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th ei fp .c a Th e IF P -H al to n H ill s | T hu rs da y, Ja nu ar y 14 ,2 02 1 | 14 Games between the To- ronto Maple Leafs and Montreal Canadiens stir up a lot of emotion, but who would have thought a pen- alty call in an exhibition game between the rivals would be the trigger to pull at the heart strings. "Quite frankly, I welled right up," said Ron Fox- croft, the owner of Hamil- ton's Fox 40 International, as he watched referee Wes McCauley call a slashing penalty on Montreal's Jor- dan Weal. "First penalty of the game, and Wes calls it using our whistle, that we named for his dad." The NHL had never re- ally taken to the iconic, higher-pitched, Fox 40 pea- less whistle, until eight years ago when some of its officials started using a newly re-engineered ver- sion -- called "The Caul" in honour of longtime offici- ating giant John McCauley -- for their outdoor games because, with no moving parts, it doesn't retain dirt or moisture so it doesn't freeze up. Not all striped shirts opted to use it, though. But beginning with last season's restart and con- tinuing into the start of the NHL season next week, ev- ery official in the league is using that whistle for every game. "It is a pretty neat and humbling experience that not only myself but my all fellow officials are using whistles named after my father," said Wes McCau- ley. "The whistle sounded great and I'm looking for- ward to using The Caul in all our future games." The Georgetown native refereed his 1,000th NHL game in December 2018 and last year in a poll of NHL players was named the league's best referee, earn- ing 71 per cent of the vote. His father was also widely- admired during an officiat- ing career that stretched from 1966-81. John McCau- ley was the NHL's director of officials when he died from complications of gall bladder surgery in 1989 at the age of 44. Foxcroft and John McCauley were close friends and long before the Hamilton entrepreneur de- signed the original Fox 40 pea-less whistle, they'd been discussing the need for a whistle that wouldn't seize up. "When John died I was very upset and told our staff that the next time we did a hockey whistle we would tribute it to him," Foxcroft says. "The engi- neering to make it work perfectly for outdoor games was very difficult. But when we finally got it right, his sons Wes and Blaine were very emotion- al that we named it for their dad." "The biggest part of this is that dad's been gone since 1989 and people still honour him," Wes McCau- ley says. The Caul, with its flexi- ble grip, is worn on the fin- gers like a standard whistle but has two air chambers and is easily cleaned. The pitch is 10 decibels lower than the Fox 40 Classic, so its trill approximates what hockey players, officials and fans have always heard. "There's no pea in it, you have to exhale less than with a normal whistle to make it work, and the air doesn't shoot out the top so it's likely safer, so it was the time to switch," said the NHL's director of officials Stephen Walkom, who was hired by McCauley to refer- ee in the AHL in the 1980s. While many other sports are testing Fox 40's electronic whistles during the pandemic, some NHL officials didn't want to use it, partly because it needs to be activated by the push of a finger and hockey offi- cials need to use both hands to mount the boards to avoid being part of the play. The "warble" is also less familiar. The Caul ad- dresses both needs. NEWS WHISTLE NAMED FOR MCCAULEY BECOMES NHL STANDARD STEVE MILTON smilton@thespec.com NHL referee Wes McCauley will be using a whistle made by Fox 40 in his father's memory. Paul Bereswill photo few minutes out of your day to help us deliver a clear and direct message to our federal, provincial and municipal political lead- ers: Enough is enough, im- mediate measurable action is required to address this crisis and save the lives of our vulnerable seniors and their caregivers. In recent days the focus on this crisis has intensi- fied and our political lead- ers have committed to more action, in particular the imminent priority vac- cination of long-term-care residents and staff. Unfortunately, the plans and timelines are un- clear and the action is not being taken fast enough to save lives. We must ensure that meaningful action is taken immediately. We must also take steps now to focus on several lon- ger-term systemic initia- tives to fundamentally change the relationships among government, busi- ness and our elders and re- lated health-care staff. We believe the five ac- tionable items below are needed to save lives and provide the humane, re- spectful care that our vul- nerable seniors and their caregivers deserve: First, the province of Ontario must immediately deploy rapid COVID tests into long-term-care facili- ties to test residents and staff and commit to vacci- nating all long-term-care residents and staff by Feb. 15, 2021. Provincial and mu- nicipal authorities must work collaboratively to en- sure all measures are tak- en to support these imme- diate vaccinations. Federal authorities should volun- teer the deployment of mil- itary health-care profes- sionals as necessary to sup- port this initiative. As part of this commit- ment, provincial authorities must immediately establish a public tracking system to record and report vaccina- tions delivered on a facility- by-facility basis. Second, the province of Ontario must immediately reinstate the mandatory inspection regime and in- troduce mandatory public reporting of all long-term- care facilities, focused on infections, medical supply and long-term-care staff availability, and appropri- ate access to local hospital- ization and specialized care. Provincial and mu- nicipal inspectors who are currently under-utilized, such as health inspectors, should be deployed to as- sist this program. Third, both the province of Ontario and the govern- ment of Canada must pro- vide $100 million in imme- diate emergency funds to hire additional full-time long-term-care staff and raise the wages for all long- term-care workers as the government of Quebec has recently instituted. Fourth, the province of Ontario must establish an emergency rapid response task force comprised of trained infection-control health-care workers avail- able to act immediately as emergencies are identified. Fifth, the government of Canada and the province of Ontario must appoint inde- pendent federal and provin- cial ombuds, respectively, with a national regulatory authority attached to Health Canada, to receive and review all complaints and investigations from long-term-care residents, their families and long- term-care staff to oversee strict new long-term-care standards related to ensur- ing humane care and resi- dents' rights, staffing and pay levels, building designs and usage of funds. We believe that Ontari- ans want immediate action on these above-noted items and we urge our political leaders to take these ac- tions to heart and move with haste to save lives. We commit to closely tracking the weekly prog- ress of our key elected offi- cials on these requests and to measuring their perfor- mance. We ask that you and your family and friends help by signing this letter or sending your own "call for action" directly to your elected municipal, provin- cial and federal politicians. Please scan the QR code be- low or visit thestar.com/ltc to ensure your voice is heard on this life-and- death matter. Together we can make meaningful change that will directly result in sav- ing the lives of our most vulnerable seniors. Paul Rivett and Jordan Bitove Co-proprietors of Torstar OPINION SITUATION HAS ONLY WORSENED WITH PANDEMIC Continued from front JORDAN BITOVE PAUL RIVETT