I was at Scott Witmer’s ward meeting and several constituents were worried about Carole Clinch’s claim that the Region of Waterloo is illegally adding flouride to the municipal water. I will give staff’s response in a moment.

First, the big article in the Chronicle about the flouride pumps breaking down and flouride not being added to the Waterloo Water for six months. Staff (Water and Public Health) was supposed to tell us about this when the problem passed 90 days.

This was all dealt with by council last November and hands were slapped. New communication protocols between Water Services and Public Health have been put in place to prevent this communication breakdown from happening again.

No secrets, no need for an access to information request for staff e-mails.

Once again, I point out that the Ministry of Enviroment closely checks Regional water and any problem with bacteria, etc. must be reported immediately to them. A fine for the only breach, a 48 hour pump of unchlorinated water into Cambridge water a few years ago.The problem has been fixed. The water itself was as pure as bottled water, but nevertheless. 

We actually had a report at Planning and Works this week about a survey and test of local private homeowner wells (people not getting muncipal water). About half had bacteria in them or nitrites.

http://bit.ly/dtu586

Anyway, here is the staff response to the illegality of flouride and the federal Ministry of Health.

Developing national drinking water guidelines with provincial and territorial drinking water authorities
Providing emergency advice in cases of drinking water contamination, when requested by another government department or agency
Developing guidelines for water used for recreational activities, such as lakes where people swim
Ensuring the safety of drinking water on cruise ships, airlines, passenger ferries, trains, and other common carriers
Working with other departments to make sure all federal government employees have access to safe drinking water in their workplaces
Working with First Nations communities south of 60 degrees parallel to ensure that drinking water quality monitoring programs are in place on their lands
Regulating the safety and quality of bottled water, prepackaged ice, and water used in food processing
Working in collaboration with partners and stakeholders on broader water quality issues, including the development of water policies and research priorities”

 Actually, the provisions of the Food and Drug act that cover bottled water are LESS stringent than the provincial regulations for municipal water.

Not saying how you should vote in the referendum, just trying to keep information correct.

Yesterday staff brought council a proposal for a pilot program for green bins in apartments, industrial and commercial, also restaurants. You would never know that by the headline in the Record, as staff let it slip they are planning to ban compost from the landfill in 2013 or beyond.

This caught us by surprise, having not been mentioned before.  Council has the final say with this proposal and we aren’t keen on it at the moment. 30 percent of waste going to the landfill is compostable, but we have only just begun the green bin program.

It seems to me that people and staff and reporters are focusing on waste being diverted from the landfill and sent somewhere else to stop the dump from filling up. Which it will in 20 or so years.

That’s not what it’s all about. The waste includes all things that can be composted. Lettuce leaves, paper towels, egg shells, potato peels, etc.  This waste is taken to a composting facility where, like the peel or shell that used to fall on the forest floor, it rots into dirt. Very good quality dirt.

This dirt is then used to feed new plants and the circle of ecology continues.  When organics go into the landfill in plastic garbage bags, they may not even rot, in anycase, they stay filling up the landfill,  no use at all. What a waste.

My concerns yesterday were with the costs of the pilot project if it becomes permanent. As I saw in the composting centre in Whistler, which is only restaurant organics, restaurants create a lot of compostable garbage. We are looking at daily pick up of several bins from each restaurant. The pilot, not so expensive, but I asked staff how much it would cost the taxpayers to have the Region fund the pilot permanently. This is important as presently restaurant waste is trucked away by a company the restaurant pays for.

If compost is banned from the landfill, where will this compost be trucked to by the firm hired by the restaurant? Michigan? A field somewhere? 

Or will the region pick up the tab for pick up? A huge cost. 

I’m glad this is just a pilot at this stage.

Staff report: http://bit.ly/bEOI3T

Old Lakeshore Janes Walk.

I am conducting a Jane Jacobs’ Walk through Old Lakeshore on Sunday May 2 at 1 p.m. We will start at the ATM at Parkdale by Pizza Pizza and walk to Glenforrest then to Sobey’s at Weber andNorthfield.

Laurie Strome will talk about Sunnydale and Ward Councillor Angela Veith will join us.

Lakeshore was the first suburb in Waterloo and it is very different from the new ones.

Thursday morning at 7 am, I was reading the Record and watching Canada AM. Doing my old media thing. CTV no longer has the morning news. The ticker tape said there was a fire in Waterloo. Well we have had a few house fires in town, so I thought nothing of it.

Then at around 8:30 am, I sat down to work at my computer but first took a look at twitter. I immediately found out that Mel’s diner, Sugar Mountain, Ceasar’s Martini, Mr. Sushi, etc. were in flames and I instantly got pictures and youtube videos from the public on the scene or in the apartments nearby. The best twitters came from Mayor Halloran.

Even though I follow the Record (a short article on the website), 570news and CTV, I am now getting my latest news from my Mayor instead of the regular news outlets. Fortunately, Brenda was accurate with some rah, rahs, for the Kitchener and Waterloo firefighters (for sure), but should I be getting my news from the Mayor generally?

I don’t mean Brenda shouldn’t twitter, I love her twitters and I retweeted her messages about the fire and tweeted some of my own.

But if the old media is crying about losing readers, I have to ask why the Record didn’t gather the twitters — councilors and the mayor had twitter quotes, as did many of the public, their article and repost the youtube pictures and video quickly. (Is this a copyright problem?)

CNN has Ireport where people can upload their video and messages to the the site. I would love to start a local site like this, but sadly, I don’t have the time or resources (I own some great domain names though, like Waterlooregionnow).  So I throw this out to the world. BTW, this would solve the local advertising problem on the net, also.

570 news was soon tweeting, but CTV, they are no longer into local news. Rather tell us about William Shatner for GG, so last year.

By the afternoon, the Record had a long article interviewing the shop owners, and that is great and I read it. Certainly follow up is good.

But long before the old media could get their act together, twitter was trending #Mel, #waterloofire, etc. to the whole world.

And speaking of that, facebook and twitter had many more real local persons talking about their flight delays in Europe due to the ash.  Not to mention the events, etc. I am learning about through the Social Media.

It’s a new world.

I have been picking up a few prescriptions lately as well as asking the pharmacist for a good pain med for my teeth problems (Now on the mend).

I am really irritated that everytime I drop by, the pharmacist or now the pharmacy student (And our sister city and the province put in big bucks to help build her school) are wanting me to sign a petition against the lowering of generic drug fees or giving me their postcard to send to my MPP.

I said to them I don’t want to talk about it because I like my pharmacist and the pharmacy students. But they got me again just a few minutes ago. So I said politely that Shoppers Drug can use their big profits to pay for the people to give us advice (which pharmacists are supposed to do professionally) or to have 24 hour Shoppers (Which truly benefits them).

Why should we be paying a “stocking fee” that generic drug companies pay to Shoppers so their drugs will be stocked. This happens all the time in Supermarkets, Department Stores, etc. and who pays in the end. Us! 

Here is the provincial government trying to lower medical costs for the taxpayer and the average person whether with an insurance policy or not. BTW, where are the Insurance companies on this? They should be coming down on the side of saving money on prescriptions. Haven’t heard a peep out of them.

As a customer I resent being made uncomfortable or being given the Shoppers propaganda when I am getting drugs for my health and frankly, recently, for pain and infection!

No wonder my blood pressure is up!!! 

http://news.therecord.com/article/694895

I know many readers of this blog are cyclists. The Region and the University of Waterloo are outfitting cyclists with GPS units so the Region can know where cyclists go, what routes they take and how often they use bike racks on buses. This will help us craft the update to the Cycling Master Plan. The data will be analysed by UW mapping software. The information wil help the Region prioritize cycling routes, maintenance and even snow clearing. To take part contact John Hill at jhill@regionofwaterloo.ca or 519-575-4019.

The Region has inked an agreement with Google to have bike routes in Waterloo Region on Google. However, it must still be in progress because I have been unable to use it or to get anything to come up on maps.google.com/biking.  Will ask at the next regional cycling meeting.

At risk of attracting tons of anti-fluoride comments, I feel I must give some info about the Fluoride Plebiscite for the 2010 Municipal Election in Waterloo.

The City of Waterloo has had several plebiscites over the years asking if the people still want to continue the fluoridation of the water. The last referendum was in the 1980s when the constituents said they wanted to continue with fluoridation.

The question came up again in the last few years with concerns from some citizens about fluoride. The City of Waterloo asked the Region of Waterloo which now looks after adding fluoride to the city’s water to have a plebiscite on the fluoride issue. (Yeah, I know, our two levels of government can be complicated if you don’t live with it!)

The answer to the question is for the people of Waterloo, Elmira, St. Jacobs and a small part of the Townships and small part of Kitchener to decide.

Here is the Region report on the question: http://bit.ly/dvlkr2

The question, which will be passed on Wednesday, will then go for review by the province  then be included on the 2010 Municipal election ballot. It will say:

“Should the Region of Waterloo fluoridate your municipal water?

Yes or No”

Because we are following the Municipal Act and the answer will be for the public to decide, there will be no more delegations allowed at Region on this topic until after October 25, election day, once the motion is passed on Wednesday. Those for or against must sign up like candidates to give out information on the topic. They may then have brochures, websites, door to door, forums like a candidate. Only the polls where the water is fluoridated will get the ballot question.

Regional council passed a special resolution saying that even if the voter turnout is under 50% , a requirement for passage under the Municipal Act (Hasn’t been anywhere near that yet), we will abide by the results of the plebiscite. The flouride will be turned off or kept on by the present council as the cost of turning it off is below the monetary number needed to forbid a “lame duck” council from acting. In other words, this council, not the next elected one will decide.

Dihydrogen hexafluorosilicate, FKS, Fluorosilicic Acid [H2SiF6],Fluosilicic acid (6CI), Hexafluorosilicic acid, Hexafluorosilicate (2-),dihydrogen,Hexafluosilicic acid, Hydrofluorosilicic acid, Hydrogen hexafluorosilicate,Hydrogen hexafluorosilicic, Hydrosilicofluoric acid, Sand acid,Silicate (2-), hexafluoro-, dihydrogen (8CI, 9CI), Silicic acid [H2SiF6],Silicofluoric acid, Silicofluoride, Silicon hexafluoride dihydride, UN1778

If HFSA was rejected by the public, Council could say “Well then, we’ll use this other form.”  Robert Fleming in his presentation noted he was just as against the other form used in Brantford. Sodium Fluoride is full of salt. Calcium fluoride, the natural form of fluoridation that is found in Cambridge is very expensive and difficult to add.

The second reason I want “fluoridate” is that two to three years ago when people first began to approach me about this issue, they were against fluoride generally. In fact, at our meeting, two people came forward with concerns about fluoride generally. One was a woman concerned it made her illness worse and I have heard this concern from several people about several different illnesses.

Her husband feels a rash was caused by fluoride, so that is why I support using “municipal” instead of “drinking” in the wording. Bathing, brushing teeth and washing clothes have all been brought forward as concerns.

By the way, for those of you who feel fluoride is a good public health measure that prevents cavities and does not cause other problems, I am not necessarily agreeing with the delegations, just pointing out concerns raised.

Finally, I do not agree with putting that Waterloo water contains, “lead, arsenic, mercury, or  that the water is radioactive” on the ballot question. It biases the question. Also lead occurs in small amounts in water when pipes are old. Waterloo water is tested for purity and is double and triple checked by the province since the Walkerton scandal and  the water is shut down when any problem occurs. Any arsenic is a trace amount, that means it is so small that the amount is negligable. Do you really think that Public Health, Regional staff and your elected councillors are poisoning your water?

Links

http://bit.ly/b1ejq8 Minutes of public meetings on fluoridation and handouts. (I love how open the Region is with information!)

http://bit.ly/c6F0Kc  Public Health Fact Sheet on fluoride. Public Health is at arms length from the Region on health issues. They will not be participating in the debate.

http://bit.ly/9EbWLJ  Water quality reports.

Here is an update from the Record

http://news.therecord.com/News/Local/article/696807

At the Rembrance Day ceremony right after 9/11, I looked at the young cadets guarding the memorial and shivered because I knew that one day we would have local soldiers honoured again at Remembrance day. There are now two, one a soldier from Cambridge killed in an accident, now this soldier killed on patrol. Before 9/11, we remembered the soldiers from the World Wars, and Korea mostly and there was not the emphasis on “support the troops”  or even the vets as there is now.

Before 9/11, I always lay the wreath for the school board and then the Region because, frankly, at that time, no one was interested in it after Elizabeth Witmer and Dianne Stickney left the school board. I’m glad so many people now come out for the ceremony.

I do it because my Dad who died when I was 21, was decorated with the British Empire Medal for his war service and I always think of him and my father-in-law on Remembrance Day.

 All the neglect changed with 9/11 and then Afghanistan. Now the war has finally come home, as I feared.

Should we be in Afghanistan? A talk at the Zonta dinner by a reporter for the Globe and Mail said yes and so do the soldiers we have there. I worry about the women of Afghanistan and the reporter said most of the people there want us there.

But as our soldiers are killed, people are remembering what they say about Afghanistan. It is “the graveyard of Empires.”

When we drove along the 401 to the cottage last August, we noticed that some of the service centre buildings were gone. This caused my family some concern as in the beginning of the Harris years, the roadside parks at each center were closed.

We use the parks rather than the service centres as we have a dog and he can do his business and get out for a brief walk when we stop at the park. Also we like to bring our own food with us rather than eat the service centre food. Fortunately the parks were opened again before Harris left office.

An article in the Record this morning notes that the service centres are being rebuilt by the province and Host Kilmer with Canadian Tire (and Canadian Tire money) running the gas pumps. The service centre will have such restaurants as Tim Hortons (ya think?), East Side Mario’s Pizza Pizza, and other of the usual food court chains. A fine food market, Pusateri’s will also be available which sounds like a good idea for those of us not using the food chains.

The buildings will be LEEDS silver. There will be water-efficient landscaping and environment friendly facilities. I hope one of the facilities will continue to be the parks!

Last term I voted to give UW 15 million dollars to help build the new medical school. Controversial at the time. But now it is finished and the first class is graduating. 58% are family doctors and 50% of those are studying in the Region and will probably stay.

Medical School for Waterloo Region