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HomeMy WebLinkAboutTimes-Advocate, 1978-03-09, Page 4Page 4—Times-Advocate, March 9, 1978 's—J The unity question is dealing a serious blow to the Canadian economy, expecially in Quebec, the Task Force on Canadian Unity was told by the Canadian Chamber of Commerce. Political instability, added to un­ certainties about government inten­ tions and labour unrest, are dampening investment and contributing to un­ employment in Canada, the Chamber said. The brief noted that damage to the economy is particularly evident in Quebec, where the job creation rate is the slowest in Canada, with a growing differential between the Canada and Quebec unemployment rates, and where the private-sector investment intentions are alarmingly low, with 80% of recent investment coming from the public sector. “All signs point towards a deterioration of the present economic circumstances”, the brief said. Citing a 10-1 ratio of head office moves out of Quebec compared with moves into Quebec, in the period Nov. 1, 1976 to Dec. 31, 1977, the Chamber said some of the key factors in the decisions to move were lack of certain­ ty as to future government policy, a high incidence of labour unrest and a high total tax bill. However, the brief cautioned that in analyzing moves, attention should be focussed on the movement of jobs rather than mere changes of address. The Chamber said that for each head office job lost, anywhere from 2.5 to 4.0 related jobs are lost. On the topic of the widening regional disparities that tend to divide our nation, the Chamber said handouts will not solve the problem, and that it is necessary to build an industrial base in each region in accordance with the un­ ique and specific character of that region. The brief touched on a number of other aspects including the question of what economic powers should be under federal jurisdiction, the concept of “sovereignty-association”, an in­ dustrial strategy for Canada, fran­ cophone access to management positions and a listing of Canadian Chamber activities in support of unity. On the topic of “sovereignty­ association”, the Chamber said that concept is not a realistic option, and that any province breaking away should be prepared to face the conse­ quences alone. At the request of the Task Force, the Chamber brief addressed only the economic aspects of the unity problem. However, in a broad introductory statement, the Chamber said that in discussing the unity question, one can­ not separate the political aspects from the economic: the two are inextricably linked together, and co-operation in the one is incompatible with acrimony in the other. The Chamber also noted that unity is essentially a problem of the people, which can only be solved by the people, and not by political personalities. The key, said the Chamber, is in the minds and hearts of all of us: we must find a new national understanding. 0 "'That’s the one . . . in the uniform!” BATT’N AROUND .. with the editor Judging was all above board Pollution awards Similar to the awards given to the “worst dressed”, the “most unco­ operative” and other awards for being miserable is the “Disposamaniac Award” given by Pollution Probe for the most wasteful over-packaging. First prize went to the Union Car­ bide Canada Ltd., for the sale of batteries in blister packages. It was es­ timated that the cost of packaging was over $4 million dollars and the wasted resources became 104 tons, and the energy consumed in the manufacture equal to what would keep 3430 60 watt light bulbs burning constantly for one year. Second prize went to the Clairol Division of Bristol-Myers Canada Ltd., for the extravagant package on the new deodorant “Tickle”. Third prize went to Loblaws Ltd., for packaging coconuts. How the Pollution Probe in­ vestigators arrived at their conclusions we don’t know but they have made a point. While we don’t want to go back to the methods in Europe in the x50’s when buyers were still taking home their groceries unwrapped in their own string bags, carrying a plate for the meat, and tucking unwrapped bread under their arm, we still think it is un­ necessary to wrap, rewrap, then put into a paper bag. Indeed some of those hard plastic bubbles are a nuisance and downright dangerous when you try to open them with the point of a knife. Over-packaging is definitely a ma­ jor cause of pollution, so are people who throw papers, cigarette butts, bottles, and garbage of all sorts all over the place. We have become a na­ tion of wasteful, careless slobs. The trend will have to turn soon or we will be buried beneath our own garbage. A couple of weeks ago, the Ontario Weekly Newspaper Association monthly bulletin was received by member newspapers across the province. One of the ‘'featured” photos in that internal publication was one taken of the writer enaged in judging the com­ petition for the annual better newspapers’ awards. It was a task we shared with several other editors and publishers early in February. Included in the same issue was a list of the winning entries, and as readers will note elsewhere in this publication, the T-A was judged as first place winner in its circulation class. It was only natural then that several of otir associates at last weekend’s an­ nual OWNA convention expressed the opinion that our victory was not unex­ pected, given the fact that yours truly had been one of the judges. Even members of the T-A staff, and some local friends who had known of our earlier judging trip, started to question the validity of the honor in this newspaper being chosen as top en­ trant in the general excellence award. However, the matter was straighten­ ed out, hopefully to the satisfaction of all but the most skeptical. The judges picked from the ranks of the OWNA were not allowed to judge in classes in­ volving their own newspapers. The writer, for instance, judged the top division in the competition, those being weekly newspapers with circulation of 16,500 or more. It was all quite above board and now that they have been assured of that fact, the staff here are naturally quite proud of the honor which this publica­ tion won. A general excellence award is based on all aspects of the newspaper, from photography and reporting, right through to composition and makeup and the general impression of the finished product, so all members of the staff share equally in whatever honor and prestige may be associated with such a win. We happen to be darn proud of it, and while there is certainly room for im­ provement, there is also considerable satisfaction in knowing that our readers are receiving the best product available in our circulation class. •rf-* * * As the teacher strike continues, readers will find some arguments and opinions expressed in letters received this week. One of those letters calls into question the editorial stand of this newspaper. The writer also wondqrs if we have a direct line to the department of revenue in our comment that the teachers are receiving double the salary of most of those who pay the bills. We’ll stand by that statement. For his information, the community with the highest average salary in 1975 (the last year for which figures are available) is Oakville. The annual gross salary is $11,714, which is just un­ der half that which the teachers would receive in their current contract if it was signed. London’s figures for the same year are $9,063. Given the normal inflation rate, plus the knowledge that Huron is in a much lower income area than either Oakville or London, we maintain our statement is fair and perhaps even conservative. Unfortunately, statistics for Huron are available only for the year 1971, the time of the last census. The average wage for males at that time was $5,279 and for females it was $2,294. * * * On the other side of the coin, this writer views with considerable con­ sternation the situation which greeted us last Wednesday in attempting to reach a trustee at the Huron county board office. Two staff members repeatedly and steadfastly claimed the trustee was not in the building. In fact he was. In checking out the situation further this week, we were advised there was some type of “misunderstanding” and an apology was extended. However, it is difficult to com­ prehend this type of action where two public employees would engage in such a fabrication, regardless of whether or not they misunderstood a directive given to them. Back to tlie diiiigeon The recent pronouncements of On­ tario’s minister of correctional ser­ vices are chilling to say the least. Frank Drea, a recent appointment to the Ontario cabinet, intends not only to stop pampering our prisoners, but if he has his way will make Georgia’s chain gangs look like kindergarten classes. In fact, on a recent inspection of Georgia’s penal system Mr. Drea ex­ pressed the opinion that the state was far too easy on its prisoners. Drea says he would replace barbed wire enclosures with stone walls topped with razor tape. “That will take off their tattoos,” was his observation. He has recanted a bit on his declaration that he would end the segregation of sexual offenders, despite the proven fact that many such prisoners are beaten and sometimes killed in prison. Drea will find sympathetic support among a small minority of taxpayers who still believe that prisons are intended as a means of revenge upon offenders — but a much greater proportion of our fellow citizens is totally revolted by a philosophy which degrades not only its victims, but those who would condone and carry out such barbaric penalties. History and close study have proven that inhumanly harsh treatment of those who break the law does not reduce the incidence of crime. Drea sounds like a man who should have lived 300 years ago, at a time when hanging, drawing and quartering was standard procedure. As it is he is an anachronism in modern government and surely must be an embarrassment to Premier Davis. It is safe to predict that he will not be too long in the public eye. Wingham Advance Times Sugar and Spice Dispensed by Smiley The ugliness of winter Times Established 1873 Advocate Established 1 881 i Times - Advocate South Huron, North Mlddkws K k North Umbtort It?) SERVING CANADA'S BEST FARMLAND C.W.N.A., O.W.N.A. CLASS 'A' and ABC Published by J. W. Eedy Publications Limited LORNE EEDY, PUBLISHER Editor — Bill Batten Assistant Editor — Ross Haugh Advertising Manager —• Jim Beckett Composition Manager — Harry DeVries Business Manager — Dick Jongkind Phone 235-1331 (*CNA SUBSC Published Each Thursday Morning at Exeter, Ontario Second Class Mail Registration Number 0386 Paid in Advance Circulation September 30, 1975 5,409 SUBSCRIPTION RATES: Canada $11.00 Per Year; USA $22.00 After the last couple of columns, you probably think I’m a mean, shrivelled, shrunken, toothless old man who hates winter because he’s so mean, shrivell­ ed, etc. etc. You’re right. But not entirely right. It’s not winter itself that I hate. How can you hate an abstract thing like winter? You can’t punch it on the nose or spit in its face (unless you are rich and can go south). No, No. After all, I was an ardent curler for a dozen or so years, working my way up through the tortuous passages of the curling hierarchy until I was a Vice-Skip (a Skip in mixed doubles, already) until my dis­ integrating discs suggested that there were better ways of achieving comfort than hoisting a 40-pound rock around and beating the ice with a broom, bent double. And for a few years there, I was known as the Terror of the Trails. Ski trails, that is. When people heard behind them a whooping “Scheiss!” they got off the trail pretty quickly, I can tell you. They were well aware that Smiley had just roared down a three- feet slope and was about to run right over them. Mainly because he didn’t know how to stop. In fact, for about three years, I was forced to undergo the torture of the trails, puffingly trying to keep up with an agile young wife who does yoga ex­ ercises, until I smartened up. About last year, I discovered that, with judicious planning, pleading the ’flu, my arthritic foot, my bad back, and my bursitic shoulder, I could stall the skiing until about March. Then, with any luck, there’d be some freezing rain, a thaw, a blizzard, and another thaw, so that skiing was im­ possible. And I’d go around smacking my right fist into my left palm, out­ wardly furious that I’d missed all the best of the winter skiing, inwardly chortling. And people would sym­ pathize with me, and I’d respond “Yeah! Darn it to heck anyway.” No, No. Winter is really a wonderland to me. I wonder how anybody in the land in his right mind doesn’t go out of it. Again, it’s not winter I hate. It’s put­ ting on my rubber boots. It’s ice on the roof. It’s driving in snow. It’s my fuel bill. It’s moving mountains of snow from here to there, and having some zealous civic employee, whose wages are paid out of my taxes, move it back to here. Aside from these minor and constant irritations, winter can be a joy, an es­ thetic treat of the first magnitude. I discovered this on a recent bus trip to the city. We took off just as day was breaking. And we rolled through a winter landscape that was stunning in its stark beauty. It was like a trip to another planet in the warm, safe cocoon of our space ship, the bus. That’s the only way to travel in winter — by bus. It’s a little bit like low-flying, except that you don’t have to handle the controls and keep an eye on the altimeter. Once you’ve adjusted to the hum of the bus, there you are, morning paper on your knee, flask of hot coffee on your lap, snug and safe while the terrifying and magnificent white and blue and green and black countryside peels by like a film on a screen. After 40 days and 40 nights of snow and wind, the land was not exactly pastoral, unless you were breeding a herd of polar bears. But the Great Sculptor had been at work, and the result was a surrealist’s dream. Vast sweeps of undulating white, undercarved here and there, chiselled to a cutting point elsewhere. All this loveliness was overpowering, and I began to drift off into a day dream in which I was a Russian count flying across the snowy steppes in my troika, toward my baronial manor in which the countess was waiting with steaming vodka and a hot shepherd’s pie, made of a couple of ground-up peasants who had got out of line. It was too good to be true. A hoarse voice from across the aisle shattered the vision. “Hey, you’re Mr. Smiley, the teacher, aintcha?” It was some young turkey who was on his way to Halifax, having just accepted the Queen’s shilling, and for the next hour he held me spellbound with a garbled account of how he had gofhis Grade 10 after only four years in high school, the teachers he liked and didn’t like, the tremendous future he had in the armed forces, all of it interspersed with bad grammar and monotonous profanity. By the time I got to the city, my mood was sufficiently depressed for it: the filfthy slush, the bleak, biting wind, the total absence of any of winter’s beauty, the hunched and watery-eyed pedestrians. It was back to the ugliness of winter. But for one brief hour there, I lived in an enchanted world, frightening but magnificent, where the salt-rusted fenders, the leaking rubbers, the es­ calating oil bill, and the bloody snow shovel could be temporarily banished to the bottom of my bile sac. And the city was so windy and dirty I was glad to get home, walk into my own backyard and cast a judicious, almost fond glance at the picnic table under four feet of white stuff and the splendid array of sparkling, five-foot icicles hanging directly over my back door. There was no countess, but the Old Lady was there, and she was glad to see me home, so I had a steaming vodka and believe it or not, she had prepared a hot shepherd’s pie. What more could a man want, even if he isn’t a count, on a winter’s eve in Canada? i cJhecEnergy§avers by Richard Charles The 4 lb. a day grind When we lug out those loads of garbage or toss them down a chute, we are not only using up our own energy and that of the garbage truck and its crew, but all the energy resources that go into the production of so many everyday things of life that end on the scrap heap. It seems so futile. We are expert at making things that look attractive in the supermarket and the department store. Then, in no time at all, we have turned them into something unsightly and offensive that we would rather not think about. The sooner someone comes to take it away and burn it or bury it, the better. If that garbage could come back to haunt us, we might be shocked into changing our ways. Each of us throws away an average of four pounds of it every day, counting all the waste for which we are wholly or partly responsible. That’s about 1,500 pounds a year, and if we live to the age of 70, we each score more than 50 tons of garbage in our time. Just imagine what a small family of four can do, and try burying that pile in your own back yard. Do you know that we spend $500 million a year in Canada just to collect and get rid of our garbage? Think of the value of the fuel it took to grow, extract, process, manufacture and transport so much stuff in the first place. Think of the dwindling stocks of petroleum that we turn into plastic and other synthetic materials, and then use for such a brief time. The same goes for many other raw materials that cannot be renewed. Think of the money and resources we could save if we did without a lot of the boxes, bags and wrappers that we often throw away as soon as we get them home. Think how much more enjoyable our land and water would be without the pollution that comes from con­ tinually making and discarding all that short-lived stuff. So, what can we do for relief from the daily grind of making four pounds of garbage? We can serve meals no bigger than our appetites, unless we can keep what is left for another time. We can buy things only when we need them and try to avoid buying all that packaging as well. Where there’s a choice, we can stop using disposables like plates, cups and diapers made of paper. We can buy liquids in reusable containers such as bottles and milk jugs instead of cans, plastic bags or cartons. We can buy things that last longer, especially in fur­ nishings, appliances and clothing. We can do more mending and fixing instead of dis­ carding. We can save wrapping materials and use them again. We can send unwanted household items to charities or second-hand stores if they are still usable. We can help in collecting bottles, cans and paper that could be recycled into new products. None of this calls for a return to the Dark Ages, but quite a small shift in our habits that would make life no less enjoyable, and perhaps more attractive. It’s not only garbage that’s a blight, but all the other things that we allow to rust, rot or fall apart, when they could be rescued with a little more care. There’s a publication call The garbage book that tells how you can help. Write for a copy to Box 3500, Station C, Ottawa, Ontario, K1Y 4G1. It is issued by the Office of Energy Conservation, Department of Energy, Mines and Resources. — -----------;----;—~————---------- ; ........ 55 Years Ago A St. Patrick’s cafeteria supper was served in the basement of Main Street Church on Friday evening of last week. The room was very prettily decorated with green and white. Following the supper, a short program was given. On Saturday evening last at about eleven o’clock, two or three young fellows were racing their horses on Main Street when one of them ran into another horse and rig that was driving in the op­ posite direction. Both buggies were somewhat damaged, the wheel of one buggy being badly smashed. Fortunately, neither of the drivers nor the horses were hurt. Mr. Roy Finkbeiner has bought the garage business from Mr. Albert Morlock at Crediton. Mr. Morlock will still remain in the old building and continue on in the electric welding and repair work of this depart­ ment. 30 Years Ago The Huronia Male Choir announced its opening concert in Exeter on Tuesday. The choir, con­ sisting of 28 young menjrom Exeter and district has been in rehearsal since November .under the direction of Mrs. H. L. Sturgis. Mr. Gordon Cudmore was one of a group of 250 from Canada to visit the 738 acare research farm of the Ralston Purina Company at Grey Summit, Montana. Mr. and Mrs. Peter Kraft celebrated their 69th wed­ ding anniversary on March 11. The staff and teachers of the Exeter Public School are sponsoring the Canadian appeal for the Canadian Save the Children Fund. On Sunday evening, Rev. H. J. Mahoney and choir of Main St. United Church conducted the service in , James St. Church. 20 Years Ago Over 800 people, the largest crowd in Exeter arena this season, applauded the Exeter Figure Skating Club’s presentation, “Ice Frolic of 1958” Saturday night. Fifty skaters took part in the program. Rev. Joseph De^Neef was killed Tuesday when an eight-foot concrete wall collapsed on top of him as he was building an extension to his home in the Klondyke gardens, six miles south of Grand Bend. Rev. Dr. E. E. Long, secretary of the General Council of the United Church of Canada, officiated at the re-opening services of Hensall United Church Sunday. Rev. Q. D. Daniels, the church minister, con­ ducted the service. Members of the Lucan pee wee hockey team flew to New York over the weekend and appeared with Ed Sullivan on TV Sunday. 15 Years Ago Don Pullen, Granton, 1963 president of College Royal at the Ontario Agricultural and Veterinary Colleges, Guelph, had the privilege of en­ tertaining his mother, Mrs. M. Pullen and the Hon. W. A. Stewart, Ontario Minister of Agriculture who officiated at the opening ceremonies. Jim Hayter, Dashwood, received the most valuable player award at the com­ pletion of the Shamrock tournament in Lucan Saturday. He scored seven goals for Zurich in their two games in “D” competition. Ross Wein, Crediton, a second year student at the Ontario Agricultural College was declared the reserve Grand Champion Showman at the recent College Royal. Mr. & Mrs. Louis Restemayer, Dashwood, observed their golden wedding anniversary last week.