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Times-Advocate, 1980-03-26, Page 4Times Established 1471 Advocate Established QB I Nos 4 TimssAdvecatot March 2fe. 1980 .SERVING CANADA'S BEST FARMLAND C.WA.A.,:Q.W.N.A. CLASS. 'A' and ABC 'Published by J. W.Eedy Publics! tiens Limited kORNEEEPY, PUBLISHER. Editor — Bill Batten Assistant Editor Ross Haugh Advertising Manager — Jim Beckett Composition Manager — Harry DeVries. 4PCNA . ,,,A1M1IWASAtialMUMMEN741aliM,-, Business Manager — Dick Jangkind Phone 235-1331 ' TtiEs, ANP Boss WEVT RR NO NAN Published Each Wednesday Morning at Exeter, Ontario Second Class Mail Registration Nokriber Q386 SUBSCRIPTION RATES: Canada $14.00 Per Year; USA $35.00 Face the music L, • Canada The 'Problem with Numbers W Roger Worth A youngster in Thunder Bay, Ontario, missed part of the hockey season this year, even though he was ready to sign the forms required by the local sports association and pay the annual fee. The reason his application to play minor hockey was dis- allowed: the kid didn't have a Social Insurance Number, That's just one example of the creeping use of a number- ing system for people that is causing widespread concern in Canada. Canadians have indeed come a long way since 1964 when Parliament approved simple legislation setting up .a social insurance numbering Roger Worth is Director, Public Affairs, Canadian Federation of Independent Business. system to control information relating to only two programs, the Canada Pension Plan and the federal unemployment in- surance scheme. In fact, the only people who legally require a social insur- ance number are individuals over 18 who are working in pensionable employment. So much for the law and the Parliamentary activity That resulted in a nine-digit num- bering system not unlike the one presented in the 1984 scenario by George Orwell. What's happened with Ot- tawa's "restricted-use" social insurance number, of course, is history. In efforts to upgrade elec- tronic accounting and infor- ;nation systems, banks, finan- cial' institutions, credit card companies, schools, libraries, even sports associations are grabbing individual numbers these days. The government has even forced banks to withhold 25°A) of Canada Savings Bond divi- dend payments to people without social insurance num- bers. Discrimination indeed. Realistically, it's difficult to operate without a social in- surance number, no matter what government authorities say. As a result of concern over the burgeoning use of the numbers and the potential for invasion of personal privacy by making private informa, tion readily available to al= most anyone, a Commissioner has been appointed to studs; the issue. It's about time. Parliament should either broaden legislation controlling the social insurance number- ing system or forbid use of the numbers by private groups and institutions. At least the • public would be re-assured that Canada's legislators fully understand what is happening. Perspectives Games are held every first of July. My wife and I were both ' applying for positions with the board. We were asked to drive up there one foggy evening. As we came along the highway the fog deepened and we missed our turn. Three-quarters of an hour late, we finally pulled into Embro, half-expecting the interview committee to have left. Not so, they were there all right. Not just a committee though. The whole board was assembled, all twelve of them, mostly farmers, though a couple were businessmen. The chairman quickly put us at ease. He was a big man, built like a bear. When he shook hands with me I thought his huge paw would swallow mine, but he was more than gracious and friendly. It was an interesting ex- perience. The board asked us many questions but curiously they were not particularly about teaching. Instead they wanted to know about where we had been raised, the things we had done with our lives so far, and the question which seemed most important was which church we attended. When we left though, we realized that what these people were looking for was something more than two teachers. It was their own children that they were there about. They were concerned parents who wanted to make sure that the people they hired would continue on with the same sort of values and morals that they themselves would start the day out with. We found ourselves hired and took it as a compliment, feeling that least someone in the often cynical world felt that they could trust us. Licillar and Spice Dispensed by Smiley only reach through a long distance charge. That wouldn't be too bad if the new London number was answered by someone who knows the train schedule. Invahably, the caller is advised (again by recording) that all the lines (we wonder if there is really more than one) are in use and someone will handle your call as soon as he/she is available. To apparently soothe the caller as the long distance telephone meter runs wildly, some music comes over the line. Unfortunately, Wolfgang Mozart could write a symphony in the time it takes a VIA Rail employee to get onto the line with the information one needs to plan a train trip. Needless to say, VIA Rail does little 'to encourage travel on the rails. percent of Canadians claim the stan- dard $100 deduction "without even put- ting a quarter in the Salvation Army Christmas kettle," says Mrs. Clarke. Churches and charities want this deduction, which costs $350 million a year in lost taxes, dropped, says Mrs. Clarke. They also want taxpayers to be able to choose between deducting charitable gifts from income or claim- ing half the value as a tax credit, and to be able to make gifts 60 days into the new year. "Ever notice how much faster a bus goes when you're trying to catch' one?" Now robbing everyone bunting hanging from flag poles in the municipality. The color was faded. The edges were frayed. The snap had vanished. If you have a flag pole, make cer- tain the flag'you fly is in good shape. If it isn't, take it down. Put up a new flag or, if nothing else, leave the flag pole empty. Let's put an end to flags that fly in disrespect in our area. GoderichSignal-Star Change tax laws Fly in disrespect Buy some daffodils ... Greet spring and help beat cancer As gasoline prices continue to spiral, many people are starting to take a look at train travel as an alternative. It also affords the advantage of a more leisurely jaunt to one's destination. However, area residents may find that the savings they hoped. to imple- ment in travelling by train are eaten up in telephone calls to get departure in- formation. VIA Rail Canada Inc., which you help to support through your tax dollars, has a listing in the current telephone direc- tory that indicates the London office can be reached toll-free. But if you have happened to call that number recently, you'll be advised by a recor- ding that the number is no longer in ser- vice. The telephone operator comes on to advise that the new listing is a Lon- don number which most readers can Tax laws favor political parties over churches and reward those who didn'tgive a cent to charity, says an editorial in the April issue of The United Church Observer. A $100 donation to a political can- didate is deducted from taxes payable, which means a $75 return, whereas the same donation to a church is taken off the taxable income and may save only $6 in some tax brackets and provinces, says Patricia Clarke, interim editor. Under the present system, over 90 It is spring. The sun is warm, the sky is blue. It's a great time for getting outside. Time to take a walk. Go for a drive. See the sights. There is little doubt that getting out and about is a favorite pastime of people at this time of year. And it is a good time again to remind citizens who have flag poles on their property to check their flags. A quick tour of the town earlier this week showed some dilapidated by SYD FLETCHER As businesses get bigger, they may get more efficient but they also' tend to get a little more impersonal. You become one of many hun- dred employees, a number in the system, a face in the crowd. That of course has its advantages in that many people like to remain anonymous because they have fewer problems and 'hassles' that way. There was something to be said for small school boards though. One 'of the first school boards t taught for was West Zorra, at Embro Public School. For those of you who have never heard of Embro, that's where the Highland A senior citizen from London recent- ly described inflation "as ,the yOung robbing the old". However, he indicated that pen- sioners were now in a position where their smile of sympathy hides a chuckle of glee while thinking "It serves them right, they asked for it". His reference, of course, was to the situation now. confronting many young people as they face crippling interest rates, particularly on mortgages.... "I suggest these people stop, think and realize the inflation they selfishly encouraged for personal gain has now reached the stage where it is costing the young, as for years it has cost the fixed-income pensioners. The young now reap the harvest they sowed." While the comments are probably an over-simplification of economic woes being experienced by people of all ages, the underlining comment is correct in that people who are not suffering through inflation are those who have contributed to it, Canadians recently ousted the government of Joe Clark because they hoped to escape the harsh realities ex- pressed in the Progressive Conser- vative budget. Of course, they did not escape those realities, but merely delayed them somewhat by turning them over to the Liberals. It is obvious that the Liberals will have to implement some stringent measures to alleviate the bankruptcy being faced by many in this nation, but the government can not do the job alone. Until people are prepared to live within their means and stop the inces- sant demands for higher wages, they will continue to reap what they have sown, * * * One of the problems with the Everybody talks about the energy crisis, but nobody does anything about it. In point of fact, as we say in this game when we're not sure of either our point or our facts, precious few people know what a crisis is. As an old English teacher, I know. A crisis is a turning point that occurs in a story or play when something unex- pected gives the plot a new direction. To that extent, the energy crisis is no such thing. Everybody knew that oil was a non-renewable energy, just like coal and natural gas. But we went on blithely in our un- founded assurance that we could always be warm at the turn of a switch, always be cool at the turn of another, kill each other in steadily increasing numbers on the highways, tear around on boats and motorcycles and snow- mobiles, fly to the far corners of the earth for a comparative pittance, and so on, The Garden of Eden, smelling of oil and poisoning the ozone. What a collec- tion of nincompoops! And I do mean the poops part of it. It became a crisis only when the Ayrabs came to their senses, got us by the short and curly, and began to twist. Even then, it was more like a bad dream than reality. Our brilliant political leaders assured us that there was plenty for everybody for another twenty or ten or thirty or fifty years, depending on whether or not they were in power. So everybody bought a second family car, or a new cruiser. To hell with our grandchildren. Let them freeze in the dark. The great oil companies, with their conglomerates that sell everything from condoms to nylons, kept mum. And I don't mean they maintained mother. Everytime some backroom genius came up With an invention that proved economy is the rampant use of credit. As interest rates escalate, that becomes an extreme burden. However, judging from a decision made by Exeter council last week, that fact has not yet hit home. Mayor Derry Boyle suggested that financing a sanitary sewer project for the north end over a period of time was fairer than taking the funds out of current revenue. It's an argument that has been waged for many years, and the reasoning as cited by the Mayor is that today's tax- payers should not have to pay the entire cost of a service that will be enjoyed by residents of the community some few years down the road. That has some validity, of course, but the counter-argument is that as in- terest rates increase, the actual cost of that project will multiply by some three-fold by the time it is paid. On major expenditures, debenture issues are necessary, but council's decision does not reflect the type of belt-tightening attitude that must be exhibited by governments at all levels if we are to solve some of our economic problems. It also fails to take into consideration that the vast majority of those who will be paying the loan are those who are currently paying taxes. Nor does it reflect the fact that the taxpayers who will be paying the bills in 10 or 20 years will have to face projects of their own. Financial experts point out that many of the current problems being ex- perienced by governments and in- dividuals are the result of credit buy- ing. Obviously, governments and in- dividuals must re-think their positions. Sure, inflation tends to make repay- ment costs look like a bargain as in- terest 'rates continue to spiral, but it you could run a car forty miles on faith, - hope and spit, they gave him a million bucks for the patent and told him to dis- appear, quietly. They were joined in the conspiracy of silence by the vast motor car com- panies, so powerful they can dictate to governments. These corporate citizens know, and knew long ago, that they were deliberately burning up the world's huge energy reserves. Did they care? Not as long as the profits held up. If there is any history of this time, twentieth-century man will be looked on by the higher species that evolves in about the same way we look upon the dodo bird: a creature too stupid to sur- vive. Just the other day, I went down to the licence office and paid sixty dollars for the privilege of driving a large lump of rusting metal about, polluting the countryside. I told the girl that if she'd give me the $60 back, and add three hundred, she could have the car. She refused. And I don't blame her. The twentieth century is one of charlatans, dreamers, violence and sheer naivetee. We refund me of the alchemists who flourished in the mid- dle ages, trying to turn lead into gold. We jog in polluted air to improve our lungs and hearts. We buy smaller cars to save gas and drive twice as much as we used to. We buy wood stoves at wild prices, and firewood at e'ven wilder. We talkmoreaboutunemploymentinsurance than we no on researcn into these things. We are all so well-educated and literate that we have a school system churning out semi-literates who will breed vigorously and produce semi- moroas . We have a greedy,glutonous society that gobbles up all the useless things it irodudes, and still can't find enough jobs for people in it to lead a life of reasonable dignity. I could go on and on, as you well know, but I must get down to brass facts, and propose some solutions. Here they are. There's no use going to the politicians, They are interested in votes, not principles. We need a dic- tator. Oh, I don't mean some megalomaniac like Hitler or Mussolini. Just a nice, kindly, benevolent dictator, a sort of Mafia-like Don of the old school, soft-spoken, but in charge. His first move would be to call in his "boys" and gently suggest the elimina- tion of all politicians, school ad- ministrators, economists, and drug pushers, so that we could start on a clean sheet.. I don't mean eliminate them in the crude way. The politicians Would have to raise personally every cent they promised to spend. The school ad- ministrators would be assigned seven Grade 9 classes a day and lunch super- vision. The economists would be sentenced to twenty years of arithmetic, and the drug pushers would be impaled on sharp stakes, at high noon, every Wednesday. Then he'd appoint some com- missioners to get things cleared up. I, for one, would be willing to accept the onerous chores of Energy Com- missioner. I wouldn't be unduly harsh. I'd just have collected and burned, every snow- mobile, power boat and motor-cycle in the country. I'd put a governor on every car so that it couldn't go over 30 miles an hour. I'd ground every aircraft on a pleasure flight, and tie up every ocean liner ditto. I'd issue an edict that sub- sidized longjohns and fine every household caught with its temperature above 60 degrees. Of course, I'd expect a Cadillac and a jet liner and a power cruiser to transport me about on my various nefarious duties. Brampton Lions Club Novice Hockey tournament over the Easter holidays. Exeter Mohawk's "Buddy" Dietrich received the Gerry Smith goaltending trophy Tuesday night for the second straight year, as the agile netminder once again proved to be the best in the WOAA Group 1 intermediate league. Members of the Exeter Lions Cliib entertainenheir children at the supper meeting at Armstrong's Restaurant Thursday evening. 15 Years Ago Two SHDHS leaders, Carolynne Simmons and Bryan Baynham, expressed their views that teens are not ready for the lowering of the legal age of 18 to permit them to consume alcohol and to vote. A Crediton native, F.W. Clark, celebrated his 90th birthday. He operated the Crediton Rural Telephone System for 27 years, as well as being the Crediton Bell Telephone manager for a' lengthy period. Clerk C.V. Pickard reported this week there were approximately 14 applications for the position of police constable which became vacant when Con- stable Lloyd Hodgins ter- minated his service. Red Cross Blitz chairman Reg Beavers noted that the $1,000 collected by the Lions Club was almost double from the previous year. Huron MP Elston Cardiff was one of the five veteran members honored in the House of Commons last week. Dear Sir, enforcing the various owners I am writing to you to ask concerned to keep their dogs your readers if they can inside their houses at night to assist me with a local prevent this noise. problem that is getting worse for all concerned. was told that unfortunately When I contacted them, I The problem concerns a no by-law at present exists in few thoughtless residents of the Township to prevent Huron Park who leave their undue noise at nights, and dogs outside their houses that they were unfortunately overnight, either tethered or unable to help. The only in enclosed compounds. suggestion they could make Apart from the discomfort was to suggest that a petition caused to some of the be sent to Stephen Township animals during the ex- to raise a suitable by-law so tremely cold weather we can that undue noise could be experience locally, the main prevented by law. problem is the noise caused On being awakened this during the early hours when morning at 6.30 a.m., in many of these dogs bark desperation I phoned the incessantly at the slightest local O.P.P. office in Exeter provocation causing local to ask them if they could residents an early come and round up about awakening. four stray loose dogs that This factor is particularly were wandering around the annoying at weekends when lots, causing those dogs still Many residents look forward tethered to bark incessantly. to a well-earned 'lie-in'. I The officer informed me that have contacted the- Ontario unfortunately they were not Development Corporation, empowered to assist me, but the local estate controllers, that this came under the who advised me to contact jurisdiction of the local dog- the Clerk of the Township of catcher, employed by the Stephen, under whose Township of Stephen. jurisdiction the Huron Park am led to believe that Ns complex lies, \vith regard to Please turn does •not reflect the simple fact that steps must be taken to halt inflation. It's a fact that must be faced by everyone, including members of Ex- eter council. * * The. Alpha Pi Sorority are to be com- mended for their current course for local baby sitters, as should those in- dividuals and groups who are providing instruction to the young people enroll- ed. An interesting picture appeared on our front page last week in which Fire Chief Gary Middleton and fireman Larry Smith were showing two of the course members how to extinguish a fire in a frying pan. While most parents would be pleased to know their sitters have such valuable information, there is the question of how many of those same parents have their homes equipped with a fire ex- ,tinguisher that could be used in an emergency situation that a sitter may encounter. On the same note, a press release recently arrived from a smoke detector manufacturer pointed out in a rather interesting way that the detectors are of little value if the batteries have gone dead, The release showed a smoke detector in its melted state mounted on a charred ceiling. The message was that batteries should be tested every month. Safety procedures are only of prac- tical use when the necessary equip- ment is on hand and is in working order. Better check yours out while you're spring cleaning. Nobody does anything about it 45 Years Ago It was decided at the council meeting on Monday evening to place a system of upright standards on both sides of Main St. from Huron to Gidley St. The lights will be 150 feet apart. In this way the lighting capacity will be doubled. On Tuesday evening a beautiful religious play was presented by the CGIT in James St. Church under the capable leadership of Miss Flossie Hunter and Miss Reta Rowe. The play was entitled "Lydia, the Seller of Purple." At a meeting in the Exeter Library on Wednesday evening an organization was set up to revive the lawn bowling in Exeter. For many years Exeter enjoyed a live bowling organization with one of the finest greens in the past 25 years. Already over 45 have signified the in- tention of becoming mem- bers. 30 Years Ago Julie Dunlop was named the best actress in the play "Charlie's Aunt" presented by pupils of Exeter High School last week. A fire completely destroyed the race barn at the Community Park Saturday evening and only one horse of the seven stabled there was saved. Exeter District School Board will banquet the basketball teams which this year won two WOSSA championships. 20 Years Ago Exeter will be one of some 19 Western Ontario hockey teams participating in the