HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Citizen, 1987-06-17, Page 5THE CITIZEN, WEDNESDAY, JUNE 17, 1987. PAGE 5.
The International Morris, Hullett twps. get
supplemental funding
Thoughts on reducing poverty
BY RAYMOND CANON
As an economist I have to admit
that one of the things that bothers
me the most is the apparent
inability ofthe western world to
reduce to any great degree the high
level of poverty that has been
afflicting us for the past decade.
The figures that I have at my
disposal show that no less than 30
million people are engaged in
looking for work; this figure has not
changedtoomuchfor, asfastas
one country manages to get the
unemployment level down to
something more manageable,
another one finds its percentage
starting to climb.
Canada is certainly no excep
tion. A year ago the rate of
unemployment in this country was
sitting at 9.6; this year, after 12
months of effort, it is stuck at
exactly the same figure. France,
Australia, Italy and Japan have
seen theirs go up since 1986 while
Sweden, Switzerland, Germany
and Belgium have all been running
hard, only to find that they, too, are
in the same place as last year.
It isfor this reason that I have
been studying with a great deal of
interest a report by an American I
sociologist to the effect that “the
requirements for getting out of
poverty... are so minimal that it
takes a mutually reinforcing clu
ster of behaviours’ ’ to remain poor.
He points out that an American’s
chances of staying poor are less
than one-half per cent if he or she
does the following things: (a)
completes high school (2) gets and
stays married (c) stays employed,
even if initially at the minimum
wage. Any American who fails
these three requirements has an
up-to-80 times greater chance of
staying for a long time below the
official poverty line and breeding
sad generations there.
This is a fascinating hypothesis
given that most governments in the
western world have apparently
come to the conclusion that the only
way to solve poverty is to throw
large sums of money at those who
are mired in poverty. I would hate
to think how many billion dollars of
financial aid have been allocated
by well-meaning finance ministers
who announce with each new plan
that so and so many jobs will be
created and that the rate of
unemployment will thus diminish
once and for all. By the time the
next budget rolls around, it is
Norman Hoover attends
class diamond jubilee
Norman Hoover, a well-known
resident of Brussels, retired far
mer, and former teacher, recently
had the privilege of attending the
Diamond Jubilee of his graduating
class, the Class of 1926-27 at
London Normal School.
More than 90 people were in
attendance at the class’s 60th
anniversary and banquet, many of
them members of the graduating
class of 267 men and women from
across the province. Several of Mr.
Hoover’s old classmates took part
in the program, while others
shared school-days memories with
those present.
A number of old friends and
fellow-graduates later signed Mr.
Hoover’ssouvenirprogram, in
cluding Stewart Beattie, who came
from near Londesboro and served
for several years as principal of
Wingham Public School; and
Leonard Boyce, who taught for
more than 40 years, and is now
retired in Goderich.
Mr. Hoover vividly remembers
the winter of 1934, when the
temperature dropped to as low as
48 degrees below zero for days at a
time. He says he never missed a
day at school because of the cold
spell, since the mail sleigh contin
ued to travel both ways, and says
that he and his students were “as
snug as a bug in a rug’’ in the old
school.
conveniently overlooked that the
hefty allocation of money has done
nothing at all except make people
more dependent than ever on
government handouts.
This is not to say that those below
the poverty level should get no
financial consideration at all or
even a minimal one. However, I
would hope that by now we would
have come to the conclusion that
money won ’ t solve all our problems
when it comes to dealing with
poverty.
One of the biggest jobs ahead of
us is the task of persuading fathers
everywhere to take the responsi
bility fortheir children. The church
of which I am a member has, as part
of its outreach program, the
support of a project in Jamaica
which tries to help the most
destitute of the people in the city of
Kingston, which happens to be the
capital. The theme that we hear
over and over again is the failure of
the fathers to take any responsibili
ty for their children; the latter are
left in the hands of the mother. As a
result Jamaica is fast becoming a
matriarcal society in the worst
economic sense of the world.
The project which I mentioned
has as one of its main goals the
education of some of these desti
tute children as well as develop job
skills. It may sound like very little
but it does contribute in its own way
to the three goals which I described
at the beginning of this article.
Any waron poverty in Canada
and throughout the industrialized
world is going to take a great deal of
money but we must be much more
selective in its spending than we .
have in the past. We must also ;
realize that our task will consist as
much in teaching attitudes as well
asskills. Itisnotby coincidence
that poverty in a family tends to be
handed down from generation to
generation; it is the attitudes of the
same families that do as much as
anything to ensure that poverty
becomes a way of life.
Supplemental funding worth
more than $100,000 has been
announced for Morris and Hullett
townships by Murray Elston,
M.P.P. for Huron-Bruce.
Under the announcement, Mor
ris township will receive an
additional $50,000 for its road
budget toward a grader project for
the township. Hullett township
receives an additional $51,000
toward a bridge rehabilitation
program.
“These funds represent a sig
nificant contribution to the trans
portation system of the town
ships,” Mr. Elston said. The
additional funding became avail
able after the provincial budget of
May 20 when the government
announced a new program to
improve and rehabilitate munici
pal road systems in the province.
Informative
advertising
helps lower
the price
of goods.
ATTENTION
FOR ONE WEEK ONLY!
JUNE 16 - JUNE 20
20-40
ALL SPRING & SUMMER
STOCK
• Mary Rose and Black Rose
Co-ordinates (One size fits all)
• Casual Summer Dresses to
Graduation Dresses
•Cotton Pants and Skirts
(Lots of colours)
• Denim - Jeans, Skirts, Shorts,
Jumpsuits (Stone and Acid Wash
plus Chambray)
•Blouses
•Slims - Casual & Dressy
•T-Shirts, Shorts and Short Sets
•Cotton Jumpsuits •PLUS A WIDE SELECTION
•Cotton Sweaters OF ACCESSORIES
WE’RE LOCATED:
220 JOSEPHINE STREET
WINGHAM 357-1051
STORE HOURS.
Closed Monda>vka
Tues, to Fri. 9 a.m. to 6 p.m
Sat. 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Closed Sunday
/
WE’VE GOT IT: UNUMTIED STYLE
Ten years ago, the class cele
brated the 50th anniversary of its
graduation, with 115 of its original
members present. Mr. Hoover was
also in attendance at that reunion.
Mr. HooverwasbornonLot9,
Concession 9 of Grey Township,
and taught for five years, from
1930-1935, at Anderson’s (later
called Barrie’s) School, on the third
Concession of Morris Twp. His
starting wage was $500 per year,
butroseto$600 per year in 1935
when he quit to go into farming.
During his years of teaching,
Mr. Hoover was able to drive back
and forth to school from his
parents’ farm each day, except in
the winter, when he boarded in
Brussels. On pleasant days, he
remembers, he was able to walk to
and from school, but when the
weather was bad, he got a ride on
the mail sleigh, which was driven
by Harvey Dennis of Brussels for
Earl Summers, who had the mail
contract for more than 40 years.
open
Canadian Com
C Represent
vlent and Di«rt<’rS
ThePresl ofthe persAsso.
congratul“te
pinner Of
Hence