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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Citizen, 1990-08-08, Page 4PAGE 4. THE CITIZEN, WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 8, 1990. Opinion Tsk the questions Huron county voters have a rare opportunity in the provincial election coming up Sept. 6. With no incumbent candidate the political parties are starting more or less equal and every vote counts. Voters should take advantage of the situation to get the answers to the questions they have about policies effecting Huron county. All the parties should be more amenable than usual to listening to the voters in what promises to be a wide-open race. The candidates should be backed up to a wall and forced to come up with answers. Where, for instance, do the candidates stand on county reform? It was probably the election of Liberals like Jack Riddell nearly 20 years ago that stalled the move to regional government in the first place. Centralization was the theme in those days. County school boards had been dumped on an unwilling public. There had been a move to close hospitals in Chesley and Clinton met with public revolt. There were proposals for regional health councils that would determine health spending for all of southwestern Ontario. Regional government had been enforced in more populous areas and there was every indication it was just a matter of time before rural areas too were included. But rural unrest illustrated by the upset win by Mr. Riddell in a by-election in true-blue-Tory Huron county killed the move. In recent years, however, the issue has returned under the new title of county reform. Provincial government officials, this time under Liberal leadership, are giving ultimatums to local county councils to reform themselves or be reformed. Huron county council has been dragged, kicking and screaming, into a study to reform the county. If the province gets its way, all municipalities with less than 4000 will be abolished and amalgamated with neighbours to reach the magic number. Now is the time, as it was with the Riddell upset, for voters to send a clear message of what they want. If candidates are grilled on the issue at every meeting, at every doorstep in the county over the next few weeks, the message may seep through to Queen’s Park of what the people really want. People can send a message too that they’re tired of the abandonment of rural areas by central governments. While most of the most damaging policies from railway abandonment to post office privatization have been undertaken by the federal government, a government based in Toronto is susceptible to thinking only big places matter. Huron voters can show them it isn’t so. Farmers should use the opportunity to get some clear answers to what the province will do to put prosperity back into farming after a decade of just hanging on. With years of bad times, with uncertainty over GATT and Free Trade, farmers need confidence the province will stand up for their interests. Now is the time the parties should be most interested in listening to Ontario’s most important agricultural county. We’ll be dealing with inexperienced politicians, no matter who is chosen to represent the Conservatives and the Liberals. We’ll be dealing with politicians who haven’t yet learned how to slip and slide out of giving a direct answer to a direct question. Now’s the time to apply the pressure. Don't we ever learn? Some people never learn a lesson and North Americans may be about to pay for the lessons we didn’t learn a decade ago from energy crisis of the ’70s. With the invasion of Kuwait by Iraq and the possible threat to Saudi Arabia, we face a new energy crisis. Iraq, with control over 20 per cent of world oil reserves, is in a position to push up world prices as it has wanted todoall along. It’s only problem may be an economic embargo by the rest of the world which will still mean high oil prices but mean Iraq isn’t getting any part of the bonanza in extra cash. The crises of 1973 and 1979 radically changed life in North America. We started driving smaller, more fuel-efficient cars and since the Japanese made much better small cars, we bought more imported cars. But North Americans have always had a hunger for power under the hood and now even the Japanese have been making cars with bigger engines that use up more gas .. .just in time for us to face another possible shortage and high prices. Energy security became a big concern for all countries in the ’70s. TheU.S.wentintoacampaigntomakesureitwouldn ’tbeleft begging again. It got much of that security when Canada agreed, under Free Trade, that the U.S. won’t be cut off from Canadian oil suppliesevenifweare short ourselves. Andwecouldbe short ourselves since Canada recently became a net importer of oil. In short, we’ re in a mess and we deserve to be for having such short memories. Bonnie^s column Why do women choose jerks? BY BONNIE GROPP Treat them like dirt they come back for more. These eloquent words of wisdom were spoken by a guy when I was in high school who was offering insight into the secret of his success with the opposite sex. Appalled by his chauvinistic ignorance I argued the case for my peers, defending us against his narrow-minded observation. How­ ever, in the years that have passed I have, unfortunately been forced to see that he may not have been as unjustified in his comment as I had originally thought. I have too often noticed that despite the inroads that have been made by women in the area of equality many lend credence to his sad statement. I will be the first to take my turn on the hot seat, to present myself for your viewing pleasure under a psychological microscpe. I abhor men who think themselves super­ ior, who treat women with superi­ ority, with little regard to their feelings. Yet, I remember only too well, breaking up with a “nice” guy to resume a relationship with a boy who had already dumped me twice. No flies on me, right? Come to think of it, I dated a lot of jerks when I was young. I know of daughters of family and friends, who chuckle over the very idea of dating someone their par­ ents think is nice, yet by their own volition carry on a relationship with someone who shows them little respect or consideration. This is not sacrosanct with adolescence either. A friend of a friend of a cousin of mine has put herself into a relationship, that has no future. The gentleman, to his good, has warned her of that very fact, but she remains. He has suggested that she would be better off without him, she disagrees. He pursues other women; she does his Citizen. P.O. Box 429, BLYTH, Ont. N0M 1H0 P.O. Box 152, BRUSSELS, Ont. NOG 1H0 Phone 523-4792 Phone 887-9114 The Citizen is published weekly in Brussels, Ontario by North Huron Publishing Company Inc. Subscriptions are payable in advance at a rate of $19.O0/yr. [$40.00 Foreign]. Advertising is accepted on the condition that in the event of a typographical error, only that portion of the advertisment will be credited. Advertising Deadlines: Monday, 2 p.m. - Brussels; Monday, 4 p.m. - Blyth We are not responsible for unsolicited newscripts or photographs. Contents of The Citizen are © Copyright. Serving Brussels, Blyth, Auburn, Belgrave, Ethel, Londesborough, Walton and surrounding townships. Editor & Publisher, Keith Roulston Advertising Manager, Dave Williams Continued on page 9 Production Manager, Jill Roulston Second Class Mail Registration No. 6968