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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Goderich Signal-Star, 1978-05-04, Page 5i..Iave sykS e This week the federal government proposed a series of sweeping changes in Canada's Criminal Code to 'make it easier for the police and courts to crack down on such crimes as rape, prostitution, pornography and child abuse. The changes were introduced in the House of Commons by Justice Minister, Ron Basford but he said the proposals would not likely become law until a new government is elected. Basford's revisions include a redefinition of rape. It is now referred to as indecent assault and any violent sexual assault on women or men would carry a maximum penalty of life im- prisonment. Naturally those of us subscribing to the male gender were able to breathe'a sigh of relief with the announcement that men would be protected under the in- decent assault legislation. Men across the country, on hearing the progressive legislation proposed "by Basford, waved their jockey shorts in the air in a gesture of liberation and offered kudos for the justice minister. His bill would greatly enhance the male cause. "You know, we have waited a long time for the government to step in and offer us some protection," I said en- thusiastically to a fellow male in the newsroom. "We have long been an en- dangered, oppressed and exploited species, but that should change now." "Ah yes. It feels good doesn't it," my newsroom companion offered. "Men have always been easy prey for a female's wanton glances and wily charms." "Oh they are so crafty," I replied. "But perhaps now men will feel com- fortable shopping in a crowded grocery store without fear of a lecherous pat on' the behind from a free spirited female or lustful remarks." THE WEEK GODERICH SIGNAL -STAR THURSDAY, MAY 4, 1978 --PAGE 5 "Oh I know. You just wouldn't believe the things that have gone on," he replied in disgust. "Why is it that females must be con&antiy lusting after our bodies? Can't they ever respect us for our minds?" "You would have to go a long way to find a girl willing to share a Platonic relationship," I countered. "We must just be old fashioned. Why I couldn't begin to count the number off times I've been laughed at, ridiculed and rejected because I was saving myself. You know what I mean, waiting for the right girl." "Oh I know what you mean, my sentiments exactly," he added. "It was impossible to go out and have a few beers with the guys without having to resist the advances of numerous females looking for an easy pickup. And any guy who goes into a seedy little bar alone is easy pickings. A' few drinks, a few dances and bingo they want you to go to their apartment." "Oh ain't it the truth, -li replied with raised eyebrows. "I just don't go out anymore unleass there is a group of guys going along." "Another good thing. too, is that now we will be able to shed our baggy, wrinkled pants and turtle neck sweaters," my friend offered. "Why there wasn't one of us who could walk down the street in a pair of close fitting Levis and a Pierre Cardin with a plunging neckline, withdtft being leered at, whistled at and propositioned, who knows how many times." "Well now that the government has come out and spoken for us maybe we can shed our sex symbol image and be respected as people," my fellow op- pressied companion stated with op- timism. "We're on the right track anyway," I explained. "We will have to keep educating females but you're right, we have come a long way." AFTER INFORMATION, BACKGROUND AND OPINION Ontario Premier William Davis warned the opposition parties in the Legislature not to be too quick to fleic their muscles following their success in forcing the government to backdown on Ontario Health Insurance Plan premium_ s increases last week. Davis told the Legislature it would be unwise for the Liberals and New Democrats to gain , the sense that his minority Conservative- government is notiprepared to face an election test. Davis made the comment following an announcement in, the Legislature by Treasurer Darcy McKeough that the PRDVINCIAL POINTS planned OHIP increase would be cut in half - from the 37.5 per cent,increase to 18.75 per cent, McKeough will make up the lost `revenue by slashing government spending by $73 million and by raising corporate income taxes by one per- centage point. Corporations will pay $11 million more than they would have as proposed in the last budget. The OHIP increase becomes effective May 1 and single people will pay $19 a month up $3, from the present $16 but down $3 from. McKeough's original proposal. Families will pay138 a month, up $6 a month but$6 less than McKeough wanted. The victory for the opposition provides an enormous boost to the credibility of Liberal Leader Stuart Smith, who is being given most of the credit for forcing McKeough and Davis to back down off their budget demand. Both Smith and NDP leader Michael Cassidy were prepared to force an election over the issue. For the first time since the provincial election last June all the attention was on the government as they sought ways to avoid an election that nobody really wanted. Both Davis and McKeough said the drop in the increase was made to avoid an election that none of the parties, or perhaps the public, wanted. McKeough moved quickly to dispel any doubts about staying on as treasurer by denying he had ever even considered resigning if the government had overruled him and sought to offset the OHIP premium decrease by increasing its budget deficit. The treasurer admitted he made, one or two mistakes since the OHIP con- troversy began March 7, but he would not elaborate on his miscues. Smith was satisfied that the govern- ment had backed down substantially and withdrew his threat to introduce a non - Sun Life Assurance Company policyholders voted in favor of a sym- bolic paper move of the company's head office from Montreal to Toronto, but no major shift in staff is imminent. Company president, Thomas Galt, told the policyholders' meeting that a final decision on the move will now be the responsibility of management. At the three hour meeting last week, 391,631 policyholders' votes were counted with 328,970 or 84 per cent in favor of moving the head office to Toronto. 'Reaction to the move was predictable and ranged from regret to resignation. CANADA IN SEVEN No one was surprised at the vote. In Quebec City, Finance Minister Jacques Parizeau said Sun Life will have to invest more in Quebec even after it has? transferred from Montreal to Toronto. Parizeau shrugged off the vote as being what everyone expected. He said he wasn't surprised by the move and added that the move won't change the Parti Quebecois government's determination to make it reinvest in Quebec a satisfactory proportion of the funds it collects from Quebec policyholders. Robert Demers, president of the Montreal Stock Exchange, said the loss of an important head office would have a detrimental effect on Montreal. Quebec Liberal Leader, Claude Ryan, attacked both Sun Life and Parizeau saying the leaders of the company would have rendered a far greater service to Canada if they had withheld their decision for the time being. He then attacked Parizeau saying the govern- ment made the situation more difficult rather than trying to find a solution. Even Prime Minister Trudeau and his cabinet ministers talked about trying to keep the giant insurance company headquarters in Montreal. Trudeau told the House of Commons that he could look at the matter again but said it is riot the inclination of the government to force the shareholders of a private company to do anything they do not want to do. Treasury Board president Robert Andras `phrased the government's position curtly saying there is nothing in the law for the government to act on. Finance Minister Jean Chretien said he was disappointed at the vote but it did not surprise him since Sun Life's board of directors for some months had spoken confidence motion. McKeough said that while - he still preferred his original budget which would have raised $271 million in revenue from the OHIP in creases, the new budget plan maintains the government's fundamental economic goals and fiscal integrity. The 37.5 per cent increase proposed by y1cKeough would have raised the monthly premiums for families from $32 to $44 and for a single person from $16 to $22. - A health ministry official said that those who had already paid their May 1 premiiith bill weuld get a credit on their, strongly in favor of moving and their opinion was bound to influence policyholders. Chretien voiced criticism ofthe voting procedure of Sun Life which gave one policyholder one vote no matter how many policies were held or how much was paid in premiums. Ontario NDP leader Michael Cassidy , said the provincial government should make it clear to Sun Life that it should not, shift a large number of jobs to Toronto, when it moves its head office there from Montreal. Cassidy said that companies like Sun Life that chicken out do little to promote unity. next bill. Some people may demand an immediate settlement but a system has not been worked out. - McKeough' still defended his OHIP premium increase in the budget and said it maintained a visible link in the public mind with the rising costs of health care, a claim which the opposition disputed. By raising taxes on large corporations from 12 to 13 per cent and on small business from nine to 10 per cent the government will raise an additional $72 million. McKeough said government spending cuts will amount to $73 million as a result of reductions in programs and capital spending. Liberal leader Stuart Smith said it's a free country and Sun Life has the right to move but added he hoped they would have held off on the decision. Smith added that in a sense they were playing into Levesque's hands. The Sun Life move would just add to the exodus that appears to be taking shape in Quebec. The number of people who left Quebec for other provinces between June 1, 1976 and May 31, 1977, was nearly double that Of _the previous year. The net loss of population from Quebec to other provinces was 23,346 compared with 12,643 in the previous year. .t Fifty-one construction workers plunged screaming to their deaths last Thursday in what was described as one of the worst construction accidents in United States history. The accident occurred when a scaffold inside a power company cooling tower collapsed and crashed 168 feet to the ground. Eight of the 51 construction victims were members of one family. One witness reported that the workers knew exactly what was happening but there was absolutely nothing they could do about the -fall. The witness said they fell like dominoes and were screaming and hollering. WDRLDWEEK Many of the almost 1,000 construction workers at the Pleasants Power Station site rushed to the base of the huge cylindrical concrete tower in a vain effort to rescue their co-workers. "There was so much stuff on the ground that you couldn't see the bodies," said Bill Hess, a 22 -year-old laborer. "There wasn't a sound coming from it. They were torn up so bad. I couldn't tell looking at them whether any of my friends had been killed." Lee Stpele, said he lost four of his five sons, a brother, two brothers-in-law and a nephew. Thesurviving son, Robert, 35, was also employed at the construction site but was not on the scaffolding. United States government inspectors on the scene said Thursday night they found numerous safety violations at the construction site. But the stunned of- ficials said they have not been able to determine yet whether any were linked to the accident. The tower being constructed in St. Marys West Virginia was about one- third complete. One official of the labor department's Occupational Safety and Health Administration said the accident knocked them through a loop. The in- cident is the worst since the creation of the agency in 1971 to protect workers. Cpl. ,'R. J. Taylor of the state police, who is in charge of operations at the scene, said some of the victims were trapped beneath debris at the base of the circular tower. John Peppier, a 38 -year-old laborer from Murphytown, said he was one of the five men on the ground in the middle of the tower when the scaffold, wrapped around the inside of the tower, began peeling away and fell. "The first thing I heard was concrete falling," Peppier said. "I had just sent a basket of it up. I looked over my left shoulder and I could see it falling. I could see people falling through the air and everything falling." Peppier said he jumped under a truck ramp inside the tower and the other workers with him ran to the centre of the tower. All the workers on the ground managed to escape injury. The cooling tower was being built for Monongahela Power Company, which draws water from the Ohio River to make steam and generate electricity. Afterward the hot water is run into the tower to cool off before it is returned to the river. Bodies wrapped in khaki blankets were lined up on plastic sheets at the site near St. Marys on the Ohio River in northwestern West Virginia and in the fire station at Belmont, being used as a temporary morgue. Police assisted relatives of the victims in making identifications. In Newark, N.J., officials of Research Cottrell Inc., the subcontractor on the site, said they cannot explain why the scaffolding collapsed. Company officials went to the site to determine the cause. i A. recent item I encountered covering a board of education meeting permitted me an opportunity to gain more insight into a problem that is lightly treated in this area of the province simply because it rarely • surfaces in a sensational manner. Rape, something that usually makes headlines when it involves a murder despite the fact that it probably happens on a regular basis even in Huron County. The subject arose at the board meeting when the Kinsmen Club of Belgrave recommepded to the board that a film, How to Say No to a Rapist and Survive, be shown in the county high schools. The Kinsmen viewed the 'filth, owned by the board of education since it was donated by Goderich Lions Club two years ago, and felt it was worthwhile. Board trustees delayed a decision about permitting the film to be shown because of a recent controversy over the Ladvice offered by, the film's creator - Frederick StoraskaC> yley Hill said he would want the board -to know whatit may be risking by allowing students to be advised about sex crimes. He said if the advice is not adequate or accurate the board may be wise to keep the film on the shelf. Ann Jean, spokesman for the Women's Recource Center in London, condemned the film claiming its advice was entirely wrong. The film advocates a woman submitting to the will of a rapist to avoid personal injury and hopefully avoiding rape as well. Storaska's approach is to accept the fact that yo going to be raped and try to save yot)r neck. In all fairness he does suggest certain defence mechanisms a woman can use for protection claiming that by staying calm and appearing submissive the woman stands a better chance of getting an opportunity to act in defence or escape. Ann Jean claims that Storaska's theory will do more harm than good. She says that when a woman is confronted by a rapist she should make as much of a disturbance . as possible. Amazingly enough she shouldn't scream "rape" but stands a better chance of attracting attention if she screams "fire". If the woman manages to escape the grasp of the rapist, and the Crisis staff teach basic methods to break holds such as a strangle grip, she should run to the nearest lighted area. - The most depressing thought that arose ft'om conversations about rape is that many women avoid prosecuting the rapist because of fear of revenge or feat of humiliation in courts. Society has attached a stigma to rape that is a greater crime than the actual rape. Women are forced to endure humiliating medical tests for traces of semen that prove penetration or public hairs that may have 'originated from the rapist's body. If enough evidence is found to put a case together the woman then must answer questions of a defence lawyer who is going to go through her past and try to make anything and everything appear illicit to raise doubts as to whether the woman was raped or whether she enticed the rapist and volunteered the sexual act. • Recent suggestions to alter the Criminal Code. in Canada to make rape an assault have encouraged women trying to erase the stigma attached to the crime. Ann Jean points out that rape is not a ,woman's fault quoting a television documentary she saw about the law changes. She quoted a psychologist on the program who said it is not a bank's fault it was robbed because it contained money and it is not • a woman's fault she was raped because of hergenitalorgans. The suggested changes now make it unnecessary to prove penetration in a rape trial because the crime will become assault causing bodily harm. Women are hopeful that the change may make it less of an ordeal to get a rape conviction which may put more rapists behind bars. The laws were examined because of an alarmingly low conviction ,pate in rape trials. Now only 1.6 percent accused are convicted. The changes couldn't do much worse than that. jefr Seddon