And now for something completely different – as they used to say on the Monty Python show. I have been prompted to write this blog out of concern for those who may have fallen into the habit of watching the ever-present Hallmark Christmas movies. Quite apart from being formulaic and predictable, they are so saccharine as to be dangerous for any of my friends who are pre-diabetic. As a public service therefore, I am providing a brief summary of Christmas movies of the past – many familiar but a few much less so.
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Hazel McCallion has loomed so large for the past half century that it is easy to forget that she was not the first Hurricane Hazel. The first was a 1954 hurricane that caused great damage and large death tolls in the Caribbean, United States, and Canada (where it killed 81 people, mostly in Toronto). This tragedy served to underline the important role played by conservation authorities, the first of which were established in 1946. These bodies were given specially delineated boundaries that took in one or more complete watersheds and their responsibility for water management and flood control came to the forefront after Hurricane Hazel. Indeed, a Toronto and Region Conservation Authority was created in response to that hurricane to manage the area’s floodplains and rivers. Lands that had been heavily flooded were expropriated to prevent homes from being rebuilt and most of the land was gradually converted into an extensive park system along the rivers of the Toronto area.
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AuthorC. Richard Tindal, Ph.D is a retired Professor of Government. He taught for 30 years at St. Lawrence College, Kingston and was an occasional Visiting Professor at Queen's University. He has also written and consulted extensively about government. Archives
October 2023
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