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HomeMy WebLinkAboutTimes-Advocate, 1979-10-11, Page 4Mainstream Canada The New World of "Shrink" By W. Roger Worth "Shrink," according to the dictionary, means to "draw back, as in retreat or avoid- ance." That six-letter word has gained new credibility in recent years, to the point where gov- ernment technocrats, politi- cians, even business people, cringe when they hear it used. The Canadian public should also be concerned. While a few powerful deci- sion makers may be referring to friendly psychiatrists when they use the word "shrink", most understand it reflects basic changes that are taking place in Canadian society, af- fecting everyone in the coun- try. The most prominent ex- ample of "shrink" in action is the dramatically smaller size of North American automo- biles, a response to the shrink- ing supply of energy, as well as high-cost oil and gas. But "shrink" is the opera- tive word in virtually every sector of the Canadian econ- omy. Consider a couple of ex- amples of how people are being affected by "shrink:" Roger Worth is Director, Public Affairs, Canadian Federation of Independent Business. *Hundreds of elementary schools across the country have been closed because of the shrinking size of Canada's school age population. As a result, teacher layoffs have become a normal occur- rence. The impact of a shrinking school age population is now being felt in high schools and universities, and it won't be long before the effects of Ca- nada's changing demographics hit the work place. Even now, many smaller businesses across the country complain they can't find workers. *Governments are particu- larly concerned. Canadians, both at federal and provincial levels, have been living beyond their means for a number of years, chalking up federal de- ficits of $10 billion or more per year. That's $1,000 for each and every working Cana- dian. Now decisions are being made that will hopefully shrink that deficit. Naturally, a great many people will be affected. Ottawa is considering much tighter rules on unemployment insurance payments - now costing at least $4.5 billion ($450 per worker) - and a lot of other programs. Cutbacks in advertising budgets, the size of the civil service, and the amount of money spent on government subsidized pro- grams are in vogue. Few new programs that cost money will be considered. The provinces are following suit. Belt tightening is the order of the day. Virtually every in- stitution from hospitals (short- ening the length of a patient's stay), to social welfare agen- cies (fewer professionals, smaller budgets), to sanitation services (less pickups to save money) is affected. "Shrink" is so widespread, in fact, that it's only a matter of time until every Canadian understands it is not just an- other catchy word in an ad- vertisement for a new fangled diet. And for those wondering what happened to the size of chocolate bars during the last few years, there's a simple ex- planation. It's called "shrink." Now if we could only "shrink" prices on the same items. 55 Years Ago A little girl at Exeter gave Santa Claus a real poser today as he passed on his way to London. "What would you like for Christmas little girl?" the great man inquired benevolently. "I want some teeth for our new baby" the little miss replied. Mrs. J. Blatchford, who for many years has presided at the organ of the Main St. Methodist Church has ten- dered her resignation and leaves shortly for Toronto to reside. About twenty cottages on the London side of the summer resort at Grand Bend have been entered and much clothing, bedding and foodstuffs stolen. 30 Years Ago One year from the time that the first bulldozers were brought in to break ground for the new South Huron District High School, fire started in the boilers to test the new heating system. Thursday evening in an impressive ceremony in the Grand Bend Town Hall, the Grand Bend branch of the Canadian Legion No. 498 received its official charter. Mrs. Frank Whilsmith has returned from a four-month visit with relatives in England and Scotland, Beginning November 1, the barber shops of Exeter will be closed all day Wed- nesday. 20 Years Ago Rev. Bren de Vries, Exeter who opposed a resolution Tuesday urging retention of the Canadian Temperance Act, stated he could not support the CTA as it now stands. Simon Nagle, son of Mr. and Mrs. Gurt Nagle, Huron Street, has won third prize in an essay contest conducted among grade 12 students in all London schools, Miss Alice Claypole, Mrs. Lee Learn, Miss Maxine Reeder and Mrs. Fred Dobbs attended the Ontario Hospital Association Con- vention held in the Royal York Hotel, Toronto earlier this week. Public School inspector John Goman climaxed of ficial playing activities for Exeter Golf Club members last weekend when he downed Hal Hooke two and one to capture the Con- solation Round Cham- pionship. 15 Years Ago On Wednesday RAP ap- pointed arena manager Alvin Willert as acting recreation director, Reeve Glen Fisher, Mayor Simmons, Derry Boyle and Norm Ferguson all present members of Exeter town council indicated Monday night they will not be seeking re-election this year. Only three members of council indicated definitely they would seek re-election. Council decided Monday night to call a meeting with Canadian Canners officials and the Ontario Water Resources Commission over the problems with the lagoon at the canning plant. A projected scheme for a 100-boat capacity marina in the old river bed at Grand Bend was presented for consideration to GB council Monday night by four members of the-club, vanish and undoubtedly, separatism would wither on the vine. People would be lined six deep at the U.S, border, try- ing to get across, and that would solve, in one swell foop, our unemployment difficulties, We could go back to being hewers of water and carriers of wood, which was our manifest destiny before the politicians got into the act. Fishermen or lumberjacks, in short, which most of the rest of the world thinks we are anyway. Nega-Prod may seem a bit lofty and abstract at first glance, but it works, I know from personal experience. Every time I try to make something, or fix something, it costs me a lot of money, and I get into a lot of trouble. So, I have a policy of never trying to fix something or make something, It's a lot less trouble to put up signs: "Beware of falling bricks: Not responsible forslivers from picnic table," And so 'on, Perspectives When you consider that there were over sixty extra- curricular activities going on, and a multitude of courses being offered ranging from Occupational Building Trades through to Grade 13 Mathematics it's obvious that he just couldn't be on top of everything. Yet he tried. He'd be there at 5.30 in the morning, sometimes working on some report for the school board, and often you'd see lights on in his office late at night. He made it a point to see that almost every function in the school was personally okayed before it could go through, The vice-principals became more flunkies who had little authority, and the Students gradually came to realize it. The discipline had to come from the "big guy's office" or it wasn't gospel. At thirty-six years of age he had a stroke. Six months later he came back to the school, and believe it or not, the walls were still standing, no student revolts had taken place, nor had any ap- preciable difference oc- curred in the quality of education. Amazing, eh? Now that could be the end of the story, but it isn't. He came back to work, a con- siderably changed man in his outlook on life. You couldn't take all the per- fectionist out of him but he had learned that he wasn't indispensable. Instead of rattling around in his office each evening, he took to going home early and renewing aquaintanceships with his family, or jogging a couple of miles around the school track. It's surprising how much happier his staff became, and how many of the students really got to know him. I believe that over the next couple of years he began to see how lucky he was to be alive, and also realize that working is not the only satisfaction available to a person, : „ • By SYD FLETCHER Editor — Bill Batten Assistant Editor — Ross Haugh Advertising Manager — Jim Beckett Composition Manager — Harry DeVries Business Manager — Dick Jongkind Published Each Wednesday Morning Phone 235-1331 at Exeter, Ontario Second Class Mail Registration Number 0386 SUBSCRIPTION RATES; Canada $11.00 Per Year; USA $30.00 Pass it, then bury it to realize that the adage about one man's junk being another's treasures holds true in the area of what any one person considers as a definition for those terms in the bylaw. Add to that the financial and social components and you have an impossible task in coming anywhere near universal agree- merit on what is right for every resident of any community. In short, it's an administrative nightmare that would require much more than wisdom of Solomon to en- force, and a law that can not be equitably and stringently enforced is often worse than no law at all. While there are situations which require corrective measures, there is little doubt that those regulations must be extremely basic to cover flagrant abuse only. To have laws that the ma- jority of properties in this community would now contravene makes a mockery of the entire situation. To meet the requirements for the BIA to receive a loan from the province, council should pass the bylaw as it is now presented and make it abun- dantly clear to the ratepayers that it will then be buried under the nearest piece of unsafe sidewalk. They would then proceed to take their time at developing a bylaw that is more basic and enforceable for those very few situations when such regulations are required. of industry and tourism in co-operation with the ministry of education. Two lessons plans and sets of teaching materials, one for grades four through eight and one for high schools, will try to make young people aware of the con- nection between their purchases and the economy as a whole. Manufacturers are also being ask- ed to participate in Shop Canadian by marking their goods clearly as being produced in Canada, by looking for areas where they are better able to compete with imports than they could in the past and by shifting their own purchases to Canadian suppliers where that is practical. Since about 50% of all Canada's manufacturing takes place in Ontario, Shop Canadian benefits On- tario in a very major and direct way. "Now that I can finally afford a big, fuel wasting luxury car, they stop making them." Shop Canadian One of the advantages of being in a position of authority is being able to delegate dirty work to someone farther down the line. Nowhere is that becoming more ap- parent than in the matter of a provin- cial and federal governments requiring that local municipalities have a proper- ty standards and maintenance bylaw before thay are eligible to receive cer- tain funding support from the senior levels of government. The deliberations over those bylaws is resulting in a considerable amount of consternation for municipal officials, as evidenced by the recent debates in Exeter and other neighbour- ing towns. The bylaws appear to be valuable tools and their stated purpose is to provide the municipality with the authority to take remedial action where detrimental property conditions resulting from neglect, disrepair, over- crowding and under-maintenance im- pose a hazard to human health, safety, and well-being or produce blight and deterioration which adversely affects the value, appearance and enjoyment of neighbouring properties. That all sounds very logical and necessary until the time comes to define such terms as over-crowding, under-maintenance, blight, safety, value, appearance, enjoyment, etc. It is necessary to look no farther than rummage sales and garage saleS Shopping Canadian means more jobs for Canadians. That's the basic message behind Shop Canadian Week in Ontario, Oct. 7 through 13, declared by Ontario Minister of Industry and Tourism Larry Grossman. Gallup Poll research shows that 67% of Canadians believe they benefit from buying Canadian-made products. But only about 40% of consumers always remember to check for country of origin when making purchases. A reminder to Shop Canadian is es- pecially important at this timebefore the major holiday shopping season. Young people are reminded to Shop Canadian through a special school program, The Great Made-In-Canada Label Hunt, developed by the ministry I worked for this gen- tleman for two years in a large high school. It takes a lot of drive and energy to run a big business like a high school, He was in charge of a building easily running into several million dollars in value, a staff of some eighty people, and a student body of over fourteen hundred children. Correct that, young would be be adults who are eager to assume new responsibilities and challenges, not all of them the ones that the staff is looking for. This principal had two vice-principals to help carry the load for him but he was unwilling to delegate very much authority to them. Instead he liked to have a finger in every pie that was being made in the school. Members of Exeter council could probably be excused for a couple of rather hasty decisions at their meeting last week. On an agenda that was rippl- ed with controversial items, any topic that could be dealt with calmly and un- animously was no doubt a welcome relief. After battling their way through, the police office question and the proposed property standards bylaw, it was only natural that a few people could drop their guard on a couple of other items that appeared rather straight forward. However, that is often a dangerous practice and many people have suf- fered setbacks in relaxing their guards too quickly after emerging from trying situations. One of the decisions which could be called into question was that of waiving a '700 penalty against a contractor who failed to meet the deadline in a local public works contract. Those who spoke on the matter in- dicated they .had mixed feelings about it, noting that the contract award had been delayed one week while council awaited a decision from the Ontario Municipal Board regarding the funding of the project. During that interval, the contractor undertook a project in another municipality before moving onto the local construction. That, of course, was a plausible reason for the delay in finishing the work here. The point that was missed, however, was the fact the contractor obviously had ample opportunity to assess the situation at the time and had problems been envisioned, could easily have ap-, proached council and asked for an ex- tension on the time period. While it was argued quitecorrectiy that the delay in completing the project Some people, like me, believe in roll- ing with the punches, rather that stick- ing out our chins to show how many we can absorb. I have found that, in general. if I avoid trouble, trouble avoids me. If I know that some pain in the arm has been trying to get me on the phone, I also know immediately that he or she wants me to do something that I don't want to do. Therefore, I take the phone off the hook and leave it off until the pain has found some other sucker. Another invention of mine to stay out of trouble is patented as Nega-Prod. This short for Negative Production. The theory is simple, The more you produce, the more problems you have, whether it is children, manufactured goods or farm products. The more children you have, the more emotional and economic problems you create for yourself. The more goods you produce, the more you have to hustle to find customers and meet pay( tills. The more farm stuff you raise, whether it's beef or beans, the greater your chance of being caught in a glut on the market. Our great national railways caught on to this years ago. When they had lots of passengers, they had lots of problems. People wanted comfort, cleanliness, decent meals, and some assurance that they would get where they were going on time. There was much more money to be made, and fewer problems. by transporting wheat and lumber and cattle. created no inconvenience, the fact remains that the contractor failed to live up to the terms of the agreement. Locl taxpayers have every right to be a little chagrined over council's decision to waive the '700 penalty and especially those who were charged in- terest for being overdue on their last tax payment. It was a decision that should have been based more on the principle than the principal. Councillors know what would happen if they dropped the penalty for late pay- ment of taxes. So why would they ex- tend such a courtesy to an outsider who failed to meet his obligations? * * * Another item that appeared to be heading for a rather questionable deci- sion was regarding an advertisement in a special edition being planned to mark the 60th anniversary of the Association of Kinsmen Clubs. One council member suggested a '50 advertisement, while another was talk- ing in terms of '195 before Councillor Don Cameron had the matter turned over to the executive and finance com- mittee. With two members of that com- mittee being the ones espousing the suggestions of making a contribution, it would appear likely that some affir- mative action will be recommended to council. "You will be showing the Kinsmen across Canada your appreciation for their service to your community," the letter from the national group said in seeking council endorsement for a con- gratulatory message in the special publication. While the writer agrees wholeheartedly with the motive behind the endorsement which was evident in the suggestions by some council members, the question remains So the railways began treating people like cattle. Passenger trains became uncomfortable and dirty. Quality of the food dropped like a stone. And they never arrived on time. Presto. End of problems. No more passengers. So the railways were able to cut off non-paying passenger lines, get rid of all those superfluous things like station agents and telegraphers and train conductors, and concentrate on taking from one point to another things that paid their way and didn't talk back: newsprint, coal, oil, wheat. Perhaps this is the answer for our provincial governments, which, are quickly and quietly building massive mountains of debt for future taxpayers. Perhaps they should just stop building highways. and repairing those already in existence. We'd all be sore as hell for a while, but as the roads got worse and worse, most of us would stop driving our cars. The governments would save millions of dollars now , spent on highways, and they could fire two- thirds of the highway cops. I don't quite see how the govetnmentscould use Nega-Prodto get out of the liquor business, which cer- tainly produces plenty of problems. The booze trade is so profitable that asking government to abandon it would like asking a millionaire to forsake his country estate for a run-down farrn. Perhaps if they had a Free Booze Day, once a week, every week, say on Saturday, it would solve a number of problems. It would pertainly reduce the whether the the item falls under council's policy regarding donations to charitable organizations and disaster relief funds. The Kinsmen of this community should be thanked for their con- tributions in the past, but a letter to that effect would convey the same message . As a further alternative, council could perhaps send the '50 or '195 to the Woodstock relief fund with an accom- panying letter to the Kinsmen that the donation was made in lieu of an adver- tisement in their publication. However, if council members remain adamant in wanting to place an adver- tisement to convey their thanks and best wishes to the Kinsmen , it would be sugested that they spend the money on an advertisement in this newpaper so the message could be read not only by local Kinsmen to whom it is directed, but also the taxpayers who are footing the bill. You know what they say about keep- ing your business at home! * * * Finally, on a more positive note, the writer thinks members of council should be commended for keeping their cool so well during last week's session. There were several contentious issues, a few frivoulous arguments and some procedural problems that could have led to frayed tempers with most people, but on the whole the entire night was carried through with an at- mosphere of intelligent regard and un- derstanding for other peoples' opinions. At times that was obviously difficult and it is to the credit of the members that they were able to master the situa- tion so positively. surplus population. This, in turn, would cut down, drastically, the unemploy- ment figures, Should the provincial governments find that Nega-Prod is all I've suggested. some of it might spill over into the federal government, usually the last to catch on to what the country really needs. Instead of the manna and honey flow- ing from Ottawa in the form of baby bonuses and pensions, we might get some terse manifestoes: "People who have more than one and a half children will be sent to jail for four years. Note: separate jails." "Persons who plan to live past 65 and claim a pension will be subject to an open season each year, from October 1 to Thanksgiving Day. Shotguns and bicycle chains only." "All veterans of all wars may claim participation by reason of insanity, and may apply to Ottawa for immediate euthenisation ." These might seem slightly Draconian Measures, but they sure would put an end to a lot of our problems and troubles. Think of what they would do for such sinful activities as sex, grow- ing old, and hanging around the Legion Hall, playing checkers. But we must also think of the economic benefits. With a plug put into that river of money flowing from Ot- tawa, taxes would drop, inflation would Page 4 Times-Advocate, October 1.1, 1979 !gsgoinz' — Times Established 1873 Advocate Established 1881 rI BATTN AROUND with the editor A dangerous precedent Avoiding some trouble Amalgamated 1424 imesAdvocate • 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 EERY, PUBLISHER