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.