HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Citizen, 1993-05-12, Page 5THE CITIZEN, WEDNESDAY, MAY 12, 1993. PAGE 5.
Arthur Black
People got
degrees
for this?
The hardest work I ever did, as I think I've
mentioned in this space before, was roofing.
Tar and gravel. Searing heat, noxious fumes,
endless wheelbarrows of crushed stone and
pre-dawn starting times to avoid the wrath of
the midday sun. Toughest job I ever had. So
I guess it follows that the toughest man I
ever met was a roofer.
His name was Leon, but everybody called
him Frenchie. He had eyeglasses held
together by friction tape and fingers that
looked like he could drive spikes with them.
The skin on his face was the colour of saddle
leather. He was tireless. The rest of us
constantly moaned about the heart. Not
Frenchie. He never took off his shirt (smart
roofers don't) — didn't even undo the top
button or roll up his sleeves. But he could
work from four in the morning 'til after the
sun went down without breaking into a
sweat. Then he'd go out and drink a case of
beer, play his harmonica into the wee hours
and do it all over again the next day.
I often think of Frenchie when I'm faced
with something I don't think I can handle —
Reality
comes to
New Zealand
One of the economic indicators that we
study with a considerable amount of interest
is that of business expectations. In short the
business sector is asked if they believe sales
prospects are better or worse than they were,
say, four months ago. Their answers are
considered to be something of a leading
indicator and, together with the other ones
that economists use, go to give us a fairly
good idea what is going to happen in the
near future.
I have looked at the latest ones; the picture
is revealing. If you take a look at the world
average, you find that Canada is one of the
most optimistic places to be these days as far
as the business sector is concerned. In fact
only we and the Americans, among the big
industrialized economies, are showing much
exuberance. In places like Spain, Switzer-
land, Belgium they are decidedly gloomy,
with the Germans, Dutch and French only
marginally happier. However, one of the
most cheerful places to be right now is New
Zealand and therein lies a tale.
The Canadian media have discovered New
Zealand lately; W5, the respected CTV
equivalent of the CBC's Fifth Estate,
recently dedicated a whole hour to that
island country with the rationale that what
had happened in New Zealand was bound to
happen in Canada and Canadians should get
a good luck at their future. What were they
talking about?
Debt, that's what! Over the years the New
Zealand government had been running up
budgetary deficits at a rapid rate. A great
deal of these deficits were being used in
non-productive ways in the form of
subsidies for all sorts of people. Since their
national health program was in the red, a
be it next week's column, an unfriendly dog
or a stretch of white water in my canoe.
Then I imagine what Frenchie would do.
How he'd take his index finger, poke his
eyeglasses a little more firmly onto the
bridge of his nose — and then just go ahead
and do it.
After which I give it my best shot.
I was thinking of Frenchie again the other
day when I was reading over the latest
selection of PhD dissertations.
You know about these things? Scholars
who want to be able to scribble a `p' and 'h'
and a 'd' after their name are required to
work up an exhaustive document that
explores some hitherto neglected knothole in
the groves of Academe. It's a chore that
customarily takes years to accomplish. Most
theses run to about 75,000 words —
somewhere between 250 and 300 pages.
That's s good sized novel ... but there's one
important difference between a novel and a
doctoral thesis.
People generally read novels. Nobody ever
voluntarily reads PhD theses.
Small wonder. Listen to some of the titles
turned in this year:
Elvis Presley: All Shook Up.
Communication Use in a Motorcycle
Gang.
And my personal favourite — one that
deserves a Guinness Book of Records listing
just for its title: 1 Am You, You Are Me: A
great deal of money was channelled into this
and other social welfare benefits. Sheep
farming was, and still is, big in the country;
for this reason farmers came in for their
share of public money to protect them
against the evils of foreign competition.
When the money to pay for the deficit could
no longer be raised by selling bonds to New
Zealanders, the government hit the foreign
bond market. This meant that more and more
of the interest on these bonds left the country
seldom if ever to return and any surplus on
the balance of trade was not enough to pay
for this.
If you think that all this sounds familiar to
the situation Canada is in, you are totally
right. The interesting part comes when we
have a look at what the New Zealanders had
to do in order to get their country back into
good financial shape. The farmers, which
had been one of the chief beneficiaries of
government subsidies, found that in a period
of only a few months, they saw these
subsidies wither away. Not only that but
they were dealt another blow that was not of
domestic origin. The European Common
Market, originally one of their greatest
buyers of lamb, instituted reform which saw
this lamb market virtually disappear. From
an industry that provided fully two-thirds of
all the country's exports, and which enjoyed
unrivaled prosperity, it went to an industry
with the lowest, by far, of any farm subsidy
program in the world. It is now at four per
cent of total income; compare this with 45
per cent in Canada, 66 per cent in Japan, 77
per cent in Norway and even 15 per cent in
nearby Australia.
The results were dramatic. Land prices
dropped by one-half, net income fell even
more, but now it seems that the corner may
have been turned. Both land values and farm
income are once again on the way up and
there are actually more farmers now than
there were before the reforms started.
However, farmers are not the only ones to
suffer. Virtually every segment of the
economy has had to share in the pain. There
Philosophical Explanation of the Possibility
That We Are the Same Person.
We never talked much about dissertation
topics on our lunch breaks, Frenchie and I,
but I can imagine what he'd say if I'd
brought up the subject.
Frenchie would say "What da 'ell good are
dey?"
He'd have a point.
Here are some dissertation topics that
earned their authors PhDs over the past few
years. I've also included the profound
conclusions reached in each case.
The Enthusiasm of Aerobic Dance
Instructors As A Factor In Student Re-
enrollment. (Finding: Class scheduling and
location are more important.)
Sociable Speech in The American Slumber
Party. (Conclusion: Girls at slumber parties
tell ghost stories and use 'ritual insult' as a
form of humour, saying things like, 'You
remind me of a dog's rear.')
The Characteristics of Rock Climbers.
(Finding: Expertise in rock climbing is
significantly related to frequency of practice
and years of experience. Finding Number
Two: Inexperienced climbers prefer easier
ascents, while expert climbers favour more
difficult ones.)
People got degrees for this?
Trees died for this??
Sure glad I don't have to explain it to
Frenchie.
are now user fees for some medical services
while others of these services have been
allocated to more private sector. Train
service was cut (well, at least we know what
that feels like), a number of public sector
companies, including the national airline,
were sold totally or in part. It goes without
saying that the currency went through a
period of devaluation with all that this brings
in the form of higher prices for everything
imported.
This makes the optimism of the business
sector look rather unwarranted but it should
be said that this is no flash in the pan. My
figures show me that this has been the norm
for over a year. It exceeds that of both
Canada and the United States by a
comfortable margin and, although I have to
point out that there is a goodly amount of
domestic criticism of what has taken place, it
is hard to think of any country that would
go through what New Zealand has done
without the traditional wailing and gnashing
of teeth.
Is there a lesson in all this for Canada? I
would hope so!
Letter to
the editor
Continued from page 4
much. If our growth in revenues was the
same as it was in the 1980s, we wouldn't be
experiencing the kinds of closures we've had
to take."
"These are very tough decisions. At least
we had the guts to make those decisions and
we're going to stand by those decisions.
There will be no reversal in the closure of
the colleges that we've announced. There
will be no backtracking on that."
Alfred, Ridgetown and Kemptville
Colleges and the University of Guelph all
offer diploma programs in agriculture
similar to those offered at Centralia.
Arrangements will be made to offer
extension courses by other means.
Paul Klopp, MPP Huron.
The
Short
of it
By Bonnie Gropp
Huron has it all
and then some!
There is a tendency to think that bigger is
obviously better, that the more powerful rule
the world and the small can't hope to
compete.
T'ain't so!
The beautiful weather this past weekend
prompted me to come out of my typical
Sunday seclusion and suggest to my family
that we visit my parents at their trailer. As
we were driving, I happened to notice a
hawk soaring across the blue in front of us.
What struck me as unusual was the small
bird flying above it.
While watching what I saw as a reverse
scenario, the little bird further surprised me.
Like a runner on the last lap, it picked up
speed, then in a swooping dive aggressively
jabbed the hawk causing it to drop sharply
downward.
It was a fascinating picture and I found
myself contemplating what caused the
attack, the most likely situation being that
the hawk had attempted a raid on the little
one's nest. Whatever the story though, it was
obvious that the size of the predator did not
scare its intended victim, but rather incited it
to fight back.
I use this analogy to show a spirit I see
awakening in Huron. For some time now
small communities have felt as if they are
getting the short end of the stick, but rather
than give in, they continue to dig in for
survival, tenaciously looking for ways to
keep from being pulled out by the stronger.
Possibly the most recent example, is an
ambitious strategy to attract tourism to
Huron, pulled together by the North Huron
Planning Department. I commend them for a
foresight many of us never really thought
about. With the wonders of this county stuck
right under our noses, we often took them
for granted, presuming mistakenly that for
holiday enjoyment or unique experiences we
had to travel great distances.
Huron after all is an agricultural county.
We don't have Wonderland or SkyDome.
There are no major hotel chains, no
mammoth malls, no Phantom, no Sha-
kespeare. How could we possibly look at
these things and believe anyone would come
to this quaint, rural setting to find
entertainment?
The answer is in the question. Huron is
special, a wonderful combination of what's
good about cities and what's better about the
country. I know, I get a first hand look every
year. The Citizen is presently working on its
annual visitor's guide to Huron "Stops Along
the Way". As I travel throughout the county
to discover the many hidden treasures out
there, the variety never ceases to amaze me.
There are places to enliven or numb the grey
cells. You can enjoy an evening of fine
dining, then take off your shoes and walk
barefoot in the sand. You can visit the
museum then visit a zoo. You can sleep
under the stars or feel at home in a first rate
Bed and Breakfast establishment. Unique
stores offer plenty of shopping opportunities
during the day, while there is a good deal of
nightlife if you still have the energy.
In fact, there is no excuse for having
nothing to do, unless that's what you're
looking for. Linking all the activities is the
network of roads which travesl through the
county's agricultural heartland. A stop along
the river or in parklands and the tranquil
countryside will cloak you in solitude, out of
sight from the noise and confusion.
When it comes to attracting tourists there
is no reason for Huron to back down from
the urban attack. We have it all and then
some.
Like the little bird we should find our
hidden strengths and take control. By
promoting tourism, we have done that.
nternational Scene
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