Author Archive for Steve Campbell
Time to catch up – on turbines, elections and housing
After months of chaos, we are finally settled in our new County Magazine office, living like hobbits under the Bloomfield Town Hall. So I have a bit of catching up to do with some random topics. Turbine Turmoil It’s been a long, hard ride for wind turbine opponents. It’s difficult – and somewhat painful – […]
Is fixing tourism possible?
It seems that everyone has a story or two to tell about the new wave of tourists this summer, particularly on countylive.ca’s blog. There were good comments, and lots of frustration vented. Ridiculous U-turns, insane driving habits, flipping fingers to pedestrians on crosswalks and, of course, the (now-acceptable) randomly picnicking on peoples’ lawns, and peeing […]
A whole new (tourist) world
Okay, there has been much discussion over this new wave of tourists who have ‘discovered’ the County. I feel your pain. As you know, if you own a County Handbook, I diagnose tourist behaviour in Waves. The first wave truly discovered the County, and they moved here, and they became us, because they came here […]
Make tourists pay? Not that easy.
Much to everyone’s dismay, I’m going to re-examine the effects of tourism, which created a firestorm of comments on countylive.ca. I stayed out of the comments, as I resist getting involved in the blogs, which is the domain of other County people, to voice their opinions. The previous column was based on a letter by […]
Love it or hate it … tourism pays
I was going to pass on a column this week, while consumed with the production of our Summer issue of County Magazine. But then three things drew my attention. First was Dennis Fox’s letter in The Picton Gazette, questioning the benefits of tourism in Prince Edward County. I am deeply involved in the cause and […]
Rain, Rain gone away?
There is no more popular topic of conversation in the County than the weather. Too hot, too cold, too wet, too dry, just right, but too windy, just perfect, but too humid … I swear there’s only one day each year in which the weather is perfect for everyone. Then we switch to talking politics. […]
Get your Political Correct
As you may know, if you follow the countylive.ca blog, I took a lot of heat for referring to the girls at the CIBC bank next door as the girls at the bank next door. I vainly tried to explain that this was not a degrading term, but a term of affection. I asked the […]
Rise of the Canadian Right?
The world is in a state of upheaval right now. And it should be noted that the world is always in a state of upheaval. Someone called it “the curse of living in interesting times.” This column is not solely about Trump, but the Trump Experience is certaily a world-changer. Trump’s rise to power has […]
Not at your service
Remember when we used to have service in Ontario? Remember when ‘service centres’ had staff who pumped your gas, checked your oil and cleaned your windshield, employing piles of people who would later become Exxon CEOs, because pumping gas at minimum wage really sucks? So now we do their job, and increasingly take over […]
County Schools get an ‘F’
I feel sorry for County Council. It’s really hard to make a plan for the next 12 months, much less express a vision for the next five years. Why? Because we have about as much control of our future as a blind man in a hot air balloon. Things are changing so fast that – […]
