Loading...
The Goderich Signal-Star, 1977-12-01, Page 5e Our country's recent economic, national .-unity, RCMP security ;AO, accompanying tither problems have taken their toll on the health and welfare of all Canadians. • In fact a notable doctor pointed out, that with increasing unemployment and a dollar that continues to slip from our grasp, Canada is fast becoming a nation of ulcer ridden worriers. Now Canadians can boast of another world feat. Being the leaders of strikes we may- now have the most strikers in the world with ulcers. �i "This ulcer business is becoming quite a problem in our country," the doctor declared. "Why with -so many -,things to worry about in this great land of ours it's little wonder our tummies are upset." "I can see it," I said dolefully, "And with each newscast and headline the worries seem to mount." "Exactly and there is just no letting up. The average Canadian has to worry about high unemployment; a .:;!killing _. Canadian dollar, inflation, Rene Levesque and national unity, the RCMP avoiding the law on the pretense of ,.national 'security, politicians on the take and the list can go on. The pressure is always there," he said. "Gee, there is just no end to the bur- dens that are placed on our shoulders," I said. 'But car}. the average factory worker in Moose Jaw, cope with all this?" "Well that's exactly my point," he countered. "It's just too big a load for the average guy to worry about and the ulcers are mounting at an incredible rate. "Why just take for instance a guy who is terribly worried about unemployment and them wham the consumer price :aa,. (,ODE RICH SIGNAL -STAR THl1WSDAY, DECTMB index goes up and he is not sure whether to worry about that or the fact that Lev `txray--ride-ts-separati-smun-the-.: strength of the Montreal Alouettes Grey Cup victory:-' "Yes. That's enough to make any ulcer bleed for mercy," I said. "And then by the time we find something specific to worry about Christmas approaches and any patriotic Canadian should have the decency to devote a segment of his ulcer to worrying whether the Mounties have enough men to spread across the country to inspect the Christmas mail rush," he said. "It is something we cannot overlook." "But has any thought been given to splitting up the problems into distinct categories?" I asked. "Then people 'in certain provinces'would just be given one problem to worry about. Like the people of Newfoundland would just Its 1,1977- worry about unemployment., Ontario` would, Just worry about the declining r, da uar.,_-4.r'Phec would_.. worry..AboutAte Montreal Canadiens winning the StanlOy Cup and" so on. It could ' alleviate the pressure:" "1 can't see ,that it would work,," the doctor replied. "We are it such a state now that people are worrying what to worry about. I mean the list is endless and sometimes it's difficult to make a choice." "Or perhaps it would help if we weren't so selfish and decided to worry about other people's problems," I added. "Let's get Canadians to worry about the Arabs and Israelis or typhoons in India. They may just forget about all the worries at home." "I really can't see the point in that," the doctor said. "About all we can do is drink plenty of milk and keep the OHIP paid up." HE WEEK AFTE .S g'4 Tuckersmith township council is Iding a fire marshall's report that yed the fire protection in the ship area, ckersmith ratepayers accepted an tion of the council to attend a g last week to consider the report to discover it was being kept secret uneil►s instructions. council had advertised the gin area papers to consider the urvey report of the Ontario Fire alts office but the report was not available at the meeting. cillor Frank Falconer was :,the INFORMATION, BACKGROUND AND OPINION HERE IN HURON only member to speak up and told the audience that the report was of no use. "For your benefit I would say the report was of no use to us." He said it called for "scrapping everything we've got and setting up a new fire department here in the township. We can't afford that,' But Falconer didn't speak up until the end of the meeting after fire protection needs in Vanastra had surfaced again. Vanastra was the only area of the township where the residents had ex- pressed dissatisfaction with the fire protection. The report from the fire marshalls office was completed last spring and the township council reviewed it, in camera, at a summer session. The report was prepared by D.R. Owens, fire services advisor for the Ontario fire marshall. Owens informed council members that they had to decide whether or not to make the report public. Falconer would not indicate where the report suggested the location of new firehalls but the Huron Expositor said Egmondville, Kippen and Vanastra were the sites for proposed firehalls.. ° Ben Bridges, vice-president of the Vanastra Community Association, told the ratepayers present at the meeting, that inadequate fire protection in Vanastra has been a contentious issue for the past 18 months. He added that more protection was required for life and safety and to lower the insurance rates. He said the residents were not happy with the protection. The Vanastra Community Association conducted .a survey in that community and 43 men were willing to act on a volunteer fire brigade. But Owens put a damper on that suggestion explaininoz that to initiate a fire department takes 22 weeks' of training and until fire trainers pass standard set by /he Ontario Fire Marshalls office he didn't even. recommend the buying of equipment. After Owens added .that it could take as long as two years to get a truck Bridges said the best fire training was fighting actual fires and that second hand fire trucks could be bought anywhere, Owens countered saying that once a truck reaches 15 years of service it does not meet the standards of the fire marshalls office and municipalities do not want to have to make costly repairs to old trucks. Owens estimated it would cost $150,000 to equip a fire department plus other operational costs • such as com- munications systems and workmens compensation would boost the estimate by an additional $25,000. Owens also claimed that a volunteer system was one that was difficult to maintain. Vanastra community members claim it is difficult to get insurance because` they are unprotected despite the fact they are located just three miles from Clinton and six miles from Brucefield. • A.) le ,s ny no !sp id e ars pag res ace or ee in mpan " dra bcfor some lifter top" rial .e A. S pinion CofP annou R pant ,se 15a Indus a five• dditiona direct tildren s aPPoint ittee of elation Societies present orce of inistrY rio Premier William Davis an - ed that Prime Minister Trudeau ly call for an economic summit ence with the 10 provincial ertearly next year. a three hour meeting with au on the economy and national Davis said the meeting would beheld in February. Trudeau was onto as part of a continuing series tingswith the premiers to discuss ndtheeconomy, This week he will with Quebec Premier Rene queinQuebec City. s said he based his prediction PROVINCIAL POINTS about the economic -conference on the assumption that Trudeau will get the same postitivb reaction from . the remaining three premiers as he has from those he already met. Davis said he was pleased with the Prime Minister's positive response to the economic summit. Trudeau wants to canvass the opinions of the remaining premiers before making a final decision but indications . are that the conference will materialize. It is not likely that Levesque will veto the idea, The Quebec government has indicated several times it is willing to co-operate with -Ottawa on economic " matters desighed to reduce unemployment and solve Canada's other economic problems. Following the meeting with Davis, Trudeau•said Ottawa is very desirous of having such a conference but added there is no point in holding such a con- ference unless it is productive. While Davis would not elaborate on what the two leaders had discussed in their meeting they spent two hours alone before being joined by the remainder of the Conservative cabinet. Davis claimed that no federal economic proposals were put to him and Queens Park made no suggestions of its own. He said they discussed current tariff and trade negotiations, the Canada -United States auto pact, the Yukon gas pipeline and its effect on Ontario industry. Earlier this week Davis told the federal task force on national unity that substantial constitutional reforms is needed. Federal sources have indicated that constitutional initiatives from Ottawa will likely follow the economic conference. Grant Reuber, chairman of the Ontario Economic Council, has said that rapid inflation and high unemployment are likely to be considered as .normal according to the council's forecast of the provincial economy to 1987." Reuber said the notion that the state of the economy is abnprmal seems ill- founded unless there are a number of significant changes in the economy. The more important changes that might alter that outlook are improvement in labor-management relations in the private and public sectors, and in- creases in productivity, moderation in salary demands and improved corn - petition and market performance. The economic council's projections are predicated on the assumption that governmental economic policy remains basically the same for the next decade. The council forecasts that Ontario's unemployment will rise to more than seven per cent in I978 and stay above that level through 1980. The biggest challenge facing the government is the • growth of bureaucracy and how to deal with limiting that growth. It is unlikely that governmental tax policies will change despite pressure for tax cuts so the government will have to lead the way with decreased spending. a's economic picture brightened hat during the third quarter of ear but Finance Minister Jean en said his chief opposition critic I see the growth in the same thin the economy, as measured gross national product (GNP), ahead by a 5.2 percent annual n the quarter according to is Canada. But by comparison, tput of goods and services had d by 2.4 percent in the three period ending last June. cs Canada said the third CANADA IN SEVEN quarter improvement in the economy was mainly due to increased consumer spending and a healthier trade balance. But while Chretien saw the third quarter improvement as some hope for our economic future, Conservative finance critic Sinclair Stevens said a decrease in business investment over the three- month period is alarming and could lead to economic troubles in 1978. Gh.retien was encouraged by the statistics claiming they were better than expected. In the House of Commons he said the figures indicated Netter ee•nomic prospects. But Stevens said real growth in the 12 month periodo'between the third quarter of 1976 and 1977 was limited to 2.5 per- cent only half of that° of the United States. He said it was disappointing that business investment in construction equipment and machinery as well as the value of exports was down. Statistics Canda figures showed a decline in investment in machinery and equipment iTf 1.1 percent, compared with a drop of 3.1 percent in the second quarter while investment in non- residential construction fell 2.3 percent, Stevens said that if these trends continue the government will have • trouble hitting its 1978 target of five per cent growth, a level that is required to have an impact in reducing unem- ployment. Personal spending on goods and services increased in real terms by two percent, but in the last quarter, con- sumer spending. usually a key to growth', declined. Spending of goods such as automobiles, major appliances, and furniture led the recovery with an increase of 3.8 percent and car sales in • particular were strong. Canadian produced goods and services increase in price by 6,6 percent ahove'a year ago and labour income including wages. salaries and supplementary income incrended by 2.5 percent. Cor- poration profits increased by 3.2 percent in the quarter and the balance of trade unproved. in a study published by Statistics Canada, our productivity, or output per worker, rose by 3.6 percent in 1976.. This was the largest productivity increase in Canada for any, year since 1972 but it is still below the annual average rate of growth of 3.8 percent for ;It 15 -year period But Statistics Canada warned against making comparisons with the United States productivity figures but did admit that output per worker for U.S.-com- mercial industries was higher at four percent in 1976 than Canada's 3,6 per- cent. There are some differences between the two countries in labour costs and 'measuring pay against output. Labour c•osts..in the U.S„ are less than half those of Canada for 17.5 and 76. The main reason is that hourly wages rose faster ni Canada than in the 1.1.S. tan President Anwar Sadat has ed there will he bloodshed in and Syria as a result of talks Sadat and Israeli Prime Menahem Begin to a television in*.view in New rberthis week Sadat said that he red to resign if his peace towards Israel fails. In an with the Financial Times, turning to Egypt from Jerusalem that for sure there will be edin Lebanon and Syria g thh tonsth 'presidents were in WORLDWEEK Sadat said he had not expected to reach the Israeli people as he had during his visit to Jerusalem and added that it was completely stunning when he returned to Egypt. FTe said he hvlieved he was speaking for his people's feelings but was still astonished at the millions, who demonstrated their support.. But Arah leaders who are still opposed to Sadat.'s initiative towards Israel plan to meet in Libya today to discuss their campaign against him. However, Sadat said he would continue his peace drive, with or without his fellow Arabs. The Egyptian foreign ministry handed out invitations to it preliminary con- ference that Sadat wants to convene in Cairn on the weekend. Israel said it would accept but Syria and the Palestine Liberation Organization (1'1,.01 have announced they will not attend. They are expected to go to the meeting in Libya instead, probably joining Iraq, Algeria and other- Arah states deter- mined to resist Sadat's course of negotiating directly with the Psraelis Since Begin mode no concessions on Israeli occupation of Arah lands, the Arabs are likely to turn their hack on any peace settlement. A The United Stales and the- Soviet Union, as co-chairmen of the Geneva conference, were invited to attend the pre -Geneva conference in Cairo, as were Jordan and Lebanon. None of then has given .any official response yet but Sadat made it clear that even if nobody comes to the- conference but the Egyptians and the Israelis, the talks would begin. He said he would go to Genova to negotiate not just on behalf of all the Arabs who would he involved in a comprehensive settlement with Israel, and any peace agreement reached at Geneva would he submitted to an Arah summit conference where each country would have to make up its own mind, Sadat said that the nations who accept the invitation to Cairo could decide for themselves what level of official to send. But the Sadat invitations have put Some invited countries in an un- comfortable situation. The Soviet Union, which would he reluctant to sit.,out a conference that could have a vital role in determining the future of the entire Middle hast, is coal to the Sadat initiative and is closely linked to the Arab states th it oppose it. Moscow's re i'nnsc is not expected until after- a visit there this week by Syrian Foreign Minister Abdel Halim Khaddam, who announced plans for the anti -Sadat meeting in Libya.. Jordan and Lebanon are also on the spot because if they refuse to come to Cairo, they run the risk of missing the talks that could determine the future of thec'Arab-Israeli relationship. Fgyptian officials also claim that the P1.0 has been invited to Cairo but a PLO spokesman said that his group would not come to Cairo. The Arabs recognize the Pi.0 as a legitimate representative of the Palestinian people.