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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Citizen, 2008-09-04, Page 5THE CITIZEN, THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 4, 2008. PAGE 5. Bonnie Gropp TThhee sshhoorrtt ooff iitt Hopeful B ank: a place that lends you money if you can prove you don’t need it. – Bob Hope Banker: someone who lends you an umbrella when the sun is shining, then wants it back when it starts to rain. – Mark Twain Ah, yes…the banking institution. Is there any other business calling that so inspires our contempt? Well, Colombian drug lords maybe – but at least drug dealers have the decency to get shot, stabbed, strangled or stomped to death by their rivals once in a while. Bankers rake in the same kind of profits without ever besmirching their French cuffs. Take Gord Nixon, CEO of the Royal Bank. I don’t know how Gord’s making ends meet lately, but the figures are in for 2006 and that was a rather good year for Gord. He pulled down just a little under $13 million for his efforts in that 12-month period. He must have worked extra hard. He only made $10.3 million the year before. Mind you, it’s not as if Gord was swiping money from the till. Royal Bank made a grotesquely bloated profit of $4.7 billion in 2006. You read right – four point seven. With a ‘b’. It is temptingly easy to dismiss bankers as 21st century pirates in pinstripes – The James Gang without the charisma – but that wouldn’t explain State Bank and Trust in Fargo, North Dakota. Oh, State Bank and Trust makes money hand over fist too. But then…something unusual happens. Last December, for instance, each and every employee at the bank – and there are 500 people who work there – got a Christmas bonus of $1,000. But it’s a bank, right? So naturally, there was a catch – some ‘fine print’, as it were. The employees weren’t allowed to take their free grand and go out and blow it on a five-star restaurant, a shop-til-you-drop blitzkrieg at the local mall or a down payment on a tank of regular unleaded for the family Chevy, no. Nor could they just, err…put the money in the bank. They had to unload it. “There are three rules,” explained Michael Solberg, State Banks chief operating officer. “You can’t give it to your family. You can’t give it to a co-worker. And you have to document your deed. Other than that, the sky’s the limit.” Quite a challenge. And one that the Fargo State bank employees rose to admirably. One teller paid his $1,000 to a North Dakota veterinary surgeon who performed a life- saving operation on an abandoned, dying kitten. Another employee went out and bought enough DVDs and DVD players to outfit patients in a local cancer ward. Having a thousand bucks to play with isn’t exactly like winning The Jokers Wild Lottery but, judiciously applied, it’s enough of a cash transfusion to put someone’s temporarily hijacked life back on the rails. One bank worker turned his money over to a friend whose car had just been stolen. Another donated it to a young, recently widowed woman who was struggling to make mortgage payments and to cover her husband’s funeral bills. In short, the money was applied 500 different ways, bringing unexpectedly happy endings to 500 different, difficult situations. And that was just the beginning. The various good deeds the employees did with their relayed nest eggs rebounded back on them. Turned out that by physically giving it away, they made themselves happier too – much more than simply writing a cheque to a charity would have. One employee explained, “You actually, truly see the benefit better by doing it yourself.” And it becomes personal. A bank secretary said, “(The money) actually gets to the people that we know in the community who need it.” But I think another State Bank and Trust employee said it best. When a reporter asked one of the clerks what she and her colleagues got out of the exercise, she replied: “Just a real good feeling of giving.” That’s something that Gord Nixon can’t buy. Not even with $12.8 million. Arthur Black Other Views Getting your money’s worth P rogressive Conservative leader John Tory is starting to look a little less like Liberal Premier Dalton McGuinty’s twin brother and this could help him get back in the race in the next election. Tory, as a moderate Conservative has had difficulty since becoming leader of coming up with policies that clearly differentiate him from the Liberals. At least until last October’s election, when he promised to fund private faith-based schools, which many dumped on as divisive and cost him any chance of winning. Before that Tory’s views were so close to McGuinty’s he voted for government legislation more than any opposition leader in memory. Their styles, low-key and placid, also were similar. They had some policy differences. Tory for instance would cut wait times for doctors by allowing patients to use private clinics, provided they accepted provincial medicare payments and did not allow private patients to jump queues. But the Conservative leader was open to the charge he did not offer a distinct alternative and recently acknowledged he has to develop policies that emphasize Conservative principles and clearly differentiate between him and the Liberals. The Conservative leader has been given some momentum by opportunities presented by McGuinty. The premier has been slow to act after a propane explosion devastated a large area around a Toronto plant. McGuinty has offered bromides such as “something didn’t work,” while Tory said the Technical Standards and Safety Authority, through which private industry monitors such plants was negligent and the province should be more involved. McGuinty has been similarly casual about the current economic downturn that has cost many jobs, particularly in manufacturing. Tory says Ontario’s tax rates for business are not competitive with other jurisdictions and he would reduce them for companies that create jobs. He says he would stop over-regulation that has led those trying to create jobs to feel government is an adversary, imposing endless inspections and ordering audits that require mountains of paper work. Tory would remove the sales tax from hotel rooms and tourist attractions in summers to encourage travel and help the tourist industry, which is suffering badly from the economic slump and high gas prices. He said this is a much better use of public money than the “feel-good ads you see on television.” The Conservative leader said he would halt a growth in the provincial civil service since the Liberals became government and number of public servants earning salaries of more than $100,000 a year, which grows rapidly every year. Tory, still more novel, said he also would work with municipalities to make sure they restrain pay increases for their employees, which for some have been averaging close to three per cent a year. “There has to be an attitude change,” he said. “The public sector has to tighten its belt, because families who have to pay the bills are struggling.” Tory says he also would offer municipalities financial incentives to reduce their often notoriously high rates of absenteeism. This could prove enormously attractive to voters, because the last time a party promised to restrain public service costs – the Conservatives in 1995 – it swept the province. Tory said he would put stricter controls on appointing legal guardians of children, after a seven-year-old was placed in the care of a woman with a criminal record for violence, who has been charged with her murder. Tory said transferring children should not be as easy as getting a liquor permit. Tory said he also would hold an independent inquiry into the more than 200 deaths in the province caused by the infection C. difficile, which McGuinty has refused and could become a symbol of the many concerns residents have about health services. Tory is still handicapped by not having a seat in the legislature since the October election and none of his MPPs has offered so far to give one up for him. These policies still are not likely to send voters stampeding to the polls, but they are a start. Eric Dowd FFrroomm QQuueeeenn’’ss PPaarrkk This week, mothers everywhere shed a few tears as they packed up backpacks and sent their little ones off to school for the first time. It’s a bittersweet milestone, pride and probably some relief, mixed with a sense of melancholy and worry. As a mom, I didn’t just dread kindergarten; I was sad no matter what year it was. Despite when their actual birthdays were, by moving into another grade my babies were suddenly one step closer to independence, which for me meant an awful lot more of the bitter than the sweet. No other day as effectively reminded of the hastening passage of time and the speedy exodus of this rich phase in my life, as much as that one. So it was that some of the same sadness blanketed me the other day when my grandson proudly told an acquaintance in answer to their question that he was entering Grade 4. Grade 4! Had a few problems getting my mind wrapped around that one let me tell you. As I still remember clearly the four first days of kindergarten that marked the beginning of my kids’ scholastic careers, it hardly seems possible that my grandson is almost half-way through elementary school. When the initial shock wore off, however, my thoughts went to another time, another Grade 4. It was a year in my life that stands out, always has, a school year marked by tremendous tragedy, escalating conflict and cheery optimism delivered courtesy of some boys from across the sea. I entered Mrs. McLennan’s classroom in September of 1963. It was a safe place in a world that was going a little crazy. There was of course Vietnam, and the southern United States was no small part of the insanity. Twenty African-American students entered public schools in Alabama that month. A few days later, in Birmingham, Alabama, four African- American children died when a Baptist church was bombed. The sadness certainly didn’t end. Nov. 22, returning back to school at lunch we were surprised to find that our teacher was weeping and that a television had been wheeled into the room. I will never forget the crying of my schoolmates and me as we watched the coverage of President John F. Kennedy’s assassination. Then, while the world recovered from the loss of a beloved leader, we eased into 1964, which brought a new energy and innocence in the form of four young men. I was pretty darn excited that night as the family settled down to watch Ed Sullivan and see The Beatles. Then the closeup on Paul McCartney and I was done. I was nine years old and had fallen in love. The rest of elementary school and high school had their moments. But there was never another year like Grade 4. The tragedy of that November day still resonates, as people continue to wonder what if. And the boys whose upbeat melodies restored some of the hope, turned out to be a lot more than a crazy fad. So, as I looked at the little man before me, who is growing up far too quickly, I wondered. I don’t see anything positive on the musical horizon. However as my grandson enters Grade 4 Americans have a presidential candidate who it’s been said resurrects the spirit of Kennedy and a new era of Camelot. Will he at middle age remember Barack Obama as someone who lived up to the promise and gave back what was lost those many years ago? One can always hope. Tory differences could get back in race Letters Policy The Citizen welcomes letters to the editor. Letters must be signed and should include a daytime telephone number for the purpose of verification only. Letters that are not signed will not be printed. Submissions may be edited for length, clarity and content, using fair comment as our guideline. The Citizen reserves the right to refuse any letter on the basis of unfair bias, prejudice or inaccurate information. As well, letters can only be printed as space allows. Please keep your letters brief and concise.