Times Advocate, 1992-07-22, Page 4Pape 4
Times -Advocate, July 22, 1992
Publisher: Jim Beckett
News Editor: Adrian Harte
Business Manager: Don Smith
Composttlon Manager: Deb Lord
Publications Mall Registration Number 0386
liii5CRIPTIDN RATES: CANADA_
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i;1)1'I'( )1Z1 kl
Ah yes, democracy
idast week's hearing over the
Exeter police budget is not
something one risks wagering
on. No one .would bet on what appears
to be a foregone conclusion.
It would appear, from the clues the
audience of 50 or so could pick up, that
the hearing was .not likely worth the
cost of the electricity to light the hall.
The chances of the Civilian Commis-
sion on Police Services supporting the
town's desire to restrict the police bud-
get are very slim indeed.
While we would invite the commis-
sion to prove us wrong, it is most likely
that the town will be told, very politely,
to keep such petty matters as municipal
politics, taxes, and ratepayers out of the
Ministry's legislated right to take care
of its justice system and police forces.
The hearing (they promise to hear, but
do they listen?) was likely conducted to
provide the commission with sufficient
ammunition to support their predeter-
mined position. They got plenty.
Frons the police services board, they
got a detailed budget, explaining how
the cost of each and every item was de -
cided. From the town, they got an ad-
mission that the budget trimming re-
quired to meet the $510,395 target was
purely arbitrary. Instead of explaining
how council saw how savings could be
made in operating the police force, the
town offered a political position; a po-
sition the commission clearly stated
they did not want to hear.
Sorry, but that's not my department...
Statistics explaining how much other
municipalities paid for policing were
presented by both sides, effectively
cancelling each other out - although
chief Jack Harkness did not explain
how he selected his comparison munic-
ipalities (why was Windsor on his
list?). Ir
The town gave some good reasons
why policing costs should be kept in
check, but basically talked all about the
costs of policing everywhere except
Exeter. The panel obviously wanted to
talk about Exeter's budget, not anybody
else's.
Chairman of the meeting, Douglas
Drinkwalter evidently interrupted the
presentations only when it served to sup-
port the police services board. He
asked, for the public's benefit, for an ex-
planation of the fixed costs of the com-
munications system, about the fact that
the 5.9 percent wage contract with the
Police Association had been set last
year, he asked about the duties of the po-
lice secretary as special constable - all
questions to which he already knew the
answers. Drinkwalter also asked about
"ability to pay". Obviously because Ex-
eter homeowners pay less property tax
than counterparts in London, or Toronto,
they can afford more.
Despite claiming to only be interested
in dollars and cents, the commission tol-
erated two presentations that strayed
from the meeting's intent. We heard one
impassioned plea on how the police are
worth .anything we could pay them be-
cause of their success in an abduction
case last year (although that would seem
to suggest that as they are now, the Exet-
er police are very capable of handling
even the most demanding cases).
The other presentation managed, in an
attempt to lobby for more police pro-
grams, to make a very good case for
why government agencies should be pre-
pared to subsidize preventative policing
programs.
Are we also to believe these people
came forth of their own volition, or were
they encouraged to speak by a member
of the police board?
Not that any of it made a difference at
all. The cheque was already in the mail.
If the town really wants to give the
Ministry of the Solicitor General free
reign in policing Exeter, maybe they
should cut a deal to pay four times as
much as Hensall council pays for OPP
coverage.
Hensall, of course, pays nothing.
A.DJI.
Rain, rain, here to stay?
1 must admit, 1 have optimisti-
cally endured the unendearing
weather we've had for the first
two and a half months of my
summer, but sitting in the office
on the first day of what is sup-
posed to be the first of many
days of showers I began think-
ing I was glad I was working.
What would I do on a rotten
day like today that only reminds
me that everyday the massive
hole in our ozone layer is getting
more massive everyday?
1 decided to ponder that and
challenge myself to come up
with at least 10 diverse things 1
could be doing today tf it were
my day off. I hope this list will
be sufficient to help people of
all ages and socioeconomic
backgrounds who are frustrated
with what to do on a rainy day.
. Go to the Huron County Li-
brary and take out The Old Man
in the Sea to remind myself that
Earnest Hemingway once wrote
for the striking Toronto Star.
2. Stop procrastinating and
flip through my Western calen-
dar to choose that dreaded essay
course that we illiterate econom-
ics majors must tackle for our
B.A.
f
3. Learn how to actually think
like a chess player rather than
fake it on pure luck.
4. Rent Rock 'em Sock 'em
Hockey enth Don Cherry video
Adding
Thought to
Sense
by
Michelle
Ellison
ti
and leam the art of hockey vio-
lence.
5. Go to the Oakwood Pub,
listen to Glenn Bennett and
drink Drambuie with the bar-
tender.
6. Visit my grandparents, be-
cause I'll want visitors someday.
7. Watch the video of Boris
Becker's championship match
when he became the youngest
player ever to win Wimbledon
and reminisce about the days
when every summer day was a
day off!
8. Go and see a matinee of
Marc Camoletti's Don't Dress
for Dinner at the Huron Country
Playhouse or one of the many
matinees at thc Stratford, Shaw
or Blyth Festivals to support the
underfunded arts in Ontario.
9. bind an off-road bike trail
with a cesspool of mud to do
some real mountain biking.
10. Actually read the Exeter
Times -Advocate from front to
back.
I suppose these well thought
out suggestions will probably
appear on a bright sunny day
when no one has any real use for
them. But, remember. scientific
evidence is suggesting that the
jet stream is pulling down cold
arctic air and will prevent the
tropic air masses from the south
to reach Canada for the rest of
thc summer. This, it is thought,
could be directly related to the
volcanic ash which exploded
from Mount Finatubo in the Phi-
lippines as well as the Kuwait
oil fires. So, since it seems the
fact that it will soon be August
is not going to be enough to
combat these uncontrollable ele-
ments. feel free to hold onto to
elm dynamic suggestions for
later this summer.
"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 136 by J.W. Esdy PubMoatleas Ltd.
Telephone 1-626.235-1331
e.$.T. Nt tostteaae
No apologies necessary
English speaking Canadians
have had an identity problem
since Day 1 (whenever that
was). We hate it when people
confuse us with Americans or
lump us together with them.
And yet, when we want to ex-
plain who we are to a foreigner,
the conversation often goes like
this:
"We're not like the Americans
because we have a Prime Min-
ister and a Queen instead of a
President."
"Oh, you mean like the Brit-
ish?"
"No, we're not like the Brit-
ish. They have a House of
Loads, and we have a Senate."
"Oh, you mean like the Amer-
icans?"
"No,we don't elect our Senate.
Not yet anyway. And maybe we
never will. Maybe well get rid
of it altogether."
When we talk about our Ca-
nadian English, we insist that
it's distinctive, and we proudly
point to our dictionaries of Ca-
nadian English.
"We don't write labor and
plow like the Americans, we
spell them labour and plough."
"Oh, you mean like the Brit-
ish."
"Yes, but we organize our
program instead of organising
our programme. And we vulca-
nize tires instead of vulcanising
tyres."
"I sec. So you follow the Brit-
ish spelling sometimes and the
Amencan spelling at other
times...."
It's at that point when we tell
them about our real differences
"It's not just the spelling and
our political institutions. We ac-
tually call some things by differ-
ent names. Like the walleye. We
call it a pickerel. And the wood-
chuck. We call it a groundhog."
UMW
O.
Peter's
Point
•
Peter Hessel
If our foreign friend is still not
impressed, we continue:
"And we have the CBC, the
Canadian Broadcasting Corpora-
tion."
"Well, the British have the
BBC, and the Americans have
PBS."
"We have a cradle to grave
medicare system."
"So does every civilized coun-
try except the USA."
"Ours is getting too expen-
sive."
"So is everybody else's."
It can be frustrating. WE know
we're Canadians. We know we're
different. But how do we prove
it, eh?
Even our animals are having
an identity crisis. Take the robin.
He's not the British robin (Erith-
acus rubecula), he's Turdus mig-
ratorius. Or the buffalo (Bison,
bison) has nothing to do with
Bubalus'bubalis, the real buffalo
who lives in India and Africa.
The animal we call moose is
really an elk (Alces alces), and
the one we call elk is really a
Letter to Editor
deer (Wapiti or Cervus canaden-
sis).
So what can we do to improve
our image in the world as an in-
dependent nation, as a distinct
people? Should we throw out
English and French and create
our own Canadian language? Or
leam to speak Inuktitut? Should
we take off our jeans and T-
shirts and work on a national
costume? Stop eating hambur-
gers and invent some typically
Canadian dishes?
Nonsense. The rest of the
world is rapidly becoming as
North American as we are.
I have a better idea. Rather
than apologizing for not being
American or British, let's decide
to be Canadian. Instead of just
talking about it, act Canadian.
Let's top looking over our shoul-
der to the south or across the At-
lantic. The Yanks? Who are
they? And who cares about the
British?
We've no rzzason to apologize
for anything. Our country is so
beautiful and such a good place
to live in that it puts most other
nations to shame.
So you don't like the way we
pronounce the word "either" or
spell the word fuddleduddle?
Stuff it! You don't think we
should call a thrush with a red
breast a Robin? Who are you to
tell us what to call our birds?
We don't owe the world an ex-
planation, and to tell the shock-
ing truth: the world doesn't real-
ly care. It only matters to
ourselves. So, finally, here's my
point: The time has come to stop
searching for our national identi-
ty. Who are we? Just Canadians.,
Dashwood Industry layoffs
Dear Editor:
This article is in reply to Mr.
Duffy from Dashwood Industries
in the July 15 paper.
Mr. Duffy is upset about having
to lay off students, who they em-
ployed for the summer, because of
poor economic conditions. Well
what about those full time employ-
ees who have put in years of ser-
vice with Dashwood, with fami-
lies, only to be temninated just
before the .hiring of these stu-
dents?
That doesn't say much for your
way of operations Mr. Duffy, but 1
don't feel that economic mss are
that bad that you -
couldn't even
send a letter to
these employees
or a phoae call to
u least tell thein
that they are termi-
nated because of lack of sales in
these economic canes, but no just
call yourself to find out what your
situation is. Maybe a letter of
1
thanks for their years of. service
might have been nice.
A few years ago when your oper-
ation was busy they were the ones
who worked long hard hours in the
heat too. •
1 agree students need summer
jobs to help with school and hous-
ing, but right after the termination
of full time employees? Do they
think that all of these students will
come back after they get their de-
grees and assemble doors and win-
dows?
Al Monteith