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w at er lo oc hr on ic le .c a W at er lo o C hr on ic le | T hu rs da y, N ov em be r 25 ,2 02 1 | 6 ABOUT US This newspaper, published every Thursday, is a division of the Metroland Media Group Ltd., a wholly-owned subsidiary of Torstar Corporation. The Metroland family of newspapers is comprised of more than 70 community publications across Ontario. This newspaper is a member of the National NewsMedia Council. Complainants are urged to bring their concerns to the attention of the news- paper and, if not satisfied, write The National NewsMedia Council, Suite 200, 890 Yonge St., Toronto, ON M4W 2H2. Phone: 416-340-1981 Web: www.mediacouncil.ca editorial@waterloochronicle.ca facebook.com/waterloochronicle @wlchronicle WHO WE ARE VP, Regional Publisher Kelly Montague Director of Content Lee Ann Waterman Regional General Manager Nelson Parreira Regional Director of Media Heather Dunbar Advertising Representatives Fran Hendry, Katrina Anderson, Jan Bodanka, Matt Miller, Lisa Humphreys, Cassandra Dellow, Zaid Shahabuddin, Managing Editor Robyn Wilkinson Online Editor Loraine Centeno Reporters Bill Jackson CONTACT US Waterloo Chronicle 475 Thompson Dr., Units 1-4 Cambridge, ON N1T 2K7 Phone: 519-886-2830 Fax: 519-623-9155 Web: www.waterloochronicle.ca Letters to the editor All letters must be fewer than 320 words and include your name and telephone number for verification purposes. We reserve the right to edit, condense or reject letters. Published letters will appear in print and/or online at waterloochronicle.ca Delivery For all delivery inquiries, e-mail customerservice@metroland.com or call 519-894-3000. OPINION TO LEARN HOW TO SUBMIT YOUR OWN CONTENT VISIT WATERLOOCHRONICLE.CA EDITORIAL It's unlikely Premier Doug Ford will be adding a photo to his scrapbook any time soon of himself pos- ing with Doris Grinspun, head of the Registered Nurs- es' Association of Ontario. She and the nurses she represents are furious at the way they've been treated by the province during the most demanding days their profession has endured. Nurses have been at the forefront of the battle against COVID-19. They have paid with their health and well-being. They are fed up and exhausted. And they are leaving the profession or the province in wor- rying numbers. All the hearts-and-flowers posters, all the lip ser- vice about heroes, lose much of their meaning when provincial legislation pays them, in real terms, less each year instead of more. In 2019, the Ford government passed Bill 124, cap- ping salary increases for a million public-sector work- ers in Ontario -- including nurses and teachers -- at just one per cent a year. When inflation is spiking -- to a two-decade high of 4.7 per cent in October -- a one-per-cent annual pay increase means you are falling behind. Few things have been more evocative during the COVID crucible than photos of nurses after a long shift, eyes exhausted, faces marked by the masks and PPE they've worn for entire shifts. It was often nurses who held the hands of COVID-19 patients in their final moments. They have called Bill 124 a "slap in the face." It is. That slap stings all the more when police and fire- fighters -- as municipal workers, and no more hard- put and heroic than nurses -- are exempt from wage caps. Nursing organizations say the bill is contributing to the nursing shortage in Ontario hospitals, as nurses are lured to the United States or other provinces. They say it has increased the wage gap between men -- who constitute the majority of police and fire- fighters -- and women, who make up the largest pro- portion of nurses. The premier must have been feeling pretty good about his relationship with labour after posing recent- ly with a couple of key union leaders when he an- nounced an increase in the minimum wage to $15 an hour in January. This was an astonishing show of support by UN- IFOR's Jerry Dias and OPSEU's Smokey Thomas, giv- en that it was Ford himself who had scrapped that increase in 2018, then granted annual minimum-wage increases of just 25 cents an hour in 2020 and a dime in 2021. Grinspun and the leaders of other nursing organi- zations are not likely to be so accommodating. Grinspun told last weekend's rally that she wants Bill 124 gone within 30 days. Otherwise, nurses would be campaigning against Ford's government in the provincial election set for next June. The premier would do well to take the steely Grin- spun and the angels in scrubs she represents seriously. They deserve better than to see their real, after-in- flation salaries shrinking before their eyes. ONTARIO NURSES DESERVE A BETTER DEAL HEALTH IS FIRST REQUIREMENT For 15 years of my full- time working career, I drove an over-the-road tractor-trailer. The most important requirement was a class A licence, a privilege earned. I am pret- ty sure that Premier Doug Ford would have been un- comfortable if I were driv- ing the largest vehicle on the road without a licence. Why then does he leave responsible health-care workers swinging in the wind by his gutless inabil- ity to mandate COVID-19 vaccinations for those irre- sponsible health-care workers who refuse? Leaving it to the individ- ual health jurisdictions to solve this problem only empowers the gutless rep- robates to make life more miserable, with their pro- tests and social media, for those "heroes" on whom he dotes when opportunity suits. To put it another way, if you are looking after the sick, the first requirement is your health. JOHN KOLB, WATERLOO TRAFFIC SHOULD'VE STOPPED I was at the Remem- brance Day ceremony at the cenotaph in the Pres- ton area of Cambridge. It was a beautiful ser- vice with hundreds in at- tendance, all trying to maintain social distancing. It was very disappoint- ing that King Street was not closed to traffic for the 30-minute service. Not on- ly did it feel very disre- spectful to have transport trucks driving along the road, but it was very dan- gerous to the crowd. I do want to thank the people who stepped into the middle of the street to stop traffic when The Last Post was being played and during the moment of si- lence. While they shouldn't have had to do that, it kept the ceremony solemn. RITA CAMPBELL, KITCHENER HISTORY HELPS US SEE OUR MISTAKES I'm tired of reading about name changes. When are the Waterloo Region District School Board trustees, and all of the other politicians, going to learn that you cannot change history? When I was introduced to history in Grade 5 and all the way through high school we were taught that you can't change history as that is how we learn from our mistakes. Maybe the trustees should be aware of the say- ing: "History is not there for you to like or dislike. It is there for you to learn from it. And if it offends you, even better. Because then you are less likely to repeat it. It's not yours to erase." RON ROSS, WATERLOO LETTERS & COMMENTARY