HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Brussels Post, 1978-05-03, Page 17Established 1876
McKILLOP MUTUAL
FIRE INSURANCE COMPANY
HEAD- OFFICE: 10 MAIN ST., SEAFORTH, ONT
Mrs. Margaret Sharp, Sec. Treas., Ph. 527-0400.
FULL COVERAGE .
Farm and Urban Properties
Fire, Windstorm, Liability, Theft
Various Floater Coverages
Homeowner's ,Tenant's Package, Composite Dwelling
Diteitibit MidAditliderit
Ken Carnochan, A.1114;5610001 527-1545
Lavern Godide, 11.11.,#1, Walton 527-1877
, Ross Leonhardt, R.11,010:130MMM11 345-2234
John Motioling, RJR 41; myth 523-9390
Stinley Mcllwaln, kit 02; Goderich 524-7051
Donald Mckercher, 11.11,41, Dublin 527-1837
Ti*Watthii, Box 651, Clinton 482-7591
Stuart Wilson, R.R~Ni, Brucefield 527-0687
• AGENTS
JAM& Keys, 0,1CM, Seafiiith 527.0467
Wm, LeirMe;• , LoildiAboni 523-4257
Steve J. Murray, FI.R.85; 345-2172
CALL AN AGENT OR THE OFFICE
Friendship
clubs plans
bus trip
Brussels Friendship Club met yin
the legion hall with . a good
attendance and the meeting
opened with singing "0 Canada"
with Lulu Kerr at the piano.
President Ed. Martin told a
humourous story and reviewed
highlights of the spring rally at
Exeter on April 12. Ten members
from Brussels attended this rally
and enjoyed the fellowship of the
other clubs. Minutes were read
and adopted on motion of Vertie
Bolger and Fred Thuell.
A bus trip to Hamilton May 15
was discussed and there were
seats available for anyone
wishing to go. ,
A nominating committee of
Frank Hooper, Edna McDonald
and Mrs. Mel. Jacklin was named
to bring in a slate of officers for
the coming year .
Selections on the violin by Fred
Thuell were enjoyed. He was
accompanied by Lulu Kerr on the
piano. The meeting closed
followed by a few games of
euchre. Winners are as follows:
Nigh lady, Elsie Evans; High
Gent, Ernie Stevens; Low lady,
Mrs. Van Vliet; Low Gent, Lydia
Cameron playing as a man;
Mystery prize, Torrence Dundas.
Operation
Lifeittile •
Lifestyle , is protection a-
gainst disease. When travel-
ling outside Canada, check
to see what shots you need
against certain contagious
diseases. Every country has
different entry regulations
and they are' often revised.
Lorne
Vodden
retires
Lorne Vodden, who retired
from Westinghouse the end of
March with 36 years' service,
plans to tour around and "see
• some old friends," but otherwise
play his retirement on a day-to-
day basis.
He-started work in 1941 as an
expediter in the Scheduling De-
partment, and left shortly there-
after to serve in the Royal
Canadian Air Force. Returning in
'45 to Scheduling, he moved later
to Production Control, chiefly in
the medium and large motor
product area. In 1956 Lorne
handled ledgers in what was then
the Power Transformer & Circuit
Breaker Division. In recent years
Lot-ne's work at Beach Road Plant
involved feeding input to_ the
computer, and providing in-
formation for inventory control
and the 'purchasing function.
Lorne is a native of this
area.
New
FERTILIZER
SERVICE
Located in the
Monkton Brodhagen Walton area
New modern
blending facilities
Any analysis or
your own formula custom blended
Spreaders available
also anhydrous ammonia
and applicators
We can also , deliver bulk to your farm
Complete line of
chemicals for all your crops
ARTHUR 111-NZ
& SONS,
R.R.2 Monkton Phone 347-2636 ,
By BILL SMILEY
Canadians are in a bad mood these days,
Not bad in the sense of angry or ugly. Bad in,
the sense of gloomy, depressed. And not
without reason.
After riding a post-war boom, with industry
thriving, new money coming in, new
opportunitie's opening up, and a general sense
that the man might be right after all, that the.
20th century did belong to Canada, we have
skidded to a low that hasn't been touched for
decades.
Trouble is, during that boom, , we grew
accustomed to affluence and a measure of
ease, and we weren't built to cope with that.
We were a rather dour, independent, sturdy
'people. far more used. to battling for an
existence than lyingaround enjoying life.
We just couldn't cope with the ideas:, that
we would get a raise in pay every year; that
practically-everybody could own a houSe or‘car
or both; that there was a job for everybody;,
that we might even be able to borrow,money
from the bank, in a pinch.
All of these were alien to. our Canadian
experience, which had always maintained that
life was real and earnest, that fun was almost
sinful, and that if things were going well, you
kept your fingers crossed and knoCked on
wood.
Those of us who, had grown up during the
Depression, of course, never believed for a
minute that the prosperity would last. We
went aroutndlike so matVJeremiahs, warning
the young of the horrors to come when the
buble burst and boring them to death with
tales of our. own impoverished youth.
Fortunately, or perhaps unfortunately, the
boom didn't end with a bang but a whimper.
We Cassaudras of gloom were scoffed at.
There were still plenty of jobs. Everybody
could go to college, on loans and grants.
Everybody really needed a summer cottage or
a ski chalet or two cars or three snowmobiles.
The banks would lend money to anyone who
didn't ' have two heads, and the loan
companies looked after them. The Canadian
dollar was buoyant, and we were a,little sickly
glad when the Yanks had to pay a dollar and
five cents for a Canadian dollar's -worth:
If you were temporarily between jobs,
unemployment, insurance was easy to get and
fairly generous.
' If you were really strapped, you could go on
welfare and sit home watching TV. If you got
sick, hespital, insurance looked after all the
bills. Gas for the car and fuel for the furdace
and food for the belly were cheap and
plentiful.
And then the rot set in, slowly". A . touch Of
mould here, a cockroach crawling there. Strike
after strike after strike made us one of the
world's most unstable industrial countries. As-
Huronview
enjoys
dancers
Marie Flynn, Lorne Lawson,
Norman Speir, Cecil Skinner and
Rodney Stewart provided the
Old-Time music for Monday's
program. The Clinton Christian,
Reform Volunteers assisted with
the activities. •
Reverend Wittick of the Blyth
United Church conducted the
quarterly Communion Service in
the Chapel. on Tuesday morning.
Mrs. Webster, a member of the
Blyth Session, and Mrs. Watt
Organist, helped with the
Service.
The program for Family Night
was provided by entertainers
from the Goderich area. Mrs. Joy
Harrison and Mrs. Helen Lindsay
entertained with several vocal
solo and duet numbers. Ed. Stiles
provided the piano acCOmpan-
iment for the singing as well as
piano solos. Sharon and Lesa
Lindsay danced Scottish and Irish
selections including the Sword
Dance,• the Sailor's Hornpipe and
the Irish 'Washerwoman. Mrs.
Jennie McGratton expressed the
appreviation of the residents.
The _residents enjoyed an hour
of organ Melodies on Thursday
afternooti played by Ed. Stiles.
Sugar and Spice
by Bill Smiley
• GLOOMY TIMES
a result, capital investment began to dry up,
Another effect was , that many of our
manufactured products had priced themselves
out of the world — and, even Canadian —
markets.
Branch plants began to close as 'their
owners pulled in their horns and retreated to
the comparative stability and higher
production of the, U,S. Other plants running
three, shifts cut to two, then one. Foreign
investors .found more fertile fields for their
money.
Our armed, forces became ineffective for
lack of funds, and lost much of the pride they
had once held in their role in NATO.
" It snowballed. Inflation became more than a
topic of conversation; at became a bogeyman.
Then, suddenly, there wasn't. much gas and
:oil left and their prices soared.
A new, ugly racism reared its head, sparked
by the fact that so many immigrants did so
well with so little, because they were willing to
work.
A separatist party was elected in Quebec,
and it was a whole new ball game. The
employment force swelled steadily, while new
jobs failed to keep up. Huge mining and
smelting companies which had been stock-
piling their products because other 'nations
could buy them cheaper elsewhere,' closed
down , and put thousands of well-heeled
workers on the pogey.
Small farmers fell by the wayside when only
the big one could survive. And we kept paving
.over valuable farmland with asphalt an
concrete.
Retired people saw their life's savings
gobbled up by inflation and the falling dollar.
Small businessmen cut back on staff and
service in order to stay in biisiness: Doctors,
fed up to the teeth with overwork and
bureaucratic interference, began heading for
greener, and warmer pastures.
University students, toiling over • their
bookS, grew ever more bitter as they .began to
realize that the country did not want or need
them, that the chance of a job on graduation
was. paper-thin; Thousands 'of high" lsehbol,
students who should have been out working,
went back to school and lazed away anohcr
year, because they were a drug on the market.
And governments, national, provincial, and
local, wrung their hands and waited for the
wind to change, the miracle to take place,
while they went right on spending more and
• more taxpayers' money.
It's not much wonder that the prevailing
mood of the country is morose and suspicious.
'But surely a nation that toughed it through
two world wars and a world depression is not
going to roll over and die. We ain't licked yet.-
A.nd spring' will be here. Probably by the first
of June. •
THE BRUSSELS POST, MAY 3, 1978 — 17