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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Exeter Times-Advocate, 1965-10-14, Page 4Whether Remembrance Day should be a pub- lic holiday or not is a subject which has been de- bated at all levels of government for many years without coming to a final decision. It is still left up to the individual municipalities whether they wish to proclaim this. In Exeter, council voted in favor of the re- quest by the Canadian Legion. It is a decision which will be met favorably, not only by Legion members, but others in the community who have reason to re- member through relatives or friends who served dur- ing either of the Great Wars or the Korean conflict, for this too, must be remembered as a war. It is unfortunate that many towns across On- tario do not have as sympathetic a council as Exe- ter. There are many towns, in fact the majority, who do not proclaim this a holiday whether from pres- sure of businessmen or their own attitude. In many cases, if the two minutes silence is given, it is given in an almost grudging manner and work goes on as before. It is not a period of remembrance but rather an obligation people feel they owe. This is an obligation, but it is worth much more than the two minutes' silence. The obligation should be on the senior levels of government to make this day stand out in the minds of everyone in the country. It is as important as any other holiday in the year and yet it is grad- ually being pushed into the background. Twenty-five years have passed and during that time many of the Legionnaires have passed on. At one time a Legion petition on Ottawa was a power to be felt, but no more. It is extremely unlikely that Ottawa will change its mind and make this a holiday after this length of time. However, the people of this area can stand proudly, knowing they are keep- ing the faith as was called for in the now famous poem—"In Flander's Field". Pulling together The Exeter Businessmen's organization made a step in the right direction last week when they de- cided to enlarge this group and form a Board of Trade which will cover all business, industrial and professional men •in the area. It is only through an organization such as this that a town can have unity. In the past many people have taken the attitude that the businessmen's group was solely interested in the welfare of the businessmen rather than in the good of the town as a whole as was the case. The reorganization should take in all busi- ness establishments on the fringe of Exeter as well as in the town. Surely these places which are 100 yards outside the town limits derive as much bene- fit from town promotion as do those within the boundaries. The fee structure has also been changed which should make it a little more attractive to some of these people. A straight $10 fee is well within the means of all these people and they cannot argue that they will not derive $10 worth of benefit. With the new plan, special promotions will be paid for by those merchants taking part. In this way garages or doctors, or lawyers cannot complain that their money is being used to promote downtown shopping of which they will reap no benefit. There are many places where money should be spent for overall town promotion which will bene- fit all aspects of the community. The Highway signs are an example of what can be done to encourage people who visit the county of Huron to come and visit the town, which is in the heart of the county, and which serves this rich agricultural district. There are many other ideas which still need to be ex- plored, and can be explored, with an organization which is truly representative of the Town of Exeter. The first project undertaken by this new body is a Christmas promotion and it is an ambitious one. The merchants involved are prepared to pay the cost of this and it should do much to keep the people of Exeter and area shopping at home. It is a start of what should be a long and successful series of proj- ects. We wish the new organization every success and we are sure there are many residents happy to see a strong, unified town pulling together for the betterment of everyone. With the editor in Dear Craig: There is a land, flowing with milk and honey; a land where you will never have to worry about unemployment, or hos- pitalization, or medical insurance; a land where education will be free, where old age security pensions will be adequate for people to live on, so they no longer have to worry about finances in their declining years. This is the land of the future, the per- fect Utopia which will look after all people and solve all problems. In this land, far- mers will be able to double their produc- tion and have a market where they can sell all these supplies and get good prices for them. And in this land, with all the money which the farmers will have, the small merchant will prosper. He will be protected from "big business". Because the farmers have been beaten and depressed for so long, they are only producing half of what they could produce if they had incentive. To give them a new start, to assist them for a very few years until this Utopia comes about, there will be loans made available to these men. Not at interest rates of four and one half or five per cent which would be too dif- ficult to pay back, but at interest rates of three per cent which is "fair". There will be no more worries for the working man, for the man of modest means. In the future there will be four choices for a man who is laid off from his job. If he has savings and feels this is only temporary he may just relax and live off his savings for a month. If he wishes to continue working at a similar job he can apply to the national bureau which will have a list of all jobs in the country and they will immediately find him a new job, And if this job happens to be in some other area, then there will be relocation assistance for the man and his family. If this does not appeal to him then he can apply to the retraining center and be retrained in a new trade. And while he is being retrained he will receive 70 per cent of his former wages, and when he has finished his training there will be a job waiting for him. However there is one other choice. If the lay off is tem- porary, there will be a public works pro- ject in the area that the man can immed- iately go to work on, at his former salary, until his old position is open again. In this way new arenas and schools can be built without cost. Education, long the worry of parents of modest means, will be free, yes, even through the university level. All courses will be open to the young of the land and they will have the choice of the type of training they wish to receive. The four basic freedoms of the land will be restored, the freedom of speech, the freedom of religion, the freedom from fear and the freedom from want. The housing problem will be solved by a simple expedient. Rather than building houses aimed at those who make more than $5,000 per year, new houses will be built which will be within the reach of those making $5,000 a year and less. More people will be brought to this great and prosperous land of ours. This will be controlled imigration but it will come about. For is this not fair? It is being rather hoggish in regards to the world family attitude when you think of the countries which are over populated. And this will add strength to Canada and the mingling of all these races will have an influence on world peace. There can and will be complete employ- ment in the land. There can and will be free education through the university level throughout the land. There can and will be free medicare throughout the land. There can and will be sufficient pensions for our senior citizens throughout the land. All these thinks are true for I have heard them with my own ears. And more than this, I have heard intelligent men stand up and support this program. And applaud spontaneously all these promises as they were made. I have seen the rapt look of attention of followers as they listened to the golden description of this Utopia. Only one thing I did not hear, and that was, where is all this money coming from? All other things appear to have been worked out, so I will not worry about a minor detail like this. I heard the weekly press of Huron County given a name for unfairness. The followers of this great ideal were told that they could expect no support from the weekly press in the county. And the man who will represent this great new life was told that he must be prepared to bear such names as "so- Kerr s Korner cialist", and "hen eater",dredged up by people of little thought and lss ability, And I must confess I was guilty of this horrible sin and it is only right that a minister of a church should point out my glaring sins in public. The wish was expressed that this group would like to see the policies of their group printed in the weekly press for all, to see. To make attonement for my griev- ous sin I have listed these policies above. True, this is not their complete program, for how would a person such as I, with little thought and less ability be able to understand all the mighty plans of these great people. I have only done my humble best, To attain this Utopia all you have to do is give up the heritage which some of us were raised with. Give up the idea that a man must work to provide for his family. Give up the idea that you must save a por- tion of your wages in case of emergency, in case of sickness or unemployment. Give up the idea that you should look after your own insurance in the amount you feel nec- essary to have. Give up the idea that you should work and save for your old age so that you can relax in happiness on your own accomplishments rather than on charity. Yes, give up all these things, sit back and be complacent and let the government in this country look after all things which our forefathers worked for from the time they carved the first settlement out of the wilderness. Give up all this and sit back and vote for the New Democratic Party — for they have promised all these things! However I am a small minority and I cannot turn traitor on all I believe in, all the training of my parents. I have worked and struggled for some small measure of success and while this may not be large in some people's eyes, I have some small feeling of satisfaction. I will continue to fight this growing trend as long as I am able, by talking and writing. And if I lose, I will bow out gracefully, and let the new government have a favorable press in the county and in the country. I would rather sweep floors than be a part of a system such as this which I do not believe in. I hope there are a few other people like me. As ever Ken `OteezeferZines-,Useeafe SERVING CANADA'S BEST FARMLAND Member: C.W.N.A., 0.W.N.A., C.C.N.R. and ABC PUBLISHERS: J. M. Southcott, R. M. Southcott EDITOR: Kenneth Kerr Me' Times Established 1873 Advocate Established 1881 Amalgamated 1924 Published Each Thursday Morning at Exeter, Ont. Authorized as Second Class Mail, Post Office Davit, Ottawa, and for Payment of Postage in Cash Paid-in-Advance Circulation, March 31, 1965, 4,174 SUBSCRIPTION RATES: Canada $4.00 Per Year; USA $5.00 ififf.AuLiMINZMARONVM.M62.017i:L77.0:1Z.0 §.E0106:nAat&44aEgi.M01$:,,Ie..,:•: . .Terelneeteertereeeek eAleleelffe ONE MAN'S OPINION by John C. Boyne T.V. - a wasteland 11111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111101111111111101111111111111 BRITISH ISRAEL — The Bible's National Message — IF You Are UNHAPPY About CANADA'S NEW FLAG (OR EVEN IF YOU ARE NOT) THIS IS FOR YOU: A NEW AND EXCITING BOOKLET "The Prophetic Significance of the Flag Decision" concerning the origin, history design and significance of the Union Jack, and the inevitable consequences of excluding it from our notional flag. Write For Your' FREE COPY to: Canadian British-Israel Association in Ontario P.O. Box 744, Station B Ottawa, Ontario Hotson Propane 238.2005 GRAND BEND eillik:.c.),er,i* • 1, SHE'S A COOL COOKER WITH LP .0A$ For quick, cool cooking, you can't beat modern LP gas. You'll like the convenience of our home delivery anywhere THE STERLING TRUSTS Vote Malt EDGAR Liberal Give Huron a Voice in a Majority Liberal Government Published by the Huron Liberal Association 372 Bay St., 35 Dunlop St., 73 Mississaga E., Toronto Barrie Orillia The programme "This Hour Has Seven Days" has put the spot- light back on the C,B.C. and ZIT. in general. Using the Pope in a skit to attack the approach of T. V. itself has been described as being in 'poor taste' by a great variety of people — and not all Roman Catholics either. Ralph Cowan, a Liberal M.P, who is a Presby- terian said, eOnly a public apol- ogy from the C.B.C. could erase our memory of this insulting event". Just a couple of weeks ago the Fowler report produced by a committee, with Robert M. Fow- ler as chairman, made some slashing statements concerning T.V. in Canada. In this column I would like to quote certain state- ments from thereport and com- ment on them, but before I do there is one aspect of the matter which should be made clear. When we come to evaluate a T.V. programme or a series of them, we are making tv alue judgements' which in turn are in- fluenced by our own point of view. This is equally true of evaluating a piece of music or literature. It is true of an evaluation of political parties. The editor of this paper for example can attack 'socialism'. He can describe the N.D.P. as 'hen eaters' — in line with a man who was beaten by the N. D. P. in a byelection by the way. I person- ally feel that every good piece of social legislation is a result of 'socialism' as accepted by in- dividuals in most parties today. But the point I want to make is simple. There are a variety of points of view the minute we start to evaluate anything — be it political parties or T.V. programmes. So when the Fowler report says "the present state of broadcast- ing in Canada is unsatisfactory" I must ask: "By what criteria is it so evaluated. For whom is it unsatisfactory"? The London Free Press report by William S. Robinson said, •Describing the programme con- tent of broadcasting in Canada as deplorably low the committee complained that prime time be- tween 6 p.m. and 10 p.m. con- tains an unacceptable prepon- derance of trivial entertainment largely of U.S. origin, on all stations". The report said: "In short the Canadian broadcasting system as a whole is increasingly dominated by the worst of Amer- ican programming and the highest priority should be given to pro- viding an improved service that is basically Canadian in content and character". Notice the words 'trivial', the 'worst', the 'highest priority'. Some criterion must be used for that sort of value judgement, In the same vein the report comments on CTV this way: "The private TV network apart from news and Telepol carries f e w programmes of any real value or substance". I personally find that evaluation a little dangerous. What is of real value or substance to me may be somewhat different from that which is of value or sub- stance to the Committee. 267 Andrew Street, Exeter, Ontario. October 8th,1965. Dear Sir, I was very happy to read of your proposed policy in respect to the pre-election meetings of the var- ious political parties (K err's Korner, 16th September, Y ou said, "As far as the newspaper is concerned I will try to keep it as close to neutral as possible." Unfortunately I didn't realize that this promise was made as lightly as many of the election promises of the old-line parties. In t h i s case it seems that your promise lasted no longer than three weeks. No matter how hard I try to stretch my imagination, I cannot find anything "neutral" in your comments this week about the New Democratic Party. Last week your paper not only carried news story, indicating that t he NDP nomination meeting was to be held on Thursday, October 7th. The fact that you were present at the meeting as a reporter con- firms your knowledge of this, and yet in your paper which was pub- lished the very morning of the meeting you write, "a few of the usual types have banded together and are planning on holding a NDP nominating convention within the next week or two." Apart from the obvious tone of this sentence, I challenge the basic honesty of the last six words quoted, when you knew positively that the meet- ing was to be held the same day that your paper was published. Writing in the same article about the NDP you else make the following statements — "They don't stand a chance, but theyean hurt the commonsense Vo- ter . ," "They have been des- cribed as 'hen-eaters' and I be- lieve this nickname might stick". I am personally a little worried by this emphasis on Canadian content -- 55% minimum says the report. I am personally a little worried when the repdrt tells us; c'Parliament should set explicit goals for broadcasting and hold the broadcasting authority to account for achievement of these goals". Now what does that mean? I agree with the Committee that there is room for more informa- tion and educational programs and that the CBC had provided most of these to date. I appreciate the opportunity at this time to listen to the political leaders in our country. But you know after a while you get your stomach full of 'information and education'. There are times when all I want from my T.V, set is that 'trivial', 'worst', 'American content' entertainment. I am concerned that what I enjoy because it's 'trivial' may be replaced by dull, deadly, bor- ing replicas of the present spate of Festival 'horrors'. T.V. at present may indeed be a cultural wasteland, but will it be improved by injecting more 'snob culture'? Will it be im- proved by an increase in the 'Festiva!' type programme? As for me that sort of 'culture', that sort of 'Canadian content' I can do very nicely without — and I do — but my wife persists! What I'm really trying to say is that what we enjoy or do not enjoy are usually intensely personal decisions. As for me I go to a T.V. set primarily to relax. I go to it most often for sports and here I feel the networks do a great job. I watch T. V. for light entertain- ment — usually the American variety which the cultural watch- dogs usually reject as 'trivial junk', but here I submit it's a question of your point of view. As for me, the usual type of pres- entation on Festival is my ideaof junk! It all depends on where you sit. There is much criticism of T.V. in general in church circles too. Here I submit the problem is not with T.V. at all — the fault lies with the Church. Very few so-called 'religious' programmes have been of suf- ficiently high quality to attract an audience. "The Luther an Hour — This is The Life", Bishop Fulton J. Sheen, Billy Graham, and that's about it! Beyond these few isolated cases religious broadcasting has been a wasteland itself — a wasteland created not by the media but by the church's ina- bility to communicate meaning- fully. So it is with other programmes. Their quality is largely deter- mined by sponsor and audience reaction — ultimately what will be shown will be determined not by some cultural elite or our M.P. 's (heaven forbid!) but by how many people choose to watch any given programme, As a last resort each person is free for himself to exercise his power of choice — he can still shut it off any time he likes. "This is not the only splinter party I liken to socialistic jack- als, nipping at the heels of a system so far above them that they cannot even understand."1 am not here questioning your right to hold these views. But I am seriously concerned to know, Mr. Editor, how in the world you manage to justify the printing of these statements in the light of your three-week-old promise to keep your newspaper "as close to neutral as possible" in dis- cussing the election campaign. I submit, sir, that you have shown a regrettable lack of integrity in this matter, and in timing these words to come before the people on the morning 'of the NDP Nomi- nation Meeting, an element of poor taste is surely also present. I trust that in your reporting of the meeting in question you will exhibit less of a distorted empha- sis, and come at least a little closer to your self-imposed pol- icy of neutrality. Yours sincerely, J. Philip Gandon EDITOR'S NOTE: I would suggest that the writer read the rest Of the column, not just the portion pertinent to the party he happens to support. All three parties were treated in a similar manner, and surely no one could construe that any of the three parties received support from this. Because of the com- ments made on behalf of the NbP party at the meeting you refer to I have purposely Outlined the plat- form of your candidate in my col- umn this week, something that has not been done for either of the main line parties. EDITORIALS Remembrance Day holiday PAID ON GUARANTEED TRUST CERTIFICATES • issued in amounts from $100 upwards for 3, 4 or 5 years. • earn the above indicated interest, payable half-yearly by cheque. • authorized investment for all Canadian Insurance Companies and trust funds.