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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Goderich Signal-Star, 1979-11-29, Page 4PAGE 4`-:-GODER.IcH SIGNAL -STAR, THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 29, 1979 Goderich SIGNAL- STAR The County Town Newspaper of Huron Founded In 1040 and published every Thursday at Goderich, Ontario. Member of the CCNA and OWNA. Advertising rotes on request. Subscriptions payable in advance 96.00 in Canada. 35.00 to U.S.A., '35.00 to all other countries, single copies 35'. Display advertising rotes available on request. Please ask for Rote Card No. 9 effective Sept. 1. 1979. Second class mall Registration Number 0716. Advertising Is accepted on the condition that In the event of typographical error. the advertising space occupied by the erroneous Item. together with reasonable allowance for signotere.wutnoiba.,chargod-for ,ut the -balance of—the advertisement AtilL..ha—pold for at the eppllcable rate. In the event of a typographical error advertising goods or services at a wrong price, goods or service moy not be sold. Advertising Is merely an offer to soil. and may be withdrawn at any time. The Signal -Star is not responsible for the loss or damage of unsolicited manuscripts or photos. Business and Editorial Office TELEPHONE S24-8331 area code 519 Published by Signal -Star Publishing Ltd. ROBERT G. SHRIER — president and publisher SHIRLEY J. KELLER — editor .DONALD M. HUBICK - advertising manager Mailing Address: P.O. BOX 220, Industrial Park, Goderich Second class mail registration number — 0716 The decision was fair.. Town council made a good decision last week when it decided to move to maket value assessment for the tax billing in 1980. While it is true that some segments of the population in Goderich could be hard hit by the change, it is a fair and equitable way to assess taxes in this day and age. This truth is borne out by the number of municipalities in Huron County and around the province that are opting for this tax system in the new year. Some people, particularly people who are o owners of modest homes built in the last decade or so, have been carrying an unfair tax burden for a long time now. The fact that some people have been paying too little by comparison in the same period and will now suddenly be called on to pay substantially more, is no reason at all to allow .the injustices to the over -taxed segment to continue. Sympathy mint be felt for the folks on fixed in- comes who may have to make up another $200 or even $300 per annum in property tax dollars. There are those who will argue that people who are working and paying off hefty mortgages on relatively new homes in Goderich are in a much better position to meet a high tax bill annually than. a senior citizen, for instance, who lives entirely from the proceeds of old age security. But surely that logic could be argued, too. Fair is fair.- If the value- of--a--home has ap- preciated in the last 10 years, the worth of the owner has also gone up. And what about the working people -who are living in homes that -are seriously under -assessed? Or what about the people on fixed incomes who are now buying retirement homes that are grossly over -assessed? Bob Allen's attitude is correct. Don't tell him whose taxes are going up. He doesn't want to know. That kind of information can always make one edgy and indecisive. And what's more, it doesn't ensure quality. Just tell him what is fair, what is just for all homeowners no matter what their level of income. Just tell him that the taxes on all the homes in Goderich are equally distributed according to the value of the home, and that nobody is paying more - than he should be or less than he should be. The rich don't pay more for bread and shoes than the poor. If a pauper wants to wear fine leather, he pays for it. If a king is happy with 'a tent, he also pays what it is worth. That's fair. This doesn't say anything at all about old age security ... or what it should be. It doesn't say anything about benefits for people who are on fixed incomes. It doesn't say anything about the minimum wage or the average Canadian salary. And it shouldn't. Property taxes and incomes should have no relation when it comes to assessment for municipal services. Property taxpayers should be prepared to pay taxes according to the value of their property on today's market. That's as fair as you can make property taxation as it is known to modern tax- payers. As-: long as the system remains unchanged, Goderich town council can rest assured that its decision was in the best interests of fair representation for all -tie people who live in this municipality. -.SJK There's no "better way" There was bold headlines in the Financial Times of Canada's November 12 edition. They read: "Interest rate relief near; Economists see four or five point drop". The article, by Seymour Friedland said relief in the interest rates_ .is r'just._..a f ,.months,a.way'.-'... According to many economists, Friedland said, the relief will be substantial. John Grant, chief economist of Wood Gundy Ltd., sees short-term interest rates dropping to as low as 10 percent in 1980. He also looks for a more modest decline in long-term interest rates, something like one percent. Earl Bederman, chief economist for Canada Permanent Trust Co., is looking for mortgage rates to decline to 12 percent next year from the current average of 14.75 percent. This suggests that home owners currently refinancing mortgages might do well to take out a one or two-year mortgage in the expectation that five-year rates will fall sharply by next November, if not sooner. But, he hastens to add, borrowers have taken that chance many times before in the last few years and have ended up paying much more than they hoped. The reverse then, is true for savers. They might be smarter to opt for the loweryielding five-year certificates, even though they currently yield about one percentage point less, in the expectation 'that interest rates will fall to something in the order of nine percent. But then, interest rates could rise. All of the economists seem to believe the key to the interest rate movement lies in what happens to real economic growth and inflation during- the coming year. They agree that if real growth is low or negative, and if inflation moderates, declining interest rates will result. On the other hand, those who are optimistic about the economy and think inflation will not moderate next year, also believe high interest rates will remain with Canada well into 1980. Which is the lesser of the two evils? Last week, R.W.Lawson, who is the senior deputy governor of The Bank Of Canada spoke to the financial executives institute of Alberta. He believes • that what happens in the next few years is even more importantthan what happens in the next few months. And he is convinced that high interest rates will create a healthier economic situation in 4, .Canada..in * .e long run, -andprodtace much --better... prospects for the future than would lowered interest rates. He puts it this way: "An increase in interest rates does add to costs but its other effects are much greater and they are anti-inflationary." Lawson says rising interest rates tend to restrain spending and thereby make markets less buoyant. This encourages a climate in which it is harder for both businesses and workers to increase the prices of their . services, he says. In present cir- cumstances, he claims, higher interest rates give support to the foreign exchange value of the Canadian dollar and therefore moderates the in- crease in prices of goods that are internationally traded. Lawson believesinflation must curbed. He says there is no quick victory in sight and it will require the whole country to get involved. He says the war against inflation cannot be won by leaving it "to some group of professional inflation fighters". He calls for Canadians to expect inflation to decline in the future, to be positive though careful about spending in the present, and to have con- fidence in the economy of the country in the years ahead. In --this way, he says, the upward trend of costs and prices will moderate rapidly enough on average to, at the same time, perrriit the main- tenance of relatively high levels of employment and output. Lawson says the people who believe there's a "better way" to fight the battle against inflation than to raise the interest rates really don't know a "better way". It is only wishful thinking on their part, Lawson says, that a "better way" will be discovered. He advises Canadians to do the best they can with what they know. That seems like common sense advice, doesn't it? - SJ1 DEAR READER 75 YEARS AGO Shortly after nine on Saturday morning, the fire department was called out by a fierce• blaze in A.J. Cooper's grain warehouse and seed store on Hamilton Street. The building was destroyed but insured for $1,400. The grain in the building was fully in- sured. On Monday evening, at Victoria Hall, a Large audience greeted the Meister Glee Singers from England under the auspices of the Goderich Musical Society, On Wednesday evening the trustees of the North Street Methodist Church met and awarded -the Goderich Planing Mill Company the carpenter work and Charles A. Reid the brick work of the proposed new church. There were tenders for LOOKING plumbing, tinsmithing, heating and roofing opened and it is un- derstood C.C. Lee, C.J. Harper, J.H. Worsell and M. Howell are each likely to -have a share in The work. John W. Craigie, the success`fu1 tenderer for the lease of the skating rink, has started business. Walter E. Kelly of Pic ton, P.E. Co., has been engaged to manage the watch and jewelry business of W.T. Welsh here. Forseveral weeks he has been making extensive alterations and . improvements to• the place of business. 25 YEARS AGO J.E. Huckins was returned as mayor of Goderich by acclamation for a fifth term as the result of nominations last 4;0- V0 Teachers OK Dear Editor: How many of us look at school teachers balking at their wages for what they do and the time off they get in the summer, Christmas and Spring break? Oh yes, and those P.D. days (Professional Development) where they get a day off prac- tically every month and the kids have to stay home and babysitters havetobe hired. Boy! Those teachers sure.have it easy!! Well, after working with most of the teachers in most of the schools in Huron-- County, I found that teachers were working through recess, noon hours and way past 3:30 p.m. It was difficult to carry on a complete '"'"`'d' versatibn'at times as teachers would be marking test papers or preparing a new one. A. -teachers' lounge is sure no real hideaway either. Students knock wanting a soccer ball or a spoon for their soup or to tell that "so and so won't let me play and they keep slapping me". I have teacher friends who go home with a stack of material they can hardly carry and work till the wee hours many nights. To add up all the hours a teacher works, I'm sure that they have more than made up for the summer break, Christmas and Spring break. Oh yes, those P.D. days they are not holidays; they • are learning days where the teachers are taught new ways and means for teaching -.your sons, daughters and monsters. I know all this because, I have been teaching for 31/4 years now and cer- tainly have a better in- sight into the teaching profession. As I resign from the position of CoPnmunity Services Officer, I would like to express my ap- preciation to every teacher and every BY SHIRLEY J.,KELLER Like a stone through a stained glass window. That's the way Pierre Elliott Trudeau hit the Canadian Liberal leadership more than a decade ago .., and if you ask me, that's the way he left the leadership of the Liberal Party last week. That man has such style. Poor Joe Clark. He was still reeling from the results of two by-elections, with former Progressive Conservative Prime Minister John Diefenbaker's riding going to the New Democratic Party and another one in Quebec going Liberal, when Pierre Trudeau up and announced he was stepping down as Leader of the Opposition. Talk about heaping piles of coals on someone's head. With practically the whole country believing that. Joe Clark's government was only elected because people were fed up with Pierre Trudeau and not necessarily the Liberal Party, who would blame Joe if he became a little uneasy in the PM's seat? A majority of one is not much of a cushion. Anyone who has been a reader of this column will know that PET was a Friday night. Contests are assured, however, for the remainder of seats on town council. John H. Graham and Joseph Allaire are contesting the post of reeve. Two members of this year's council, Ernie Fisher and Elliott Drennan, will contest the position of deputy -reeve. Eight men were nominated and all qualified for the six council seats. They are Frank Skelton, Reuben Besse, Frank Walkom, John Vincent, C.M. Robertson, Joseph Snyder, John Spain and James M. Donnelly. Frank Fingland, Q.C., of Clinton, has been appointed Huron County Judge to succeed the late Judge T.M. Costello. Despite the fact that a draft of the proposed zoning by-law for Goderich, together with a drawing showing these BACK zones, has been on display in the town clerk's office since Monday, not a single citizen up to Wednesday noon had gone in to look at it. The entire council of Colborne Township was returned by acclamation at the annual nomination meeting in Carlow Hall last Friday. 5 YEARS AGO Borg-Warner Canada Limited has offered to purchase 22 acres in Industrial Park at $2,000 per acre. Redesigning of Bayfield Road from the intersection of Britannia Road to Huckins Street may become a hot and difficult issue for the 1975- 76 council. The new 1975-76 Goderich Town Council will receive a healthy raise in salary with the new year. Only one councillor on this year's council, Mrs. Elsa Haydon, was opposed to the increase- -when-- .-a - recorded vote was taken. There will be 24 names on the ballot when Goderich voters go to the polls Monday; two candidates each for mayor, reeve and deputy - reeve, 12 for six council seats and six for four PUC posts. The Huron .County Children's Aid Society held an open house last Wednesday in..their new location in the assessment building. Their headquarters are the first floor of the new addition to the building. Pressure from water under a section of the south storm sewer buckled the pipe and heaved it above the ground last week. DEAR EDITOR principal I have worked with in Huron County Schools. I would particularly like to thank the prin- cipals for accepting me and arranging class schedules for my programs, - the secretaries for their efforts in copying printed matter for me, and I can't forget the Media Centre Staff of the Huron County Board of Education, Dave, Marilyn and Jim. All in all it has been a great learning -----ex- perience for me and.I am now aware of the difficult task and long hours of teaching staff. ' Thank you from R. W. Wilson Goderich OPP Gov'ts inept Dear Editor; Higher Interest Rates - a sign of financial in- competency. Canada has been hiking up its Bank Rate under the Liberal as well as P.C. Governments and both the parties have failed to face the reality and taken the easy way out. The Governor of the Bank of Canada is right as long as the Govern- ment of., Canada is refusing to take a proper and bold action. It is unfortunate that the Governor of the Bank of Canada has justified• his actions without telling. how he is forced to take the action because of the failure of the Govern- ment in removing the basic reason or the root cause for higher interest rates. _lI would like to express my views as follows: 1. The. Government as well as the Bank of Canada has increased the bank rate in order to encourage the foreign money to come in.• The foreign inflow of capital is needed because of the payments the Govern- ment of Canada has to make on its foreign debt. The inflow of foreign capital means a larger debt in the coming year. Thus the interest rates are bound to stay high with the exception that they may go down temporarily when there is extraordinary inflow of capital to be invested in our resources resulting in worse situation's for future. 2. We are aware that Japan, Germany --..-and ---- Switzerland . have lower bank rate and yet their currencies are net only strong but have ap- preciated strongly during the last few years. I would like to point out that Japan, Germany and Switzerland have neither oil, nor gas and import more than 50 percent of their food. Canada is 80 percent self-sufficient in oil, surplus in gas, sur- plus. in.,, ood;andhave. far more mineral wealth and yet ` Canada has weaker currency, high interest rates- and a huge foreign debt to pay. The politicians have always avoided the truth ., and the abnormally high bank rate has caused great financial, social and physical sufferings to the Canadians in the form of inflation, unem- ployment and- low in- dustrial` development. The Canadians would be interested in exploring the reason. Let us read the newspaper. Canada has a deficit of three billion dollars in auto parts with U.S.A. The big Canadian Companies are mostly owned by U.S.A. - e.g. General Motors of Canada, 100 percent owned by U.S.A., Ford Motor Co. of Canada, 88 percent owned by U.S.A., Imperial Oil, 69 percent owned by U.S.A., Chrysler Canada 100 percent owned by U.S.A.., Canadian General Electric, 91 percent owned by U.S.A., I.B.M. Canada, 100 percent owned by U.S.A., Canadian International Paper Co., Montreal, 100 percent owned by U.S.A., Maple •Leaf Mills Ltd., Toronto, 100 percent owned by U.S.A. -1 can go on giving examples. All this means that all the profits have to go out of this country.. The Canadian taxpayers bear the burden of tax exemptions and special grants which our Governments give to these foreign owned companies and the fruits areenjoyedby U.S.A. e.g. Any higher price in oil would partly go to the companies. A -higher ei price means more out- flow of capital. Another example is the huge loans taken by Hydro Quebec for James Bay and Ontario Hydro. for its development. We pay higher hydro rates and we get higher in- terest rates because of the debt created. The FederalP.C. Government has been making all the promises of a bright financial future if the Canadians can accept the present policies; namely higher interest rates, higher oiletc. prices,do not see how astiI may add y add that the value of a currency in rl tli e in t o r n a financial community is judged by the potential financial strength of 'a country and not by a temporary inflow of capital by promising Turn to page 5 • .the editor, Everybody wants to bean editor. So here's your chance. Signal -Star Editor Shirley J.Keller invites you, the reader, to have your say in the final edition for „1979 on December 27. Needed are editorials, columns, stories and feature items about the year just past. Maybe it will be a review of your club in 1979. Maybe it will be your impressions of Goderich town council, township council or county council for 1979. Maybe it will be a roundup of the baseball season or the new records set at the golf club. Maybe it will be your impressions of provincial affairs or federal matters. Maybe it will a viewpoint on the energy crunch, the problems of inflation, the severe unemployment throughout the country, the national unity question. Maybe it will be something funny. Something sad. Something warm. Something human. Something serious. Something wonderful. Whatever it is you would like to see in The Signal - Star's final edition for 1979;'write it down and send it along with your name and address and telephone number before Wednesday,•Deceirlber 12 to: I Want To Be An Editor, The Signal -Star, Box 220, Industrial Park, Goderich. N7A 4B6. All submissions must be identifiableby the editor although pen names may be used for publication. All submissions will be judged by the editorial staff of The Signal -Star for their suitability for publication. All will become the property of The Signal -Star but not all will necessarily appear in print. • Cone on, readers. Get involved in this special wrap-up edition for 1979. Indulge your urge to tell it . like it is. Be an editor and become a leader. favorite of mine. I thought he was a brilliant leader, a wise, honest and strong prime minister. And judging from some of the comments about Pierre in the last few days, I wasn't alone in my sentiments. Some of the country's top people had Words of high praise for Pierre, and admitted that he led Canada through some difficult years with much natural ability. There has been a good deal of speculation about why Trudeau left the Liberal leadership. Naturally, I can shed no new light on the whys of it all. But I can say that I agree that it was the right move for the Liberal Party in Canada ... and maybe for the country. While ,Trudeau was still A -okay with me and some other. Canadians, he had lost the trust and approval of the majority of voters in this country. I believe it would have been impossible for Trudeau to regain the old charisma that set "Trudeau-mania" afire And I think it was the right move for Trudeau personally. I don't know if he'll be able to patch things up with wife Margaret, but Ido know she has 'often said she would be willing to make another stab at marriage with Pierre if he weren't prime minister. And I know Trudeau must have deep concerns for his three young sons who must surely be suffering because of the differences of their parents. I expect Trudeau, the man,' wants the very best for his sons, and if there is any way he can restore the family unit, I'm certain he will do so. But I couldn't help thinking on Wednesday how totally consuming the office of prime minister is ... what utter devotion is necessary for a man (or a woman?) in that post. I couldn't help thinking how Pierre Elliott Trudeau's personal and private life was sacrificed for the Liberal Party and Canada. How he gave himself up to ridicule and eventual rejection by the Canadian people for doing what he thought Was best for the nation: How his marriage and the lives of his children suffered because he was called to the leadership of the Liberal Party, while his wife was not. How Pierre, the individual, was curbed and restrained by protocol, for the sake of the Canadian way of life. I suppose it is true of any prime minister. But in my eyes, Pierre was such a free spirit before all this. To know that he wept openly before his colleagues when he told them his decision to step down as leader, gives one some inkling of the depth of his feelings. And it seems such a waste. Such a terrible waste of talent and intelligence and desire to serve. These are the very things Canada needs most from her people, now and always. To think it took resignation from his job to finally get some honest assessment of his performance as prime minister. To think that he had to give up a lifetime's work just to hear the approving comments of a grateful nation. To think he had to relinquish all to be rightfully acknowledged as a great Canadian politician. Sad, isn't it, that more of this spirit does not prevail in the House of Commons every day in session. Maybe then, the work of governing would progress as it should,