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HomeMy WebLinkAboutTimes Advocate, 1998-03-11, Page 4Page 4 Times -Advocate, March 11, 1998 Publisher & Editor: Jim Beckett The Exeter Times Advocate is a member of a family of community newspapers providing news, advertising and information leadership Business Manager: Don Smith Production Manager: Deb Lord • Advertising; Barb Consitt, Chad Eedy • News; Kate Monk, Craig Bradford, Brenda.Burke, Ross Haugh Production; Alma Ballantyne. Mary McMurray, Barb Robertson Brenda Hern, Joyce Weber, Laurel Miner Transportation: Al Hodgert Front Office &•Accounting; Sue Hollings, Carol Windsor Ruthanne'Negrijn, Anita McDonald, Cassie Dalrymple, Ruth Slaght, Mrs - EDI1ORIAL Publications Mail Registration Number 07511 $UBSCRIPTION RATE* One year rate for Canada subscribers - $35.00 + WIT Two year rots for Canada subscribers - $63.00 ♦ OST OTHER RATA Outside Canada - $3.02.00 Published Each Wednesday Morning at 424 Main St., Exeter, Ontario, NOM 156 by J.W. Eedy Publications Ltd. Telephone 1.518-236-1331 • Fax: 519-235-0768 emall:ta@eedy.com O.S.T. #R105210835 Government finally "cuts up the plastic" ravo to the federal govern- ment for bringing in the first balanced budget in 30 years'. The provinces are not happy be- -. catlsc,they expected more money in transfer lrtynlents,.thc rich people are -annoyed because they were pretty nine!) excluded in tax 'concessions, stu- dents presently in debt up to their eye- Mills are furious hecatise none of the announced 'education assistance clauses will help.them, and people in midwest= ern Ontario are miffed at being consid- cre<d a ''reiliote location". for purposes .ol bu ittass lunches. But no , one is criticizing Finance Minister Paul Martin. .Sonic people have hoted,the reason the giovernment has been able .to hring in a balanced buds et,this round has •more lo do with a favorable economy and WIN 10,W illts;resl,rales than -with, anv government action. in -other words, Nl rtiii ltick,ed otlt:, But still, no ope is, 'critical. The reason is simple,. People like hearing good dews. and no doubt about, it, this is a good news budget. Martin , told the, taxpayer exactly what,he -ant- ed to hear. • . • For quite some time now, there has' been a growing concern about govern- ments our owns and foreign - spend- ing tomorrow's tax dollars today. As the"happy days are here -again mentality of the post' war baby boom faded into the reality of downsizing, layoffs and restructuring which charac- terize the past decade, people became. suspicious of individual and family - deht. But debt on a much larger scale remained acceptable. Governments kept borrowing so they, could pas around goodies'- a hospital here. a school there, and let's build a fabulous new super highway while �1e're at it. This mentalitymade'perfect sense when newlyweds with no sayings ,could go out and buy.a huge, new home" "and a couple of cars on credit. It fit the optimism of a time when plastic had re- placed cash, and .no one worried about debt because. there were plenty of jobs, lots of money and unlimited potential - - the American dream come true. The dream meint the average family was a single paycheque away from fi- nancial disaster, and.disaster hit when those high paying, industrial jobs dried, up, to he replaced by lower paid service. sector jobs. People started cutting up the plastic, and making do with less. Even those who had not suffered job loss, suf- fered a different sort of loss - loss of cont idence.• Deht once again become something most.pcople feared. Governments were slow to, get the -,message, but finally, the voter spoke loudly enough to he "heard. Paul Mar- tin's budget is the correct response for the tittles. This isa budget people may not like a iot, but they feel comfortable with it. It does not offer pie -in -the -sky solutions. it does riot offer.huge concessions. It does not offer substantial "goodies" to any- one. More to the point; it is an acknowl- edgement the government is "cutting up . the credit cards" and taking control of its spending. It is very much in keeping . with how people feel. The average taxpayer does not believe for a moment that happy days will once . 'again return.if the government can only come up with the right eGonomic formu- la. He suspects things could be better if .government would approach its budget • with the same caution that he uses as an . individual That.is why -this budget sounds so posi- tive. It is not a good news•hudget despite the 'lack of big promises and'inajor con- cessions: it is a good news budget he - cause of it. reprinted fano Saugeen C'ir► New.% What's on your mind?. '0 0� The Times -Advocate continues to welcome letters to the editor as a forum for open discussion of local issues, concerns, complaints and kudos. The Times Advocate reserves the right to edit letters for brevity. Please send your letters to P.O. Box 850 Exeter, Ontario, NOM 1S6: Sign your letter w;th both name and address. Anonymous letters will not be published. A View from Queen's Park TORONTO -- Premier Mike Harris and his Progressive Conservatives are a party unsure of themselves as they are off and stumbling to- ward an election. The Tories have lost poise after a series of in- dications that they are vulnerable. The most de- flating is that despite appearing on track to keep key promises to cut income •tax and bal- ance the budget, they still have fallen in polls to 33 pelt cent. the lowest level since winning the 1995 election. Barris. has responded with musings about pos- sible new policies. -among them that he will run on stamping out a mythical crime wave, prom- ising romising to `'let Ontarians take back the streets" and assuring "the right of all Ontarians to feel physically safe in their homes and on the streets." One problem with this is while there is justi- fied concern about crime, it is not a dominating issue except in a few limited areas, and there are no signs the Tories could use it with great sticcess•in an election. By Eric Dowd According to G.I. Ncvcrcry, an internationally acclaimed millenni- um child rearing psychiatrist. eve- ryone has the potential, to he the perfect parent. • All it takes, he explains in his hest -seller, 'Perfect Parenting' (re- tailing for a low $169.95) is the pa- tience of a snail. the stamina of a race horse and the. organizational skills of a world-class ant colony. , Being a new mom •and having, spent the past nine months on an extended maternity leave. 1 was dy- ing to see what this expert had to say. Drawing.from his vast life experi- ence as a 'long-time baby ferret farmer and relying 'on superb skills picked qp while observing his rcla-. tive's children through binoculars. Ncvcrcry promises a moncy-hack guarantee' if you enroll in his fa- tuous two-hour seminar and end up raising Icss than perfect kids. Believing parenting was `a skill •that could he taught. especially by an expert. I readily signed up. wip- ing the %pit -up off my shoulders and standing up straight to counter- act the effect of baby oogling pos- ture. The most important rule. the man Simple Cruelties By Brenda Burke Perfect Parenting claimed. while snacking • on animal Crackers' at the front of a packed. Southwestern Ontario auditorium, is never, .e►'er, ever, ever let your Children- hclieve they are the boss. Even infants quickly learn to ma- niptilate adults. he warned, adding parents .who give into their. chil- dren's wishes'will forever regret it. Such a mistake,, could inevitably. lead 'to the shakes or even trauma to the outer layer of.thc brain. Ncvcrcry also had tips for dress- ing and feeding infants. "Buy 40 identical neon -colored, • snap -bottom sleepers in various siz- es," he calmly suggested to a room full of awestruck . parents. •"This way," he nearly whispered, you minimize worries .about expensive fashion - trends they quickly grow out of. and ata glance.. you can identify your kid anywhere on the: face of the earth." - • ' - As for feedirg. he advised giving children only what, they like, such as honey -covered wieners- .and ketchup on spignetti. • "Besides. w hat's more impor- tant." he mused. "small nutritional gains from yucky greens or a hap-' py, foul -smeared kid!" He also informed the group of upcoming'seminars • including Breastfeeding Basics: how ,to ap- pear confident • in' public places; Normal Nap Times: how to induce your young one into,a 36 -hour cat- nap. (Such sleeping patterns, he ex- plained, are better'than wee naps ort a daily basis since frantic parents with no time on their hands can get more done in a 36 -hour stretch than in little 15 -minute intervals.). Although 1. silently wonder about this man's -credentials, one piece of his advice may hold , true. ,On a green sheet of paper titled 'Back to Work Wonders', he figures out how mother's can case themselves back into the workforce and their chip=, dren into some sort of child care. ,"Jot down the number 24 and multiply that by seven. if you come up with the nuinher 168. congratula- tions! You've taken the first step to realizing there aren't enough hours in a day or days in a week to be a parent and live your own life." "But," he concluded in his au- thoritative,. voice. "by simplifying your existence, it can he achieved. All one has to do is eliminate day- ' to -day unessential tasks such as eat= ipg, sleeping and taking the time to cut your toenails," • • Other Tories are tossing around the idea of strengthening consumer protection, particularly in car collision repairs, but the trouble here is they have developed a reputation for disman- tling consumer protection and allowing business owners, mostly Tories, to clean up their own acts. Harris, so jumpy he cannot sit still, has set off on a tour of what he calls community roundta- bles around the province to collect views, but packed them so only his own supporters can ask questions, suggesting he is nervous about meet- ing the public. The premier has conceded several times that he needs to change his image, which has been one of slashing services and jobs to save mon- ey, and look more humane. But he blew his first major opportunity by of- fering meagre compensation to the three surviv- ing Dionne quintuplets, saying it was final, then quickly retreated when criticized, admitting "this hasn't been our finest hour." One obstacle for Harris is that he does not fit Turnaround from the last edition naturally in the role of gracious benefactor and knows it. When reporters asked whether he will change his image for the election, he could not resist replying sarcastically: "Yep. ' The real kind, gentle, concerned Mike Harris, the one you've grown to know and love, will be there before the'pcople." Harris will try to recoup by bringing in a law, not mentioned in his 1995 Common Sense Rev- olution platform, requiring government to hold a referendum before it can increase a tax, which will appeal to the many concerned with finan- cial prudence,'but his bigger need is to show that he has heart. The premier in the latest poll lost support par- ticularly among senior citizens, yet. he has since cut the number of visits doctors can make to nursing homes and chronic -care hospitals, which cater to the elderly. Harris and leading Tories keep leaving end- less strategy sessions, repeating that their prob- lem is merely a failure to communicate, but while they insist that their policies arc blame- less, they miss chances to remedy defects. The Tories have said they will put more prior- ity on criticizing Liberal leader Dalton McGuinty, who soared to 46 per cent in the lat- est poll, but they should appreciate that McGuinty is high in polls not because of any- thing he has done, which is negligible, but be- cause their own actions have been found want- ing. - Harris also is now saying that, although gov- ernments traditionally call elections every four years, he may hold off until the year 2000. The premier seems worried that he will be un- able to fulfil all his election promises in four years, and he has said many times he will re- sign if he fails to keep any, or if he keeps them he will still be too low in polls to risk an elec- tion. All this is a turnaround from the last election, when Harris won not only because he had poli- cies that appealed, but also because he exuded confidence about them. Now he has less to be confident about.