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Times Advocate, 1997-07-30, Page 4Page 4 Times -Advocate, July 30, 1997 Publisher -& Editor: Jim Beckett Business Manager: Don Smith Production Manager: Deb tord Advertising; Barb Consitt; Chad Eedy &WS; Heather Mir, Craig Bradford Brenda Burke, Kate Monk, Ross Haugh Production: Alma Ballantyne, Mary McMurray, Barb Robertson. Brenda Hem, Joyce Weber, Laurel Miner Transnortation: Al Flynn, Al Hodgert Front Office & AccounUOg; Elaine Plndor,"Sue 'Hollings, RuthSlaght Ruthanne Negrijn, Anita McDonald, Cassie Dalrymple, Carol Windsor The Exeter Times Advocate Is a member of a family of community newspapers providing news, advertising and information leadership o Arecent edition of the London . Free Press finally screamed the good news we want to hear. The economy is looking better. Consu- mers, by all accounts, are spending.' Yet -after the turn to an inside pages is the bad news. There are still more than 1 mil- lion Canadians unemployed. Countless • more are underemployed. So if the economy, is booming, where is the money going? While the heads of big companies are beaming, personal disposa- hlc income rose in only -one of the past four quarters of the year. -We can look to the corporate concentra- tion which .started in the late 1980s, contin- ued unabated in the early 1990s and, ap- pears to he continuing now. That means more money into the hands of the rich and less into the hands of the middle class. - That less money' for the majority of people in Canada ; - the people who need to be 'confident and spend the money they are given. • - Small businesses, not large corporations are the ones we need to really take off for wealth to be better distributed in our socie- ty. 14.1)1 ()1Z1:\1.ti We're ready to spend? - We have yet to see that in Wingham, as rural communities struggle -to find new ways to develop wealth. Yet in these times, there are some encour- aging signs in the numbers. Unemployment has dropped to 9.1 per cent, still much too high, but encouraging, considering the rate dropped despite more people joining the 'search for jobs. It's a far cry from the four .to five per cent in the United States, but bet- ter than many European countries.. Low interest rates have resulted in cheap-- er mortgages and car loans, as well as cheaper short terra loans. That means peo- - ple who have renegotiated their mortgages have more disposable_ income and they will spend that. Governments too have been helped tremendously by low inflation rates in their fight to bring down their deficits.: Soon they may be cutting into the debt-. Continuing to underlie the good news is the problem of youth unemployment, which remains stubbornly high. Young people don',t have mortgages to renegotiate or usu- ally the-downpayment for new homes. Until we can get them jobs which pay better than McDonalds, we won't have the economic turnaround our Canadian society needs. Wingham Advance Times Your Views Letters to the editor • r Fundraiser. Festival a success "Hopefully we can do it again next year, as ideas are already being discussed." Dear Editor: The weather was perfect, the entertainment was absolutely the greatest, the meal truly delicious, and all of our events were well supported by the local communities. We, the Crediton and District Optimist Club, along with the Stephen Township Firemen. couldn't have possibly wished for more. This was our first try at such a,major function as this, and after the ini- tial glitches were ironed out, the whole day ran as smoothly as planned. We would like to express our appreciation to all the arca businesses who donated so generously to us. and to all those people who boughs tickcts.on these prizes. A special thank you goes out to our tireless volunteers who helped us set up, clean up, and also put up with so much; And finally to the res- idents of Crediton, and others who held yard sales, for our first Townwide Yard Sales, and to everyone else who navigated around the extra traffic, thank you so much. Hopefully we can do it again next year, as ideas are already being discussed. If anyone can give us some tips on new events, or on how to improve any- thing, we gladly welcome any comments. Feel free to approach any Optimist member or at- tend one of our meetings held at the Parks Board Room, Crediton, the first Tuesday of each month at 7:15 p.m. So once'again, thanks to all who helped us make our first Crediton Fundraiser Festival the success that is was. Sincerely, Brenda Morgan, Elected President of Crediton and District Optimist Club A View From Queen's Park By Eric Dowd ecw Publications Mail Registration Number 0386 • One year rate for Canada subacdbers - $35.00 , OST Two year rate for Canada subscribers - .63.00 ♦ OST 0/111111.BAIf>E Outside Canada -5102.00 Published Each Wodnesday Morning at 424 Main 5t., Exeter, Ontario, NOM 156 by 1.W. Eedy Publication Ltd. Telephone 1.51$235.1331 • Fax: 51$235-0756 a.s.T. eta05210s35 1 SUPFbSE WITH ONTARIO EVER-EAsING LIQUOR LAWs, WE SNoULDN'T 13E100 RPRIsEDi.r Student Employment By Carrie McCone Average earnings by education level Many people wonder whether or not they. should try to get a lot of education and as much training as possible in order to get a well paying job. Well as obvious as it is, with more edu- cation and more training, comes more money. But not only do those with lots of education and training have higher paying jobs, they also have more career options to choose from. The following is the estimated earn- ings that one would receive with the stated grade level. Grade 9-11 - $8,00-15,000/ year -Food Counter Attendant -Home Support Worker -Janitor and Cleaner -Cashier -Unskilled Laborer -Service Station Attendant High School Diploma - $11,000-20,000/year -Waiter and Waitress -Day Care Helper -Receptionist -Data Entry Clerk -Sales Clerk -Stock Clerk College, University, Appren- ticeships - $20,000-$40,000/ year -Managers in Retail, Restau- rant, Hotel, Sales & Marketing -Community & Social Service Worker • . -Science Technician & Tech- nologist -Hotel & Accommodation Su- pervisor -Early Childhood Educator -Registered Nurse , -Journalist -Desktop Publisher Specialized University De- gree, Apprenticeship- $40,00- $70,000/year -Accountant & Financial Ad- visor -Teacher -Computer System Analyst -Architect -Head Nurse -Engineer -Power System Operator -Horticulturist -Scientist -Lawyer -Librarian -Power Linesperson These are interesting figures especially if you are student that is thinking about either drop- 1 ping out of school or not attend- ing anything further than high school: Personally, I am more relieved to know what sort of financial status I might have af- ter fter 1 am finished college. 1 would rather know. that after all of my hard work is done. I can hopefully find some sort of employment that will allow me to earn up to $40,000. These sort of outlooks are necessary when planning your future. One should try to focus on 'what they want in life and how to ob- tain it. There is no sense tru- ing to sit back and let life hap- pen. The only way that you can make something out of your life is by putting something back into it like education and some sort of employment. Once you feel satisfied with your ac- complishments. you'll feel bet- ter about everything else that surrounds you. Next week, there will a article submitted by a fellow student employment officer Cherilyn Bylsma. She will be writing about job readiness. Until next time, good luck with your job search and if you have any ques- tions about, student employ- ment, you can contact me at 235-1711. TORONTO -- Premier Mike Harris has react- ed to an invitation to meet the mayors of Onta- rio's big cities as if he was being asked to step in the ring to meet Mike Tyson. The members of the Large Urban Mayors Caucus of Ontario, representing 25 cities and half the province's population, kept asking the • Progressive Conservative premier for three months to meet them to discuss concerns. Their biggest is the province's plan to make them take responsibility for services that will cost them hundreds of millions of dollars more a year. The mayors form an influential body of opin- ion and include many in Harris's own party and he might he thought happy to spare time for them. But Harris kept protesting he was far too busy, although his official itinerary some weeks was so thin it looked like nobody was in- viting him anywhere, and he found time for such useful public events as several golf tour- naments and a salmon hum. Harris suggested the mayors instead meet his municipal affairs minister, Al Leach, but the mayors figured accurately that Leach does not make the big decisions. Leach also may not be in cabinet much longer because he has made a succession of blunders, including drawing up a first plan for municipal- ities to take over services which had to be dras- tically cut back, and violating rules of fairness that brought him rebukes from the legislature Speaker and integrity commissioner. The mayors insisted that they wanted to see Hams and eventually went public, complaining that he was totally ignoring and even afraid to meet them, and now the premier has reluctantly agreed to a meeting on Aug 11. Harris has a thick skin and normally does not shy from confrontations, so it can be assumed that he is not thoroughly comfortable with his government's plan, and would prefer to have Leach identified with it and take any wrath. Harris finds time to meet with mayors The province's path to having municipalities take over more services has not been smooth. It originally wanted them to take over a wider range, but watered this down and now wants them to pay more of the costs of services that include welfare and social housing. It became recognized quickly that major mu- nicipalities will have to pay more because poor- er people tend to become concentrated in larger communities which provide the services they require. Many move from surrounding smaller communities which do not provide such servic- es and are therefore relieved of cost. Metropolitan Toronto, which will be unified in one city in another contentious Tory change, estimates that its costs will jump by $347 mil- lion a year, less than the $530 million the prov- ince's original proposal would have cost, but enough to send its property taxes soaring. Most other large urban centres say they also face big tax increases and the Hams govern- ment still has not given any indication that it will provide adequate compensation. Suburban municipalities around Metropolitan Toronto have become concerned because the province has hinted that it may make them pay part of social service costs in Toronto, which earlier seemed unlikely because these areas provided bedrock support for Harris in winning the 1995 election. The province has still not come up with fig- ures on how much more municipalities will have to pay, and their general feeling is this is because many of the increases will be big enough to frighten municipal taxpayers. The Association of Municipalities of Onta- rio, representing municipalities of all sizes, is already suggesting that when municipalities send out their tax bills next year they tack on an explanation that the province forced them up. Municipalities have never felt more uncertain about their future, but they may find Hams will merely tell them to do what he is doing, and keep cutting services.