If they had a mayoral optimist-of-the-year award in 1975, Gerald Parisien would have been in the running.
The likeable mayor tried to pull the curtain of gloom and doom back as the city wrestled with crippling job market challenges and double digit unemployment.
With seven strikes under way in the city and the announcement by two plants that they were closing down operations, the city’s mayor told the Standard-Freeholder there was a bright light at the end of the tunnel, and it was not a freight train.
“Things will get better,” assured Parisien.
Of course, what else was he to say?
Pickets were walking the line at Domtar, TCF, MCA Records, Versatile Knitting, Post Office (inside workers), Dominion Tape and St. Lawrence Power (linemen). With no mail to deliver, the post office laid off letter carriers.
Sylvania had closed its colour television plant, Courtaulds said it was shutting down its nylon plant and Dominion Construction Materials was cutting back a production line.
Oh yes. The federal government served notice that it was moving the regional Parks Canada office to Guelph. And did we mention 10% unemployment (down from 21% three years earlier).
Other than that Mrs. Lincoln, what did you think of the play?
City council was thinking big in October 1975 when it slapped a stamp of approval on a plan to developGuindon Park over the next 10 years.
The $4. million plan called for a whole lot of everything.
The plan called for the park to become a “tourism and recreation paradise.”
The list included a beach, picnic areas, a camp site, wild life preserve, wetlands, greenhouse nursery, equestrian centre, a funland, community gardens and nine-hole golf course with club house.
A ‘way-out-there suggestion’ by Ald. Francis Guindon to develop a landing strip for small air craft was nixed.
The next step, of course, was to hire a consultant to pull it all together.
ALSO IN OCTOBER 1975 – Ald. Brian Lynch said city council would be a more efficient body if the number of aldermen was reduced to eight from 12. Colleagues Dick Aubry, Angelo Lebano and Larry Keen agreed. … Cornwall Royals’ graduate Mario Vien stopped 32 shots as Toronto Toros (Leafs’ owner Harold Ballard mockingly called them the Toronto ‘Snow blowers’) downedHouston Aeros 6-3 in a World Hockey Association game. It was his first pro game. … A downtown landmark, Atkinson feed mill and store closed to make room for Cornwall Square. … Jack Jordan, a 31-year-old fast-talking truck dealership salesman, was hired as first manager of the civic complex. He was one of 36 applicants for the $20,000 a year job.Meanwhile, the city was looking for a CAO to fill the vacancy created when Maurice Engels, the city’s first CAO, left for a position in London…. Cornwall Electric announced a 15% rate hike that added $14 to the average residential bill.
THIS AND THAT Vice-president Kamala Harris likes to talk about her “middle class” upbringing, and how her mother “struggled” at the end of the month to pay the bills. Meanwhile, Donald Trump likes to brag about coming from a wealthy family, which is true. Harris might be stretching the truth a bit. While living in Montreal, where her mother worked as a cancer researcher at McGill University (and not exactly earning minimum age), the Harris household resided in Westmount, any thing but a middle-class neighbourhood. It was once described as a “moneyed” neighbourhood.
THIS AND THAT: (Part two) Former Stormont-Dundas-South Glengarry MP Guy Lauzon looking great after battling through some serious health issues. If a budding politician wants to learn about grassroots politics, they need to sit down and talk to Lauzon. Nobody was betterat the art of grassroots politics. As former U.S. Speaker of the House Tip O’Neill liked to say, “All politics is local.” … Without African priests, more Catholic churches would be closing. … The best move the Cornwall Royals never made was listening to coach Floyd Crawford who demanded super scout Gord Wood get rid of Ray Sheppard because “he wouldn’t back check.” Wood’s response: “But all he’s going to do is get you 50 goals.” He did better than that. In his third season he scored 81 goals and was named the OHL’s most valuable player. … Big thumbs up to Gary Herrington and company for organizing the Moe Lemieux tribute. Big turn-out of old sweats. Royals’ great Ron Ward drove from Cleveland for the event.
HERE AND THERE: A dream World Series: Dodgers vs Yankees. Ohtani vs Judge. …. There should be a rule that you can’t intentionally walk a hitter. … Putin’s take (in a news story) on Trump: Too unpredictable. … Don’t know why, but Barry McGuire’s Sixties dark tune “Eve of Destruction” comes to mind after watching newscasts these days. … Interesting how multi-millionaires such as Oprah Winfrey and Michelle Obama talk about income inequality in the United States. … Kind of stuff you can’t make up: A Democrat congressman has proposed naming a federal prison after Trump. Go for it. … Do they still have journalism schools? If they do, why? … Rocker Bruce Springsteen might be one of the richest former bartenders on the planet. Forbes puts his wealth at $1.1 billion. … My 32-year-old daughter tells me that the pain of paying $14 for a beer at a Leafs’ game the other night was made less painful when the server asked her for ID.
TRIVIA ANSWER: City council in 1956 approved borrowing $1.73 million to construct the water filtration plant on the former Bronson farm on Second StreetWest. ($18.8 million in today’s dollars). At time time, it was the largest amount borrowed for a capital project.
TRIVIA: Opened in 1913 by Peter Wong, this was Cornwall’s first Chinese restaurant. It operated until 1972.
QUOTED: A highbrow is a person who can listen to the ‘William Tell Overture’ without thinking of the Lone Ranger. – Toronto radio personality Al Boliska
