The Week Between

It’s that interregnum between Christmas and New Year.  What the retailers call Boxing Week.  For many it is time for a rest.  A time to clean up after Christmas and to think about the New Year – 2014.  Some still have to work.  Those in retail, those who could not get the time off, service workers of all kinds still work.  But for those lucky enough to get the time off, it can be quite special.  It can be time to spend with the children as they play with their Christmas toys or spend time with relatives come to visit.  It can be a time to spend with friends.  It can be a time to just relax.

But not everyone is having good time.  Weather has hit many parts of the country with a cruel blow of winter.  Ice storms, snow storms, bad roads and power outages lasting many days are all too prevalent this year.  Power outages have hit New Brunswick, Quebec, and Ontario, most notably Toronto.  We here in Ottawa escaped the worst, but it did bring back memories of the ice storm of 1998.  The freezing rain lasted longer that year, and some people were without power for up to two weeks.  Nonetheless, any such event is a catastrophe for those experiencing it.

One news story from Toronto had people asking, “Why us?”  To which there was always the sarcastic answer, “Because of your choice of mayor.”  But that wouldn’t really satisfy anyone.  Besides, I don’t think God is political (but that may be a debate for another post).

One the one hand, it may be considered a logical question for those in the middle of it.  On the other hand, it could be interpreted as, “Why us?  Why not somebody else?”  In that case, the question could be considered arrogant, as in, “We’re Toronto the good.  Things like this don’t happen to us.”  There has always been a certain arrogance in Toronto.  There has been an attitude that the world, or at least Canada, revolves around Toronto: that Toronto is special; that Toronto is the centre of all that is important in Canada.  So the charge that their question, “Why us?” shows a certain arrogance seems justified.  Maybe they would rather be in New Brunswick where there have been not one, but several storms over the past week, most of which have caused more power outages or at least slowed down the work of restoring power.  There and the rest of the Maritimes have been hit by wave after wave of winter storms this year.

Believe it or not, there is one person in Toronto who I feel sorry for – their mayor, Rob Ford.  Not to dismiss any of the things he has done over the past year or so, but in this instance, he has had a raw deal.  Every time you see pictures of him on the news this week trying to talk to the people, he is accused of messing things up.  The reality is that there is, in a practical sense, little that he or any other mayor can do.  He cannot go out and fix power lines himself.  He cannot cut down bent and broken tree limbs by himself.  What he has done is go out among the people and listen to their complaints without trying to be too political or to put any of the people down.  He is accused of not declaring a state of emergency, but one wonders what good it would have done over and above what is already being done.  In fact, according to a recent city council decision, Rob Ford is not supposed to have any powers to deal with this.  He could have stayed home and watched for opportunities to revile his political opponents. Instead, he went out and put himself on the firing line in front of Torontonians and the national press.  No matter what you think of any of Mayor Ford’s other actions, in this instance, give the guy a break.  So lighten up, Toronto.  Yours is not the only city or area which has had a crisis this year.  And this winter is only starting.

Happy New Year to all of you.  May 2014 be a better year for people everywhere.