Ladies
and Gentlemen
The Christmas holiday season has arrived. Time for a well-deserved break from the
regular routine – a time to reconnect with family and friends.
This brings to a close “Midland’s Year of Decision Making”. I don’t want to annoy you with a long recital
of decisions that were made – Unimin land purchase; Fuller bike lane; a new
Council - but I will take this opportunity to leave you with an example of what
can happen when we decide to work together.
Over this past year there has been increasing anxiety in
our community about our healthcare services, in particular the well-being of
our hospital. The four mayors, who have no formal responsibility for healthcare,
decided to get involved and help direct the evolution of healthcare for our
citizens. On Wednesday of this past week, the four mayors met with the CEO’s of
Georgian Bay General Hospital, the North Simcoe Muskoka LHIN and
representatives of the Ministry of Health to sign a commitment to the future of
our hospital. It reads in part:
“The Mayors of the four North Simcoe municipalities,
in conjunction with Georgian Bay General Hospital and the North Simcoe Muskoka
LHIN, are committed to:
1. Ensuring the long-term
sustainability of the hospital
2. Maintaining
suitable hospital programs and services
in our community hospital “
A first step – an important step. The decisions that we
make every day are building a better Midland and area for all of us.
*****
A
quiet two weeks ahead, especially with Town Hall closed from noon on the 24th
to January 2nd. A few year-end
items:
The
Salvation Army has had a successful Christmas season. It will be distributing 300
Christmas hampers to families and individuals this year.
The
Keewatin is announcing a deal with the CBC to air their special video documentary
"Bringin' her on Home". It will be shown a total of 120 times on both
on the Discovery Channel and the CBC national network. That is a lot of people
being introduced to Port McNicoll (and Midland) and Keewatin. Trailer link: https://vimeo.com/75834872
Winter
farmers markets are open in Midland each Saturday at 9:00 am at the NSSRC and
Sunday from noon to 5:00 pm at the old Brick location at the Mountainview Mall.
Christmas
holidays are all about getting the family out skating. And there are plenty of opportunities
for you this year. Free skating is provided by Tim Hortons at the NSSRC at 1:00
pm on December 22nd, 23rd, 29th, 30th,
January 2nd and at 1:20 pm on December 27th and 28th.
Bruce Stanton will be your host for free skating on Wednesday Dec 31st
from 7:00 to 8:30 pm at NSSRC. And from
the good rumour department, look for a new outdoor skating rink in the downtown
area in the coming weeks.
Merry
Christmas to all.
Gord
McKay
Be
part of Midland’s Year of Making Decisions - 2014