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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Goderich Signal-Star, 1976-09-02, Page 5GODERIC SIGNAk:-STkR;T� A PTI M'BER 2,X97.: PAGE 5 This'column is being presented to yotl as a genuine offering from the field: of journalism, That Cs,' Sinal Star u• is ing ' assumes at ' dr -Shaw might have something worth saying, that it might make: people think- (or al least entertain them) and through those things the Goderich Signal Star will be a more well-rounded newspaper, • Now, if •I can slip it by the proofreaders, I'm.:going to•tell you the truth, I write this cotuim .only as' therapy fo.r.. my own neurosis, ,and my "'publisher knows it. His position is simple. If it will help. Shaw ,maintain any contact with realityJet .liia-L4 ._it. After--a•11-,-tis-eater " than teachingYa new reporter all the ins and outs of work in Ooderich. (things like memorizing the phone number, at town hall take time) , 'and whden'all is said and odone,noone is:forced•to read it. • • N6Cov, vniL of my Central •problems is that I fantasize' Of course we ;all do, but few ever develop a.fantasy•wbrld.clown �lives One of.thep..e. ple who lives-.in.rnyWorld .is Henri Tartiniere. Just why Henri is apparently French even my shrink can't decide, but he represents most of us here in the real world, Henri works don to five, is married with a couple of ine kids, owns a house in partnership with the mortgage com- pany, is somehow always overdrawn at. the bank and -above all Suspects that something, .(Something. big), is terribly ;wrong,. Trouble is, he just can't put his _Boman This week a new. character was born" into this world ofmy mind I guess he. wasn't actually born,? as he's 47 years old., but I'd-never'rnet him. before; James. R.: McCann • '•:lives - in .Scarbor6 ° and to. t • a • ;commutes daily into downtown Toronto wherehe• works. for'the Provincial civil service. .. ---•Nat--evefl .'a'._,,`''"at -he doer-IRAvz--there at Queen's ParkT though. But I do, because I_ created him. Good Old- James R. McCann works in a secret government ministry. The Ministry of .Propaganda; Gimmicks and Public Snowjobs. (M.P.G.P.S.) • Like most Provincial ministries the M.P.G.P.S. has wide ranging respon- sibilities and' evert wider. authorities. Although _Henri .Tartiniere has never heard of -Mr. McCann or his ministry, that department was developed especially to deal with all the,Ilenris in Ontario.'' It happened like this: .An unsung. servant -spotted the problem. Costs were, rocketing upwards. So was. un.ern- .ploynient. Wages were barely keeping pace. Even what work there was, was 'boring and zneaningles.a.sMachiries were replacing the . undependable worker. • Nobody was :going _a l'mere and all the ellris,,. Traci begun to _ feel trapped_. Qui civil servant knew that, no matte- how much of an uncouth peasant Henrihdght - be, when backed into a' corner even he was apt to do sontething rash. -So the Ministry of Oovern-n' ent Trivia was ' expanded to becime the. M,P.aP,D. and 'the problem turned' overto them. The' answer? Present to h:im, the . possibility, ne Matter how slim, .that he might be able to get out• -after all. Whip up a paper mache pot of gold, stick it.at • the'::end oftherainbow,.and give Henri a loot periodically:.. .Nova: what to. call this pot of paper.. • gold? Wintariof. Yes,•:'we'll call it Win ., • `(continued:on page 14) ,.INFORIVIATION, BACKGROUND AND OPINION, - When Huron County Council meets. later . this -month they will be asked to _ consider a motion to call for a study of the government and boundaries in the Grand Bend area. While: the county may agree „tohave a look at the question of boundaries in the area it is unlikely the suggestion that approval be given . for annexation of part of -Stephen, Township by;. -the village of Grand Bend will• be greeted with much enthusiasm. Q The question of annexation has arisen as •a result of a Lambton County area planning study which recommends ,that a government restructuring- 'study be carried out in -the Grand Bend area under provincial funding. Grand Bend lies astride the Huron and Lambton County boundary and ,the ;suggested annexation would involve not only parts of Stephen Township in Huron, but portions of Bpsanquet in Lambton. If' the; annexation proposed by the village was carried out Grand Bend would in- crease in .size by 400 per cent and the. population would. uinp from 840 to 11800. The present village boundary would be extended to the northeast into Stephen Township about a mile, as far as the Lake Huron water plant;. and southwest in Bosanquet Township a'mile and a haft to the Pinery Provincial Park.'How: far inland the boundary would move is uncertain but )Grand . Bend Reeve BO Sharen says, it would be about one half ni.ile from. Highway 21. 14UFO'N The' Lamton reportlterms Grand Bend ` too small to • meet modern .service standards and • suggests that the com-- munity be extended and designated a county and recreation town ' with a projected growth to a population of 5,000. It tis yet . to be " seen how Lambton County Council will react . to the suggested redrawing' pf'boundaries as well but the village Reeve says that even_. if the suggestion for a, full study is . thrown out the village should proceed on its own toward. annexation of the areas' in question. There is Tittle doubt that both town- ships Will fight tte: proposal toothand nail when it comes before the respective , county councils. • Grand Bend claims it is providing certain seru.ic•es to the townships and needs;a..wider tax base to pay for them. The Southcott • Pines subdivision in Bosanquet is cited as •one example. The road from the subdivision passes through the village and Grand Bend must clean it in.summer. and provTrle snow removal in winter. A mobile trailer park, Grand Cove Estates; is expected to make:use of the proposed village. sewer System. Five hundred of the 728 units in that developrnen.t are in Stephen Township. • - S Reeve Jack McDonald.. of Bosanquet points ,out; however, . that .each of the townships. paid' 30 per. cent for fire equipment; and that .the townships: provide their. own garbage pick up. The village claims that something will have -.to be done soon as costs steadily increase but the assessment level remains... stable. The :tax base' is inadequate .and. leaves •the village no room to,, grdw..Reeve. Sharon said tax, increases to those now living in the townships would:beonly 10 to 15 percent if and-whem'annexation were i,arried out. Not only the townships are expected to. put up a stiff fight though. Residents of the Southcott Pines and Pinedale: sub divisions: are less than pleased with the suggestilin•. and.• are throwing their support behind the townships. Grand Bend also feels that the sub- divisions and Service- • outlets. such as motels and gas stations benefit greatly • from sera/ices provided by the Village and should be willing to help support those services.- Grand Bend Reeve Shaven has been' • quoted as. saying' that he . is currently "just rattling the sabres" in an attempt. to get everyone involved in the question to take a serious look at the•situatian.. If the County .Councils :turn down the village's request for a , study of restructuring in the area it seems,likely that Grand Bend municipal leaders will cease their sabre . rattling and draw those sabres for real. Reeve Sharon is willing to make the ' matter an ;election issue in December and has, called on councillors to be prepared to "stand -91-• fall" on the' question of annexation. "�- - There seems 'litatle reason to question. Until : very recently there have been municipal Housin Authorities overseeing the . field of public housing, one at Goderich and aiiother at Clinton. Public housing in other centre's has been administered under "dir'ect management" by the Ontario Housing Corporation, ' The:•province of Ontario instituted a program to local all these, under an umbrella of localresponsibility and has formed the• Huron County .Dousing Authority as the device to implement the new policy. The ReW_authority will ad- miriister all public housing in the county; including that which is located in: Goderich -and` 'Clinton replacing the existing-authorittes. .. the policy itself: Too much power 'has been gathered in the hands -of Queen's Park Officesin the past and the granting of responsibility on •even.a county basis is 'a refreshing change. What one does wonder about is how the whole plan was implemented. The Huron County Housing. Authority will consist of seven members, including Authority Chairman Harold Knisley of Goderich. Therewill be Frank Sills of Seaforth, Jack Delbridge of Exeter, Ken G.:Flett representing. the County Council and members •yet :.'to be named representing Wingham, Brussels and two. G Ieric'h, •.;.• Mr. Fleet was appointed recently by • the '.Huron •:County Council as their representative. The Ontario Housing Corporation term • Mr Knisley, Delbridge and Sills as 'Provincial ap- pointees. The remaining appointee from Goderich ' and the _representative of Wingham _and Brussels will be:Federal. appointees -according to "the OHC. This does not. mean the `Federal Appdintees' will be appointed by the _Federal Government. hist like the members already named' they ;will be named to the authority by a Provincial Order in Council - In . truth they will represent.: the government in power at Ottawa, while the `.Provincial at)- " p- pointees'- represent the governinent in power. at Queen's Park." In; plain terms or for that matter are not the best men for, the job. Perhaps they are. Perhaps the Huron County Housing Authority will consist of a County .representative three chosen by the• Liberals and three by the Conservatives, ° '• • An OHC .s'pokesman. said on Friday that appointments to the boardlare chosen to reflect the Federal+• ands" Provincial governments in this ,way ;because ' it also . refl'ects . the subsidy arrangement 'under .which the Housing Authorities in Ontario are funded: Forty two per cent comes from the Province, '50 .per cent from the Federal Govern"- ment. and. seven .and one half per cent. from the municipality: If one looks at it in this light it seems almost reasonable, but.looking deepen the question still remains, "How were • no•guarantee t at man or e'. h the bestf h job fild.s'that:post. " • . these representatives. elected?'' Could . 'it have been plain, 'unadulterated political patronage? Certainly the public at large was. never consulted., Groups like the Goderich 'Housing Action 'Committee, who have been involving themselves deeply in the' -problerri's of public housing, were. never asked for its opinion. There ,was no feedpa.ck from ;the various town councils concerned, .The county 'appointed its representative but were they kept in= formed of the mechanismused to select •other members? . We don't intend by these observations te--:Suggest that the members already named to the authori.ty:are not qualified, •when the remaining positions are filled everyone., will.: agree •that those__gen- tlemen, (or ladies),. were • the best ap- pointments possible.` • _ But, just for -the sake of argument, let's say they are not:' What recourse do we have? We, the takpayers'who will.- provide the funds this body ' will 'be responsible for disbursing. Since we did not elect the group in the first place,, it seems unlikely' they will have to be very Concerned about losing office at the next election. - To quote Don Wheeler.; chairman •of the Goderich• Housing Action Com -rnittee, "I,. don: t question the ability . of those appointed but question...if the method of appointment was the best one possible. There was no competition and C Alice Coleman, a British planner and home. The result. will'be"diSastroricer uf. . at pre.sen,t. guest lecturer, at ,the inflationary effect" f on o p University -of' Western • Ontario, has world population Continues to explode at brought the question of urban sp present rates ' says is for Condoler, once again with a . study and all large food producing , headlines .on g e their of agricultural land into the .The answer she and the -loess g a. 'n countries ent of Urban to • conserve and improv • d for the Departm prepare e • Affai • productive farm land, rs,.. The Science. Couneil---of Canada -Miss Colernan'S y suggests su ests that if disagrees slightly with Miss Coleman's --L.current..eanadian eating habits continue findings. In a recent report it suggested this .country will beablefo produce firod`-that--preduotion-can•`b'e--,.dou!blecL__fr: n_ for only •30; million people and the • actual and potential farm land by population of Canada is expected to hit ' year 2000 The Science Council 'does that figure -in the -year -2000, • • agree_that_there are 'problems such as The central thrust of these findings is the uncertainties of markgt that )-cave that Canada will find herself exporting kept farms.from increasing production. • less and less in the way of food, as we (A finding that will come as no surprise ere a o lees.) need more to -feed our own peopleh t t the farmers themse For most people,,' especially those who have vacation there,' Britain means umbrellas. As a generality. that irn- • pression isn't tooTar wrong but in 1976 it is about as far from the truth as possible, • 'For that matter there hastheen little rain on that island, and over much of Europe, for the past three ;winters" and two summers. Although it rainedslighly t ere during hasn't be'ettenough to �enou the past week it settle the durst., of England's worst .-For some time nowthe world has been relying on the stable grain producing regions -of Canada andthe•United State'; to stave off starvation on a 'massive scale, "but Miss Coleman warns. in her report that this will: change drastically as cities chew up. good agricultural land in Canada.-• .6 • -- To...pu-t -this ...into . perspective,:.- ---Y bringing some of the large figures closer to . homed let's consider .that a rule of :: thiimb__used_,by - economists and -food produc-tion experts is "two persons tothe acre."That is, one acre of farm land can support tv opef ie for one year in terms of food produced. In ' Canada—t raatacre can probably provide for slightly more t n two people '(certainly it can in We stern • Ontario) but for • easy VEN cience Council mathematics we'll accept it. The Goderich Industrial Park, where this column is being written, has been -set. aside ,for industrial development as the .community. .of Goderich grows. It con tains•approximately 260 acres. -Were it. not occupied by industries it could -feed 520 persons frdm now until September of 1977. • . No one is denying -that Gode t. have'a place for ifs industry, orihat this. , industry is -necessary,: We use it as an example so. that when you visit Toronto or sbine other large city.you might consider htiw many people could be fed -Eberth--in Canada and abroad) were the same land placed under the'plow'rather than concrete.• - Because of statistics like - this the Council has -called : for an im- mediate freeze on -further city sprawl, and non-agricultural use of Quebec and. Ontario farm land and has demanded a • national land use•policy. Miss Coleman's .report Claims that only 7.5 per cent of Canada.can be used as agricultural .land,. This represents' 174 Million acres of which 66 million is unimproved land (not�-el•ear.ed for.. im- mediat'e farming) -,Which leaves only 69 million acres under crop. This may not seem too bad but.one must keep in -mind that the sprawling cities are_not eating up non-agricultural `land, -or even unimproved land, ,but are paving over the :prime land. The answer, _says Miss Coleman, is to stop the sprawl by improving eXi$ting communities. People will have t� learn' to live more densely to avoid wasting agricultural land. . , • . She suggests that the provinces would do wellto follow the lead of British Columbia and establish a land`-tom- mission-responsiblefor the preservation of farm land... The British planner also sees' a plan by. Saskatoon to build new centres about 30 miles distant, . th•at would be self- contained and yet be linked to the c,en- ' tral city. • This approach -would allow proper sitesto be chosen. That is, land notbest suited to agricultural produc- tion. drought in 500 years. The showers were the first in 38 days and 'farmers Say it will help pasture's and root crops, and freshen the fruit, but will do nothing to replenish the . underground Water resources which have been drastically' ' depleted. : It ,will take no less than 18 inches of rainfall to do that. Average rainfall in England is about 40.inches but in the first half of 1976 only 13.78inches of rain have falle?i Ae{ oss the channel in Paris a heavy rain fell for the first time in M. weeks. 'There were thunderstorms scattered over the rest . of Europe bringing- gocalize'd relief ,blit also bringing certain amount of destruction through floods which washed out roads. The lack of rain • has also been responsible for a large number of forest fires in r nglafid, France and Belgium,, In Britain alone more than 4,000' acres havebeen ravaged by fire. Nature trails have been closed to the public due to the fire ' hazard and Forestay Commission officials predict that it will take 10 years for the forests to ., recover. • Even fish are .i ying as water tem- peratures rise in streams or as the streams disappear altogether as has the source of the ThamesRiver itself; With farmers -losses mounting rapidly the government has passed the Drought Act in England and .similar legislation: has been passed in Belgium. Though it is d unlikely to be enforced in its severest degree the Belgium law could result in a fine of $1,000,000 to anyone caught 'washing their car. Stories appearfigin the English press have predicted shortages and major price. increases in a number of food item's by fall and as a result sparked'off a rash of panic buying. Merchants say such buying may, well 'make the situation worse in terms of supply. No nne is claiming: that.Ffi'giand and • • Europe. will starve this winter put there seengs'little doubt there will be shortages in.number of areas. In the drought belt of Wet Africa things seem to be on themend. 'Rainfall • has been=:."erage orr, even above in many areas leading the experts to.ho}ie• far a fair to good harvest. The setbacks this, year will. be due to insect And rodent losses not the :lack of rain. J',tst how much food thbse countries will be able to (continued on :page 14, o'