LETTER: Silence on the health of the lake “reveals the obstacles” imposed by provincial deputies

BradfordToday and InnisfilToday welcome letters to the editor at (protected email) or via the website. Please include your full name, daytime telephone number, and address (for author verification, not for publication). The following letter refers to an article titled “Health Unit, LSRCA Confirm Blue-Green Algae Bloom Near Innisfil,” published on July 11.

We expect to hear cicadas and grasshoppers in the summer. But this year, residents of the Lake Simcoe region are getting an extra dose of crickets.

This is the meaningless sound coming out of the mouths of our region’s highly paid provincial elected officials, who largely avoid the public and are unavailable.

Lake Simcoe is experiencing a record number of beach closures and blue-green algae blooms, with significant areas of southern Ontario flooding this week.

Usually, provincial deputies comment on this kind of thing. We hear shouts.

There’s of course the chorus of clapping seals — we see every MPP retweeting an ad about the liquor map, an ad about the expansion of Highway 400 and the Bradford Bypass (which will worsen pollution in Lake Simcoe), and something about the Pape TTC station in Toronto.

In my opinion, this moment reveals the obstacles that these provincial deputies have. None of them express their support for the people whose homes are flooded.

These MPPs are not serving their constituents; they are simply following orders from on high. They are not acknowledging the problems Ontario is facing because they are making them worse. That acknowledgment may require action, which is clearly not their plan—otherwise they would have communicated it.

Lake Simcoe would appreciate it if people would join the Lake Simcoe Watch and Rescue coalition to ask our local MPPs to do something for their constituents and for Lake Simcoe.

Claire Malcolmson
Lake Simcoe Rescue Coalition, Executive Director