Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAboutTimes-Advocate, 1985-10-23, Page 4Page 4 Times -Advocate, October 23, 1985 Times Established 1873 Advocate Established 1881 Amalgamated 1924 imes dvocate Published Each Wednesday Morning at Exeter, Ontario, NOM 1S0 Second Class Mail Registration Number 0386. tltttt� Phone 519-235-1331 eNA LORNE EEDY Publisher JIM BECKETT Advertising Manager • •BILI BATTEN Editor HARRY DEVRIES Composition Manager ROSS HAUGH Assistant Editor DICK JONGKIND Business Manager SUBSCRIPTION RATES: Canada: $23.00 Per year; U.S.A. $60.00 C.W.N.A., O.C.N.A. CLASS 'A' Totally wrong move There's an ironic twist to the re- quest from Huron County council that the province give permission to abolish independent boards in favor of committees of council. Supporters of such a move on coun- ty council argue that they have been elected to look after the business of -the county_ On behalf ,of _the ratepayers and reports from those independent boards only come to them now for their information. That's an argument that appears very credible and under normal cir- cumstances, one that should be supported. However, there is a very valid reason for Huron ratepayers and the province to oppose such a move and that is based on the fact the public would be denied access to the meetings of those independent boards if they were replaced by committees of county council. At the present time, the indepen- dent boards conduct their business in public. Committees of Huron council choose to hide behind closed doors away from public scrutiny. There's an equally persuasive argument against such a move. That's in the manner in which committee reports are presented to council and ratified. That came to light this week when it was explained that reports presented to county council have the qualifying statement, 'If is recom- mended that all 'other matters contain- ed in the minutes of the meeting (of the committee) be hereby confirmed by council. "- That policy was outlined by plann• - ing director Dr. Gary Davidson in ex- plaining why county council minutes did not show that a Hay subdivision plan had been approved as part of the adoption by county council of the plan- ning committee minutes. Apparently that item was not in- cluded in the committee minutes to council and was merely one of those "other matters" confirmed by council. It's difficult to think of anything quite as absurd as a group of elected officials confirming action of which they have no knowledge. Only items detailed in the minutes as presented to county council should be confirmed and to do otherwise is totally irresponsible. Now, isn't it more than a little frightening that independent boards could end up in the control of a group bent on secrecy and bound by policies that defy comprehension? Paying for another bail-out One of the major problems that exists within today's society relates to the many situations where double standards appear- tQ take effect. Not the least of those in the minds of many is the federal government's plan to bail out the depositors and investors of two Western banks which recently failed. The government can argue quite effectively that the move is required to maintain the stabili- ty and rock -solid foundations of the Canadian banking system to inspire enbugh confidence in peo- ple that they'll drop off ibost of their pay packet each week for safekeeping. There's no denying the mass hysteria that could exist without a general confidence in the bank- ing system. But was it really at stake? The burning question remains as to why investors and depositors have any right to get more than the normal $60,000 deposit insurance payout that is guaranteed to depositors in all other financial institutions. Why do those depositors and in- vestors deserve any more con- sideration than the many farmers who have been forced off the land when things turned sour for them? That latter question is even more penetrating when many of those farmers have good cause to Mame the banking system on their failures. Some even have good cause to blame poor govern- ment advice for their financial plight as they took the advice of their bankers and government appointed bureaucrats to expand just before rising interest rates and declining market prices made that advice risky at best and economically suicidal at worst. Why are the people who deposit or invest in banks given special treatment not accorded to those whose investments in other business ventures have proven just as disastrous? Many of those who will be bail- `• ...:�:.....:................... Batt'n Around ..with The Editor ed out by the -government (read taxpayers) were investors seek- ing higher dividends on their returns. The banks offered slight- ly higher rates and that attracted those people. One of the rules of investment is that any prospective higher rate of return is usually accom- panied by a higher risk. Another rule is that high risks are only for those who can afford them. In this case, all the rules go out the window and the risk becomes non-existent at the expense of the public purse. . . . The writer has usually tended to have problems with low finance as opposed to high finance, and it was with some in- terest that 1 listened to CBC an- nouncer Arthur Black complain about the penny situation recently. He hit a real true note when he pointed out that each night he empties his pockets of the wor- thless pennies he has received in change during the day, only to have an equal or greater number foisted upon. him the following day: We'd probably all be able to walk a little straighter or have less mess on the dresser top if all transactions were rounded to the nearest nickel. The customer would get the benefit if the total purchase (plus the tax which causes much of the problem) came to one or two cents, while the seller would balance the books again by picking up the full nickel when the total hit three or four cents. Coin collectors would put Up a bit of a fight, perhaps, but in the long run they'd benefit as the pen- ny becomes nothing more than an item for the true collectors rather than a nuisance for those of us who end up collecting them by default rather than purpose. At the present time, I'm sure that I have at least $10 tied up in the darn pennies in two leaking beer steins and a bank in which the bottom plug has been lost and the pennies invariably gush out onto the floor every time I forget about its shortcomings and at- tempt to move it to another location. Even if the average Canadian had only $5 sitting around in pen- nies, that still makes $75 million taken out of the economy and left sitting beside the clothes washer or the hundred and one other places pepple choose to stash them. Oh well, I'd better get them rolled up and cashed in to payoff my portion of the taxpayers' aid to those bank depositors who ob- viously have a lot more to worry about than a few extra pennies kicking around. Serving South Huron, North Middlesex & North Lambton Since 1873 Published by j.W. Eedy Publications Limited It's 10 o'clock — do you know what country your social services minister is in? ANoTtIER PC GoVERtitilt etT SYtrKETi' ' T MUT Soot tT ! ,.fig � rrr opiott Frightening, isn't it? Are you frozen with terror, these days? You're not? Then wake up, you vegetable. You're supposed to be., Haven't you noticed the relentless campaign to scare the living dhylights out of us ordinary souls? There seems to be a con- spiracy, in the communications media, to put you and me and our wives and kids into a perpetual state of fear. Advertising is the most prevalent, though not the most powerful weapon of the scaremongers. It is suggested that if we have greasy hair or a greasy sink, we're sunk; that if we don't use a certain soap, we stink; that if we don't drink a man's beer, we're a bunch of you- know-whats. Well, all this is enough to set up a certain nervous tension in the ordinary amiable chap. What man wants to admit he's a failure because he can't rush out to his friendly neighborhood dealer and snap up an all-new Super Aurora Borealis Shooting Star Sedan, with safety belts? Or has dandruff? But this is for the morons. You know, all the people who don't read this column. If they want to wind up with acid stomach, upset nerves, migraine headaches and irregularity, as constipation is now known, serves them right. Anybody who is frightened by that kind of advertising deserves it. But it is not of the humble commercial -watcher that the big guns of the horror -brigade are trained. It is on the serious reader -viewer. They have mov- ed, lock'stock and frightfuls, in- to the newspaper, magazine, book and "serious" TV field. Every time I pick up, leaf through, or switch on one of these Sugar At &Spice Dispensed by Smiley ...................................... media, somebody is trying to frighten the wits out of me about something. It's a bit hard for a fellow to cope with. Black headlines or graphic pic- tures suggest that I'm supposed to be shaken rigid about Com- munists and cancer; birth control and bingo; high school drop -outs and homosexualism. Simultaneously, I'm supposed to be stricken by integration and insulation. If I'm not in favor of the former, there'll be a terrible blood -bath. If I'm agin the latter,, . my heating bill will scar. Sometime during the day, I'm supposed to be whimpering in a corner because of: high-priced funerals; the computer, which is going to put me out of a job; the unfulfilled housewife; and all that leisure time I'm going to have next year, when automation takes over. You'll notice I haven't even mentioned nuclear fission, which is old hat, nor the squirrels in my attic who, at this moment, according to an article, are chew- ing my wiring to start a fire in which we'll be cremated, and do we have enough insurance'' If people weren't basically so tough, sensible and mean, they'd all go to bed and pull the covers over their heads. Fortunately, • we're as sensitive as an old rub- ber.boot. But, in case the scare - distributors are bothering you, let me give you a formula that is guaranteed to steady the nerves. One thing at a time. Communists - most of us are twice as scared of our wives as we are of the Red menace. Juvenile Delinquents - hit them on the head. Hard. Cancer - you want to live forever? Creeping Socialism - better than the galloping type. The Computer - so who wanted a job in the first place? Leisure Time - be happy to have a chance to sit on your butt Unfulfilled, Housewives - fill them. Population Explosion - see Birth Control; also Nuclear Fission. High=Priced Funerals - you don't have to pay. And so on It's a strange world It's good to see that the Ontario government is taking such a firm stand against the South African government because of its policy of apartheid. As you may have heard Ontario is banning the sale of South African wine in its government -controlled liquor stores throughout the province. It's clear that o ur politicians hate governments which violate human rights. After all, the South African white minority has no business treating all those black people with such severity. And of course the government will then take steps to slap the wrists of other countries in the world that act similarly? Let's see now. We could start with Russian vodka and the Lada automobile, the shirts made in the People's Republic of china and North Korea, the shoes By the Way by Syd Fletcher .manufactured in Poland, jam from Bulgaria, and designer trousers made in Romania. Gee, maybe we -shouldn't allow that big Russian counter at the Cana- dian National Exhibition because of their invasion of Afghanistan or maybe we shouldn't allow Chilean wine to be sold in our li- quor stores either because of the bloody dictatorial rule there. Now I suppose that we could do all those things against those countries starting with not selling wheat to Russia or China but it seems that it's easier for politi- cians to do a token punishment against a country which cannot really hurt them, being a minor trading partner and also quite far away, than to take big steps that might land them out of office at the next election. It's a strange world we liye\in, isn't it.