Editorial
If the above title seems familiar, that’s because it is the title of the public interest Petition which was the subject of our recent editorial, newsletter and video podcast. According to our independent online records, more than 1600 individuals have accessed one or more of the editorials and podcast.
Yet as of today’s date, less than one percent of that total have bothered to sign the Petition. Frankly we find this baffling, given the overwhelming evidence we have provided that, as we said in an earlier editorial, “MV ratepayers have been victimized by their insurer.” Surely the reason cannot be that insurance companies have an excellent reputation for acting in good faith and always recognising their contractual obligations?
At the end of our podcast we suggested in all seriousness that you might draw the conclusion that Intact’s motivation to ignore its contractual exclusion clauses is simply that it provided an improper benefit to the very individuals who in the first place decide to award the policy coverage and renewals thereof to Intact.
So what is the explanation for this collective shrug of the shoulders to our public interest Petition? (For “public” read YOU.) Perhaps some of you will take the trouble to tell us; otherwise, we are seriously considering whether it is a waste of our time and our money to continue to provide our much-praised truth-to-power reporting.
The indisputable issues raised by Intact’s conduct and the effect on your taxes may seem minimal compared to, say, the OPP costs of policing, but as we pointed out in our podcast it is but the thin edge of the wedge if insurers continue to be permitted to act in such a reprehensible fashion. Every time your policy is renewed, and especially if similar conduct is committed, the cumulative effect on your municipality’s insurance costs (and thus your taxes) will be significant and irreversible.
We therefore again invite you to add your name – anonymously if you wish – in the hope that you will help demonstrate the importance of the issues the Petition covers. LINK: openpetition.org/hdssc
Most people here do not have Internet access and often do not have even a desktop or laptop computer. Bell Canada has not yet even extended its fibre-optic cabling here despite the deadline being Dec of 2025 (and they actually originally promised it by 2023). Surrounding communities already have fibre-optic service from non-Bell providers (even Whitney and Madawaska!) and Bell has certainly long-since rewired Pembroke and the whole Hwy 17 corridor but they’ve done nothing here because people here are not agitating for it and even our “Sleepy Hollow” Council could care less.
In this environment an online petition will move very slowly and of course all the candidates in the current election like to avoid “controversial” issues and the “old-boy network” is always lurking in the background inhibiting open public discussion of such issues:- why do anything when you can do nothing? Welcome to the backwoods!
It might help if you canvassed the various candidates on this issue and ran an article on their responses:- the pigeons won’t flap their wings until the cat stirs them up a bit. Tylo moje dwi-grosze wôrtnotë! / EMC