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.