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HomeMy WebLinkAboutTimes-Advocate, 1984-04-04, Page 4Tlmes•Advocate, April 4, 1984 Ames - Times Established 1873 Advocate Established 1881 Amalgamated 1924 dvocate Serving South Huron, North, Middlesex & North Lambton Since 1873 Published by I.W. Eedy Publications Limited LORNE EERY Publisher . JIM BECKETT Advertising Manager BIH BATTEN ROSS HAUGH Editor Assistant Editor HARRY DEVRIES Composition Manager DICK IONGKIND Business Manager Published Each Wednesday Morning at Exeter, Ontario Second Class Mail Registration Number 0386. SUBSCRIPTION RATES: Canada: $22.00 Per year; U.S.A. $60.00 C.W.N.A., O.C.N.A. CLASS 'A' and 'ABC' Some common sense John Bulloch, president of the 26,000 -member Canadian Federation of Independent Business, makes common sense with some of things he and his pro- business organization have to say about the economy and government. But he's slightly off -base when he says that Cana- dians are pricing themselves out of a secure job. Mr. Bulloch made his comments earlier this month after a Federation study suggested that 41 percent of Ontario manufacturers (of those responding to the survey) said they'd consider moving their business to the United States because of cheaper labour, a lighter tax load and better business attitudes. The survey said that manufacturers here believe that'Canadian labour costs are more than those in the U.S.; that -the Meeting of labour standards is higher here; and payroll taxes far outpace those in the U.S. The survey is likely correct on all counts. What Mr. Bulloch and his Federation neglects to mention is that for too long some American states have been practically giving away their resources so that business is attracted. An acquaintance told us last week that Louisiana has the lowest per ca fiita income in the United States. It's about $1,600. We would guess that the average per capita income in Ontario is at least $6,000 or $7,000. And we live much better than those living in Lousiana. And the high labour standards here? In Detroit last week General Motors sent a letter to 2,400 workers at one of their trim plants. Apparently, the incidence of cancer is greatest at this plant; If General Motors had spent about $40 per worker, the state of Michigan would have saved a potential $60,000 for each worker. put in- to a public hospital because of a disease he contacted at work: Race for power It's a great year for spectator sports. Every day's news brings us fresh reports from the United States where three candidates are vying for leadership of the Imocratic party and a chance to meet Ronald. Reagan head-on for the presidency of the United States. . In Canada, of course; we have something very similar, although the two nations operate under differ- ing politicial systems. As the Liberals must name a new leader within a couple of months, no less than six men have emerged 'as contenders for the Trudeau mantle. So far the odds appear to favor John Turner, the man who has waited in relative silence for eight years since he resigned from the finance minister's post. Jean Chretien, a staunch Trudeau man and holder of six or eight cabinet jobs during his more than 20.years in government, looks like a strong second 'choice, but his French accent will remind delegates that it is supposed to be' the Anglos' turn for prime Moving to The political leader most deserving of our support will be the man who has the clearest view of Canada - and the world - which is reshaping to meet the changes of the electronic era. No politician can alter the inevitable revolution which has been under way for two decades. Thoughtful writers are telling us that we are living through a transition more profound than was the industrial revolution. The significant fact is that this economic and social unrest will not be spread over a couple of hundred years. It is here and now. One author says we have entered the information age, as opposed to the industrial age. Already more humans are employed to provide the information that A recent session in front of a full lengtt. mirror has given me food for thought - the only kind without calories. I need to lose 10 ugly pounds without resorting to the ex- treme measure of cutting off my head. Reducing diets and I are old friends. I have lost, or temporarily misplaced, hun- dreds of pounds, and am prepared to say au revoir (till we meet again) to many more. Goodbyes are so final! . Down on the farm, animals are divid- ed into two categories, poor and good feeders. Poor feeders are the farmer's despair. Buckets of protein -rich grain and bale after bale of sweet hay vanish without a trace into walking skeletons. Good feeders, on the other hand, gain weight on a regime of potato peelings and sawdust. I am a good feeder. If I were a Hereford heifer, I would be showered with honours and acclaim at the Royal Winter Fair, and my calves would be worth a fortune. Alas, 1 am a human, and my calves are worth nothing to anyone but myself. Thin is in. The sight of a skinny model in a fashion magazine reminds me of a Kipling poem. Rudyard understood the phenomenon no better than I when he wrote: 1 ministership. The four remaining contenders are still possibilities because strange things do happen at political conventions, as Joe Clark can attest. The great hoopla over the Liberal leadership is stealing a good deal of the limelight frq> $Tian Mulroney, the newly -elected leader of the Prosressive Conservatives, who had a great -thing got for his par- ty as long as Mr. Trudeau was on the other end of the see -saw. The television camera has revolutionized politics. The man who looks more heroic and who is quickest with the smooth answer catches public attention. What we really need, as serious Canadians, is not more glamour shots but some solid and thoughtful policy declarations - clarification of the ways of which each of these men would seek to restore the pride and unity of our nation. Wingham Advance -Times the future are those who produce real goods. Their tool, of course, is the computer in all its thousands of applications. It becomes obvious therefore, that our greatest need is education = training of younger people to fit them for the new kinds of tasks which lie ahead. Our schools are beginning to face these challenges, but very -slowly. Post -secondary schools are eons. behind in their comprehension of the necessity to fill a vital role in the new society. Will our new political leaders be able to grasp the significance of what is taking place around them? Weighing In "A fool there was and he made his prayer (Even as you and I ) To a rag and a bone and a hank of hair (We called her the woman who did not care). But the fool called her his lady fair." by Yvonne Reynolds ,Away Soynds repulsive, doesn't she? Yet I long Oa be in style. I find as 1 grow older that weight becomes increasingly easy to put on, and more and more difficult to take off. When I lamented to a literal -minded young friend that I have reached the age of bulges, bifocals and bridgework, she look- ed at me in astonishment and exclaimed, "1 didn't know you played bridge!" t Wingham Advance -Times Maybe those extra pounds aren't so ob- vious after all. I do plan to shed them, though, for economical as well as aesthetic reasons. I will save on the groceries, and won't have to purchase a new, larger wardrobe. I have not decided whether to ask my friend M. to again diet with me, or go it alone. A few years ago M. and I made a solemn pact, sealed over coffee and jelly doughnuts. We would diet for the next month. At the end of that time, the biggest loser would be the winner, and the reci- pient of a cup and saucer from the other. We weighed in, checking each other's avoirdupois on the scales. For the next weeks, the more I thought about dieting the more I lusted for fried chicken and heavenly hash ice cream. M. was faring no better. At the end of the month, after locking all doors, pulling down the blinds, and stepping with trepidation onto the scales, we agreed more time was needed, and ex- tended our contest for another three weeks. I hate to brag, but I won. After all our efforts, I was only one pound heavier than when we had started. M. had dined five. Have to go and see my kid brother this week. I don't have to. Nobody in his right mind has to have anything to do with his relatives. From birth to death they are.a pain in the arm. When a baby is born, all the eyebrows go.up at the choice of name, unless it happens --to be . one of theirs, or that of a rich .uncle. Asked my grandboys the other day what their second name was. Balind, who sometimes doesn't know his anus from his elbow, promptly retorted,"William". His second name was the same as mine, in case I'd be pleased and leave him something. Asked the other guy, who knows everything, from why Gran's crying to why Grandad is in a tear- ing rage. He, muttered, "Chen". I'd forgotten. His parents named him that, don't ask me why, because they were on an interna- tional kick, and Chen means "first-born". Por little devil. His full name in Nikov Chen. Imagine what the CIA will do with that when they take over Canadian intelligence. Notice I spelled the last word without a capital. Next time the relatives act like Little Jack Horner is when your kids get mar- ried. Despite the fact that the couple has been living together for nine months, your blasted relatives want a church wedding, with the; bride in white, a big reception where everybody pretends that the newlyweds are virgin, there are some adolescent speeches right out of the l -don't have to age of Victoria, and somebody cuts a cake that nobody would eat with a 10 -foot pole. This costs roughly five to 10 thousand dollars so that the couple can go on living in sin, but with a paper to prove that they're not. And the third occasion and we all' went -.away rather dazed, enriched beyond our dreams, and with only a few grudges. We were all so young and unsophisticated that we let an aunt have a beautiful chaise lounge, which wound up as a period piece in, of all places, Australia. Sugar and Spice Dispensed By Smiley on which the relatives get their arms into it, right up to the elbows, is when somebody dies. This is when the real _Christians emerge. "Mom always said I could have that tea service." "Well, that's what you think. I was there the day she died and she distinct- ly stated (arm twisted behind her, back) that I could have not only the tea service but all the linen." And so on. I'veseenall this, but not experienced it. After my mother's death, my elder sister was mutually ap- pointed arbitrator. And she arbitrated: "Two sheets for you, two for you. Two blankets for you, two for you. Two linen tablecloths for you, two for you. Two' beds for you, a dining -room table for you. Everyday china for you, plus the silver coffee pot. Good china for you, plus the chamber -pot." And so on.; It was like being at an auction, without any bids, My aunt didn't want it. This hasn't much to do with going to see my kid brother, but I still think that he thinks he got screwed (he was in Paris at the time) on the family split-up, and covets the hand -carved stool my Dad made, which I traded off for an upright piano of dubious vintage. Maybe nota Maybe he just wants to see me. Maybe he wants to apologize for all the times he trailed me all over town when I was seven and he was five. I would first hiss at him, then shout at him, to go home. He'd hang on, a block behind, crying like a fire siren, stubborn as a hound following a fox. He's challenged me to a game of golf. This is quite understandable. It fits the pattern. I could always beat him at everything, and he wants the masochistic satisfaction of being trounced once more, before he retires to that wonderland of golf where evertbody takes a Mulligan, everybody rides an electric cart to the next hole, and everybody discusses every shot at the 19th hole. On the other hand, maybe he wants to talk about all that money I bor- rowed from him when he had a paper route and T was a -- well, a sort of freelancer. Every Saturday night, I used to lock him in the bathroom and freelance about two-thirds of his weekly take, so I could go to the movies. Saw him in Germany a few years ago, and he was still keeping track. He figures I owe him 28 thou, - sand, 500 and some dollars, with compound interest. Perhaps he just wants to remind me of all the girls he had taken away from me, over the years. He never took anyone of any real consequence, but he took some very fine prospectives. On the fourth hand, maybe he just wants to rub it in to me that I'm a failure. He retired as a Colonel with a chestful of medals. I quit as a Flight - Loot with four or five medals mouldering in the basement. He has been at the beck and call of generals, am- bassadors, and such. He is divorced - fashionable. I am married - un- fashionable. He is charm- ing, multilingual, has tasted the fleshpots of Europe. I am a typical suburban slob. 'Or maybe the poor little fella just wants to see the brother he used to pillowfight with, every Saturday morning. Talented dish washer If there's one thing I'm good at it's washing dishes. Believe me, I've trained under the greatest artists in this field. I worked at the Ipperwash army cadet camp back in the days when you just couldn't find good people to man the sinks -and the dish- washing machines. My sergeant now. Pa- tience like you wouldn't believe. For example, my first day there. Twelve hundred cadets were com- ing in with their dirty dishes. Only me and one other rookie dishwasher manning the plate stacks. Higher and higher the dishes got. Closer and closer to the ceiling. And when they crashed and over "Fletcher there sure aren't many around here like you, and then Perspectives By Syd Fletcher halfway across the kit- chen, that sergeant came in and only cursed at us in three languages and 1 know for a fact that he was fluent in six. Why' I remember that sergeant telling me over heading back to his office just as pleased as punch with me because I had on- ly broken three plates and one cup that day. A new record. I know that I was close to indispensable around there because next thing you know I got promoted to washing pots and pans and anybody that could handle the grease detail had to be really good. See- ing that hard work really benefited one I put my all into those frying pans hop- ing that more good things would be in store for me. Sure enough before the end of the summer my in- dustry paid off and I got assigned to sterilizing the garbage cans. It was good to know that here in Canada a person who really wanted to get ahead could work his way right to the top of an organization.