HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Citizen, 1994-11-30, Page 5THE CITIZEN, WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 30, 1994. PAGE 5.
Arthur Black
3 cheers and
a 21-bark salute
Watchdog: a dog kept to guard your
home, usually by sleeping where a
burglar would awaken the household
by falling over him.
No question about it, dogs do not get the
respect they deserve. Pet owners will sing
the praises of their canaries, tropical fish and
chocolate-point Siamese, but Fido? He's just
the dumb old pooch scratching his fleas
under the kitchen table.
Well...correction. Dogs do get some
respect - from the folks at Ralston-Purina
Canada. Ralston-Purina makes a buck or two
selling dog and cat chow and back in 1968
they decided to show their appreciation to
their customers by opening the Purina Hall
of Fame. Since then, a total of 80 Canadian
animals have been inducted into the Hall.
Sixty-three of those animals have, been
dogs.
All kinds of dogs - German shepherds,
black labs, fox terriers, cocker spaniels and
just plain mutts. The Hall of Fame dogs
come in large, medium and pint-size but
they all have one thing in common: a heart
the size of SkyDome.
Three dogs made the cut this year - Belle,
Sam and Nellie. These are their stories:
Nellie is a six-year-old Alsatian who likes
nothing better than following the tractor
when Ken Emerson goes out to check the
fields on his tobacco farm near Tilsonburg,
International Scene
Better off
than before
A few years ago, on the basis of statistics
which I considered to be reliable, I pointed
out that Canada was not doing too badly in
its tax load in comparison with other
industrialized countries; we were 11th
overall.
I wrote this at a time when there were a lol
of complaints about this tax load, with much
of the grumbling going on about the highly
disliked Goods and Services Tax. As a result
of this I came in for some criticism on the
part of certain readers who claimed that my
statistics must be flawed and that we were
far worse off than I claimed.
I stuck by my figures and I now have a
new supply from the same source with the
good news that we are in a belter relative
position than we were the last lime. We are
now 14th. There arc only 10 countries below
us which means we arc in the bottom 50 per
cent.
Note that I am not saying that our taxes
are not high; they most certainly are and I
have only to look al what I pay in a year to
realize the validity of that. My statement is
that in comparison with other countries, we
arc not as badly off as we think.
If you want to really feel swamped with
taxes, there are two areas that would achieve
this far more readily than in Canada, the
Scandinavian and the Benelux countries. In
lhe former group, Denmark and Sweden
hold the first two places with tax revenues as
a perccntagc,'of Gross Domestic Product of
close to 50 per cent. Finland is fifth and
Norway is sixth. As far as Benelux is
concerned, Luxembourg is third and Holland
is fourth, while Belgium, the third member,
is seventh.
Ontario.
That's what Nellie was doing one spring
afternoon two years ago, when suddenly his
master's tractor swerved off the road and up
a steep slope, where it bucked, heaved and
fell on its side.
Ken didn't have time to get out of the way.
The tractor rolled right over him.
And there was Ken Emerson, a 78-year-
old man with a crushed pelvis and broken
ribs, lying in the dirt in the middle of
nowhere.
He worked his jackknife out of his pocket,
cut a strip from his shirt and tied it to
Nellie's collar. "Go home" he croaked.
Nellie did. She trotted the whole three
kilometres back and alerted Ken's wife. Ken
was found, rushed to hospital and recovered.
Without Nellie, he'd have been dead.
Sam is an eight-year-old German shepherd
that saved her owner from an icy death.
Phyllis McLeod was strolling along the
banks of the Credit River one late winter
day. Suddenly the ice slab she was on
crumbled and she was up to her waist in
swiftly flowing meltwater that was pulling
her under the ice. She screamed for Sam.
The dog came and crouched beside her,
whimpering. Phyllis grabbed Sam's collar
and yelled "Pull, girl, pull!" Sam pulled, her
claws scratching and skittering ice chips as
she strained.
She hauled her mistress up and onto the
ice. "My friends could never understand why
I would keep such a big dog that sheds so
much," says Phyllis. "I've always known that
By Raymond Canon
In short, the two groups make up the first
seven places. Between that and Canada we
have France, Austria, Italy, Greece,
Germany and Ireland.
Part of our problem is that the United
States, the country with which we compete
most directly, is considerably lower than
Canada, being third from the bottom. While
that is too complicated a subject to be
handled in one article, most of you who have
travelled in lhe States realize that gasoline
taxes are considerably less there than they
are here. This is, in effect, a good example
of what I have pointed out.
Another is that Americans get to deduct
the interest payments on their house; we,
most assuredly, do not.
Sweden is a good example of a basket
base al the present time since, not only docs
it hold down second place in its level of
taxation, it is all by itself in first place when
it comes to its budgetary deficit as a
percentage of its gross domestic product, lhe
economic measurement which is normally
used lo determine the level of economic
activity in a country.
For a considerable length of time the
Swedes were looked on by other nations as
in something of a class by itself when it
came to coming lo grips with the twin
threats of inflation and unemployment, but it
turned out that its exalted position was
something of an illusion since the high tax
level was building in a considerable amount
of stagnation in the economy. When lhe true
picture finally became evident, things went
downhill pretty quickly.
The question you have to ask yourself
when you look at the tax levels of any nation
is whether you feel you are getting value for
your money in the amount you pay in taxes.
Let's look at our neighbour lo the south. I
have already pointed out that, on the whole,
Americans pay a lower percentage of their
Sam was special."
So is Belle, a one-year-old Labrador
retriever that belongs to Ken and Nancy
Knickle in Lunenburg, Nova Scotia.
One morning in March of 1993, every
parents' nightmare came and perched on Ken
and Nancy Knicklcs' shoulders. Their three-
year-old son Ken Junior was missing, along
with Belle, the dog. As Ken Senior crossed a
bridge that spanned the Lunenburg Harbour
Channel, he saw something that turned his
blood to ice - he saw Belle in the water,
hanging on with her paws to an icy ledge.
There was no sign of his son.
Frantically, Ken sprawled down the bank
and hauled Belle out of the water. Then he
saw why Belle hadn't moved. He spotted lhe
sleeve of his son's snowsuit right where the
dog had been. He lunged for it, and pulled an
unconscious half-frozen child from the
channel.
For two days Ken Junior lay in a coma at
the local hospital. Miraculously, he
recovered completely - even though he’d
been in lhe water for almost 30 minutes.
"We have so many people to thank," says
Nancy Knickle, "including Belle, who
started a chain reaction of events that gave
us our son back."
Indeed. And three cheers to Ralston-
Purina Canada for honouring lhe Belles and
the Nellies and the Sams who remind us,
year in and year out, just why we call them
Man's Best Friend.
In fact, make that three cheers and a 21-
bark salute.
GDP in taxes. Are they any farther ahead?
On the negative side they still have to put
in place a national health program; what they
have now costs considerably more than ours
and many millions have no coverage at all.
On the plus side the business sector is not
hobbled as much by taxes and other
government regulations as ours is and there
is little doubt that this permits a higher level
of efficiency than if they were operating
under Canadian tax levels.
There is obviously a plus and a minus side
but lhe U.N., for one, thinks that Canada is a
more agreeable place in which to live in
spite of its higher lax levels.
The GST seems to be the pet peeve of
many Canadians but again I have pointed out
on several occasions that most industrialized
nations have a similar lax that is even higher
than ours. The Swedes come into the picture
again since theirs tops the list al 25 per cent.
The other European countries in the
survey come somewhere between ours and
that of the Swedes so we end up with one of
the lower value added taxes.
Whether we will like what the current
government comes up with remains to be
seen.
When all is said and done, I have the
distinct feeling that most Canadians would
not want lo take on the higher tax loads of
European countries nor would they want to
live in the U.S. even with the lighter burden.
Il may sound like a tall order but shouldn't
we just try a bit harder to appreciate what we
have here?
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Music, music, music
Growing up as I did the much youngest of
three children, I was always envious of my
friends who came from big, boisterous
families. While our house always seemed so
quiet and dull, theirs' were always alive with
mayhem. Despite a large part of this being
squabbling it was always something I
wished I could experience.
As an adult, I've gotten my wish. Ours,
though plenty smaller than some, is a large
and noisy household.
The greatest contributor to the decibel
level, however does not come from the
people, but rather from the stereo. Or should
I say stereos? Everybody has their own and
unfortunately their own taste in music.
The other day as I was standing at the top
of our stairs trying to carry on a conversation
with the other adult who lives there, my right
ear was assaulted by Weird Al, Boyz 2 Men
were moving in on the left, while Lynard
Skynard was mixing in their Southern twang
from below. Fortunately two family
members weren't home or we could have
added some Nine Inch Nails to the Doors to
finish things off.
My husband and I know it's our fault —
when we're home the music is on. It's just
that I seem lo be the only one who can
appreciate there are different types of music
often better suited at some limes than others.
Pearl Jam may be great, but as far as I'm
concerned they are not invited to dinner.
I also seem to be the only one who knows
the volume docs go down.
With the former reason in mind, I have
tried to introduce my family to a variety of
music and have tried lo appreciate, if not
enjoy, some of their preferences. However,
the day my eldest cranked up the volume on
some barking dogs, I knew that there were
some things that wouldnt bridge the
generation gap.
For the most part, though, if talent is
recognizable, we have pretty much tried to
give each other's musical tastes equal time.
It was a real delight for me lhe other
evening when my two youngest came in to
watch two television specials with me —
one an hour of barbershop, the other a taping
of the quintessential performer Barbra
Streisand's recent concert.
The first show featured a style of singing
that when done poorly is wretched, done
averagely it's worth a listen and fun to sing.
But well done four part barbershop harmony
is the product of phenomenal talent. At least
one of the international champion quartets
showcased contained two members whose
voices were as good, if not better, than a
number of entertainers who are making
millions.
My children, remembering when Mom, as
a member of a Sweet Adeline chorus and
quartet, was always walking around the
house singing one part of what was meant to
be a four part arrangement, indulged me by
listening lo my explanations on dipthongs, a
barbershop cone and overtones.
Half an hour later they indulged me once
again as I stared star-struck at La Barbra.
Besides meaning a lot to me that they
shared something I-enjoyed, I was also
pleased that they really didn't seem lo mind.
That they were able to sit and try to discover
what is good about the music is lhe sign of
an open mind, an important asset for any of
us.
Beyond that I have always felt that music
has a special power. To uncover that power
as often as possible it's best if you have a
large number of sources.