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HomeMy WebLinkAboutTimes-Advocate, 1996-03-27, Page 4Page 4 Times -Advocate, March 27, 1996 AMMO Publisher & Editor: Jim Beckett The Exeter Times -Advocate is a member of a family of community newspapers Business Manager: Don Smith ►" Ass providing news, advertising and information leadership Production Manager: Deb Lord Advertising. Barb Consitt, Chad Eedy News; Heather Mir, Chris Skalkos, Ross Haugh, Brenda Burke Production. Alma Ballantyne, Mary McMurray, Barb Robertson Brenda Hern, Joyce Weber, Laurel Miner Transportation: Al Flynn, Al Hodgert Front Office & Accounting. Elaine Pinder, Sue Rollings, Ruthanne Negrijn, Anita McDonald, Cassie Dalrymple 1.1S.IM/ fa rise inion Publications Mail Registration Number 0386 SUBSCRIPTIOf!1 RATES: CMIAPA Within 40 miles (65 kat.) addnas•d to non lotto( carrier addresses 933.00 plus 92.31 a.s.T. Outside 40 miles (65 km.) or any letter cantor address 933.00 plus 830.00 (total 63.00) + 4.31 Q.S.T. Outside Canada 699.00 plus 96.3 OST (Includes $88.40 postage) Published Each Wednesday Morning at 424 Main St., Exotic, Ontario, NOM 186 by J.W. Eedy PuMleatIons Ltd. Telephone 1-519-235-1331 • Fax: 516.2680766 SAT. Naof2.Oe35 Mentality no longer acceptable ive years after the collapse �f the Soviet Union, and 10 years of eco- nomic crisis, Fidel Castro continues to rule over Cuba. Few nations and even fewer leaders survive such political odds, but the will power of one of the world's last com- munist countries seems unbreakable, especially with the proposed tightening of the U.S. embargo against Cuba. Some representatives of the United States government are finally beginning to realize that the embargo will only prolong Castro's powerful hold over Cuba. • The charismatic, cigar -smoking revo- lutionary uses the embargo to ferment patriotic hatred for the capitalist giant. Ten year of continuing economic hardship has forced Castro into making some positive changes. These include a gradual change from a completely state-owned and operated economy to a mix of and private and state business with a push to attract foreign invest- ment. Cuba is slowly becoming liberalized but remains under the spell of a revolu- tionary leader who has fought long and hard to save his country from a fate of eternal poverty suffered by the majority of Latin American countries. The United States have few or no allies in its fight to get rid of Castro. Attempts to coerce the world's nations into sup- porting aninternational embargo against Cuba are meeting resistance. A new bill created by Republic Sena- tor Jesse Helms calls for a ban on im- ports from any country that buys sugar and molasses from Cuba, and cut U.S. government contributions to the World Bank and other international financial institutions if they make loans to Cuba. Canada has every reason to be afraid of the Helms' bill. These and many other proposals contained in the proposal en- danger Canada's $500 million export trade with Cuba. Rather than playing the part of a meek and quiet friend to Cuba, it's time for Canada to speak out and call for an end to the U.S. embargo. The 'big stick' mentality of the United States towards Latin American nations is no longer acceptable in a world which is increasingly dependent on internation- al trade and co-operation for its econom- ic well-being. Your Views Letters to the editor •..1 ,(l1111/lf�tilli OCSA joins with Reynolds Aluminum Company .. We are particularly grateful to the Re- ynolds Aluminum Company of Canada for this support... Dear Editor: The demand for vital community services like Meals on Wheels is increasing as more seniors seek help to remain at home. To keep up with this de- mand, Town and Country Homemakers is looking to partner with caring companies. We are particular- ly grateful to the Reynolds Aluminuttt''Company of Canada for its support. The Ontario Community Support Association (OCSA) to which Town and Country Homemakers belongs, has joined forces with Reynolds to help 5,000 hot meals this winter to seniors and people with disabilities throughout Ontario while giving shoppers a chance to win free groceries, Town and Country Homemakers is participating with OCSA and Reynolds in this campaign and we urge everyone to shop at IGA, Food City, Price Chopper, Foodtown and some independent grocery stores in Ontario during the month of March and to purchase participating Reynolds products. For each sale, Reynolds will donate ten cents to our program. Every year Town and Country Homemakers serves over 250 seniors and people with disabilities wholesome and nutritiously balanced meals. This could not be done without the generous support of those who contribute time, money, and resources to our program. Our volunteers donate their time to drive their cards and deliver meals to the elderly in our community. We applaud the commitment of Reynolds and our dedicated volunteers and contributors without whom our program could not exist. If any of your readers are interested in learning more about how they can truly make a difference in the life of a senior or per- son with disabilities in our community, they can call Town and Country Homemakers at (519) 357-3222. Sincerely Jean Young, Executive Director of Town & Country Homemakers A View from Queen's Park Ontario's public servants should adopt more effective strategies when they strike again -- beginning by throwing out the old union song books. Striking government employees accompanied by broader public sector workers including teachers and professors stood outside the legis- lature and sang mournfully about casting off their chains. They sang, because no union singsong would be complete without it, of dreaming they saw Joe Hill last night, alive as you and me. Joe Hill was a union organizer executed in the United States in 1915 on what some beliet,e was a trumped-up murder charge. They chanted bawdily that Progressive Con- servative Premier Mike Hams is an asshole, he shall be removed, harmonized about not bow- ing down to genocide, and asked listeners to remember Tiananmen Square (in Beijing, where 1,000 demonstrators were killed by troops in 1989) and it all seemed unreal in the Ontario civil servants' strike of 11996. Some civil servants, those who will lose their ti�.%f ►:Lid r;.. • By Eric Dowd IibLD You HE'S OUT OF TOUCH ReAWITHu7Y What's news? B,'enda Burke:,. Committee clash a pain in the neck Hasn't the village got enough to deal with without this ridiculous in -fighting? With two of the village committees clashing and its reeve resigning, Lucan must look forward to a summer of change and challenge. Added to that is the responsibility of maintaining ,operations of the sewage plant'it recep y took over as well as n.possible amalgamation plans , with Biddulph Township. These larger issues, as well as many smaller ones, will cross council's table in the near future. But before anything else gets done, hopefully scrapping between the Lucan 125 Executive Committee and the • Lucan and Area Heritage Committee dwindles as celebration plans go into high gear for June. , The executive has informed the heritage their historical and .cultural displays are not allowed .in the main hall of the village community centre. The heritage committee, claiming they were given the go-ahead to use the hall in the first place, has already promised various groups they could bring displays. Now they say they risk losing credibility due to what looks like a last minute back -out. On the other hand, the executive claim they need the space for the performance of the Molly Maguires in order to earn revenue to cover costs of the celebrations. The battle, painfully simplified, is history versus entertainment. Not that history can't be entertaining or that entertainment can't be historical. But the way these two committees have been at each others' throats lately suggests the limiting view of black or white. Judging by what's been happening in Lucan during the past several months, problems seem to arise whenever people are told `no.' No, you can't put council on television (at first) and no, you can't plant trees on boulevards and no, you can't put historical displays in the main hall. Rightfully so, saying no gets tempers flaring, especially when it's done by council or a committee affiliated with council. Where is the compromise? Why is every issue resulting in a complete yes or more often, a no? Either council completely gives in (such as in the television coverage case) or bans permission with no ifs, ands or buts allowed. Lucan's heritage committee has a right to be upset. Not only did someone break an important promise to them, they've been made to feel less important than a concert. Ironically, results of a study completed by MBA students suggest Lucan needs to take advantage of its'history, it's strongest appeal. ' Besides, doesn't the anniversary of Lucan's 125th • suggest, just by its name, that celebrations will perhaps centre around history and tradition? If the displays need air-conditioning, so be it. Maybe that's what all the fuss is about. Perhaps the executive want to provide people entertained by the Molly Maguires with air-conditioned comfort. To be fair though, the executive needs the money. At least they say they do. So it wouldn't be a good idea to run a village deficit over one weekend of fun. But like many other issues affiliated with council, where is the action that makes modern sense, or at least, the attempt to compromise in hopes that someone may be allowed to have just a little fun? jobs, have been treated shabbily in that govern- ments of all parties could not say no and kept hiring. Bankrupt taxpayers can no longer afford to keep them, but at least they will get much more generous severance benefits than those in the private sector. The remainder of the government employees will sit mostly in their comfy offices with rea- sonable pay and perqs. There is no connection between their world and the appalling exploita- tion in U.S. mines a century ago, the closest they come to oppression is having to stand out- side for a smoke and the only race that is endan- gered by government tightening is the stampede to go home. These public servants also have little in com- mon with groups representing the needy, like the Coalition Against Poverty and Network for Social Justice, who rushed to the microphones vowing to work together for their common CaUSC. The public servants do not have to worry • where their next meal will come from and there Now that could earn alot of respect is no record that when high school teachers got their handsome $65,000 a year salaries they rushed to share them with the poor. The Ontario Public Service Employees Un- ion also will have learned that it is better to run its own strike and not accept the help of tough industrial unions. While OPSEU ran the pickets, the politicians, non-union staff and news media got into the legislature building to work subject to minor delays the union asked for on the ground this would show respect for its picket lines. When the industrial union heavies took over, they prevented even some MPPs from reaching the legislature, a fundamental breach of the rights of MPPs and the public, who are entitled to have their elected representatives there to speak and vote for them. Four students who smashed windows when the legislature was not even sitting have been charged with intimidating it and the pickets' blockage went further and while that does not excuse subsequent violence by police it should prompt the civil servants to wonder if they have the right friends. Public servants next time also should meet hard-pressed taxpayers halfway with ideas how they can save money. The province's employ- ees could offer to give up one of their many paid holidays, such as Remembrance Day, pro- vided so they can attend war memorial servic- es, although probably not one in 50 does, and which others including teachers and schools • manage without. Teachers might offer to forego some of their professional development days timed conven- iently near weekends or the now notorious $32,000 retirement bonuses many get for not claiming sick leave when they were healthy. Professors paid an average $73,000 and other staff at most universities might volunteer to give up the free tuition their children get, the oddest perq because energy ministry employees do not get free hydro nor employees of the Liq- uor Control Board free scotch -- now that could earn a lot of respect. 1 14,