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HomeMy WebLinkAboutWingham Advance-Times, 1980-02-13, Page 4• � ♦ti � :\� 'die .*i'� :• a:S;ik�+ �,tii'�i}i:r rl7ytitr,e stoasaa ',are Se ti's Monday is day of decision Canadian voters have never before been called upon to make their choice of federal representatives at a more import- ant time in history. Canadian voters have. never before approached the polling booths of the nation with a greater sense of confusion and Indecision. Canadian voters, whether confused or convinced, decided or not, will select the government which will control our na- tional destiny during a time period when the entire world is in process of reshaping its destiny. Yes, we do have an awesome respon- sibility. Who among all those seeking a place in our House of Commons possess the balance of patience, courage and good judgment to guide Canada through the shoals of cancerous inflation, crushing unemployment, spiraling energy costs and volatile international politics which carry a very real danger of global war- fare? To our eternal misfortune'the days of earnest dedication to important issues have gone. Television has introduced the. misleading technique of personality pres- entation. A leader is now judged more frequently by the tone of his voice or the gracefulness of his gestures than by his dedication to a high calling. The shape of a chin or the style of aheircut has become more meaningful than a clearly explained plan for national government. Is it, then, much wonder that this campaign has told us so little about what we may expect from either of the major parties? We have heard =so much about what the other party failed to do and so Tittle about what either of them really Intends to do about our problems. Before we cast our bal lots on Monday there are a few basic answers we should seek in our own minds: Has the Liberal party been out of of- fice long enough to have shaken off the barnacles of paternalism and favoritism which any party accumulates after long years of office? Do we want to continue the soft life and allow Canada's national debt of some 12 billion dollars, with interest of three million dollars a day to soar to new heights? Are we actually prepared to accept a tough budget which will cost every one of us some portion of our spending capacity? Will we accept higher energy costs as one means of paying for freedom from oil serfdom to the OPEC countries? Can we face the realism of our deplet- ed and obsolete armed forces to-tiefend our nation and pay the price necessary to bring us back to a position of reasonable preparedness? Canada has reached a fork in the r�oad if the two major parties had used their TV time to clarify the basics the choice would have been clear to every voter. The way things stand we have to figure it out for ourselves — and it's no easy assignment. The pamper course The • W ingham; council is to be com- mended on its decision to seek the opinion of local'residents before enacting a new building codes bylaw. Granted::couriciilors were not intent upon enforcing the regulations of the origr incl document in any :but exceptional cases, but a law, is a law.. Once passed there is nci way for a a; private.citi en to ex- empt'Fitmself from:0'en its;'siiliest para. . graphs: This time around thecouncil is invit- ing comment from the residents of the community. No doubt slime of the com- ments will be irrelevant and immaterial, but that's the way our system should work. A decided majority' of the voters mustapprove our laws or they quickly be- come unenforceable. The text .of the bylaw 'is p p bbl (shed in this newspaper. Read it carefully and give the town council, the benefit of your.opin- ,,. ion. The concept of self-government; the ' system whi'kh We fake so completely for granted, has changed with the passing of the centuries. - The.. freedoms self-rule guarantees for the individual, as well as the honor it bestows upon elected rep- resentatives of the people have both fallen into disrepute, The rights and privileges we enjoy • Were not :granted .in one fell swoop by .•some enlightened monarch. aThey . were won in a series of bitter confrontations stretching overseveral: hundredyears as freedom loving Englishmen emerged ,from the despotism which•marked Europe `Century after centtur••y, • "-- During the :longprocess of political development voting for -those who would become Spokesmen .for the common 'people in parliamentwas an ail but sacred responsibility. For.a populace who •could .not read or•write ifwas vitally important to elect men who. could'be.trusted to ex- press the public will in the House. Thus, prime attention was given to the candi- date, not to the party or to the leader. The man who offered himself for this service had to be, a person of f! degas h- tegrity, More than that, he had to be total- ly dedicated to the task he was about to undertake, for there was a strong likeli- hood that he could end up in prison or even with his neck on the block. Parli- amentarians in those far-off days were not protected by all the, laws of privilege which prevail today. As years went by the cult of the party . began, to develop.. The Whigs and the Tories tightened their, organization as they learned that they :could win more arguments if they planned their strategy together, rather than relying of open and unstructured debate. Of course we still have many un- swerving. Conservatives and equally un- changing Liberals; but with every election we find an increasing number of "unde- ci'deds" whoare not bound by any partic= ular ,party commitments. This swing to free thinking and voting' by choice is the inevitable result Of social change. at home and political change abroad. Many younger Canadians simply will not sub- scribe to the theory that either dee of the parties is always right. Along with this trend to openminded- ness has come the increasing influence of the party leader. Most of us foresee that the leader and the intimate group of ad- visors arounde,him will determine the course the nation:will be forced to follow. With an election only a few days away we ace facing, whether we realize it or not, the choice of voting for the man or woman who will rzaFasent us or for the man who will become prime minister. Itis not an easy choice, for we all recognize the fact that the individual member of parliament may have little or no power to sway discussions within the party's secret caucus meetings.. The choice is not easy, but in the final analysis it is one that can be made only by the person with ,pencil poised over the bat lot. Snowerama worth support Despite a total absence of snow in this area until two weeks ago, local snowmo- bile buffs have been busy, soliciting pledges for the cross-country Snowerama to raise funds for crippled children. Originally scheduled for January, the event has been moved back to February 24. It is always a difficult decision when personal contributions are sought to al- leviate any form of human suffering — and there are so many. For example, February is also Heart Month, and no one can deny the urgency of research into this universal killer. However, the Snower- ama Is a popular and interesting way to raise money, since it all takes place in a spirit of fun. Because the fund is designat- ed specifically for children who need help we are all a bit more sympathetic and generous. Cae►adians are often accused of being somewhat niggardly in their response to fund-raising events. That reputation may be well deserved In some instances, but there is strong evidence that we do give generously indeed where human suffering motivates the campaigns. The cause of crippled children Is no exception. "THE WINGH'AM ADVANCE -TIMES Published at Wingham. Ontario. by Wenger Bros. Limited Barry Wenger, IPrr• :dent Robert O. Wenger, SeerTress. Member Audit Bureau of Circulations Member - Canadian Community Newspaper Assoc. Subscription $18.00 per'year Second Class Mail Registration Sio 6521 Ontario Weekly Newspaper Assoc. Six months $8:00 Return postage guaranteed . '\i:: • 'iii. ♦ i { • •+;'� ti�• �si♦` iis, moi♦ \'�7.y. v � .�i`♦,\�. ▪ •�\�. .ti♦.1•.: • u"t �i ,;,:.. `..A?,>"n',\.;.11t,.,1',....ii.1` 7.,e71 .Y\ i.ex ! ?.4."'";,>,, r li as i(. s Si O Letters to the Editor Quota a e like cancer RR 1, - yeung . or financially weak. Monkton, Ont.; • Then`.•these people must go to NOK 1PO the•cities:for.employrnent and February 8,1980 rural, areas. have lost a valu- Letter to Editor: able resource, and in turn "Quota value is like can-°createsmore unemployment cer in the 'country as a whole. , Quota -is issued' as a prix: ' This in turn kills the way of lege to :produce a{ commodity. life' in the>rural` communities in an `orderly, Marketing Oiii that their parents have to. system, with the most: possible , sell their :-farms because of number of producers > fro- , lack of help, financial reasons, during it. If you pputa value on 'health and'` old age. Who buys • quota: it is like' a : disease their. fau=ns but a neighbor (cancer) it will kill. you who:now {becomes, bigger and For the young or..:lb egirinrng. .a steXt toward cons01idatiinn of yfarltners moneyennist4ae. bor- the antis in tie +co c ity and - of eatcb:` cominddity, which nay dot necessarily be more fficient. This 'in time leads' to exploitation of the fillet$ farm'. Two examples••of these commodities are , the dairy and egg industries: When the Canadian Dairy .rowed- from. `hanks, ,ero Other credit people for ..farm, .live- stock and equipment.' Now, they will increasingly borrow more first to buy quota for some commodities. Soon,. ,if not now, the financial people will control who gets quota, and it's not likely to be the Not impressed with Liberalover g. nment Dear Editor, I was always under the impression that the govern- ment was elected by the people to work for the good of the people. What a laugh! Let us go back to Pearson who lowered our beautiful flag in the dust and replaced our lovely anthem' with a mere song. We paid for that? For the past if years the so- called government has made a horrible Mess of the economy; forced hundreds of farnierc off bre iand with exorbitant costs for machinery, fertilizers and feed; given millions of dollars to any country which held out its hand; put us in debt to the tune of at least $80 billion. Was our opinion asked on the silly metric system? We are being ripped off on every- thing we buy under the system. Look what they have done to the dairy business which now has to spend millions of dollars to put new;. machinery in,. Did you know that one litre, is only 12 per cent of a quart? We won't even Tet three litres for the price of three quarts.of milk, but have to pay more. What other employer would allow its employees to act like that? Two parties, hungry for power, forced a very un- necessary election on Us tt the tune' of another $60 million. One party has promised the senior citizens an extra $35 a month on their cheques, the other $40. Just a gimmick to set '1 s®e;;urs vote. : t`ne only way they can pay for it is out of their own pockets, which won't happen. Our families, who are already carrying a heavy load ontheir. shoulders, will pay for it with higher taxes. Don't do it to them. We are in a recession, heading for a depression, Let u$ give our Tories the opportunity to turn things around before it is too late and let us help them, or would you rather have a depression?. Winnie Taylor, Senior Citizen Wingham TODAY'S CHILD BY HELEN ALLEN ,„A„ Little Eddie may look fragile, but he is a pretty healthy child, with the dark -eyed good looks that show his partly Indian origin. Rather small for his three years, he has a head slightly smaller than normal but this is really, unnoticeable. Eddie is below average in his development slow in speech and not very well co-ordinated. But though he walks with an awkward gait he can throw a ball and sometimes catch it. He knows what is said to hirci and loves having stories read to•him. • A nervous, highly strung little boy, Eddie is upset by noise -and confusion., and though he is learning to cope better than he used to, it would be best if his adopting family are calm people who can set him at ease. The right Parents for Raul r ...+!t... -. ;; for their youngest child and not be concerned abouthis slow development; except to help him progress at his own pace. To inquire about adopting Dora, please write to Today's Child, Ministry of Community and Social Ser- vice, Box 888, Station K, Toronto, Ontario M4P 2112. In your letter tell something of your present family deli Your way of life. Commission set up' a national quota system lt gain ' each province a percentage of the total market share . quota. In .Ontario it Was given •to the On- tario Milk Marketing Board tree .of value. In.. turn the OMMB divided their per- centage of the quota among its producers again free of value. Down through the years the OMMB has allowed a value on this quota between producers. The OMMB has.: put:'restric- tions on this value: to keep it in an orderly market; But : the 0.,}+'.uttills' ota.l ck dile e' n Teat— 't'o tie traded between its producers without third party •involve- ment. - This quota should remain the property of the OMMB' and not the producers. It should be distributed to pro- ducers al a privilege to pro- duce, riot a right to capitalize on the quota itself. If a pro- ducer no longer wants to pro- duce milk, the quota should go back to the board and be given to new and small producers who want to expand. By small producers, I mean ' the ones' • under 300,000 ,lbs. total quota, and to an upper limit of 700,000 lbs. The OMMB is there for such a purpose and of course they should be the third party involved in the administering of ..quotas. Another example would be in the egg industry. The On- tari Egg Producers Market- ing Board are putting value on egg quotas, which were also given out free. The OEPMB is ren n.,r a._:. to o ----b �. uuix quota on the open market. At a meeting in . Clinton about a month ago, Jim John- son, chairman of the Egg. Marketing Board said they were going to use the system that the OMMB was going away from. When asked, the chairman of the OMMB, Mr. McKinnon agreed with us it was not working in the milk industry, but as eggs were a different commodity it may work for them, he said, If it was not working in milk, how can it work in the egg industry? Putting dollar value on quota may reflect cost, but not value. Value on quota is like a dis- ease which can be cured"or prevented, before it bankrupts or destroys • many farmers financially, by taking . the dollarand cents value off quota and putting it back in the .hands of the respective marketing board. The :beard should distribute it to as many producers, as possible as a privilege to produce; not to ! trade on the openmarket between producers, them- selves, ` kFFty •. „are them .,p: €ora se'b si Should be :involved* the edinmistering and distribution of; quotas! John E. H:.Krugel Walter t l e light . cilfltt but+ •lnmany ., bok�l!'in Huron to, town when he w wo , asl. a ice) �y p Ha rf$ �.• Lit �I ';.',R manufaccarer, r..fo Payer., mechanie'.and ' Ilectriclal5- Perhaps he Is lett remem tiered for' bringing electricity to town. In 1:" , Green became a partner of Oliver Gllohrlst. They built a factoratthe cor- ner of Diagonal road and Vic- toria Street, blown as Union Factory. They manufactured bedr The fmirstandynd amnio: ngto. grenoemr- suites. rwaoteaosm elinottfrallicdittyhifnorathcutebricegrinelseye Reliance Elect* :Light Co. ih Feb. 1890. This power plant supplied six are lamps to .tight the main street. This number was not added tor until many, years later. They:gavea very brilliant light, big required daily maintenance.:;,Theywere. hung over the centre of the street by means of a rope. nd pulley arrangement, to allow them to- be lowered to the ground to replace the carhops.. The next year an incandescent lighting plant was installed by the Royal Electric Co. for Gil- . il chri, Gr3r Co. - 1893 In February , Green purchased, the water pnvileege in Lower .Wingham. This:'. bad not been used since the Fisher Mills had been burned'for'.the second time in 1888. The race was deepened, a new dam and. a „brick power house were built. In November 1893, Green Green Withdrew: from . Gil- christ Green & Co. and moved the electrical equipment from the factory to the power house in Lower Wingham. It was added to until it consisted .of six machines, driven by steam and -,water power:,; In .1901 a •new100foot high smoke stack was dybuiltt. Its took 4♦�m/enn 30 dayat- erecta it• •,,Wit>i spleen layingall file brick. The use 'of electricity in' - 8 luli>a li to: ems 1'i►'benth! shut dew , ' intiVtificPat,Vy '. twenty-four. hour I and then not on Sun- 41411, unJaya or holidaysa,.In 1903 the town purchased the entice system - from Green for ,000• Even . when; be was managing the .electrical colla- pany he was active in other affairs. When 'the Methodist Church vias- built, he was.the. building chairman the unpaid inspector and overseer on'the project. The liege 49 light Chandelier was -installed -by him when he wired the church.. Thenest Year lte;took the Con- tract to move •ttie,old ;church "'back, lower it and convert it into a shed for the .farmers' horses. After the town purchased Wingham Electric Co., Green operated the Winghain Wood & Supply and" purchased the coal : business . from Beattie Bros. Later the same year he sold it all to J. A. McLean. In 1904 he engineered the re-, building of the upper dam and bridge for the town. The next, year he built a:new concrete flume for the waterworks at the east endof the dam. In 1907 he -constructed the five white brick housesontliee west side of Leopold Street north of Patrick. They, were "supplied• with water from his own well. In 1908 he received the fran- chise for an electric plant and waterworks in Rainy River. He built the plant there in 1909. Nine years later on Aug. 12, 1918, the Corporation of Rainy River voted to buy him out. It ' was hoped by his Wingham friends that he would return here. But. this was not to be. He retired and stayed there until he,died of .,April.18, 1935• in his eightiethyear. His body was returned to Wingham: for burial, the funeral being h!!ld in the United Church.. ;Town C�UflciIishorts Council is proposing some changes'along the south end of Josephine Street to accommo- date the, new plaza. ;In resolutions passed at last week's meeting, council. proposed to the s Ministry of Transportation and Com- munications that the street should be widened to make room for a left turn lane. It also suggested installing traffic lights at the junction of Highways 4 and 86 and ex- tending the 50 and 70 km -h speed zones further south. The cost of the proposed changes would tt? P_..wtiv between council and the developer, although since the road is a connecting link on a provincial • highway the province would pick up 90 per cent of the bill. 0-0-0 The town is looking into the possibility of finishing Some of the unpaved streets with a tar and chip surface treatment. Councillor David Cameron noted that using this method instead of asphalt paving would allow the town . to do quite a bit more at a much lower cost. It could do most of the gravel streets and still have enough in the works budget for one major project, he said, while paving even one street would virtually empty the budget for the year: • Councillors noted that William Street in front of the pool is treated with the tar and chip method, as is the B-line, east of Highway 4, and they seem to be holding up very well. . • Mr. Cameron said the works committee is also considering the purchase of a street sweeper: Renting a sweeper last year was not satisfactory and it costs enough . to make buying took attractive, he reported. ' A new machine would cost about $35,000, with used ones available for less, he said. Rental was costing about $3;500 to $1,000 a year, with the town supplying an • operator. 0-0-0 Councillors Allan Harrison and Gordon Baxter said they think the - town should be looking at planting trees to replace the ones being cut down. Works Commissioner Michael Chappell said he agrees and promised to bring some recommendations regarding cost and type of tree to the next meeting: He noted it is necessary to plant varieties ,which are resistant 'to salt spray and will not grow too large. 0-0-0 Mr. Chappell will also report back to council on the practicality and cost of replacing the steps up to the walkway on the CNR bridge at Minnie Street. He had suggested taking out the steps altogether and abandoning the walkway, as the stairs are in a dangerous condition, but Councillors Cameron and• Ray Walker said some people still use the walk- way to get to work at the factories across the river. They are trying to find out how many people would use the stairs to decide whether it wouid be worthwhile replacing them. Mr. Chappell estimated the cost of replace- tnent at, $2,500,noting labor ministry regulations require lower risers, meaning the stairway would have to extend further back then it does now. Councillor Harrison reported the town is back to square one in its search for a crossing guard to help school children across Josephine Street. There were two applications but both have since been with- drawn, he said. In the mean- time the transport ministry has agreedto adjust the traffic lights to,give a longer `wage' cycle, making it easier for youngsters to get across. Councillor Baxter had suggested this as one way of neiping the situation. McKinley, announces UIC office Retiring MP Bob McKinley this week announced the successful completion of a long-time project. A hall unemployment insurance service 1$ soon to be located at the Goderich Manpower office to serve Huron County. Until now claims in the area served by the Goderich office have been processed at the London regional office while the Goderich office offered only ari advisory service on unemployment matters. The new service will offer a full unemployment "insurance inquiry service, social in- surance registration, personal processing of claims and a toll-free phone service to the, London regional office when needed. In addition personal in- terviews with applicants and those on claims will be con- ducted at Goderich. The decision to expand the aprvfma le rrarlitorl to Mr. McKinley's representations to the Ministry of Employment and ° Immigration. In a letter to the MP outlining the new service, Minister Ron Atkey said he has instructed officials to proceed with the expiation as quickly as possible.