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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Citizen, 1988-07-27, Page 4PAGE 4. THE CITIZEN, WEDNESDAY, JULY 27, 1988. Opinion Let's honour our youth There’s a stirring event that takes place every year at the annual meeting of the Ontario Community Newspaper Association in March. Ata luncheon, with the Lieutenant Governor of the Ontario present, a dozen young people from across the province, some with incredible tales of courage to tell, are honoured for their efforts. Some of the young people have overcome disability to carry on productive lives. Some have risked their own lives to save others. Some have just showed the kind of good citizenship that makes their community a better place. These are the people chosen from across the province to be honoured as Junior Citizens of the Y ear but there are hundreds of young people who have been honoured at the local level for their contributions. Young people (aged six to 18 years) who have helped an elderly neighbour by cutting the grass or who coach ball or hockey teams or help in so many other ways to make their community better are rewarded by the program. All those nominated, whether groups or individuals, receive a certificate recognizing their nomination. We have in our communities, many young people who prove the young people, just as well as adults, can be good citizens. The Citizen would like to join with OCNA in recognizing these young people. If you know someone who should be rewarded for their good work, nomination papers are available in either office of The Citizen. Help us to thank them. Where does it end The Canadian Environmental Law Association appeared before the House of Commons committee examining the Free Trade Agreement (FTA) last week and said the agreement has “disastrous implications’’ for the Canadian environment. In saying that the agreement has implications for everything from acid rain to water exports it re-emphasized what many of the opponents of the agreement fear: that we don’t even know all the implications the bill can have for the country. It’s very difficult to argue against the concept of free trade. Who can argue against fairness? The difficulty for non-supporters of the bill is that there is much more than trade involved here. In establishing the “level playingfield’’, virtually any aspect of life can be involved. There is the fact, for instance, that the trade bill takes precedence over any other Canadian legislation meaning that all laws enacted to protect our environment or culture can now be called into question where they can be interpreted as affecting trade. There are worries about future energy supply. The much ballyhooed Hibernia deal last week, for instance, becomes a Canadian tax-payer subsidy of American consumers of oil consumers. Under the FTA, Canada can not charge more for oil exported to the U.S. than we charge to Canadians. We can also not, if we find ourselves short of oil in future, decide to keep our oil for our own needs. We must continue to export petroleum in the same proportion of production as we did before. Only by cutting our own use can we cut exports. Despite government assurances, a former Canadian negotiator for the FTA says the agreement means large quantities of Canadian fresh water can be diverted into the U.S. and current Canadian laws can do nothing to stop it because they are overridden by the FTA. This is the kind of domino effect that is disturbing. The FTA will change the entire rules of the game in ways that we cannot now comprehend. The face of the country could be entirely changed by this one piece of legislation. Yet we have a trade minister who has admitted he didn’t read the whole agreement. We have a preliminary committee that won’t leave Ottawa to hear the views of ordinary Canadians even though all kinds of other less-important pieces of legislation have had hearings across the country and we have a Prime Minister who once said ‘ ‘This country could not survive with a policy of unfettered free trade ... We’d be swamped’’ who now in mid-terms has changed his mind and doesn’t feel Canadians should have a voice in the decision before the FTA is put into force. Cynical Canadian voters may wonder if what they feel really matters any more. Down by the dam, Bluevale Mabel’s Grill There are people who will tell you that the important decisions in town are made down at the town hall. People in the know, however know that the real debates, the real wisdom reside down at Mabel's Grill where the greatest minds in the town [if not in the country] gather for morningcoffee break, otherwise known as the Round Table Debating and Fili­ bustering Society. Since not just everyone can partake of these deliberations we will report the activities from time to time. MONDAY: Billie Bean told Ward Black this morning that the town council should be going after a company that makes wedding dresses. Afterair, hesaid, ifthe rumours that Janet Jones spent $40,000 on her wedding dress are true, it would only take 25 wedding dresses a year to give the company $1 million annual income. The problem is, Julia Flint said, we don’t have enough filthy rich people like Janet and Wayne getting married every year to keep the plant like that going. If we were lucky enough to have a Royal family with lots of kids now, we might have a chance. Yes, Tim O’Grady joked, it must have been those 20 years of creeping socia­ lism under the Liberals that kept us from having more people with enough conspicuous wealth for those kind of weddings. No wonder the economy was in such a mess. TUESDAY: Hank Stokes said you really had to hand it to Vicki Keith showing all that determination to keep swimming 47 hours across Lake Huron to get to Goderich. He hadn’t seen anybody work so hard to get to Goderich since the time his wife almost missed a one-day sale ata dress store up there because of a snow storm. She made it by taking the snowmobile. WEDNESDAY: Tim suggested to Ward today that Conservatives in Newfoundland must be the happiest people in the country after having a $1 billion handout from the Federal governmentto try to get the Hibernia oil field into production. “That wasn’t any hand-out,’’ Ward objected. “Unlikethe Liber­ als, we don’t go around giving money away. The government invested that billion.’’ “How’d you like to get the government to invest in my farm, ’ ’ Hank asked. “If you guys figure it’s a good investment when they need $20 a barrel to make money and the price is only $14 a barrel, maybe they can find a way of turning that farm into a good investment too.’’ THURSDAY: Ward was smiling fromeartoearthismorning and Tim didn’t dare ask him what for but Julia did. “Things are never so black that John Turner can’t help the Conservatives,” Ward said. He said he figured that Turner’s action to get the Senate to block the Free Trade deal will mean a lot of unemployment in the country. “Not only will there be a lot of Liberal MP’s looking for work after the next election, but all those Liberal hacks in the Senate will be out on their ear because now we’ll get Senate reform.” Billie said hegota little confused whenever people got talking about government too much. For one thing, people usually complain about the senators because they make all that money and never do Continued on Page 12 The Citizen P.O. Box 429, BLYTH, Ont. NOM 1H0 Phone 523-4792 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 $17.00/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, 2pm - 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, DaveWilliams Production Manager, Jill Roulston Second Class Mail Registration No. 6968