Editorials - Feb. 28, 2025

Although President Donald Trump campaigned on the price of lower egg prices for U.S. consumers, the prices have increased more than 18 per cent since his inauguration. Avian flu is decimating the industry south of the border where farms in states like Iowa average two million birds. The free market system fosters intense competition, resulting in mega farms. Once disease is present, large culls are necessary, disrupting the supply. 

 

Canadian chicken farms tend to be much smaller, averaging 25,000 egg-laying hens per farm. In addition, our supply management system allows for much more collaboration between farmers, allowing other provinces to ship in eggs to cover a region that’s been affected by an outbreak. As a result, Canadian supply and thus its prices has remained stable throughout the Avian flu crisis. While the prices have surged to record figures, supermarkets are also implementing rationing in order to distribute the limited supply to as many households as possible. Restaurants have even begun adding an “egg surcharge” to breakfasts.

 

This is in a week when our local Zehrs was offering a free dozen eggs to PC Optimum members. – DS

Over the past two weeks, many Huron County communities have taken part in the Coldest Night of the Year walk to raise money in an effort to lift community members out of homelessness. And of the nearly 6,500 teams participating, a team in Goderich, anchored by Mayor Trevor Bazinet, ranks fourth in Canada with its eight members raising over $42,000, mingling among teams with more than three times the members. The interest in and support of this team can perhaps be chalked up to its leader, Bazinet, who, last Friday, spent a night outdoors, not just to raise awareness, but to understand the challenges that some members of his community face every night.

 

Bazinet has been a champion for those experiencing homelessness for years, pushing for the Gibbons Street housing project, even when it was unpopular with many councillors and even more Huron County ratepayers, and fighting for programs to help those who need it most. His leadership and walk-the-walk approach invokes the famous Ambassador Matthew Rycroft quote: “How a society treats its most vulnerable is always the measure of its humanity.”

 

The Coldest Night of the Year initiative, nation-wide, has exceeded its lofty goal of $14 million and everyone who took part, from those who simply made a donation to those who walked to Bazinet and his above-and-beyond effort, reminds us to look beyond our lot in life and to, when and where possible, help those who may benefit from it. At a time when social programs and outreach, both at home and abroad, are under attack as unneccessary spending benefitting “them” when it’s “us” who are suffering, efforts like Bazinet’s stand out as empathetic and caring gestures, destined to be on the right side of history. – SL 

Investing in high-speed rail is a long-overdue step forward for Canada. Efficient, all-electric trains travelling at 300 kilometres per hour will cut travel times, boost the economy and reduce emissions. This kind of transformative infrastructure is exactly what the country needs. It’s worth every dollar, and it’s about time we made it happen.

 

The federal government’s plan to connect Toronto to Quebec City with high-speed rail is an exciting development. If done right, it could modernize transportation in the region, making travel more efficient while reducing our dependence on cars and short-haul flights. Infrastructure projects of this scale don’t just improve mobility; they reshape economies, create jobs and set a foundation for sustainable growth. But for all the benefits this project could bring, there’s one glaring problem: the plan completely ignores Southwestern Ontario.

 

As the London Free Press pointed out, there’s no logical reason to leave out cities like London, Kitchener-Waterloo and Windsor. This region is home to some of the fastest-growing cities in Canada, with booming industries, major universities and a rapidly expanding population. And yet, the high-speed rail plan stops at Toronto, extending eastward to serve smaller communities in Quebec while bypassing much larger urban centres in Ontario.

 

And if Southwestern Ontario is an afterthought, rural Ontario isn’t even in the conversation. It’s one thing to be excluded from high-speed rail; it’s another to be excluded from public transit planning altogether. Ontarians outside major cities are stuck with few dependable options. Public transit is treated as something that exists only for cities, despite the fact that rural communities also need reliable ways to get around.

 

High-speed rail is a great investment, but infrastructure shouldn’t just serve political interests. It should serve all Canadians. Right now, rural Ontario is the afterthought of an afterthought, and that needs to change. – SBS