it was a Champion grader. This make of grader was made in Goderich a little more than an hour north of London. Sadly, it must be reported that the plant, after more than a century of operation, was  closed and the work moved to the southern States where workers make few demands.

Ontario, like many northern states, has lost a lot of manufacturing jobs to the southern States. I don't know the details but the move didn't seem to benefit the Champion company. After moving, it closed.

Chinese glass plant not welcome in Stratford

Visit the southwestern Ontario city of Stratford and you are sure to see signs protesting the locating of a Xinyi glass plant in the town made famous by the Stratford Festival.

CBC reports: A Stratford, Ont., citizens' group is demanding a review of glassmaker Xinyi Canada and its proposal to build a $400-million float glass factory in the community. The group is alleging the Chinese-owned company is a threat to national security. 

The critics also claim the proposed factory would more than double the size of the community's carbon footprint. Anyone familiar with Stratford would understand the immensely damning quality of that argument.

The CBC goes on to report that in a letter sent to Minister Navdeep Bains it is claimed:

"The ownership of the company is basically a bit of a network of holding companies and sub-entities, almost all of which are registered in the Cayman Islands or Virgin Islands and many of the principals involved in those companies have overt links, either to the Chinese government or the Chinese Communist Party."

A snowman and his dog

This snowman had a very faithful dog. How do I know it's faithful? Every time I drive by, the dog is at the snowman's side.

Dead trees make neighbourhood art

 

When big, old trees growing on front lawns in London die, they are not always chopped down -- at least, not completely. Sometimes, if the home owner can afford it, an artist is hired to carver the first ten feet or more of the tree trunk, stripped of bark, into a work  of art. A huge, eye-catching wooden sculpture is the result. And it's a plus for the neighbourhood.

'On strike' sign recalls complex story

 

For many decades, while The London Free Press was owned and operated by Walter Blackburn, the newspaper was not involved in a strike. Blackburn kept unions at bay by forming his own in-house organization to look after employee concerns and complaints. Under Blackburn it worked.

Under Walter Blackburn the newspaper did not have a layoff, even when the economy was in recession. Blackburn said when times were tough the employee who could best weather a downturn in the economy was him, the newspaper owner. 

If he laid off a pressman, that man's life would be in tatters. His family would suffer. Walter Blackburn, on the other hand, kept his chauffeur driven car, he and his wife wouldn't lose their home nor would his children drop out of university.

Once when a longtime employee had a death in the family, a death in England, the employee was given time off to attend the funeral and the money to cover the trans Atlantic flight home. Blackburn was a capitalist, a generous, caring capitalist.

After Walter Blackburn died things changed around the paper. Slowly at first and then the paper was sold to an expanding chain. And then that owner, a rather small fish, was gobbled up by a much bigger company, a much larger fish. Today the paper is but a small memory of the local media empire Walter Blackburn built during his lifetime.

My gut feeling is that if local newspapers had remained under the control of owners like Walter Blackburn and others of his ilk, daily newspapers would be much different today. Walter Blackburn was a visionary. This is not a word I would apply to the hedge fund owners of today.

The luxury of a carport

 

The Second World War had ended and the economy was on the rebound. Suburbs were sprouting up all over the world but in North American, where land was ample and cheap, suburban living was a huge trend.

Many argued that living in the suburbs meant increased car ownership. Suburb dwellers argued that when they lived in the core they owned a car but had to park it on the street. In the suburbs, they said, they had the luxury of a carport. The luxury of a carport! Ah, those were different times. Today luxury doesn't kick in until one has a three car garage, at the minimum.

Celery from Spain sold in London, Ontario

It was the nicest celery my wife had ever encountered. It was fresh, green, blemish-free; it was perfect. And when she checked to see where this amazingly perfect produce was from, she discovered it was from Spain.

I confess, this makes me uneasy and I cannot say exactly why. I have a gut reaction that this is not good for the earth. When I worked at a newspaper this feeling, this hunch, would not be enough for story. But, it would be enough to assign a reporter to investigate and determine whether or not there's a story here.

Is there? I think so.

For instance, when produce is shipped thousands of miles, it raises the possibility of introducing plant diseases to areas where the disease is as yet unknown. When I googled celery from Valencia, Spain, I learned a bacterial plant disease has been found in celery grown in Spain. This bacteria is found around the world. The question is whether or not the variety of the bacteria that is infecting Spanish celery is unique to Spain.

Another problem raised by attempting to grow produce in gigantic, factory farm fields is water for irrigation. Over-exploitation of water resources is an ever present threat. 

I should have considered this last item, in my short list, as it is problem right here in Ontario, Canada. All too often huge farms producing relatively inexpensive food in vast amounts operate successfully thanks to poorly paid and poorly treated migrant workers. According to The Guardian, Spain may be among the worst offenders globally when it comes to the abuse of migrant workers. 

A U.N. worker reported workers living in a migrant settlements in Spain are forced to live in conditions that rival the worst conditions anywhere in the world. The settlements are located kilometres away from water and all too often lack electricity and even adequate sanitary infrastructure.

I hope my celery was grown in a responsible manner. I pray it was but I don't know for sure.