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HomeMy WebLinkAboutTimes Advocate, 1992-04-08, Page 4Times -Advocate, April 8, 1992 II*Usher: 1tm WckeM esis lsiMior. Adrian Harts SS Mir: Don smith ' PAW •r: Deb Lord AiblIsst -.s MM Registration Number 0986 Rio iot1.s (05 km.) .ddreeaed to non tetter es.Aa addresses $80.00 piss 112.10 a.LT. Outside 40 nods* (68 km.) or any letter carder address $50.00 plus 516.25 postage (total $46.25) plus $2.24 a.$.T. osis d. Canada 568.00 Opinion .-meg Where's the social charter now? The latest attack on Ottawa by Premier Bob Rae is not what one weed expect from the leader of a New Democratic Party. Rae is complaining that in 1988-89 the federal government collected over $5,000 per capita.tin-Ontario, but spent ----- *n1343,360 per capita in the province. In other words, Ottawa collected J $1,640 per person more in Ontario than it spent here. The Fraser Institute in Vancouver carried out a study that puts the net loss for Ontario at about half of the NDP figure - $831 per capita. It is painfully obvious to everyone that Ontario's NDP government is hav- ing a difficult time financially, after try- ing iinsuccessfu ly to spend its way out of the recession. It should also be obvi- ous to :everyone that the federal system of equalization payments - money is taken from the richer provinces and rdis- tributedto the .poorer ones - is very shniiar to the :socialist philosophy of the rich to improve the lot of the less well off. Making the rich pay some- how doesn't sit too well with Mr._mite, now that his government is ow of the ones that must cough up. If corporations in Ontario, and those in the upper income brackets, were to adopt Mr. Rae's current attitude, they would argue that the province owed them much more than it was contribut- ing. They could easily point to the amount of tax being collected.. and the percentage of that tax that was being spent directly on them. It would of course follow that those at the lower end of the economic scale were receiving benefits far in excess of their contribu- tionto the total taxes collected. Mr. Rae should remember the social charter he is so fond of pushing. Some- one is going to have -to pay for all of those social benefits. Somehow he does not seem as enthusiastic when he is handed the bill. It's easy to say let the other guy pay for it, until you are the other• guy. from the Fergus -Elora News Express Cross -Canada Bike Trail Now that we've put the skis and toboggans away, it's time to get out the bikes and hit the trail. Right? Right, if you live in a city with a network of bicycle paths. Wr, 3f you're a country Ca- • :otlgnadian like me. In the country we have .no 'trails, no bicycle paths. We're at the mercy of hu- mane motorists and truckers who allow :us to share the road With them. They're not always willing to doahat. All :of us - .the kids, Elizabeth and I - have had some nanoww escapes. We have several thole - es riding our bikes when we live. We can be content to stick to the unpaved township lines where motorized traffic is limit- ed. But when cars do whizz by, they leave us in.a cloud of grey, choking .dust, and with gravel flying around ourheads. If we want a change of scenery or travel a bit farther than the end of our line, we must venture onto .the paved county roads.and take our lives into our own hands. Here, the :motorist is Xing (or Queen). There are some considerate drivers, but most like to run us off the ioad into the ditch. So what I'm pro/klaigg is this: :that we all pay a few more dol- lars .in taxes and build a Trans- Canada Bicycle Path. If every man, woman and child in this nation of ours contributes $10 a year. r t a great sacrifice), it woul • 1' ' g in a quarter billion dollars annually. That should be enough to pave a little strip two meters wide from Bonavista to Vancouver Island, and to main- tain it for six months of the year. The rest of the year it could be used by cross-country skiers. The land could be leased or donated by the property owners, whose names would be in- scribed in gold letters in the Na- Ioual.Book.of Appreciation. Or Peter's Point • Peter Hessel they conidell a ,awarded the #Canada Cross with Handlebars. We've built the CFR and the Trans -Canada Highway. Let's have another major Canadian achievement. What if Quebec separates? Don't worry! We bikers will solve 'that little problem among ourselves. We've learned to sur- vive the tornados created by passing tractor -trailer rigs and the humiliation of being shown' the finger by speeders in BMWs.' So we won't let a minor detail like .anew border stand in our way. Yes, a 'Trans -Canada Bicycle Path would be wonderful for Ca - radian #tikesit. it would Melba boort for tourism. Canada wo- suddenly become host to mil- lions of two -wheeled visitors f•rotn all over the world. Think about it: they'd all have to be housed and fed and serviced. We could stage an annual Trans- Canada Bicycle Festival that would attract young and old from around the globe. You wouldn't necessarily have to go all the way. I haven't fig- ured out yet how long it would "Men are never so likely to settle a question rightly as when they discuss it freely." . Thomas Macauley Pub bed feet WsdoesdayMeant: 454 M ots k., Exeter, Oats,*NOM $sera by J W.MNeetNss Ltd. Teleptone 1.-511.23513 . .Ripeness. LOoKI�Ii FoR A GooDT1M Seasoning the seasons Before they even spoke, the grim faces of the television newscasters said it all. Obvious- ly something truly terrible had occurred. Another earthquake, I thought? An asteroid smashing into South America? No, they said, a black day for Canadians. "What, Quebec is separating?" I asked. take me to cross the country on Worse, they replied. The Na - a CCM High -Tech Hybrid (my tional Hockey League has gone particular brand of bike). But I'd on strike. surely take the family on a long Oh, please. Hockey players biking holiday every year, some-gfomung barricades out of their thing that justisut feasible now. Ferraris and Porches in front of So go and talk to your local' arenas pleading poverty. Fran- M.P. and tell her or him about my idea. You may even say it was your own idea. I don't claim any copyright for the sugges- tion. M.P.s who are bikers them- selves may go straight to their office, sit down at their desk and draft a bill. Those; who aren't bi- kers might still like the proposal for the tourist dollars it would create. Please write to me and tell me what you think. You may also write a letter to the editor and tell him your opinion. If you're a biker at all - either of the earnest spandex -and -hard-hat variety or just an occasional pedal pusher ,like me - I hope you'll support this idea and tum it into a pro- ject. And if you think that more tourists would be good for Cana- da, you may throw our weight behind us, too. Am I serious? 111 tell you what. I am only partly joking. The Trans -Canada Bicycle Path could become a reality. Maybe mot for us. Maybe;dM' a r chil- t `dren. But only you can make it work. I think the idea is less hare -brained - and cheaper - than building another nuclear power plant or diverting Canadi- an rivers to supply water to Cali- fornia. The Trans -Canada Bicycle Path would create jobs, keep Ca- nadians healthy and happy, and bring us all closer together. When are we going to get start- ed? Letter to Editor Notes from Mexico Dear Editor: Just a note from the sunny Shores of Lake Chepala. 78°F to - .day - blue skies, flowers, wild birds - all those delightfulthings. I thought you would enjoy the enclosed clipping from the English language Mexico City "News". As the writer says, many Americans and Mexicans presume you speak French fluently - if you are a Ca- nadian. There are thousands of Ca- nadians who spend their cheerful winters in this area of "perpetual spring" and many live here all year round. Personally, we prefer Canada, spring, summer and fall - and the ambiance of the best small town in all of Canada - Exet- er. But winters here are splen- did. This is not a honky took area like the coastal re- sorts, but a string of Americanized Indian villages along the lake shore. It is a place for long leisurely holidays. If you want the glitz, go to Acapulco. Puerto Vallarta or Cancun. As a matter of interest, many Ca- nadian cars carry "REFORM" stickers! Thank goodness, none car- ry the message of the "dese, dem and dis" Liberal candidate. Why isn't he bilingual? I hope your winter hasn't been too severe, but with lots of snow falling on our garden. We are looking forward to our return in early May, and the big Centralia Reunion 4-7, June *92. See you. Gibby, J.M. Gibson P.S. Thanks to our (tie nds in Ex- eter post office we receive the T/A more or less regularly. A fine paper! JMG chise owners flying to press con- ferences in corporate jets and helicopters to explain how broke they are. Yes, how horrible, a national tragedy of the worst or- der. About the most fascinating thing I can make out of it all is that the hockey card collectors should be able to double the val- ue of all 1991/92 trading cards: The Year There Was No Stanley Cup. It just goes to show that the hockey season is too long any- way. Or baseball starts about a month too early. I've also begun to hear some grumblings from the local arenas that the de- mands of the various provincial hockey association for longer ice seasons have got to end. The cost of providing such ice is pro- hibitive ($1,500 a week in Exet- er, I hear). Parents too, are beginning to get a little weary of late August hockey training camps and hockey tournaments and playoffs extending into April. I was amused by one father's im- pression of what it now means Hold that thought ... By Adrian Harte to have a son playing hockey and a daughter in ringette. He said his Canadian year used to have' four seasons; now there are just two: "summer" and "are- na". I also see that there are many out there who are taking this global warning theory rather lit- erally. The high school soccer team was actually planning* begin its spring practices -last week - only to be faced with the prospect of a thin layer of fresh snow disguising soggy muddy fields: what would otherwise be considered normal weather for March or early April. We've all been complaining about how cold March was. Last week at David Suzuki's ad- dress in Grand Bend, he warned how thellobal climate is chang- ing, and asked when anyone could remember a really cold winter. I heard one man whis- per "1992". Global climate is a fascinating field of study, or so I'm led to believe. I read a report that pointed out that Vikings used to grow grain crops in Greenland - on land we now consider perma- frost. In southem Scotland, it was possible to grow wheat in 1510, but by 1610 you could not. I imagine the same kind of slow change in this area. The vicious winters of the tum of the century are now but memories, and will someday retum. As for global warming, I do believe it is no laughing matter, but I don't expect it to happen overnight, not just yet. No there ought to be some new political party dedicated to preserving the "distinctness" of the seasons - Recognition for the fact that spring and summer are "distinct seasons" from fall and winter and should be allowed distinct cultural and social events and activities. Yes, Pm sure that with nuclear powered compressors we can keep the hockey season going year round, and endless succes- sion of tournaments and playoffs. With roofs over stadi- ums our baseball teams can play any time of year they please. But what social good would this serve? Where would be the joy of spring, the sobering cold winds of fall? No, let's keep our sporting seasons distinct for as long as possible, at least until global warming gets in the way. mscanommi Chili cookoff annual event Dear Editor: I read, with interest, your front page article entitled "Exeter - just plain boring". Although I realize it was written as an ;Vol Fools joke, the article did raise some excellent points. As entertainment chairman of the Exeter Legion I am writing to explain that we arc indeed go- ing ahead with plans to continue our "Chili Cookoff' on an annual basis. In fact, we have already booked three bands who will be providing entertainment during the day and at a dance in the evening. Currently we are negotiating with a major Canadian corporation which has expressed a desire to contribute support to the event. We are also applying for sanctioning by the Chili Appreciation Society In - al, which will allow 111) participants to gain points to- �0 ward eligibility to enter the world chi- li cookoff in Tereli- ger, Texas. This sanctioning. we are told, should also attract entrants not only from Ontario, but also from the U.S.A., which would make our cookoff a truly international event. I should point out that the suc- cess of an event such as ours is di- rectly proportionate to the amount of public support it receives. From the favourable comments we have heard since last years event, we can only assume that the Second Annual Chili Cookoff will be bigger and better than the fust. For those who plan to enter or attend please mark Saturday, September 12, 1992 on your calendar. Yours truly. David Grundy, Entertainment Chairman, Royal Canadian Legion, Branch 167, Exeter Looking into the future April 2002 Dear Editor: Exeter's blue box problem has been solved! At last night's coun- cil meeting, the mayor, the owner of Exeter's twelfth donut shop, broke the stalemate by voting to sell all existing blue boxes to a third world. South American coun- The selling price will be 57 cents per box but the freight cost to the town will be $3.26 per box. Since the abolition of the blue box program. in 1995, the battle to dispose of the boxes has raged on! The Ontario government, the New Reform party, found that only four percent of the garbage was be- ing diverted at 10 times the 11nor- The free trade mal cost. deal with Mexico made recycling of the boxes impassi- ble. Mexico is now W.gest supplier of plastic in the orld. The Ontario government suggest- ed that the boxes be used as plant- ers and window boxes. However, the green spray paint, provided by there, proved to be water soluble. The blue box compound on the Thames Road, has been sold. The two guards and the guard dog are unemployed! A new variety store chain is now building on the prop- erty. Ron Wessman 151 Sanders St. E. Exeter