Tag: canada

Rideau Canal’s Fresh Water Crisis: What Visitors Should Know

September 1, 2024

Our recent visit to the Davis Locks on the Rideau Canal, a Canadian UNESCO World Heritage Site, was marred by a frustrating experience. As we attempted to fill our water jugs with fresh, filtered water, a note pasted at the freshwater supply hose alerted us to a ‘boil water advisory’. This inconvenience, which surely affected other visitors as well, highlights the pressing need for a solution.

Fresh water is essential for the numerous boats, cruisers, and campers passing through. I have no idea how pleasure boaters and campers can continue their trips without it.

The Rideau Canal is not just a tourist attraction, it is a national treasure. As a UNESCO World Heritage Site, a National Historic Site, and the oldest operating lock system to move boats up and down along the Canal in North America, it holds a significant place in history. Its construction in 1832, at a huge human cost, is a testament to the perseverance of our ancestors. This rich history makes this site’s lack of potable water all the more disappointing, given its esteemed status.

I approached the workers and asked what was wrong with the water system. They said that some filters needed changing. At least, that is what I understood to be the problem. Officials had tested the filtered water quality and determined that some filters required replacement. It appeared to be a manageable problem.

The boil water advisory was there two weeks ago when we went to get fresh water. So, it has been at least a couple of weeks during the busy summer months when potable water has not been available at a UNESCO World Heritage Site! This situation is incongruous with what an average person thinks of a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

I am not an expert on water filtration systems, but I installed a simple store-bought one in our cottage. When looking at options, I came across better-quality ultraviolet light systems costing more and requiring more maintenance. As well, I read about reverse osmosis commercial systems. ZENON Environmental in Oakville, ON, developed membrane technology for water filtration in the 1980s, with products sold globally. So, the technology is readily available in Canada.

Therefore, the problem at Davis Locks is maintenance, supply, or perhaps budgetary issues—the government is not allocating funds for timely maintenance. In other words, it may be practicing breakdown maintenance. Whatever the problem is, it is inexcusable, in my opinion.

The lack of potable water at this location may appear to be a minor issue to many people. However, for visitors using the site, it is a significant problem that takes away from the attractiveness of this World Heritage Site. In the long run, it would reduce visitor traffic should it happen again. This is just one issue that takes away from the attractiveness of this site; reducing the hours when the locks are open, raising fees for boaters, and a strike by workers in the past have all reduced traffic. Compared to the high traffic volume in 1982, the 150th anniversary of the opening of the Canal, traffic diminished from 100,000 users to 56,000 in 2023.

As a concerned citizen, I am disappointed by our government’s lack of maintenance and promotion of this significant site. With its rich Canadian cultural and historical heritage, the Rideau Canal deserves to be showcased and celebrated, not overlooked.

Nostalgia

August 18,2024

Taking the Quyon ferry from Ontario to Quebec by car and then driving along Highway 128 to Norway Bay brought up fond memories. We used to visit our friend Zane, who had a cottage there. Zane passed away many years ago, and his wife sold the house after the family moved to Vancouver, so keeping the cottage was impractical. This time, we visited his wife, who rented two cottages to host the family and remind them of their good times there.

The surroundings along the road were familiar; I recognized the area’s city hall and fire station. Norway Bay was still a small village of cottages that seemed to camp in a pine forest. There was a feeling of friendliness and informality about this community. No fences existed, and people walked on the streets and along the beach for exercise. Many children rode bicycles. I almost wished we had a cottage there; there are always people around, which is kind of reassuring socially.

In contrast, our cottage is on an island with boat access only. We see boats and water life, but we rarely see people to talk to casually, as you can in Norway Bay.

Meeting Zane’s family, some of whom I have not seen in decades, brought back memories of when I met him. At a time, we both were undergoing French language training the government provided for all its managers. Government policy was that employees should be able to speak their native language at work, so all managers should speak French and English.

We all spoke some French; this was not a beginner’s class. As an introduction, the teacher asked us to describe what we do in our jobs. When it came to Zane, he talked about “emballage.” Wow! It sounded like “embalming,” and I scratched my head trying to figure out which government department embalms what and why.

But my confusion lasted briefly until I could ask him who or what was embalmed. It turned out that “emballage” is the French word for labeling. You know, the labels on the products for sale in stores, like cereals and chocolate bars. Zane explained that the government develops rules for the type of information that must appear on product boxes for sale (like the size of the letters) and enforces the legislation on labeling.

I found his work fascinating, and we became fast friends in a short time. His patrician demeanor attracted me. When listening to someone, he jutted his head forward to focus on the speaker and responded thoughtfully with a gravelly voice. But he enjoyed jokes and was fast at cracking a smile.

In subsequent conversations, he described how he came from Johannesburg to attend university in Winnipeg with a windbreaker on his back when the typical temperature was way below zero degrees in January. But he had help to adjust quickly to local conditions, and early in his university life, he met a local girl who became his wife.

We soon met Zane’s family of two boys and an adopted Canadian indigenous girl in Ottawa, and our families socialized. We also met his parents when Zane invited them to visit his family. It was interesting to notice cultural differences between South African and Canadian mores.

Zane had become Canadianized to such an extent that when his mother read the newspaper and his father just took it out of her hands because he wanted to read it at the same time, Zane told his dad off, saying that his mother had the paper first and was reading it and do not take it from her. Back home, the father rules the household, and the woman obeys him. In Canada, we have more gender equality.

Another time, the family was going on a car trip to Toronto, and Zane’s mother started fixing sandwiches. Zane asked why she was doing it; in Canada, everyone, regardless of color, can stop at any food facility to eat. That was an exciting episode for Zane’s parents, as traveling back home was challenging for colored people.

Zane’s mother would have liked to stay in Canada, especially when she was cured, freely, of TB, recognized by an X-ray. But his father decided to return to South Africa, not only because he had his friends there but also because he missed his culture.

All these memories returned to me when we drove into Norway Bay and met with Zane’s wife, one of his sons, and the son’s family. For me, it was an emotional moment. Although we talked with his wife over the years, it had been decades since I had seen his son and his family. Eric is a muscle-bound, heavy-set RCMP officer with over twenty years of service. He has had a varied career with the Mounties in British Columbia, serving on a swat team for a while. Although he was the easiest person to talk with, nobody would mess with him, just looking at his build.

It was also satisfying to remember that Eric had wanted to be a Mountie since high school. We wrote a letter of recommendation for him when he applied to join the RCMP, and I was glad to see that he has made a successful career with the force. 

While having coffee, some of Eric’s children decided to visit “Grandpa.” Somewhat confused, I asked Zane’s wife which Grandpa they would see. She explained that they would visit the cemetery where Zane is buried.

Climate Change in Fifty Years

August 2, 2024

While drilling a tooth in my mouth, the dentist asked me if I thought it was warmer in Ottawa now than a decade ago. Once he pulled out the drill from my mouth and my tongue got free to speak, I said yes. I said absolutely; this area is becoming a retirement community with a balmier climate that has superseded the cold winters. We now have longer, warmer summers and shorter, more tolerable winters.

The impact of climate change on winter sports is undeniable. The once long and enjoyable cross-country skiing season has been noticeably shortened. On the other hand, urban walking in winter has improved. With less snow, we can now stroll around town all winter, often with no snow on the ground.

But let me go back to the winter of 1974 when Ottawa’s average January temperature was 12 degrees Fahrenheit. In contrast, Ottawa’s average January temperature in 2024 was 21 degrees Fahrenheit. This is a significant upward move that has been gradual in my memory. The last few years have been mild and quite manageable, wearing light winter jackets.

Another example of the gradual warming is the number of days the Canal has been open for skating over the years. Dubbed the longest skating rink in the world, the Canal opened for skating in 1972 and was open for ninety days; the temperature was so cold that the ice on the Canal was three feet deep, the standard used for safe skating. It was open for twelve days in 2024 and never opened in 2023.

Leaving the dentist’s office, I met my friend, who explained that we have climate change, but he does not believe we have “global warming.” He agreed that climate change is real; this may be the hottest month in Ottawa, with daily temperatures in the nineties. He questions climate science and quotes periods when we have had warming and cooling over the last thousands of years.

He said Wade Davis’s chapter in his just-published book Beneath the Nature of Things provided the best and most balanced description of the climate issue he had ever read. Davis is a Professor of Anthropology at the University of British Columbia. In his essay, he provides a brief history of the climate change movement from its beginning in 1972 at the Copenhagen Conference.

Davis describes the cult-like followers of the climate crisis, including Greta Thunberg. He also mentions Steve Koonin (the science advisor to President Obama) and those who, although agreeing that the planet is in serious trouble embracing the carbon economy, believe technology will help solve the issue. There are also geopolitical issues: the South is asking for reparations; the North has had the time to create the problem while developing its economy and now asks the South to forego development based on the carbon economy. That does not seem fair. 

Davis intersperses his essay with fascinating facts, for example China approving the opening of 180 coal mines yearly and airline companies having 12,000 airplanes on order. These are examples of how these initiatives will increase rather than decrease the carbon economy. Also, 80 % of India has yet to fly, and sooner or later, all these people would want to experience flying, adding to the amount of carbon dioxide in the air.

The answer: Davis believes in setting action plans instead of target reduction plans; to date, the twenty-eight climate conferences have come up with watery plans, sometimes using misleading data, for example when the NATO countries came up with a target of 24% reduction when they had already achieved 12% of it by letting the ex-Soviet satellite countries join NATO.

Reading Davis’s essay made me wonder if I have ever done anything to reduce my carbon footprint. I belong to the group of people who do not feel the urgency of acting on a doomsday scenario that happens in decades. Polls show that although many believe in the danger of global warming, they are unwilling to act on it since it happens in the future.

Our new car is a hybrid EV. Did we get it because it is environmentally better than a carbon-fueled car? No, it was an economic decision: the mileage is much better than in a fully carbon-fueled car. We have not reduceed our travels to visit family and friends by air or automobile. And we have not downsized to save on heating fuel and AC. Should we?

Many factors influence the decisions to reduce our carbon footprint. The first one is to be convinced that the doomsday scenarios are real. But I have not had the experience that would convince me that we are on the threshold of a crisis.

If I travelled in an area with industrial pollution and massive car traffic resulting in hazy weather, I would put higher priority on solving air pollution resulting from the carbon economy. But that is not my recent experience.

Driving from Pittsburgh, PA, to Durham, NC, via West Virginia, we have seen vast expanses of beautiful open space with rolling hills. We have not seen any air pollution. We smelled fresh air. We also flew from Ottawa to Vancouver a few weeks ago and observed the vast lands underneath with no population. There is crowding with car pollution along parts of the East and West coasts, but most of the country in between is empty. So, I am not inclined to believe we have a climate problem based on my experience. I know there has been a gradual warming in the Ottawa area over the last fifty years. Beyond that, I have a minimal understanding of the future.

Traveling on the Boeing 737 Max: A Passenger’s Perspective

July 9, 2024

The travel agent booked us a flight from Ottawa to Vancouver. It was a non-stop flight. That is what I like. However, I discovered the plane was a Boeing 737 Max when I received the itinerary. The infamous one. You remember? That model crashed twice, once in 2018 (Lion Air Indonesian Airline) and once in 2019 (Ethiopian Airlines), where 346 people died. After the crashes, all flying authorities banned the plane; all airlines grounded the 737 Max aircraft, and a whole set of studies began to identify the causes.

All 737 Max’s sat on the ground for almost two years; after substantial changes and modifications to these planes, some authorities and airlines eased up, and the aircraft flew again. The studies indicated that the company rushed the plane’s production to compete with other similarly designed planes and indulged in cost-cutting measures without attention to safety. Subsequently, the company changed its executive suite, the CEO left, and the company paid over $2.5 billion to the victims, to the airlines inconvenienced by the grounding of the planes and a penalty. The 737 Max was back in production and flying again by 2021.

The travel agent assured me that the plane was safe. She said the 737 Max was probably the most studied and safest plane today. She did not mention that a 737 Max lost a panel (a door plug) off the fuselage on an Alaska Airlines flight in January, forcing the plane to an emergency landing.

Did her opinion make me feel good about the safety of the aircraft? I am not sure, but we had tickets on it. At any rate, what options did we have? Should we look for another flight, airline, or route that avoids the 737 Max? Should we cancel our trip?

My thoughts raced around flying on this airplane, including the possibility of crashing. But why worry if all authorities and airlines are comfortable with this plane? In the end, we boarded the plane.

The Boeing 737 Max is a narrow-bodied plane with a three-plus-three-seat configuration. The seats are 18 inches wide, while the aisle is twenty inches wide. Up front, there are sixteen first-class seats in four rows, followed by 159 economy seats, separated by a bulkhead from the premier seats.

The travel agent booked us on an aisle and a window seat behind the bulkhead, explaining that middle seats are the least popular and that we may find additional space between us should the middle seat stay unoccupied. The idea did not work out this time; the plane was packed, and we had a pleasant gentleman watching adventure movies during the flight to Vancouver.

The toilet up front, only five rows ahead from the bulkhead where we sat, was strictly for first-class passengers. Economy-class passengers had toilets in the back of the plane, meaning we had to walk back twenty-five rows. To add insult to injury, the sixteen first-class people had one toilet while we, economy-class people, while 159 economy-class passengers had two.

You can draw any number of conclusions, but most people use a washroom at least once during a five-hour flight. When I visited the toilet, there was a lineup at the back of the plane along the narrow aisle. I thought I would never reserve a seat at the end of this plane.

What was interesting and disturbing was that the two toilets in the back of the airplane were adjacent to the food trucks. I thought this layout would not pass food inspectors in our city. I assume the reason for putting the service area next to the toilets was an efficient and tight layout design.

But wait a minute; I am not finished with the toilets yet. Let me say that while waiting my turn, I noticed some people turning sideways to enter the toilet. The door to the bathroom was narrow. Someone entered the toilet, backing into it, figuring there may not be enough room to turn around inside!

I also intuitively thought there was something unfair about first-class ticket holders receiving quick access to toilets while others, sitting in the back of the bus—sorry, back of the plane—line up for a toilet visit. We are people with similar natural needs, and the waiting time for a toilet should be identical.  

On the other hand, the service was excellent except for the slowdowns when the food trucks had to back up, letting people attend to their toilet needs in the narrow aisle of the economy class. The narrow aisles also made it difficult to pass each other.

I read that the Boeing 737 Max has been a commercial success. Air Canada has forty aircraft, and many more are on order. I wish, though, that the designers rethink the airplane’s layout to provide better access to toilets for all classes of passengers.

I also read today that Boeing admitted to mismanagement, resulting in a couple of crashes to avoid being sued in court (July 8, 2024).

Opening the Cottage

May 24, 2024

When I started walking to the boat, the president of the cottagers’ association stood at the edge of the marina parking lot with his huge dog, a malamut. He said they missed us at the pancake breakfast the day before. Instead of saying we never intended to attend, I said we were busy. He and the association have been advocating for a revised constitution, a subject with no interest to me but likely to be brought up during breakfast. The president is an earnest fellow working hard at being president, and I did not want to hurt his feelings. It takes a lot of work to revise a constitution. Preparing a pancake breakfast is also an ambitious undertaking for a group, giving him credit.

When the president’s boat arrived to return him to his cottage on the island, we went to our boat. The starting engine sputtered for a while, warming up. The battery in the boat usually runs down in a few weeks unless it starts up every few days, and our boat must have been in the water for weeks without running. The ride to the cottage was relaxing on the quiet water, allowing us to reacquaint ourselves with the cottages and the small islands along the way.

Arriving at the cottage dock, I did a quick double-take, seeing the floating dock paralleling the shoreline instead of being perpendicular to it. Docks are usually positioned like fingers reaching out into the lake, where the water is deeper than at the shore. There was no question in my mind that the dock floated sideways, moved by some storm, losing its anchors at the deep end. I knew then that my first task would be to fix the dock after landing.

 But surprises never come in single doses; inside the cottage, we came upon stacks of mice poo in the kitchen and storage areas where we leave cans and dry goods over the winter. We do not usually get mice over the winter at our cottage; we leave mice poison in the Fall. But one year out of ten, we get a mouse invasion.

Cleaning up mice poo called for a hand-held vacuum. Although we had one, we remembered that it died last year. So instead of sweeping the poo off the counters, we decided to wait until the next time we came out with a new vacuum. This is an example of the disadvantages of island property; one has to boat back to the mainland for items missing on an island.

While Kathy took the covers off the beds and chairs, I put on my bathing suit and goggles and went down to fix the dock. I paid a local handyman to take the floating dock to a quiet bay for the winter and return it in the spring. Whoever brought the dock back this time tied it up with one concrete block at the deep end, which did not have enough weight in our lake, protecting against the three-foot waves rolling against the shoreline in stormy weather.

 I dove into the fresh but bearable water to look for the tires that I filled with concrete to serve as weights, but I had no success. I’ll have to look again next time; there is no way the current would have pushed the two-hundred-pound weights far away. In the meantime, I pulled the single concrete block out to the deeper water, hoping no storm would materialize for a week, pushing the dock back to the shore.

After my swim fixing the dock, I joined Kathy at the cottage, and beyond the mice invasion, the cottage was clean. It was time to relax and eat or drink something, but there was nothing for lunch since we had just come up for a day to do some reconnaissance. Then I remembered the alcoholic beverages that we left there for the winter. Our American neighbor from New Jersey left me his special edition bourbon he made in Kentucky with his friends in 2022. It is a bottle of Maker’s Mark, Private Selection, called “Bobby’s Garage.” The name is from his garage, where he and his friends exercise every morning. It was the best ounce of bourbon I had ever tasted, especially after diving into the lake and fixing the dock.

While enjoying the drink, I called my neighbor two lots away to find out how the pancake breakfast went; I knew they had attended. Instead of answering me, she invited us for a glass of wine. An offer too good to pass up, but before visiting, I decided to sweep the decks clear of leaves and take the covers off the Adirondack chairs outside.

While I worked outside, Kathy grilled some chicken for a light dinner later. By five o’clock, we were ready to see our neighbors. They said perhaps fifteen people attended the breakfast; I thought that represented less than ten cottages out of the one hundred on the island. I felt sorry for the organizers for doing so much work for so few people.

It was time to leave, and armed with a list of items to bring back next time, we started the boat, and it sputtered again. I made a mental note to call the marina next week and ask if something is wrong with the fuel line.