Times Advocate, 1992-03-25, Page 4T,.t ,LL r. tortetw1Mtt
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All costs need to be considered
ur federal government, which
F sees nothing wrong with car-
peting its offices through
cross border shopping, now has its fa-
vourite money-losing venture, Canadi-
an National Railways, purchasing new
locomotives to be -built-in -Erie,- Penn-
sylvania, rather than London, Ontario.
Yes...well...they say...there was mon-
ey to be saved. Gosh, when did CN
suddenly become fiscally responsible?
When Europe was developing efficient
and functional railway systems, CN
was following the American example
by doing more for the trucking industry
than anyone else.
But that's -beside the point. Suddenly
we have a crown corporation trying to
save the taxpayer a few dollars. More
cynical minds have pointed out that
General Electric has a large plant in
Montreal, GM does not - and suggest
the political climate is the root of this
slap in the face to Canadian industry.
But, say the right-wingers, this is
competitive marketplace. You have to
go with the most savings to the taxpay-
er. Anything less is protectionism: the
dirty word of the Free Trade, GATT era
(.hut becoming very -fashionable in -the
American presidential campaign).
A.question does arise, however: does
our government really calculate the true
cost to the taxpayer when making such
-aquisitions -across-the border? Do they
-add' in -the unemployment benefits -paid
to London's GM workers still waiting to
be called back to the production line.
Do they discount the income taxes the
workers and the company would be pay-
ing back to the government? And do
they really understand what _it is to be
trained and qualified in an industry for
which there are no jobs?
If all -these things are calculated in and
the bottom line is still in favour of Gen-
eral Electric, then obviously GM Diesel
has some serious thinking to do. Unfor-
tunately, it seems much more likely that
a simple low tender bid was a deciding
factor, that and a chance to give a boost
to a company's plant in a politically ner-
vous province.
If this is the case, then the next elec-
tion can't be too soon.
A.D.H.
1
ApriLl: a Maly h
It was about time. Yielding to
increasing pressure from power-
ful and influential lobby groups
including such illustrious bodies
as CHA-CHA (Canadian Hu-
morists' Association - Canadian
Humorists' Association), NOO-
FAJ (the National Organization
of Fools and Jesters), and the
Hysterical Society of Canada,
the Senate has finally approved
a bill which a very private mem-
ber had placed under the table
last year.
Prime Minister's
announcement
Most appropriately the official
announcement came from none
other than Prime Minister Brian
Mulroney, dishonourable mem-
ber from St. Louis de Ha! Ha!,
who broke with tradition and
those for this hysterical occa-
sion not the House of Com-
mons, but one of the washrooms
in the East Block:
"It is the least we can do to
honour those who in the line of
duty, which we all know in a
country like ours, and where
such serious matter as the econ-
omy keep interfering with reali-
ty, which our common sense
dictates to be, ahhh..."
It's now law of the land
So it now the law. Starting this
year, April 1st will be a national
holiday. On hand to applaud the
government's decision were rep-
resentatives from all sectors of
Canadian society. First to com-
ment was native leader Grey
Owl Samedi, who summed up
his approval: "We welcome the
fact that this -holiday will fall on
April 1st, a day which has been
celebrated by the first nations
across this ,land for 200,000
erical occasion
years, or at any rate long before
the first white man ever showed
his ugly face in the Gulf of St.
Lawrence."
Quebec First Minister Robert
Peter's
Point
•
Peteril-iessel
Bourassa spoke in French. Since
the plan to install simultaneous
interpretation devices in the
washrooms on Parliament Hill
had to be postponed due to the
recession, we are unable to re-
port his comments at this time.
One sector of Canadian society
apparently taken by surprise was
the Sikh community. Spokesper-
son Sing Singh said that his peo-
ple will seek a grant from the
Department of Multiculturalism
to finance a -study -into -the short-
term and long-term effects of the
new holiday.
Only a smoke screen?
However there are critics. Dur-
ing a news conference hastily
called by the Liberals in the
Chateau Laurier parking lot, op-
position leader Jean Chretien
said: "Dis is trotting but a cheap
trick to get votes. We protest dis
smoke screen de gouvemement
is blowing over real issues like
de OST and cross -river shopping
in Hull."
Union leaders were cautious
about the new holiday: "Workers
appreciate the extra statutory
.holiday, of course, but we want
only organized fools to partici-
pate.in the celebrations."
April 1stt-may soon rival .such
other holidays as Christmas and
Canada Day. Says Allan Fother-
ingham, one of Canada's fore-
most fools: "I hate Christmas
and New Year's Day. 1 can't
stand Easter. Victoria Day gives
me a -rash. Canada Day makes
me ill. Labour Day is ridiculous,
and there is nothing to be thank-
ful for on Thanksgiving. If 1'd
believe in God, 1'd thank Her for
April 1st."
Already, the country's greeting
card industry has sprung into
high gear, calling back workers
laid off after the infamous St.
Patrick's Day slump. According
to a report just in, Hallmark
shares have doubled in the last
three hours.
The April 1st holiday may turn
out to be the only positive meas-
ure this government has ever
taken.
What are YOU going to do on
April 1st? Here are some sugges-
tions:
Buy, rent or [Hake a fool's cap
(with little bells) for every mem
ber of your family, including
baby and grandma. Then go out
and celebrate by entertaining to-
tal strangers with ridiculous
tales. If you can't think of any.
ask your local politician for ide-
as.
Encourage your friends, neigh-
bours and relatives to enjoy this
one day without a serious
thought. You'll find it very relax-
ing and therapeutic.
Let us know how things went
in your community, so that we
can all learn from your foolish-
ness.
Have an Vinsull11111111111111Malll
The Times Advocate continues -fo.wei me 1oders to the.ed tor.as-a forum for
open discussion of local. issues, .concerns, complaints, .mid kudos. The Times
Advocate resolves the right to..edit:ietters for brevity. -Please send your letters
tp P.O. Box•850 Exeter, Ontario, NOM 156. Sign your -Jotter with both name
and address. Anonymous letters .will not ke,pDubiislted•
•
1
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" THROW ANOTHER COPY OF THE UNITY REPORT ON TNt FFRt —
1T 5 GETTING CHILLY IN HERE' "
Rocks and other hard places
What is a community newspa-
per? That's not an easy question
to answer. The subject goes far
beyond merely trying to work
out some relationship between
frequency of publication and to-
tal circulation. It doesn't have
much to do with the population
base of the immediate area.
I think most experts would
agree with me that a community
paper is defined more by its con-
tent. Rather than trying to en-
compass news and issues simul-
taneously occurring around the
world through the use of sophis-
ticated communications net-
works, we in the smaller news-
papers focus on the concerns,
complaints, triumphs, heart-
aches, and joys that affect our
readers personally.
There is also the issue of ac-
cess. Just about any local organ-
ization can submit a press re-
lease or write up of their latest
event and hope to sec it pub-
lished in the Times -Advocate.
There are rules, of course. We
in the editorial department need
to be able to decipher the hand-
writing, be able to touch up mi-
nor grammar and spelling errors,
and have the space in the paper
in which to put it.
We have, on occasion, re-
ceived items we couldn't fath-
om. Sometimes we're just ex-
pected to 4.00w which
organization submitted an anon-
ymous report which contains no
clues as to its origin. Fonunate-
ly, this is a rare occurrence.
More common, however, is
the situation when a submitted
piece is edited, typeset, but finds
no space in the paper. Although
1 realize most people believe we
simply print enough pages to
publish all the news, it doesn't
work that way. Laws of eco-
nomics I don't claim to fully un-
derstand dictate a ratio of adver-
tising to editorial copy. We
reporters only get so much news
Hold that
thought ...
By
Adrian Harte
space each week because the
amount of advertising is what
determines the size of the paper.
All papers work this way, in
case you were wondering.
So we try our best. We try, to
set priorities on which stories
and items we will use fust (page
numbers have nothing to do
with it by the way, the last page
is often completed before page
one). We deal out the news ac-
cording to the impact it will
have on the most number of
readers, how contemporary it is,
which is an entertaining item or
just a re -hash of a meeting's
minutes, and we also have to
consider how much press a par-
ticular organization or team has
had in previous weeks (we like
to spread our coverage around).
Sometimes we make mistakes
and things get lost in the shuffle,
and we have to make apologies
to those who tried so hard to get
a littleattention-for-their -group.
Sometimes we just can't make
space for a minor lower -quality
item and we get our ears chewed
off by someone whose perspec-
tive places their item far ahead
of anything else that did get
11111111111111111111
printed.
We have our rock. We have
our hard place.
We also get photographs. Af-
ter all, the public reasons, if we
can send in articles, we can pro-
vide photographs. Personally, I
think it bunds like a great idea.
But unfortunately we get team
pictures taken from 50 metres
away with faces the size of pin-
heads underexposed snapshots
from cameras with weakling
flashguns, things that are out of
focus, and things that tum into
masses of grey when converted
into black and white. We get
pictures recently developed, but
of events a month old.
We also get good shots of peo-
ple nobody can seem to identify.
I don't mean to seem ungrateful,
just frustrated. You see, each
week our staff takes hundreds of
photographs. Only a few are
chosen for prints, and even
when the paper is all done there
are usually still a fey, that get
left out - places we went to,
events we recorded. but no
space to be printed.
It's always better to have too
many photographs than not
enough, but we also get pressure
from those who want nice. snap-
shots turned into news photo-
graphs. The odd one does get
printed, but the disappointments
outweigh the successes, usually
because we have a lot more pho-
tographs on hand that would
have to come first.
And we naturally still get our
ears chewed off from time to
time.
So there's our rock, there's our
hard place. 1 don't ask for sym-
pathy, or understanding. It's just
a strange way to make a living.
:Wby not w?
Dear Editor:
1 read your article about Fake
Fitness, 1 found it quite interest-
ing. Your points are valid pertain-
ing to indoor fitness, but I feel you
have missed the obvious. You
have neglected to point,out to your
readers, tic oldest and .mut com-
monly used form of outdoor e n -
cue; a simple walk. WtAcing
one of the best igYrces of
vascular easrciae. When
weren't rowing alaakiau‘uxorcise
bikes or fitness Qtglcts to 4o to,
how did people iWyrnin ?
In my opinion.fhcp 4ssh-
y aurrotl 4is. g . rose is
oohing but a coalag mlal Non.
Society fells us -blain isis,,Jbeatc-
opiablc nam, aPd tint **kr to
met the _Ryan y911- *pad
hundreds or
Ihousarads of
dollars to reach
that goal. I fool
that health regard-
less of yotu weight
is more important
to Cligire a 1ouger life espectancy
l oa-to the fact Mat life los be-
come -ao [phlt:h More ,wecbihniud.
people 4400 Ake the litsy
out isioawn high mh
Mott qwd to
ail* Naye, We? hippie twd
get,by .withiuba+c,tr flaps•
W»n YOE FlefliaMis
lid 'tee #n
ilaoir .spas. - ,they [jay in
spgpe. As sty
lod.aahcbid 10 witatk#11,
�
sclioolUn jYe Let of Maw. Al -
'Wash his story .is talc mated, it
proves to me how astounded the
older genengioos we with the ever
12 040148 iodates 0 au society.
If walking bo boon gaud since
the beginnings of time, whto gives
our society of .Nknow-itigle the
Fathe health well being of
our ,society, I ,fel I oimad
plc to the basics. Whole an WOK
ing I atm lathed to see the-evpr :w-
40way 140 atcliit
AIWA od GG ,My ywiirh
Pfair, r~ autism 4afk m
ti is ayytcr way Of life•
DiaiaaeAscbar
an cath