How many men does it take to change a street light?
How many guys does it take to change a streetlight standard (post)?
Well, apparently more than are available to change the one that has been out of service in Ailsa Craig for the past three months! Back in 2001, municipal amalgamation year, the-then Village of Ailsa Craig spent a good chunk of change to replace the main street’s street lights, which had been left-overs from the MTO’s operations in the region and acquired for a song. But while they were functional, they weren’t pretty, and they didn’t illuminate the street in the most efficient and economical manner. Hence, the decision to improve the look of main street while at the same time making the street lighting cheaper to operate while at the same time doing a better job at casting light on the business district.
A firm in Burlington was selected to manufacture and install the new lights, and the antique-looking field green-coloured lights with their vintage light shades when up to generally widespread congratulations. One extra light standard was purchased, apparently in error. The calculation was off as to how many lights would be required. No matter. Always good to have a spare on hand, just in case you need it down the road.
Well, a municipal works truck was unlucky enough to knock down a light on the north side of Main Street, about halfway along. “We’ll get to it” was what was heard from the Works Dept.
Three months later the repair job is not yet underway. The broken stump with the coil of wiring looped up and back down remains as it was. Such is the attentive service Ailsa Craig inherited courtesy of amalgamation. Perhaps its time to revive the independence movement again, eh, fellas?

Putting blame where it is due in the Maxine Bernier affair
Maxine Bernier: Sounds like something new from Clairol! In actuality it is something new. It is a federal cabinet minister, the first of Stephen Harper’s cabinet to resign for a gaff.
It’s got to be a big gaff to cause one to hand in one’s resignation, especially when you hold the number three job in cabinet. Bernier was also Harper’s Quebec Lieutenant, a man following in his father’s reputable footsteps in Parliament, a man who was expected to help deliver many more than the 10 (out of 75) seats that the Conservatives won in the 2006 federal election in Quebec. Bernier the Younger is a man of no political experience prior to becoming an MP. For some reason, voters think that being related to a sound politician of the past is a good indicator of a winner of an MP. Peter MacKay represents his father’s former Nova Scotia riding, and Ann Whelan her father’s former riding near Windsor.
Prior to his resignation, Maxine Bernier was under fire for having had a relationship with a woman who was friends with Hell’s Angels members. This notorious biker gang leads organized crime activity in La Belle Province, so is a minister of the crown had any dealings or links to these folks, well, we can’t have that now, can we?
Yet he did not resign over that. He quit when it became known that he had left a classified NATO document over at his former girlfriend’s apartment... for five weeks. Some in the media have asked why the missing document was not noticed sooner by those who gave it to Bernier, by his girlfriend, or by Bernier himself? All good questions. Typically classified documents are signed out to someone like Bernier, Canada’s foreign affairs minister, and so he would be allowed to have custody of them until he was finished with them. Therefore only Maxine himself and his girlfriend would have noticed they were where they ought not to have been (the girlfriend not having a security clearance to view such documents). She claims she only noticed them recently and asked her lawyer to get them back to where they should be.
Was any damage done? Probably not, but Bernier did the honourable thing and fell on his sword.
Quebecers were heard saying the girlfriend and the PM were at fault. The former for not returning the documents to Bernier and the latter for putting the inexperienced Maxine into a job beyond his means.
Come on, guys, this is a grown man who had been well-briefed and was always under the tutelage of the senior bureaucrats at Foreign Affairs. The necessary security regulations would have been explained to Bernier and all other cabinet ministers on Day One after being sworn into cabinet. Bernier clearly is at fault, and nobody else. Why did he not call his girlfriend when he realized the documents were missing?
He should answer that question.

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