HomeMy WebLinkAboutZurich Citizens News, 1981-02-05, Page 4Page4.
Citi:Ms News February 5, 1981
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"You're in big trouble, fella —
smoking in a public place is a serious offence in this town!
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Major issue masks the minor
It is common practise in political campaigns
to mask the real issues with issues which sound im-
portant, or perhaps inspire the voter's imagination.
These secondary issues are important, but are
not the main issue. President Kennedy masked the
social and economic problems of the United States
in the early sixties, by sending a man to the moon.
Some would say our own leaders are masking a poor
economic record by talk of patriotism and constitu-
tion.
While a poor economy is often masked, certain
aspects of Ontario's upcoming provincial election
lead us to believe it may be the economy which is
doing the masking.
Government spending on everything but its own
bureaucracy is being cut back because of a slow
economy.
Bill ;Davis has stated under his leadership On-
tario would continue to expand its nuclear energy
capacities.
While increased energy resources would un-
doubtedly pick-up Ontario's economy, the outstan-
ding problems of chemical and radio -active wastes
have been overlooked.
It was reported this week about 34 million
gallon of radio -active wastes, left over from World
War Two weapons development, was dumped into
wells next to the Niagra River, near Buffalo.
Documents prove the company and U.S.
government agencies involved, deliberately dispos-
ed of the wastes in this manner, thinking any pollu-
tion, from seepage into the river, could not be.legal-
ly traced back to them.
That government was not prepared to pay the
expenses of disposing of the waste properly.
Ontario environment groups are current ;y play-
ing 'hot potatoe' with a chemical waste dump to be
located somewhere in southern Ontario.
Developing nuclear energy to strengthen the
Ontario economy may be a wise plan, but not if it
masks the real, expensive problem of permanently,
disposing of wastes - safely.
Awareness helps the blind
This year is the 35th anniversary of White Cane
Week, an education week from February 2 to 7 co-
sponsored by The Canadian Council of the Blind and
The Canadian National Institute for the Blind.
"CNIB is a volunteer organization which con-
tinues to expand its services to people across
Canada who are experiencing vision problem," said
Robert F. Mercer, Managing Director of the CNI$
"During White Cane Week we would encourage
you to give special thought to blindness prevention,
learn more about blindness and how you can assist
visually impaired persons.'
Take the opportunity to find out more about
CNIB and the services many ways a blind person can
benefit from them. You might also like to help by
devoting some of your spare time to volunteer
work, such as driving a blind person to an evening's
entertainment, going shopping with a visually im-
paired person, or reading important material to a
student, and getting really involved with Mind peo-
ple.
Remember, too, the Eye Bank znada. By
signing a pledge card you can donate yid,' eyes and
help somebody to regain eyesight through a corneal
transplant.
The slogan for this year's White Cart, Week is
'Blindness Is Everyone's Concern'. Make it yours.
Well, we are in the midst of another election.
All the signs were there, the 1.8 billion dollar
carrot on the five-year plan stick. This could have been
considered a blatant attempt of the Davis government
to buy the Ontario people for another four-year term in
office. The opposition parties knew that an election
was forthcoming and so did most of the people. The
question is, can we stomach it?
We have just finished two federal elections in the
last two years and enough television coverage of the
Quebec referendum to last a life' time. Politics is an
importiant issue, but do we have to spend two or three
months listeningto campaign speeches and media
coverage?
The parties have repeated their policies over and
over again and are not going to change
So why all the hype when a candidate comes to
town'? He (or she) is not going to say anything new, the
rallies don't change the people's minds. If you're for a
certain party, you go to the rally, if not, you don't go.
The television commercials don't sway anyone and the
signs on the lawn only detract from the neighborhood.
The only thing that this proves is there is support for
the candidate from his own people.
Most people don't really .mow the issues or really
care what is happening at that level of government. It
ends up as a popularity contest with the one with the
best public relations people coming out on top.
There can be mud -slinging in the election, an at-
tack on each other's personalities. The last federal
election reminded me of two groups of kindergarten
students standing in a school yard and sticking their
tongues. outateach other and calling names.
The most important part of any election is the
amount of money that each party spends during the
campaign. They fly everywhere or take a train or a
bus. They take everyone and his brother along with
them, which can be expensive. It would be easier just
to stand each candidate in front of a plane and have a
picture session for about half an hour, then he could
hand out the speech he was going to give that day and
that would be it.
Even when this election, is over, there is going to
be another in Quebec this year. Then the whole cycle
will start over again, probably with more intensity.
With these prospects, woe, for a benevolent
monarch.
*
The let's get completely silly department: There's
an educational institution about 40 miles away which
has on its grounds an excellent faculty of nursing and
one of the best teaching hospitals in all of North
America.
At this particular institution there's one student
who is pretty ticked off over something so trivial that's
hardly worth mentioning aside from the fact that it's
so trivial that it's hardly worth mentioning.
Our student had the misfortune of catching his or
her thumb in one of the institution's doors. The student
went to the information desk where a request for a
bandaid was made. No bandaid could be found at this
location so the student headed for the institution's
health services department.
Our bludgeoned student was told by the
department's secretary that certain forms would have
to be filled out, the student's OHIP number would have
to be recorded and that a doctor must attend to the
"wound" before a bandaid would be forthcoming.
Red with anger (Editor's note: sorry, I couldn't
miss this attempt at a poor pun) our student proceeded
to a variety store located on the institution's grounds
where he purchased a package of bandaids.
You would think that for a student fee of almost
$100 a bandaid could be provided for a not -seriously in-
jured student at the University of Western Ontario.
Published Each Wednesday Sy J.W. Eedy Publications Ltd.
Member:
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Ontare* Weekly Newspapers Association
News Editors - Mork Hough end Rob Chester
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