HomeMy WebLinkAboutTimes Advocate, 1984-07-25, Page 4Page 4
Times -Advocate, July 25, 1984
Times Established 1873
Advocate Established 1881
Amalgamated 1924
Serving South Huron, North Middlesex
& North Lambton Since 1873
Published by J.W. Eedy Publications Limited
IORNE EEDY
Publisher
JIM- BECKETT
Advertising Manager
BILL BATTEN ROSS HAUGH
Editor Assistant Editor
HARRY DEVRIES
Composition Manager
DICK JONGKIND
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'
Unwelcome visitor
Most area residents probably don't need to be
reminded that it's been a wet spring and early sum-
mer. The growth of their lawns, to say nothing of the
weeds, is ample verification.
However, what they may not know is that most of
that rain has been bringing along an unwelcome
visitor. Almost as regular as the downpours has been
the high acidic content of the rain.
Environment Canada issues reports regularly on
readings taken at the Longwoods Road Conservation
Area near London and the reports in May, June and
July have been consistently acidic.
Environmental damage to lakes and streams is
usually observed in sensitive areas regularly receiv-
ing precipitation with pH less than 4.7.
On July 11 the reading was 3.8 and on June 2 it was
3.6. The latter, by the way, is nearly equivalent to
vinegar.
The acidic rain, unfortunately, has been matched
in its consistency by the lack of political action on both
sides of the border to reduce those levels.
Clearly, time is running out! !
Ranks are thinned
One person's gain is often another's loss and that
is certainly the case regarding recent defections from
the Ontario Liberal ranks into the federal field.
Four MPPs have•already advised Ontario leader
David Peterson that they will be joining Prime
Minister John Turner's team for the September 4
election.
Given the fact that incumbents in any election
have an advantage over their opponents, the four
ridings involved will become more difficult for the On-
tario Liberals to defend when they are mustered to the
next campaign and obviously that is a rather
precarious position for a party which has not enjoyed
much success over the past 40 years or so in this
- province. -
The loss of Sheila Copps, runnerup to Peterson in
the leadership race, is particularly devastating
because of the stature she has earned in political
circles and the drawing power she has been able to
generate with women.
The situation is one that will not go unnoticed by
Premier William Davis and his PC strategists. He may
well decide to get to the polls while the Liberals are
in a period of disarray and some despondency in los-
ing four proven winners from a team that can ill -afford
to lose any strengths.
Issue continues
The contentious retirement issue is back in the
news again.
The question? Should healthy individuals be allow-
ed to continue in their jobs beyond the age of 65, or be
forced to retire?
With 73 -year old President Ronald Regan running
again for the highest office in the United States. (he'll
be 77 if he wins and completes his term) and a surpris-
ing number of Canadian politicians who are over 65,the
issue becomes fundamental.
If Regan is capable of running the most powerful
nation on earth, why can't healthy and capable in-
dividuals handle ordinary jobs after the mandatory
retirement age?
Indeed, with many unionsnegotiating agreerrients
that force workers to retire at age 60, or even 55, we
seem to be swinging in the opposite direction.
We're not suggesting that Canadians should be
forced to work past retirement age, but neither should
they be forced to leave their jobs. Politics, or course,
is one of the few professions where there is no retire-
ment cutoff date. The other is small business, where
people still maintain the freedom of work after 65.
Members of the 64,000 strong Canadian Federation
of Independent Business, for example, fully support
such a right.
In a vote among members, a full 77 percent re-
jected lowering the government -mandated retirement
age.
The open-ended retirement principle also seems
to be winning some support from the courts. In at least
two situations, courts have decided in favour of in-
dividuals who wanted to work after they were 65.
While the cases may be appealed, this seems like
a move in the proper direction.
Like politicians and individuals operating smaller
firms, ordinary Canadians should -have the right to
choose.
Petting pigs proves profitable
Did you pet your pigs today?
That may appear to be an unreasonable
question for a busy hog farmer with hun-
dreds of screaming voices urging him in-
to top speed, but it may well be part of a
profitable management technique.
Dr. Leo Bustad, keynote speaker at the
recent Canadian Veterinary Association
convention in Guelph, had statistics to
point out that petted animals live longer
and stay healthier.
Experiments with mice and chickens
show them to be more resistant to disease
as a result of being "gentled". Petted pigs
record faster growth, earlier sexual
maturity and over double the conception
rate of pigs that are fed but otherwise
ignored.
As president of the Delta Society, an -in-
ternational body that studies the human-
animaI bond, Dr. Bustad has come to ap-
preciate the historical and universal
nature of the relationship. As far hack as
the 19th century it was observed that men-
tal patients benefitted by caring for
animals.
Today, he said, we live in a world in
which the 13,000 -year-old bond between
humans and animals is being severed as
far as city dwellers and apartment
dwellers are concerned. "No pets" is a
standard for many facilities, including in-
stitutions into which senior citizens are
placed. "We leave them to die of
loneliness of the spirit, cut them off from
the pets that might have sustained them,"
he explained. "They often suffer the loss
of the only living creature that gave them
O unconditional love and needed them. We
are doing these people a great wrong."
Bustad whimsically noted that when he
gets to be dictator, there will be a change
1
in the architecture of buildings to suit the
needs of old people and animals.
Other interesting aspects of the work
being undertaken between animals and
humans is that of prisoners learning to be
BATT'N
AROUND
with the editor
trainers of dogs for the handicapped.
There is a marked reduction in hostility
among criminals when they have a pet to
look after.
In concluding, he noted that the Toss of
a pet for some people is comparable to the
loss of a child and he urged veterinary
practitioners to "weep with them' and
never say "it was only a dog".
•
Despite the value of pets that has been
verified in studies with criminals,
children, seniors and institutionalized
people, there are many who hold different
views of some members of the animal
kingdom.
Municipal councils know well the pro-
blem that is associated with dogs running
at large, as do farmers who have
livestock killed or molested. The
youngster who has been mauled by a pet,
or anyone bitten or otherwise attacked,
has good reason to question the keeping
of animals as pets.
However, it must be remembered that
the basic problem in all but a few isolated
instances is not with the pet, but rather
with the pet owner.
Animals that are properly trained and
cared for seldom become problems for
their owners or their neighbors. Unfor-
tunately, few animals can rise above their
circumstances.
f t
A recent issue of the University of
Guelph news bulletin contained a
reproduction of the "Veterinary Medical
Tariff" which was adopted by the Ontario
Association in 1875. Given the economics
of farming in those days, the fees must
have been considered fairly stiff.
Surgery costs, exclusive of medicine ex-
penses, ranged from $3 to $7 for remov-
ing tumors and warts, parturition in
horses and cattle was $5 to $10 with $3 for
removal of placenta, castration was $2 to
$5, extracting molar teeth $4, examination
of horses for soundness $2.
Vets expected a bonus for being hauled
t of bed and charged 25 percent extra
fo calls during the night. However, it is
interesting to note that the time frame
for the extra charge was between the
hours of 11:00 p.m. and 6:00 a.m.
However, the biggest shock must have
been for farmers who lived some distance
from the nearest veterinary. The mileage
rate was $1 for the first mile and 50 cents
for every additional mile.
Obviously, vets must have been able to
feed the best of oats and have their bug-
gies in tip top shape.
Some
You've possibly been
wondering wh I haven't
been writing out cur-
rent affairs: the forthieth
anniversary of D -Day; the
Liberal leadership cam-
paign; the Popes pro-
jected visit; the Queen's
projected visit; the
lateness of the strawber-
ries; the price of beer and
other such trivia.
I didn't write about the
D -Day anniversary
because it would have
been contemptible of me.
I wasn't there. My heart
bled with the old veterans
on TV as they searched
the cemeteries of Nor-
mandy for the names of
oldcomrades who had died
on the beaches, and wept
at the waste of young
Canadians. I got a lump as
big as a golf ball in my
throat, and wept a little
too.
But I wasn't there. On
Ds -Day, 1944, I was playing
softball in Nor-
thumberland, a god-
forsaken, cold, wet (even
in June) pteoe of England
, up near Scotland.
Oh, we'd heard the news
on the radio, and we were
excited and a bit disap-
pointed that we weren't in
on it. But the casualties
hadn't started yet, and a
bunch of us who had been
training and training and
training, on Spitfires, Hur-
ricanes, then Typhoons,
were formed into a
makeshift squadron to
repel a counter-attack
from Norway, just in case.
There was no counter-
attack. So we played soft-
ball. Somebody sprained
his ankle. That was D -Day
for me. A year later, half
of us were dead.
I didn't write about the
Liberal leadership cam-
paign, because I don't like
inhaling hot air unless it's
current affairs
good for me. But I did
watch and hear the final
speeches and the conven-
tion. Could have been
there if I'd bothered to get
a press pass. No thanks.
I've been to political
conventions, and I've seen
proud, ambitious men
swallow their pride, ambi-
tion, and dignity scrambl-
ing for a few votes from
displayed. Eugene
Whelan, looking like an
old elephant heading for
that mystic elephant
graveyard, made it first,
big green hat and all.
John Munro, about as
much like John Turner as
I am like Pierre Trudeau,
made the long walk to
Chretien. Then came John
Roberts, -a handsome, elo-
Sugar
and Spice
Dispensed By Smiley
_r �f
delegates who don't repre-
sent the people, but The
Party. It's a bit sickening.
Turner had it made
from the beginning,
because the delegates, at
least a majority of them,
wanted a Winner. So, as
some clever man wrote
to the Globe and Mail, we
now have a smart, rich,
good-looking chap
representing one of the
major parties, and a
smart, rich, good-looking
chap representing the
other. Both are lawyers.
Turner had better pro-
duce or he's a gone goose.
Mulroney had better pro-
duce or he's baloney. Slic-
ed. Take your pick.
What. was interesting
about the convention was
the reaction of the losers,
who knew they were going
to lose long ago. Mark
McGuigan, who even look-
ed like a jackal,
scampered to Turner after
the first ballot.
It took some guts to go
across to Jean Chretien.
And some guts were
quent cabinet minister.
Hugs and kisses. The only
thing missing was the
ghost of Judy LaMarsh,
whose famous, "We've
gotta stop this bastard,"
did not endear her to
Pierre Elliot T., at whom
it was aimed . when he
donned the crown, about
fifteen years ago.
Just remember, these
guys were laying their
political future, and about
$65,000 a year, on the line,
when they joined the loser.
It was a display of loyalty
and guts and damn the
torpedoes which made all
the sweaty, shrieking. bor-
ing parts of the convention
worthwhile.
Enough about the
leadership campaign.
Which it wasn't. It was
really a Liberal campaign
for the next election. And
all the hysteria produced
might last two weeks, in a
Canadian summer.
So. We wind up with a
guy on one side who never
won an election until after
he was leader, and
another guy who hasn't
been in office for ten
years, squaring off to be
P.M. Lord help us.
Now, let's get back to
the Pope. He's coming to
Midland, where I live, in
September. There's a bit
of panic, naturally, about
security, traffic, and
whether the stores can
stay open on Sunday after
he's left.
I'm sorry, but you're too
late. I'm completely book-
ed up for the Popes visit.
I've divided my entire
house into two by six feet
sleeping spaces, and the
entire space has been
taken by a Pittsburg
group called the Holy
Moses Maria Polish Socie-
ty. They get kitchen and
bathroom privileges.
There will be only two
hundred of them at $100
for the weekend. I over-
sold just a tad, and will be
sleeping, myself in the
toolshed. Two of my
closest friends, whom I
couldn't refuse, will be
sleeping in my car. With
their wives.
Well, that takes care of
the • Pope. Unless he
cancels his visit because
John Turnercalls an elec-
tion for that day. If he
does, there'll be a Polish
massacre. Of John
Turner.
As for the Queen, we've
never been close. She's
been ticked off at me ever
since I didn't go to the
Garden Party in 1945, for
ex -Prisoners of War. She
wasn't the Queen then, of
course. She was just
Princess Elizabeth, but
apparently she was check-
ing the list and she circled
my name in red.
Red! That's the name of
the girl for whom I forsook
the Garden Party.
The system stinks
"To discredit the former
prime minister and the
Liberal party for the
patronage appointments
is to give the public a par-
tisan and misleading view
of the Canadian political
process.
The patronage basket of
appointments to govern-
ment boards, the judiciary
and the Senate is there to
be used. Can anyone ex-
fect party leaders to
orego this prized source
of largess.': - Mario
Iacobacci, Parliamentary
Intern, House of Com-
mons, Ottawa.
(Maclean's, July 23, 1964)
Phooey. And phooey
again. As far as I am con-
cerned the whole
patronage system stinks.
Pork -barrelling is exactly
the right word for it. You
grease my palm and I'll
grease yours, eh?
The problem is that the
approached about such a
job and the first question
asked her was whether
she was Liberal or Conser-
vative. (I guess the NDP
�agiASVIUMINA
ayaent .:_ f
ito
Perspectives
patronage system extends
right down to the local
constituencies when of-
ficials are hired for depu-
ty returning officers and
enumerators in the com-
ing election. A lady was
By Syd Fletcher
weren't even being
considered).
To me we are ap-
proaching a blatantly cor-
rupt society when a depar-
ting prime minister gives
out 255 patronage appoint-
ments, jobs that are full of
prestige and excellent pay
benefits. To butter it all
over as Mr. Iocabacci
does by calling it a part of
the political process
makes it no better. If it is
part of our political
system then it is about
time it was changed.
If theseobs were
available and necessary
(which I somehow doubt
in the case of many of
them) then they should be
applied for properly and
applicants chosen on the
basis of their ability and
qualifications, not how
close they snuggle up to
the person in power.
Patronage is wrongand
I'll vote for the person who
plans on changing such a
system.