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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Citizen, 1988-06-22, Page 4PAGE 4. THE CITIZEN, WEDNESDAY, JUNE 22, 1988. Opinion What happens after? Despite frequent postponements in the heariiig to investigate CN Rail’s Listowel to Wingham line through Brussels, the push in recent months has been growing stronger to abandon branch line railways. Whether or not the abandonment is justified it is certainly time more thought was given to what happens when the rails and ties are taken up. The railways and their supporters claim times have changed and there is no hope many railways can pay for themselves in future. Others like Project Rerail say that with local management and proper marketing, the railways could continue to operate, an approach that certainly seems to deserve more attention than it has been getting from government. If the trend to abandon railways continues, however, someone needs to look at what the future brings for the large amounts of land involved. Too often the right-of-ways have become weed-infested scars on the landscape, no good to anyone. Nobody at the federal or provincial level of government seems to have any concerns beyond the taking up of the rails. Contrast this to what happens in some areas of the United States. The State of Wisconsin has the best set of rules for abandonment, the Rails-to-Trails Conservancy reports. In Wisconsin before any rail corridor is abandoned it is first analyzed by the Department of Transportation for continued rail use, then for possible highway use. Next the state’s department of natural resources analyzes the right of way for use as a state trail. Lastly, county or local governments evaluate the route for local trail use. In New York a railway can not sell a corridor without first offering it to the state which has about seven months to decide if it wants the land for highway or trail purposes. Massachusettes has a provision restricting construction directly on the truck area even if the railway no longer owns the right-of-way so that it preserved for possible reconversion of rail use if circumstances change. Such policies have turned eyesores into major assets in the United States. Canadians could benefit if similar policies were adopted here. Paying as you go One thing came through ioud and clear to the members of the task force looking into county government reform when it met in Goderich last Wednesday: no matter how any of the participants felt about specific reform proposals, all believed services should be carried out by local government if at all possible. Over and over again task force members, MPP’s Charlie Tatham and John Cleary, were told that municipal government is the form of government most responsible to the people. County government should function, speakers said, only to handle those services that are too big to be handled by municipal governments. The MPPs must surely have known they were in a different part of the country when M. Tatham asked several reeves and mayors if allowing the county government to issue debentures might mean municipalities could get better terms when borrowing. Over and over again the local politicians told him that this wasn t an issue because their municipality tried not to borrow money For someone from the provincial legislature this must have seemd a radical departure from normal government procedure. If they had attended many of the budget meetings of area councils they might have shaken their heads even more. At Blyth’s budget meeting last week, for instance, they would have seen reserve funds set up for everything from a fire truck purchase to downtown improvement to a total of $60,000 built up over the years to cover expenses that might come along before taxes are due. In this way many councils are not only guarding against having to go into long term debts for capital purchases but are also cutting down on their needs to borrow money to cover short term needs. Councils over the years have gone from having interest charges to having revenue from interest on reserve funds sitting in the bank. Looking at the “buy now, pay later’ ’ financing that goes on at the provincial and federal levels suggests the reeves and mayors are right when they speak about the local levels of government being the most answerable to the people. What’s more to prove it, they’re putting their money where their mouth is. Tile Citizen P.O. Box 429, BLYTH, Ont; NUM 1H0 Phone 523-4792 Shootin' the breeze ft The International Scene Economics based on illegal drugs BY RAYMOND CANON We have all heard stories about the injurious effects of illegal drugs but trying to ban their use is tantamount of getting the tide to stop before it is ready. Some idea of the difficulty can be gleaned by the following two stories which I am going to relate to you. When I hear these and others, I sometimes wonder if the only answer is to bring the whole matter under some form of government control such as whatwe have decided to do with alcohol but that is something that is still rather far in the future. Atfirstsightthe South American country of Colombia appears to be something of a success story as far as economic growth is concerned. However, that masks the biggest problem which the country has to face and that is the fact that it has about the most violent drug economy in the entire world. In the last decade cocaine replaced mari­ juana as the main illegal export and this is not due so much to the fact that Colombia grows a great deal of the coca plant from which cocaine is made but rather it is here that the drug is processed as it comes in from Peru and Bolivia. While those in the drug business are understandably extremely re­ luctant to publish any figures on their business operations, it is calculated that no less than 80 per cent of all the cocaine arriving in ' North America comes from Col­ ombia. Their shipments to Europe are also increasing and, since the demand from those two areas still isn’t enough to keep the cocaine merchants busy, there is evidence that the Colombians are taking up the use of a very crude kind of cocaine called “Basuko.” The nearest we have to it in North America is called * ‘crack’ ’ which is a very cheap but potent type of cocaine and which has been making headlines of its own during the past few years. I am indebted to my alma mater in Switzerland, the Swiss School of Economics, for some of the facts since they have done a study trying to estimate the amount of money which the cocaine industry gener­ ates in Colombia. Theircalcula- tions are that, while in the early 1980’s, profits were in the order of $8-11 billion, they have dropped to about $5-6 billion since the price of cocaine has fallen. There is also some reason to suspect that this profit has fallen because an increasing amount of it is made outside Colombia and finds its way into North American or European banks. Whatever the reasons it is Continued on page 17 P.O. Box 152, BRUSSELS, Ont. NOG 1H0 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 $17 OO/yr. ($38.00 Foreign). Advertising is accepted on the condition that in the event of a typographical error, only that portion of the advertisement will be credited. Advertising Deadlines: Monday, 2 p.m - Brussels, Monday, 4 p.m - Blyth. We are not responsible for unsolicited newscriptsor photographs. Contents of The Citizen are © Copyrignt. Serving Brussels, Blyth, Auburn, Belgrave, Ethel, Londesborough, Walton and surrounding townships. Editor & Publisher, Keith Roulston Advertising Manager, DaveWilliams Production Manager, Jill Roulston Second Class Mail Registration No. 6968