Father Joe was a good man | Letters to the Editor

I was shocked when I heard Father Joe passed away. He was only 68 and surely had so much more to give.

I remember way back in the 1990s how he turned a dwindling congregation at the Blessed Sacrament church, of which I was a member, into a bustling community with standing-room attendance at many events.

Unfortunately and sadly, that also probably contributed to his downfall as the pressure of dealing with too many human issues — what priests have to do — likely drove him to gambling, and ultimately addiction and doing wrong. Some left the church after that, but I believe he was a good man and I certainly forgave him, as who is one without a blemish?

His homilies were always interesting as he tried to interject a human touch and humour into them, and make them relevant to modern life. And he listened and cared about people. I remember one hot summer Sunday we were sweating profusely sitting on hard wooden benches, no AC in this church, and he started his homily by saying, “It’s way too hot, let’s go home early,” and went on to finish mass quickly.

I am sorry to have him gone too soon; may he rest in a peaceful place.

Rafal Pomian Przednowek, Ottawa

Bruce Deachman is very confident he knows what “Ottawa wants” with respect to posting things on poles in the city. Neither I nor many other Ottawans were consulted. We see businesses “advertising” without paying for the space or cleanup, anti-vax conspiracy theories and, disturbingly, stickers encouraging acts of violence.

I invite Mr. Deachman to take a stroll down Princess Street in Kingston where the only thing you’ll see on a lamp post is a small notice informing the reader of the fine for posting bills and the clean appearance of what a city can look like.

Michael Baker, Ottawa

“OC Transpo boasts of ridership boost during free-fare weekend” read a recent headline in the Ottawa Citizen. What else was to be expected? Even Ottawans can be curious.

And then there are tricks to be played with numbers. Go from two to three and we have a 50 per cent increase. Go from 10 to 11 and we get a 10 per cent increase. Who knew?

Andrew Lumsden, Ottawa

It is oh, so precious when motorists complain about cyclists.

I will admit there are some really bad cyclists, especially with e-bikes, out there.

Despite my body wearing the external and internal scars of five self-caused biking accidents, I consider my 60 years on a two-wheeler a model of safe cycling. No one else was involved. None were the result of a moving violation. I obey signs and traffic lights, and I always signal. OK, I will admit that I rarely signal stop. I use my bell, use lights at night. My well-maintained bike has the proper reflectors. I wear “high-vis” clothing. I always wear a helmet. Rarely cycle at night. Rarely in bad weather. I never ride without a high-quality rear-view mirror. This is for self preservation and ammunition if I have to appear in court. With that mirror, I see so, so many scary moving violations made by motorists.

Evidence here: on Sunday past, on a one-and-a-half-hour ride, Visineau to Inness to Cyrville, Cummings to Ogilvie, Ogilvie to Blair, Blair to Inness and back home to Visineau (all bike lanes), I saw no less than 20 moving violations made by motorists. One time-crunched motorist clipped my right pedal as he shaved a microsecond off his progress to the gas pumps on Ogilvie. I was in the (rather crappy) bike lane. I have had motorists yell at me that cars always have the right of way over cyclists.

Here’s a test for you: Spend 15 minutes at any busy intersection of your choice and I guarantee you that you will witness an equal number of dangerous moving violations by motorists in that time.

We pedallers are far less a problem.

Thomas Brawn, Orléans

Mon dieu, yet again more baloney from the official languages commissioner and federal government regarding bilingualism.

If the federal government was genuinely interested in assuring the bilingual competency of its employees, it would introduce changes that would result in real progress in this area. I am a strong supporter of a bilingual workplace and the bilingual services available to Canadians.

As an anglophone who attained much of my French second-language capabilities thanks in large part to full- and part-time training programs provided free of charge at work by the federal government, I frustratingly witnessed the poor performance of many employees in meeting the official language requirements of their positions most of my 35 years employed there.

At times I, too, was guilty, mainly because there was no “real” enforcement of official language regulations or any “real” accountability of employees in bilingual positions in regards to official language regulations. This was generally the case for both anglophones and some francophones.

The federal government awarded me $800 every year as a bilingual employee, almost $30,000 over my career. It spent tens of thousands for the free part-time and full-time language training I received while at work.

Incredibly, I was never held accountable for meeting the official language regulations.

If the federal government were genuinely interested in its employees following official languages requirements, it would tie them to bilingual employees’ annual performance reviews, the outcome of which would determine if they received the annual bilingual bonus each year or remained in their bilingual positions.

Bob McRae, Aylmer

Elon Musk’s attempts to meddle in Canada’s affairs and incite separatist action are just another entry on a long list of insults from the U.S.A. How ironic that Americans spend so much time rabbiting on against the evils of foreign interference in their own politics when they have no qualms interfering in everyone else’s business.

I would like to invite Mr. Elon Musk to go soak his head — in Lake ONTARIO.

Francine Dewar, Ottawa

President Donald Trump, in what may be his most contemptible statement yet, suggested that Ukraine needs a new president. The two countries in most need of new presidents are Russia and the U.S.

Trump’s ego, it seems, simply cannot abide the fact that whereas President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is widely respected, even admired, Trump is held in contempt by the vast majority of free people throughout the world. Were it not for Vladimir Putin, Trump might well wear the dubious mantle of “world’s most despised leader”.

Many Republicans claim to support Ukraine and to recognize Putin for the murderous thug that he is. We shall see if they are capable of the moral courage to stand up for their principles. If they find that courage, I believe that they will learn that the vast majority of their constituents will support them.

More importantly by far, Putin will be defeated and the world will become a much safer place.

Bruce F. Simpson, Ottawa

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