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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Wingham Advance Times, 1995-02-15, Page 44 VriJz 141 ingb;;3rltt atrimttrt titt0 Published each Wednesday at: Box 390, 5 Diagonal goad, Wingham, Ontario NOG 2W0 Phone (519) 357-2320 Fax: (519) 357-2900 J.W. Eedy Publications Ltd. Second Class Mail Registration No. 0821 We are: Jim Beckett - Publisher Audrey Currie - Manager Cameron J. Wood - Editor Norma Colley Ad. Rep. Jim Brown - Reporter Stephen Pritchard - Ccmp. Eve Buchanan - Office Louise Wclwood-Office Carefti 1 consideration Wingham Town Council made a courageous de sion •ln„the move towards a user -pay system garbage collection. By implementing such a program, council could ha easily become the target of criticism; in that a user p system does got take into account the' amount of t money already spent on curbside collection. Yet, th public at large has not made any significant attempts convince council to seek other options. 'In fact, two pu lie meetings on the issue and no less than six open se sions of council, has seen little outcry. Those offerin opinions sought greater recycling ventures, town com posting, spring and fall green garbage collection. Th need to seriously examine the future of garbage in taw was never questioned with the scheduled closing date o the dump pencilled in for September 1996. Wingham without the funds to divert waste through trucking, wa quite literally in the dilmpster. To have a decision on the matter takes a great deal o pressure off the public, off council and off the landfi site. The delay of three months in getting this going di little for progress and created a great deal of speculatio as to who was calling the shots at council, who was i conflict, and who was being shut out of the discussions. However, there must now be a period of education an recycling refinement before we, as a community, are ex pected to pay out $1 per bag (after the weekly one fre bag per household. There are sections of the comrnunit that experience difficulty in recycling opportunities...th apartment residents of Josephine Street beinga''7ust on example. Then, there is the question of abuse. How will the collectors determine which bags are allowed as free and which should be tagged. Consider: a downtown apartment building may have four businesses and 12 res- idential apartments. The businesses may contract a .pri- vate dumpster, and thereby leaving curbside collection for the apartments. What if the bittilding is not full with tenants? Does that mean the current tenants can collec- tively send 12 bags of garbage to the curb before requir- ing tags? What about businesses that do not contract a private dumpster with tenants in apartments? A business may be more likely to generate more garbage than, per- haps°.the single tenant living upstairs. Who tags, who es don't? Will the collector feel the onus to collect all bags at' the curbside even if they are not tagged? Who will be blasted by an irate homeowner when (with full knowl- edge they broke the rules) complains that, the untagged bags were left at their curb? Everyone can begin the process of good stewardship in terms of what is being sent to the curb. Council has taken the first step in greening our future. The question facing us tww is, can we be good neighbors? - CJW ci- for ve ay ax e to b- s g e n f s f 11 n n d e y e e 91 reason to smite Wingftam The sun is shining (at least as of press time), most of the roads are open and we're none the worse for, wear. How about, that...we survived winter once, again. 0.. Memberof: OCNA CCNA TheWinghamAdvance-Times is a member of a family of community newspapers pro- vidingnews, advertising and infrmation leadership. Letters to the Editor All letters to the editor must bear the writer's name, telephone num- ber and address. The Advance -Times wel- comes letters, We re- serve the right to edit, but will endeavor to• preserve the author's intent. Deadline for letters is Monday before 10:00 a.m., Some exceptions may apply. Fax: (519) 357-2900 or mail to: P.O: Box 390, Wingham, Ontario, NOG 2W0 1 with Margaret Stapleton FEBRUARY 1948 The Drew government won its first test since the general election when Thomas Pryde of Exeter won the' Huron provincial by- election for the Progressive Con- servatives. He had a majority of 684 votes over Liberal candidate Benson Tucky, also of Exeter. Messrs. John W. Hanna and Clarence Cantelon are in Toronto this week attending the Style Show. John Pattison was in Kitch- s ener attending a meeting of the Westinghouse dealers of this dis- o trict. The hydro was turned on in the village of Whitechurch last Satur- day for the first time with six new street lights. There has been a great need here for hydro and the efforts of the Women's Institute and the committee under the lead- ership of Garnet Farrier are great- ly appreciated. • Rev. A. Nimmo received word last week that the CBC Radio Church of the Air will broadcast from St. Andrew's Presbyterian Church, Wingham, on May 9. FEBRUARY 1961 On Sunday morning, a new drurn.was dedicated at the Salva- tion Army Citadel. ,.The instru- ment, one of the finest available, is the gift of Mr. and Mrs. Stewart A. Hen{ -y. The Wingham Armouries was the scene of a retirement banquet for Lieut. -Col. M. R. Oliver last Saturday evening. The 50th anniversary of the Belgrave Women's Institute was marked at a special banquet in the United Church basement. The only charter member, Mrs. James Michie, cut the cake. The Gorrie Feed Mill, owned by Alvin Simpson, has been pur- chased by the Fordwich Feed Mill Ltd. Possession will be given March 6. , FEBRUARY 1971 A 44 -vote margin has made William G. Davis, minister of ed- ucation, the new premier of Onta-' rio as the wind-up to three days at the Ontario Progressive Conserva- tive leadership convention, Dele- gates attending from this area were Mr. and Mrs. Don Kennedy of Wingham and Harvey McMi- chael of Howick. There were probably scores of pretty girls in the province who elected Sat., Feb. 13, as their wedding day, but we doubt if any f them could top Helen Johnston for sheer stamina and good hu- mor. Following her wedding ip Fordwich United Church, the new Mrs. Ruttan climbed into a sleigh with her husband and father, Glenn Johnston, for a drive down main street and hack. Majestic Rebekah Lodge No. 352 of Wingham welcomed two new sisters last week, Mrs. Hazel Bateman and Mrs. Gertrude Tif- fin. FEBRUARY 1981 Wingham lawyer Murray Els- ton will carry the banner for the Liberal party in Huron -Bruce in the March 19 provincial 'election. Elston narrowly defeated busi- nessman Bruce McDonald on the fourth ballot at a nomination meeting Tuesday night. Tony McQuail, a West Wawa - nosh Township farmer, was unan- imously declared New Democrat- ic Party candidate in the election. Keith Collyer, an orderly at Wingham and District Hospital, was presented with an award last Thursday in honor of 25 years of service. • Gary Haron, a 44 -year-old beef farmer from Allenford, was se- lected as Progressive Conserva- tive candidate for Huron -Bruce at a nomination meeting held in Kin- cardine. He defeated Mike Sno- bellen of Ripley on the third bal- lot. WtlA+ r,'w; ' ,141895 (r - • rt —i■ T?xpayers not aware of advocacy group funding Dear Editor: Many taxpayers are not aware of it. Governments use their tax money to fund thousands of advocacy groups that fight for various causes.. Many would disaPpear ina flash if the plug was pulled on this funding. •, A Liberal MP from 'Ontario wants :to yank the plug fast according to re- cent press reports. '• Lorne Bryden clainig''t'hat 6,500 such groups present- ly receive 'some cash from g vera- ments. Furthermore, the bill to taxpay- ers to stimulate this artificially forced advocacy may be close to 4 billion borrowed dollars a year. To spit in the ordinary taxpayer's face further, consider that many of these groups exist for a sole purpose -- to lobby government to spend more on a continuously expanding smorgas- bord of government programs. Tax- payers get to pay for big salaries, plush offices, and the beefy communi- cations budgets of these groups, most used, of course, to pressure politicians to raise spending. And borrowing. And your taxes. The bureaucrats who dispense our cash love it, of course, because it helps them justify their world. It gives them a warm feeling of being wanted. It props up the illusion that the Canadian public wants an expensive, busybody government. Which brings us to an ironic story. Recently, the' federal government handed over $4.2 million of your tax dollars to the usual array of lavishly tax -funded public interest groups. The specific purpose of giving' them the money was to help thein prepare their presentations to the. Commons Com- mittee examining the overhaul of Can- ada's social programs. About 165 groups were eligible for this special funding. Many of theirobjectives may be noble, but that's not the point. The taxpayer groups that are spring - "trig up around the country to represent the silent funders of this incestuous system got nothing. Taxpayers only pay the bills. Anyway, we all know what many of these organizations want. More spending -- not spending cuts. So we now get to see the spectacle of these tax -funded special -interest groups, whacking away at the Liberal govern- ment that dreamed up the plan to force feed them in the first place. It's like paying someone to abuse you. The air is full of it. Taxpayer - financed howls of outrage. Tax -funded phony baloney statistics. Tax -funded pleading. Flying Macaroni. It's like seeing a mob of spoiled 'children, ldng grown up, though still living at home. They harass their poor parent's and de- mand more as the creditors line up out-, side to repossess the car and the house. 'No money left, but the parents contin- ue to slip them more pocket money. Still, some politicians see taxpayers as just another interest group whose concerns are one of many in a crowd. It's unfortunate and foolish. Pull the prop of tax money away and a lot of the agitation for more spending would melt away. The people who pay the bills have had enough. It's time to -close down the taxpayer honey -pot for the gaggle of advocacy groups that have sprung, up over the years like weeds after a summer storm. If a lobby truly represents the con- cerns of the wider community, let them go out and do what taxpayer as- sociations do. Sign up members who are willing to put their money where their mouth is. if the public believes in your cause, they will support it. The taxpayer trough is empty. Paul Pagnuelo Ontario Taxpayers Federation Ajax, Ontario Voter anxiety running high TORONTO - A lot of people are Anxious to get rid of the' Ontario New Democrat government in the election within months and willing to pay for it. The Progressive Conservatives led by Mike Harris have reported that their supporters last year generously donated $3.9 million toward the task, the most the Tories have col- lected in a non -election year. The Liberals and New Democrats have until May to report how much they raised. But the Tories were well ahead in 1993, raking in $2.7 million compared to• the NDP's $1.7 million' and the Liberal&$1.4 million. A trend seems to be developing that those who want the NDP out are giving more financial support to the Tories than the Liberals .led by Lyn McLeod, although the Liberals con- sistently have more support..in polls. This trend could have significance for the election. One question has" been whether business, which is not monolithic, will give more support to the Tories or Liberals in its anxie- ty to get shut of the NDP. One-third of the donations to the Tories were from companies and two-thirds from individuals. But business heads eommonly donate as individuals, as well as through their cofilpanies, so that overall the busi- ness community is contributing a substantial share to the Tory war chest. Business over the years has found the Tories a more natural ally. But Harris also more than McLeod has made pitches to appeal to it. The Tory leader promised that his first act as premier would be to abol- ish the NDP law giving more power to unions, which business argues tips the balapce unfairly in favour or un- ions and discourages investment and jobs. McLeod has said merely she will make changes. Harris has said he will cut premi- ums employers pay towards work- ers' compensation and abolish the employer health tax payable by small businesses. Harris, has promised generally deeper cuts in taxes and spending than the Liberals, including reduc- tions of 30 per cent in provincial in- come tax and 20 per cent in "non- priority" government spending. Harris also has promised to priva- tize "non-essential government as- sets and services such as the Liquor Control Board" and recently assured business leaders; "We are on your side." He has sounded more like the Ralph Klein much of business ad- mires. Some in business may apply have r� donated to the opposition party they saw as more likely to push out the NDP and concluded that the aggres- sive Harris is more capable of a strong finishing spurt. Harris has even attracted dona- • tions despite some Conservatives' concern that he is too far right and out of the step with an Ontario tradi- tion of.moderate conservatism. The Tories used to collect two or three times as 'much money as the other two parties combined in their heyday in government from 1943- 85, when their party solicited funds while sometimes leaving donors to believe the Tory government would grant favours in return. There was, for example. the $50,000 received in the 1970s from a development company which ex- plained in a &win, to 'head office it paid off the party because' the gov- ernment was to, spend millions of dollars renting space in its new building. The Tory government in- vestigated and naturally found itself blameless. Then there was the $35, 000 from a waste disposal company which de- scribed it in its books as a payment to ensure the government approved its request for land to be used as a dump. A Tory bagman by coinci- dence destroyed the relevant docu- ments before investigators called and the Tories again were exonerated. The law now forbids parties ac- cepting such generous gifts, but the Tories and business money again could be a formidable alliance.