Letters to the editor, Sept. 8, 2026

We shall endure Re: 'Name-calling,' Sept. 3, 2026. Albert O'Connell has his head stuck in the sand and seeks attention through his distorted thinking. It's indeed most difficult to accept there's a Canadian who would try to defend the insane leader of the nation to our south. Perhaps it's all down to O'Connell's antipathy toward Justin Trudeau, since many of his previous letters have revolved around this past prime minister and his Liberal party affiliation. The Canada in which I live shows no inclination of being destroyed by Trudeau — quite the opposite since we live in a prosperous country of which we're very proud. The only destructive action by any Canadian prime minister, in my memory, was that taken by a Conservative who demanded a remarkable Canadian fighter aircraft, together with all the plans, be destroyed. It's neither a double standard nor hypocrisy. No one — no one — can match the stupidity of he who would, out of childishness, change the name of a body of water long ago named by the original inhabitants of this land. It's also difficult to imagine anyone taking the side of the fools, down below, who believe Canada only exists because of the failed U.S. democracy. The elbows up gang will survive despite the enemies of our beautiful country. John E. Milnes Cornwall Things that wait Nearly seven years ago, in February 2020, I brought a proposal to the City of Cornwall to properly honour former recreation director Bob Turner, whose name had been carried by a local arena for decades. Turner was a man whose legacy speaks for itself. Seven years later, that proposal still hasn't moved forward, and it's time to ask why. Turner deserves better than to become a footnote in someone else's legacy. He had a whole arena named after him, standing on its own, under his name and his story alone. When Mayor Justin Towndale suggested in a CBC interview the tribute could instead be located at the Legion Baseball Park, where a field is named after my grandfather, it missed the point entirely. A shared site under another family's name isn't a proper tribute to Turner. It's an afterthought. The mayor called it a better location 'in his own personal opinion,' but that opinion has produced nothing. No progress, no timeline, no groundbreaking. Just a stalled idea sitting exactly where it was left. With the Benson Centre's naming rights sponsorship now expired, the city has a real opportunity here. Cornwall should either commit fully to renaming the Benson Centre in Bob Turner's honour, or return to the original proposal that was agreed upon before the mayor changed direction. Either path is better than more years of stagnation. This isn't an isolated pattern. In 2023, a member of the city's administration emailed me to confirm a Ryan Gosling Day was going to happen. We gave two months' notice ahead of the proposed date, in good faith (the city's website indicated we only needed to provide three weeks' notice for a proclamation). Instead of moving forward, city council used that time to debate how it needed to be involved, what it should get out of it, and to question our motives. No apology followed on the misinformation that was shared, including that we only gave two weeks' notice. No future date was ever offered. Our community shouldn't expect anything in return from Gosling for a day in his honour. Whatever he has achieved, his time growing up here helped shape who he became. Recognizing that shouldn't come with strings attached. Cornwall voters go to the polls on Oct. 26. Whoever becomes the next mayor and council will inherit both of these unfinished promises, and they'll have a choice: keep repeating the same pattern, or actually follow through. A good first test of any new administration is simple. Commit to Turner's tribute, in full, on its own terms. Give Ryan Gosling Day the date it was promised, without turning it into a fight over who gets credit. Cornwall has never lacked good ideas. What it lacks is the collaborative spirit to complete them. Kelly Bergeron Cornwall