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HomeMy WebLinkAboutTimes Advocate, 1991-07-10, Page 4Page 4 Times -Advocate, July 10, 1991 Publisher: Jim Beckett News Editor: Adrian Harte Business Manager: Don Smith Composition Manager: Deb Lord Cali/1h* Second Class Mall Registration Number 0386 SUBSCRIPTION RATES: CANADA Within 40 miss (65 km.) addressed to non litter carrier addresses 530.00 pies 52.10 Q.S.T. Outlsds 40 miles (65 kin.) or any, letter canter address 530.00 pies 530.00 postage (total 560.00) pies 54.20 0.5.T. Outside Canada 568.00 "Men are never so likely to settle a question rightly as when they discuss it freely." ... Thomas Macauley Published Loeb Wedau sqat 424 MEM St.. Exeter, (Wade, 155 by J.elepletee . PsbNeatteas Ltd. ansast 0aaa E l)I'I'ORJAL NDP planning massive attack on private business T here are big things coming from Toronto. Bigger than the $9.7 billion deficit; bigger than adding 250,000 workers to the civil service payroll; bigger than the piles of unburnt, unbur- ied tires rising against the horizon. They are the proposed reforms to the Ontario Labor Relations Act. Probably the most interesting reform would make it illegal to replace striking workers. It means, for example, if three or four workers in a plant employing 50 people form a bargaining unit and go on strike, the owner of the business could not al- low managers or anyone else to do their jobs. • It means, that three or four individuals could effectively get together and de- stroy a company at will, Workers will be able to refuse with impunity to handle work from an em- ployer whose employees are on strike. It means that unions and labor will have absolute control over the economy and the private business that employ them. - They will not have had to do anything to gain that control,_ either, except vote for—he NDP and join a bargaining unit and then decide unilaterally to deprive someone of his business and someone of;1 is job. 1k :, It is an exercise in political dynan that is almost too rich to digest at one sitting. But it doesn't stop there. The "reforms" include restrictions on the introduction of technological changes, prohibition against employers seeking direct discussions with employ- ees during collective bargaining, arbi- trary imposition by the Labor Relations Board of provisions it thinks are reason- able, the elimination of employees' rights to petition against a union and even compulsory discldsure of profit statements by company owners. This is not a NDP fantasy. Legislation is to be introduced this fall by labor minister Bob MacKenzie to amend the Labor Relations act exactly as noted above. Now it is doubtful that anyone would argue that individuals do not have a right to be unionized and to negotiate with their employer; after all, it is em- ployees' labor that makes the profit that pays for the house that Jack built. But there is something profoundly mis- guided about the intentions of this gov- ernment. Unions have supported the NDP for years and presumably they are not de- manding their pay -back. In the process, Mr. MacKenzie and his cohorts are in danger. of precipitating_ a kind of power struggle that will result in massive unemployment and the probable termination of the NDP itself. • • NO legitimate employer is this prov- in+ctwill stand for a group of employees %eating . tbi r s er r?'v ire will his btilinees; rt6 shdhld h - Who would want to own an operation that works like the post office- or like the NDP? pun tion Se Marys Journal Argus Who needs houseplants? For a guy as old asIam, I lead fairly busy life. In fact, I know peo- ple half my age who can hardly keep up with me. I spend a good deal of time work- ing, driving, sleeping, eating and reading. In the winter I shovel 1 snow. in the spring I watch the birds, in the summer I cut the lawn, in the fall 1 rake the leaves. I also repair broken chairs, fiddle with malfunctioning appliances, run er- rands all over the township and help the kids with their homework. So the last thing I need is house- plants, right? You guessed it. I have houseplants coming out of my ears. No, I don't have a green thumb. Both of my primary digits are pur- ple. But I won 22 green liabilities with a seasonable variation of plus or minus two or three). Why do I put up with them? I'm a pushover, that's why. If I had any sense at all, I'd chuck the lot. Give them away, plant them in the bush and let them fend for themselves, or simply throw them in the garbage. But no, twice a week or more of- ten I spend my precious time with my houseplants. Pretending I know what I'm doing. I water them whether they need it or not. I mist them whether they enjoy it or not. I turn them around on their axis. I clean them up. Once a month or whenever the spirit moves me, I give them p squirt of yucky-green plant food that may or may not be good for them. I don't know. Do my plants survive because of my care or in spite of it? But survive they do. Some of them are lush. Some seem a little skinny. Others look mediocre all year round. The only plants that ever flower are those that shouldn't. Like my palmetto. It sends up long, spindly shoots with funny little balls that turn from green to yellow and then pop, leav- mg a mess on the floor. Peter's Point • Peter Hassel The most consistently non- flowering plants I have arc my be- gonias and African violets. What they lack in blossoms, they make up m foliage, though. Do my houseplants add to the de- cor? Most of them probably don't. With the possible exception of the orange tree. The scrawny bamboo certainly isn't decorative. It has been dormant for seven years now. When its leaves looked like barley straw, I doctored it. Instead of pitching it - as was suggested by my constant adviser who specializes in destruc- tive criticism. When I gave the bamboo a ruthless brushcut, it went in to a sulk. And it hasn't forgiven me in all these years. If my houseplants were total fail- ures, I'd get nd of them and spend my time with doing something use- ful. Like answering my mail. Or paying my bilis. Or touching up toe rust spots on my tired old Tempo. Or watching the National and the Journal. If the plants were mom 5110ot s- ful. I might even have fun looking after them. But as things stand now, my plants are giving me a maxi- mum amount of work for a mini- mum amount of gratification. What am I to do? Ideas, anyone? Should I buy books and spend time reading and following rules? Should I tum the job�to��t� anis? Or should f b our next garage sale? Would you like to buy them,cheap? I could use the space to display some bric-a-brac. It doesn't 'need fertilizer or TLC. And it never makes you feel guilty. It doesn't threaten to die when neglected. Help! Please, tell me how YOU cope with your houseplants. No, I don't want to hear from the experts. If you spend three house a day in the greenhouse attached to your liv- ing room, if you belong to NACHO (National Association of Canadian Houseplant Owner), if you operate a dozen ultraviolet and two dozen infrared growing lamps - don't call me. I'm not in your league. But if you - like me - wonder whether you deserve your house- plants or whether they deserve you, if you're not sure whether you own them or they own you, if you use imagination instead of horticultural expertise to keep them alive, if you are frequently annoyed at your plants and call them names that are neither Latin nor common, then you may write to me in care of this paper and share your frustrations with a fellow sufferer. In particular I would like to hear from people who have successfully detached themselves forever from the clutches of their green tyrants. We purple thumbs must support each other. HAVE AN OPINION? The Times Advocate welcomes letters to the editor. They must,be signed and should be accompanied by a telephone number and address should we need to clarify any information. The newspaper also reserves the right to edit letters. Letters can be dropped off at the Times Advocate Office or mailed to: Exeter Times Advocate Box 850, Exeter, Ontario NOM 1S6 - • A Letters to Editor Brewers not good guys Dear Editor. I for one was not impressed with your feature picture on the front page of the Times Advocate on Wednesday, June 26, 1991. I find it ironic that at the same tine, Il?e brewery corn nes being giorifed on the front'" e as the Good Guys", society pays millions to help their victims, the wives and fami- lies with the i opening of the Phoenix g It's time .the breweries and the "Sick Society" actively initiated a program to re- cycle their victims back into a peaceful environment. We have had too much of their false adver- tising. I resent paying i yi ng"o clean up rafter the "Good C ttpra`C'614 s'�ier Genitalia Need plastic capping Dear Editor. The Exeter di - Just a note to back up the need amond is the for plastic capping on the fence of only one without the ball diamond in Exeter. railing guards. ill Being a fan of the Exeter Greys Perhaps for ad - railing team, we attend games in vertising of good - St. Marys, St. Pauls, Exeter, will, the Big 0 Co. Mitchell, etc. - of Exeter would donate plastic m I feel is bads g for safety sake. Yom• Yours truly, d Coleman, Seafcrth A disaster plan for Exeter? Dear Editor: Well a funnel touched down in a field outside Exeter recently. A lit- tle too close. But it brought up a naggir`g question or two. We do know to keep extra food in stock for our families, especial- ly water. We hope we have a first aid kit even if we made it our- be would be great if we knew how to use it too! These things are our personal re- sponsibilities, but _ what's the big plan? Does Exeter have a disaster plan? Where do we go, what do we do and not do? Why wait until it happens and find out how little we knew? Karen Von Damm Exeter Reader needs bus service t Dear Editor: medication). You recently had an article on Now that there is no bus service, the discontinuation of the Cha -Co I am scrambling to find another bus service to London (June 26, way to London. So far, I've had no 1991). luck in finding a way. I am not very pleased in know- Why does Cha -Co have to cancel ing that we no longer have a bus Exeter's bus ser - service. The Cha -Co bus service vice? I don't helped me a great deal. think Cha -Co re - I have five doctors in London alines that their - that I see on a regular basis. These bus service was ` special doctors arc never located the "life -line" of I 111 in small towns like Exeter. Exeter. Since my early childhood, I There is plenty 6f have to live with my anaemia and anger and frustration building up my epilepsy. The doctors in Lon- „ inside of most of the people in Ex - don help me a great deal with eter. Is Cha -Co ready to accept the these problems (i.e. regulating the fact that there is a very good chalice of people moving to a, big city? • With my mother being sick for quite sometime, I had to wait to see her. Then, in this year, I finally got the chance to see her after a 4 1/2 year wait. I was to see her for ten days in July, Now, with the bus service stopped, I cannot see my own mother. It is hard to live with a broken heart. I am sure there are others with similar problems. The solution to this situation seems to be hidden behind dark clouds. Sincerely, Debby Sprague Exeter Dear Editor Happy birthday, "Club Cana - A the time of our 124th year of nationhood, the historic tragedy is starting t0 autface: Canada has been reduced to a Club Med men- tality. After the Meech Lake Discord, the Oka Crisis and the never end- ing Anglo -Francophone cacophon- ey, we have become a nation of pop -hedonists. _Today's Canadian appears to live for personal or re- gional aggrandizement. There is little that appears to move us col- lectively with strong national feel- ing In fact, the tragedy (for Cana- da) is that Quebec reflects the only true, generic and collective natural spirit of nationalism -- for the good of Quebec as a whole. I am envious of them for that reason. Canada deserves patriots The key to our dilemma was best spoken by Leo Tolstoy ,who once wrote that "... life without principal is not worth living." Canada now ranks apari nz the most nations of the world. We cooper- ae b�etweenprnv- inces on the level 1111) of tariff reduction and appear to have no intestinal for- titude (call is "grit") about our na- tional identity. We are run by a fed- eral government that is only marginally trusted, at best. At a time In world history when the European Economic Communi- ty is unitint twelve countries across their ethnic and nationalistic bar- riers to become one of the ffreatest economic powers in the enure his- tory of world trade, Canada has difficulty deciding its level of cooperation with the United States and among itself. Life without principal is the Ca- nadian Way -- a life dedicated to political cliches 'and self-serving gestures meant to make us look good to the rest oftthe world./ Since we as Canadians have nev- er truly fought (personally) for our national identity, we do not prize the enormous opportunity called Canada. I do, because I am an im- migrant here. On Canada Day, Canada deserves better than a stat- utory holiday. This nation deserves patriots! Sincerely yours, G. Balagh Toronto