HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Citizen, 1987-02-25, Page 4PAGE 4. THE CITIZEN, WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 25, 1987.
Unfair treatment?
Media representatives in Huron county are not in good
standing with many members of Huron County Council these
days since the publishing of a story in the London Free Press
last week that devoted two pages to accusations that county
administrator Bill Hanly and a handful of councillors run the
county like a private corporation.
The tempest had been brewing for a considerable length of
time and had been stirred up by the resignation of former
Medical Officer of Health, Dr. Harry Cieslar and the dismissal
of County Librarian Bill Partridge. More turmoil was created by
the county’s attempt to have the county library board
dismantled and the operations of the library before a committee
of council and the subsequent dispute over the reappointment
(or lack of reappointment) of one critical board member, Janis
Bisback of Hensall.
There is no doubt there is some room for complaint over the
councillor’s treatment at the hands of the Free Press. Pictures
of Mr. Hanly, former library board chairman Tom
Cunningham, Reeve of Hullett and Warden Brian McBurney
are all very unflattering while photos of their critics are all
posed pictures showing them in the best light.
Then there’s the fact that the Free Press, which long ago
consciously abandoned attempts to provide news coverage in
Huron, seems only to be interested in the county only when it
sniffs scandal. Having set out thinking there was a problem
here, it seemed unlikely to suddenly decide on talking to people
that the whole thing wasn’t worth a story. Although there was
little substantial fact in the lengthy stories, the fact the Free
Press devoted so much space to the issue makes it more
important than it probably was.
The weekly newspapers of the county have their own
deficiencies in the matter. Because of a lack of time and money,
ourlocal papcrsjustaren’tabletodigintosuch issues and come
up with the truth. Even having one reporter devote several days
to researching and writing a story can mean an article costs a
newspaper hundreds of dollars. On our small budgets Huron
county’s weeklies just can’t afford that. Without that kind of
indcpth reporting, it’s impossible to strain out fact from
vindictiveness in a situation like this one.
One thing rings true through all the accusations and
innuendo, all the charges and counter-charges: a certain
uneasiness between councillors and county employees.
Whenever there are part-time legislators and full-time
administration there will be tensions. The politicians will
wonder just how real the needs and the complaints of the
professional staff are (especially when the staff earn salaries
many of the councillors can only dream of). The staff, doing
their job every day, feel the politicians don’t know what is going
on and are meddlesome in their desire to get control of the staff
instead of letting them get on with their jobs.
It’s a tension that may be as healthy in a democracy as it is
inevitable.
What Canadian culture?
Clayton Yeutter, the United States Trade Ambassador,
caused a storm recently when he said (apparently
straight-faced) that if the U.S. was willing to risk its culture in
free trade negotiations with Canada, then Canada should do the
same.
But while most Canadians reacted negatively, Ambassador
Yeutter got some support from an unusual source, Senator
Jerry Kaplan, the NDP organizer. Maybe there is cause to
question some “cultural” protection legislation Canada has,
he said. What good, for instance, have private broadcasters
done for Canada in exchange for the protection we have given
them under Canadian law. (He made the comments in his
regular weekly panel dicsussion on CT V Canada AM. The
interviewer quickly changed the subject.)
The Senator has a point. Parliament passed a law years ago to
protect Canadian stations from competition from U.S. stations
in border areas by not allowing deductions as a legitimate
business expense for the cost of advertising on U.S. stations.
There is also a law that says where a television show is available
on cable TV on both a Canadian and an American channel, the
ads on the U.S. channel must be deleted and replaced with
Canadian ads. These laws have infuriated Americans in the
business.
And what have they done for Canadians? Well, it has made a
pile of money for those lucky few Canadians who own television
stations, but the rest of us haven’t got a lot out of it. In return,
the television companies are supposed to give so much of their
time for Canadian content, but they spend more time finding
ways to cheat the content rules than they do making programs.
I hose they do make are usually either news programs or cheap
game shows.
Then we have Canadian television stations that automati
cally import American programming even if there is no real
relevance to Canada. “Amerika” last week on CTV is a case in
point. What is the logical reason to devote 14l/2 hours or prime
time television to this right-wing American paranoia? That’s
probably more time than the network devotes to Canadian
drama in two months.
Network executives will say their only responsibility is to
make a profit for their shareholders. If we’re going .to live for
profit only, however, why not open the border and let the
A mericans send us their propaganda and make the money from
it, too, even if it drives the private broadcasters out of business?
At least that way it would leave what advertising dollars there
are to help pay the costs of CBC, a Canadian alternative.
Sundown by the river
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 morning coffee
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: Tim O’Grady loves to
torment poor Ward Black about all
the scandals going on in Ottawa.
He was on him this morning about
the latest developments in the
Roch LaSalle mess.
“I don’t know what all the fuss
is,” Ward argued back. ‘‘All these
guys, even if they are guilty,
haven’t done anything the Liberals
didn’t do when they were in
power.”
“Sure,” Tim said, “and you
Conservatives are so much more
efficient about it. It took the
Liberals 20 years to have as many
scandals as you Conservatives
have had in three.”
TUESDAY: Billie Bean said he was
looking in a Toronto newspaper
this morning and thought for a
minute the post office was finally
getting its act together. There was
a picture of a stage coach beside
one of those red mail boxes in the
city and he thought maybe the post
office was going back to the days
when they delivered the mail on
time, but then he discovered it was
just a publicity shot advertising a
stamp that commemorates the first
post office in Toronto.
WEDNESDAY: Julia Flint was
upset this morning about the fact
the Americans are going to be
testing the cruise missle in Canada
again. She said she isn’t even sure
the Americans need the missile
with all the other weapons they
have, and if they think they do, they
should test it over their own darned
country.
Ward explained that the Ameri
cans needed to test in Canada
because it wanted to simulate the
conditions the missile would en
counter over Russia if it was ever
used: frozen wasteland. Tim said if
it was wasteland they were looking
for, they should be testing it over
Ottawa.
Billie said that he was all for the
testing if it means they can work
out the bugs that made two of the
Continued on page 39
Praise to post
office staff
THE EDITOR,
Three cheers for our local Post
Office staff. Their efficiency is
‘‘parexcellence.” Keep upthe
good work. May we have them in
our midst for years to come.
Two grateful patrons
Lloyd & Aimee Barth
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