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The Brussels Post, 1981-04-08, Page 2****...****•*.*"..*** Behiitcl the scenes by Keith, Roulston We need a new senate ,e- 4Brussels Post l Box 50, Brussels, Ontario Established 1872 NOG 1HO Serving Brussels and the surrounding community Published at BRUSSELS, ONTARIO every Wednesday morning by McLean Bros. Publishers Limited Andrew Y. McLean, Publisher Evelyn Kennedy, Editor WEDNESDAY, APRIL 8, 1981 Member Canadian Community Newspaper Association, Ontario. Weekly Newspaper Association and The Audit Bureau of Circulation. Subscription rates: Canada $12 a year (in advance) outside Canada $25 a year (in advance) Single copies - 30 cents each A Short Shots by Evelyn Kennedy Contitniid from page 1 President Reagan. It is fortunate that being a healthy, athletic man he recovered well from major surgery. With the U.S. a world power the president faces great responsibil- ities and momentous decision making, • of national and international importance, often complicated by dissent in the ranks. Yet, there are always others anxious to assume the burdens of that office. Is it a sense'.of duty, do they believe they can solve their country's problems? Or is it the prestige and power that belongs to that office that, influences men to battle to fill the presi- dent's chair in the White House in spite of the stress and potential personal danger. ******* A person does not accomplish much unless they have a definite achievement in mind. No matter in what field of endeavour one has set their sights they must have the necessary discipline and dedication to devote tithe, energy.,and Make sacrifices required to reach their objective. If in time our aim in achieved, well and good. If not, what matters most is that we did not live aimlessly. We did what we could. That is. what counts. ** * * ** * It is horrifying to find that there has been a tremendous increase in violent crime committed by children. It has been reported in the U.S. that violent crime stalks city streets, not only by the hands of adults, but by those of mere youngsters. Children, 12 years old and younger have been guilty of murder, rape, robbery and assault. Young girls, 12 to 15 years of age, walk the streets, of Canadian cities, selling their bodies and peddling dope, controlled by adults who use them for their own illicit transactions. That children of such a young age have turned from their families and taken to crime on the streets is a sad reflection on society and way of life today. ******* It is is about time for you men to run for the hills or anywhere out of sight or .sound. At least make yourself scarce around the house. Fussy housewives go a hit crazy at this time of year. It matters not that their daily care'keep their homes spotless. This is housecleaning season! They wear them- selves ragged turning things upside-down ; scouring, cleaning, polishing, re-arranging furniture. If you men dare to show your face you will probably find yourselves with an aching back 'after being stuck on a ladder painting, shifting furniture, or carting out boxes and bundles of discards, no doubt containing some of your cherished old duds that you would never part with if you knew it. Until this hub-bub is overwith do not expect to be properly fed or personal attention. Wifey will be much too busy to think about food and it will be "No!" I am exhausted. eo ******* It is Unfortunate that the sound of a fire' siren seems to be a signal for so many people to go tearing off at full tilt to the scene of the tire. It could cause an accident, or worse, a disaster. There have been cases where' vehicles clogged the roadways delaying firetrucks from reaching the tire as quickly as possible. Such delays could cause unnecessary damage, even fatalities. Leave theway clear for fire fighting equipment. Do not take off like an old fire horse the instant you hear the.siren unless your help is needed or you haVe a valid reason for being there. Somewhere along the road "the Cana- dian way" as Joe Clark likes to call it, the compromise solntion to • the constitutional hassle is likely to emerge. The signs of compromise arc already there. Last week Prime Minister. Trudeau began making concilliatory noises, The eight opposing provincial premiers 'claimed they had come up with a consensus for an alternate amending formula. While it would be nice to have the wearying constitutional hassle purto rest at last, here's one who hopes the • spirit of compromise doesn't compromise the future of the country. To hear the premiers, Joe. Clark and their supporters tell it, the answer to the country's problems is stripping powers from the federal government anal giving them to the provinces, The Newfoundland court of appeal last week claimed , that the provinces were autonomous governments and weren't subjcc to constitutional changes of the federal government. The argument is. one the pretniers used often at the federal-pro- vincial conference last fall, that, the federal government is a creation of the provincial governments and that therefore the needs of the provincial governments should conic first. The opposite theory (the one ascribed to the actions of Mr. Trudeau) is that Canada is a unitary state, • with government guided. from Ottawa. There is a body of evidence to refute this Machiavellian plan the Prime Minister is supposed to be plotting since his government has decentralized molly p owcrs but we'll leave that for now. Suffice to say that somewhere between this supposed unitary state and the decentralized mish- mash the premiers want is the ideal state for Canada. Too much power to the provinces and we'll have country that is like the butterfly which one by one has its wings, legs and tentacles pulled off so that only a lifeless body remains. Too much power to the federal government and we have a bureaucratic octopus where the head doesn't know what the tenatacles are. doing.. Ultimately, the solutions to the problems of regional needs versus national needs lie in two areas not being touched by the current debate, While the amending formula and the charter of rights arc included in the government's package, reform of the Senate awaits further battles between federal and provincial governments. If the governments had been able to agree on Senate reformat their past meetings, a lot of the present fuss would be irrelevant.. A SENATE THAT WORKS What Canada really needs is a properly . functioning Senate. Instead of the collection of worn-out M.P.s and party functionaries that now sit (sometimes sleep) in the upper chamber, we need a new body that represents a second active line of reason on all legislation. While the Commons is elected on a representation by population basis, the Senate needs to be based on an equal representation from each of the provinces in order to give equal balance and power to even the smallest province, The battle 'today is as to who will name those Senators from each province. Currently, the federal government names Senators. It's a waste of the taxpayers' dollars. The pro- vinces (at least some of them) want the provincial governments to name Senators. That seems to be just' about as big a waste. What seems better is a system such as that in the U.S, where Senators arc elected by the people in electiOns held at other times than the elections for the Commons. In this way the senators would be free to express their own opinions while protecting the interests of the people of their province. not just the opinions of the provincial government. COMMUNICATE The other ultimate solution to the problems of the country has been dealt with here many times before: better communica- tions. We need a media that feeds informa- tion from all parts of the countrY to another parts of the country without being funnelled through the, vision of people in one or two cities in the country. People in the cast must • know what people in the west have to say for themselves, .not what people in Toronto think the people in the west arc saying, People in the Atlantic provinces must be able to speak for themselves to the people of Alberta or .British Columbia, not wait for the newspapers or television' stations of the west to come to them to ask them what they think. Our media, particularly the C.B.C., has. failed us greatly in this area. Many of the other problems of contedera-' Lion will fade in time. Power is irrevocably Moving westward, no matter -what Ontario may try'to do to stop it. With the economic power o .the popUlation is also shifting to. Alberta, Saskatchewan and British Colum- bia, the areas of new wealth. Hopefully some of the shift will also go to Newfoundland to balance the country.' Because much of the anima siey in the debate has been focu scd on the prime 'minister it will likely diSappcor when lie does. The future of the country lies muss then, not in the current debate, but in the debate over senate reform, and in the need to improve our ability to spelt' to each other. Nothing's certain but Bell Canada's increases Sugar and spice By Bill Smiley An old folk saying has it that there arc only two things in life of which we can be certain: death and taxes. For Canadians, I think we could add one more item: the, periodic request from Bell Canada for an increase in rates. There's another one in the works right now, and unless the CRTC shows some guniption, and the Canadian public screams in outrage, it will quietly slip through, another stone in the pyramid of inflation. I won't go into the nitty-gritty of the increases. They are complex and vary from' one area to the other. But I'll give you a rought idea, supplied from Bell Canada itself. The increase is requested for September 1st, 1981. Here an idea of what it will cost us. Your ordinary residence rate would go up by 30 per cent. Your primary business rate would go up by 40 per cent. Certain business auxiliary services would go up anywhere from 20 to 100 per cent. Service charges to install a telephone would increase by $8.50 residential and $25.00 for businesses. The old reliable pay phone, which not too long ago jumped from a dime to twenty cents, would go up to a nice round quarter. Long distance call, whieh Ma Bell Urges us to make often into series of treacly television adVertisenientS, will soar substantially. Now be the first tO admit that Bell Canada is one of the best services in the world. Ever try making a long-distance call in France, Germany, England? And I'll be the second to admit (after the company itself), that the rates arc reason- able, compared to those of many other countries. This is a tribute to the company's expertise in keeping up with advancing technology. It has done an excellent job of this. And I'll be the third to admit (after the company and its employees) that _inflation is ' driving up its costs for wages and materials, as it is doing to every other industry in the world. But. And I have some but s. The service is not as good as it once was. Dialling Operator nowadays is not receiving person-, al friendly advice in making a difficult call. It is more like speaking to a rather cross computer who makes you fell stupid. Long gone is the feeling that the phone company is part of the community. Customers are now dealt with at' arms length, and rather brusquely, like retarded children. To be honest, some services have im- proved. I can- call my daughter, 800 miles away, by dialling a few numbers and have her On the blower in thirty seconds. That's as it should be, with new equipment. But the Bell has become tight and cheese-paring, in many other aspects. Operator assistance now costs you. It's even a dime more to ask for local directory service. In other words, it will cost me an extra ten cents to find out whether J. M. Smith is Jack Smith or Jeffrey Smith. It will cost me a quarter to phone a•cab, instead of a dime. And if they're too busy to come, it might cost me a dollar for four calls, instead of forty cents a couple of years ago. Bell Canada is honest enough, and smart enough, to explain why it needs the increases, aside from inflation. It wants to raise the return on its shares from 12 per cent, established in 1974 to 14.50 or 15 per cent, to encourage investments. How many of us were making 12 per cent in 1974 on our investments and ever since? Finally, it conies down to a matter of principle, and dignity. On principle, I have been fighting Bell's perennial requests for an increase for about thirty years, and have seen all too many of them ooze through with barely a murmur from the customers. And 1. think, in a trying time for all of, this country, that the corporation might have enough dignity to tighten its belt like the rest of us, while still giving its share-holders a fait return, and keeping its standards tip. Alberta is willing to sell its oil well below world prices, to 'keep along the Ohm lines, Without losing its integrity for borrowing money, for attracting investors. "The unfavourable economic conditions in the Company's servicing area" is another reason for demanding new revenues. How in the holy old heck is a fat increase going to aid these economic conditions? In a far-flung country like this, the telephone has probably become more important, economically and emotionally, than the postal service. Not much of all argument, mine, but I have a feeling the increase is wrong. If you feel the same, badger your federal M.P. into badgering the CRTC into a refusal. , Improved technology should reduce prices, not increase them. But Ma Bell and her shareholders couldn't. care less, ap- parently. Let's end this column on a happier note. Some weeks ago, I wrote about an old song that went: "You can bring Kate, with the partial plate, But don't bring Luke." and so one, for verse after verse, I couldn't remember what was wrong with Lula. Dave Lister of McDonald's Corners, Ont., and Mary Tilden of Nepean, Ont., have filled me in. Mary writes: "Words I am Sure you are !bilging to hear," "You &tn,bring Pearl, she's a darn nice girl, but don't etc," She Adds, "Sorry I only know the last line:" "Hullabaloola, don't bring Lola; bring her myself." Dave corroborates this with, "There was nothing Wrong with Lula, The last line of the song said, "I'll bring her Myself," Certainly glad that's cleared up.