“You can see the interest just by the ridership on our train,” said Roy Broadbear, general manager of the Waterloo Central Railway and a fourth-generation railroader. “There’s quite a move afoot. People are finally taking an interest in preserving our railway history.”

Ron Dancey, president of the Southern Ontario Locomotive Restoration Society, stands outside the group’s new facility in St. Jacobs.

The Waterloo Central Railway is operated by the Southern Ontario Locomotive Restoration Society. In addition to operating the train that runs between Waterloo and Elmira on market days, SOLRS acquires and restores locomotives and railway cars. Both of those operations are getting a boost with the construction of a new train station and repair shop in St. Jacobs.

Construction of the new building started in June 2009 and is essentially complete, with just the last interior finishing left to be done. The new shop will speed up the pace of restoration, allowing volunteers to work inside during the winter. The space includes a public washroom, lunchroom, equipment storage and display area.

The 55-by-90-foot building has a 24-foot ceiling and the floor is reinforced to hold the weight of heavy locomotives. There are two sets of tracks running through the shop, meaning two locomotives can be worked on side by side.

This week, the No. 9 steam engine sat waiting for its 10-year certification alongside the “pink lady,” a locomotive that was used as a switcher in a Niagara Falls rail yard. The pink lady was originally a reddish-orange colour, but the paint faded over years of sitting outside in a pile of rubble. When the owners sold the property it sat on, they had to clear out the locomotive and donated it to SOLRS. When refurbishing is complete it will be restored to its original colour, but until then, due to popular demand, the engine is staying pink.

The society has 20 pieces of rolling stock and each one has a story. The No. 9, a 1923 steam engine, was the last operating steam locomotive in industrial service in Canada, working along the Windsor waterfront until 1963. They’re hoping to have it in good working order by the end of the year and ready for special steam runs next summer.

“People are very interested in steam engines,” said Ron Dancey, president of SOLRS. “Everyone knows what a steam engine is, but almost no one has seen one operating.”

Ticket sales pay for the operation of the railway and maintenance on the train. They rely on grants and donations to acquire new cars and locomotives. To build the new shop, the society got a $483,000 grant from Industry Canada and put in $50,000 of its own money.

In another month or two, when all the finishing touches are put on the building and all the tools and equipment have been moved inside, the doors will be thrown open to the public for a grand opening.

The new facility is located on Country Squire Road in Woolwich Township, just north of the Waterloo boundary. Half of the 104,000-square-foot facility will house administration offices, while the other half will be used for storage and maintenance of vehicles and equipment.

A groundbreaking ceremony was held Wednesday for the new Waterloo North Hydro building with Woolwich Mayor Bill Strauss, Bernie Melloul, president of Melloul-Blamey construction, Wellesley Mayor Ross Kelterborn, Waterloo Mayor Brenda Halloran, Rene Gatien, president of Waterloo North Hydro, Eugene Moser, chair of Waterloo North Hydro’s board of directors, and Chuck Martin, director of the Waterloo North Hydro Holding Corporation.

Site preparation is already well underway; work on the foundations will start in two weeks, with the building scheduled to be completed by December 2011. The 100 employees of Waterloo North Hydro who work in the service centre should be moving in before the end of the year, said project manager Pedro Bevelander.

The new facility is more than twice the size of the existing 47,000-square-foot service centre. Waterloo North Hydro bought 35 acres of property, 7.5 acres of which will be used for a storage yard. In the future, the site might also have a transformer station; one of the factors that led to the selection of the site was the Hydro One high power line crossing the property.

“There’s enough space for future growth,” Bevelander said.

Melloul-Blamey Construction of Waterloo, which built the Woolwich Memorial Centre, received the contract for the construction. The total budget for the project, including purchasing the land, fees and construction costs, furniture and equipment, is $26 million.

The new building will incorporate measures to make it environmentally friendly and energy efficient, including a geothermal heating and cooling system, operable windows and a 40,000-litre rainwater harvesting system.

An illustration of the building showing the administration offices on the left and the maintenance area on the right.

The old house and farm buildings on the site have been demolished, but some of the materials were saved to be re-used. Concrete was crushed and will be used for structural fill, and the old barn beams, made of elm hardwood, will be reworked into boardroom tables and wood finishes inside the building.

Bevelander said the service centre will be built to a LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) silver standard, and could potentially end up meeting LEED gold standards.

“We’re only three points away from gold,” he said.

WNH plans a controlled transition to the new building once it’s complete. At that point, it will look at selling the current site at  300 Northfield Dr. E.

Waterloo North Hydro delivers electricity to 140,000 residents in the city of Waterloo and Woolwich and Wellesley townships.

The goal is to create a roadmap to guide the township in the longer term as it looks to build a diverse economy, said chief administrative officer David Brenneman.

“You need a plan. Otherwise you’re flying by the seat of your pants, and that’s never good.”

Under the terms of a request for proposal issued earlier this month – quotes from consultants are expected by the end of July – the undertaking will review Woolwich’s current strengths and assets, then identify future opportunities, he explained.

That could include working on attracting technology companies or boosting tourism or broadening the industrial base. Or all of that and more.

“We’ll be looking at where the strengths are in the township, where are the opportunities?”
Whatever the outcome, Brenneman is sure the outlook is bright.

“Woolwich has an important role to play in the economic development of Waterloo Region. We’re strategically located between the region’s [cities] and the City of Guelph.”

In fact, regional forecasts have already identified Woolwich – specifically the area around Breslau – as the center of future industrial growth. In the last few years, there has been a focus on developing employment lands in that part of the township.

Growth plans see development of new industrial land starting in the north part of Cambridge, in an area surrounding the intersection of Fountain Street and Middle Block Road. Stage two would be slightly to the north, on hundreds of acres engulfing the Region of Waterloo International Airport. The third stage would involve land surrounding Breslau itself, while stage four would see the development of property northeast of the village, along Hwy. 7 and Shantz Station Road.

Woolwich’s location and the availability of land means there will be plenty of opportunities, said Brenneman, adding the key is to develop a plan rather than letting things happen haphazardly.

That’s especially true if the township hopes to lure technology firms – its proximity to Waterloo is helpful in that regard. With growing investments in environmental projects such as wind and solar farms and the kind of biogas plant being considered for Elmira, there are more opportunities here, he said.

“We have to look at attracting emerging sectors.”

That said, the exercise is not a prelude to massive growth and sprawl; any development would be in keeping with Woolwich’s existing go-slow growth model, he stressed.

Funding for the study will come from a $75,000 grant from the federal government.

Elmira resident Marilyn McIlroy is currently working in Haiti while staff at the Evangelical Missionary Church of Canada use some of the money raised for relief efforts to build manufactured homes.

Elmira’s Marilyn McIlroy has been working with the Evangelical Missionary Church of Canada, Vancor Homes and a community in Haiti for several months, getting the prototype ready for presentation.
McIlroy said she has been impressed and proud of the outpouring of support that came from Woolwich Township. More than $80,000 was donated to the Yvonne Martin memorial fund, to be given to Haitian youth interested in pursuing medical studies.

“The support that Haiti saw from our community was incredible, and I think it is so important. We have been blessed with so much. It is not necessarily a bad thing to be blessed with so much, but it is certainly our responsibility to care for our neighbours. And our neighbours are not just in Elmira, or Waterloo Region, or even Canada, but they are global.”

McIlroy is currently in Haiti continuing with the needs assessment project, while staff at EMCC prepare for this weekend’s training in Kitchener.

“This weekend will be a demonstration mainly,” said Lou Geense, director of global initiatives for EMCC. “The houses are fairly easy to build once you know how so we want to make sure that everyone understands the process properly.”

Vancor Homes has created a prototype for homes specifically designed for Haiti. One home can be assembled by a four- or five-person crew in one day. They feature insulation that make them ideal for warm-climate countries, are maintenance-free, sanitary and termite resistant.

The project is set to take place in two phases. The first is the building of 1,000 homes in rural Haiti at a cost of $8,000 per house plus shipping. The homes will be manufactured in Canada and shipped to Haiti, where the teams will train the Haitians to do the assembly themselves.

During phase two of the project, EMCC hopes to establish a manufacturing plant in Haiti to produce the panels, supplying the country with a safe housing option on a long-term basis. The goal is to create jobs for Haitians in areas of manufacturing, transportation, construction and management.

“They (Vancor) are doing this as a relief and development exercise, rather than a project to make money,” said Geense. “The owner wants to get these houses to people who need them.”

The event is being held Saturday from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. at 214 Highland Road E. in Kitchener and is open to interested builders/leaders willing to go to Haiti to lead local and volunteer teams in rebuilding for the internally displaced persons living outside of Port au Prince.

“I can’t tell you anything about the movie, I’m afraid,” said Ron. “I wasn’t really paying attention; I was too excited that she was there with me.”

Elmira’s Ron and Doris Bock this week marked 60 years of marriage, citing a simple recipe for matrimonial success: listen, love and be patient.

This week, the Elmira couple is celebrating their 60th wedding anniversary.

Their relationship started, fittingly, at a wedding. Ron and Doris had each come alone to their friend’s Kitchener nuptials; as fate would have it, they were seated next to each other at dinner.

“Some people call it love at first sight,” Ron said this week. “I believe in that now.”

Details of their conversation that night have been lost along the way, but both Ron and Doris remember spending the night chatting and laughing and dancing together.

“I was smitten,” said Ron, who mustered up the courage to ask Doris if she would like to go out on a date with him. To his delight, she agreed. A short while later, the two of them took taxis – Doris from her Bloomingdale home and Ron from his home in Kitchener – into town and went to see the film.

Ron decided soon after that if he was to keep seeing a girl from Bloomingdale, he needed a better way to get to her than taking a taxi, so he enlisted a friend to teach him how to drive and purchased his first vehicle, a Pontiac coupe.

On July 22, 1950, the two wed at St. Matthews Lutheran Church in Kitchener in front of about 60 friends and family members.

“It wasn’t a big wedding,” noted Doris.

“I wasn’t a Romeo or a Don Juan or anything like that. I dated other girls and I never once thought of them as a potential wife,” said Ron. “When I met Doris, it was altogether different. Right from the day I met her at the wedding I knew, that was the gal I wanted to spend the rest of my life with.  It was just a chemistry I guess.”

Ron spent many years working as an optometrist in Elmira, and Doris stayed at home with their children.
Throughout the years, they had their share of everyday struggles, said Ron, but nothing that love and a strong faith couldn’t get them through. The couple is now proud parents to David, Rhonda and Cindy.
They are grandparents to eight and great-grandparents to another three children, with one more on the way.

“Being a grandparent is a whole lot easier than being a parent,” said Ron with a laugh. “The kids come over for a while and you can spoil them if you feel like it and then send them home. We were very lucky: we have great kids and a great family.”

These days, the couple is living separately; Doris lives in the long-term care facility at Chateau Gardens in Elmira and Ron is only a few blocks away in a townhouse.  Originally, they had bought the townhouse and were planning to live there together, but about five years ago Doris began showing signs of Alzheimer’s, was admitted to hospital and eventually transferred to a place where she can get the kind of attention she needs.
Each afternoon for the past three and a half years, Ron has come to Doris’ second floor bedroom; he visits with her in her room filled with photographs of family and other touches of home. Each evening, he kisses her goodbye and returns to his house just down the road.

“Theirs is a very loving relationship,” said the couple’s son David, who worked with Ron as an optometrist. “From them I learned that marriage is hard work, but if you can persevere, it is definitely worthwhile. The togetherness they have is incredible.”

For the couple who hope to get the family together to celebrate at the end of the summer, the recipe for a good marriage is simple: listen, love and be patient – always.

“I have somebody who loves me,” said Doris.

“That goes both ways,” echoed Ron. “We all search for that, don’t we?”

The secret to this German Potato Salad is the pickle juice. Any potato salad that you plan on making should be dressed while the potatoes are still warm, that way the potatoes will soak up all of the flavour you plan on giving it.  When cooking potatoes, start cooking them in cold water and then simmer them slowly, in large or whole pieces in order that they cook evenly without falling to pieces and absorbing too much water.  Salt your water, really salt it so that the potatoes become seasoned while cooking.
Visit the market to get the best ingredients.

German Potato Salad Serves 10

• 1 kg waxy potatoes (Yukon Gold works well)
• 60 g diced bacon
• 600 ml chicken stock
• 60 ml pickle juice or white wine vinegar
• 1/2 cup finely diced sour pickles
• 1/2 cup diced white onion
• 3 g salt (or to taste)
• 4 g sugar (or to taste)
• White pepper (to taste)
• 60 ml vegetable oil
• 30 g grainy mustard
• 1/2 bunch chives, chopped

Cook the potatoes in simmering salted water until just tender. Drain and allow to dry slightly by laying them out on a sheet pan. While the potatoes are still hot, remove the peels and slice the potatoes 8 mm thick;

While the potatoes are cooking, prepare the dressing: render the bacon by cooking it slowly until crisp;

remove it from the pan with a slotted spoon, and keep it warm;

Bring the chicken stock, vinegar, onions, salt, sugar and pepper to a boil;

Combine the oil, rendered bacon fat, and mustard with the warm potatoes. Pour over the onions and then add the boiling stock-vinegar mixture over potatoes. Add the rendered bacon and chives; toss the salad gently; taste for seasoning.

Chefs Kirstie Herbstreit and Jody O’Malley are both Red Seal certified chefs. Together they run the company YouCanCook2, specializing in interactive dinner parties. You can also find them cooking at Entertaining Elements in St. Jacobs, where they hold private dinners for eight people. To contact the chefs, visit their website www.youcancook2.com.

This mantra is quite a mouthful for anyone, but is especially impressive coming from Samuel Rahbek-Ward, an 18-year-old Alberta man with cerebral palsy whose parents were told that he would likely never be able to speak.  This week, Rahbek-Ward visited London, Ontario with his parents to participate in the 2010 Special Olympics Summer Games and then paid a visit to their good friend Dave Reimer in Elmira.

Samuel Rahbek-Ward's parents were told he would never walk or talk given a severe case of cerebral palsy. Intensive therapy, including hyperbaric treatments such as he received in Elmira this week, enabled the young man to excel, as witnessed by the medals he picked up in competition at the Special Olympics.

Reimer is a certified hyperbaric technician who operates out of an office on Arthur Street in Elmira, having made the switch from his career in underwater welding and commercial diving.

The shift came after an industrial accident a number of years back caused severe damage to Reimer’s foot. Seeking alternative options to the recommendation by his doctor to have the foot amputated, he came to see Gordon Ward, director of the hyperbaric oxygen therapy facilities located at the Edmonton General Hospital. Reimer’s foot has now completely recovered, which he credits to the hyperbaric therapy, and a friendship was formed between Reimer and Ward.

Ward first became involved with hyperbaric treatment when his son Sam was born with cerebral palsy, a physical disability with symptoms of varying severity depending on the individual.

“His original prognosis was about as bad as you can get,” said Ward. “The doctors said he would be vegetative and non-verbal.”

After the prognosis, his family searched for options, and then took him to the hyperbaric clinic at McGill University in Montreal for oxygen-therapy treatment.

Hyperbaric oxygen therapy promotes healing by quickly delivering a high concentration of oxygen to affected areas of the body. The chamber is sealed and the atmospheric pressure is increased. The patient then breathes 100 per cent oxygen through a mask or hood, taking breaks to breathe regular air.

Breathing pure oxygen at a level higher than atmospheric pressure increases the amount of oxygen in tissues and increases the transport of oxygen by plasma in the blood. The clinic offered services to athletes, but refused the Ward family because it did not offer services to treat children with brain damage.

Ward decided then that if others weren’t going to provide the treatments to his son, he would have to do it himself, becoming certified in hyperbaric therapy.  Samuel has been in treatments since he was six years old, and now goes for near-daily sessions.

Three years ago, Sam began a new type of therapy: swimming. Now, after years of physical therapy, weight-training, lessons in the pool and intensive hyperbaric treatments, the young man can walk with the help of a walker, has excellent grasp of language and just recently won four medals at the Special Olympics for his swimming skills, accomplishments that his family credit to the hyperbaric treatments and a whole lot of dedication.

“To me, Sam represents the spirit of hard work,” said Ward. “All of the athletes at the event this past weekend were fantastic, and what amazes me is knowing how much extra effort they have to put in to get to where they are.”

Sam underwent a number of experimental surgeries at a young age, rendering his leg muscles fragile, so he relies only on his arms to carry him through the water.

“Doctors back then didn’t know how to treat kids with cerebral palsy,” said Ward. “They tried a few different things to help him with mobility, but how he is able to walk now is probably the best we are going to see.”

Sam trains in the pool three times per week with volunteer coaches, and in the gym an additional two times per week. His hard work has paid off, and for his efforts he will bring home to Alberta a gold medal for his 25-metre race, a silver medal for the 25-metre and the 50-metre freestyle races and a bronze medal for his 25-metre backstroke race.

“I couldn’t believe how fast I was going through the water,” said Rahbek-Ward. “I can’t wait to go home and tell my friends.”

That changes today (July 24) when the club hosts the semi-finals of the South Western Ontario Regional

Aquaducks Erin Nechanicky, Carmen Read, Sarah Norcott and Melanie McArdle wait for instructions during swim practice Tuesday evening at the Woolwich Memorial Centre.

Swimming Association. Close to 150 swimmers from Elmira, Kincardine and Fergus will dive into the new pool in the Woolwich Memorial Centre.

“The other two teams are really looking forward to coming,” said Cindy Nicholson, the team’s manger. “A lot of parents have said ‘I can’t wait to see the new facility.’”

The parents will have a good view too, keeping an eye on the competition from the lobbies upstairs and downstairs.

The swimmers are battling for a top-eight finish and a berth in the championship finals in Guelph Aug. 7.
Elmira’s team of 24 is much smaller than either of their competitors, who have around 60 swimmers each.
The team has a number of new swimmers this year, thanks in part to the new pool. Parents bringing their kids to the arena for hockey or figure skating saw the new facility, learned about the Aquaducks and signed up their children.

Despite their smaller numbers and a sizable group of new members, they’ve done well so far this season, Nicholson said.

Swimmers practice twice a week during the year, which is divided into four sections. The summer session is usually the smallest, as some kids opt out of competing and return in the fall. Although they do have a series of meets during the summer, the Aquaducks are still a recreational swim club. Swimmers who decide they want to be more serious about competing move on to the Region of Waterloo swim club after a year or two.
Today’s meet gets underway around 9 a.m. and should wrap up around lunchtime.

Corrie, a 23-year-old American peace activist, was killed – some say murdered – on Mar. 16, 2003 by an Israeli Army bulldozer as she and some colleagues tried to prevent the demolition of a Palestinian home. Her death made headlines worldwide and inspired more than 30 songs, two plays, and a documentary, raising questions about the Arab-Israeli conflict that are hard to answer, and perhaps even harder to ask.
Her story, from an idealistic young girl in Olympia, Washington to her exploits with the International Solidarity Movement in Gaza, unfolds in the play to be presented next week at Kitchener’s Registry Theatre.

Majdi Bou-Matar's MT Space theatre group is not one to shy away from the controversy surrounding My Name is Rachel Corrie, to be staged next week at the Registry Theatre.

With words taken from Corrie’s journals and e-mail messages, noted actor Alan Rickman and British journalist Katherine Viner bring to life the young woman’s take on the longstanding conflict between Palestinians and Israelis.

The play has been contentious since it was first staged in 2005, both because of the issues it tackles and the debate over how Corrie died (the Israelis called it an accident, while witnesses say otherwise). The controversy is not an issue for Majdi Bou-Matar, who runs the Multicultural Theatre Space (The MT Space) in Kitchener. The group in known for such productions as The Last 15 Seconds, which looks at terrorism, and Seasons of Immigration, which tackles the trials and tribulations of settling in a new country.

Having read the script, he was eager to welcome the production by Burlington-based Tottering Biped Theatre.

“It’s a phenomenal play because of how sincere it is,” said Bou-Matar. “When I read the play, I couldn’t put it down.”

Given the attack by Israeli commandos on a humanitarian aid flotilla bound for Gaza in May – nine people were killed – the conflict in the region is once again in the spotlight.

“We think this is an immediate, urgent issue – a highly politicized topic,” he said.

Part of Bou-Matar’s fascination with the story was the international coverage about a young American woman being killed contrasted to the muted reaction to the fact Palestinians are killed on a regular basis.

“What’s the value of a human life? Some seem to be more valuable than others.”

Corrie’s story, however, serves to focus a spotlight on the region. The language and imagery are compelling, said Trevor Copp, artistic director of Tottering Biped Theatre.

“Rachel Corrie is a vital way ‘in’ to the Middle East crisis for North Americans because the play focuses on the entire life of a young American woman. She is familiar and her path to the Middle East is recognizable; we are or know someone who would do this; we admire her. This is why her tragedy strikes us acutely,” he said.

“The experience of occupation that Palestinians face is quite unknowable for most Canadians; but through her we have a way to realize the enormity of the suffering there. Her suffering becomes our own.”

The controversy, and perhaps the association with Rickman, might prove helpful as MT Space offers a summertime show for the first time. My Name is Rachel Corrie also represents a departure from staging only its own productions, which Bou-Matar hopes to do more of.

“We’re planning to start presenting more work from others,” he said. “We present our own shows about every two years – they take time to produce – so this is a way to keep the momentum going.”

My Name is Rachel Corrie will be performed July 29 and 30 at 8 p.m. at the Registry Theatre. Tickets are $20, available by calling 519-585-7763 or e-mailing tickets@mtspace.ca.

John Hogg, president of Green Grid Solutions, says the Ontario Power Authority’s decision to cut the price offered for solar power has destroyed any confidence people had in it.

On July 2, the power authority quietly announced that the price for power generated using ground-mounted solar arrays would drop from 80.2 cents to 58.8 cents per kilowatt hour. Smaller rooftop systems aren’t affected by the change.

OPA painted the change as fixing a “glitch” in the system when ground-mounted projects proved far more popular than anticipated. The government received 16,000 applications, of which 10,000 were for ground-mounted systems.

The change caught applicants and manufacturers of solar equipment flat-footed.

“This rate cut on the ground-mounted systems caused everyone that had an application in or a deposit in to cancel orders,” said John Hubman, president of H-Y Manufacturing, located outside of Elora.

H-Y Manufacturing makes tracking systems that allow ground-mounted solar arrays to follow the sun, maximizing their power output. They started building the tracking systems after the program was announced, investing $150,000 in machinery and another $150,000 in research and development.

In early fall 2009, still in the depths of the recession, Hubman had six employees. By November, with orders pouring in, he was hiring people back and soon added a second shift. The company went from building one or two systems a week to building between eight and 10.

Now, customers are cancelling or putting their orders on hold and they aren’t building anything. The investment and the jobs created are now in jeopardy.

“Money aside, the worrisome part is the effect it’s going to have in laying people off. It’s back to the gloom days of the middle of last year,” Hubman said.

Paul Parker, a professor of geography and environmental management at the University of Waterloo, welcomed the program when it was announced.  He’s had solar panels on the roof of his Conestogo home for the past five years. Through a net metering system he gets credit for his electricity costs, which works out to between six and 10 cents per kilowatt hour. At that rate, it will take him 50 years to pay off his investment.
Few Ontarians were willing to shell out tens of thousands of dollars and wait 50 years to recoup their costs, which is why Parker was happy to see the government making solar power more attractive. He believes the new price of 58.8 cents per kilowatt hour is appropriate, given that the costs of equipment have come down substantially.

“To my mind, how it’s implemented is the problem,” Parker said. “I can understand the frustration, if you make your decision based on one price and then find out you’re getting a different one.”

While many applicants and suppliers were taken by surprise by the price change, John Hogg has been waiting for something like this to happen. Hogg is president of Green Grid Solutions of Waterloo and has been in the renewable energy business for 10 years. He says that 80 cents per kilowatt hour is an unheard-of price; in Europe, governments offer between 60 and 70 cents and people can’t believe it when he tells them Ontario was offering 80 cents.

“It was almost disappointing that the number was so high because it just created a frenzy and from experience with OPA, you know they’re going to claw back at a certain point.”

The biggest problem is that OPA intends to make the price cut retroactive to early 2010. People who submitted their applications and went ahead with securing financing and ordering the systems are now caught in the middle.

“It would make sense to say from this day forward we’re going to cut rates, but to make it retroactive … to go out to the communities and promote renewable energy, promote 80 cents and then make it retroactive to before they started this publicity campaign, that’s a bit disappointing,” Hogg said. “The confidence people had in OPA is completely dissolved.”

Hogg pointed out that the rate cut disproportionately affects rural areas, where people have the space to install ground-mounted systems. Farmers, already skeptical of anything involving government, will be even more so now, he said.

Hogg believes that when the 30-day comment period for the change expires, the government may compromise a bit and settle on a price somewhere between the 58.8 and the original 80 cents per kilowatt hour.

Hubman isn’t optimistic. He’s waiting for Aug. 3 when the comment period closes, but he’s afraid that he’ll be laying off employees again.

“I think it’s a forgone conclusion,” he said. “They hoodwinked a lot of people in Ontario saying that we’ll pay you 80 cents, go ahead and develop all of this and create jobs.”