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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Citizen, 1994-08-17, Page 5Arthur Black THE CITIZEN, WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 17, 1994. PAGE 5. A northern Ontario treasure The artist brings something into the world that didn't exist before, and he does it without destroying something else. A kind of refutation of the conservation of matter. John Updike You know what's particularly wonderful about this country of ours? Treasures, treasures everywhere. No matter how humble or unlikely the surroundings. Take Beardmore, Ontario. Towns don't come much more humble than Beardmore, with its population of a few hundreds souls nestled in the bosom of northwestern Ontario wilderness about 90 miles due north of Lake Superior's arched eyebrow. It's a small town, boasting a couple of gas stations, a general store, a motel or two - hard to differentiate from any of several hundred other small Canadian towns. You could drive right down the main street, past the grocery store and the barber shop and be back out on the highway before you knew it. Thousands do, every year. Ah, but they miss the treasure that way. It's that barber shop on main street. That's where Ewald Rentz lives. Who's Ewald Rentz? Well, first off, it's i International Scene__________ By Raymond Canon Big Macs and foreign currencies Economists, or at least some of them, have a fascination for Big Macs. It is not that we rush out at any given time and gorge ourselves on the best example of a mass- produced hamburger (by best mean best known, not best quality), but there has been a certain fascination with the price of the Big Mac in various countries as a means of establishing how closely a nation's currency is currently at what would be considered a perfect exchange rale. I have written about this in the past, but in case you have come in late, let me make a short explanation. There is a specific rale of exchange between two currencies al which a certain amount of currency in one country would, when exchanged for the currency of another country, buy the same amount of goods in the second country. Let's say that the Canadian dollar is trading at 80 cents U.S. This would mean that S1,000 Canadian would buy $800 U.S. Now, if the Si,000 Canadian would buy the same amount of goods as S8(X) U.S. would south of the border, we can say that the two currencies arc at a perfect rate of exchange. This is culled Purchasing Power Parity. Where docs the Big Mac come in? We make the assumption that, since the Big Mac is the same no matter what country it is produced in, it costs the same to produce in every country and the mark-up is the same. Thus, if the hamburger is selling for $2.75 in Canada, it should be selling for about S2.2O in the United Stales. Any difference and the two currencies arc out of line. "Ed" to his friends. He was bom in North Dakota, drifted around a bit through Manitoba but made his way eventually to be Bcardmorc, where he fell in love with the land and stayed. And since all that happened back in 1939, folks take it for granted that Ed's there for keeps. In his 86 years Ed's done most of the things a northerner does. He's been miner, lumberjack, prospector, cook and, as the candy-striped pole outside his place attests, a barber. Oh yes, and one other thing. Artist. Ed's an artist. World-renowned, as a matter of fact. There are collectors in England who salivate for his work. Curators from the U.S., Montreal, Toronto and Vancouver make periodic pilgrimages to the barber shop in Beardmore to see if he's got anything new they can buy. His work is on display in museums across the country including the National Museum of Man in Ottawa. Ed Rentz is a national treasure. And the barber in Beardmore. Ed's what you call a folk artist. He doesn't do abstract impressionist canvasses or mobiles la Henry Moore. Balsam, birch and poplar are his media. His inspiration comes from the bush he's wandered through for most of his life. Ed can pick up a chunk of knotted forest debris that you and I would reject as firewood, turn it over in his own gnarled hands, take it back to his workshop and with the help of a knife and chisels and judiciously applied dollops of house paint, If the price is more than $2.20 in the U.S., the Canadian dollar is accordingly under­ valued; if it is, say, only $2 in Port Huron or Detroit, our dollar is overvalued. Last year I reported that most currencies were not at their Purchasing Power Parity and a few were not even close. The cheapest’ for Canadians would be in Moscow, which, quite by coincidence, is run by the Canadian branch of McDonald's. The Russian ruble was obviously undervalued. However, for those of you who want to feast in Big Macs while you are on your world tour this summer, let's take a look at what the current figures tclfus. You can bypass Moscow if you are a glutton for Big Macs and head straight for China where you can exchange your Canadian dollars for yuan and get a hamburger for about $1. Much as I might like you to go to Switzerland and enjoy the scenery, hospitality, etc., I have to confess that the Swiss have the most expensive Big Macs on this planet. At current rates of exchange Lhcy will cost you over $4. Head instead for Germany where they are somewhat cheaper (just over $3). Given this rather unscientific way of calculating the value of currencies, what, you might ask, would be the correct value of the Canadian dollar. Well, you have already seen it in my example above since McDonald's indicates that the Canadian dollar would be at its correct level if it were trading at 80 cents U.S. Since, on international money markets, our dollar's value is influenced considerably by the American counterpart, has the guide told us anything about the dollar over the past three years. Yes, it has! According to Big Macs, the dollar has been undervalued and due to recent events on money markets which saw our currency drop to unheard-of lows against the Swiss franc and the German transform it into the most exquisite and unexpected bit of art - a ballerina, perhaps. Or a bear cub. Or a mountie. Or a great spotted fantasy pterodactyl in full flight, with a man on its back, hanging on for dear life. Ed's liny barber shop on the main street of Bcardmore is crammed full of his works of wonder. Elves, moose, mermaids, wolves, prime ministers... If you’re good and he's not too busy, Ed might fetch his stepdance dolls - all meticulously hand-carved - out of their special cloth bags, set them on the floor, haul out his mandolin and make them dance for you. But have a care. Just because he's a world- renowned artist and an unusually fine chap of 86 winters doesn't mean that Ed's not a working man, too. My no. If it's a Saturday, you may have to talk to him between haircuts. Ed still knows how to give a haircut. He still knows how to handle knotty customers too - be they balsam or bushworkcr. "One time," says Ed, looking at your correspondent thoughtfully, "a bald guy comes in here. I cut his hair. He gets out of the chair and says 'Wait a minute. You charged me a buck, the same as these other guys. How come you charge me a buck when I only got a little bit of hair?' " "I told that guy" continues Ed, "I didn't charge you a buck, I charged you 20 cents to cut your hair. "And 80 cents to look for them." mark, this undervaluation is getting worse instead of better. While, in the long run, this state of affairs should correct itself, it is obviously not in a big hurry to do so. I would not like to predict, given the current state of money markets, how long it will take. In the meantime you can count on any trip to either Switzerland or Germany or a number of other countries being very expensive. I certainly found that this year and the situation has gotten worse instead of better since I came back. It must be admitted that the Big Mac is not a perfect indicator since there are several things that might throw it out of killer. The higher the rate of a value added lax (goods and service lax), the higher will be the price in a specific country. Levels of farm support prices also enter into the picture as do the rate of mark-up in the various countries where McDonald restaurants arc to be found. However, there is no denying that it docs give a round and ready indication of what Purchasing Power Parity is for a large number of countries. But, if Big Macs are your thing, after you have gorged yourself in China, head for such places as Hong Kong, Poland, Malaysia, Brazil and the Czech Republic. By that time you should be out of money. Got a beef? The Citizen welcomes letters to the editor. They must be signed and should be accompanied by a telephone number should we need to clarify any information. The Short of it By Bonnie Gropp Bridging the gap Parents! They spend the first few years of your life encouraging independence, then thq next few reminding you that there are bounds to that independence. Blyth Festival Young Company is getting a little back in this summer's production Our Parents Made Us Do It which is running throughout this week. A sneak peck last week showed an aggressive scries of vignettes that appear to have a very definite frustration directed to adults. It's an old song, one that was truly given voice in the 60s and 70s. And if kids today think they have parent problems, just imagine — mine wouldn't let me go to Woodstock! In 1969, I was the original hippie-wanna-be, with visions of Haight-Ashbury, peace signs and an unmaterialistic life in a commune, dancing in my head. Unfortunately, at the height of the craze, I was a mere 15, an age, back then, when most parents still had some control. Therefore, the best I could hope for was a front row seat in the theatre when the movie came out and enough money to buy the LP. I remember vividly how I felt when I saw the movie. The message against the Vietnam war was clear, but it was also the underlying ones which impressed me. Even in my frivolous immaturity I was able to sense the significance of what ultimately happened at Woodstock. Though the young people pretty much did what was expected, the drugs, nudity and sex, the overall peaceful, carefree gathering was a lesson to the world. Even in adverse conditions, they presented themselves in an exemplary light. That was 25 years ago apd when I first heard there was going to be a silver anniversary concert I was slightly indignant. What happened at that first Woodstock was historical. It can not and would not be repeated. Though the first Woodstock might originally have been about making money, that was obviously not the intent al its conclusion, as hundreds upon hundreds poured over the fences. Conversely, with commando trained guards at lhe gale, the 1994 Woodstock, staged this past weekend, seemed to me a superficial and commercial imitation. However, I found my feathers less ruffled, when I began to look at lhe modem version as less of an anniversary and more of a celebration of an important time and event. (Not to mention, as someone pointed out to me, I was one of the "wish I'd been there group", who tend to have a little more romanticized view than the ones who were there). We caught some of the revelry on TV over the weekend and though the styles may have changed it certainly resembled the original party. There was gate crashing (though unlike 25 years ago this situation was quickly rectified), the food looked disgusting and conditions, with another deluge of rain, seemed even worse. A good number of lhe throng made lhe most of the bad, and copying those that went before, turned the mud into an amusement. Down the road, a small crowd who were around in 1969 came back to the original site for their own celebration. Older and wiser, their parly I'm sure didn't have lhe exuberance of the Gcncration-X gathering. Many of them parents now of those at the silver anniversary, they know that what happened then will never be duplicated. But, if their kids and the other young people experienced even a sense of what Woodstock was about, it did for a time bridge that age-old gap.