We have a hands-down inductee for the Talk-the-Talk-Not-the-Walk Club.
It goes to Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland, odds-on-favourite to succeed the emperor as leader of the federal Liberals after the next general election (if the polls are right). She has enjoyed bragging about her big contribution to saving the planet while urging Canadians to do the same.
Liked to tell folks she doesn’t own a car. Instead, claimed she uses foot power, bicycle power and public transit to get around, all in the name of saving the planet.
Then she got a speeding ticket last summer (yes, it is ‘last summer’) for doing 32 clicks over the 80 kp/h speed limit.
Bet you didn’t think a bicycle could go that fast on a major highway.
No, she was of all things driving a car … albeit a rental. And one powered by gasoline.
Then somebody in the media decided to check the government limo pool log books. Guess who has been making use of chauffeured gas-guzzling limos that are available to cabinet ministers?
Welcome the club.
HERE AND THERE Doug Billing, one of the best throwing arms to come off the assembly line at Art Anderson’s St. Lawrence High School football factory, passed away at his home in Kingston last month. Billing caught the eye of the Ottawa Rough Riders at the high school camp in 1959 and was dispatched to North Carolina Tar Heels. After one year of freshman ball, he transferred to St. Francis Xavier in Antigonish, N.S. and became one of the team’s all-time greats under legendary coach Don Loney. He led the X-Men to the Atlantic Bowl title in 1963. After university Billing taught at Thousand Island Secondary School in Brockville. He is in both the Cornwall and Nova Scotia halls of fame. … Thoughts are with former Cornwall Township clerk-treasurer Bernie Chisholm who is dealing with a health setback. Bernie was pretty much a one-man show in running the township out of a quaint century-old stone building on Cornwall Centre Road before the township and Osnabruck amalgamated to form South Stormont. … When Harry Truman left the White House in 1953, he and wife Bess drove back to Independence, Missouri and he wasn’t heard from again. Since Donald Trump left, it is hard to find of a day when he hasn’t been in the news. … When Karl Peladeau was running the Sun Newspaper chain (into the ground) a telephone survey was carried out in Cornwall and area to see if readers of the S-F would continue as subscribers if the S-F print edition was replaced with a section in the Ottawa Sun. … You’d think by now the NHL would have figured out that hockey in Arizona isn’t working out. The Coyotes again this season will play in a rinky-dink arena with a max capacity of 5,000. At least the chances of a sell-out are better. Meanwhile, Quebec City with an NHL calibre arena and strong hockey fan base is ignored. … For decades the covered stadium at Syracuse University was called the Carrier Dome, named after the huge air conditioning manufacturer headquartered in the city. Oddly, the stadium was never air conditioned and could be a steam bath on hot, muggy days. Carriere gave up the naming rights a few years back with a wireless outfit taking its place. The first thing it did was equip the dome with air conditioning.
AROUND AND ABOUT In the 1970s shock rocker Alice Cooper quit booze and drugs. He took $100,000 from the money he was saving and invested it in a couple of start-up outfits called Starbucks and Amazon. Today, that $100,000 investment is worth $16 million. Cooper also took up golf and became a four-handicapper. Years ago when he was booked for a performance at the Ed Lumley Arena, one of his first requests was “Book me for a round at the local golf club.”
THIS MONTH IN 1957 – With Cornwall on the grow, city council voted to increase the mayor’s annual salary to $4,000 from $1,200, and double the police commission compensation to $800 a year from $400. The city had grown in size and population earlier in the year with the annexation of 29 square miles of Cornwall Township. Overnight, the population went to 36,000 from 17,030. … A Charlottenburgh Township father of four was handed a somewhat lenient sentence of two years less a day for assault causing bodily harm in the brutal beating of two of his children – three and five – who required hospital treatment. … A 12-year veteran of Cornwall Fire Department died while working at his part-time job as a TV antenna installing. The 37-year-old was electrocuted when his ladder touched a high voltage wire while repairing the rotor on a 50-foot aerial. … The federal government announced a $9-a-month increase in old age pension payments. It raised the monthly payments for those 70 years and older to $55. … The St. Lawrence and U.S. seaway authorities paid $480,000 to purchase shares in the Roosevelt International Bridge Corp. which had operated the north and south spans since 1949. … Cornwall native John Phillips help lead Bishop’s University to the Ottawa-St. Lawrence Intercollegiate golf title with two-round scores of 79-81. … The fire department September report showed just $98 in loss of property.
TRIVIA Born Harold Smith in a Six Nations community in Southern Ontario, he played the Lone Ranger’s sidekick Tonto in the 1950s radio series “The Lone Ranger”. What was his adopted professional name?
TRIVIA ANSWER Mary Pickford (she was born Gladys Mary Smith) was the first Canadian to win an Oscar. She received the best actress in a leading role award for her part in the 1929 talkie, Coquette. Other Canadian Oscar actor/actress winners are Raymond Massey, Brendar Fraser, Ryan Gosling, Dan Aykroyd and Christopher Plummer.
QUOTED “When you make a mistake there are three things you should do about it: admit it, learn from it, and don’t repeat it.” – Paul Bear Bryant, Alabama football coach.
