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Times Advocate, 1992-07-01, Page 4Page 4 Times -Advocate, July 1, 1992 Publisher: Jim Beckett Nows Editor: Adrian Harte Business Manager: Don Smith Composition Manager: Dfb t.ord L. Publkstions Mel Registration Number 0386 $tl$SCRIPTION RATES_ CANADA Within 40 mites (65 km.) addressed to non otter oanier addresses *30.00 plus *2.10 A.S.T. Outside 40 miles (85 km.) or any latter oanier address 630.00 plus *20.00 (total 50.00) + 3.50 O.S.T. Outside Canada *68.00 • of "Men are never so likely to settle a question rightly as when they discuss it freely." ... Thomas Macauley Published Each Wednesday Morning at 424 Main St., Exeter, Ontario, NOM i$0 by J.W. Etooly Publications ltd. Ultebone 1415.2$ d.as1 GAS. Mt10452101= Government expansion can't pass for job creation onomic he 1992 Ontario budget in- cluded a $2.3 billion five-year plan to create jobs, support ec- restructuring, and promote community and social programs. Those are the government's own words describing the program. Only now are we finding out how that money is actually being spent. While many people merely laugh at the notion that governments can create jobs, others believe spending on special projects can do much to jump-start the economy. Yon can envision a grant program to get companies investing in technologies to produce new products, or perhaps a training program to im- prove the chances of the unemployed landing a job. Instead jobsOntarioCapital we find is being spent by the government on themselves. Ministry of Community and Social Services minister Marion Boyd announced last Wednesday that her ministry would be using $97.1 mil- lion of the fund to help build non-profit child care centres and renovate and ex- pand existing centres in the province (mostly in metro Toronto, we can guess). The jobs created include the construc- tion contracts to build the centres, and the operation of the centres themselves. How can they qualify as job creation when they are essentially agencies of the province? No doubt many believe such day-care operations are needed. Many mothers might be heading back to work if they had access to quality day care, but to call government day care a job creation program is Orwellian at the least. We also see that on Friday, the Minis- try of Agriculture got their share of the fund, setting aside an undisclosed sum as "an opportunity to undertake much- needed projects at various ministry re- search and educational facilities". Centralia College will get new green- houses and renovations to a workshop as part of the jobsOntarioCapital program. Premier Bob Rae several months ago said he saw a need to upgrade Ontario's infrastructure to improve the economic climate. We thought he meant roads and airports, maybe he still does, but to call expenditure on existing or new govern- ment operations a job creation plan is outright boondoggle. A.D.H. A sitting end to 150 years Congratultiitions are in order for the Stephen Township Sesqui- centennial Committee for be- ing able to put some meaning into a 150 years of history. A century and a half isn't really all that long a time, but unlike other mu- nicipalities celebrating much longer lifetimes this year (Montreal's 350th for example), Stephen Township can boast i of dramatic changes in that short time. i A .hundred, and fifty years ago, Stephen 1 and other surrounding townships con- sisted of only a few pioneer farms dwarfed by surrounding forests. It isn't likely the next 150 years will see quite as much change in the landscape, physi- cal or political. These are the years worth celebrating. Many people visited the weekend's cel- ebrations held in Crediton, and those we spoke with all enjoyed the events. The sesquicentennial was marked with all the enthusiasm one could want or ex- pect. No doubt the organizing committee are proud of their achievements, and they have every right to be. A.D.H. It's NOT Canada's birthday Birthday celebrations are fun, and everybody loves a parade. i don't want to ram on ours. So please, don't get me wrong! 125 years of what? I just want to ask this ques- tions: what exactly are we sup- posed to celebrate on July 1st? Canada's birthday? Balderdash! Canada is much, much older than 125 years. What happened 125 years ago was nothing earth shaking, really nothing to get excited about. Back in the 1860s, a bunch of Canadian and British politicians - every bit as drab as our present crop - decided to make some constitutional changes in British North America that would turn four British colonies into one British Dominion. On paper, a few things changed on July 1, 1867. In reality, almost. nothing. The human species took pos- session of Canada about 40.000 years ago. Every habitable part of this land has been populated by humans for many thousands of years. So when the Vikings and later European adventurers "discov- ered" Canada, it was already a country. It was home to . Jame dreds of•Indian,and Inuit bands, from the Pacific to the Atlantic, from the Arctic to the Great Lakes. Gradually, over a period of 150 years, some of Canada was taken over by Europeans who 1111110. Peter's Point • Peter Hessel claimed it for themselves. By 1759, most of it had come under British rule. The administrative borders of the British colonies . were re- arranged several times. When- ever that happened, nothing really changed for the inhabi- tants, except that the original 'people and their descendants were displaced mote and more by the newcomers and thcir de- scendants. By and large, the -country was ruled . from London, England. The colonial power saw Canada as a source for cheap raw materi- als and a place where unproduc- tive and unwanted sagiments of the population could be dumped. 1867 - birth of a nation? So 1867 rolled around? The birth of a nation? It depends on what you call a nation. Confed- eration was no big deal. For mostly administrative purposes, the three British colonies called new Brunswick, Nova Scotia and Canada (i.e. Ontario and Quebec) were combined into a larger British colony (called a British Dominion). The way I see it, this particular shuffle was only one in a long series of political, bureaucratic and constitutional shuffles that had started much earlier and that still hasn't ended. Other British colonies and territories were added to the stew later, and it wasn't until the 1980s that we fi- nally severed our last apron strings with the British "mother- land". No reason for birthday candles But to call July 1, 1867 Cana- da's birthday is a falsification of historical facts. The country we now all cherish did not begin in 1867. So there is no reason to light any birthday candles on that date. Which doesn't mean that we shouldn't celebrate July lat as "Canada Day". As 1 said before, Kew term tome 8 The black art of shortwave So here I am, installing a new aerial on my radio -cassette player (boom box, for those of you with more street -wise vo- cabularies). The antenna got broken off when someone, who shall remain nameless (alright - it was Jim), stepped on it be- cause somebody else left it on the floor. I think more people borrow it than I use it myself. Why did I buy it in the first place? Ah yes, I just had to have a shortwave receiver, didn't I? At the time I could only find two boom boxes with world band receivers, and I could afford only one of them. It seems•they are hard to find because there are all kinds of people out there who don't know what obsessive fun it is to twid- dle the knobs looking for that perfect broadcast. Shortwave is not a convenient form of entertainment, but it is quite unique. Generally, you have to listen at night, which adds to the impression it is a kind of black art. The programs arc often buried between bands of static and noise and a nudge of the tuning wheel will often skid right past a program. But as far as I know, there is no other way of bringing live broadcasts from Switzerland, In- dia, Australia, Britain, Brazil, or wherever right into your living room in Exeter, Ontario. So last night, I set it up beside my bed and began roaming the bands in search of broadcasts in a lan- guage I could understand. Many countries beam transmissions in English towards North America, so it's not hard to find something of interest. Within a few min- utes I had managed to hear the international news from the BBC, Austria, Germany, and Switzerland. The Voice of America were broadcasting a Hold that thought ... By Adrian Harte 113 feature about NASA (they al- ways boast about NASA), and the BBC were on about why some British court judges still wear wigs - I kid you not. I passed by several bible - thumping broadcasts. I don't know who funds these things, but the common theme is usual- ly a preoccupation with the works of Satan rather than God. There were some differences in the news, but all started out with the UN decision on Saraje- vo, as did the news on my clock radio the next morning, so those who continue to believe in a me- dia conspiracy will just have to be convinced it has gone com- pletely worldwide. What was missing, was Radio Free Moscow. Maybe they're gone for good with the loss of the Soviet Union. But there was always something eccentric about their broadcasts. Every- thing was always positive and rosy in the communist regime - bumper crops, new industries - and everything was always in disrepair in the United States - usually delays in NASA pro - Lt tt�_ f If, Editor grams. Even if they are still out there, I doubt they'll be the same. Radio Cuba must be the last holdout. Radio Free Moscow always used to read out letters from people from other countries, usually England, who wanted to knew more about the glory of the socialist experience. I often wondered whether the letters were genuine and caused a Scot- land Yard car to be parked out- side that person's home the next day, or whether they were secret codes for KGB spies in resi- dence around the world. In fact I wonder the same thing about Voice of America broadcasts. I must read too many spy novels. The main thing to remember is that almost no shortwave broad- casts have advertisements. The stations are mostly branches of the governments they represent and they all have their own kind of propaganda attached. There probablyaren't many better ways of being able to step out- side our own borders without leaving your living room (no, American cable TV doesn't count). As Canada Day is here once again, maybe a good way to find out what Canada is, is by find- ing out what it is not. Seeing the world through the eyes (or ears) of others shows us how we see it differently. Ddn't believe me? Then bor- row someone's world band radio and vend an hour picking up those faint signals from far away. If you aren't intrigued. you aren't trying. Input from abused women needed Dear Editor: The Coordinating Committee Against Woman Abuse - Huron County is sponsoring a study of community awareness of issues and services related to woman abuse in Huron County. The aim of this research is to help the coor- dinating committee develop a strung network of accessible and appropriate services for women who are victims of abuse by their partners. We have recently completed lie initial pan of this three -stage pro- ject: 400 community interviews. We arc about to anbark on the second stage of the project, which involves interviews with women who have experienced abuse from their partners. The voices of women are critical to the succuss of the project, since women are the exports on their own experience. In order to provide the most accurate evaluation of exist- ing,erervice, we need to hear from women who have needed these ser- vices. We are interested in hearing what help women needed, what help women found, and what help was unavailable. It Is important to understand what changes would make services more accessible; we need to hear about neg- ativb as well as positive experi- ences with help - ins agencies, and we need to hew From waren who might trove needed ser- vloe, but never ,(for whatever rea- son) oontaeNd any of the irking Similasr projecls in other areas of the province have reached only a very small proportion of the wom- en who experience abuse (for in- stance, in London 50,000 flyers were sent to households in the city: six women responded to these fly- ers). We are hoping to speak to more women in Huron County. We will have a telephone line available from July 6 to July 10, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. The toll-free long distance number is 1-800-267- 3861; the local number in Gode- rich is 524-5072. Interviews can be conducted over the phone or in person, as preferred. If you can belp.by talking to us, please call. Jacquie Burkett Project Coordinator Community Awareness of Issues and Services Related to Woman Abuse - Huron County.