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Village Squire, 1975-03, Page 6He says that he's in a different problem since there is no one at his home during the daytime with his children away at school and his wife working because she doesn't like staying home by herself all day long. If these men were suddenly to be part of a new provincial government, what would they personally like to change? Mr. Gaunt feels one of the major problems is the attitude of the public service. He hastens to add that there are a good many dedicated public servants, but the image is soiled by a few people in key positions whose attitude is not what it should be. He says he can understand how bureaucrats can be hardened by their jobs when they're dealing with problems all the time but he still thinks there needs to be changes. He can't understand how when a customer sends a letter. to O.H.I.P. the letter can be lost or never answered not once in a while, but often. Mr. Edighoffer says his first priority would be the further reorganization of the government, cutting down the number of ministries and cutting down the number of boards and commissions. The government, he says, is spreading out too far and therefore there is a tendancy to create too many jobs and responsibilities. The Ontario Ministry of Housing and the Ontario Housing Corpora- tion could be amalgamated, he says. Mr. Gaunt claims that many of the programs could be streamlined to cut the red tape. Mr. Riddell says that putting the decision making back in the hands of local government will help cut the bureaucracy. He suggests that assessment should be returned to the local municipality (all three admit the regional assessment offices have been magnificent failures.) So many decisions now have to be approved by the government offices in Toronto that it means a good deal of staff has to be hired in Toronto and in the meantime it can take six months before approval can be given. He cites senior citizen housing where the project can get started but it may be a year or two before the first sod is turned. The further you remove these things from the local level, Mr. Gaunt says, the more complicated, bureaucratic and difficult to administer they become. The government's last reorganization, he says, was based on the idea that government was a business. But government isn't a business, he says. Government is dealing with people. The emphasis has to be on service to people. It's primary function is the everyday dealing with people and how to provide services and how to meet their needy and how to do it effectively. The civil service, whether we like it or not, Mr. Gaunt says, is tied to the governing party and the longer the government stays in power, the closer the ties become. Realistically, what could a new government change? Could it abolish the present regional government system, for instance? "I don't think a new government can throw it out with the stroke of a pen," Mr. Gaunt says. "As far as we're concerned we wouldn't make any changes unless the changes have been recommended by the people involved. think they've got to say 'Look this isn't working. We want something different. This S ave on H ome furnishings On the Square Personalized decorating service ilarkttuur's Nuruiturr 34 West St., Goderich 4, VILLAGE SQUIRE/MARCH 1975 is what we want and we'd like you to do it.' At that point the new government has an obligation to act. "If they say on the other hand: 'Look this system isn't working too bad, if you make a few minor changes here and there I think we can make this thing work.' At that point I think the government provincially has an obligation to say okay, if you think it will work in your area that's fine. "The key in our emphasis is that this has to come from the local level; from the bottom up not the top down." What his party would do, Mr. Riddell adds is to deconditionalize the grant structure which now penalizes areas that don't go into regional government schemes. "The govern- ment says it is no longer imposing regional government but with the grant structure the way it is the regional governments are defipitely being favoured and a lot of the ones that haven't regionalized are sitting back and saying well look we're missing out on of these grants maybe we'd better be taking a look at regional government. So in effect, they're still imposing regional government." Mr. Edighoffer says that if any group that has regional government and wants to study its regional government to re-evaluate it this study would be done by local people, not as in the case of the Metropolitan Toronto area, by a one-man, government -appointed commis- sion from outside the area (John Robarts in the Toronto case.) What about the concern over the county school board system which many local residents see as a failure after 6 years of operation? Mr. Riddell has seen the system G©o 4vsJd'(3,>0os3g43o SEW UP SAVINGS Crimplene, Trevira, Double - Knits, Seersuckers, Plain and Printed Polyester Crepe, Cottons, Broadcloth and denims -We handle only first quality materials. - JUST ARRIVED Complete Line of Sewing Accessories Larone's Main Street, Seaforth WHERE SHOPPING IS A PLEASURE 0