Like many of our readers, we too are suffering from flooding with uninsurable losses well into six figures.
We have done days of sandbagging with only partial success. We have had to tie many of our cottages to trees to prevent them from washing away. The flood publicity has dropped our reservations an unrecoverable 15%. My own hands still ache from carrying sandbags.
All that I can accept and live with. Adding insult to injury, I was just officially notified this morning by Transport Canada that everyone is banned from the Ottawa River – even commercial operators like us with almost five decades of running the Ottawa River at every level, including 2019. Nature knocked us to the ground and now our government is kicking us. MTO is patrolling Grants Settlement Road today looking for lawbreaking rafters and kayakers who want to go on living despite hardship and loss.
We are a country of river runners from native peoples, voyageurs, missionaries, fur traders, log drivers and modern-day rafters and kayakers. It’s in our genetic make up. Nanny does not need to baby us.
Joe Kowalski
