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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Citizen, 1995-08-23, Page 4A view from below Letters THE EDITOR, As the debate heats up over the decision of CKNX to terminate local church broadcasting, I want to voice my support for the management of CKNX. It took courage for Mr. Dan Gall, CKNX radio program director, to stand up to these local churches and put an end to decades of low-quality church broadcasting. It seems an obvious choice, cancelling these small town productions in favour of the big- city religious-content programs. When faced with a choice between the local, small-town product and the big-city product, CKNX had to choose the big-city product. The Toronto, Vancouver and American products have fancier packaging, higher production values, are less expensive, and are delivered by a professional with more university degrees. It takes courage for CKNX to admit to its listeners and advertisers that you have to go to the big city if you want quality goods and services. Residents of Huron and Bruce Counties will have to accept the fact that local programming like church broadcasts and "Swap Shop" are an embarrassment to any program director who wants to avoid being the butt of jokes with his colleagues at big-city country music radio stations. Toronto country music radio stations would never put up with irritating rural accents, half-baked choirs singing out of tune, or farmers trying to sell hub caps over the radio. The first responsibility of radio stations like CKNX 'is to make money for their shareholders. After that, they must ensure that only high quality programs are broadcast over their radio waves. It is about THE EDITOR, What a treat it was to coach a team like the Blyth Soccer Squirts. It makes me realize once more that it's not whether you win or lose the game that counts, it's how you played the game. Our team ranges from five to eight year olds, mixed and they're quite a crew: Brittany Peters, Anthony Peters, Rebecca Schultz, Nathan Schultz, Jeffrey Elliott, Adam Young, Darcy Young, Nick THE EDITOR, I think it's time we stopped putting up with the 'nonsense' some people are inflicting on our village of Brussels. I would like to find out if there are enough people interested to get Neighbourhood Watch set up. I will time that we came in from the barn and admitted that small-town and rural people in Huron and Bruce cannot make quality productions like they can in Halifax or Chicago. We should at least have the courage — like the management of CKNX — to admit this dirty truth. I challenge anyone to think otherwise. (Rev.) Bradley T. Morrison Teeswater United Church 392-6815. Packer, Dwain Buffinga, Kyle McNeil, Anthony Wilts, Kerissa van Amersfoort, Devon Jenkins, Blake Hesselwood, Jacob Rowe, Bradley Lapp and Sarah Smith. I was supported by Luann Taylor who kept me organized and the parents were very co-operative taking the time to bring and watch their children. The expressions on their faces while they played says it all. Hillie Chamney. co-ordinate or research and start if if others are interested. If any of your readers are interested, I would like very much if they would contact me. Sandra Clark 887-6843. Pastor writes with tongue-in-cheek Coach praises team, parents Stop 'nonsense', woman says PAGE 4. THE CITIZEN, WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 23, 1995. C The North Huron itizeh eNA BLUE RIBBON AWARD 1995 P.O. Box 429, P.O. Box 152, Publisher, Keith Roulston BLYTH, Ont. BRUSSELS, Ont Editor, Bonnie Gropp NOM1H0 NOG 11-40 Phone 523-4792 Phone 887.9114 Sales Representatives, FAX 523-9140 FAX 887-9021 Jeannette McNeil and Julie Mitchell The Citizen is published weekly In Brussels, Ontario by North Huron Publishing Company Inc. Subscriptions are payable in advance at a rate of $2 3.00/year ($21.50 plus $1.50 G.S.T.) for local; $3 3.00/year ($30.85 plus $2.15 G.S.T.) for local letter carrier in Goderich, Hanover, Listowel, etc. and out-of-area (40 miles from Brussels); $62.00/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 newscripts or photographs. Contents of The Citizen are © Copyright. Publications Mail Registration No. 6968 Cut costs, cut demands Al Leach, the new Minister of Municipal Affairs, laid down the new law to municipal leaders when he spoke to the Association of Municipalities of Ontario Monday. "I just want to put everyone on notice they (the cuts) are going to be big and they're going to be severe," Leach said. Municipalities are going to have to make big decisions in which services to slash, he said. "They don't have any choice," Exactly! The municipalities have never had much choice in where they spent their money. Dating back to the Conservative government of Bill Davis, municipalities have seen the provincial government load them up with more and more responsibilities and paperwork. The tremendous growth at the municipal and county level in the last 20 years hasn't come through any technicolor dreaming by municipal politicians. From larger social services staffs to large planning departments, the growth has been mandated by provincial policies. We have the expensive load of regional governments and county school boards was loaded onto the municipal taxpayer by the Davis government. Often municipal politicians have been dragged kicking and screaming into the situation they are now being blamed for being in. Still, municipalities have generally managed their revenues better than any other form of government. Despite large cuts by the NDP under the Rae government, there is less debt at the municipal level, at least locally, than perhaps ever in history. It's ironic then that municipalities are being told they have to pick up a large part of the cost for the fiscal problems of the province. The question municipal leaders will now have for Leach and Premier Mike Harris, who suggested the cuts would be about 20 per cent in transfers to the municipalities, is whether the list of compulsory services the province wants the municipalities to provide will also be reduced. What has happened too often in downloading, is that the senior government wants to cut its obligations but expects the lower tier government to still deliver the service. Take a look at the federal government cutting health care transfers but expecting the same level of medical care. There was the Rae government cutting money for education but expecting junior kindergarten to still be implemented. Harris cut grants to the Toronto Transit Corporation then expressed unhappiness when the TTC decided it had to cut para-transit services. If the government cuts municipal governments' responsibilities to match the cuts in grants, so be it. It's totally unfair, however, if the government wants to cut it's share of programs while expecting the municipalities to somehow find the money elsewhere to keep the programs going they're dead wrong and dishonest.— KR Keep them grovelling The names and faces change but the bleat goes on. Speaking at the Outdoor Farm Show in Burford last week Archibald McLean, new CEO of Maple Leaf Foods called for farmers to take less so food companies could make more. "In my view, inefficiency in the current supply management system, an inflexible infrastructure and ridiculous quota values are the major hurdles to achieving lower cost of production in Canada," he said. Government should assist companies dependent on raw materials to operate competitively, he said: It's an old song from food company executives. They see what farmers produce not as a food in itself, but as a raw material for them to grind up and extrude into something else that then costs several times more. There was the complaint of a KFC executive who argued that Canada's supply management system made his product more expensive in Canada than in the U.S., when an analysis showed that even if the chicken had been free the Canadian price would have been higher than the American price. Farmers in the audience might have been tempted to ask McLean how much he made in a year. Executive salaries have ballooned in recent years at the same time as the executives asked workers and suppliers to take less. While they speak self-righteously about lower cost production, what the executives really mean is fiat everyone else should take less so they can have higher profits for their shareholders and more salary for themselves. The food industry will only succeed by co-operating, not exploiting one another as McLean wants.— KR E ditorial