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HomeMy WebLinkAboutTimes-Advocate, 1981-07-01, Page 4Page 4 Mmes Established 1873 vs* toeseesotoc Times -Advocate, July 1, 1981 Advocate Established 1Se1 0.,•tkroistaa44, Pk, Imes-sdvocate ....,, .... �.... ..,....v.. _ ..... ,.,... Y-. rI SERVING CANADA'S BEST FARMLAND C W N A. O W.N.A. CLASS 'A' AND ABC MEMBER ONTARIO PRESS COUNCIL Published by 1 W Eedy Publications Limited LORNE EEDY, PUBLISHER Editor --- Bill Batten Assistant Editor — Ross Hough A ver,t,sing Manager — Jim Beckett C position Manager — Harry DeVries Business Manager — Dick Jongkind Phone 235-1331 Amalgamated 1924 Published Each Wednesday Morning at Exeter, Ontario Second Class Mail Registration Number 0386 SUBSCRIPTION RATES: Canada $17.00 Per Year; USA $35.00 ttkuggaiwasatWax BIDE RIBBON A\AARO TA �► �► f[. I 0 v4iY 9sM 1 IOWIttIO Nfwfltuotf,u Olt Tit , 11E493..01S hit.tTI.E lAta6s TdeT tguMT' Torch is passed The announcement of the death of Terry Fox probably tugged at the hearts of more Canadians than any other person in this nation's history, despite the fact few knew him just a lit- tle over a year ago. When he dipped his artificial leg into the Atlantic Ocean and stated his memorable Marathon of Hope. this young man from B.C. embarked on a journey that most would have con- sidered foolhardy. But they didn't recognize the courage and stamina that became his trademark and quickly brought him to national attention. He became a folk hero, a living legend! His death seems totally unfair, but that reaction must not overshadow the reality that his Marathon of Hope must not be allowed to die with him. That - would be inexcusable! Terry Fox had a cause and gave everything he had to that cause. Canadians responded .generously and the money raised may well help to provide some clues to battle the disease which claimed its young adversary: More is obviously needed. The Marathon of Hope must con- tinue. Terry Fox has passed you the torch. sttrotltw JwRwtioPh Mainstream Canada Why all dealers are upset By W. Roger Worth While provincial and federal governments and the oil industry battle over who gets what from the Canadian energy ple, the independent dealers who distribute the gas and oil to consumers have somehow been left out of the debate. The decisions being made by political and industrial heavyweights are also costing them a bundle of money. Consider what's happen- ing. One of the country's largest multinational oil com- panies recently released fig- ures indicating how the gaso- line pricing system has chang- ed in Ontario in the last three years. (While provincial taxes vary, the situation is similar In other provinces.) In December, 1978, when gasoline was selling for 99C per gallon at the pump, crude oil cost 38C per gallon, the oil company received 20C for re- fining and distributing the product to dealers, Ottawa got 12C, and the Ontario gov- ernment received 19C. Dealers received 9C per gallon. Recently, with gasoline sel- ling at S1.65 pe[,gtalion, crude oil cost 52C, the oil company got 33C for refining and distri- buting, the federal govern- mmnt received 45C, with the Ontario government picking up 25C per gallon. The dealer's margin re- mained at 9C per gallon, exact- ly the same as 1978. Ottawa's take was up a whopping 275% In the three year period. Ontario Increased revenues by 31%. As a re- finer, the oil company was able to raise prices by 65%. And the cost of crude oil (In- cluding, provincial royalties) was up 36%. What's intriguing about Othis whole scenario Is the out- right admission by one of the nation's largest on companies that dealers have been left out in the cold, even though in- ventory costs (to say nothing of labor rates) have risen dramatically. Perhaps it's time the oil companies, considered shar- ing a part of their increased revenues with independent dealers. Three years without a raise is a long time indeed. ss s ■ # a , s tt. The read writ Pay premium price Some months ago, Canadians were shocked to learn that a government sur- vey reported that the major oil com- panies were making windfall profits. The reports, of course, were denied by the companies and some of them went so far as to spend vast amounts in large advertisements to explain their posi- tion to the consumer. There are those who suggest that on top of the excess profits, the oil com- panies are not particularly com- petitive. The suggestion is based on the fact that the majority of service stations in any given area all charge the same price for their products. It appears rather ironical that all the firms have identical costs in selling one litre of gasoline to any given customer. However, perhaps the most un- usual aspect of gasoline pricing is the difference that occurs from one area to another. Exeter customers are current- , ly paying somewhere around 36.5 cents per litre while over in Stratford, the average price is only 31.9 cents. That works out to a difference of approx- imately 20 cents per . gallon for those who haven't converted to the metric system as yet and the saving for Strat- ford residents on an average fill -up is about $3.00 compared to the motorist who fills up in the Exeter area. London, by the way, is about the same as Ex- eter. No doubt there is some rationale for the difference but in view of the fact both Stratford and Exeter are served from the same source in Sarnia's Chemical Valley the difference appears difficult to comprehend. Needs some action The Canadian Home Insulation Program (CHIP) has been paying Canadians to insulate their homes and it now appears they may have to con- tribute more tax dollars to "un - insulate" a few. Some of the homes 'under the program were insulated with urea for- maldehyde, which has turned out to be a health hazard. Some home owners have been experiencing burning eyes, breathing problems, headaches and vomiting. The federal and provincial governments have been wrestling with the problem for some time, and while the insulation agent has now been bann- ed, there's the problem of what to do with the homes that used it. The choice appears rather clear. Having approved it under the program, the government should become respon- sible for taking whatever corrective ac- tion is necessary. There's another new development that makes the situation even more bizarre. One of thetesters used to detect the formaldehyde gas has been found inadequate. Drager tubes will measure gas of more than .5 parts per million, but unfortunately the human body is even more keen, and can be affected by as little as .1 parts per million. To make matters worse, some civil servants have been trying to hide this fact from some property owners. "Our Drager tubes do not provide.a sensitive enough test for formaldehyde; however, their use may provide some reassurance to concerned citizens," Lambton County's medical officer of health Dr. Lucy. Duncan commented in a memo to the health unit's inspection department. It's about as reassuring as a doctor peering down the throat of a suspected heart attack victim and saying he can't see any problem with the heart. The time has come for everyone in- volved to give home owners every assurance that their homes will be properly tested and the problem rec- tified where necessary. Should raise some boeuf It appears a little difficult these days to get off the topic of high interest rates and the problem they are causing for farmers and small businessmen. In many instances they are victims of their own lack of education. To be more specific, it would appear their main problem is the fact they don't speak French. Their failure to master that language has left them off the list of organizations which receive generous handouts from the federal government, those fellows down in Ottawa who have turned a deaf ear to pleas to step in and provide some assistance for people be- ing forced into bankruptcy by high in- terest. - It's not that the federal government doesn't have some money. Just recent- ly Secretary of State Francis Fox an- nounced a federal contribution totalling $1,176,000 to I'Association canadienne- francasie de I'Ontario to assist that group in carrying out its program of ac- tivities on behalf of Ontario's French- speaking citizens. Another $292,705 was turned over to la Federation des jeunes Canadiens- francais (sorry our typesetting doesn't have the appropriate accents) to assist in promoting the social and cultural in- terests of Canada's minority French- speaking youth. The $292,705 will be used to establish a national newsletter to enable Federa- tion members to better exchange infor- mation on economic, political, social and cultural issues of interest to fran- cophone youth; and, the development of a charter of rights for young fran- cophones. culture. The main question is the priority at a time when Canadians of any language are having economic problems. It wouldn't even appear quite so ridiculous if the Secretary of S lee provided some funds --for---the—En ish speaking minorities in Quebec, ut of course Rene Levesque has turned the language situation into a one-way street with his edicts. The federal government has sat back quietly while the Quebec government has moved that province into a French - only status and at the same time hand- ed out funds to French-speaking groups in other parts of the nation. One suspects if area farmers were raising boeuf et porc instead of beef and pork they'd find the federal treasury ready with an out -pouring of funds to assist them in their present economic squeeze. At a time when many are going into bankruptcy, or banqueroute if Mr. Fax prefers, his doling out of substantial funds for newsletters and a charter of rights for young francophones is open to question. workers indicated she was able to com- municate adequately with francophone workers. The company, under Bill 101, ,had no choice but to fire an employee who had been with the firm for 18 years. It's no wonder efforts to introduce bilingualism across the country fall flat and why sizeable federal grants to fran- cophone organizations outside Quebec draw the ire of many Canadians. With the Liberal government's power base in Quebec it is, however, not sur- prising that the entire situation appears most one-sided. There's no intent to down -play the value of organizations attempting to preserve the French language and Quebec'S Bill 101, the Chartre de la Langue Francaise, has been regarded in the rest of the country at the very least as a retrogressive step and at the extreme, as a racist piece of legisla- tion. Quebecois maintain the law is needed to protect their language and heritage. But while the province wants the right for its citizens to work and talk in the language of their choice right acrossthe country, it denies that same right to an anglophone working in Quebec. A few weeks ago, a nurse was fired by the E. B. Eddy company because she failed on foiir occasions to pass French -language tests although fellow u ar and Spice Dispe sed by Smiley • Periodically the writer receives en- quiries from budding area poets and writers seeking sources for having their works published. To this date, I have been unable to provide much assistance,' not having thought serious- ly enough about writing my memoirs and seeking out a publisher for what is sure to be a best seller. However, the information is now available. Send along your works to a publishing house in China. They may not decide to undertake the publishing, but even their refusals will make you think you have been successful as a writer. A South African writer is reported to have received the following rejection slip from a Chinese magazine: "We have read your manuscript with boundless delight. If we were to publish your paper it would be impossible for us to publish any work of a lower stan- dard. As it is unthinkable that, in the next thousand years, we shall see its equal, we are, to our regret, compelled to return your divine'composition and to beg you a thousand times to overlook our shortsightedness and timidity." God must have needed somebody, Who was young courageous and true. To join His throng of angels, and He saw what Terry could do. God must have needed somebody, Who was determined and strong of will. He soon saw in Terry Fox, As the one to fill that bill. God must have needed somebody, Who was brimming with dedication. Then He saw one of our bravest, Marching across this nation. God must have needed somebody, Who was tenderhearted and kind. He heard Terry speak of others, And knew in Terry He had a real find. So God has called this nations finest, To be with Him in Heaven above. We will never forget dear Terry, His great effort won our love. But our thoughts must now be with his family, Though God saw their great courage too. Now may it be said for the very last time, To our "heroic Terry" Thank You. D. Simpson By SYD FLETCHER He was an American, through and through. His last place to teach had been Seattle, way out on the west coast of the United States. There, music teachers had a different sort of existence than they did in our high schoollie had had a huge budget, supported by service clubs in the community, for a one hundred and fifty piece marching band complete with uniforms that would knock your eyeballs out. If Perspectives new instruments were need- ed it was only' a question of when. not how mych. At our school. music was only one of many subject areas, each clamouring for a piece of the school budget pie. Though we had ..in- struments. that was about it. No fancy uniforms and cer- tainly no money for long ex- pensive marching band trips. It was hard for him to accept. Yet he survived and gradually the kids came to not only respect him but to admire that formerly quite conservative hand which usually had lulled its audiences to sleep, come to new life with an interesting variety of music ranging from rock to Beethoven. His enthusiasm was contagious and soon you would see students coming in before and after school to practise their instruments, eager to please him and to make the orchestra better. At the end of the school year, some of the teachers were being presented with 'gag' gifts, teasing them about some aspect of the school year. With the music teacher though, he unwrapped his package to fine a huge Cana- dian flag. Tears filled his eyes, and with his voice emotion -packed. he thanked the students for accepting him as a new Canadian. The students sat, hushed, wrapped up in the emotion of the moment. For them too, it was a good experience, reaching out to welcome a stranger across the invisible border between our two countries. The education stalemate In thirty plus years as an editor, a parent. and a teacher, I have been inun- dated (though not quite drowned) by several waves of self-styled "reform" of our educational system, especially that of Ontario. Each wave has washed aw,gy some of the basic values in our system and left behind a heap of detritus, from which teachers and students eventually emerge, gasping for a breath of clean air. Most of the "massive" reforms in our system are borrowed from the U.S., • after thirty or forty years of testing • there have proven them dubious, if not worthless. We have borrowed from the pragmatist, John Dewey, an American, who had some good ideas,. but tried to put them into mass production, an endearing but not necessarily noble trait of our cousins below the border. We have tried the ridiculous, "See, ane. See Spot run. Spot, see Jane mit," sort of thing which completely ig res the child's demand for heroes and witches and shining maidens, and things that go bump in the night. We have tried "teaching the whole child", a process in which the teacher becomes father/mother, uncle/aunt, grandfather/grandma, psychiatrist, buddy, confidant, and football to kick around, while the kid does what he/she dam -well -pleases. And we wonder about teacher "burn -out". We have tried a s'•stem in which the children choose from a sort of Pan- dora's box what subjects they would like to take, and giving them a credit for each subject to which they are "ex- posed", whether or not they have learn- ed anything in it. That was a bit of a disaster. Kids, like adults, chose the things that were "fun", that were "easy", that didn't have exams, that allowed them to ex- press their individuality. New courses were introduced with the rapidity of rabbits breeding. A kid who was confident that he would be a great brain surgeon took everything from basket -weaving to bird -watching because they were fun. And. suddenly, at about the age of seventeen, he/she discovered that it was necessary to know some science, mathematics, Latin, History and English to become a brain surgeon (or a novelist, or a playwriter, or an engineer, etc.). , There are very few jobs open in basket -weaving and bird -watching or World Religions or another couple of dozen I could name, but won't. for fear of being beaten to death by a tizzy of teachers the day this column appears. The universities, those sacrosanct in- stitutions, where the truth shall make you free, went along with the Great Deception. They lowered their stan- dards, in a desperate scramble for live bodies. They competed for students with all the grace of merchants in an Armenian bazaar. Another swing of the pendulum. Parents discovered that their kids knew something about a lot of things, but no much about anything. They got mad. The universities, a little red in the face, suddenly and virtuously an- nounced that many high school graduates were illiteraj, which was a lot of crap. They were We people who decided that a second language was not necessary. They were the people who accepted students with a mark of 50 in English, which means the kid actually failed, but his teacher gave him a credit. Nobody, in the new system, really failed. If they mastered just less than half the work, got a 48 per cent, they were raised to 50. If they flunked every subject they took, they were transferred to another "level", where they could succeed, and even excell. The latest of these politically - inspired, slovenly -researched reforms in Ontario is called SERP, and it sounds just like, and is just like NERD. Reading its contents carefully, one comes to the conclusing that if Serp is accepted, the result will be a great leveller. Out of one side of its mouth it suggests that education be compressed, by abandoning of Grade 13, and out of the other side, that education be ex- panded by adding a lot of new things to the curriculum. How can you compress something and expand it at the same time? Only a commission on education could even suggest such a thing. There will be lots of money for "Special Education" in the new plan. There will be less money for ex- cellence. Special Education is educational jargon for teaching stupid kids. Bright kids are looked down upon as an "elite" group, and they should be put in their place. The universities would enjoy seeing Grade 13 disappear. That would mean they'd have a warm body for four years, at a cost to the student of about $4,000 a year, instead of three. 1 am not an old fogey. I am not a Dear Editor: Farm organizations in Huron County have formed a working group to co-ordinate involvement by the agricultural community at Ontario Hydro's hearings on Electrical Power Planning in South Western Ontario. Ontario Hydro has releas- ed its proposals as to public involvement in the selection of five proposed routes for a 500 K.V. line to connect Bruce Nuclear Power to the South Western Ontario grid., This power line will be used mainly to export sur- plus power to the U.S., and another nuclear power plant built on this line in the future could be a possibility. The proposed methodology of public involvement, tim- ing of the hearings, headline just a few of the concerns the group cites in a letter to Ontario Hydro's chairman, Hugh MacCaulay: June 22, 1981 R.R. #2,- Goderich, Ontario Mr. Hugh MacCaulay Chairman of the Board Ontario Hydro Toronto, Ontario Dear Mr. MacCaulay: This is to inform you that farm groups in this area have formed an Agricultural Power Line Working Com- mittee. A Chairman, Tony McQuail, R.R. #1, Lucknow, Ontario, and Secretary, Bill Jongejan, R.R. #2, Goderich, Ontario, were elected at a meeting held June 15, 1981. We wish to point out that the Public Participation procedures outlined in the June 8, 1981, Background in- formation on the South Western Ontario Working -groups do not conform to the Porter Commission's recomendations, specifical- ly recommendation 6.3 in several crucial areas: (a) The most affected citizens seem least represented. (b) The chairman of the working groups are be- ing selected by Ontario Hydro and not by the working groups. (c) The procedures, agen- das, etc. have all been prepared by Ontario Hydro, without citizen participation or ap- proval. We find the current proposal unacceptable, and believe the procedure should be revised as to conform with The Porter Com- mission's recommendations as to these proceedings. We also find the timing of the Public Participation process absurd if public par- ticipation is truly desired. After a long delay ih its release it has been schedul- ed in the busiest time in the farm calendar. It will also conflict with holiday time of most other organizations representing the business sector. To allow meaningful public involvement the public participation process must be rescheduled to late fall and winter 1981. We are concerned that so little effort has been made to involve local citizens. We, as a committee, de- mand to participate in the public participation process and wish to appoint a representative to the ap- propriate citizens com- mittee when they are form- ed. Please give these concerns your immediate attention. On Behalf of the Agricultural Power Line Working Committee Bill Jongefan R.R. #2 • Goderich, Ontario N7A 3X8 519-524-9859 reactionary. I believe in change. Anything that does not change becomes static, or dies. Ideas that refuse to change become dessicated. I am not against spending lots of money to teach stupid kids, or emotionally disturbed kids. But I am squarely against any move toward squelching the brightest and best of our youth, and sending off to university people who are in that extremely vulnerable stage of half -adolescent, half - adult, and turfing them Into classes of 200 or 300, where they are no more than a cypher on the books of a so-called hall of learning. And I have the proof right before me, In the form of several brilliant essays by Grade 13 students, better than. anything I ever wrote, who have had a chance to come to terms with themselves and with life, in a small class, with a teacher who knows, likes, and encourages them, rather than a remote figure at podium. 1 1