HomeMy WebLinkAboutTimes Advocate, 1992-04-08, Page 4Times -Advocate, April 8, 1992
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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