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The Goderich Signal-Star, 1974-05-16, Page 3M1 JLtK' S JOT TIN OS FROM QUEEN:S PARK Ontario. Hydro announced - last week that it was proposing increases of 15 per, cent in the cost of power to municipal used utilities in 1975. The utilities buy in bulk from Hydro andira turn supply the majority of On- tario's 2 1/2 million users. Hydro said further' that it an- ticipated annual increases of 10 to .15 per cent through the period 1975' to 1979. During the discussion of the expenditure estimates of the „. Ministry t,of Energy, opposition ,uin,wWuvz..rtty members attacked Hydro's proposal in the legislature. They said the increases were more apt to be I, per cent than ' 10 per cent and this if com- pounded meant a doubling of Hydro's charges in five years. ' Opposition' members - stressed upon the Minister of Energy that he .had to Step in and tell Hydro that it must not dpuble its ratcrx over five years. • Hydro's rate application will be reviewed by the Ontario Energy Board in public hearings -begin- ning June 10th. The board will make recommendat' n to the Government. Mr. McKepugh, Mi stet .of energy, told opposition mem- bers that he was concerned about the proposed increase I1 and indicated that Ontario Hydro's proposed ,r,ate • in- creases for the rest ..of the decade are staggering. .He said the government would have to look' things after the„ board has made its examination and report. , Ontario -Hydro tried to justify its rate of, increases by, laying emphasis on the fact that it had been hard hit by the escalating prices of coal, oil and natural gas. Coal used to. fuel the majority 'of Hydro's Thermo stations will increase 34 per cent in price this year and another 17 Rer cent in 1975, ,ac- cording to Hydro. Oil and natural gas prices are likely to rise even faster and more thap ; 60 per cent of' new generating "- units commissioned before 1980 will be -fired by coal or oil. . Recognizing the impact of - current inflation on., Ontario Hospitals, Health Minister Frank Miller said he will allow w, Hospital Boards that can prove need to spend perhaps $100 million more than spending w ceilings permit this year. The increase grant will'be given on an individual basis to hospitals whose applications are ap- proved. Mr. Miller told the legislature extra funds will be r r - v U yka GODERICH .SKO'N4L;STAR, THURSDAY, MAY 16.: 1974 P4G11 2 • 7 Ontario Hydro proposes 15 percent, increase automatically granted to cover forced costs, additional expen- se's to Hospitals for higher unemployment' insurance, Canada pension plan and workmen's compensation board contributions. The government will also cover actual cost in- creases in hospitals of fuel oil, food, medical supplies and other materials. In addition the ministry is prepared to con- sider appeals from hospitals for more money to cover wages and fringe benefits, particularly for ,workers in lower wage bracketa. The , ministry's spending ceilings allowed an increase in HA,.spital budgets of 7.9 per cent this year. .The ministry budget provides 1.2 billion dollars for hospitals about half its total estimated s6ending this year, and Mr. Miller chose not to raise the ceilings. Mr. Miller rejected automatic `across the board wage increases for all hospital workers in the province, modelled on the Toronto set- tlement which provides $L50 raises in five stages over two years. Although he hinted the Toronto settlement may be con- ' sidered a model for workers in other urban areas. He said the wages paid may not be realistic in rural areas where the cost of living is lower. Philip Givens, Liberal tran- sportation critic accused the Provincial Goverhn ent of misleading the public over the ,-escalating costs of the magnetic cushion go urban train system. Costs of the .. go urban 2.5 mile test track at the, Canadian National Exhibition have risen in recent weeks from $17' million to $25 Mr. Givens noted that the estimates. for the system have risen 100 per cent. He indicated that the Government's • argument that 4 inflation is the vil°lian is simply unacceptable. The Ontario Government's overall spending will rise 14.2 per cent this year from 7.3 billion ,dollars to 8.34 billion dollars. The two most expen- sive ministries are Health and Education with Budgetsin- creasing about ..10 per cent to 2.4 billion and 2.3 billion respectiv.ely. The General Government estimates include the spending of the Revenue; goxernment services and treasury ministries' and the 'cabinet an.d management board expenses. ,.The General Government estimates also include .the projected spending of the office of Premier William Davis up $115,000 to $1,216,000. The Lieutenant Governor's office up from $46,000 'to $61,000 and the office of the speaker up from $4.,8 million to $6.5 million. • 4 The Ministry of Housing took its puce in the government ° books with its first official+ spending estimates more than $226 million for .the 1974-1975 year, The Housing Ministry ,estimates previously inclu•dedd in the ministry of revenue showed, a drop from $237 million to $100 million in grants,to_Ontario-Housing Cor- poration,, The spending of OHC was large last year because it acquired land for the proposed North Pickering Development. In return'- for that decrease this year's estimates provide $19.8 -million for the housing a. ton program which housing minister, Sidney Handleman hopes will provide 30,000 moderately priced homes. Spending on com- munity planning increases from $:8,:1 million too$23.8 million, of -this $2.5 million `'will go to planning in North Pickering. The ministry for the first time is providing . mo.hey ` for com- munity and. co-operative housing, about $4.1 million. The Ministry of Government Services which handles the Government's- Internal ° Business and finds its Ministry's Accoromodat;ion, .is estimated to cost $224; 792,000 to this year, - an increase . from $179,568,700.00 last year. Of \this, the government will spend almost $30 million buying land for itself, more than 38 million leasingoffices encl.-more than 75 million in building construe-. tion. u The Treasury, Economics and Intergovernmental Affairs Ministry shows in its $L26 billion estimates the costs of the government's program of grants to municipalities $307 million up from $202 million estimated last year. The Ministry also budgeted for the - first time to cover flood damage, excessive unem- ployment and other specific problem situations. Tew�- amou`trts set aside is $14,76§,000:- Of the total Ministry budget . ,about half $674.million goes in repayment of the Province's Public' Debt. °.The .Ministry of Revenue will spend °$.110.4 million this year almost twice last yearN estimated -spending:. The dif- ference comes mostly from the guaranteed income programs fon pensioners and the disabled and increased tax credits an- nounced in this year's budget. • The changes will cost $50.5 million according to the estimates. The :Ontario Medical Association misrepresented scientific evidence in an at- tempt to rove Optometrist should not liwed to ad- minister diagnostic drugs, Albert Roy, Liberal ..Health critic said this week. Mr. Roy ' said "he was appalled that the Medica) Association ould resort to misrepresentation and scared ° tactics rt- to „ keep diagnostic drugs solely in' the domain of eye doctors. He ex- plained that last month the association sent a brief to all members of the :legislature at- tempting to show that Optical, Anethetics and dilating drugs could have serious side effects and, that Optometrists shoo;ld - not `be `allowed to use them. Mr. Roy, M.P.E. for Ottawa East, said there -is over- whelming evidence that Op-. tometrists with 'the proper care can use diagnostics drugs in the same way as eye doctors. Members of parliami:nt have been receiving a number of ,been about the guaranteed annual income system as it ap- plies to Senior Citizens which - comes into effect July 1, 1974 Perhaps the matter could be clarified with the use of the following example: - A single old aged pensioner who has no outside income receiving a maximum old age security and-guaranteedincome supplement of $191.06 will receive from the lirovince $2&61 per month to bring the pension total to $216.67. The province -is guaranteeing an in-' come of $216,67 per month to each single, pensioner. If the outside income plus the old age security and guaranteed income supplement equal or exceed $216.67 then the,province will not make any further payments. However, if those three sources of income do not exceed $216.67, the province "will make up. the difference. To calculate a pensioner couple's new guaranteed in- . come the -same procedure as set out above is followed, Their newguaranteed income is • $433.33 per -month. At the moment a couple that has no outside income receives a maximum old age security pen.- sion ;plus the ' guaranteed in- come supplement of $364.49. To this will be added $68.84 to make the $433.33. As long as the outside income plus the old age security and the guaran- teed income supplement do not exceed $433.33 the province will 'rake up the difference to that ,point: -.- q Hydro says: By: George Wilkinson, Mbnager Utility Sales Division Westinghouse Canada Ltd. Because changes in the world energy picture, will' take place over a considerable time period, it is important that any, discussion on this subject be conducted within the context of a clearly-defined time span. For today's 'disc>ission, let us con- sider from, 1973 to 1990 as' short term, from 1990 to 2010 as medium term, and the years thereafter as long term. With this time scale in mind; any serious study of the -world energy supply situation suggests that a medium -tem solution extending into the long term is the replacement of the present fossil energy base with a nuclear energy base. The question'. is not . whether nuclear fuel resources should be developed, but „rather the rate at which development,. should be undertaken. In discussing world energy supply, it is necessary to resolve the immense quantities of heat energy units involved and to set down these quantities in manageable form. For this pur- pose, an energy. measurement called- .Q is used, Q being defined as ten ' to • the 18th 'BTUs or one BTU followed by eighteen zeros. Using this measurement form, the world's various e rergy sources expressed in Qs are: total recoverable supply of The Approaching Nuclear Electric Age coal - 170 Qs; oil 13. Qs; natural gas - 10 Qs; nuclear (energy available without the fast breeder reactor) 69 Qs; moil shale and,tar sands - 20 Qs. Authorities differ in opinion of what the \growth rate of - . energy use will be. At 4 per cent, ,the year of depletion of all conventional energy: supplies would be 2080, at 6 per cent, the year 2050. Either wa.y, all conventional supplies would be gone in one -hundred years; - On a ' fuel -by -fuel basis, 60 per cent of the world's resour • ces are coal. Oil, by contrast, is only five per cent and gas, four per cent. How .'we ,consume' these fuels is another • set of figures entirely. In 1972, `coal accounted for 38 •per cent of the world consumption of energy, -oil accounted for 40 per cent and natural gas, 20 per cent. While oil and gas together represented only nine per cent hof the world's fuel supply in 1972 and 60" per cent of con- sumption, it does not take much imagination to see which energy sources are in trouble. Other source- 'nuclear (24 e per cent), oil shale and tar sands (7 per cent), and hydro, account for the balance of the world's recoverable fuel supply and consumption., Nuclear, therefore, is the only source that will compensate for the depletion of oil and gas. How can we maintain this 'nuclear electric economy? For- tunately two new nuclear sour- ces of energy have been iden- tified. • One, the fast breeder reactor, brings an enormous increase of 420 thousand, Qs to total energy resources.. Fusion technology, using ',the deuterium content of the- oceans 'as the• basic fuel, adds the astronomical amount of 10 billion Qs of energy to the picture. 'Addition of the breederreac- tor at a six per pgrrf'gr'owtlra;tie of energy use would extend the world energy supply into the .38th century. Fusion , - which • will be the ultimate solution would add 400 to 500 centuries of energy supply. In presuming this future all - nuclear base, other ^ possible 'sources of energy such as geothermal, wind and tidal are dismissed because , they offer only a minor source of energy, Solar energy is plentifrzl enough, but is an area which requires, considerable technical, development."' .Hydro ,electric power, has in the past been .a major source of clean low cost energy. It will continue to be a factor for the remainder of this century, in EXTRA LEAN Ground Chuck Steak 99 c Lb. NO BACKS - MEATY Chicken Legs. LB1'9c WHOLE OR HALF - FRESH Ham RoastS � 0f Pork LB. - WITH EVERY MEAT PURCHASE LEWIS •. White Bread:' , FRESH Pork ' Liver , • 'Canada and the newly developing countries of the world. However, the total amount of energy, the world hydro potential can supply is only about 1/10 of.a Q per year, and much of this potential has already been' • developed, Therefore, in the overall energy, picture, not only does hydro of- fer a limited amount 'of ad- ditional, energy to be tapped but its present contribution, although renewable, becomes increasingly less significant. We are approaching an ,era vtrhen virtually all energy will come from some nuclear reac- tion source. Oil and gas will be the first to go. They will.. -be replaced with' conventional fission reactors furnishing elec- tricity. These in turn will be complements"din due course .by fission reactors of the- WC:" breeder type In.this„way, time can be bought to develop the fusion reactor the answer to long term, world energy needs: • The shift in energy sourcing will bring accelerated use of electricity. Electricity, with its greater availability, and greater efficiency, will have to sub- stitute for various present day fuels. We will rely more and more on it for water• heating and cooking as we phase away -from oil and gas. We must shift to more- efficient electric heat for home and commercial buildings. As world supplies of Oil „run low, gasoline becomes less and less available for per- sonal use. The more efficient electric automobile will come of age. . Mass -transit systems, diesel .buses and trains will have to he (continued on page 15) ,. 49c Freezer Specials • 10 LB. FRESH Sausages LB. AINSLIE MARK[T UMITED rc 106 THE SQUARE 524.8551 OPEN THURSDAY it FRIDAY NIGHTS TILL 9 p.m. a Riddell says: Huron County MPP, Jack Riddeil, questioned the. ef- ficiency of the Ministry of Energy, ,Darcy McKeough, in an Ontario Legislature Debate recently and referred to the 'Minister as one incapable of ac- tion in the face of the .large oil companies, He •added that Mr. ,McKeouugh was not pr pared to. formulate policvv did not have the courage of his convictions and that he was not prepared to ~rand on his own two feet, Mr. Riddell pointed out that circumstances of the times have awakened Canadians 'to the fact. that energy can no longer he taken for granted. In this light he asked the government why they allowed Mr. McKeough to continue with his irresponsible procedure in han- dling the provinces energy problems. He cited several examples in the • recent legislature debates when the Minister of Energy was asked direct questions and couldn't or •wouldn't,'answer them. He shrugged off the mat- ters • attern' with apparent disinterest according 'to- Mr. -"'Riddell. "Mr. Minister, all I can say is: When are you going 10 take your responsibilities seriously? It is obvious by this exchange of questions and answers that you are making 'a joke out of this whole energy' situation'; which in my way 'of thinking is ap- proaching that ' of being critical." ' Mr. Riddell ,then suggested that the Minister of Energy was playing politics and not' effec- tively doing his job. He criticized Mr. McKeough for playing into Alberta's hands because of their production of PEAR EDtTO (continuedh from page 2) positive, compassionate alter- natives, and social changes. We just d.cn't go around heating our chests a'nd bragging. The Pro -Life Group in Goderich founded a separate organization'" to help the distressed pregnant woman, Birthright is a nonsectarian, non profit, no judgemental free pregrra'ticv counselling ser- vice for women who do not .wish to 'have an abortion, hut have no where to turn. Confidential service, Bir- thright works with qualified professionals, doctors,. social workers, attorney anal clergymen and stand ready to help, A home can be found in another province, working with other Birthright centres in Canada for a girl to stay until her baby, arrives. Pro -Life people have listed their homes with Birthright, and help financially. Which one of these suggestions would Mr. Thomp- son' 1 ike to fM1ov This is only one thing that has been accomplished,,. In 'or- der to make a decision on anything, you must have truth and Facts, Mr. Thompson has neither. The weakness of the theory °', Shoot. first - Ask questions. tater! (".. Osbntn Government not taking responsibilities seriously oil and not giving fair represen- tation, to Ontario. "The minister's theory seems to be that when you are in Rome you do as the Romans do. When you are' in . Alberta . you -say what the Albertans like to hear. When you are in Ontario you say what the Ontariaqs like to hear. Toescape alienation you either sit on the fence and do nothing or pass the buck in the hope that someone will bail you out. I guess this is what politics is all about ' if the Ontario • government, and more par- ticularly the -Minister of Energy, is any example," he complained. "It's one thing. to talk about a problem and to . reprimand the oil companies for `charging whatever the market will bear; -but it is another thing to'. take action against these,corn- panies and legislate against such profiteering and rape of the public purse," he added. Mr. Riddell suggested that the Ontario Government and the Minister of Energy are taking Ontario's position with regard to price controls too' lightly. He feels they are un- derestimating this province's • right to haying power. to regulate prices of oil and gasoline. "Where is Ontario's defence of its citizens? Where is. this Minister of Energy, who is so know led gearit oviwerful, so' responsible and so mindful of the needs of the people of Ontario? I submit we can no longer accept the procrastination of the Minister of Energy, particularly as it ap, plies to ,the pricing of oil and other sources of energy., We on this side of the House feel that Ontario,can and must take an active° stand in assuring the people of Ontario a, continued supply of energy at a reasonable price and free of en- vironmentalq hazards." "Overall the problem ot.4ght not to be, as has been the case, of Ontario simply accommodating itself to price decisions in Alberta or any other province," • he said. "Rather I would argue strongly that Ontario has an 'important part to play in any price -setting scheme. Regarding the. oil price agreement, our Premier (Mr. Davis) has said that he was `not unhappy' with the results, even though the new oil price will add $400 million to Ontario's energy bill."' Mr: Riddell- then suggested that the powers of the Energy Board be expanded to force oil companies to justify their price changes. "Moreover, no explanation has been given by the govern- ment why a 62.5 per cent in- crease over the previous• level was necessary or justified. Therefore, in such matters On- tario should act with the federal government, demanding the justification of any price in- creases. -' Ontario must also take the responsibility to protect the consumer from oil company price increases, The present' Ontario policy is inexcusable. But what, the government asks, can we do? The oil companies are national and multinational corporations, The' Premier has said that prices established by national oil companies are mat ters to be dealt with by the federal . government, and , he. flatly rejected the possibility of Ontario acting unilaterally," "I would argue, however; that Ontario ought to be able to police petroleum prices. One way in•, ,which this can be carried• out is for the power of the Energy. Board to be expan- ded to extend their controls over prices of fuel for domestic uses," heymaintained. Switching topics Mr. Riddell voiced concern about Ontario Hydro's policy over the proposed reliance on nuclear ,energy for the province's elec. •• tric supply. He was not in favor of the reluctance of the power supplier's spokesmen to tell their customer's all the facts to ; be considered in the switch. "I am equally concerned about the nuclear expansion programme announced by On- tario Hydro. Moreover, I am concer-ned about the' reluctance of Ontario Hydro to reveal• to the public the potential dangers of nuclear power. Ontario Hydro has' stated that Ontario will have to commit 20 million kw of nuclear generating capacity in the next 10 years to meet the expected demand for electrical energy. t, However, nidny uncertainties are 'associated with this form of energy," 'he pointed out. The local politician then 'pointed out that their' are alter- natives to nuclear energy that he feels the government is not investigating thoroughly ' enough to- merit dismissing their possibilities so readily. He went on to say, "There are possible several safer alter- natives-- to nuclear energy for producing `electricity,- but ecologists and many scientists say they have been ignored Some of these alternatives are ,solar power,. - tidal power. fusion, geothermal power. It is my feeling that these alter- natives are within our technological ingenuity and that, any one of them could (continued on page 15) r0 TOWN OF GODERICH Residents interested in making use of a possible future municipal i n CARE CENTRE ' for their children (age 2 to;.5) are invited to telephone Day Nursery Supervisor, Mrs. Carol Egener 524-7441 or 524-6806 or the municipal offices 524-8344 DEADLINE MAY 24