The Wingham Advance Times, 1995-04-05, Page 5Red Cross t
!Pear Editor:
As CO -Ordinator of the Red
'Cross Blood Donor Clinic which
was held last Thursday at F.E. Ma-
dill Secondary School, I would
like to report to you about our ef-
forts for the day.
We had a fantastic turnout,
which we give thanks to all the do-
nors who donated blood.
Our quota was 175 units of
blood. We had 250 donors, with
28 deferrals, giving us a total of
222 units of blood collected. The
mond
rating
pilar Editor:
Bond rating services are current-
ly being portrayed as bad guys with
dollar signs where their hearts
should be. They are also becoming
a thorn in the side of big govern-
ment because these services ignore
the political white -wash of deficit -
financing in favour of the stark re
ality by determining whose money
is being loaned to whom, and the
likelihood of its repayment. Cana-
dians might well ask; "Who the
devil do Moody's or Standard and
Poors think they are, questioning
the credit worthiness of the Gov-
ernment of Canada? Why is the Do-
minion Bond Rating Service
(DBRS) placing the Province •of
Ontario on an alert, with negative
implications? And, does it really
matter to me?
If you have savings, either mon-
ey in the bank, investments. in
stocks or bonds, or a private pen-
sion, then you should care what the
financial strength is of an institu-
tion that controls your wealth. Your
savings are managed by profes-
sionals who need to be advised of
the degree of risk that he or she un-
dertakes on your behalf. This is
where the major rating and credit
valuing agencies carve out their ter-
ritory. Their analysis has to be ac-
curate, unbiased and timely, other-
wise it would be useless and they
would nothave any paying custom-
ers. So, when the credit raters begin
crunching.the audited numbers giv-
en by the various corporations and
levels of government, and examine
their budgets - the tests and meas-
ures
easures used to cut through the rheto-
ric result in an actual or projected
, real financial position.
Since bringing down its first
budget in 1991, Ontario's NDP
government has more than doubled
the net provincial debt from $42
billion to over $90 billion. Con-
tained in February's federal budget
were reductions in transfer pay-
ments to the provinces and Ontario
will be receiving some $2 billion a
year fess in the years ahead than
previously expected. Added to the
1994-95 provincial deficit at
around $11 billion this decline
creates a substantial burden to be fi-
nanced in the market.
The rating agencies merely point
out that unless the government re-
duces its reliance upon deficit fi-
nancing, the accumulated debt will
grow to a point where too large a
percentage of provincial revenues
will have to be used to just pay the
interest on the debt, or the govern-
ment will have to repudiate its re-
payment.
Canada's financial dealing with
the rest of the world (called the
Current Account) had a shortfall
(deficit) of $24.8 billion in 1994.
While this is an improvement from
the $30.7 billion in 1993, it indi-
cates that interest payments made
to foreign lenders climbed to an
astounding $34 billion in 1994.
Given the additional deficits ex-
pected, the drain of interest pay-
ments will be $34 billion in 1995
and $37 billion in 1996 and count-
ing. So, the federal government's
intention of keeping deficit financ-
ing down to a "manageable 3% of
GDP" and borrowing from other
countries to cover overspending
continues to be a recipe for disas-
ter. This is what Moody's and S &
P are quietly pointing out. All that
rating agencies do is show what is
going on with our provincial and
national finances, and expose the
fiscal sleight of hand that • some
government borrowers try to use.
What the mirror shows is Canadi-
ans suffering a hangover of over-
indulgence using someone else's
money. We, through our elected of-
ficials, must shoulder the blame.
The bond ratings serve as a warn-
ing that all of society has to wake
up and get back to work.
Paul Pagnuelo,
Ontario Taxpayers' Federation,
Ajax, Ontario
Thanks offered to
fliS hockey coaches
Red Cross, as well as.the Hospital
Auxiliary, and the Kinsmen Club
were very pleased.
I wish to convey my thanks to
the various people who helped, out
in this very worthwhile project.
Members of the Kinsmen Club
were a great help.
A special thanks to Macrntyre's
Bakery for supplying and donating
all the cookies for the clinic,
George Whitby and staff, Mary
Ann, Nancy, Lisa Alexander and
students of F.E. Madill Secondary
School, Trillium Cable, the Ad-
vance -Times, CKNX, and the
members of the auxiliary to the
Wingham and District Hospital.
Hope to see you next year.
Sincerely
Ann Goodall
Dear Editor:
The Wingham Tyke hockey sea-
son ended March 25, Our son
Jared enjoyed a great year playing
goal, made many friends and de-
veloped a real feeling of team spir-
it. We would like to publicly thank
and applaud the Wingham Tyke
coaches, Bill Glassier, Tom
O'Krafka and the many assistant
coaches, for not only being skilled
and talented teachers, but for
showing an extraordinary amount
of care and compassion to the
young hockey players. There was
always a lesson to be taught. The
feeling of team spirit grew
throughout the season and all
players received equal ice time, re-
gardless of skill level.
Being a young (7 -year-old)
goaltender has its ups and downs.
After one particular game, our son
was very upset for letting the win-
ning goal in his net. The coaches
were sensitive to his feelings and
this meant a lot to our son. Fol-
lowing the coaches led, the players
also came over with . comments
like "you played a great game,'
and 'we had fun anyway.' The evi-
dence was there - the coaches
succeeded by teaching the young
team players that 'winning isn't
everything.' What a great way to
learn the basics of playing hockey,
having fun and developing a team
spirit that will carry over into their
future years. Thank you!
Lack of progress
Dear Editor:
Progress and lack of it.
Awhile ago, in a letter to the ed-
itor, I urged the newly elected lo-
cal politicians to promote tourism.
It gives me great pleasure to see
that the. Huron Tourism Associa-
tion is going full steam with an ex-
cellent program and plan. There is
vision, boldness and courage. I
hope the councils see this and sup-
port their effort.
For Wingham, I do not have
much hope. Even a Mining move
by a local business, willing to
spend a great deal of money to
make Wingham more practical
and attractive was knocked down
by people who like to flex their
muscles. I suggest people in
charge should overcome their infe-
riority. Inferiority shows when
those with good ideas are prevent-
ed from promoting growth. The
true mark of a confident person or
roup is when there is joy in point-
Sincerely, -
Doug and Janet Maclntyre
here
ing out good qualities in others
and not be afraid to put it to good
use while at the same time give
credit where credit is due.
I have seen some talented peo-
ple leave because they were pre-
vented from using their potentials,
taking their skills and experiences
with them. If people with good
will would speak up perhaps we
could steam the drain of good po-
tentials.
Adrian Keet
111 AllifilliCETIMES
Min.or Hockey
lottery winners
Dear Editor:
I would like tri, thank everyone
for participating (ticket sellers and
buyers) in the Go For Gold draw,
with all the proceeds going to
Wingham Minor Hockey. The
winners of the prizes were Cory
Culbert of Mildmay, first prize;
and Rick Williams of, White-
church, second prize.
As everyone knows, it is not
cheap to have a child in hockey
and the registration fee does not
cover the entire costs. Minor hock-
ey depends on other sources of in-
come to subsidize these costs
which in turn helps to keep the
cost down for parents. These other
sources of income are admissions
taken at hockey games, fund-
raising events such as our draw,
and the incredible sponsors toy
whom we are very grateful. These
sponsors and the the team they
sponsor are: Tykes - Silver Stick
and Mother's Auxiliary; Novice -
Barry's, Esso and Wescast Indus-
tries Inc.; Atoms - Wingham. Opti-
mist Club, McPhee's IDA; Pee
Wees - Wingham Legion Branch
180, Wescast Industries Inc.; Ban-
tams - Wingham Kinsmen; Mid-
gets - Wingham Lions Club. .
I would also like to thank Steve
MacTavish for selling Nevada
Tickets, from C.E. MacTavish,
with the proceeds going to Wing -
ham Minor Hockey. If you like to
play Nevada, it is a win/win situa-
tion at MacTavish PetroCan. Not
only are you getting a chance to
win at Nevada, but you are spon-
soring, minor hockey.
With the above support, the fu-
ture of minor hockey will always
be a big part of Wingham and sur-
rounding area for many years.
Thanks!
Ed Skinn
Booster, Wingham Minor Hockey
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