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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Citizen, 1989-04-19, Page 4PAGE 4. THE CITIZEN, WEDNESDAY, APRIL 19, 1989. Opinion The high cost of poor planning The importance ot having proper development policies in place is being demonstrated at Blyth village council these days. Councillors are now trying to come to terms with an ad hoc development policy that sees councillors having to make decisions on individual properties as to whether services should be extended. They are, as Rusty Russell, the lawyer specializing in development law told the recent meeting of the Huron County Municipal officers “re inventing the wheel’’every time they are faced with a new development proposal for a single lot. Mr. Russell, and Bruce Potter of B. M. Ross and Associates, the consulting engineers for Blyth and other local municipalities tried to impress on councillors that it isn’t fair if such developers of new properties needing sewers get such a good deal that the taxpayers who helped pay for all the existing sewers, waterlines and streets, help pay the cost of the extension as well. But there was a more immediate cost to the taxpayers that neither of the two experts saw. Take Monday’s special meeting of Blyth council called to get some answers to the development dilemma as an example. As a special meeting it meant that the reeve, four councillors and the clerk-treasurer each received committee pay of $45. On top of that the Public Utilities Commission chairman was present as was the building inspector and the village’s consulting engineer. It wouldn’t exaggerate much to say the meeting probably cost the Blyth taxpayers at least $500. The councillors are right tosit down and thrash this issue out properly and if they can set a firm policy that will apply to all requests for extension of services in the future, the money will be well spent. Continuing on an ad hoc, lot-by-lot decision making basis is just too expensive to the local taxpayer. Having it both ways It’s no wonder there are so many lawyers in politics: the skills they practice daily come in so handy. Lawyers can argue either side of a situation with equal sincerity. A lawyer can act for the defence on this case and turn around and act for the crown on the next and seem totally committed. It takes thatkind of skill to talk about sacred trusts one minute then take out the hatchet to some favoured program the next. Businessmen must also be good at that kind of skill. The businessmen in politics are able to give straight-faced support to beliefs held dear by the public like the need for social safety nets or the need to protect the environment, then do everything they can to make sure their government works in the opposite direction. The recent cuts in Unemployment Insurance are another example of how it works. The Mulroney government can talk at one time about protecting social programs, even under the pressure of the Free Trade Agreement, then start weakening that program at the first opportunity in the guise of fiscal responsibility. It can also throw in a dash of the currentbuzz-word, retraining, saying the UI funds will be better used to retrain the unemployed. There is no doubt there are people who abuse the UI system. The government itself does making it do things it was never meant to do. The UI program was meant to protect people out of work, not to prop up the economies of Atlantic communities or, for that matter, assist mothers (and now fathers too) when they take time off to have babies. Or for that matter it wasn’t meant to fund retraining. But if businessmen were honest they’d admit that unemployment is not wholey undesired for business and poorer unemployment insurance payments are a help too. If, for instance, all the unemployed people in Newfoundland decided to move to where there are permanent jobs, who would run the fish plants and the fishing fleets. If there were no unemployment in Ontario in winter, who would work on the seasonable jobs like construction in the summer. Unemployment insura nee is as much a benefit to the season employer as it is to the employee. It keeps a laid off worker available until he is needed again. Yet most businessmen see it only as an unnecessary expense that keep workers from taking any job that comes along. The trick for business is to find the magic point that keeps workers available for when they are needed without paying them so much UI that they won’t be in a hurry to get back to work. Spring scenes K A'"r1vi 1 1KB • T I / ■ 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 Filibustering So­ ciety. MONDAY: Julia Flint said this morning that she was glad she wasn’t on that bus that got high­ jacked to Ottawa. Yeh, said Tim O’Grady, can you imagine being highjacked to Ottawa of all places? Billie Bean suggested the high­ jacker might make a good politi­ cian. “After all, in Ottawa they’re used to putting a gun to our heads quite often.” TUESDAY: Hank Stokes said that sinking of a Russian sub has him doing some second thoughts about the wisdom of Canada spending billions on new nuclear subs. Just imagine how bad it would be if you hadn’t even got the billion dollar sub paid off yet and it sank. That would be really throwing money down the drain. WEDNESDAY: Billie said he thinks he’ll start up a school after the recommendation of that inquiry into racism in police forces, to teach the course in how not to be racist. “Anytime the government gets involved in something like this there’s got to be good money for somebody and it might as well be me.” Ward Black wondered how you teach people not to be racist, show them pictures of people of other races and give them an electric shock every time they tell a joke about Pakistanis? “Isn't it sad,” Julia said, “that you have to teach people how to get along but they can learn how to hate and fight all by themselves.” THURSDAY: Julia was talking about the scandal over in Japan right now where a lot of the top cabinet ministers have been gett­ ing millions in donations from a big corporation. “Leave it to the Japanese,” Hank was saying. “They’re always the first for everything. Now they’re into privatization of politi­ cians. Imagine we could sell off the communications minister to Bell Canada for a million or so and have them pick up his salary as well and turn a tidy profit. Then we could sell off the minister of transport to Pacific Western and the minister of defence to Boeing, and ...” While he was catching his breath Tim slipped in his two bits. “With the policies they’ve been bringing in lately, I thought we’d already sold off the politicians to big business.” FRIDAY: Ward was chuckling over a story in the paper that a company that lost the franchise to operate the pubs at Ontario Place is screaming that politics is involved in the decision. “Maybe they made the mistake of serving only Labatt’s Blue,” he said. 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 QO/'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, 2 p.m - Brussels; Monday, 4 p m - Blyth We are not responsible for unsolicited newscriptsor photographs Contentsof The Citizen are © Copyright Serving Brussels, Blyth, Auburn, Belgrave, Ethel, Londesborough, Walton and surrounding townships. Editor & Publisher, Keith Roulston Production Manager, Jill Roulston Advertising Manager, Dave Williams Second Class Mail Registration No. 6968