I wondered if the Gazette might consider looking into the OEB decision on ending the Enbridge Gas subsidy — and our local MPP Todd Smith moving to overrule it.
The Ontario Government’s 2024 Budget has $250 Million planned to subsidize the cost of natural gas connection for new housing. The OEB has ruled that with heat pumps now the most cost-efficient method of home heating, subsidizing the installation of natural gas and supporting the proliferation of fossil fuel heating in an era of rapid climate change is not in the interest of Ontarians. Can you IMAGINE the amount of clean, renewable energy we could build here in Ontario with $250 million dollars a year? Why are the Ontario Government and our local representative continuing to invest so heavily in outdated technology?
I have so enjoyed reading your paper recently. As a fairly new County resident who has built their career in renewable energy and community finance it is nice to again hear the voice of reason in a place that has hidden its NIMBYism behind environmentalism. Taking the wind turbines down may have (debatable) saved turtle habitat but since there is still a large group of locals who enjoy driving their pickup trucks and ATVs along the beach on the South Shore and there is no protection against it, it is clear it was never about the turtles.
Mary Warner, Picton
I’m a medical student from Queen’s, doing my rotation in Family Medicine in the County. It’s been a great experience, and a small part of my morning routine has been stopping by the Beacon Bike and Brew, and perusing the Gazette over coffee before heading into the clinic. As my six weeks here are coming to a close, I wanted to write this letter to the editor as a thank you to the family health team, but also the Picton community at large – it’s been an exceptional experience and I’m filled with gratitude for the warm welcome and excellent learning experience I’ve had here.
One of the lesser known parts of being a medical student in Canada is doing a handful of “away” rotations. You spend six weeks in any given specialty at a hospital or clinic that is not a part of your university system. These rotations can be intensely challenging, professionally but also personally: coming back from long days and nights to a bed that is not your own, in a generous but impersonal temporary unit, without the support of your own peers and loved ones.
They can also be a beautiful opportunity to explore new communities, experience practicing in a completely different context, and learn more about the broader medical system that connects us all.
I’ve had my share of both extremes of the away experience – so after several months on the road, I was overjoyed to be placed here in the County for my third and final rotation, living with my dear friends the Emdins, and training at the Family Medicine Office of Drs. Blanchard, Nancekievill, Baldwin, and Dineen.
Six weeks is a strange amount of time. Clinically, it feels as though the moment I figure out how to work this specific fax machine and become marginally useful (or at least, not slow things down), I’m out the door. In this community, it has been just long enough to learn the names of the pre-work cast of characters at Beacon and invite them over for dinner, without coming across as way, way too keen (not my forté).
As I start to pack up my things and fight the urge to buy a PEC bumper sticker, I wanted to take a moment to say thank you. To the doctors, nurses, and staff: thank you for taking this fledgling medical student and showing him the beauty and breadth of rural family medicine practice. To the people who have come into the clinic expecting to see a doctor and were asked to first weather my onslaught of seemingly unrelated questions, thank you for your patience. I promise that we were taught to listen to your bellies before pressing on them. And lastly, to the broader Picton community, for striking up conversations at the theater (that’s you, Elona!), or who offered me a “slice of welcome cheesecake, because you seemed so excited to be working in the County.” (I was clearly speaking much too loudly at Vic Social) – thank you. As my time here comes to a close, all of you have made it feel much less like I’m going home, and much more like I’m leaving one.
Gautham Krishnaraj, Medical Student, Queen’s university
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