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HomeMy WebLinkAboutZurich Citizens News, 1973-11-22, Page 4PAGE 4 ZURICH CITIZENS NEWS THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 22, 1978 Act of love! Canadian writer June Callwood told the Ladies Day Lunch- eon at London's annual Western Fair-- "we're all little better than prostitutes." "What the husband is getting, " the 49 -year-old author of eight books and innumerable magazine articles said, "is excl- usive use of sexual apparatus with which the bride comes stocked..." Ms. Callwood pointed to Canada's "incredible" Marriage Act which puts women in a position of abject inequality. When a London wife moves to Grand Bend for a better job --it is consid- ered desertion. "Because you know what she's taking with her." But if the husband moves to Grand Bend leaving his protesting wife in London --the wife again would be considered the deserter. Crux of the issue is the consortium clause. Should a wife be sexually incapacitated in a car accident. Callwood explained (she wrote Canadian Women and the Law 1971), the husband can sue the driver of the other car for "loss of consortium." But if the situation were reversed and the wife lost consortium through her husband's injury --she cannot sue. Ms. Callwood also struck out at low salaries for women and man's superior position in both society and sex; at welfare children kept to the malnutrition level by tight-fisted handouts; at TV commercials stereotyping children as headach-causing nuisances --and advised women to cuddle their sons as much as their daughters to make them into "more sensitive, intuitive adults." June Callwood's blunt words hurt --almost as much as the inescapable truth of her allegatinns. (cont ributed) goose for the hanging! It was a hard week last week for the average Canadian. The energy crisis continued with consumers east of the Ottawa Valley being hit with an immediate increase in the cost of home heating oil and other eastern consumers being told they could expect a substantial hike in February. Ontario Hydro announced its yearly price increase a couple of months earlier, upping its prices to Ontario municipalities by 7 1/20/o and to its rural users by at least 10 per cent. Then mid -week we were officially told we were munching our fat selves into ill health by eating far too much of the wrong foods. If that weren't enough, the working Canadian was told his unemployment insurance contributions were going to increase by 40 per cent in order to help pay a deficit approaching $400 million. The thing about unemployment deductions that really burns a lot of people is the fact that they are made on only the first $170 of an individual's weekly salary. Therefore, it is the middle income people who are bearing the brunt of the scheme. It seems to us the government would get unemployment insur- ance out of hock one heck of a lot faster if it would start making deductions from those who could really afford it --namely those making more than $170 per week. The next thing we know, in the name of fairness, Canadians will only have to pay income tax on the first $170 of an individ- ual's weekly salary as well. The word has already hit us of some landlords around town, cashing in early on the expected oil increases, who have upped individual rents by as much as 16.6 per cent. If you're a tenant and haven't received the good word, be expecting it with your December rent payment, or if your landlord is the thoughtful kind, he might let you off the hook until February 1st. And so it goes, them that's got is them that gets. Not that we think all landlords are greedy; not by any means; some do all they can to keep their rents down --but 16.6 per cent? It's a bit much. If we are in such an oil bind, we simply can't understand why our government is moping around, doing nothing more than raising the hackles of Albertans. Why hasn't gasoline been rationed? Why hasn't the speed limit been reduced to 50 mph on our highways? And why haven't public and private business- es been ordered to turn out all those lights they keep burning all night long? What are we waiting for --for the oil drum to run dry? After all, many of us drive our cars on occasions when we could walk (this would also help us get rid of some of those calories from all that crummy food); a 50 mph speed limit would not only conserve energy, but probably reduce the numb- er of accidents and lessen individual stress; half a dozen flights per day between Toronto and Ottawa might be necessary at peak travel times, but every day in the week? Yes, there is much we could be doing that would be construct- ive. But instead of doing it, our government continues to talk and meanwhile the middle income earner is having the noose tightened that much more around his neck. If our government doesn't watch it, it will have hung the golden goose. (Listowel Banner.) ZURICH Citizens NEWS PRINTED BY SOUTH HURON PUBLISHERS LIMITED, ZURICH HERB TURKHEIM, Publisher Second Class Mail Registration Number 1385 Newspapers Assoeiation+. Alla Canadian MAoekly. NNew M . /'�!'��i�\N' , Ontario Weekly Newspapers Association , Subscription Rates: $5.00 per year in advance in Canada; $6.00 in United States and Foreign; single copies 150 • WINTER MAKES US MADMEN Canadians take a perverse pleasure, I'll swear, in the perversity of their country's climate. Give them a sunny, open winter, as we had last year, and they scowl, "Yeah, 'sbeen a good winter, but we'll probab- ly have a cold, wet summer." Give them a beautiful, hot dry summer, as we had this year, and they grumble. "We need rain. Country's all dried up. It'll likely rain all fall." Give them a fine, warm, sunny fall, as we had this year, and they hint darkly. "Yup, 'Snice, but we'll pay for it. Any day now y' c'n get out the shovel. And when it finally does beg- in to snow and blow, as it has around here without cease for the past thirty hoursm there's a sort of weird pride in the re- marks. "Well, we hadda expect 'er. Haven't even got muh snow tires on. But I got the snowmob- ile all tuned up. Turrible about the increase in oil." There's no increase in oil, unfortunately, only in oil prices. This winter, we may go back, as a nation, to long johns with collapsible seats. There's a sort of obscene triumph in the way your average Canadian stomps in out of the first blizzard of the year. Snort- ing, hacking, puffing, running at the nose, he roars cheerfully, "Izzen that a corker? Looks like we're in for it. Weatherman says there's more coming. Indians say it's gonna be the worst win- ter in years." And an endless series of anec- dotes; couldn't get 'er started this morning; never thought I'd make the hill. And, chuckling with pride, "Haven't even got the damned storm windas on," This warped and diabolic gaiety in the face of what 'is bound to be one of the most crushing experiences possible, five months of stark, staring winter, makes me shudder for the sanity of my compatriots. Pakistanis and West Indians who shiver and turn purple every day for six months, must think we are a nation of mad- men, when they first arrive in Canada. We are among the most vulner- able people in the world, when it comes to the vagaries of nat- ure. And 1 am one of the most vulnerable people in the world, when it comes to the vagaries of nature. And I am one of the most vulnerable people in Can- ada, when it comes to winter. I hate it, and it hates me. There are some people who love winter. Rotten little kids, for example. They greet the first snow with sheer delight, roll around in it, and the more it snow, the happier they are. I can scarce forbear from belt- ing them when they chortle, "Wow!" Wasn't that a dandy snow, Mr. Smiley?" And then there are the winter sports idiots. When the skiers and the snowmobilers look out the window and crron, "Just look at that lovely white stuff, " I could kick them in the groin without compunction. On the other hand, there are the elderly. Winter is almost literally murder, for them. No gardening, no flowers, no gentle walks in the sunshine. Instead, it means holing up, with the ever-present spectre of pneumon ia, or a slip on icy streets and a broken hip, or just the long, savage nights and the short bleak days. Not much fun there. And then there are the ordin- ary, sensible people like me. We know that winter is a vicious brute with about as much of the quality of mercy in it as there was in Attila the Hun. Take curling. It is my only winter outlet, aside from shov- elling snow, and scraping ice off the windshield with my fing- ernails, and cursing winter. Last night, after taking a year off the curling with a broken toe, I returned to the roarin' game. Early November. Looked forward to a pleasant game. Good weather, good skip. Had to curl at nine p.m. instead of seven. Drove to the rink in a blizzard. Nearly cracked up on the ice in the parking lot. Lost the game, Got home at midnight, every bone in my body screaming, "Rape!„ Take my leaves. There are four inches of oak leaves in the back yard, covered by eight inches of frozen snow. My lawn chairs are still out, looking like forlorn relics of an ice age. Any my storm windows aren't on. This is the most unkindest cut of all. And I don't think my wife isn't cutting me up about it. Most unkindly. A politically astute political party, which wishes to perpet- uate itself in perpetuity, as it were, would introduce a bill in parliament, packing all the old people and the sensible people , off to South Africa or somewhere, every winter. The savings in fuel alone, in these energy -crisis days, would pay for the jaunt. Leave the whole barren waste to the kids, and the winter sports fiends. And let THEM pay the taxes, for a change. Business and Professional Directory OPTOMETRISTS J. E. Langstaff OPTOMETRIST SEAFORTH MEDICAL CENTRE 527.1240 rgesday, Taursday, Friday, Sat- urday a.m„ Thursday evening CLINTON OFFICE 110 Issas Street 482-7010 Monday and Wednesday Call either office for appointment. Norman Martin OPTOMETRIST Office Hours: 9.12 A,M, — 1:30-6 P. Closed all day Saturday Phone 235.2433 Excite! INSURANCES Robert F. 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