Cornwall made municipal election history Monday night.
For the first time ever, three female candidates finished one, two, three.
Newcomer Sarah Good who ran a strong campaign, Carilyn Hebert and long-serving councillor Elaine MacDonald grabbed the top three history-making positions. They were three of five female candidates in a crowded field of 27 hopefuls running for one of the 10 council seats.
Good’s well-run campaign paid off in spades. In the unofficial count late Monday night, she polled 309 more votes than the mayoral winner. She ran away with the councillor field, finishing with 1,039 more votes than runner-up Hebert.
Mary Mack would be proud.
Mary Mack? She was the first woman elected to Cornwall city council, way back in 1946. At the time, only three other Ontario cities had female councillors.
SEEN AND HEARD Nobody worked harder at securing a seat on council than veteran political campaigner Denis Sabourin who finished eighth with 2859 votes. He did it all: Signs, worked his knuckles to the bone door knocking and became the first local municipal candidate to employ robo-calls. … The Chinese chapter of ultra-left Greenpeace (radical climate change activists) has doubled its membership this year. The year-end annual conference will now require two phone booths.
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Good to be back.
Actually, never left.
Been with you all this time, as the masked columnist.
Back in September Rick Shaver, this journal’s esteemed publisher, made the proper call that it would be unfair to other candidates in Monday’s now completed municipal election derby to have my name and picture attached to the column during the campaign.
So, we went incognito.
Two wise-guy friends, who had inside knowledge, said they were going to call Shaver and tell him the “new” guy is better and to put McIntosh out to pasture.
Very funny, guys!
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Michael Farber, arguably one of Canada’s premier sportswriters, offered up a dandy trivia question on TSN Radio the other day: The Montreal Canadiens selected three goaltenders in the 1984 draft. Two are in the Hockey Hall of Fame. The third has a son currently playing in the NHL and will be a shoo-in for the Hall when he retires. Munch on that one. Will let you in on the answer next week.
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Wishing happy retirement days for Cornwall lawyer Maurice “Moe” Gatien.
We disagreed on mask mandates, COVID vaccinations and the convoy, but we managed to meet over lunch a couple
of times to discuss, in a civil manner, the issues. We actually found some common ground.
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THE REAR-VIEW MIRROR
The 1962 city council made history … of the dubious kind.
It came at an October council meeting when east Cornwall alderman (as they were called back in the day) Rheal
Lemire refused Mayor Nick Kaneb’s request that he “sit down and shut up.”
Not once, but three times.
After the third rap of the gavel, the mayor called on the clerk to ask Lemire to leave the council chambers. When the
clerk hesitated, the irritated mayor took on the task. “I’m ordering you to leave… now!” said the mayor.
Lemire calmly picked up his council package, told his colleagues to have a good night and left. He was back for the
next meeting.
It wasn’t the first time in council history that a member was ejected from the council chambers.
But it wasn’t to be the last.
ALSO IN OCTOBER 1962 The new St. Columban’s Convent at Fourth and Augustus streets held an open house.
The convent was occupied by the Congregation of Notre Dame, a teaching order that been in the city since 1885.
(The convent is now Baldwin House). … Cornwall Cable Vision was offering new customers $50 for their old TV aerials. … Ernest Bushnell, president of Bushnell Broadcasting, said it was necessary to close the Cornwall television station – CJSS-TV – he had acquired because it was a money loser. The station, with its studio on Water Street, reportedly had never made money since opening four years earlier. All programming would be from the Ottawa station, CJOH-TV. Part of the deal, at the time, was that the Ottawa station had to carry a fixed number of Cornwall stories each month. One of the programs axed was a Cornwall version of Romper Room. … The city clerk’s department said 22,866 residents were eligible to vote in the December municipal election. Ward 1 had the largest number – 4,867. The turnout was around 68%. This was a time when many of the 74 polling stations were in private homes. … New teachers at St. Lawrence High School included Ann Mitchell, Marie Ray, David Courville and Gerald Aubin. Among the new teachers at Cornwall Collegiate were Doug Hill, John McCaulay, Richard Murray and Robert Litster. … Doug Anderson scored two touchdowns as SLHS defeated CCVS 28-6 in football. Pat Valiquette and Jerry Aho had the other majors. Anderson also kicked three converts. Bob Bolton scored the CCVS major. … Glengarry District High School blanked Char-Lan 30-0 to win the Glengarry High School Football League title. Robert Laporte, Serge Brisebois, Allan Campbell and Gerald MacLeod scored touchdowns.
TRIVIA City resident Thomas Murphy in 1873 was the first to set up this business in Cornwall: 1) Blacksmith shop, 2) Hair salon, 3) Taxi service, 4) Fuel oil business, 5) Butcher shop.
QUOTED – “I figure that over the years I spent 90% of what I made on women and booze … and wasted the other 10%.” – Rock and roll legend Ronnie “The Hawk” Hawkins.
