Gather round chillin and let Grampa tell ya a tale of what used to be

Gather round, children, and let Grampa tell you a tale of what used to be. In what used to be Canada’s industrial heartland, southern Ontario, folks who worked in factories used to own their own homes. Real homes, not condos. Places where you could have a garden. Not only could factory workers afford homes with yards, cars and the attached garage to park them in, but from the steel mills of Hamilton to the factories of Galt, Kitchener, and Guelph, you could find folks who held season tickets. Most often you’d have a group go in on a pair of seats. Everybody gets a few home games, and then you’d have to sort things out at play-off time. Mind you, that hasn’t been an issue pretty much since the early Ballard era. I’ve a hunch there’s no factory workers holding season tickets to the Leafs in 2022. In fact, when I tour the industrial areas of Guelph today, I notice many of the key factories have been repurposed. Instead of one employer with a thousand well-paying jobs, you’ve got two dozen start-ups paying minimum wage. Used to be, the work-force would head to the parking lot at quitting time. Now they head to the bus stop. As our standard of living goes down the shitter, let us take solace in the fact that our demise is good for the environment. Happy trails!