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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Goderich Signal-Star, 1976-09-09, Page 13• (an )ERICH SIGNAL -STAR. U12SDAy, .PTT :t'1' Re▪ member Henri? Henri.'Tartiniere. He's the t;t�y you timet berg last weak with --w the nine to{ive lots, twa4ids and house .©he ,partly ,...owris.:.. Wt,ll,. tic*ori has .a ..... problem. A couple of his neighbors are just -about driving him around the bend, Itseemsevery time he answers the door bell one of. those neighbors ' is standing there with a petition. Or he gets letters, meeting invitations and •questionnaires rn'his mailfromthe. same_::_ characters.Even it.; the letter: comes in 'the nailm'e,,eMilmti eom.mtttee.or cleb'he .. knows - it's' fgorpippeeof. them. After all he's seen the `ha,py'fting often enough' • to recognize° in bJi Q ( Why lust larst wce'k the guy d stueet tried to drtag� him out to some • public meeting about •new tax laws. He _. get ,gtjt of that one by saying he was holidaying that week ar cilli.. guy never thought to ask .if he was` going away for • his vacation. "Hell", Henri said to his wife, "what do.I know about this tax ' reform. Isn't„it enough I've got to•paythe taxes reformed er otherwise?'" Not long before that' encounter the i c�l'usirig • tri give .any money -to run' the+ -hospita1,'scltriabbles about share to build • iipurt i (•tit. heildings and the"'likcr.- Why ". don't. the) wr°iti .ilaou.l smamething the . you can,: understand':' For that matter-, why don't they have stories about.' somethinginrportant fcirctchange. Henri has been following the story about• his towns arena. being .closed •down. 'Some. high -and mighty civil 's.er,vant just upped.and closed it and now• . . his son won't he able to play hockey this winter. Sterns likeevery tirne•he't.ur-ns• around.. soma' guy down In. Toronto or. ° Ottttwa is Buying• you have -to de this or di'n't do. that. - own the.were. talking,,ahiiut that down at the pub .the other night. About how •Toronto. arid—Ottawa are -always telling' the little guy what to do. And how every. time they .do it, it winds up.costiog snore money,. Ben, who works over at the plant with Henri said it was mostly, our: own •,fault: He claimed Davis and 'Trudeau were -ruling by default, 'Eighties, just like nature, he, said, abhors avacuum,'and. someone Will always fill it. Evert if they. crazy •breed, down the street wets trying to 'get ,Min to sign a; petition about ubcat"t'ion laws. Henri can't remember for • sure'whether the petition favored or disfavored the law -(or the i'aclets one) - but he signed anyway while cleverly steering the conversation.along lines like the. weather: Before ie fell asleep that night he wondered about signing like that, hut it seemed easier than getting into some involved discussion. Besides she came along right in the middle of Star -Trek. don't. do it the Way we would. Ben said ;: someone has to run the show sinceno one i else is interested: When Ben said that, Henri couldjust see it coming. Next person at .the oor wita petition will be Ben. Every • one of those petition 'pushers and Letter- writers talk like that. "Ruling by default" "Political :vacuum"..What's all that supeosed to mean anyway. "Who wants to get-t:arigled up in ally.• . then ,there's that guy at work who that politics?" Henri says to. the •wife. keeps corneringhimat lunch about • Then he turns On the TV. Police story at joining a delegation»ko go to town council least has clear 'out villains• and good with a request for street improvements _:.=-guys ;And- thereie always the as Henrikeeps telling him th:at's why there is a town council•, so the average guy doesn't have; to salty about that sort Qf thing. Sure the neighborhood streets are :in -mess but Henri just can't see where • sitting through a.bdring meetingis'going to help any.. The local paper is about to drive him"-, nuts as well. All that's ever in the:damn • thing is s'ttlff about borrowing by-laws at ` council, the politicians in Toronto that everything will be just fine.in the.. end, That's one thing, which nags .at Henri. •fsnmthe back of his rnihd: Even after the mortgage is paid off,„ •tiie.kids are,:. welleducated and his pens kin is coming in things may not, work out the way they're supposed to: Something is terribly wrong but Henri just can',t put -his finger on what it might be. INFORMATION; BACKGROUND AND- OPINION The effects -of developnierit at. Douglas Point nuclear generating facilities on Huron County,,,this time in the fief ef, agriculture, grabbed prime news space • again last week. Charges by Huron. - ' County Federation 'of Agriculture presidentxAdrian Vos that ozone pollution is affecting county crops took the. leadposition in Saturday's London. • Free Press pushing even the racial riots of South Africa to the bottom ori' front page. •.. , • Thi$ is not really. .surprising, in as - much as Mr. Vos's experimental tobacco plants appear to be indeed suffering from some malaise,' and even Ontario Hydro admits • that high .'voltage tran- smission lines produce ozone, the pollutant blamed" -for the ,tobacco leaf Spots. The point. of argument centers around .quantity of pollutants produced; -not the actual existence of the pollutant. Hydro claims only traces of ozone are producedby the lines, the highest level . ever recorded under, such transmission line•being 0.1part per hundred -million. Flecking of tobacco leaves such•as Mr:" Vos reports could not occur at con- centrations of less than 0.5 pphm. they say. r- - High voltage transmission lines .are. not the only creators of .ozone pollut o though. . Ozone is produced photochemically from generating -stations fired by fossil fuels in ' mach larger concentrations. For'thatmatter any device, including, automobiles, 'Which burns fossil fuel can contribute to. a raising of the ozone level. Although.. most of 'the electricity at Douglas Point, is produced . through _"nuclear- reactors there is a . back up generating - unit in'` use. The Mickup generators are aircraft type corribus-tion turbines. which use expanding hot gases produced by burning distillate fuel oil.' The turbines are used as standby units • so when the •r.eactgr is not generating„ Douglas Point: will still have power to continue running. ' The increase in- motor vehicle traffic brought about by the development is another contributing factor. Fossil fuels containing sulphur produce: the gas sulphur dioxkle, a corrosive,''. poisonous,' foul • smelling 'pollutant, A • recent study places the damaging effects of sulphur dioxii'de on plants of secondary importance only to ozone. One. way or the other, Douglas - Point is producing quantities of both. „ The question is only how :much, and if there is sufficient • ozone and sulphur dioxide,separatelyyor combined,to be damaging crops as Mr. Vos' suggests. Laboratory tests have 'of -coursebeen conducted. They may indicate just what pollutant hurts what plant and how but conditions in a farmer'sfield are not as perfectly. `controlled asthe lab ex- periment and may hide .large scale problems. Mr. Vos even suggests that .farmers 'may. not • be recognizing the damage caused by sucfl potluearits; Insteadthey may fall back on the farmer's•traditional Complaint and blame the weather. If the blight on 1VIr. Vos's tobacco leaves is the •first signs - of pollution • • • • • • problems . the situation is bound to become worse and w,orse as th e nuclear - facility at Douglas Point expands and - should Ontario Hydro carry out plans for a second :such generating station in Huron• County: There is also the question of scale. Huron County's 1975 crop value is estimated at $135,000,000. If even five per cent of that crop -Was lost to pollution -it would represent a huge sum, $5,750,000. • With farming, 'the. • .investment in equipment and labor aloneis huge and losses of five percent, or -even less, over a number of years couldwell make the":.. difference between profit and loss. P • Ontario is now the -hope. of five than 10,000 eligible Ontario. voters: ' , registered _Political Parties. Last week The central • thrust •of the Ontario the Ontario Libertarian Party became Libertarian Party philosophyis in the' fifth.: when it was officially' dividual freedom in both the •economic, recognized . by the Commission on' and civil, spheres. It opposes .,such Election Contributions' and Expenses. legislation as the land speculation tax It,may seem that anyone can simply and rent controls as well:as compulsory start up his .Jar .her owsi par.ty.,.___seat belt legislation and-.S.unda_y. closing and indeed that ispossible to a point. laws. However if• that party wishes to take :In brief, they. believe in a .hands-off advantage of .the provision. that • all policy by governments at all levels as donations to -its coffers be eligible for a far as is possible. tax credit, they must present to the This :political philosophy was perhaps Commission a petition signed by_mo e put forward first by John Stuart Millin I an essay published in 1859 -acrd entitled "On Liberty." Mill drew his conclusions after pon- dering "the nature and limits of- the power • which can be legitimately exercised by society!. over__. the in- dividual". He: decided that every person. should be:.tgiven• ail -possible- liberty, provided • it , does not- infringe on the liberty of .others. This must be so, Mills. felt, even if some people insist on using that liberty to hurt or todiminish themselves. . In the last provincial election (Sep- • 1 tember 1975) the Ontario Libertarian Party -ran 17 candidates. Party leader Paul Mellon •is 'presently engaged in preparing for the next election. - - Libertarians are active on the federal level as well. The Libertarian Party of • Canada ' was formed in 1973 and ran 24 candidates in the 1974 federal election:. This branch of -the party will not be of- ficially registered until the next general .election, - -Although the the party is new tp. Ontario it 'has been active south of the border since 1972. For the upcoming' Presidential elebtion the 'names . of Roger Lea MacBride and his' running rnate`. •vid Bergland will appear on the ballot i P at least 30 states. The philosophy has been spreading rapidly and now there is a Libertarian—piety 'in almost every state as well. ._ A party holding the same beliefs; but bythe°name 'Worker's Party'; has been formed. in Australia and has grown rapidlysince its inception in 1975. The party has contested a number of elec- tions on both the Federal and State levels and has seen one candidate win a seat in a municipal election.-. The initial reaction of rnany has been, "Oh, no, not another.political party" but • at the. same time many express their - dissatisfaction withcontinual govern- ment interference' in their everyday lives. If this unrest continues to, grow, the new Libertarians may -gain a, great dean -lore sup.portthan le expected. ' Dr. William Barootes, president of the Canadian Medical Association has said that doctors and legal officials have begun to • examine some, possible - inhumanities -of scientific medicine. He has also suggested that Canada will have i . a law allowing terminally ill_patients the right -to -refuse -life-sustaining medical care within the next,10,, ears, One of the major difficulties in the formulation of,such legislatiori is coming up with a legal definition of death. Dr. Barootes --pointed out though.. ,khat a ''committee of the CMA and the Canadian Bar Association is already working on that question, :The state of California is one of the few. places where "right to die" legislation has been.... passed, and even at that the vote 'margin was only 43 to 25.' hat bill was prompted by the case of Karen Anne Quinlan whose parents fought a lengthy • rant .battle .• for the right to 'have life support systems removed. - Overall though, poli-tic.ians are none too keen to -become embroiled inthe issue and little' is apt tohappen until public'pressure:for such legislation gains.momentum. - British Columbia is. one . example,, There, private . members billsfor a NADA IN SEVEN "right to die" law have been -tabled but defeated.'•. Ontario's health minister Frank Miller has been quoted as saying "there, are timeswhen as person has a right to die with dignity". He hastens to add, however,that the . proVVincial .'Con- servatives have net discussed this -sue. Miller feels that for the nioment the public -attitude appears •to be that life is more.preciou5. than anything else. "But sometimes I' detect a weakening of that when people • visit a iipspital,: for the severely retarded or'the chronicallyill.", At present doctors retain the right to write on a terminally ill patient s. -record "no, resuscitation.!' Some do but most say the same thing in other words, such as "no Code 99" which means the special team pf doctors who rush to' the ward to mechanically induce life if a patient has a Cardiac br pulmonary •arrest are not called. ' Dr..Baroofes explains that he makes a notation -ion the chart reading "please give. compassionate nursing care" which, the deCtor. explains, "on my Ward means no artificial methods are to be. used if life is ebbing away;'. Whatever the present practices of the medical profession, Justice Minister lion . Basford notes that although doctors and lawyers have "expressed concern about. the issue" and the proliferationslf life support systems raises "the distinct possibility some -government is going to have to discuss the issue." ' • While doctors ;and lawyers undertake .the delicate definitions of-terlas like "death', •,`trminally ill' and . 'com- passionate nursing' care' the moral consid•klerations are left with the in- dividual citizens of Canada. In si)nple terms, would you agree. to have life support systems' withdrawn were one df your 'family • suffering from terminal cancer (or some other' affliction)? _ Is there any danger of such a law being abused?'•When such Life- sustention is being used merely in treatment, with the• real possibility of recovery would the law leave the decision to possibly greedy relatives? It's unlikely, but the law must be clearly defined: • " Also, if such a law is indeed the proper response to the "possible inhumanity o scientific medicine the electorate will hd re to, push. Politicians Willbe most ,reluctant to initiate such a program on .their own, • • • • Canada has never been noted for its foreign • policy. Probably because it - never --had one.- • -Thisoversight on•the part of our -government• leaders came to light recently.when'External Affairs officials began preparing for Canada's upcoming • entry to the United -Nat'ions-Security=-' Council. 1~ i'k' of the 15 Security Council members are permanent. (France, U.S.A., the .Soviet Union, Britain and China) and have veto power. The other -40 memberstake seats on a rotation basis and so Canada gets a chance in the • limelight. In• preparation, the Department of External Affairs )s taking a look at our stan'ee on world affairs. The outcome has been a nupfiber of so-called "tilts", "shifts" and`,, "leanings". To date, Canada has-been. satisfied to follow the lead of our NATO partn r•s - the United. States inti tr - p a ar cal a an call it foreign g voile y:-• 0.,thets-and _flu:Mors...c" .ming out of the Lester B. Pea son: building in 'Ottawa are any indication, all this is past. Canadian diplomats maybe Expected »to "tilt'' away from Israel and toward the -Arabs in .general, particularly the Palestine Liberation Organization. This • • - is termed a "balanced;,:objective-and even-handed" approach to the- Middle East. - Canada will' support mora' moves aimed at South -Africa, short• of having that nation ousted from the U.N. - It i;.cxpected Canada will side more and morew'ith the 'Third World, , As aresultof allthis-itis»Iikely_Canada will find -herself more often at odds with.. the foreign policy of big hrothgrsouth of. the border. • To date it has been..possihle for our represdetat&ttion to support a very fuzzy "position in votes at, the U.N. General. •Assembly. A seat in the Security Council places us squarely in tfre4putlight and sonme.final position must be taken on the major issues. Irl islrr•gued, quite rightly, that; the eyes of the world will be 'Wat- ching. Just how popular many of these changes will be witil the Canadian voter is uncertain. Granted, Canadian foreign policy (or the Zack of it) has never been a ntiiicir etc then issue Tut peihiaps a seat on the Security Council will draw the attention .of more Canadians to. our position in world affairs. A siiif't away from Israel and toward the PLO is <t' case in point. Canadians have dittonally supported the 4,owish state, in pei',tw ljsal stti7PrtITI(Cfr noel -may nieit • • • take kindly to a foreign• policy which -does not reflect •this attitude, Israel's lament-rrbinability to cone to any -form"` of agreenten°t with_the Palestinian; has not helped its image in Canada but some-.. MPs are -still concerned that a swing too far in the -other direction could effect the next election. ' Of course economics is one of the reasons behind a tilt to -the Arabs. They , have a great deal of, money these days..to• buy manufactured goods: Good foreign policy should . reflect national interests, but using these two as " exarripfes, the new - policy .leads us nowhere, We moveativay from Israel.-fbr_:,_..:. "15-eiTerinai�keTe—V tfi- the Arabs ard side with the anti South .'African camp and lose markets there.- Although External A ffairs may develop a foreign policy for ottr». diplomats to fotldr;, it seems unlikely it will make' any more sense than .the so c•alled.p?ilicie5 of the past. • • • -Another case is•So.uth Africa,. On the ,surface perhaps many ranidien•s would like to Bre that.govern•niunt pressured to c'ha.ngO' its 'race 'policies, On the other hand many Canadian cornpsanies deal with . South Africa -and mnn'ey and .,'ohs t. -,c• ufd be'nrrthe litre, • • •