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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Wingham Advance Times, 1995-05-31, Page 4Published each Wednesday at: Box 390 5 Diagonal Road, Wham, Ontario NOG 2W0 Phone (519) 357-2320 Fax: (519) 357-2900 3.W, Eedy Publications Ltd. Second,Class Mail Registration No. 0821 We are: Jim Beckett -Publisher Audrey Currie - Manager Cameron J. Wood - Editor ,V•grma Colley - Ad. Rep. Jim Brown - Reporter Stephen Pritchard - Comp. EveBuchanan - Office Louise Welwood - Office CL 0 Memberof: OCNA CCNA The W inghamAdv ance-Times is a member of a family of community newspapers pro- viding news. advertising and information 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, INC 2W0 fr toriaL Viewpo nt •• WW4NE Y, AM3 t99S owe ts yours ust who dowe vote for inthe upcoming provincial election? That's the question a lot of voters ins the area have been asking since the writ was. issued a few weeks ago. Primarily, voters should be asking themselves who will best represent their interests at Queen's Park for the next four years. Voters have had ample time to hear the official party line expressed by the leaders; who are all masters of the game of politics. We've heard how the government can do more with less, how more jobs can be created, how health services will be preserved, how government will be downsized and how efficient the new regime will be. Voters this election, as in all others, must weigh their feelings for the party with the performance they can expect from their local candidate. Should the vote be cast for the person or the party? In some cases the decision is not difficult, while in others confidence in the local candidate could be running far ahead or behind a belief in the NDP, Liberals, Conservatives, Reform, Family Coalition, etc. Sometimes it is necessary to look beyond the image of the leader, which more often than not is influenced by professionals, and examine the track record of your local candidate. What is the record of community service? Has the candidate been a good team player in his or her own community? Have you heard any original ideas instead of a repeat of comments already stated by the party leader? As voters, we all have a duty to make an informed choice. While differences in political parties are hard to pick out from the speeches and promises we must assume that there is indeed a real reason why you will choose one from among all the others. Most voters in Ontario have had the oppiortunity to have been represented by all three of our main parties. However, Premier Bob Rae is the only leader running who has had to face the test of being in power. Voters should examine: his attitude, his methods of dealing with ' controversy within his government, his labor policies, his innovative social contract and his campaign of blaming Ontario's situation on the federal Liberals. If voters are still confident that Rae has done a good job and deserves a repeat performance, by all Means vote for him...but only if your local NDP representative inspires the same confidence. With a large number of candidates running in the two ridings served by the Advance -Times, we would not attempt to recommend one candidate who deserves support. Whether it's fair or not, Rae is the only candidate who can be judged on what he has done for or to°Ontario. Somehow we feel most voters will take this into consideration and reduce their choice to deciding between the Conservatives or Liberals. The Exeter Times -Advocate ftronwearoo A reason to smile tiVingham The Huron County Board of Education for their Co-operative Education program. By allowing students to participate in co-op, they are opening up a whole new world. er with Margaret Stapleton MAY 1948 Many have been quite interest- ed in the road -building project west of Whitechurch on Highway No. 86. The provincial bulldozer has been in operation drawing out the logs, about 10 feet long, which had been put in to make the old corduroy road across this stretch of swamp about 60 years ago. The logs were put on a float and drawn to Nat Thompson's field. The Howick School Board has engaged Miss Helen Sawtell as music teacher for the coming year. The government last Friday gave dairy farmers, a guarantee that the price of butter will not drop below 57 and one-half cents per pound. Work of constructing sewers on streets in Wingham not already serviced was begun last. week. The steam shovel started digging 'on Scott Street and Centre Street is next. Other streets being ser- viced are Alice and Albert in Pleasant Valley, the north ends of Minnie and Leopold and the south portions of Catharine and Carling Terrace, where 50 new war -time houses are being erected. MAY 1961 After two years of discussion and careful study by the official board, the Wingham United Church will demolish its existing parsonage and build a new home on the same lot. Construction will commence June 1 to be ready for occupancy on -Oct. 1. A new body shop has opened in Wingham in the building which has housed the McKee Harvester depot for the past several years. John and Jim Marks, brothers. have teamed up in the new ven- ture. Jack "Ace" Bateson of Wing - ham was named Legion district commander at the district conven- tion held recently. Patsy Bryans of Brussels has been working as a member of the Toronto -Dominion staff since May 15 and Mrs: Keith Mont- gomery joined the staff on Thurs- day of last week. MAY 1971 An expanded program to "buy back" all used glass containers has been announced by the Glass Container, Council of Canada. Ef- fective immediately, bottle recy- cling depots in Ontario, New Brunswick, Alberta and British Columbia will pay $15 per ton for bulk amounts. A timid man's dream of be- coming someone of importance and the resultant fantasies was the plot behind the hilarious play, "The Secret Life of Walter Mit- ty," presented by the drama club at the F. E. Madill Secondary School in Wingham last week. Blake Ferguson and Joan Currie had the lead roles. Bob Holmes was elected presi- dent of the Hodgins -McDonald Lumber Kings Baseball Club at the inaugural meeting held May 25. Others named to the executive were Bruce Machan, Allan Harri- son, Terry Merkley, Ken Saxton, Ivan Gardner and Peter Vath, MAY 1981 Several Candystripers received awards for hours of volunteer ser- vice at Wingham and District Hospital, including Bill Gaunt, Michael Heard, Bradley Shob- brook, Lori McPherson and Darin Hickey. Battaglia Construction of Guelph has been awarded the con- tract for construction and renova- tions at Wingham and District Hospital at a cost of 5539,140. Dennis Adams won the Brophy Brothers' Trophy in, the recent Wingham Optimist Bicycle Ro- deo. Runners-up were Stephen Thynne and Doug Montgomery. rEIFE IS LIKE ouR GARBAGE DIsPosAL pbLIGES... Y©u NEVER KNOW.., WHAT GOND R Where are the good politicians? grew up in a very political household. My father has been a small 'c' conservative through- out my life, and my mother has wained between liberalism and con- servativism. Growing up. in a British family, with parental roots twined in the Second World War era,. I also was exposed to a great deal of Winston Churchill speeches. My father ad- mired the wartime Prime Minister of England, and often performed these at seniors homes, variety shows, and music hall nights. While I personally know little of the man, Churchill himself, I know that he was a tremendous politician. His grasp of the English language was extensive, and found little in our modern day politicians. Reading my fellow A -T colum- nist, Eric Dowd, on how the leaders running in the current provincial election are sticking to their scripts, I find my political side growing in- credibly tired of politics. I wonder, where are the good poli- ticians in these modern times? Those who can stir the electorate with pas- sionate speeches about the need to gain control over our financial house. Where are the politicians that can handle themselves in debates, without the need for handlers and ad- visors and script writers and planted audience questions? Y -keep asking myself, why all the rhetoric? And why aren't there any new ideas in politics anymore'? Lyn McLeod, for example, has to The Outer Edge Cameron J. WOOD be the biggest twit in the election. Not because of her Liberal policies, or because of her track record, but because McLeod is'allowing herself to be led down the election path like a prize race horse. She has so many handlers, it's hard to know just who is seeking the Premier's position. Personally, I'm also offended that McLeod cannot come up with any new ideas. To me she exemplifies what the Women's Movement has been battling against for years...the do as your told, three steps back and to the left, kind of woman. She is not her own person in this election. She is a puppet. Mike Harris might be speaking just a little too much without a script, but has yet to come up with a new idea for policy. Harris showed some hope when he was in Wingham in March when he spoke about creating one form of identification for residents of the province: one card for everything from medical records and OHIP, to driver's license to benefits. • An excellent idea...a new idea...until he said that wouldn't be • policy. Instead he clings to the right wing fringe with workshare instead of welfare. Although I would never vote for him, I do admire Premier Bob Rae. Having met the man on several occa- sions, I can say that he is intelligent, well-spoken and very well- mannered.' When he 'speaks on is- sues, or answers questions in one on one interviews, he reveals his pas- -sion for the game of politics and re- frains from the typical rhetoric - something that tragically does not come through in the daily broadcast media. His socialism is crumbling around him; although it may not have fit into Our economic times quite the way he had hoped. But, the Premier has not failed in everything he tried. Rae is perhaps one of the last in- ventive politicians in Ontario. While many may not agree with his poli- cies, he brought the social contract to the province, which remains her- alded by the private sector. And despite some rather unsuc- cessful policies and controversies, Rae has certainly contributed to the excitement of politics in Ontario. We may not need another four or five years of the NDP in its current status, but we do need someone who can inspire Ontarians and cast aside the rhetoric, the speech writers and the handlers. This latest race has revealed that it truly won't matter who gets the title of Premier. The bureaucrats and par- ty faithful still seem to be holding, the reigns...and our pocketbooks. Leaders stick to the scripts TORONTO - This may be the last election in which a party strays from its script. Liberal leader Lyn McLeod sticks to hers like an announcer reading a railway train timetable and it is a reason she is ahead in the polls. Progressive Conservative leader Mike Harris has this odd, outdated notion he should speak off-the-cuff when he gets the urge and it is one reason he is having diffipulty catch- ing up. Almost every sentence McLeod utters is planned to the last comma. She rarely deviates from texts. To avoid letting slip anything unre- hearsed that might get her in trouble, she normally answers few questions from reporters before aides conven- iently hustle her off the next stop. McLeod almost never faces a hos- tile question from crowds, because organizers make sure friendly Liber- als surround her. Her whole cam- paign is as spontaneous as canned laughter on I Love Lucy reruns, but she is winning. McLeod just before the election blurted out that she approved the federal Liberal budget that cuts pay- ments to Ontario for health and so- cial services, then realized she should be seen standing up for the province and revised it to say she would demand a fairer share. Liberal organizers are determined she should not say anything else with Eric Dowd without her team having thought it through. Her opponents are less guarded. New Democrat Premier Bob Rae is adroit enough with words he rarely says anything that he did not. mean to say, but he is not much in the race. Second place Harris was known before the election for saying what he thinks and occasionally getting in trouble for it, He complained, as an example. that some Indians spend all their time making land claims and do nothing to help themselves economi- cally. In the campaign Harris somehow got talking about the relatively ob- scure tenure system which guaran- tees more than 7,000 university pro- fessors their jobs. which had never ',been raised as an election issue. Harris said other workers are not guaranteed jobs whether they do them well or not and "I don't think tenure makes sense today." Professors were as outraged as if someone had suggested they work 12 months a year and pointed out tenure is meant to give them free- dom to research and write on contro- versial subjects without political in- terference. But some professors' ideas of teaching is to tell .students to go read books and universities make mini- mal efforts to get rid of them. A pro- fessor at the University of Toronto ran several businesses on the side and barely had time to drop in to col- lect his $93,000 salary, but it took years for the university to move re- cently to drop him. Harris had to explain he did not mean to threaten academic freedom but wants to improve procedures for removing ineffective professors, which is what he would have said in the first place if he had worked it all out. Harris also said he still is undecid- ed whether casinos benefit commu- nities and the Tories might close the first which the NDP established in Windsor. Windsor residents see the casino as their economic savior and Harris had to assure them hurriedly he would not close it unless they ap proved in a referendum. Harris's advisors naturally have urged him not to bare his soul again without checking first with them but all leaders are being taught a lesson nextelection they may say only what has been strictly vetted by party H.Q.