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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Citizen, 1993-05-12, Page 4C itizen The North Huron P.O. Box 429, P.O. Box 152, BLYTH, Ont. BRUSSELS, Ont. NOM 1H0 NOG 1H0 Phone 523-4792 Phone 887-9114 FAX 523-9140 FAX 887-9021 The Citizen is 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; $31.03/year ($29.00 plus $2.03 G.S.T.) for local letter carrier In Goderich, Hanover, Ustowel, 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. Advertising Deadlines: Monday, 2 p.m. - Brussels; Monday, 4 p.m. - Blyth. We are not responsible for unsolicited newscrlpts or photographs. Contents of The Citizen are © Copywright. Publications Mail Registration No. 6968 Publisher, Keith Roulston Editor, Bonnie Gropp Sales Representatives, Jeannette McNeil and Julie Mitchell VERIFIED CIRCULATION PAID Serving Blyth, Brussels, Auburn, Belgrave, Ethel, L.ondesborough, Walton and the surrounding townships. Letters Blowin' in the wind Praise for Fest. THE EDITOR, Huron County's Planning Department staff deserves recognition for its work on recent tourism and thanks to the Blyth Festival's Tourism Development work, they got justly praised. Praise should also go to Reeve Dave Lee for persuading Huron County Council to renew its membership in SWOTA (South- western Ontario Travel Associa- tion) after a conspicuous absence. Bravo Dave! While we're on the subject of awards, Philippa Borgal of Goderich and Anne and James Roy of Clinton all deserve tourism development awards for beginning the fight, on behalf of the Blyth Festival, to get tourism recognized as a great economic development tool in Huron County. Their tireless work has helped to put Huron County on the map. Jane Gardner. THE EDITOR, No one likes to have to say "no", but this is what our governments must do. We have embarked on a program to cut the cost of government. It is not because we are opposed to government expenditure but because the cost is getting beyond the amount that the current revenues can sustain. Ontario is faced with a growing debt which has been driven by declining revenue. It threatens to undermine our long-term ability to provide important public services. The expenditure control program consists of reducing government operating spending, negotiating a social contract with the public sector and increasing government revenues. The first stage of the Expenditure Photo by Bonnie Gropp Control Plan was announced last week. Most attention in this county was focused on the reductions in the Ministry of Agriculture. They were a part of some $4 billion in cuts to spending which includes every Ministry. Everybody I talk to wants governments to reduce spending. The problem develops when choices must be made. The Liberal opposition has the luxury of opposing any cut which seems popular. The Liberal critic asked a question of the Minister of Agriculture regarding the closure of Centralia. The question was aired on a local radio station but not his responses. I wish to quote Elmer Buchanan's response from Hansard. Hon. Mr. Buchanan: "During the last administration, the Liberal administration, when revenues were increasing 10 per cent and 15 per cent per year, if the Liberal administration had put some money aside and left some money in the kitty, we could continue some of the programs that they valued so Continued on page 5 PAGE 4. THE CITIZEN, WEDNESDAY, MAY 12, 1993. ditorial Driving law none too soon? For at least 30 years teenagers approaching the age of 16 have been terrorized by older teens who have spread the rumour that laws were in the works that were going to be tougher to get a driver's licence. Now, apparently, it's more than a rumour. Last week the provincial government announced plans for new regulations that would allow graduated privileges to new drivers, helping them to gain experience before they get themselves into situations that can put them at danger. Drivers would, for instance, have to prove themselves before they could drive late at night, or fill the car with their friends. And sadly, just in case anyone wanted to argue such regulations weren't needed, this weekend brought a tragic illustration of what can happen when young people and cars get together. Even for our community, which has seen its share of horrible car crashes that have taken the lives of our younger generation, the scale of the accident in the Caledon Hills was truly shocking. Eight young men killed, four of them burned beyond recognition in the explosive crash. Two more are in hospital as a result of the head-on crash. Would the new law have made a difference? No one can know for sure. If you had asked the young drivers, however, they would no doubt have said they were good drivers. They might, in their youthful self- assurance, even have suggested they were better drivers than older people because they have better eyesight, better reflexes or some other physical attribute. What most young drivers don't have, however, is a healthy fear of what can happen when they are driving a car. Unfortunately, respect for the dangers of driving that powerful machine can only come from living through close calls along the way. Until you slip on an icy road, for instance, you don't realize how easily it can happen, how helpless you feel, or what you can do to get yourself out of the predicament. Until you've seen some driver fail to stop at a stop sign, or seen someone who turned without signalling (or didn't turn when they were signalling) you don't learn to mistrust the intentions of every driver you meet. Driving is the most dangerous activity most of us will ever undertake, yet it is so easy to take for granted that you will just always whiz along at 80 km per hour, always getting where you want to go, when you want to go. We can have two cars thundering towards each other at a combined speed of 160 km per hour, passing within inches of each other and yet we learn not to even worry about it. Young drivers, even under the new law, will still have to learn those lessons from experience. Hopefully, however, they will be driving under circumstances of reduced danger while they learn. If the new law will prevent a few crashes like that from this weekend, then we should have had it long ago.—KR Good change but is it too late? The Quebec government's decision to change its law prohibiting anything but French on store signs is a welcome move, one that has come several years too late. There are several ironies in the decision to change the law. Nationalists are upset with the proposed change, calling it a sell-out yet those in favour of separation from Canada can probably thank the ban on any language but French on store signs for whatever momentum the indepedentiste movement has. If the arbitrary law hadn't been brought in, for instance, the Meech Lake Accord might have had enough popular support in the rest of Canada to have kept politicians from killing it. As it was, Canadians of good will toward Quebec, who were willing to accept things like Bill 101 which made French the language of business in the province, saw this as a sign of intolerance in the province. Many Canadians who believed in bilingualism, suddenly felt that what they had thought Quebec wanted, wasn't what the province wanted at all. But when the Meech Lake Accord died, nationalists were able to neatly turn the situation into a rejection of Quebec, and fanned the flames of independence. The long months of wrangling leading up to the Charlottetown Accord left sensitive Quebecois feeling there was no way they could go on in their marriage to the rest of Canada. Even the defeat of that Accord by both Quebecois and the people of many other provinces, has left nationalism strong in the province. It's hard to imagine what might have happened if the sign law had never been passed, or if Premier Robert Bourassa hadn't overridden a Supreme Court decision that the law was unconstitutional. In the long history of the country this silly bill may play a huge part.—KR