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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Citizen, 1988-05-11, Page 5No. 2964 Brussels Legion Army Cadet Corps THE CITIZEN, WEDNESDAY, MAY 11, 1988. PAGE 5. Inspecting the troops STORY AND PHOTOS BY TOBY RAINEY demonstration program, bringing a round of hearty applause. Cadets are: [Front rank, from left] Cpl. Chris Mathers, W.O. Marc Barbour, and MCO Jeff Boynton; [Bank rank] Cpl. Martha Boon, Cdt. Chris Bridge, Cdt. Steve Martene and Cpl. Paul Willie. Cadets taking awards as the result of their year’s work were [front, from left] Cpl. Martha Boon, Jr. NCO Award; Chief W arrant Officer Jody Boynton, Certificate of Service; Master Warrant Officer Jeff Boynton, MWO Award; [back] Cdt. Steve Martene, Most Improved Cadet Award; Warrant Officer Marc Barbour, Glanville Warrant Officer Award; and Cpl. Paul Willie, TOp Shot, Brig. Murdock Competition. Cpl. Boon, MWO Boynton, WO Barbour and Cpl. Willie also won Certificates of Service. The cadets of #2967 Brussels Legion Army Cadet Corps paraded for their 9th annual inspection at the Brussels Legion May 3, while their proud parents and friends looked on. Brussels Legion Piper C. Procter pipeti in Inspecting Officer Lt. Col. JamesMcGhie, CD. AC1LO (Land) of Sarnia and Reviewing Officer ACA Sgt. D. Brearley, RCR, of London, who joined #2967 Comm­ anding Officer Capt. S.T. Parker and Training Officer O/Cdt. Linda Bird on the reviewing stand while the cadets went through Inspect­ ion, March Past and several demonstrations before the year’s awards were pre sen ted to six of their members. It was a special evening for everyone. Little Willie [Cadet Gary Williamson] fell off his skateboard and hurt his arm, but it all ended well when Cadet Lara Parker rushed to his aid during the witty first aid demonstration presented by the corps during inspection night. The International Scene Walls of insularity are coming down BY RAYMOND CANON If you want to teach your children something that will stand in good stead in theyears to come, give them every chance to learn how to be flexible; they are going to need this characteristic in good mea­ sure. Mostofthemaregoingtofind themselves in several different types of jobs before their working career comes to an end and, in addition, they will be witnessing a world that will change more dramatically and more rapidly than anything we have seen before. The walls of insularity are coming down with a resounding crash. I have never been reminded of this so forcefully as with some business I have been doing with the Middle East country of Jordan on behalf of a Canadian company who has been exporting to that area for a number of years. There was a time when I could best get the business at hand accomplished by flying over there and solving the problems on the spot. Not any more! Through the medium of telex, telefax and telephone 1 have been able to get everything done that has had to be done and the banks have played their role as if the Canadian bank in question were located in Amman, the capital of Jordan. Allthisbrings metothepoint that needs to be made. It is the financial sector that is showing the most dramatic destruction of the barriers which have been part and parcel of this industry for so many years. Money flows across national boundaries with thesameease that water flows along a stream or river. Even if they wanted to, the Canadian financial institutions would not be able to remain independent; they would be inun­ dated by the sheer force and size of their counterparts in Japan, the United States and the European Common Market. Thus we see that such venerable Canadian institutions as Dominion Securities have been taken over by the Royal Bank; all this is just symbolicof what has been going on for the past two years. The reason for this is obvious; Canadian banks are big by international standards while our financial institutions are not and, unless such companies as Dominion Securities were to find shelter under the protective wing of a giant such as the Royal Bank, they would soon be down to bare bones. Thus it is not surprising that the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade, that organization which has been beavering away for some 40 years at the reduction of trade barriers, is now about to tackle the whole question of service indus­ tries such as banks. This topic is expected to come up at the Uruguay Round of negotiations which will be in place by the turn of the century. Canada, as a founding member of GATT, can either swim or sink. As a supporter of free trade right from the beginning, I say this with no malice. I have seen the handwriting on the wall for some time when itcomes toassessingthe chances of ignoring the trend of liberalization. We may be genuine­ ly concerned about the chances of maintaining a distinctive Canadian culture or we may be just as worried about the number of jobs thatmightbe losttotheYankee hordes, but just remember one thing: there was the same concern expressed for blacksmiths, train firemen, telephone operators and the like but there were not many jobs saved anywhere in those sectors as a result of this concern. When I was in the Soviet Union, I was nothing short of amazed to see the abacus very much in use in the stores. I had tobe shown how it was used and the thought struck me that, although the Kremlin had been able to get all sorts of men into space as well as build up the largest military forces in the world, it was still light-years behind the western world when it came to business practices. Sure enough, it took a forthright leader such as Gorba­ chev to admit what any westerner could have told the Russians in five minutes: either getwith itcommer- cially or become a second rate power. The question now is simply how long it will take the Russian leadertoturn this archaic monolith around. With its wealth of natural resources, its well educated popu­ lation and our dynamic business sector, Canada is in as good shape as any other nation to come out on top in this world of rapid change. However, we shall have to stop crying about the unfairness of it all and clutching our security blanket as if it were going to protect us from all evil. 1 come back to my beginning statement; flexibility will have to be our middle name.