Message from the President:

 

Season’s Greetings one and all. I hope that everyone has had a productive fall, and that all your acorns are safely stored away for the winter. There is a rumour going around that it is going to be a cold winter. I am sure all you winter sports enthusiasts hope that bears out. And that we get some nice thick ice this year.

 

By now many of you will have heard about the proposal of the Town of Parry Sound and Seguin township to divide and amalgamate the Township of the Archipelago. There is likely to have been further developments by the time you receive this newsletter. However, I wanted to report to you all regarding the Public Meeting held on  November 8 in Parry Sound, regarding this “amalgamation”.

 

Seguin and Parry Sound arranged this public meeting. It is required by law to have a public meeting before the government will approve any amalgamation proposal. Unfortunately, we were given minimal advance notice by these municipalities of the meeting. It was the TOA that took the bull by the horns and spread the word to the residents of the TOA.

 

The meeting was scheduled for 7pm on Wednesday November 8. A really difficult time and place for us seasonal residents to manage. However, I am proud to say that we had quite a contingent from South Channel.  Eleanor  and Denys Reed, Steve Bundy, Don and Marion Wheeler,  Leo Argenta, Claudette Pintwalla, Bob and Caroline Hamilton, Grace Kopec, Mickey Chabot, Marshall Black, Louise Armitage and myself. Thanks to all those people who made the effort. It was a long dark drive in November, but it was very necessary.

 

In total there were almost (by my rough count) 300 people there. It was a great opportunity to tell these other municipalities what we were made of, and that we were not going to take it lying down.

 

I know that there have also been a number of people who have sent letters to various MPPs, and I thank them for that effort.

 

Now, on to other matters: As you all know, there was no need for a municipal election in the Township of the Archipelago, and all positions were filled by acclamation. I would like to say welcome to the new Reeve, Peter Ketchum. And welcome back to the Ward four councillors: Rick Zanussi, Huntley Christie, Peter Eenhorn.

 

Finally, with the retirement of Annette Goullee from the executive, we are looking for some people (one would do, but more would be better), who would be prepared to approach merchants and businesses in Parry Sound for:

a)    discounts for SCA members

b)    raffle prizes for the AGM.

 

It would be nice to have the discounts for members ASAP, but we will take them whenever they come in. The raffle prizes don’t have to be collected until the summer. If you are interested, please let someone in the executive know.

 

Thanks

 

Tracy Biggar