No preview available
HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Wingham Advance Times, 1995-07-05, Page 4Pe Vingthara Zibbance -Mimeo Published each Wednesday ati Box 390, 5 Diagonal•Road, Wingham, Ontario 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 Golley - Ad. Sales Stephen Pritchard - Comp. Jim Brown - Reporter Margaret Stapleton -Reporter Eve Buchanan - Office Louise Welwood - Office Member of; OCNA CCNA The Wingham Advance -Times is a member of a family of community newspapers providing news, advertising and information leadership. Letters Policy 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 maFax 519-357-29W or mail to: P.O. Bpx 390, Wingham, Ontario NOG 2W0 Editorial Viewpoint •NWNJ$DAY, JULY 5,1995 eade;s in Huron County have fined up solidly be- h.4id Huron -Time IVO' Patd Steokjels decision to vote as he believes even though his actions have gome againoit party 'maw. ' Last week, the Wingham Advance -Times in conjunc- tion with the Exeter Times -Advocate conducted an infor- mal and by no means scientificpoll to find out where Steckle stands with the people he represents in Ottawa, After voting twice against gun control legislation and - once against the government's new bill which would in- crease sentences for those convicted of conlmitting . hate crimes Steckle is at risk of being punished for his ac- tions. A worst case scenario could be that Prime Minister i. Jean Chretien would refuse to sign his nomination papers allowing Steckle to run as a Liberal in the next+election. So far only three things have happened: • He was dropped from any committees he was serving on after his first vote against the gun control legislation. } • He has been working under the veiled threat of addi- tional punishment that will be handed out at some point in the future. • He has had his actions reinforced locally after a poll conducted last week by the Advance -Times and the Times -Advocate. Out of the 59 responses by Advance -Times readers who were asked if they agreed with Steckle's decision to vote the way he believes or if, as a member of the gov- ernment; he should have voted with the Liberals, 52 sup- ported his stand and only seven opposed. In Exeter, 224 readers responded to the questionnaire. Of that total, 183 supported his stand while 41 did not. That translates to about 82 per cent of those who re- spohded support the MP decision to vote the way he felt he should. In terms of gun control, of the combined 283 people in Huron who responded, 215 were in favor of both gun control and stronger hate crime legislation. Two - Hundred and eighty-six were not in favgr of either. On gun control alone, 186 opposed legislation, 46 in favor. Fourteen members of the voting public disagreed with the manner in which the questions were worded. Regardless of the results of this very unscientific poll, the Huron -Bruce MP remains unsure as to what his polit- ical future holds. Chretien has yet to pass down further punishment against the nine• Liberals who joined the op- position in voting against gun control and hate crime leg- islation last month. Perhaps Chretien knows all too well that. She. worst punishment it -the anticipation of such. Not knowing if and when it may come is often worse than the actual end result. For those "of us who stand behind Steckle and the Lib- eral government, he remains with our support. For those of us who don't support the MP and Chretien, We're still waiting for the PM to be 'different than the others before him as he promised to be in 1993. •welt' ;C£.; gq'•: i>ri' A reason to smile `Wtngfiam Welcast and their remarkable achievement with the GM Powertrain division. Being named Supplier of the Year puts another big feather in the companies collective hat. J:7 N•: 4)."0°. )." rr f rrrsf with Margaret Stapleton JULY 1948 Prime . Minister Mackenzie King bade farewell to the Com- ' mons last Wednesday. The quiet - spoken little man, who led Cana- da through World War II, made an ,unexpected speed' shortly be- fore Parliament recessed... Last Wednesday a most enjoya- ble trip was made by the staff and entrance class of Wingham Public School to Niagara Falls. All ex- penses for the trip were taken care of by a donation to the Public School Board from the John Cor- nyn Currie Estate. Congratulations are extended to Dick Irwin, son of Mr. and Mrs. J. H. Irwin, Wingham, on passing his first-year exams at the Ontario Veterinary College, Guelph. Gary Storey, 10 -year-old son of Mr. and Mrs. Lou Storey, Wing-., ham, had a narrow escape from drowning last Monday afternoon at about 4 o'clock when he was rescued by his chum, Donald Biggs, aged 11. Both boys were swimming in the mill race leading to the power plant. Dr. Corrin was summoned and administered frit aid and the boy was soon brought around again. JULY 1961 Jack and Desmond Brophy •of Wingham, who have operated the Wingham Tire Service for the past few years, have purchased ' the B B Tire Service in Listow- el, formerly operated by the late Fred Bender. The Marion Inglis Medal for highest marks in Grade VIII at Wingham Public School went to Ross Vogan, son of Mr. and Mrs. Ross Vogan. Pamela Burns is the recipient of the General Proficien- cy Award donated by the Lions Club of Wingham. She is the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. J. D. Burns, Wingham. Work at the Douglas Point atomic energy reactor -generator is starting to take shape. The station is located half -way between Kin- cardine and Port Elgin on Lake Huron. . Miss Sally Slosser of Wingham and Miss Mary Kelly of Barrie were passengers aboard the "Em- press of Britain", which sailed on June 29 for a 55 -day tour of the United Kingdom and parts of the European continent. JULY 1971 Joan Johnson, Mark Tiffin and Evelyn Morin were the major award winners at the Grade 8 ban- quet at Wingham Public School. Joan won the proficiency award and Evelyn received the Marion Inglis Medal. Mark was chairman for the evening. A suggested air passenger and freight service from various cen- tres in Western Ontario to Toron- to got off the ground figuratively last Wednesday at the Wingham Legion Hall. Crawford Douglas of CKNX, an active promoter of such a service said, "There is no doubt we have a problem...a lack of transportation has been a rea- son that industry has failed to con- sider the area when planning to relocate." JULY 1981 Terry Fox, the young man whose cross -Canada Marathon of Hope to raise money for cancer research, died earlier this week. Marni Walsh, a student in the performance program at York University and --an area native, will direct a children's theatre work- shop this summer in Blyth. . Wingham Branch 180 of the Royal Canadian Legion celebrat- ed its 50th anniversary with a big party on June 26. Rev, Wes Gutowski, priest of Sacred Heart parish, has been transferred to Sarnia. His summer replacement is Rev. Jim Higgins. Eleanor Saxton is president of the new Opti -Mrs. Club in town. Leaders coy about futures TORONTO -- The two major part leaders defeated in the Ontario elec tion are being coy about their fu tures, , but they are as gone as pe rock and the hula hoop. New Democrat Bob Rae says h will let the issue of whether h should retire as leader 'sit for while' and does not feel pressed t decide. Some of his ministers have rushe loyally to say he should stay and oth ers say he should be given all th time to reflect that Ile wants. Liberal leader Lyn McLeod say she is consulting her caucus and offi cials and her party 'needs' some time to decide what direction it will take But it seems inconceivable that ei ther could lead in another election. - Rae will want to go. Although only '46, he has led his party for 1 years and in four elections and, hav- ing tasted the heady delights of be- ing premier, would not feel much at- tracted to dropping back to a lesse 'role"leadding the third party in the legislature. Rae might think it worth hanging on if there was an early chance he could be restored to the premier's of- fice. But electors so emphatically re- jected the NDP, chopping it down to only 20 per cent, 8 per cent below its core vote in recent elections, that he could not have much hope they will change their mind by another elec- tion in four years. Rae had shown redbced enthu- siasm for being opposition leader be- fore being surprisingly installed pre- mier in the 1990 election, when he mused over greener looking fields, y e e a 0 d e s 3 r including federal leadership, and the whole prospect of going back to his rut of five years ago with little hope of getting out will hardly enthrall him. Rae has been praised by media for his intelligence before the election and since his defeat, but not in the campaign when it mattered, and he now knows such fairweather flattery will not bring him votes. More important to his and the NDP's future, the party lost many traditional supporters in the election because Rae's government cut public sector pay and broke contracts with unions. Many unionists see Rae as sym- bolizing the cuts, although his cabi- net was behind him to the extent that none of its members spoke against publicly. Rae's departure would prompt many of the disaffected unionists to return to supportthe NDP and they will look for almost any excuse to do so as the anti -labor policies of new Progressive Conservative premier Mike Harris take effect. There are many reasons why it will suit both Rae and his party for him to leave. McLeod is decent, modest and. thoughtful and has shown dignity in defeat unlike some in her party weeping and wailing and gnashing their teeth. But she will be about '57 by the next election, a decade older than most recent successful candidates for premier and more to the point lacks the fire in the belly and conceit lead- ers need to keep trying. She does not have for example the determination of Harris, who as crowds queued to shake his hand in one town last week recalled that on a previous visit only one•person turned. out to hear him. McLeod was a capable minister pressed into leadership by colleagues who felt wrongly having a woman leader would help get them elected. The Liberals have not always been quick to dispose of defeated leaders. Robert Nixon led in three elections and Stuart Smith in two: But their overwhelming consider- ation will be that under McLeod they lost an election they expected to win because they had reigned at 50 per cent or more support in polls for three years. McLeod was unable to get across the message the Liberals intended, that they would cut taxes and some services, but with compassion, nor build any personal popularity with voters, as all polls on leadership showed. The Liberals will feel they cannot risk keeping her as leader in another election, but with someone else at least they may have a chance. 4 ale 4