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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Citizen, 2017-11-02, Page 5THE CITIZEN, THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 2, 2017. PAGE 5. Other Views All that matters is the deal One of the things that most bewilders observers of U.S. President Donald Trump is his inconsistency: how he can say one thing today and the direct opposite tomorrow with the same sincerity. Perhaps we'd understand this better if we realized he represents the type of businessman for whom winning the deal is all that matters. There are plenty of examples around where businessmen (it's usually men) seem to be very flexible in their principles when an opportunity to make a deal that will enhance their bottom line comes along. Most businessmen, for instance, deplore governments for regulating the way they can do business or imposing taxes on their profits. They are, on the other hand, happy to turn to governments when they want help. Right now Amazon.com Inc., the world's largest retailer (owned by Jeff Bezos, the world's richest man) is looking for a location for a second headquarters. The company has started a bidding war among more than 100 cities across North America, suggesting that the city that comes up with the best package of community infrastructure along with an educated potential workforce — and, oh yes financial incentives — will win the prize which could bring up to 50,000 jobs. New Jersey governor Chris Christie, a good anti- government Republican who was a big supporter of Trump, has promised $7 billion in tax incentives. Or take a look at the demands the owners of the Calgary Flames hockey team have made of the city of Calgary in their pursuit of a new arena. The initial plans call for a $500 million arena. Last September the team's president said the team was giving up on a new arena because the city wasn't being co- operative enough and National Hockey League Keith Roulston From the cluttered desk Commissioner Gary Bettman came to town to suggest there were plenty of other cities that would gladly give the team a new arena. The city then released the terms it claimed the team wanted. The team asked Calgary taxpayers to put up $225 million of the cost of the new arena while the team paid the rest. But the team would really put up only $100 million of its share in cash. Another $150 million would come from a ticket surcharge over the next 35 years, with the city picking up the financing costs of that portion. The team wanted to own the arena and pay no rent or property tax. Oh yes, and it wanted improved public transit to serve the arena but it wanted free fares for people who were attending events at the arena. Want to bet the team's owners, among them two men with net worths of more than $2 billion, often complain that taxes are too high? Of course owners of teams in most professional sports have played this game many times before. Ontario taxpayers (under a Progressive Conservative Premier Bill Davis) paid much of the nearly $600 million it cost to build the Skydome in Toronto. The Ontario government later sold it to a private company for $150 million. In the free -enterprise U.S., National Football League owners have skipped across the country from city to city depending on which one would subsidize a new stadium. Sometimes business owners are content for governments to simply loan their muscle, rather than their dollars. In the 1980s under President Ronald Reagan, Robert Lighthizer, currently chief U.S. negotiator in the talks to revamp the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), reduced competition for U.S. steel makers by threatening to impose prohibitive tariffs against steel imports from Japan. The Japanese agreed to limit their imports. In the current NAFTA talks, Lighthizer (and Trump) have shown their concern is with getting the best deal, not being consistent in their beliefs. They have demanded, for instance, greater access for American companies to bid on contracts for projects by the federal, provincial and municipal governments in Canada, but at the same time insisted on blocking Canadian companies from bidding on U.S. government contracts through "buy American" provisions. And while Lighthizer proudly admits to being a protectionist, he demands that Canada abolish its supply management system for dairy, eggs and poultry that serves only the Canadian domestic market, with few exports. In case this kind of inconsistency of principle seems something shown only by big businessmen, I've covered a lot of meetings of farmers over the last five decades when there was some crisis or another. I've heard farmers who normally support free trade arguing for tariffs on imports from countries that were cutting into sales of their products. I've heard farmers who normally want government to leave them alone, desperate enough to plead for subsidies to help keep them in their farms. The bottom line with these contradictory positions by businessmen is that they really just want what they want, when they want it. Being a volunteer starts at home As the last vestiges of the International Plowing Match and Rural Expo (IPM) story list were erased from our office to-do white board, I looked back on the last 10 months of coverage with pride. As that board came clean, however, I realized there was one strong theme in all the interviews we did that has not necessarily made its way into the stories we told. For every committee co-ordinator, volunteer, vendor, business representative and senator at the event, there was a family behind them making their attendance possible. When I say family, however, I'm not necessarily talking about parents, children, grandchildren and the like — I'm talking about the groups of people with whom we surround ourselves. When preparing last week's lengthy IPM recap, I had three people, Jeff and Brian McGavin and Matt Townsend, comment on the fact that their employees made it possible for them to dedicate themselves wholly to the IPM over the last five years. Without that support, they said, they wouldn't have been able to make sure nothing was left on the table when the day was done. It's a feeling I know very well — I'm a parent who works some odd hours and my partner in crime in that adventure, Ashleigh, also works some odd hours. Any time either of us is outside of the house after banking hours without our daughter Mary Jane, it means there is a support network making that happen. Whether it's a grandparent, a sibling, a parent or each other, we have to work together to get where we want and need to be on a regular basis. Each person who helped to make the IPM happen had to have that same network behind him/her, only for them it was a 24-hour initiative. You can't attend meetings in the evening hours without someone willing to cover you at home with your children. You can't be at daytime events without knowing the people in your office will cover for you. Both Townsend and the McGavins explained that they could not have been a part of the match without the people they relied on, both at work and at home. It's important to remember a paraphrased version of an old saying: behind every hard worker is an equally hard-working support network. We're keenly aware of this in the editorial department at The Citizen. We spend a lot of nights away from home and whether it's like my house, where that requires the help of a family member babysitting or Ashleigh being at home with Mary Jane, or whether it's with newlyweds Shawn and Jess; both require an understanding spouse (and understanding friends). Take, for example, this past weekend. Both Ashleigh and I worked — I covered events from first thing in the morning to late at night and she was on the day shift at her job. Unfortunately, due to work, I wasn't able to attend an annual Halloween party hosted by friends in Brantford and Ashleigh was similarly disposed. In the past, one of us would have gone "to represent the family" but now, as my friends understand, late-night partying isn't a thing. This is all part of getting older and, dare I say it, more mature. We all start to realize that dropping everything and driving two hours to hang out, debate or play board games isn't feasible with careers and families. That isn't to say that, when the opportunity arises, I wouldn't pack up the family and dash to a friend's house. It just means that when it can't happen, most of my friends and family are understanding. Having that kind of understanding and compassion from friends and family and co- workers is what makes jobs like reporter and editor possible. It's what makes events like the IPM possible through volunteering. That could be why those two groups — journalists and volunteers — often fill the same space. It also explains why there is often overlapping of the two. Shawn, for example, has cycled for multiple charities and is a member of a local service club. Myself — I've embraced several one-off volunteer or fundraising positions, once being "arrested" for Crime Stoppers, once growing an ill-conceived mustache for Movember and also doing my best to help in their endeavours. And we've also both risked life and limb kissing pigs for the Blyth Business Improvement Area (BIA). So to the volunteers, businesses, committee chairs, business representatives, senators and even the visitors at the IPM, we say congratulations on a great event. We also say congratulations to every mother, father, sibling, co-worker, child care professional and friend who made sure those volunteers and visitors cold make the IPM such a success. Life is about balance and, without people at home to keep the scales steady, it's easy to forget how much goes on behind the curtain. One last note: thank you to everyone who helps make what I do possible. Your efforts are appreciated more than you may know. Shawn Loughlin Shawn's Sense Lords of the Rings As many should know by now, I'm now wearing a lovely ring made by a close friend for the first time in 20 years. The last time I wore a ring for any length of time was when my baseball team, the Pickering Pirates, won the provincial championship in an undefeated season. We were presented with rings to mark the occasion. This ring, however, marks a different occasion. Jess and I were married on Oct. 21 and ever since, I have worn this ring on my ring finger — so it's not just a clever name — except when I've gone out and joked with Jess that I'm going to leave it at home. She doesn't think it's that funny. Back to the ring. While not much has changed between me and Jess since we were married, the biggest change for me, as someone who hasn't worn a ring in two decades, has been the ring. I'm constantly fiddling with it and I can't really put out of my mind that I'm wearing it. Having said all of that, the ring has been the first thing I've gone to when I've run into someone on the street asking about the wedding or congratulated us. I show them the ring. When I ran into Huron -Bruce MPP Lisa Thompson at a local restaurant, she was even conscientious enough about the situation to ask how I was "doing" with the ring, knowing that men who aren't used to wearing jewelry can sometimes go through a transitional period when they all -of -a -sudden have to wear a wedding band every day until the day they die. Now, maybe it's because men are just naturally immature or it's that we're obsessed with superheroes (see Jerry Seinfeld's obsession with Superman for a great example of this), but when I pull up my hand and show a fellow married man my ring, the response has immediately been for him to take his ring, show it to me, and then press them together. Yes, just like the Wonder Twins, or, the one that sticks out in my mind, Captain Planet and the Planeteers. What the five Planeteers did when they needed to summon Captain Planet was put their five rings together and combine their powers (earth, fire, wind, water and heart) and then Captain Planet would show up. I have joked with my fellow married men that while the partnering of our rings may evoke some sort of super powers, since they're wedding bands, the super powers would most definitely have to be wedding related. Some of the potential marriage super powers I've thrown out during these conversations have been being really good at not going to bed angry, excelling at seeing something from the other person's perspective and maybe becoming adept at co-operating with the person you love and with whom you've chosen to spend the rest of your life. Now, while it may not make for great comic book reading or interesting television, I think that if we men could get together and better ourselves in our relationships, the divorce rate would probably go down and that comes with its own benefits. So, while I have no evidence to back up the outlandish claim that this process works, it might be worth a try. Next time you want to knock it out of the park with an anniversary gift, impress with an impromptu dinner for your significant other or fold all the laundry just right, maybe meet one of your fellow married men for coffee or a beer and get those wedding bands together. Even if it doesn't work, at least you got together with a friend.