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'