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2 - Orono Weekly Times 1937 - 2012 · Celebrating 75 Year Subscriptions $42.86 + $2.14 GST = $45.00 per year. No Refunds. Publishing 48 issues annually at the office of publication. "We acknowledge the financial support of the Government of Canada through the Canada Periodical Fund for our publishing activities." Wednesday, October 17, 2012 ORONO WEEKLY TIMES - 5310 Main St., P.O. Box 209, Orono, ON L0B 1M0 E-mail: oronotimes@rogers.com or Phone/Fax: 905-983-5301 www.oronoweeklytimes.com Publisher/Editor Margaret Zwart Production and Display Advertising - Roxanne Johnston Classified/Sports - Christopher W. Brown The Orono Weekly Times welcomes letters to the editor on subjects of interest to our readers. Opinions expressed to the editor and articles are those of the writers and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the Orono Weekly Times. Letters must be signed and contain the address and phone number of the writer. Any letter considered unsuitable will not be acknowledged or returned. We reserve the right to edit for length, libel and slander. If your retail or classified ad appears for the first time, please check carefully. Notice of an error must be given before the next issue goes to print. The Orono Weekly Times will not be responsible for the loss or damage of such items. Santa on parade It's time for a parade. Orono is down at least one or possibly two parades this year. This is the first year the Orono Fair school parade did not happen. For years the school children energized the village with their spirited march down Main Street into the fair grounds for their day of agricultural education at the Orono Fair. For the second year in a row the Kendal Loyal Orange Lodge did not hold their annual Orange Day Parade in Orono this past July leaving us feeling we have been robbed again. There has long been talk of an Orono Santa Claus parade, but this year it is more than talk. A group of people who are interested in seeing a Santa Claus parade in the village have been meeting for a few weeks and laying the ground work for the first parade to be held on Saturday November 24, at 10:30 a.m. The current plans are to make this an annual event. The date and time have been cleared with Santa, it is a busy time of year for him; appearing in parades in advance of the Christmas shopping season. He was particularly interested in participating in the Orono parade, the fact that the staging area for this parade is at the cemetery was of great interest to Santa. Starting from scratch raises a number of challenges, but also leaves the group with no past parades to be compared to. A village with such a rich parade history should have no trouble pulling off a Santa Claus parade. We are the village of the Calithumpian Parades, where everyone participates in the parade leaving no spectators on the side lines. Organizers are looking for participants for this inaugural parade, They are looking for people to make and enter their own floats, and volunteers to act as fillers between floats, they are looking for volunteers to help on parade day and they are looking for sponsors. As with anything, the parade is going to take money. A number of groups around town have already stepped up to the plate to make sure the parade happens. The Orono Business Improvement Association (BIA) are organizing a Halloween Dance to raise money for the parade. This Halloween Bash with live music, light lunch and prizes will be held on October 27th at the Orono Town Hall. The Chili Cook-off Committee is contributing the $450 for the rental of the Orono Town Hall for the night, and a number of individuals and local businesses are contributing the food for the evening. Tickets for this event are $20 per person and are available at almost all the businesses in town. The BIA has been undecided for years about what to do to kick off the Christmas season in town. They have tried several events over the years like an evening tree lighting event and a carol sing with the school children, but participation in these events had dwindled over the years. They tried a Heritage Christmas Theme one year but that didn't seem to go anywhere. Last year they brought Santa to town on a Saturday morning riding in a sleigh riding on a wagon, which was the spark for the real parade. Knowing Orono, this parade will be like none other. The organizing committee have selected "A Christmas Carol" for the theme of this inaugural parade. They hope to focus on Christmases past, present and future, new beginings and how things can change if you want them to, for this Santa Claus parade according to parade organizer Lisa Roy. The parade committee is hoping to draw the hamlets surrounding Orono into this event, in a continuing effort to build communityspirit in the rural areas. Who wouldn't want to be involved in the village's first Santa Claus Parade? For details on who to contact to become involved see ad on page 6. `Liestrong' From The House At The Centre Of The Universe Another captain abandons a sinking ship by: Tracy Tonkinson This week two captains were at the forefront of the news. The first was Captain Francesco Schettino, the coward at the helm of the ill fated Costa Concordia cruise ship that ran aground off the Italian coast and sank, killing 32 people. Schettino was in court to face charges that include causing a shipwreck and abandoning ship. On Monday, the captain of the good ship Ontario, having steered it onto the rocks, causing a ship wreck, then decided it was time to abandon the sinking ship as well. It is no secret that Dalton McGuinty has been mired in one controversy after another as leader of the Ontario Liberals and Premier of Ontario. Under the weight of the Ornge Air Ambulance contract debacle, then the u-turn on building the gas-fired power plants in Mississauga and Oakville after residents in those vulnerable Liberal ridings complained, costing Ontario tax payers a minimum of $230 million, the writing was likely on the wall. Once the KitchenerWaterloo by-election was lost on September 6th no doubt McGuinty began to plan his exit. McGuinty would not be the first leader to jump ship when the going got tough but he is the first Liberal to prorogue parliament; a move he stole from Prime Minister Stephen Harper and crowed loudly about at the time. The prorogation effectively shuts down any further inquiry into the power plant scandal or any other Liberal wrong doings. The most disappointing aspect of the move is that it stops all activity at Queen's Park in its tracks at a time when Ontarians need strong leadership not selfish party politics. There will be no action taken to improve the Ornge Air Ambulance service, no progress on job creation tax credits, or negotiations moving forward with all the labour unions that McGuinty has successfully antagonized over the last year. Of course this move will bring forward a Liberal leadership race, where the usual suspects will line up to be judged worthy of taking a discredited party from zero's to heroes again. Don't be surprised that having realised he is unwanted as a federal Liberal leader, Bob Rae doesn't add himself to the Ontario leadership mix. What Ontario will also now get is yet another election. And that presents another problem. Of Horwath and Hudak neither exactly lights up the electorate as either the personality or political heavyweight needed to steer Ontario back onto a steady course. The last election cycle that returned the Liberals to Queen's Park showed a woefully personality challenged Tory leader in Hudak that made the woolly policies of Andrea Horwath and her NDP nerds seem like slick political operatives. Whatever happens in the next few weeks, it is clear that the only losers in this situation will be the Ontario taxpayers. On the hook for the mistakes of the Liberal legislature and now on the hook for another provincial election at a time when the economy is slowing, leaving the ordinary Ontarian to struggle on a daily basis to manage the ever increasing challenges. Meanwhile, it seems all parties are out of ideas to solve these growing problems. In terms of character, however deep the hole was that McGuinty and his government had dug for themselves, however badly holed the hull of the good ship Ontario is, it was a cowardly thing for McGuinty to abandon Ontarians at this point. Stopping the clock on parliamentary work through prorogation was just an unnecessary act of malice intended to cover Liberal backsides.