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HomeMy WebLinkAboutTimes Advocate, 1992-01-01, Page 4--Tltnss41/41V0a1e, MinUraty 1; 11M2 r: Jilts ileot tt 011111116161161111 Annan Hans ilkle41111111111‘11111111111.11 Don smith le ailtbitt r: Deb Lord Number 0386 1Msl6601Owrn_Mena) utdarwa.d a to'wswNM.r 1s02101Wee $2.10 ° $.T. 40 *Ilse linun.)oree leSierawvsraddl..s saoaop..uoaoOoalaOb fesSe1IIIOJao)ides $4.20GALT. O.hMs Onend. SUM • 111111111111111111111111 Time to -turn back n unwelcome Christmas present that cannot be re- -tarred. The -average -Marr - I her paycheque a little smallerin 1992. Unemployment insurance premiums now cost about $75 more for each $10,000 earned. The reason is that longer lines of Ca- nadians out of work have taxed the cof- fers of the insurance plan. Those of us fortunate enough to still be at work in this freer -trade, GST, cross-border shopping nation are just t going to have to pay more. Our tax-free day has just clicked ahead,once again. Unfortunately, even if our ung- ployed do return to work and the end of/ the recession once again brings pros- \ - perity to this land, we can't honestly ex- pect the government to roll back the UI premium off our paycheques. Budgets will expand to cover any surplus. ' " There will be studies TO "be -conducted, programs introduced to re-train people for industries we no longer have. The average Canadian is permanently poorer. It is not heartening to recall the audi- tor -general's report that the government ..efO en -ere never so likely to settle a efuestlon tightly as when they discuss It freely. ... Thomas Macaulay Pteblisthod Snob WodnoNsy Morning et 424 1NuIn St., toots, Ontario, NOM tae by J.W 'oily MbMeotlons Ltd. Tosp$ions 1410+136.13$1 s.$.T. ulaesszesss has a tendency to spend billions on pro- grams without caring if they achieve anything. -I t t'e 3 rifig 3titlii tiol ctliat .fiscal responsibility will become a serious is- sue at both federal and provincial levels of government. We may not see any- thing as radical as the Reform Party's call for a mandatory balanced budget, but there truly ought to be some genuine. effort to reduce the tax burden on the av- erage Canadian. Vote -buying tax -relief programs aimed at specific income groups are a thing of the past. We need less taxes for every- body. The tax coalitions ought to be directing their efforts more at the upper levels of government than at municipalities, who are more often .than not forced to raise taxes because of mandatory programs and regulationspassed down to them from above. The 1990s may indeed be a decade of a movement towards less government. • Parliament Hill complains that Cana- da's recession will end when consumers resume their spending. But Canadians would spend more on cars and fu niture if they weren't so busy paying so much for government. AO.H. Calendar Time -Welcome-to-1992 and•thenew catendar! Calendars are an an- cient tradition. The Romans called the first day of each month "calendae". Because pay- ments were due on the first- of the month, Roman money lend- ers, landlords, tax collectors and other nice people kept a book in which they recorded who owed them what and when it should be repaid. They called this book a calendarium. One of my calendars is a ca- Jendanum in reverse. It reminds me when my post and other regular be covered, so tlt$ draw my bank gust wasn't born touch. I have a whole cal;.nulars, „and which to k t ated cheques iyments must I won't over- t Well, 1 skit the golden h of 1992 ve to decide ind which to chuck. Insurance and real estate. agents, hardware, tire and drug- store chains seen to think that I ant a person with unlimited wall space. Most of their calendars are useless: The spaces for each day arc too small towti�tc ap- pointments in, and the pictures are too tacky for deep ting my filing cabinet$. But there arc ex- ceptions. One calendar I actually purchased - from the Girl Guides. Elizabeth uses it for marking our long-distance phone calls. Living in the coun- try, we may not be able to cut them down, but we sure. keep good track of then Every year 1 get a desk Galen; dar from the batik. On it I mark those birthdays and anniversary dates which I must not forget if 1 want to stay outof trouble. A -bilge appointment calendar covers the wall over the kitchen phone. It is a constant source of puzzlement to me how dental appointments, committee meet - Peer's Point • Peter Hessel ings, theatre and concert dates. and all the children's activities cluster on certain days, while others remain unpopularly white. It's the white days I ap- preciate the most. 1 have another appointment caierear in the -office. `So tan you blame me if I sometimes forgct an appointment? Coordi- nating the two calendars isn't easy. My daily journal is a calendar I cannot do without. Apart from the fact that I must record vital information like "sunny or over- cast", temperature and the amount of snowfall or freezing rain, I also conscientiously enter what I do each day. Just in case it might matter to someone in, the future. After all, 500 years from now, it may be of enor- mous historical interest that I ate lunch at Pi's while the Tempi was being serviced at the Cana- dian 'Tire -on y, hunted for bargains at li mall on Fri- day and did an hour's crtisa- cowury skiing on Saturday. Birt this calendar also provides information about the -world around me. It teaches me that one rod equals 5.029 meters, that Brazil has an area of 3.286,488 square miles (no square kilometers "given), that Independence Day (US) will be on a Friday and Canada Day (Canada) on a Tuesday, that the population of metropolitan Win- nipeg was 625.304 in 1986 (what happened to the 1991 Census?), and that the capital of Vermont is Montpelier (popula- tion 8.000). What would` I -do without this calendar? Can you imagine a world with- out any calendars? Without these perpetual reminders that time is passing and that ,we're ..getting older? What if the Ro- mans hadn't invented 'them? Ever : Roles Crewe had -to keep track of time by setting up . a pole on the beach. Every day he cut a notch in the pole, For Sundays .and the fust day of the month, he cut longer notches, so that he always knew the exact date:Or did Daniel Defoe try to pull our leg? No, we need calendars. With- out them we'd be constantly pushing the date button on our digital watches. Or wait for the National News to tell us what date it is. No, you can't have law and order without calendars. And no goon in the house should be without one. We need calendars to keep track of what Edward FitzGemaid 1ca11ed "our unborn tomorrows 'arid our dead yesterdays." A Happy "Caletdae", every- one, and a Happy New Year! 1 j - HAW AN OPINION? The Times Advocate **Wines letters to the editor. They must be signed and should be accompanied by a telephone number and.address shouid-we need to clarify any information. The newspaper also reserves the right to edit letters. Loiters can be dropped eff.et'the Times Advocate Office Or mailed to: 1U A Predictions for 1992 1 wonder what psychics do the rest of the year, or do they make so much money on their New Year's predictions that they can sit back and drink pina coladas :until next December`' The whole field of psychic prediction is particularly fasci- 1 mating. Why is it, for example, 1 that psyctuc'�are tuned in only on the wavaiengths of celebri- ties and the nch and powerful. They always seem to find out that Elvis will come out of hid- ing to run away with Madonna, or that Jimmy Hoffa•s body will turn up and Michael JaCkson wil)>buy it at an auction. They never seem to announce to the supermarket tabloids that Mrs. Jones down thc street will have a baby boy, or that Johnny Smith will break his arm at foot- ball practice. Of course, it's hard to get nch selling stuff like that. Three years ago at New Year's 1 auempted to emulate the psy- chics and come up with sonic predictions for 1989. Not one of them came true. but I figure that success rate puts me right up there with the ' best tab- loid psychics. So with tongue firmly in cheek, here I go again. •The federal government will declare bilingualism a • failure and will begin a program to merge English and French into that dream of the '60s: Fran- glais. Hold that thought... Adrian Hart( I already have an inkling of this. I received a New Year's card from Hull, Quebec as a not - so -subtle reminder to those of us in the media that 1992 is Cana- da's I25th birthday. The card is bilingual, but my name on thc envelope is not. While studying French for 11 years, l was often aware that my name is some- thing of a tongue _twister for the average Francophone, but I had never seen it spelled "Adrya Hard" before. Actually, I rather like it: a whole new image for me. I think people would more fear being interviewed by Adrya itttt�_ r tt, Ldito' •//�.� f • Dear Editor: Your readers have made it possi- ble for the Children's Aid Society of Huron County to give Christ- mas comfort to 1,000 children in Huron County this year. "Phis is. an expression of caring and concern of which we can all be proud. The children were given wart mitts, toys and articles of clothing. And equally- important, parents and care givers were helped with their concerns. Our children are our t as- sets, and our first love._ it needs are often immediate. They can't be ' put off. Runes County residents have generously their own, acme: times meagre re- sources, sources, to make •wire our children can look back on this Christmas Pesitivly Stonipin Dear Editor: 1 am writing in response to the article printed in the Times Advo- cate on Wedibeada , Decgmber 11, 1991 on the band Positively Skarn- pin'. I would like to thank you for the interest and coverage your paper has given us. This bas contribtttpd to the band selling out l,eatar's Roadhouse an two separate pcsa- sians. However. i 1vo)tld also like Co set the record aright on a few items, which were .not printed the . name way in *dish they neons. told. Rafe atwc .was Altar* a UJ s writing credits,A4d it was Milian 41 Y- -�laone �tot w c "most of ther LU " . Although myself soiled 'r.d TiipIyr did .write tittiiiarouc nags for the bead, we did not Woad for it 10 sound like .we were the only writ- ers. The rest of the band members in U.I.C. ace in ow opinion respect- ed wad Waited songwriters as well as canis. The (*moot abput cobiniercial aitplaY being "aOk*1y taboo" to U.C. (abut mos pot said by members of Positively Stonipin ) caae.ltbottt dim ray eariasation erf the differences in direction of 4e two hands. 11 was ;be snWasi iqs AMP An Ilse triatilly•Ati4amsea to Poeigvely llemPW in a atogtor hope Hard than Gerardo Rivera. •Keith Spicer will nm for Prime Minister in the next elec- tion and will -maybe even win. Jean Chretien and Audrey McLaughlin both 'sent me Christmas cards, but Brian Mul- roney seems to have given up on us media types altogether. Pres- ton Manning hasn't discovered Ontario yet. •Ayrton Senna will ittum to Montreal to defend his World Championship title and $16 mil- lion a year contract, making oth- er athletes like Gretzky and Is- mail look like paupers,. and stir: no one will have hearts of him. [Hint: he drives a racing car] •Canadians, having decided outdoor skating is a thing of the past, will attempt to develop are- nas for indoor skiing. •Some enterprising Ontario municipality, unable to deal with the constraints of the Hen- tage Act, will pass a bylaw re- quiring the demolition of an building over 70 years old. •The Ministry of Culture and Communications will make it il- legal for any parent to name their child after a soap opera star, and then will go on to make publication of psychic predic- i tions ah indictable offense with warm hands and happy hearts Please express to your readers the gratitude of the Children's Aid Society of Huron county • and through us. the 1,000 children of Huron County, and their families Yours truly Thomas F. Knight Executive Ducuor Children's Aid Society of Huron County writes as opposed to U.I.C. in a _van. _was said in Jest. It was written as though Positively Sto pin' we ex- tremely arrogant. Remarks which •were made regarding our past tour- ing in a van, have been totally mis- understood. On behalf of the other members of Positively Stonipin', 1 wish to • io anyone who has been by this article. Anyone who , ' • ws Will naiads is aware t theownratiory of Positively ' and remoias intact. We vent a long tine (eight years) •t4tng i!+ uwcbes of die Ca- re,tosne together. We Ivae guys ,like brothers, sod ivieh tinct awl* but good for- Joicin&law. Yours .1461Idaywovd 1)1Stonipin'