The Citizen, 1993-09-15, Page 5International Scene
THE CITIZEN, WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 15, 1993. PAGE 5.
A fella can learn
a lot by
just watching
To quote the eminently quotable Yogi
Berra ... a fella can learn a lot by just
watching. I was doing some watching up in
Muskoka recently. Ontario cottage country,
that is — all wooded hills and jewel-like lakes
and chuckling rivers ... Actually I wasn't
watching, I was doing a speech at one of the
swanky new hotel complexes that opened up
there not long ago. Last Saturday morning I
had a few hours to myself, so I wandered
around, checking out the place.
That's when I saw the sign. "COMING
SOON" it read, "A BRAND NEW INDOOR
RUNNING TRACK!"
Indoor running track?
Here I was in some of the most beautiful
country that Canada has to offer, several
hundred thousand acres of unfenced,
unpolluted real estate with clean air,
panoramic vistas and uncrowded roads
where a galoot could jog himself to death if
he cared to ...
And they were advertising an indoor
running track?
Why?
Setting the
record straight
I recently got into a bit of an argument
through the "Letters to the Editor" page of
the North Huron Citizen with Paul Klopp
who represents the Huron riding in the NDP
government at Queen's Park. While I admire
the zeal with which Mr. Klopp goes about
explaining the government's point of view to
his constituents, I took exception to some
remarks he made recently as to the role of
international bankers in financial matters of
the Ontario government. I thought he was
rather confused about the whole thing, and I
still do, but I am wondering if what he is
saying is being put out by the current
government as a way of absolving
themselves of some of the blame for the
current fiscal problems which they are
having. Whatever the reason, I think the
record has to be set straight.
Mr. Klopp started out by saying "when the
government's costs outstrip its income, then
the costs of borrowing go up and in some
serious cases international bankers make the
decisions for you. When this happens these
decisions benefit them, not the people. The
first thing that the international bankers hit is
health care, then education and any service
which helps people.
When I challenged this statement he
replied he "thought" this had happened in
New Zealand and in countries in Africa and
South America. He went on to state that "the
International Monetary Fund and the World
Bank establish conditions which the
government must meet and the country must
follow the demands or not receive loans."
He concluded by saying that "when both
governments and the private sector increase
their demands for money the cost of
I brooded about it over a beer with a pal of
mine in the pub later that night. "It's not too
complicated, ya dummy" she said. "An
indoor running track is whatcha use on those
days when its too rainy or too cold or too
snowy to run outside."
I don't buy it.
Rain and snow and cold are just nature's
way of telling you to pull the covers over
year head and forget about exercise until the
weather clears — if not longer.
Besides, the Indoor Running Track makes
a perverse kind of sense if you view it in the
context of other bizarre exercise options of
late.
How about treadmills? You know — where
you put on your shorts and your nine-way
self-inflating running shoes and a head band
... and then you step on to a rubber roller
and pass a sweaty half-hour pretending that
you're actually loping through the
countryside?
Or what about exercise bikes? Is it not
somewhat insane that fitness fanatics use
these gizmos to cycle like dervishes in
basements and rec rooms and exercise clubs
— when they could just as easily jump on a
real two-wheeler and cycle around the
block?
What is it about ersatz exercise anyway?
Eaton's and Simpson's and the Bay advertise
rowing machines — diabolical contraptions
consisting of pulleys and clamps and levers
that you can strap yourself into and pretend
you're rowing a boat.
borrowing goes up. In the 1970s we saw that
this led to high interest rates which resulted
in higher costs to governments."
Since Mr. Klopp represents the Ontario
government, I presume he is speaking on
behalf of this government. In case any
readers are confused by all these statements,
let's get the facts straight.
Since the Ontario government cannot print
money, when it runs a deficit it has to go on
the money market to sell its bonds to finance
this debt. Given the size of government
borrowing in Canada, some of this debt must
be financed by selling our bonds in other
countries' financial markets. For the record
the Ontario government has had to rely
heavily on this external means of financing.
As long as the province has a good track
record, it will get a high rating but, if it gets
in over its head in borrowing, the rating is
downgraded and a slightly higher rate of
interest is charged.
Frankly I was puzzled at the beginning as
to where these foreign bankers came from
but, according to Mr. Klopp, they belong to
the International Monetary Fund and the
World Bank. I can, therefore, give him a
little peace of mind by assuring him that the
IMF gets into the picture only when the
federal government of a country starts
running into balance of payment difficulties.
They have nothing at all to do with regional
governments (i.e. Ontario).
As for the World Bank, I am still puzzled
how that got into the discussion. Their main
job is to provide low cost loans to Third
World nations of which Canada most
assuredly is not one. For this reason
discussing the deficit financing of a province
does not involve the IMF nor the World
Bank. Mr. Klopp cannot, therefore, expect to
see one of their "international bankers"
camped on his doorstep.
If our Ontario treasurer goes off to borrow
Why not just go down to the boathouse,
lay down your five buck deposit and take out
a for-real dory? It'll be a lot more fun than
trying to row across your living room floor.
Or how about the ultimate in whacky
workouts — The Stairmaster? For several
hundred dollars you can risk a hernia
levering a machine into your home that
recreates the act of ... climbing stairs.
Do you have any idea how easy it is to
climb stairs ... for free? Hotels have
staircases. So do malls and condos and
office buildings and hospitals. Hell, most
houses have stairs — who needs to buy a
stair-climbing machine?
Actually, folks may already be figuring
this out. There's a brand-new exercise mecca
down in Los Angeles. It's called the Fourth
Street Steps. It's a 189-step staircase that
leads from the beach to the rim of the Santa
Monica canyon and it's where all the hippest
of the hip LA fitness buffs line up to strut
their stuff. One trip up and down the stairs is
equal to running up and down the stairwell
of a 10-storey building. Nowadays, the
Fourth Street Steps are awash with spandex-
clad, Evian water-bearing fitness freaks
lumbering up and down and down and up
the stairs smiling conspiratorially at one
another.
Exercise. I stole my personal philosophy
from a chap by the name of Chauncey
Depew. Old Chauncey said "I get my
exercise acting as a pallbearer to my friends
who exercise."
A
money in Europe or the United States, he
will pay the prevailing rate there, a rate that
has nothing to do with the supply and
demand of money in Canada. Rates are
about four per cent higher in Germany than
in Canada; in the U.S. they are slightly
lower. In Switzerland they are about half
way between the German and the Canadian
rates while in Great Britain they are slightly
higher than here. Sometimes the rate of
interest is based on what is called LIBOR or
London Inter-Bank Borrowing Rate.
In arguing about the cost of borrowing in
the 1980s, Mr. Klopp has totally overlooked
the fact that the rates are heavily influenced
by the Bank of Canada's bank rate. Mr.
Crow, the Bank's governor, has been busy
using this rate either to fight inflation or to
defend the exchange rate of the Canadian
dollar. Older readers can recall the high
interest rates of the early 1980s. This was the
result of the Bank's determination to fight
inflation and not simply the result of
increased demand for money. If this were
the case, the current demand for money by
the provinces, especially Ontario, added to
the federal requirements would have driven
the interest rates almost out of sight. Instead
they are now extremely low compared to any
time during the 1980s. Thank the Bank of
Canada for that!
All this talk about the influence of
international bankers on such things as
health care, education and the like is to my
mind spurious. The day-to-day business of
running a government's finances in any field
is left up to the cabinet. It is to the
government's credit, of which Mr. Klopp is a
member, that it has realized the danger of
running up such a large debt in order to
stimulate the economy and is prepared to do
something about it.
I am supportive of such efforts, but let's
leave the international bankers out of it.
The
short
of it
By Bonnie Gropp
Such success
should make
a parent proud
There was no doubt he's a captivating
fellow.
When he was in the centre of the room all
eyes were on him. He didn't do anything in
particular, but a wave of a hand, a smile,
elicited the most profound expressions of
wonder.
"What is urns doing? Hazu got a big
smile?"
Like any baby, my two-month-old great
nephew Spencer is the star attraction when
his parents bring him into a gathering. Last
week was my first opportunity to have a
peek at this newest member to the family
and of course within seconds of gazing at his
baby blues, I was transformed to a blithering
idiot, making inane chatter for which I was
rewarded by a little verbal return and a sweet
chuckle from the object of my attention.
Typically, when I hold a little infant in my
arms, I am reminded of how short a time ago
it seems that I was holding my firstborn.
Now in his third year of university and his
younger sister beginning her first semester in
college, I am dazzled by the knowledge of
how swiftly the years have gone.
Looking back is bittersweet — while I
may often wish for those all-too-fleeting
moments of my children's infancy, I also
take pride in what they have grown to
become. While I may be a little threatened
by their independent successes, achieved
more frequently as time goes on with less
guidance (or interference) from me, it is
with wonder that I watch the progress.
For the originators of the Huron Pioneer
Thresher and Hobby Association which just
completed its 32nd annual reunion this past
weekend in Blyth the feeling must be much
the same.
The Reunion's humble birth happened in
the early 60s when a group of area men
decided to get together to remember the days
of the threshing gangs, who used to travel
the countryside to do the threshing in the
farmers' fields.
As with any newborn, it began small, with
five steam engines on display and that lively
homegrown music of the times providing the
special memories and entertaining the people
who started gathering to enjoy what was
taking place.
As a five-year-old, the Reunion was
already showing signs of the type of event it
would grow to become as its increasing
popularity turned it into a community event.
Committees were established and from that
day the Reunion has continued to thrive to
the mammoth proportions it is now.
As one first time visitor said to me when
we walked through the gates, "This is
huge!"
No kidding. Walking around the grounds
it's a renewed amazement seeing the masses
of swarming people; most of whom return
annually. The hours of work that the
volunteers put in to pull it all together is
staggering.
During my visit this year, I happened to
see one of the founding members sitting
amidst the product that 32 years ago was
spawned by the nostalgia of him and his
peers. I couldn't help wondering what he
saw, now. Though I'm sure he remembers
the days of birth and infancy fondly, and
perhaps a little longingly, he must be pleased
to see how the child has grown. Despite its
size it has managed to maintain much of the
spirit of the times and the community.
Such success can't help but make a parent
proud.
Arthur Black