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The Citizen, 1989-11-22, Page 4PAGE 4. THE CITIZEN, WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 22, 1989. Who would have guessed Are people getting interested in the environment? Even here in Huron County? Well, who would have expected, even a few short months ago, a meeting on the environment that drew more than 100 people like the one in Lucknow last week. Especially a meeting sponsored by the Huron County New Democratic Party? There were some very un-NDP people in the audience last Wednesday night to hear Professor Bill Andrews, the environmenta­ list and part-time resident of the Belgrave area. Even the meeting’s organizers were a little shocked to see the range and number of people present. Ironically, while recycling and other environmentally concerned projects have been promoted elsewhere as a kind of grass-roots, guerilla movement trying to force governments into action, locally it has been government that has led. Local municipalities, concerned over the impending problems of filling up landfills, have been the first off the mark in designing recycling projects (the slowest being Blyth and Hullett which have the landfill site with the longest life expectancy in Huron County). There was no pressure from the people to make these changes. Yet recycling has also been a huge success thanks to its acceptance by the public. In Brussels, for instance, nearly a ton of garbage a week that would have once gone into the landfill site is now being recycled. And the more people recycle, the more they realize how much waste we have created in our modem world. And once they have become worried about the volume of waste and how to reduce it, they then turn to other things harmful to the environment as well. We have a long way to go before we rescue ourselves from the mess we ’ ve made of our world with polluted air and water, with an economy that is built on planned obsolescence and waste but the signs are there that a revolution could be brewing and meetings like the one Wednesday night are proof that a growing number of people are concerned. It will take this kind of power though to convince the leaders of government and business that they must change the way they’re doing things. In the end, it will be the ordinary people who will make the difference. As small as we may feel, as helpless as the individual may seem to make changes, ordinary people can make a difference even against big government and big business. It can be the lesson we learn from the Communist countries of Eastern Europe where people power finally won out against all odds. The tax people gladly pay It is Michael Wilson’s dream: instead of people complaining about a new tax as they are with the Goods and Service Tax, they line up gladly for a chance to pay money to the government. Mr. Wilson hasn’t learned a lesson from the provincial government, however, he still calls his tax a tax, not a lottery. The Ontario provincial government has gone to the lottery well three more times in recent weeks, introducing the lotteries Encore, Winter Surprise and Celebration 90 after earlier introducing Pick-3. The province now operates 10 different lotteries to get people to pay more money into government-supported projects, twice as many lotteries as when the Liberals came to power in 1985. This from a party that once decried the proliferation of lotteries under the Progressive Conservative. For the government, it’s an apparently painless way to tax. You don’t get delegations from the Chamber of Commerce talking about how taxes are bankrupting the country. You don’t get angry letters from constituents. The people who really get hurt by the taxes are the people who most enjoy getting hurt. Statistics show the people who spent the most on lotteries are the people who have the least to spend. Government lottery commercials play on the dream that the world can be better by talking about all the good things you could have if you won the lottery. The American Dream was that if you worked hard you could be rich. The Canadian Dream seems to be that if you buy enough lottery tickets you could be rich. In the meantime, how many dollars have the dreamers spent? How many single-income dollars have been plunked down at the lottery counter in the hope of something better? How many people on welfare, hopeful to get out of the economic crunch have made things worse for themselves by spending on lotteries? How many people have spent money they didn’t have? Our government has always made a lot of money off the weaknesses of the population through so-called “sin” taxes on alcohol or tobacco but at least government didn’t say “go out and drink more and smoke more so we can get more taxes”. A few bucks spent now and then on a lottery ticket can be a harmless diversion but gambling can also become an addiction. It seems our provincial government is already addicted. BLYTH, Ont. NOM 1H0 Phone 523-4792 BRUSSELS, Ont. NOG 1H0 Phone 887-9114 A gathering Mabel’s Grill There are people who Ivill 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 says the funny thing about the Sunday shopping argument is that none of the people who are in favour of Sunday shopping are the people who might end up working Sundays because of it. Running her own store, she says, the idea of people expecting her to be open another day of the week isn’t funny. Ward Black said he figures maybe Sunday should be the only days stores are open. “Then things would be in the right proportion,” he said, “you’d work six days a week to find enough money to spend on your groceries on Sun­ day.” TUESDAY: Ward was saying town council was discussing one of those resolutions from other towns argu­ ing against the French language being used in Ontario. “Maybe our government’s got it all wrong,” Ward said. “Maybe instead of trying to make it easier for French and English Canadians to live together we should be building a wall along the Ottawa river to keep them apart. Then, like the Ger­ mans, sometime in the future the wall could be broken down and the people on the two sides would be happy to see each other instead of griping all the time like they do now.” WEDNESDAY: Tim O’Grady was talking about the headline in the paper where Mikhail Gorbachev was warning the West to keep its hands off Eastern Europe. “Look,” Tim said, “we’ve got enough troubles of our own without taking on that mess over there.” Yes, said Hank Stokes, by the time Michael Wilson gets his new Continued on page 5 The Citizen is published weekly in Brussels, Ontario by North Huron Publishing Company Inc. Subscriptions are payable in advance at a rate of $19 OO/yr. ($40.00 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 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, Dave Williams Production Manager, Jill Roulston Second Class Mail Registration No. 6968