A dozen or so centuries ago, back in the day when men wore tights and bloomers, Shakespeare’s gal Juliette leaned over a balcony and launched one of Will’s most famous soliloquies, “What’s in a name …”
(As this scribbler learned in one of Emily MacInnis’s Latin classes long ago, a soliloquy is the art of talking to oneself. Today, it is called other things).
These days a name means much to a lot of folks if said name is tied to the long-ago slave trade.
So it is with anything linked to a once-upon-a-time Scottish politician and alleged pro-slave trader named Henry Dundas.
Take Toronto where O. Chow, the freshly minted mayor, has moved the liquidation of all things named after the Henry fella to the top of her to-do list before tackling the crime problem, homelessness and a massive debt.
Of course, any political solution usually comes with a huge price tag. In this case, the bean counters put the cost of sanitizing public property, starting with Dundas street, at $6.5 million, give or take a couple of million. That cost includes changing 730 street signs, re-naming two subway stations, 625 bike stations, a square, three parks and a library.
Over in the dog-eat-dog private sector, 60 businesses are named Dundas something or other. An estimated 97,000 residents and 4,500 businesses will have to change official documents to the new street name.
A petition that kick-started the Toronto name-change movement in the John Tory days had 14,000 signatures, or about .005% of the Big Smoke’s population. The real surprise is that 14,000 people actually knew who Henry Dundas was.
Up to the plate comes a chap named John Smith, a Toronto cab driver, who offered up, at no cost, some good old non-politicalcommon sense.
Cabbie Smith wondered, in one of those person-on-the-street television interviews, why not just find a worthy Toronto native called Dundas and rather than spend millions on a name change simply change who it is named after.
He even offered up one Capt. George Dundas who won two military crosses in World War Two before being killed in action. Of course, this will require a thorough vetting process.
Hey, this Bud’s for the cabbie idea.
BACK IN 1967: The price of a building lot in Cornwall had doubled to $4,400 from four years earlier. (In 2023 there are building lots going for $175,000) The average price for a re-sale house was $17,000, an increase of $2,600 from two years earlier. (Average re-sale price today is around $420,000)… Cornwall Township council voted to instal artificial ice at the Long Sault Centennial Arena. … Three members of the Cornwall Fire Department were honoured for life-saving acts. Denis Frampton resuscitated a 10-year-old boy who had stopped breathing after a backyard accident; Robert St. Pierre resuscitated a two-year-old who had fallen into the St. Lawrence River; George Clarke pulled a bed-ridden paraplegic man from a burning home. … Cornwall Optimist Club proposed building a sports complex on the property owned by the city at the end of Ontario Street. It would include a soccer field and ball diamonds with lights. … Cornwall Mustangs dropped a 15-6 decision to West Island in Inter-provincial Junior Football League play. But it wasn’t the only setback for the club. Quarterback Bill Snelgrove, who played most of the game with torn knee ligaments, was sidelined for at least four weeks.Snelgrove’s gutsy performance earned praise from his coach. … George Dupras belted a grand slam as Glengarry Transport blanked Kastner’s 11-0 in a North End Fastball League game. Winning pitcher Doug Taillon held Kastner’s to four hits. … You heard about blaming it on the devil. Well, how about blaming it on a pesky wasp. That was the defence a Cornwall man presented when he appeared before Mag. P. C. Bergeron on a careless driving charge. The man told the magistrate that he was swatting at a pesky wasp when he rammed the rear of the car ahead of him. At one point, the man said the bee stung him on his face. Not guilty, said the judge.
HERE AND THERE: Condolences go out to Cornwall Police Service Deputy Chief Vincent Foy on the passing of his father, Jean-Guy. Funeral was in Gatineau on Friday. His father was a retired RCMP officer who once served in Cornwall where Vince and his twin brother Daniel, Timmins Police Service Chief, were born. … A 12-cent-a-gallon spike in pump prices in the United States over the last two weeks caused concerns for the economy. Meanwhile, Canada saw pump prices soar 48 cents a gallon overnight with barely a whimper of concern. Here comes another cheque. … Just heard an ad on a radio station across the river for made-in-Canada Molson’s beer: 30 cans for $20. … Irish singer Sinead O’Connor who died last week at age 56 caused an uproar when she ripped up a picture of Pope John Paul II during an appearance on Saturday Night Live (SNL) in 1992. There are counties where ripping up a photo of a religious leader would be a death sentence. … How many times have you heard this: “It will only take five minutes.” That usually means it will take at least 20 minutes. … Recent mention of the national legion track meets at the Athletic Grounds in the 1930s caught the attention of reader and long-time legionnaire George O’Dair who has a copy of the 1934 meet program which sold for 10 cents. George notes that a legion meet gold trophy was put up for grabs in 1929.
TRIVIA: What was the name of the car introduced by Ford Canada in 1960, which was replaced by the Comet one year later? 1) Frontier, 2) Classic, 3) Frontenac, 4) Fury, 5) Edsel
TRIVIA ANSWER: James Stewart played photographer L. B. “Jeff” Jeffries, confined to a wheelchair in his apartment after breaking his leg, in Alfred Hitchcock’s “Rear Window”.
QUOTED: “Happiness is nothing more than good health and a bad memory.” – Albert Schweitzer
