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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Goderich Signal-Star, 1976-11-04, Page 17GQD,FRICH SIGNAL -STAR, 'hURSI A'Y, N&V M BER 4,197 RON SHA It's a municipal election year. And municipal elections, in the last few weeks before nomination day, breed remora, • reports of rumors, hints of ' rumors and a few outright lies. When the final run down of who is •going to run for what and why hits the front pages it usually represents only the smallest percentage' of what, the news reporting staff started with. A few grains of truth sifted from the chaff of the rumor n►onger i. _ This week the Signal -Star begins its ' coverage of material connected with the upcoming :vote in a condensation of ` council business from the past two years. Next week we'll begin to present more detailed reporting of the issues and personages facing. Goderich voters on December 6. (It .will' take atleast that long to even begin the sifting job.) -In the meantime L thought it might be fun to report all the gossip circulating in the newsroom. . -.k The truth will rnme soon enough. Besides,' there's an old expression 'why is t tae getin Jet thethe he w ray' of,.a good. story? The tables of the Goderieh Restaurant, the dark, recesses of the Duke and are Candlelightbuzzing this week, with tales of the incredible confrontation shaping up over the position of mayor. Present m'ayar Deb Shewfelt will :be defending his chair against two former mayors, recently retired Harry Worsell and present councillor Frank Walkom, There seems a slight discrepancy here in. that Frank. Walkom is also reported 'to -- be a "definite" for -a seat on the Public Utilities . Commission and is also reported to have told close friends that,: he is retiri- g frorfi municipal politics. But the three way fight for mayor. makes . a better story don't you think? • It may sound as thougha classic battle is shaping up over the mayorality but lt Sources clairning to be "close to will pale beside t'he. "four way 'feminine fight" 'for rouneil eats Th try to retain • at'sr right h seat on council and that he is also, folks, have it on good authority fa source at the laundromat) that present conn chlor Elsay Haydon will be seeking re- election and will be joined on the ballot 'by Eileen Palmer, Dorothy Wallace and Joan Vanden Broeck. One source has it that this development- is one of the contributing factors to Frank Walkom's decision to seek the mayor's chair. There are conflicting reports over the stance of Councillor Jim. Peters. He is' reported to have decided both to retire from the political arena and to be ac- tively seeking re-election. The same conflict exists o.v.er the position of Councillor Harrison, though it' has also been reported he'll take a shot at deputy - reeve. -In a recent poll' I' ;conducteQ, however, ° those supporting the theory' that those gentlemen will seek council seats seem to have.4t. Gower sayhe will certainly•y v is Wing so consid' e S g e� rrt it ,ttiareeve's post Councillor Bob thaw -s reported to be a definite for a try at' being returned and the word - is that a he is distributing; nomination papers like confetti among co-workers and other residents in an atteinnpt to find mere candidates. It 'seemsunclear whether this is an at. tempt to defeat the apathy toward municipal government or at splitting the vote sufficiently . to guarantee the election of a ghost candidate. Reeve Stan 'Profit and Deputy -reeve Bill Clifford are apparently both seeking. a .return to office. None of my "usually reliable sources" seem.to know if Profit will be contested but • it has been suggested that Mrs. Palmer•may make a last`minute switch and run against Mr. Cliffprmd .... just for old times sake. Makes for • some great possibilities. doesn't it? Too bad our front page is restricted toprinting facts only. 0 nto tr i yngi Calgary . and Alberta do not necessarily have the market cornered on rodeos. No sir, right here in Ontario the sport is popular and sees expression in the annual . Mid -Western Rodeo held at Exeter. At least it used to ise popular and it used to be held at Exeter. According to the Exeter : Times Advocate though the- rodeo is "on the ropes" and if anyone would like to have rodeo, the Mid -Western may just be up for grabs. The event,was staged with at least fair success at Exeter this year: but only eight people turned out to..a meeting there last week at which a decision was to have been made about the future of HERE Thos who . did turn up were pessimistic but did agree •tohold another meeting on November 8 at which time a final decision will be made. ' The rodeo;suppo ten •f-ind''themselves in a situation very similar to the one they faced last year, The event has lbst money, in both 1974 and 1975 due to weather problems and many Of the most enthusiastic workers haveindicated that they are not- prepared to continue ,. spending countless. hours of work on a losing cause again next year. A number' of service clubs -in Exeter"rallied around the rodeo and ' promised their support this year and the rodeotook on some new INFQRMATION,. BACKGROUND AND OPINION IHURON the event. l' when profits were ear k d f mare or . He supported th at argument by pointing the new.South Huron Recreation Centre. out that none of the service clubs .had. In the end that project received about seer --fit to send a representative to the $2500 from rodeo profits, meeting. . Rodeo president Glen Northcott told Hugh Kennedy of Ilderton, . who has the eight people,4•n attendance last week been• nominated as president of the that the.executive had deliberated for a • rodeo, said .he • was sorryto think the long time about the future of the rodeo rodeo may be ended. , "Thisis the best and had "mixedfeelings." rodeo in Ontario,".the,' said adding that. "Financially, we had a good rodeo, members should take some consolation secretary Jack Malone added, but went in the fact they have done a good job in. on to point o.uf that th $65 bat e_ 0 once on promoting it. • carry on for anothehand was not r year.mh with which to "It's been done professionally,'' he He said he was "not so certain" the , cla.imed.- rodeo could expect the community , He went on to admit though that it was support . it. experienced thr .ugh the a .situation where too few were doing too Recreation. Centre fund drive in future. •much and "they're burned out". - a is appenig in a ucation'today? • Should our schools get .back to .more of the basic .subjects? •How do we set educational standards?' ' . If you've been wondering about education, the Ontario .Teachers" Federation is offering from $50 to $500 in funding to groups or citizens .who will plan workshops arid conferences on educational topics like these. "The purpose is to give people an e.pportunity to discuss what is on their minds concerning education,". explains R.R. "Dess" • Dixon, anexecutive assistant with the Teachers' Federation, • the official organization of . Ontario's 102,000 teachers from Kindergarten to Grade 13. "The topics can he whatever, they want to talk .about. ' He said `the Federation has sponsored and organized workshops and . con- ferences for its members and others. interested in education across the province for many years. "As part of a continuing program 'to promote un- derstanding of educationalmatters, we also want to facilitate discussion and information sharing. on . the concerns of parents and the public." If requested, Mr. Dixon said ' the. Teachers' Federation will suggest topics or resource persons..• Applications must .include—a brief description of the proposal, its aims and objectives, date and location, names, addressesand phone numbers of 1AL chairman, and committee, 'amount of funding sought from the OTF.and other sources and other details. ' Groups applying for . grants must ensure one tea yed by the local school bo rd, and endorsed by his or .her principal, sits on the cominittee, and must advertise and bill the event as "The Ontario Teachers' Federation Workshop (or conference) in cooperation with "the local group,or the reverse. If the local group is ;contributing more funding. ' The local group must provide planning, and administration; local• advertising, preconference or workshop registration, collection in advance of at least $1.00 per.. • Exeter Mayor Bruce Shaw told the meeting that. the' -threat of. the rodeo folding had regenerated. some support for the 1976 show but that he doubted that such a .threat would' work as well •next year. . Don Dearing said that before any decision is made, about folding the committee. should investigate whether. 'some other corninunity may wish to•` 'Stage the eevent. • . Malone.agreed, noting the '.committee had smile assets to liquidate.in the form of .the.. rodeo ring and' chutes at the. community park. Durih`g`.the discussion however some concern was'• expressed that even, if the committee • decided to PDINTs participant for at least 25 participants ' over and above .the 'cost of lunch. They must "also provide at . the door registration and a master of ceremonies.. The local .iroup"woeld be responsible for the conference' or workshop site and. a one page conference report and financial -statement following the event. A refund oeany unspent funds is to be made to the Teachers' Federaation. The following statement must also appear in all advertising and programs; "The Ontario Teachers' Federation is the professional organization-. of Ontario's 102,000' teachers. The Federation is pleased to provide -(or 'assist in providing) this workshopaspart of a continuing program to promote understanding of educational matters." Anyone wishing. further . information, write Education • Studies Committee, •Ontario Teachers' Federation,' 1260 Bay. Street, Toronto, Ontario, M5R 2B5. Education for many Ontario residents is confusing, and for that group such a program- as. th:'e O.T.F. is proposing could be helpful. For many .others, especially those with cnrlctren in the school system, there are isolated areas of concern: Recently in Huron the field of remedial reading, slow learners, . and l.earnin.g disabilities has come to the: fore. Again, by" providing funding and resource people, the O.T.F. may serve to help explain many of ' the misun- derstandings and contribute to i Separatist leader Rene Levesque, 54, is probably engaged in the most vital election. campaign of his career. If his P ti Quebecois gets close to 40 percent of e vote in the upcoming ..Quebec pro iridial' election, and elects a corresponding number of members In the 1 l& seat Assembly, independence for that• pr'o`vince might appear to be only 'a matter of time. In the last election: the Quebecois won 30 per . cent of the popular vote but earned less than a dozen seats, .Political observers are saying the if Levesque fails to advance that position by more than one or two per cent of the vote, and a considerable number of additional -seats,' his party 'could well face, a tNA:DA IN BEVEN- "destructive crisis". The Parti Quebicois may be facing' a make or break situation, Levesque, a former top Liberal minister was elected in 1960, 1962 and 1966 before quitting the party and founding the Parti Quebecois. Just as his ,party is running a tense and important campaign, so is he in his own riding. Separatism for Quebec however'is not one of the d'entral issues of the present campaign. The issue is always there but the Parti :Quebecois has protnised a referendum should they gain power, in which Quebecers would be able to vote for or against independence at that time. As the campaign- shifted into high gear Levesque began ` criss-grossing the .province denoucing the Bourassa government as "a disgrade" and . claiming that is holds the all :time championship in thee ields of -taxes, unemployment and btiiigetary deficit. He points 'out that Quebec taxes on tobacco and health -services went up $400 million . this year, that unem- ployment stood at 9..7 'per cent in Sep- tember and that the.present government is even admitting that its 1976-77 budget deficit may be aver $1 billion rather than the forecast $600 million. ' . Because • the party .. now : promises a • referendum on the question of in- dependence they have become more acceptable to a wider range of Quebec .voters.••With all the discussion that has surrounded the subject oyer the' peat few years, independence for Quebec is not such. a startling subject arty longer: either. As an election issue it has become almost "Ho -Hum." And:the' criticism levelled by the Parti Quebecois about the Bourassa government's' handling of unemployment. and' spending rings true to many voters. -As a result, Levesque is at least outwardly hopeful and even suggests the election may produce "a - historic surprise:" The Bourassa Liberals have now been "in power for six anda half years which is, longerthan:.anyi government sitrce the Maurice Duplessis regime. It�'has been hit by scandals • and incompetences. .These facts add to Levesque's optimism. He :also claims that Bourassa's election m-. campaign is clearly in trouble, that the Parti Quebecois entered the election • better prepared than ever before with candidates having strong "main- stream" identification than in the past and that as the official Opposition the party is better able to protect itself from fraud because it now has a' role in revision of the electoral lists and can nominateclerk's in the polls. , Letvesque's health has been a question in the past . but during the present campaign he has been showing no signs of weakening. There are nearly two weeks left before the voters go to the polls on November 15 however, and the campaign battle will be a tiring one as the PQ leader represents his party all W.DRLDWE:EK 4.• • At about 3:00 a,rn. Wednesday mor- ning I stumbled from the couch to the television, switched it off and finally accepted the C,B.$. News estimate that the United States of America had a new " president James Earl Carter, Democrat and former governor from the state of Georgia. - In many ways both C.B.S. and I made a rather presumptuous, even if fairly certain, assumption. . Firstly, the final vote was not in and from the first returns at about 8:00 p.m. the popular vote'rnargin between the two candidates was often only one or two per cent Secondly, even if the popular vote had been a runaway far one or the other 1 it really 'Has little effect on whether Ford or Carter •would have .become the next President. , In fact the -voters were not voting for the president at•all, they were voting for members ,of the Electoral College. Today,. the electors to the college are normally chosen by state patty coh- ventions Then those electors go off to Washington on January :6 and cast votes on behalf of their state for the new president. They are bound however to vote the way 'their state went, if the majority voted for Carter, they will cast their votes in favour of Car'tef. This gets complicated because of the weighing of the votes, depending on the size of the state, California has 43 Electoral College votes but Delaware has only three. So, as we watched the returns pain- ' fully trickle in through the early mor- ning hours of Wednesday, what, was important was not the lead Carter was maintaining in the popular vote but how many States he managed to carry and how many Electoral votes each wotadi give him. - In fact it was a very very close contest until New York went to Carter. That didn't quite give him the needed 270 Electoral votes for a wing but it did put him on ,the wire allowing some &mailer, states to boost him across. • The bookmakers in- the .U.S. were giving gven money on the race, odd- smakers in Britain had given Ford a slight edge. I was too unsure to make it public but had a gut feeling for Carter. In the end Carter did not win on the issues, or even on his smile. Those things may have placed him on even ground with Ford but it was a strong turn -out at the polls (always a good sign for Democrats), and black support which put hi ill over the top. So what can we ekpect of the new President when he finallyassumes of- fice? i~oreign policy is not apt to change a great deal, except that there will -be a new Secretary of State, which. was the case no matter who won. The fact that Carter will he a Democratic President with a Democratic Congress may at least provide the opportunity for some innovative legislation. The Senate is howev,er'still Republican. Carter is likely' to introduce a total and complete amnesty for draft dodgers presently living in Canada and elsewhere outside the United States. There may be legislation to stop forced busing (if that is possible), and new laws providing at least some forth of gun control. • . Jimmy Canter is a supporter of the Supreme Court rulingwhich has made proceed with another rodeo,' -they could face .a major proplem in having the grandstand removed from the grounds. Mayor Shaw told the meeting that council had no intention of tearing down the grandstand, but did point outfit could be condemned by the ministry of labor. The meeting was told that ifanother rodeo was held at Exeter it would be staged during. July or August and would. not fall on Labor Day weekend again due to a commitment made to some of the ,show sponsors. It was decided that a final decision about the fate of the rodeo would have to be made within a month to allow proper -- - planning for theievent. ° Anyone want to buy a rodeo? provements in these and other fields. As -the birth rate declines„ many more people in Ontario have no direct contact with the school 'system. They have, no children, 'or fewer children, going to school. Yet we all pay the.taxes which ,support education in • this province. O.T.F. workshops and. clinics could provide the opportunity for this group to learn more about the ways in which the Ministry of Education spends their money. The Ontario Teachers' Federation is to be applauded for their initiative, and we can only hopethat the various interest groups take advantage of the pp portunities 'providedthrough thenew program. • across the province, and spends at least. one day per week in his own riding because a victory there is far from certain. a'• The Liberals have managed to bring in two. • `ringers' frern Ottawa as Jean Marchand and Bryce Mackasey gave up Federal po'litics to seek election in the present campaign. Levesque likes to call them "'the shipwrecked crew from Ottawa" but they may still serve to bolster the Liberal image in Quebec. I won't go so far as to pick the Parti Quebecois as winder, Bourassa will no doubt manage to form a government, but I am looking for a,•considera,a,ble in- crease in seats for the PQ in the next provincial Assembly. • abortion legal: If he keeps his campaign promises the American people 'might also look for- ward to a new standard of morality in their government as well as a shake up..., in the bureaucracy -and a reduction in. the influence of the lobbyists. The new president is also likely to introduce measures aimed at full employment through government financed jobs. Here in Canada we may find Carter a difficult man to deal with in terms of trade, especially where agricultural produce is concerned, although he suggested during the campaign that he would attempt to,"erase the irritations" between Canada and the United States, -