Keith Baker

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POLL: Readers roughly split on Canada Post strike

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The management of the post office is so busy playing office politics and maintaining their huge executive salarys that they completely missed the opportunity of online shopping. The infrastructure, the expert personnel, were in place; Canada post could have squashed any competition but they twiddled their thumbs and missed another opportunity. Just like the managers at Sears. Canadians are the customers and the shareholders of that corporation. We as well as the union employees are the victims of lousy management.

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Amid heat wave, thousands without power in area due to downed tree

OrilliaMatters

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When the power company was our friends and neighbors at OWLP we seemed to get fewer and shorter disruptions.

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'A shock': Fionn MacCool's closes doors, lays off about 20 staffers

OrilliaMatters

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They had almost everything going for them, But!! Orillians have become used to a much higher level of cuisine than their franchiser let them serve.

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Overcrowded Comfie Cat Shelter in danger of being 'shut down'

OrilliaMatters

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The reproductive rate of cats will overwhelm any "no kill" facility. Our songbird population is threatened and our ground nesting species are already nearly extinct. As much as I understand, and support peoples right to love their personal little fur baby, cats are a serious invasive threat and numbers must be managed.

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Postal strike could mean no cheques for many ODSP recipients

OrilliaMatters

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I thank my good fortune and yours, that we have never experienced the outright hostility financial institutions impose on marginalized persons.

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Advocates ticketed for 'interfering' at controversial encampment

OrilliaMatters

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I can completely understand advocating for a more complete social safety net ,or even coercive measures to direct individuals to use what is available , but if you have an alternative, then camping in a public area is not a protest it is just good-ole trespassing.

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Ford in the doghouse for joking people can get MRIs at the vet

OrilliaMatters

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"It was just a joke", It was a incredibly tasteless joke. Especially to the thousands of people who cannot get timely heath care, and their loved ones.

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Bot accounts flood social media with reviews of Poilieve’s tour

OrilliaMatters

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Remember "Robocalls" The high tech method of confusing people about where they should vote, especially targeted at those least likely to vote for P.P.. The clumsy attempts to cheat have not changed

Upcoming public forum vows to give Orillia residents 'a voice'

OrilliaMatters

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Without any clear listing of topics for discussion, or of format, and rules for debate this could devolve into a donnybrook of royal proportions, or else a rally for the more unhinged members of one side or the other. Are we expected to bring our weapons from home or will we have to make them from the furniture!

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'Not part of our job': Local paramedics facing surge of violence

OrilliaMatters

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First responders are the real heroes! every citizen should come to their defense! I wonder if that costs of policing should be moved from the municipal property tax payer to the "sin" tax on alcohol .

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COLUMN: Social services staff are first responders, too

OrilliaMatters

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A well written and much needed reminder. Thank you! The uncomfortable truth is that we are not as far beyond Dickens time as we like to pretend. Police are very well paid because they are seen to protect 'us taxpayers' from the poor and the troubled among us. Outreach workers who are actually trying to ease the lot of that population are not valued because their client base is seen as ",them, the homeless , the others,'' to those who make decisions on value. Continue to tell your stories , Make the rest of us aware .

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Closure of area landfill a reminder about the need to divert waste

OrilliaMatters

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It's an axiom that; '' It only becomes garbage when its all mixed together." Clean organics are a great soil conditioner. Many substances used in packaging make excellent fuel if they can be separated from any contamination and sorted by type. Expecting the public to carefully sort and package their waste is probably never going to be a complete success, so investment in better sorting and incineration facilities is probably the best use of resources.

Hunt geese, give meat to less fortunate to stem bacteria issues: councillor

OrilliaMatters

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Geese are a foul tasting fowl . If someone were in danger of starvation they could be trapped and eaten quite easily, there are enough of them in every urban park. I'm quite sure there are woodsmen who could teach the "less fortunate" effective trapping techniques. Perhaps Councillor Smith has some way of making them edible, but I've tried and even though I am a Hunter its not a species I'd target.

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'Unreasonable' parking restrictions hamper Orillia food bank patrons

OrilliaMatters

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The reason why parking is a problem here and requires the regulation and enforcement is not because of the food bank, it is due to the parking situation surrounding their neighbor, Soldiers Memorial Hospital. The available hospital parking is used as a source of income, so on street parking for blocks in every direction quickly becomes jammed up unless it is patrolled and enforced. If there could be a shuttle bus for Soldiers Staff and cheaper parking on lots for patients it might hurt the hospitals bottom line but it would sure make them a better neighbor.

'Loss of accountability': Lauer wants city to scrap ward system

OrilliaMatters

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Remember election days in the 70s there would be 30 or more names on the ballot, you would recognize the incumbents and a couple of Hi profile citizens, but making any kind of intelligent decision was nearly impossible. With the ward system you can with a little effort get to know exactly who your candidates are and if they are roughly in agreement with you on issues. Much better for democracy.

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Simcoe County trustee banned from board meetings for a month

OrilliaMatters

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I suspect that she may have a issue with her "blurt it out!" filter.

Growing encampments prompt Ontario mayors to call for forced treatment

OrilliaMatters

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In years past Ontario had a robust and fairly inclusive network of centers providing a range of services . If mental illness or developmental delay were making someone a threat to themselves or to the society around them their attendance at these places was compelled. Mistakes were made, oversight was occasionally spotty, but the wholesale damming of these centers was motivated by governments trying to save money, and the price has been paid by the most venerable.

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'Poverty' lawyer says homelessness here to stay 'in large numbers'

OrilliaMatters

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We, you and I ,the tax paying citizens ,not only of Ontario but the almost all the western nations decided in the late 1960s that providing decent properly supervised accommodation for persons who for many reasons were unable to do it for themselves cost too much money. The institutions that had tried to provide the services were under funded and demonized in the press . First mental health,and then developmental services were "privatized". Homelessness , an exotic issue we heard about happening in India and places like that, has become something confronting us every time we move about in any every town or city in our western Capitalist world. Take a wander through the encampments ,stop and chat with the residents . I have and concluded that almost everyone I met was not a person I'd let live unsupervised in a building that I had invested in.

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COLUMN: Bicycles have evolved, but for better or worse?

OrilliaMatters

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The technology of e-bikes, mobility scooters, and such devices has far outstripped legislation or infrastructure . The elderly or persons with handicaps deserve an option to get out and enjoy our trails, and no body wants to limit them however some of the faster toys need to be severely limited or a system of speed limit, with enforcement, may be needed.

'Dangerous' coyote on the loose in Orillia neighbourhood

OrilliaMatters

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A large wild canine in an urban setting, where firearm use is forbidden, is never a good thing, but the horror story headline is unwarranted. If it really has become as bold and unafraid of humans as this story hints then the neighborhood could hire an exterminator.

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