HomeMy WebLinkAboutClinton News Record, 2014-04-16, Page 44 News Record • Wednesday, April 16, 2014
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Member of the Canadian Community
Newspaper Association and the Ontario
Community Newspapers Association
letters to the editor
Lack of debate part
of government's
poor performance
To the editor:
All the issues facing both the
provincial and municipal gov-
ernment in the last two or three
years centres around the lack of
constructive debates with the
citizens who have elected our
leaders to do just that. Instead
of dialogue with the average cit-
izen, the politicians resort to
the bureaucrats, the university
professors, lawyers and the elite
in our society including large
corporations that have a self
interest in their bottom line.
Let's be clear on one thing -
the aristocrats including the
bureaucrats are mostly left-
wing socialists who only see
their agenda as being the cor-
rect agenda.
We can have a debate if that
assumption has any credibility
and if their vision for the future
is our vision.
The Green Energy Act was
orchestrated because the hys-
terical concern in that there was
going to be no planet to live on
if we didn't act quickly.
The large wind and solar cor-
porations jumped on the band-
wagon and took advantage of
the concern shared by many
left-wing thinkers who control
government and by the likes of
Al Gore and David Suzuki.
There are billions of dollars at
stake to keep the issues front
and centre and keep the fear
alive. Global warming and now
climate change are the catch
phrases they use but United
Nations credibility on the issues
is fading because in many cases
the scientists at their best are
skeptical on which they made
their conclusions. So let's have
that honest debate.
Let's also have a debate on
the cost of electricity that we all
use and enjoy and whether the
billions that taxpayers will
spend over the next few years
for wind turbines and solar
panels are truly enhancing our
way of life and making a differ-
ence in protecting the environ-
ment. Hydro rates, as you know,
have increased significantly
over the last two years and are
expected to raise another 30 per
cent over the next three years.
Even though demand for hydro
has decreased and supplies
increased, the price of hydro
keeps going up instead of going
in a downward trend.
There is something signifi-
cantly wrong with that scenario
based on what I learned in eco-
nomics 101. Our peaceful and
serene landscape will change
forever and at what cost to the
consumer will it attain the goal
of a much cleaner
environment.
The costs of operating busi-
nesses and employing individ-
uals have gone up because of it.
Companies are relocating to
different provinces or to the
United States for a more com-
petitive advantage in the global
economy. Jobs are lost, deficits
increase and our standard of
living decreases. So let's have
that debate before we become a
third -world country.
There's also a debate that
need to be addressed as far as a
Bayfield arena is concerned. It
should never have been a deci-
sion made by council on
whether the ice should remain
or be taken out. The discussion
should have centred around the
needs of the larger community,
whether that be Bluewater or
Bayfield - on the needs and
aspirations of recreation facili-
ties that enhance physical fit-
ness and the quality of life and
how those issues can be
addressed over the long term.
That requires a plan with com-
munity involvement both from
decisions that are made and the
economics that will prevail in
its final outcome. That's a
debate that will become con-
structive and enhance the com-
munity as a whole. So let's have
that debate.
The people's government,
made for the people, by the
people and answerable to the
people, is what is missing in
constructive debates and why
we have underlying problems
that we face today. All levels of
government have wasted bil-
lions that should have been
spent in education, social pro-
grams and healthcare. Subsi-
dies of any kind in the market-
place kills innovation and
production. We've come a long
way with technology in the last
10 years and I'm sure with the
creative ability of our youth we
will see great strives in the
future. Let the free market
decide what the outcome will
be - not government.
Bill Steenstra
Devaluing people,
increasing
the bottom line
Economy is the number
one concern for
Canadians these days.
But what is the
economy?
Is it jobs? Is it
profit? Is it a healthy
workforce?
I was fortunate (or
unfortunate)
enough to be
working in
Goderich when
Volvo closed, as it
really opened my
eyes to a few things.
Firstly — labour is drastically
undervalued and undermined
globally, and more and more
internally. Workers in countries
like Canada - where people
generally receive a decent wage
for the jobs they do — are being
punished by big multinationals
because they are paid fairly.
But why does business have
to be like this?
The government response to
these types of situations is push
for lower corporate taxes and
offer incentives for big business
to set up shop in Canada. Sadly
in some cases, government is
being bullied into rewarding
disloyalty and poor
performance and the
punishment, so to speak, is
passed on solely to the
labourers in the form of lower
wages, no benefits and job
insecurity.
Years of successive smear
campaigns have left most
people with a poor impression
of unions. Organizations
designed to protect workers'
rights are being demonized as
greedy, bloated and
mismanaged.
That same description
applies to the governments
attempting to spread these
untruths on behalf of
corporations looking to cut
costs at the expense of workers'
health and rights.
So what is economy?
Undercut, underpay, and
bank the difference.
Incomes are
dropping and
profits are being
falsely inflated as a
result. Rather than
improve a service
or product, cutting
jobs and wages is
seen as the easier
alternative. It's like
Col
umn
Gerard
Creces
cancer - it affects
everyone. In fact, it
is a cancer, eating away at
quality of life.
The end result is you and I are
worth less. We become pariahs
for expecting decent treatment.
We become liabilities if we
need any assistance from the
government as a result of
human devaluation policies. In
this battle from the bottom, you
just can't win.
Meanwhile, products that are
mined, drilled and extracted in
Canada are sent elsewhere for
processing. Meanwhile, the
fleeting installation jobs
created by the green energy
boon will dry up as soon as the
last turbine is installed.
Meanwhile, the people on Main
Street can't afford to raise their
wages because they are being
undercut every step of the way
by corporate hegemony.
And the government's
response to all of this is to keep
offering concessions to make
the cost of doing business
cheaper for all the wrong
people and all the wrong
reasons.
We're headed down a
slippery slope, but as long as
we're beholden to the hand that
feeds, we feel powerless to do
anything.
But we aren't.
And it's time we make that
known.