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The Citizen, 1991-07-03, Page 4PAGE 4. THE CITIZEN, WEDNESDAY, JULY 3,1991. Opinion Call off the war The ongoing war between the business community and the NDP government in Ontario is getting to the point of farce. The two sides are so primed to fight each other after long years of rhetoric that sometimes they seem to be fencing as shadows. Conrad Black has led the battle, claiming he won't invest any of his millions in Ontario as long at the dreaded red horde is in power. They're ruining the economy, he said, and polls show that the constant criticism from business reported in the media has convinced many Ontario voters the NDP doesn't know how to run things. But last week the Conference Board of Canada praised the Ontario government’s deficit budget saying it prevented the province, and the country, from slipping into a deeper recession. The government didn't so much increase spending as simply refuse to cut spending on social programs at a time when the economy was hurting, the report said. Outraged business leaders condemned the report. If the Board had complained about the deficit, of course, the business leaders would have used the comments as authoritative proof the deficit was wrong. As it was, they saw the Conference Board as traitors. There can be no compromise: it's us or them! The NDP has brought some of this on themselves. It has been handy rhetoric for years to portray business as the source of all that is wrong with the country. Remember "corporate welfare bums"? In the jargon of the left, even the moderate left, there often didn’t seem to be any differentiation between greedy corporations run by modem-day Scrooges and honest business people trying to do the best they could for their shareholders, their employees and their communities. In office, the NDP has seemed bent on instituting its policies as quickly as possible before lobbies could taint its idealism with pragmatic arguments. Some of the proposed legislation was hopelessly naive. The bill that would have held directors of bankrupt companies personally responsible to severance pay for workers has, happily, been changed when somebody finally saw the light. Still businesspeople see the determination to increase the minimum wage at a lime when many business are just holding on, worry about pending environmental legislation, worry about things like extended pay equity, and wonder if anybody in the government knows what it's like to run a business where the open market controls your income and you can't simply pick money off a tree to pay for government- mandated additional costs. It's time for some realism on both sides. The rhetoric must stop. Now there was a Canadian Lost among the hoopla surrounding the release of the Spicer report, the stories of trouble in Yugoslavia and exploding volcanoes, was the recent death of a great Canadian. Senator David Croll was the kind of leader they just don't seem to be making anymore. He died in Ottawa last month, still working at age 91. He’d gone out to supper after a day at his office, but died at his hotel after returning home. Senator Croll, son of Russian immigrants, was first elected to office as mayor of Windsor in 1930. He quickly demonstrated his life­ long commitment to helping the disadvantaged. He arranged, in those Depression days, to forego paying interest on municipal bonds and used the funds to feed the hungry. He pul his own family on a welfare­ level lifestyle. In 1934 he was elected to the Ontario legislature and was minister of municipal affairs and public welfare until he quit in a dispute with Premier Mitch Hepburn who supported General Motors attempts to prevent a union from being formed at its Oshawa factory. He stayed in the legislature until 1944 but at the same time served as Mayor of Windsor from 1938 to 1941. But he also joined the army during the war, refusing to take a commission but enlisting as a private in 1939 (still he rose through the ranks to be a lieutenant-colonel by 1945). After the War he was elected to Parliament and stayed there until he was named to the Senate where he worked tirelessly for the poor. Through it all, he led by example, showing the way with selfless service. If we had more leaders like that today, maybe we wouldn't need a Spicer report Reaching for the sun The Short of It Life is learning to adapt • BY BONNIE GROPP This past week, Grade 8 students at our area schools, held their annu­ al graduation ceremonies. As you look at these hopeful, young faces, you can't help but wonder if they are prepared for the surprises and changes that are in store for them. Humans are adaptable. Though we may complain about the boul­ ders and stumps in our way, we forge ahead, accepting their pres­ ence and making our progress. Canadians, in particular, seem to be good at acquiescence- look at our government- and capable of adapt­ ing to extremes- look at our weath­ er. Actually, my entire weekend was one of extremes. It was a little like seeing the north and south poles without any stops in between. I spent my weekend getting to bed, much later than usual, and ris­ ing by six every morning. I took a planned trip one day and on Satur­ day, I spontaneously accepted tick­ ets to a Jays game, turning my back on housework and an afternoon in the kitchen. The truly unfortunate part of this trip is that, of course, it must take you into the bowels of Toronto, where construction, traffic and hordes of people towering above me made me yearn just a lit­ tle for my kitchen. My planned excursion Sunday was to Port Severn, where the pace is so slow and the atmosphere so restive I felt my body adjusting back to its normal Huron county mode. Flexibility and the ability to take life as it comes, is such an impor­ tant and unavoidable part of our lives that you could write a cliche- riddled book on the subject. Don't make waves, just go with the flow and roll with the punches. Take life one step at a time and always remember tomorrow's another day! Today's graduates have already experienced many new things, but this next step is one of the first real ones to becoming responsible adults. Secondary school begins the preparation for independence and maturity. Students are encouraged towards taking initiatives and learn­ ing to solve their problems them­ selves. For the Class of 91, while there is always someone there to guide you, you ujill be the one to make deci­ sions and choices and you will be the one responsible for your actions. Whether or not you pass or fail, win or lose, remember you hold the compass guiding the direc­ tion your life takes. Secondary school is an exciting time, meeting new friends and experiencing new situations. The first few days can be a little fright­ ening, but having climbed over this first little rock, you will quickly adapt and move ahead to conquer the next one. The future is yours, and having met a great number of you, I have tremendous belief in your abilities to make it work. I want this opportunity to wish you all the best during the next term of your scholastic years, and I'll miss seeing you when I drop in at the school to photograph the var­ ious happenings- though I'm sure that's one situation, many of you are glad to see changing. The Citizen P.O. Box 429, BLYTH, Ont. NOM 1H0 Phone 523-4792 I FAX 523-9140 L____________ P.O Box 152, BRUSSELS, Ont. NOG 1H0 Phone 887-9114 FAX 887-9021 The Citizen I* published weekly In Brussels, Ontario by North Huron Publishing Company Inc. Subscriptions are payable in advance at a rate of $20.50/year ($19.16 plus $1.34 G.S.T.) for local; $19.16 + $1.66 for each month after March 31/92 + G.S.T. for local letter carrier In Goderich, Hanover, Llstowel, etc. and out-of-area (40 miles from Brussels); $60.00/year for U.S.A, and Foreign. Advertising is accepted on the condition that in the event of a typographical error, only that portion of the advertisement will be credited. 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