The Huron Expositor, 1996-11-06, Page 5Banker's comments could apply to government
Bank interest could fundJro'ects
p
Dear Editor:
To Helen Johns:
It appears as though Mike
Harris and the finance minis-
ter should have attended this
year's EDUtec 1996 seminars
at Toronto Congress Centre
on Oct. 30. The shortfall of
revenues to fund our schools,
hospitals, highway projects,
what have you, have perhaps
been solved unknowingly by
Tom Strong, senior vice-pres-
ident of the Canadian
Imperial Bank of Commerce.
His comments may have been
directed at the Directors of
Education but perhaps these
comrnents could apply to the
provincial government in
general.
In the report by Mr. Carroll,
Mr. Strong is noted as saying,
"We should offer the same
services - and do so in the
same profit-making way as
thc successful private busi-
nesses who already offer such
services in response to public
demand."
In response to this, I feel
Mr. Strong hit the nail on the
head. The public for years has
been complaining to the gov-
ernment about the operations
of the big banks. Mr. Carroll
also notes of Mr. Strong that,
"He commended the Bank of
Montreal for its partnership
plan with the Huron Public
Education Foundation - and
stated clearly it was CIBC's
own problem for not being in
there first and not making a
better offer!"
My question to you, Ms.
Johns is, why is there not a
Bank of Ontario that runs as
the other major banks in our
area? Why is the Bank of
Montreal or any bank, for that
matter, profiting when the
interest from those dealings
could go to fund various
provincial projects. Interest
on mortgages, credit cards,
vehicle purchases, employee
purchase plans, all of which
could greatly decrease the
government debt Toad and
provide a necessary service,
something the public has
wanted for years.
Obviously this would be a
good time to act. Clearly Mr.
Strong's comments on other
various public enterprises
would suggest his support in
this area as well. With coop-
eration between the provin-
cial and municipal govern-
ments, much of necessary the
infrastructure is already in
place. I myself would apply
for a credit card through the
Bank of Ontario. Since I pur-
chase over $100,000 a year
on my existing cards, even if
only one per cent could go to
various government projects,
on a much larger scale that
translates to a lot of dollars
with virtually no public out-
cry and blessings from the
banks themselves.
On a further note, Mr.
Carroll reported that Mr.
Strong said "...We should not
be reluctant to take a bit of
criticism for setting out in
these new directions. We
should answer back by point-
ing out the inconsistencies of
the business sector in their
position which ask us to
change and criticize us for
Connection with work and change in 'Lake Beaver'?
doing so." When referring to
the banking industry, there is
a lot of pointing to be done.
Surely you could agree, Ms.
Johns, there is more money to
be had in the financial indus-
try. There is a lot of risk
involved here, especially
when each board is forced to
venture in each their own way
with no clear path in front of
them. The costs of failure at
.the board level could be high
price to pay. Even if the
Huron Board is successful,
many boards, hospitals, even
municipal governments will
not be. To assume a 100 per
cent success rate in all their
dealings would he foolish and
not statistically possible.
Where then will Ontario be?
If private ventures are
indeed to be investigated, it
should be done at the provin-
cial Icvcl only and done to aid
the public, businesses and
Ontario, NOT! to compete
directly against them. .
I await your reply on this
matter and sincerely hope that
serious discussion is to he
held on the subject.
Mark McDougall
`,Don't know if drain exits as it should'
CONTINUED from page 4
of my home, fronting on
North Main Street and by the
severance of those lots and
the granting of building per-
mits, in particular for that
•house now owned by Don
and Janet Beaver has caused
a house to he built directly
over ap existing municipal
drain. There may be addition-
al tributaries to this drain, I
do not know. The level of
"Lake Beaver" as Don had
christened the pond behind
his property began to recede,
first very slowly then quickly,
even though it had now start-
ed to rain again.
Finally the day .before the
hearing .the water had all but
disappeared and the planner
could, next day, say she .had
toured the site just before the
hearing and saw no water
here. Is there a connection
between the "rainy season"
work/ carried out, by the
Works Department at the
fairground and the sudden
change in "Lake Beaver?" I
don't know. One thing I do
know is that a similar drain
exists crossing myproperty
from the area presently occu-
HQalth spending up
Public misconceptions
notwithstanding, Ontario
government spending on
health care is on track with
projections and going up by a
bit this year - by $39 -million
to a total of more than $17.7 -
billion.
tsut per capita spending is
expected to decrease about
three per cent because of
inflation and the province's
growing population.
We need your
stories of past
In an effort to celebrate and
preserve the history of
Scaforth, the Seaforth
Historical Preservation
Committee and The Huron
Expositor are asking arca resi-
dentsand readers to submit
stories of the past which may
be used for publication in The
Huron Expositor and/or
archived for future reference
or publication.
To narrow down the broad
spectrum of "historical recol-
lections" the committee decid-
ed on a fcw categories for
people submitting stories:
Sports, Wartime stories,
Agriculture, Academic, Arts
and Music, Family, or just
interesting tales of the past
that might not exactly fit into
any of the above categories.
There is no time limit on
submissions. We hope to
establish an on-going process
of recording stories of local
residents, whether it be by
writing. audio or video-taping.
For further information,
contact David Scott at 527-
0240 or the town hall at 527-
0160.
pied by the Community
Centre and draining into the
Lawrence drain in the area of
Mr. Beaver's driveway. It
originally emptied into the
open ditch and the flow of
water from it could easily be
seen in wet weather. More
recently, about seven to ten
years ago, the ditch was filled
in and the end of that drain
covered. Now we no longer
know if the drain exits as it
should. In my first letter of
objection to council, dated
April 10, 1989, I mentioned
the need for reassurance, in
writing, that that drain would
be intercepted on subdivision
property and routed into
proper new drains. That reas-
surance was never given.
In fact council did not even
acknowledge receipt of my
letter nor of any of the points
raised. Density and sewage
treatment were two of those
points and 1 now understand
that even with a greatly
reduced density in the "new
plan" the Corporation was
directed by MOE (Ministry
of thc Environment) to
remove, by by-law, the desig-
nation of Plan of Subdivision
from the formerly approved
West Branch Suhdivi,sion
located On Brantford Street.
This for the purposes of sub-
division control. By how
much would they, council,
have exceeded the capacity
of thc sewage treatnYent plant
had they signed a subdivision
agreement back in 1989, as
they planned? Who would
have benefitted? Who would
have paid? Is it any wonder
they chose not to answer our
questions?
Ladies'
WINTER BOOTS
Selected styles and sizes by:
Sorel, Naturalizes, College, Hushpuppy etc.
all... Reg. up to $110.00
Come early for best selection!
As for the present plan,
which Council and all the
appropriate agencies have
blithely approved; it has a
number of errors. Yet it
would seem that if local
approval is given, the rest
simply rubber stamp that
approval. This letter, is
already too long and it serves
no present purpose to make
additional points now. I ;hall
return to those at a later time.
Thank you.
Yours truly,
W. George Ring
THE HURON EXPOSITOR, NovonWN S, 199S-6
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