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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Goderich Signal-Star, 1982-05-26, Page 4PAGE 4—GODERICH SIGNAL STAR, WEDNESDAY, MAY 26,1982 DAVE SYKES Have you ever thought about what it is to be a Canadian? The MacKenzie brothers, Bob and Doug td be precise, have done much to project the Canadian image around the world. We may not all be the toque -toting beer drinkers with a predilection for ending each sentence with eh, as Bob and Doug have portrayed. But then, how do others see us and more importantly, how do we see ourselves? In essence, it is difficult to describe a Canadian. We playa th ee i:t bread of hockey, make excellent hockey pucks and sticks and our version of beer and spirits is :most ac- ceptable sceptable by global standards. Our country is a melting pot of the nations of the world but it is not scientifically proven that heritage has a bearing on whether 'or not people wear long underwear during the harsh winters. Our cultural roots are diverse and that has not lent itself to a distinct identity. An American historian claims that Canadians can make it as a nation if they accept the fact th t Canada's national identity lies in not having one. The historian claims we should feel superior about not having an identity. If `others have visions of Canadians growing up playing hockey on feozen ponds, then I feel cheated. I can't recall doing anything on a frozen pond, there simply weren't any e.ghho u.:l:ne.-" Q.?S UllA6N our aaGaE,aeaeesets aeenvGi. h> e,;pi eitly vr. gae E i in :, tideU . historian insists that ambiguity is a major part of our character. Governments are ambiguous at the best of times, but mostly foolish and there is nothing ambiguous about a Gordie Howe elbow in the mouth. That ambiguity, apparently, arises out of a feeling of superiority, at "times, while we also have a penchant for putting outselves V down and putting everyone else down. If we are to remain superior, this American observes, we must take delight in being unpredictable, be joyful in our am- biguity and duality and be satisfied with no national identity. Accordingly, being Canadian doesn't mean anything definitive. The term is all encompassing and must embrace our regional, cultural and language divisions. Diversity is our strength. We are a diverse people out of necessity Bad while we may not have a distinct identity we ate i,et a c►arthern version of the United States. And it is not a tag that we would welcome. & took a bit of pain and daring to create this country but our independence was not necessarily achieved by violent means. In many respects, that sets the country apart. Our skirmishes are less violent in nature, but they do exist. We are having trouble PCNA est 1 e s• r e. A e 0 •ry t s° *CNA BLUE RIBBON AWARD Second class mail registration numiber-0716 SINCE 1848 THE NEWS PORT FOR GODERICH & DISTRICT Pounded In 1641 and published every Wednesday at (Dederick, Ontario. Member of the CCNA and OWNA. Adver- tising rates on request. Subscriptions payable In duan.'•H.IN In Canada. °6/.N to U.S.A., 5115 to all other coun- tries, single copies 31'. Display advertising rates available on request. please ask for Rata Card No. 11 affective Oc- tober 1, 1961. Second class mall Registration Number 1111. Advertising is accepted on the condition that In the event of typographical error, the advertising space occupied by the erroneous Item.together with reasonable allowance far signature, will not be Charged for but that balance of the advertisement will be paid for et the ap- plicable rate. In the event of a typographical error advertising goods or services et • wrong price. goods or services may not be sold. Advertising Is merely en offer to se11, and may be withdrawn at any time. the Slgnaf.Ster Is not responsible for the lou or damage of unsolicited manuscripts. photos or other nieterlails used for reproducing pur- poses. PUBLISHED BY: SIGNAL -STAR PUBLISHING LIMITED ROBERT G. SHRIER-President and Publisher DONALD M. HUBICK-Advertising Manager DAVID SYKES-Editor. P.O. BOX 220,- 1'IUCKINS ST. • INDUSTRIAL, PARK GODERICH N7A 4B6 Goaetic,U deciding if we want to stick it out together and separatism is a word that has identified Canada in recent years. It may be true that Canada just sort of evolved and we've never experienced the nationalistic fight for God and country. That too is part of our growth and identity. One study suggests that Canadians, and perhaps rightly so, view their country to be superior to the United States in terms of less crime, cleaner cities, better highways and generally cleaner and better everything. Perhaps we are more conscious of the aeslhetie nualities. I'm not sure that it really matters if the term Canadian lacks definition but an Americna professor thinks it bothers us. It's tough to put a handle on us but why do we need one anyway. It's too taxing to think about. Let's just have another beer, eh. FOR BUSINESS OR EDITORIAL OFFICES please phone (519) 524-8331 Salute' to scouting It was 75 years ago that Lord Baden Powell founded the scouting movement in Canada and that organization is still flourishing in communities across the country. Powell started an experimental camp for 21 boys in England in. 1907 and that has since grown into a worldwide - organization with 16 million members. Powell's concept caught on and while heinitially offered scouting for boys between 12 and 18, it has since grown to include cubs, rovers and beavers. That growth reflects well on Powell and the scouting movement. It seems that scouting is a tradition that has been a part of every boy's life, at least ever since there was an elderly lady to be escorted across a busy street. Scouting has built character and espouses ideals arid .virtues that are often lacking in youth. Take a scout law, for example, which states that a scout is helpful, trustworthy, kind and cheerful, considerate and clean, and wise in the use of his resources. Those are the kinds of guidelines Powell wanted young men to live by and he told scouts that they should play not to win ap- plause or rewards for themselves, but in 'order to help their side win. It is commendable that the scouting organization has survived and flourished since its simple beginnings as an experimental boy's camp in 1907. Much of the credit for that survival must be given to the parents and leaders, the people who give much of their time and energies to scouting. It is their efforts that will maintain scouting as a way of life for thousands of Canadian boys. D.S. • Well you see officer The truth is stranger than fiction and life really is a funny business. In the newspaper business we get a lot of funny things happening in the course of getting news stories and photographs, but it's a sure bet no occupation gets more funny reactions than the very tough and serious occupation of being a police officer. Many of us, as Stratford Beacon Herald coluznnist Helen Barker reported last week, are such honest types and so flustered when stopped by police that we end up actually thanking the officer for getting a speeding ticket, or a parking ticket. It's like thanking the custom's official for thoroughly messing up a carefully packed suitcase. Helen Barker's confession of utter confusion recalled to mind a recently published piece about the kinds of sum- maries insurance companies and police officers get concerning traffic accidents. What makes these statements, taken from police reports, so amusing is the fact that most of us can see ourselves making similar confused statements under similar circumstances. Try these on for size: — An invisible car came out of nowhere, struck my vehicle and vanished. — I had been driving my car for forty years when I fell asleep at the wheel and had the accident! — I saw her look at me twice, she appeared to be making slow progress then we met on impact. — Coming home, I drove into the wrong '''house and collided with a tree I don't have. — No one was to blame for the accident but it never would have happened if the other driver had been alert. — The guy was all over the road, I had to swerve a number of times before I hit him. — A truck backed through my windshield into my wife's face. — I thought. my window was down, but found it was up when I put my hand through it. — I pulled away from the side of the road, glanced at my mother-in-law and headed over the embankment. - The gentleman behind the struck me on the backside. He then went to rest in the bush with just his rear end showing. — I told the police I was not injured, but on removing my hat, I found that I had fractured my skull. — The pedestrian had no idea which direction to go so I ran over him. — The telephone pole was, approaching fast. I was at- tempting to swerve out of its path when it struck my front end. — The indirect cause of this accident was a little guy in a small car with a big mouth. I was on my way to the doctors with rear end trouble when my universal joint gave way causing me to have an accident. — I saw the slow moving sad faced, old gentleman as he bounced off the hoodof my car. The beginnings of war Wars, over the centuries, have been fought for a limited number of reasons. Probably th earliest conflicts sprang from realistic needs -more living space, better hunting grounds or more productive food lands. As the ages progressed, humans developed a sense of nationalism, conceit which held that one's neighbours were inferior stock, only fit to be subjugated and made subservient, When national pride was the underlying cause the great conflicts usually exploded from trivial incidents, such as the assassination of an Austrian princeling in 1914. There is another essential component required for a major war. A new generation must arise, one which has no personal experience with the horror of war. Only the young and eager can persuaded that there is anything glorious about killing. The nasty episode in the Falkland Islands makes one wonder whether we are witnessing the first scenes of a fatal drama. Isolated though those islands may be, the sparks from the South Atlantic might well start fires of international consequence. The only people living today who have any personal experience with world war are now over sixty years old. If all younger men and women could catch even a glimpse of the sick fear which swept a previous generation in the beautiful May days of 1940 they would view any possibility of war from a different perspective. We who suvived those awful years tan recall the horrid prospect of the Hitler legions rolling across northern France, unopposed except for a scattering of British and French troops in stubborn retreat. Without having it spelled out. we knew that unless that tide could be stemmed, the Atlantic Ocean would prove a delay rather than a safeguard and that Canadians, especially the women and children, would be doomed to degredation. That is why young Canadians were suddenly prepared to die on the fields and in the skies of Europe. We hope that the Falklands are only the teapot tempest they appeared to be a few weeks ago. But, now the fighting has escalated and negotiations appear to have ended. I et's hope the horrors of war are avoided. Blossom time By Dave Sykes 5 i `- • t.:t1A. • '.r DAR READERS SHIRLEY KELLER Frank Miller is a man who lives dangerously. Maybe you remember Frank Miller when he was Ontario Minister of Health and going about the province closing = or attempting to close hospitals and hospital beds. Thepeople of this area will remember him best for his staunch efforts to close Clinton Public Hospital because he said, the services offered there were too costly in relation to the overview he had of adequate medical care in this province. There were other hospitals on Miller's hit list, but as I recall, many of those institutions ear- marked for closing are still open. The public rose to its feet in indignation, insisting these small hospitals were vital to the fabric of the com- munities into. which they were woven. But how Frank Miller sweated over that whole thing. How he fought to tell the people of this province that medical costs were getting out of hand, and that ways and means would need to be found to diminish these costs - or the people would need to suffer dramatic tax increases to pay for them. And I 'recall at that time how this writer got drawn into the whole argument. I took Miller's side -as I remember, saying that the health minister was dead right. Medical costs were too high in the province. The expectations of in- dividuals were too great in this province, in relation to their willingness to pay. I remember taking the view that streamlining hospital services and phasing out some of the smaller hospitals, was a sensible way to ap- proach the problem. And I remember too, how thiswriter was chastised for that view,right along with Frank Miller. The Clinton Public Hospital was saved, along with the Durham Community Hospital ... and others. The whole issue died down, things resumed to what was considered normal and acceptable by the citizens - and medical costs were permitted to go unchecked. The people had spoken: Now, Miller has changed portfolios. He's no longer Minister of Health, he's the provincial treasurer. And the chickens of disaster he saw being hatched several years ago in the provincial medical scheme, have come home to roost in the Ontario treasury over which he presides. Once again, poor Frank Miller is in hot water up to his neck. After a minor skirmish with the doctors who walked out of their offices in protest against the fact that they hadn't had a pay hike for several months and were falling financially behind many other segments of society, Miller did what he had to do. He got the doctors back to work; he preserved the best in medical care for the people of Ontario; and he raised the OHIP premiums when he brought down the recent provincial budget. The lament of the people in Ontario is audible. It's hurting in the pocketbook that is already ravaged by inflation, high interest rates and shortages of job. opportunities. Now the people say that Frank Miller didn't look at any of the alternatives that might have been available to him. What alternatives? Oh simple things like controlling health spending and restructuring hospital services. Like refusing to give in to the doctors who the people say already make too much money for the kind of hours they work and• services they provide. Thngs like cancelling the order for the Davis jet, selling+the interests in Suncor, relinquishing the hunting lodge in Northern Ontario. All in the. petty cash league to be sure, but an act of good faith at least, say the people of Ontario. On Monday, I happened to tune in to President Ronald Reagan's mini news conference of the week. He was trying to explain to the people of the United States how important it is for him, as head of state, to be able to go to the upcoming summit conference and tell the other nations of the world that this country is committed to reducing the national debt and bringing the interest rate down: It was clear following the questioning that one of Reagan's targets for spending cuts will be the provision of health services. While he claimed that no American on social security will ever haveto go without adequate health care, he did indicate there was an absolute need to change the methods by which health care is delivered to the people. He wasn't more specific. He didn't define adequate health care. He did say there were many things that could be looked at. He could have been talking about the same types of things that Frank Miller tried to sell to the people of Ontario just a few years ago. And now the question, dear readers. How much is adequate health care worth to you? To those who want a full service hospital in every community, fully staffed and ready and waiting to serve 24 hours a day every day - no waiting, no delays - what is that worth to you? To the people who want to be able to go to see their doctors any time of the day or night, and receive professional attention and skilled service at a moment's notice without ever dipping into your own purse to pay the !bill, what is that worth to you? To citizens who never have to worry about hospital costs when you are sick, or going without medical services because you are unable to pay, what is that worth to you? Frank Miller when he was minister of health, tried to put the lid on health spending. The people said, "No. Give us the best in health care." Frank Miller as treasurer of Ontario insured the people of Ontario would get the best in the health care. He admits it means increased OHIP premiums. The people are saying, "No. We Want the best in health care, but get the money somewhere else." What is the best in health care worth to you? Just what sacrifices are you willing to make, if any? Or do" the people of Ontario really believe there's a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow to which the provincial government 'haS-'ready access? Plan weakens agricultural community Dear Editor, OPEN LE'1'I'ER TO EAST WAWANOSH COUNCIL: The Township Council of East Wawanosh, members of which have been present at all so-called "kitchen meetings" where the initial discussions regarding the secondary plan for the township were held, must have been a bit surprised at the actual proposal as printed. At least I was, as a ratepayer and participant in these and subsequent general meetings. While all concerns ex- pressed at these meetings are dealt with, it seems that the planners didn't think this was enough and so they have Agegweaviesiimmoses LETTER thrown in a number of extra goodies. It is these goodies which are unacceptable. Let us keep in mind the statement in the preliminaries to . the plan, which states.. "the primary goal is to stengthen and preserve the agricultural community." However, the extras men- tioned above would . weaken instead of strenghen. The plan provides for pro- tection for the urban areas surrounding and within the township, but no protection for the food producer from these urban areas. Still, the preamble states that agriculture in the township is dominant and should re- main so. That is doubletalk. In the preliminary meetings it came out clear that fanners are eager to restrict themselves in the use of severances and will accept a potential loss of income from such a source in the interest of protecting the future. The plans for the urban areas within the township and the secondary plans for the adjacent towns must also have provisions limiting use to industrial zoned land, thereby precluding com- plaints against normal farm - mg practices. The township must not ac- cept one-sided restrictions. The resident of -an urban area who wishes to' live near the boundary line must be willing to accept the smells and noises inherent in such location. To force farmers to protect that resident is unreasonable. Until such is included in the urban plans East Wawanosh should not accept the above restriction. In all proposed secondary plans and in the county primary plan, the Agricultural Code of Prac- tice is incorporated. This is definitely wrong and our township must not allow it. The 'Code of Practice' is meant to be a guideline only. That infers it to be flexible. When incorporated in any of- ficial plan or by-law, it loses its status as guideline and becomes an inflexible law. The Code of Practice has done little or no to pro- tect farmers, a it was in- tended to do, b t has only placed more restrictions on them. Let's toss it out of the Turn to page 5 •