Letters to the editor, May-June 2023

By Manor Park Chronicle

Manor Park residents have been invited to name the new pedestrian bridge at Blasdell Ave.
Manor Park residents have been invited to name the new pedestrian bridge at Blasdell Ave. Photo: Doug Banks

Blasdell Bridge naming

After learning about the naming of the Blasdell Ave. Pedestrian Bridge (March-April Chronicle), my children Michael (aged 7), Ismael (aged 6) and I began to propose names to one another.

Amongst those names were “rainbow”, “friendship”, and “resistance” which, as a family, were words that came to mind with respect to the old and new pedestrian bridge.

My eldest son Michael chose “friendship” and “resistance” due to the great memories created with neighbourhood friends, as well as the sturdiness of the new bridge. My youngest son Ismael wanted to name it “rainbow” because the bridge looks like a rainbow. During the difficult periods of the COVID-19 shutdowns, the children and I used to enjoy playing close to the area where the bridge is now, and drawing rainbows on the streets and sidewalks (with coloured chalk) to lighten up people’s moods.

Over the course of the month following the article, my son Michael’s class at l’École élémentaire publique Trille des Bois was introduced to some words and the history of the Anishinābe Algonquin Nation. Once the children returned from school, I told them that their school, the Manor Park neighbourhood, and the entire City of Ottawa is located on unceded, unsurrendered territory of the Anishinābe Algonquin Nation whose presence here reaches back to time immemorial.

After learning more about the Anishinābe Algonquin Nation, my children and I concluded that the Blasdell Ave. Pedestrian Bridge should be named in the language of the Anishinābe Algonquin Nation.

To my fellow residents of Manor Park whom I have had the pleasure to call my neighbours and my friends for the past few years and with whom I am honoured and privileged to raise my family among in this great community, I respectfully say that the bridge is not “ours” to name.

I recommend that the residents of Manor Park and especially those selected to participate in the selection process to name the “Blasdell Ave. Pedestrian Bridge” through the Manor Park Community Council (MPCC) heed the right of the Anishinābe Algonquin Nation with respect

to the naming of the Blasdell Ave. Pedestrian Bridge.

Meegwetch (Thank you),

Anthony Di Carlo, Michael and Ismael

A few tips

In a previous life I was a waiter in the dining room of an upmarket hotel, not quite the equal of our Chateau, but close. Tips in that establishment were a part of the work experience, and so I took a close interest in Cecilia Pita’s article about tipping (March-April Chronicle), in particular where she appears to frown on a waiter receiving a tip having to share it with other staff members.

We did provide in ‘our’ dining room, good service and superb food in fine surroundings, so diners were often surprising in the generosity of tips prior to leaving. This was almost in prehistoric times so tips were usually in the form of cash left on the table, although, occasionally, a bank note was pressed into my hand.

What happened to such generosity? It had to be immediately handed over to the head waiter, a figure of monumentally imperious proportions, Mr. Wardrobe. At the end of each week he divided this accumulated fund between waiters, cooks, chefs, cleaners and maintenance people. Mister W was a person of immaculate integrity so no one ever doubted the amount they received.

It appears the columnist dislikes that an amount given to a waiter is disbursed among several other staff members.

There are many contributions to a memorable dining occasion. On entering the client perceives a space of sparkling cleanliness–thank you cleaning staff. Furnishings, fabrics and cutlery are of high quality–thank you restaurant manager. The food is delicious and is presented appetizingly –thank you cooks and chef. An appropriate choice of wine–thank you sommelier. The personnel who serve the food and clear the remains are efficient, unobtrusive and gracious–thank you waiting staff.

Just as in the cliche, it takes a village to raise a child, it takes a platoon of people, visible and unseen, in a restaurant to accomplish a memorable dining experience.

There was absolutely no resentment by waiting staff (who often received the tips directly) that the tips were shared by several other staff members. A good dinner for a client was the product of shared effort.

Looking back over the decades, I have come to the conclusion that tipping is a basic wrong in much of society. It allows some to have a feeling of superiority over workers whom we suspect, usually correctly, are underpaid and probably mistreated by management in many places.

The existence of tipping allows employers to underpay employees, those employees in effect subsidising clients.

Yes, I tip but it makes me cringe, usually.

Pay everyone in Canada a fair, generous, living wage for their labours, where tipping is a relic of former times.

Ian Guthrie

Note: These letters have been edited for clarity and space.