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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Citizen, 1989-01-25, Page 4PAGE 4. THE CITIZEN, WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 25, 1989. Editorials Stop waste early In this day when the federal government tries to pass its problems along to the provincial government and the provincial government seeks to turn over tough decisions like Sunday shopping to the municipalities, there’s one gigantic headache the senior govern­ ments don’t have to deal with because they’ve already passed the buck: garbage. Municipalities across the province from Toronto to Huron County are facing a crisis as the mountain of garbage climbs toward the sky. How to get rid of the garbage is complicated for the municipalities by ever-tightening provincial regulations on setting up landfill sites. The provincial regulations are proper because people have the right to know the garbage is not polluting groundwater. But the province could be helping the municipalities fight this battle in a much stronger way. The solution isn’t to find more holes to bury garbage in: it’s to reduce the amount of garbage that must be buried. Only the senior governments canputtheb rakes on the madness of modern packaging that sees more package than product in the weekly shopping cart. Use of styrofoam for nearly everything from coffee cups to meat trays; unnecessary use of plastics; and extravagant cardboard boxes all must be done away with. Deposits must not only be put on pop and beer bottles but on every kind of beverage container from plastic bottles, to cans, to wine and whiskey bottles. Actions in this area can make a bigger dent in the garbage pile than anything municipalities can do, yet the province shows no signs of wanting to pick up the hot potato. Citizens and municipal politicans must keep the heat on until there is action. In the meantime each person can help change the situation by refusing to buy products that use wasteful packaging. Then, if the government fails to get the message the manufacturers won’t. Ignorance dangerous There is at times a kind of reverse snobbery in many Huron county people that tends to regard anything said by an “expert’ ’ as suspect. Thus it is that many farmers think all the warnings of the dangers of farm pesticides are the hysterical rantings of environmental wierdos. The difficulty is that if you can’t see it, some people can’t accept the danger. If you see someone keel over dead from a farm chemical, then the message will get through but the accumulated effect of long exposure or the pollution of ground water supplies by improper cleaning of sprayers isn’t something so easily seen. Thankfully some farmers are getting greater respect for the tremendous power of the chemical tools they use through a series of pesticide safety courses being held across the province. The word is out: if you want to continue to be able to use pesticides on your farm you’re either going to have to attend one of these courses or hire a custom spray operation. The knowledge that this regulation is just around the corner has driven thousands of farmers, some no doubt reluctantly, to the day-long courses. There for the first time many of them encounter the facts about just how dangerous the chemicals they use are but how they can reduce the risk to themselves, their families and the environment, by proper care of the chemicals. The $20 fee for the course may be the best money a farmer ever investeo if it saves his health or that of a member of the family. Killing competition Good old free enterprise has seen a revival of popularity with politicians in the 1980’s with the sell off of crown corporations, deregulation and the Free Trade Agreement big business campaigned hard for. Last week, day after day, we saw the other side of free enterprise as big companies got even bigger. Canada had three major breweries. With the sale of Carling O’Keefe to Molson’s we now have two. The prediction is jobs lost. Canada had three major airlines but with the sale of Wardair toCanadian Airlines International, we now have only two. The prediction is for lost jobs and higher air fares. Canada had only a handful of petroleum companies selling gasoline to consumers but last week after Imperial Oil bought out Texaco Canada, we have one less. The prediction is high gasoline prices and lost jobs. The thing that makes free enterprise better than government operated businesses is competition. But if companies are allowed to get bigger and bigger until competition is non-existent, is private enterprise any more desirable than government ownership? South of the border in the bastion of free enterprise, deals like those of last week wouldn’t be allowed to take place. The Americans know the importance of competition and fight against concentration of ownership. If we want to make free enterprise work here we must also bring in competition legislation that will ensure competition to keep our businesses on their toes. Patriarch Letter from the editor Decisions, decisions! BY KEITH ROULSTON Being a reporter, even on a small town newspaper, is to be constantly in the middle, called on to make instant decisions that might benefit from the wisdom of Solomon and all the time knowing that there are thousands of readers out there who are apt to think you made the wrong decision on any given call. Reporters and editors are left open for complaints of having covered those things they ought not to have covered and not covered those things which they ought to have covered. There is a decision before the reporter even gets out the door as to whether or not an event is newsworthy and even if it is, is there something else that’s more newsworthy at the same time that the reporter should be cover­ ing. It’s very difficult to explain to someone totally dedicated to some cause or group or business, that while his activity is interesting to him, it isn’t of overwhelming interest to the 5,000 - 6,000 readers of this paper. Then there is the decision mak­ ing when you get to the event. If a reporter is sitting through a two, three or even five hour meeting, it is impossible to report everything that is said. It then becomes the instant decision of the reporter to write down what may be important and what may not. That is certain to be a controversial decision because again what one person thinks is very important, another may not. This is particularly true when there is a heated debate at a meeting. The job gets its hardest when you know there is an undercurrent going on at a meeting but it never comes out in the open. People may \be referring to past conversations that are only known to the two parties involved. They may be replaying old personal disputes in which case the words they say carry more meaning that you can possi­ bly convey by quoting their conver- Continued on page 20 The Citizen P.O. Box 429, BLYTH, Ont N0M 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 OO/yr ($38 00 Foreign) Advertising isacceptedon 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 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