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The Goderich Signal-Star, 1983-07-06, Page 4fe • • �s r- • A r`, IONA CSS •CNA BIDE RIBBON AWARC Second dost. moil registration numbe 0716 /2 ems -- Mlll101105 f Canadians, no doubt,ushe this country's birthday with a bit of fw frolic, a flag raiadng 'civic oeremu perha a a parade and fireworks, ka refre beverage or two and -much With and me ento That may Have typically described the Brat ever Canada Day, a nationwide celebration in honor of the 116th birthday of a fledging nation. We used to celebrate Dominion Day each July 1 and while it may have been most notable as Canada's birthday and a holiday, it also represented, in a vague way, our ties with the monarchy. - Now, we are on our own, and the first Canada Day celebration was an auspicious occasion, one that should .-have been celebrated in a style befitting the scope, diversity and multi-eulutural- heritage of this great land. In keeping with that theme and in recognizing the importance of the day, I 1' SINCE 1848 THE NEWS PORT FOR GODERICH & DISTRICT Founded In NMI and published every Wednesday. et Ooderlch, Ontario. Member of the CCNA and OWNA. Adver. Using rotes on request. Subscriptions payable In advance '1WM In Concede. 10.00 to U.S.A.. 40.00 to all other count. B tries, single copies SOa. Display advertising rates ovallable on request. Please ask for Rate Card No.13 effective ea - 'ober 1. 1,03. Second doss moll Registration Number 0710. Advertising Is accepted en the condition that In the event of typographical error, the advertising space occupied by -the erroneous Negr, together with reasonable allowance for signature, will not be eaarged for but that balance of the edverflsemenCtref11 be paid for 01 rho op. pllcabie rate. in the event of a typographlcarerrar advertising goads or services et a wrong preke. gods or serrlses may not be sold. Advertising Is merely an offer to sell. and may be withdrawn at any time. The Signar•Ster is not responsible tor the loss or damage of unsolicited manuscripts. photos or other materials used for repraduclne pur- poses. PUBLISHED BY: SIGNAL -STAR PUBLISHING LIMITED ROBERT G. SHRIER-President and Publisher DONALD M. HUBICK-Advertising Manager DAVID SYKES-Editor CI \G‘\ Pk ire 1C� ///►►► � " P.O. BOX 220. HUCKINS ST. INDUSTRIAL PARK GODERICH N7A,4B6 FOR BUSINESS OR EDITORIAL OFFICES please phone (519) 524-8331 Bear with restraint When Canadian Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau went on national television recently to regale viewer s with the strengths and obvious success of his restraint program, he did so with an alternate purpose in mind. To simply suggest that the federal government's six and five program had ultimately cured the country's economic illswould have been folly. But Trudeau did have some impressive numbers on his side at the time the presentation was made. Since the imposition of the voluntary wage and price guidelines last year, inflation has fallen, interest rates have come down and generally people's attitudes about the economy have improved. And a marked improvement in attitude has as much bearing as numerical indicators. Trudeau itemized the success of the voluntary restraint program now heading into its second year. Participation for another year, he suggested, would greatly enhance our vision and prospect for a return to healthier times. It will be interesting to see if the provinces follow the Prime Minister's suggestions. Finance Minister Marc Lalonde has been given the job of 'asking the provinces if they will participate in the voluntary wage and price control restraint program for at least another year. Lalonde will take the approach that the economy is too fragile for the provinces to go their separate ways and ignore restraint programs. Naturally, the minister will be seeking endorsement from the provinces for the second phase of his recovery plan. There is speculation that Lalonde wants the provinces to adopt two-year restraint policies. Ontario and Nova Scotia's one-year restraint programs expire this year and other provinces have only made loose commitments. Quebec and British Columbia tailored a restraint program to suit their own needs but it's obvious that.a more cohesive approach is required m the next year or two. Should Canadians have to live with the imposition of wage and price controls? Is such a program still necessary? The Prime Minister warned that Canadians should not falsely believe that recovery is just around the corner and that any and all measures should be dropped. And in ef- fect, that's true. If employees and Canadian business seek high com- pensation for losses during the past year, it would unravel much of the success of the restraint program. It may not be pleasant to have to live with meagre wage and salary increases, but, restraint may be a fact of life that Canadians will just have to live with for a while. If the provinces could get together on a concentrated plan of action it would make more sense than every province going off in a different direction. D.S. Need cohesive front Divide and conquer could aptly describe the situation that appears to be developing in the agriculture sector of Ontario. At farm meetings, the -most common subjects discussed are Bill 0653 regarding farm credit and the provincial government's proposed 100 per cent farm tax rebate. The latter is tearing apart the approximately 25,000 member Ontario Federation of Agriculture. Grumblings have been heard from some corners that when agriculture minister Dennis Timbrell and deputy minister Duncan Allen came into office they didn't like having to face this strong agriculture lobby group. It has been suggested the proposed farm tax rebate is one tool being used to fracture the OFA. Whether the intention was deliberate or not, while the OFA's executive have accepted the proposal many "grassre-t" members have been adamently opposed to the idea. The crunch will come in July as at the OFA's monthly meeting in Toronto, the opinions of the members will be heard when individual counties indicate the reaction to the farm tax rebate. In Huron a vote was taken earlier this year when the majority of 800 farmers turned down the proposal In Perth the general feeling is one of accep- tance, but members are being contacted for their opi- nions. Whatever happens at the July meeting, farmers should accept the final outcome and support the OFA in its strong lobbying efforts. "Divided we fall, united we stand." JP' "PICCB• 01*8weedell! 7daiti.%147,1: to ward ,dh was part that ws�a.s Innocently thnr►wn u>I et p�a ticipatia , Some bf t e this callous eorrespo dent eat pay Vide be. gees if the em s f u i d Ist PlaYee a deny entered'a float 3n the town parade Noting it was the first lush) Day in hisLori►r elf . pride rattled our usually sound thinking Processes, and tinder extreme duress, we conseatadi to enter,a' float or, some other reasonable fatale hi the parade. What the hell, if yau"'can't construct a float and drink a few beefs. for -your country, then you're not fit to' be called; Canadian. • And as if I wasn't m enough trouble, I even offered to put my body on display 011 the w on At le One monthlefore .the parade, newspapers cohort(); excitedly laid out detailed rtp ane .for the, Signal Star flo4 uwaIly,- OM was In agreetn Ont that, assoit enet,uf.'beverages woe anre ential retiientto a successful float. No disagreement with , , It was -.also ab�irggested Mkt the float should /visually, hnstrate what our. company is abooft of a then and now scenario. With eonfirratiodt that Overages were an integral part%float building and the theme should vaguely.reflect our jobs here at your favorite weekly, we really didn't have a due what we were up to. However, with firm resolve, and just scant hoursbeliore the scheduled starting time of thep rade, a float was hastily assembled wi ahi the bowels of the press 41f0rt1atie allbilttl► any credit f the host was Rather, f�,inn merely In trructed to stand on the trailer in tat tee little way 1 have.. wave to the adoring fwd and oceaitionally 'Offer a sample of kaywhaaorale ru�ll P. ellow workers d that I was to represent -a modern-day photographer but I'ma still of the impresssidn that Iwaa Ynerely usod as a drawing cad.. It was easy first' experience in a parade and I eau ssaffely draw several conclusions from the affair. Those are; it takes several copiforting beverages to negotiate a -parade routes parades seuerelY test one's bladder and its capacity; parades definitely have a different "perspective from a float and finally, Canada. Day and parades lead to Rainy Monday By Dave Sykes DEAR READERS SHIRLEY KELLER, People really are very hard to please, aren't they. And I'm about the worst of the lot. I like my weather nice and warm - confortably warm. You will hear me complaining in the winter about the cold weather and in the summer about the hot weather. Things need to. be just about perfect - from my point of view, of course - to keep me happy - I don't think I'm unusual. Everyone has his preferences when it comes to weather. And unfortunately, it's one of the things we can do absolutely nothing about. As my mother used to say, "We're going to have weather, whether or not." I received a letter a while ago from a fellow by the name of Stan Smith of R.R. 2 Zurich. He sent to me a clipping from the Bible of his grank father, Daniel Smith. The clipping was takeer from a 1916 newspaper, but regarded the weather a full 100 years earlier, in 1816. That year was known as Canada's summerless year. In 1816, dear readers, we're told the weather from May until October featured frost every month, dreadful storms of rain and hail with intense cold for the season and hail in quantities "almost exceeding belief". Another report tells us that snow started to fall in the middle of June and by the middle of August, the snow was one foot deep! Winter began in mid-November. Naturally, the crops were a total failure. Farmers resorted to feeding thistles, milkweed and wild parsnips according to the clippings, and cattle owners were "advised to kill and salt down cattle for which feed was not available". To prevent famine, Sir John Sherbrooke, then captain -general and governor -in -chief of the Canadas and Maritime provinces, proclaimed a state of emergency and distress., He removed the tariff and gave permission to import duty free from the United States flour, rice, beans, potatoes and grain of all kinds. The assistance from the USA was somewhat limited by the fact that the northern states had suffered the same fate as the Canadas. The USA itself was importing beef, pork and potatoes from Europe and molasses from Scotland. Prices, for those who hid money to buy, were high. The price of hay in New Hampshire was reported to be $180 per ton. Corn sold for $2 per bushel; wheat $2.50 per bushel; and rye $2 per bushel. "Butter, which as a rule sold around 5 cents to 10 cents a pound, was up to 25 cents," the clipping noted. +++ Our weather got turned around on us this year as we all know. Winter was unseasonably warm; spring was cold and wet. Now that summer is here, it's dry and hot. Crops in the Goderich area look much better than in some parts of south western Ontario that have been missed by the few rains we've enjoyed here. This past May when_ some people were con- cerned about the weather and voiced their fears that the crops for 1983 were in some peril, I made the statement I'd never known a year when there was a total crop failure. I hadn't lied, of course. I do not remember a year of famine in Canada but apparently the country came close to mass starvation 167 years ago. When I was discussing the whole issue with my teenage son, he informed me that he wasn't the least bit concerned about starving. "Not with the knowledge of synthetic foods there is today," commented my son. He firmly believes that if a famine were to strike the nation, Canadians could remain healthy and well nourished on these manmade substances. I couldn't argue with him, I might even be persuaded that people would be better off if our food supply dwindled a bit ... if we'd have less of the good things that this great country produces. I was just a little uncomfortable when I read about the reluctance of Prince Charles and Princess Diana to eat steak at the Trudeau barbecue. Apparently, the Royals eat very simply ... mostly whole grains, fish, vegetables and fruits. Bland. Dull by our standards. And I was a little ashamed of the North American way of eating - lots of sauces, everything generously buttered, plenty of red meat and whipped cream, spicy, heavy foods of all types. Dare I suggest a bit of a famine would bring us all to our senses? Much as we'd com- plain about it? It appears to me that some pretty obvious questions remain unasked in the editorial "What about funds?" dealing with the con- cerns expressed by the Chairman of the Huron County Board of Education when she addressed the recent meeting of the Liberal Party Task Force held in Goderich. Due to other commitments, I was able to stay at the Task Force's all -day meeting on- ly for a very short time. I telephoned the Board office in Clinton, asking for a copy of the Board's presentation through its chair- man. There was no brief or copy. It appears that there had been some informal and unrecorded discussion on what the Chair- man would say. Fair enough. Then I asked for a copy of the brief the Board of Education must have sent, I took it for granted, to the Minister of Education on the sarne subjects of concern, after the Minister had informed the Board of its policies and aims, and long before the Liberal Task Force came to town. Now came the surprise. There is no such brief or a recorded direct approach to the Ministry in question. Some concerns may have been forwarded to the Trustees Association. So when the chairman asked at the Liberal Party's public meeting who would pay for the special education (for the han- dicapped as well as for the gifted) program beyond 1985, it seems obvious that the answer can come only from the Minister of Education. And she had not been asked this direct and valid question. The editorial comments that "the ques- tion is a valid one and the Ministry would do well to answer it". The editorial would do well to look into the methods of asking. I find it most peculiar that the most obvious, businesslike and direct approach from the Board to the Ministry has not been followed. As this is a free country and anyone can talk to anyone, I have no quarrel with the chairman approaching any party of her choice; I am of the opinion, however, that such a step ought to be an additional expres- sion, not a substitute for a direct dialogue with the Minister who is criticized. On the same public occasion the Board Chairman "also expressed concern for the decline in the cost of education being assum- ed by the province. She noted that the ministry paid 72 per cent of the Board's budget in 1975 and this has since been reduc- ed to 62 per cent." This I find quite extraordinarily misleading - yet the editorial failed to take notice. It is simply not true that the Ministry has decreased the funds made available an- nually to the boards of education. On the contrary, the Ministry's payments have been increased annually by a certain percentage, the exact comparative figures being available by calling the office. The 72 per cent and 62 per cent do not show any shortcomings in the provincial share; the only thing they show is that the Huron County Board of Education budget has con- stantly grown by great leaps, far beyond the more realistic and tolerable increases in the provincial contributions. The percentage difference to which the chairman referred is the Baby of the Huron County Board of Education' and shpuld not be left on anyone else's dooxtelk The facts I have mentioned have been con- firmed by the Director of Education without personal opinion or comment;' the critical tone with which I have surrounded them is strictly my own. When the Board tells us that it controls on- ly five per cent of the budget, I am not im- pressed. It was the Board who over the years, bit by bit, gave away the control over large areas of financing and no longer calls the tune. Is there a need for a five per cent Board or is it now a make-believe win- dowdressing? Motherhood -type statements have their places and uses, but they will not erase such items in the 1983 budget as - to mention just the most remarkable ones - as the 36.3 per cent and 44.7 per cent increase respectively in the "staff travel and improvement" on the elementary and secondary level. The Board Administrative Centre expenses went up by 21.6 percent. Only last year the trustees gave themselves a 33 per cent salary increase. No wonder that the Ministry is unable to keep the Board in the style to which it has become accustomed. How long can the local taxpayer do it? I have the uncomfortable feeling that I am talking behind someone's back. The trustees are on summer holidays. They met in June and will not meet againvntil September. ELSA HAYDON i C7