HomeMy WebLinkAboutTimes Advocate, 1991-11-13, Page 4Page 4
Times -Advocate, November 13, 1991
Publisher: Jim Beckett
News Editor: Adnan Harte
Business Manager: Don Smith
Composition Manager: Deb Lord
Publications Mail Registration Number 0386
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1:1)1"1`0R1.\1.S
Pro -labour or pro -jobs?
The promotional material be-
ing used by Clearwater Air-
craft Maintenance and Over-
haul to lure potential customers to the
new facility they are building in Huron
Park is quite fascinating, to say the
least.
It includes a full list of all the aircraft
types which will be able to fit within the
hangars for heavy maintenance, retrofit-
ting, painting, and conversions for car-
go, to employ perhaps 200 people.
Despite the fact that the company will
be operating very closely with the Onta-
rio Development Corporation, a provin-
cial government agency, the company
very proudly stresses its "non-union
status" which it says gives it "greater la-
bour flexibility and productivity".
So even while the NDP government is
trumpeting its pro -labour stance
throughout the province, (much to the
amazement of the Wall Street Journal
which had assumed socialism was dead
everywhere) even the companies with
which the government is working to
help boost employment in this province
don't necessarily share their view.
In any event, it would appear unlikely
that our local MPP, if and when invited
to the opening of Clearwater Aircraft in
January, will consider it prudent to re-
mind us of how his government is con-
sidering toughening the labour laws in
Ontario.
The right choice
n Thursday, Huron • County
Council was faced with a de-
cision which required not only
use of the head but also, the heart.
They were posed with the question of
whether or not to buy American made
bricks for the new Huronview in Clin-
ton, or pay an additional $46,000 for
those made in Canada.
It's not surprising a lengthy discussion
took place.
The two-sided coin has councillors
wondering if it's wiser to save that
$46,000 and not put the extra financial
burden on its taxpayers, or to think of
the present Canadian economy and the
constant layoffs of our fellow workers.
A.D.H.
With the municipal election still a few
days away, councillors had to think long
and hard on this issue, and rightly they
should. It's not an easy decision to make.
But in agreeance with some of the
comments made, buying Canadian made
products is, at least right now anyway,
the right way to go. If our dollar and our
economy was similar to the United
States, maybe the vote on whether to
buy Canadian or American might have
gone the other way.
However, the economy being the way
it is, in dire straights, county council
made the right choice.
F.G.G.
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1111 Pt
100101m((i4 ;
Go away, I'm reading
Those who can't do....read.
I know somebody or other
suggested that province be-
longed solely to teachers, but
they're wrong.
I, for instance, have many hob-
bies which I do not actually
have the time or money to pur-
sue as often as I would like. So
I read about them. This has had
terrible consequences over the
years.
I'm not sure when I bought my
first special interest magazine,
or even what it was. But I bet-
I didn't buy just one.
I do remember getting hooked
on photography magazines in
1979 or so. They were full of
such creative advice on how to
use all that camera equipment I
was going to own someday. I
digested every scrap of knowl-
edge I could find on the most
obscure photographic methods.
I'd be lucky to remember even a
quarter of it today.
I even managed to get ahold of
a nearly complete set of Popular
Photography and Modern Pho-
tography from the late 1960s to
early 70s. They provided me
with hundreds of hours of read-
ing from photography's golden
era. With psychedelic fever at
its height, people were doing
weird and interesting things with
cameras thatfew would try to ---
day. In fact, a review of today's
photo mags usually reveals noth-
ing more than all the specifica-
tions on the latest Japanese won-
der product and how to get
proper focus on your party pho-
tos.: All the fun's gone out of it.
Hold that
thought...
By
Adrian Harte
So I kept all those vintage
magazines safe, all the way
through high-school and univer-
sity, despite my family's com-
plaints that they took up too
much space and were dusty.
Unfortunately, they did eventu-
ally get thrown away, but that
was my fault.
Not to worry though, there
were plenty of other subjects to
research. I bought magazines on
bicycles, stereo equipment, com-
puters, automobiles and good-
ness knows what else.
The buck of useless informa-
tion I must have accumulated
probably can't be believed.
I've never actually sought out
,professional help for this habit,
although it's probably a possibil-
ity.
It may even be worse now: I
Letter to Editor
have subscriptions. Somebody
very thoughtfully sold me a
package deal (the word "sucker"
must be visible on my forehead
under the ultraviolet lights the
magazine salespeople carry). So
I keep up to date on national is-
sues with Macleans, up to date
on the world of greed and capi-
talism with Canadian Business,
and with up to the minute fash-
ion with Flare. I'll admit I really
didn't want Flare, but I said it
was a package deal; that's my_
st cry and I'm sIkk1ing to it
("sucker" lights up).
Oh yes, I also have a subscrip-
tion to Outdoor Canada. It
sounded like a good idea at the
time. I suppose I envisioned I
could read all about hiking, ski-
ing and canoeing, but I find it
mostly concerns the best meth-
ods of killing fish and shooting
mammals in the nations rivers
and woods. Habits I gave up a
while ago ("sucker").
I fear I've revealed too much
of my obsessive compulsive na-
ture. All the best psychiatrists
in town will be sending me their
business cards, I can see it now.
So I'm just going to shut up and
head down to the post office and
await the arrival of my two new-
est subscriptions for ?V Guide
and Automobile Magasi!Me.
A thank you to area businesses
Dear Sir:
I am a farm womss with our
farm women's soups, locally and
provincially. We firm women
from Ontario are hosting the Fifth
National Farr Women's Confer-
ence in London on November 21-
23. There will be farm women
from across Canada and interna-
tional visitors as well. It has been
with this endeavour that I wish to
share something very, very special
with you. As you know there is al-
most no good news in farminii. It
has been the way for some time
and that has had a major impact on
many of the businesses in your
area. As we ask for support from
this group of people whom we
know are truly hurting as well, it is
just such a wonderful feeling that
canes forth. The business people
express theii concern, their support,
their prayers, and their encourage-
ment for our members to keep
working to send out the farm story.
Although many were un-
abletohelpin
any big way
they offered sup-
port that was free-111)
ly given and ex-
pr+esseed in many
ways.
My wish is to tell the farm com-
mtinay how much the people in the
business community care, and to
thank all those people for their
heartfelt support.
It has been such a positive experi-
ence for me for my heart has been
so touched by those people in your
community.
I know it is not news but I hope
the message can be shared for it
hasod me to continue
working as a spokesperson
in fanning and I hope it will en-
courage others in the same way.
Again, thank you to all who have
helped for it is with this support
and blessing that will make our
Conference a true success.
Yours truly,
Isabel Robb,
RR 2, Ilderton
Past President,
Middlesex Women for Support
of Agriculture.
What if it's true: a new breed?
"I am fed up," he moaned, "I
don't want to hear another word
about the environment. You tell
me I can't take a breath without
inhaling toxic gases. You spoil
my appetite and say that my
steak is full of antibiotics, my
itossed salad is sprinkled with ar-
Cenic, and that my beer will give
me cancer. Every time I take a
walk, I seem to come within
1000 steps of an early grave. I
fall asleep at night, exhausted
from trying to dodge hundreds of
environmental hazards. But even
my bed is a disaster area because
the glue which holds it together
has formaldehyde in it. It's a mir-
acle I'm still alive."
"But you are still alive," I said,
"and you should be grateful for
that. Millions of people have be-
come affected by pollution all
over the world."
"I want to hear no mare," he
said. "Life is always followed by
death. Living has been extremely
dangerous since it was invented.
People used to die of the plague,
now it's pollution. But people are
living longer than ever. Look
around you: there they are sitting
around on park benches and in
the Senate. We have more pen-
sioners per square kilometer than
we've ever had before. We're no
longer wiped out by war, famine
and pestilence. Now we're sud-
denly discovering that the envi-
ronment is our enemy. 1t always
was but our ancestors were too
busy to worry about it."
"Hold it!" I shouted, "there's a
big difference. True, people used
to be killed by storms and floods,
earthquakes and forest fires. We
still get those, but in addition
we're_ producing_ our own dan-
gers. We can literally wipe out all
life on earth."
"How do you know that?" he
asked. "You're listening to the
media too much. Where are the
facts? People have always felt
threatened. Every generation be-
lieves it's on the brink of disaster.
A while ago it was poison gas,
then the atomic bomb. Yester-
day it was acid rain. Today it's
PCBs. They come and they go.
Do you remember all the fuss
about fluoridated drinking wa-
Peter's
Point
•
Peter Hesse'
ter? And asbestos? Our fears are
as trendy as summer fashions.
They come and they go."
"We may not live to see many
pleasant summers," I sighed,
"the way we're mucking around
with our atmosphere."
"Baloney", he snorted. "Na-
ture has always adapted to
changing conditions, we're part
of nature. Mutation - that's the
answer. Look at the rivers and
lakes in Europe. They were poi-
soned yesterday. Today they're
full of fish again. But the fish
are different. They're resistant to
mecury and all that other stuff.
The survivors are thriving. And
mankind is the same. We're mu-
tating right now. Look at the
old photographs of our ances-
tors: strong bones, sturdy bod-
ies, plump and coarse faces with
squinting little eyes. And then
look at our young people today,
their thin bodies with long
limbs, gentle eyes. And they go
without much transition from
babyhood to puberty. Look at
them with their narrow hips and
oversized heads. I'm sure their
organs are able to handle heavy
metals and a11- that poison.
They're programmed to survive
- just like the new fish. They're
a new breed, the breed science
fiction writers have been bab-
bling about for decades. These
new people have nothing to
worry about. They can take all
that noise and smoke and all the
Letter to Editor
chemicals and tum them into
productive energy. The more ar-
tificial flavouring in their lolli-
pops, the better. The more mon-
osodium glutamate in their
hotdogs, the taller they grow.
And the walkman earphones are
not damaging their hearing at
all, they improve it.
"But what about us?" I asked
in exasperation. "What's going
to happen to you and me?"
"Don't be so selfish," he cried.
"Ever since life crawled out of
the sea, improvement has been
the objective - until a better
model rolls off the assembly
line. That's what life is all
about."
"That can't be all!" I said.
"You better believe it. What
else is there? We live for our
kids, they'll live for theirs, and
so on. Mankind gets better and
better until the last Homo sapi-
ens is buried by Momo novas.
— We did it to Neanderthal Man,
somebody will do it to us. We're
just a bridge to cross, nothing
else."
"Are you happy about that?" I
asked.
"What docs happiness have to
do with anything? I'm fed up
with that, too. Everybody wants
to be happy. Healthy and happy.
Just leave it to the new breed.
They'll know how to manage
this world."
When he was gone, I sniffed
the damp November air, walked
around the house, picked a late -
blooming Machaelmas daisy
and took it indoors. Thcn I lit a
fire in the fireplace, made my-
self a cup of tea and browsed
through the paper until I found
the funnies: Just these !ew ac-
tivities had probably shortened
my life by three weeks. But I
decided to stop worrying about
it - at least for the rest of the
day.
What if the man is right?
What if the new breed is already
among us?
Who can help?
HELP! My sister has leukemia.
She is 32, a single mother who just
gat her life back on track when
she was diagnosed with leukemia
over the Christmas Holidays of
1989/90. We have almost lost her
to pneumonia, but through an
amazingly positive attitude and
desire to live she's beating the
odds. However, we aro running
out of time to find a bone -marrow
donor.
If no donor is
111)
found byy the
end of Decem-
ber she will be re-
injected with her
own marrow and
tre=ated with inter-
feron. This is a tact ditch resat,
risky and still considered experi-
mental.
What I ask is that anyone reading
this to go to their doctor and/or
Red Cross and ask to be tested to
become a potential donor by regis-
tering with the international bone -
marrow bank! Please help.
D. Becker
P.O. Box 147
Grand Bend, Ont. NOM ITO
,t