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Panties in the mail and questions about ‘wifely duties.’ What happened when Tweed elected Ontario’s first all-female council

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It’s probably a good thing if this comes as a surprise: during last month’s Ontario municipal elections, two small rural communities — the Township of Algonquin Highlands and the town of Spanish — elected new councils comprised entirely of women.

Yawn. Because it’s 2018, right? This shouldn’t even rank as newsworthy.

Reeve Barbar Allen, centre, and Tweed’s all-women council in 1967.
Reeve Barbar Allen, centre, and Tweed’s all-women council in 1967.  (Tweed Archive)

And as news goes, October’s gender breakthroughs registered as barely a blip: notable marginalia, at best, in an election saga dominated by the provincial government’s dramatic downsizing of Toronto council.

Hold on, though — was this historic? After electing thousands of all-male councils, was this the first time Ontario’s 444 municipalities produced even a single all-female council, let alone two?

The CBC thought so, initially, in a piece proclaiming that “voters in Ontario made history twice by electing two all-female councils.” But it’s not actually true.

Algonquin Highlands Mayor Carol Moffatt, who won re-election only to find herself surrounded by winning council candidates of the same gender, hailed the moment in an interview with CBC Radio’s Ontario Morning.

“It’s a pretty noteworthy achievement in the face of political life in Ontario and we’re definitely proud to be a part of it,” said Moffatt. “The fact that we are all women is important, and on the other hand, it shouldn’t have to matter … but the fact that it shouldn’t have to matter is exactly why it does matter.”

Moffatt, whose interest in Ontario history predates her mayoralty, didn’t leave it at that. She did some digging and a few days later discovered and shared on Facebook the real facts: Ontario voters had done this once before. It happened in the village of Tweed, in 1967, where a woman by the name of Barbara Allen was elected reeve, leading Canada’s first all-female council.

And in 1967, unlike 2018, it was front-page news, drawing interest from across Canada and beyond. Looking back on the historical coverage today, the stories read like outtakes from an episode of Mad Men.

All the women elected in Tweed now are gone, Allen herself was the last to go, dying in 2008 at age 78. But in an interview with the Star, Allen’s daughters Peggy and Jane delighted in recounting what they saw as teenage girls, 14 and 15, respectively, when reporters came calling, trying to make sense of the women of Tweed.

“It was pandemonium, it was crazy,” said Peggy Allen. “We were just incredibly proud of our mother. She was so cool.

“At the time, reporters wanted to know how she could be the leader of the community and fulfil her obligations as a housewife and a mother,” Peggy said. “And of course her response was, ‘I married a liberated man.’ At the time people were taken aback by that, that she would be so bold. But it was true — our parents had an equal partnership. They were partners in everything they did.”

Peggy and Jane Allen recall one especially vivid encounter with a film crew from the weekly CBC television newsmagazine The Way It Is. “They filmed her doing domestic chores, things like cooking in the kitchen. Mother had long hair that she wore up in a bun, and they actually directed her to take her hair down and brush it for the camera.

“Whatever it was the CBC crew was trying to do had nothing to do with politics,” Peggy said. “We thought it was hilarious, ‘What does this have to do with running the village?’

“It just seems so strange now, looking back, that they would do that. But at the time, people were just so curious — ‘Was she a feminine woman? Was she able to fulfil her motherly, wifely duties?’ ”

The CBC was hardly alone in its skeptical tone. Evan Morton, curator of the Tweed Heritage Centre, has a file thick with comparably dubious clips from the Star, the Globe, the Kingston Whig-Standard, the Peterborough Examiner, the Belleville Intelligencer, the Hamilton Spectator and TV outlets across the country.

But the file in the Tweed museum has gaps. Some of the stories reference coverage of the gender breakthrough in the U.S., Scandinavia and Russia — but the actual clips from foreign sources are missing. Another curiosity in that file is a the lyric sheet for a song titled “Town Council Election” — written and recorded by Tweed musicians in honour of the occasion with a notation indicating it was “Written for The Way It Is (CBC) — aired on Dec. 10, 1967.” Morton hopes the retelling of this story will lead him to access a copy of the program for the museum.

“Away down east there’s a village called Tweed,” the song begins. “With a female reeve that’s unique indeed. She leads the town with grace and ease. Barbara Allen’s the lady, the reeve of Tweed.”

Morton, the curator, has a personal connection to the story: his father, Garrett Morton, served for a whopping 50 years as clerk-treasurer of the village of Tweed. That’s Morton’s late father in the photo with this article, administering the oath of office to the all-female council in 1967. He and many other older residents would have remembered a time before 1921, when women won the right to vote in Canada.

Garrett D. C. Morton, clerk-treasurer of the Village of Tweed, administers the oath of office to councillor Jeannette Whitfield after the 1967 elections. At left is Reeve Barbara Allen, and standing are the other councillors: Chris Sinclair, left, Amelia Bosley and Dora Courneyea.
Garrett D. C. Morton, clerk-treasurer of the Village of Tweed, administers the oath of office to councillor Jeannette Whitfield after the 1967 elections. At left is Reeve Barbara Allen, and standing are the other councillors: Chris Sinclair, left, Amelia Bosley and Dora Courneyea.

“My dad always said they were a good council — as good or better than any other council we had,” Morton told the Star. “But you look through the file today and you realize just how much scrutiny there was.

“What I remember is that Barbara Allen spoke her mind. She was well-educated. She was ahead of her time, probably more liberated than some of the other women, and definitely more than many of the men.”

What Allen’s daughters also remember are plenty of jokes, many of them cruel.

Though she won re-election multiple times, ultimately serving as reeve for more than a decade, men who ran against her found themselves anonymously harassed, presumably by other men. In one instance, one of Allen’s male political rivals received a pair of panties in the mail, said Peggy Allen.

“One of the elements of the job was to go on-site to survey construction of public works. And when Mother arrived for one of the first inspections, the crew gave her a hard hat that was decorated with hippie flowers.

“She was a good sport about it. She never responded negatively to any of those things. She laughed right along with them and said, ‘You want me to wear the hard hat, I’ll wear the hard hat — and just maybe I’ll add a few peacock feathers to it.”

Education, Jane Allen said, is what motivated their mother to run. Already a graduate of nursing when she started her family, Barbara Allen earned a bachelor’s degree during the early ’60s, commuting part-time an hour each way on the back roads from Tweed to Queen’s University in Kingston. Her education continued even after her decade as reeve: she eventually earned a master’s in neural linguistics and, at age 65, a PhD in sociology.

“The really big battle for mother was the long and bitter fight over closing local high schools and the amalgamation of school boards,” said Peggy Allen. “Tweed was so proud of its high school and rightly so. But in the ’60s the trend was all about centralization, with smaller high schools closing and students being shifted into buses to travel to bigger regional schools.

“She was up against the idea of bigger is better, which was starting to change the face of rural Ontario. It was a huge battle and it ended in 1970, sadly, when Tweed’s high school was closed.”

How the Star framed it after the next election in Tweed, in late 1967, when a man won a seat ? "and sympathy."
How the Star framed it after the next election in Tweed, in late 1967, when a man won a seat ? « and sympathy. »

Allen’s daughters, after initial contact with the Star, read up on the coverage of last month’s election results. They extend empathy to Algonquin Highlands Mayor Moffatt and the other newly election female councillors, who, in the flurry of responses to their breakthrough, have encountered a handful of social media trolls. Among the cruel messages in circulation is, “Congratulations on your coven.”

Said Peggy Allen: “That kind of cruel joking was not uncommon in my mother’s day and sadly, it’s still not uncommon. I think the obvious difference today is clearly the large majority sees this as something to celebrate, and that clearly wasn’t the case in 1967.

“But the other difference is there was no social media in 1967 to amplify the angry few when they put a very nasty negative spin on things.”

Moffatt, in response, seems inclined not to feed the trolls by saying much about them. But she is clearly moved by the accounts from Tweed, circa 1967, and what the women there endured.

“The Tweed story is funny and sad at the same time,” she said. “In 1967 it clearly was acceptable to question the motives, abilities and priorities of women — and that just goes to show how things have changed,” said Moffatt.

But, she added, things “have to keep changing — moving forward in hopes of a time when we’re all just ‘people’ who are elected.”

Algonquin Highlands Mayor Carol Moffatt won re-election, now working with an all-female council.
Algonquin Highlands Mayor Carol Moffatt won re-election, now working with an all-female council.

Allen’s daughters, for their part, produced one especially important trove of letters to help tell this story — personal correspondence from the early 1970s between their mother, Barbara, and famed Chatelaine editor Doris Anderson. Any Canadians who have ever heard the phrase #metoo and are unaware of Anderson owe it to themselves to learn about her.

Placed alongside the Mad Men coverage of the women of Tweed, Chatelaine’s letters to Allen are a clarion call to stand higher still with a run for federal office.

“At the moment, there is exactly one woman member out of 264 federal members of Parliament,” wrote Anderson in the opening salvo of June 10, 1971. “We want to do something concrete about the imbalance and we are asking you and other outstanding women across Canada to join us.”

Anderson, who doubled Chatelaine’s circulation during her tenure as editor, placing the magazine on the front lines of the Canadian feminist movement, earned a cautious response. Allen felt she had already defied all possible odds, writing, “It has taken 10 years to prove to people locally that I, not just women in general, can perform satisfactorily. In fact, my endurance locally in the heart of conservative Hastings County (the small ‘c’ is deliberate) is somewhat of a minor miracle.”

The Chatelaine letters — the recruitment for higher office — continue. Allen takes up the challenge with a growing sense of excitement, feeling out a potential federal run. She discovers she actually has an excellent chance of entering Parliament, given the broad support throughout the community.

But in the end, Allen begs off. Not for lack of ambition or will to bring change. But because, as she says in her final letter to Chatelaine, in the summer of 1972, “I love being the Reeve of Tweed and deep down in my heart, don’t want to be anything else. At least not for a while.

“So I backtracked and thanked all my friends for their kind words and encouragement. And here I am back at square one. I hope you don’t think I’m a chicken because, believe me, the second decision took far more courage than the first.”

Mitch Potter is a reporter and feature writer based in Toronto. Follow him on Twitter: @MPwrites

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Nostalgia and much more with Starburst XXXtreme

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Get a taste of adventure with Starburst XXXtreme based on the legendary NetEnt Game. The nostalgic themes are sure to capture fans of the classic version as they get treated to higher intensity, better visuals, and features. The most significant element of the game is its volatility. Patience will not be an essential virtue considering the insane gameplay, and there is a lot of win potential involved. It retains the original makeup of the previous game while adding a healthy dose of adrenaline. 

Starburst Visuals and Symbols

The game is definitely more conspicuous than before. The setting happens over a 5-reel, 3-row game grid with nine fixed win lines, which function if a succession from the left to the right reel is present. Only those players that that attain the highest win per bet line are paid. From a visual standpoint, the Starburst XXXtreme slots illustrates lightning effects behind the reels, which is not surprising as it is inherited from the original version. Available themes include Classic, Jewels, and Space. The game is also available in both desktop and mobile versions, which is advantageous for players considering the global pandemic. According to Techguide, American gamers are increasingly having more engaging gaming experiences to socialize to fill the gap of in-person interaction. Starburst XXXtreme allows them to fill the social void at a time when there is so much time to be had indoors. 

Starburst XXXTreme Features

Players get to alternate on three features which are Starburst Wilds, XXXtreme Spins, and Random Wilds. The first appears on reels 2,3, or 4. When these land, they expand to cover all positions while also calculating the wins. They are also locked for a respin. If a new one hits, it also becomes locked while awarding another respin. Starburst XXXtreme offers a choice between two scenarios for a higher stake. In one scenario with a ten times stake, the Starburst Wild is set on random on reels 2,3, or 4, and a multiplier starts the respin. The second scenario, which has a 95 times stake, starts with two guaranteed starburst wilds on reels 2,3, or 4. it also plays out using respin game sequence and features. The game also increases the potential with the Random Wilds feature to add Starburst Wilds to a vacant reel at the end of a spin. Every Starburst Wild gives a random multiplier with potential wins of x2, x3, x5, x10, x25, x50, x100, or even x150.

The new feature is sure to be a big hit with the gaming market as online gambling has shown significant growth during the lockdown. AdAge indicates the current casino customer base is an estimated one in five Americans, so Starburst XXXtreme’s additional features will achieve considerable popularity. 

What We Think About The Game

The gambling market has continued to diversify post-pandemic, so it is one of the most opportune times to release an online casino-based game. Thankfully Starburst XXXtreme features eye-catching visuals, including the jewels and space themes. These attract audience participation and make the gameplay inviting. The game also has a nostalgic edge. The previous NetEnt iteration featured similar visuals and gameplay, so the audience has some familiarity with it. The producers have revamped this version by tweaking the features to improve the volatility and engagement. 

That is characterized by the potential win cap of 200,000 times the bet. Starburst XXXtreme does not just give betting alternatives for players that want to go big. The increase of multipliers also provides a great experience. If the respins in the previous version were great, knowing that multipliers can go hundreds of times overtakes the game to a new level. 

Players should get excited about this offering. All of the features can be triggered within a single spin. Whether one plays the standard game or takes the XXXtreme spin route, it is possible to activate all of the features. Of course, the potential 200,000 times potential is a huge carrot. However, the bet size is probably going to be restricted and vary depending on the casino. It is also worth pointing out that a malfunction during the gameplay will void all of the payouts and progress. Overall, the game itself has been designed to provide a capped win of 200,000 times the original bet. 

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Anglais

‘We’re back’: Montreal festival promoters happy to return but looking to next year

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In downtown Montreal, it’s festival season.

In the city’s entertainment district, a musical act was conducting a sound check on stage Friday evening — the second day of the French-language version of the renowned Just For Laughs comedy festival. Tickets for many of the festival’s free outdoor shows — limited by COVID-19 regulations — were sold out.

Two blocks away, more than 100 people were watching an acoustic performance by the Isaac Neto Trio — part of the last weekend of the Festival International Nuits d’Afrique, a celebration of music from the African continent and the African diaspora.

With COVID-19 restrictions continuing to limit capacity, festival organizers say they’re glad to be back but looking forward to next year when they hope border restrictions and capacity limits won’t affect their plans.

Charles Décarie, Just For Laughs’ CEO and president, said this is a “transition year.”

“Even though we have major constraints from the public health group in Montreal, we’ve managed to design a festival that can navigate through those constraints,” Décarie said.

The French-language Juste pour rire festival began on July 15 and is followed by the English-language festival until July 31.

When planning began in February and March, Décarie said, organizers came up with a variety of scenarios for different crowd sizes, ranging from no spectators to 50 per cent of usual capacity.

“You’ve got to build scenarios,” he said. “You do have to plan a little bit more than usual because you have to have alternatives.”

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MELS new major movie studio to be built in Montreal

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MONTREAL — MELS Studios will build a new film studio in Montreal, filling some of the gap in supply to meet the demand of Hollywood productions.

MELS president Martin Carrier said on Friday that MELS 4 studio construction will begin « as soon as possible », either in the fall or winter of next year. The studio could host productions as early as spring 2023.

The total investment for the project is $76 million, with the Quebec government contributing a $25 million loan. The project will create 110 jobs, according to the company.

The TVA Group subsidiary’s project will enable it to stand out « even more » internationally, according to Quebecor president and CEO Pierre Karl Péladeau. In the past, MELS Studios has hosted several major productions, including chapters of the X-Men franchise. The next Transformers movie is shooting this summer in Montreal.

Péladeau insisted that local cultural productions would also benefit from the new facility, adding that the studio ensures foreign revenues and to showcase talent and maintain an industry of Quebec producers.

STUDIO SHORTAGE

The film industry is cramped in Montreal.

According to a report published last May by the Bureau du cinéma et de la télévision du Québec (BCTQ), there is a shortage of nearly 400,000 square feet of studio space.

With the addition of MELS 4, which will be 160,000 square feet, the company is filling part of the gap.

Carrier admitted that he has had to turn down contracts because of the lack of space, representing missed opportunities of « tens of millions of dollars, not only for MELS, but also for the Quebec economy. »

« Montreal’s expertise is in high demand, » said Montreal Mayor Valérie Plante, who was present at the announcement.

She said she received great testimonials from « Netflix, Disney, HBO and company » during an economic mission to Los Angeles in 2019.

« What stands out is that they love Montreal because of its expertise, knowledge and beauty. We need more space, like MELS 4, » she said.

There is still not enough capacity in Quebec, acknowledged Minister of Finance, the Economy and Innovation Eric Girard.

« It is certain that the government is concerned about fairness and balance, so if other requests come in, we will study them with the same seriousness as we have studied this one, » he said.

Grandé Studios is the second-largest player in the industry. Last May, the company said it had expansion plans that should begin in 2022. Investissement Québec and Bell are minority shareholders in the company.

For its part, MELS will have 400,000 square feet of production space once MELS 4 is completed. The company employs 450 people in Quebec and offers a range of services including studio and equipment rentals, image and sound postproduction, visual effects and a virtual production platform.

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