HomeMy WebLinkAboutZurich Citizens News, 1976-10-20, Page 4Page 4 -Citizens News, October 20, 1976.
"What I really miss is going on strike."
Women on Council
Now is the time to do a little serious think-
ing about whom we want representing us on
our town council for the next two years.
In the past, the positions of council have
been dominated by mem and they have done
reasonably well in running the village. But,
a council to look after the interests of a
group of people made up of two sexes should
be made up of both sexes, in our opinion.
The women of the community have an
important role to play, if only they will
come out from behind their excuses, and
believe in their onw abilities long enough to
try and help manage the affairs of this
town.
We feel there are many cases where the
advice of a female on the council would
lend a new viewpoint or interpretation to a
situation. Council should also be made more
aware of the interests and needs of half
of its population, the women, who for so
long have had no say in the councils decis-
ions, mainly through their lack of belief in
their own abilities.
This town has been fortunate in that its
clerk is a female and one only needs to
attend a• few council meetings to see that
she is able to take an active part in the meet-
ings. However, this is not enough. What this
town needs is some women on its council
and we don't think you will find many people
who will disagree with us. • -
It is our sincere hope that at least one
member of the new council which will be
elected in November will be female. Try it,
you just might like it.
The unseemly bickering that goes on
between the various levels of government
in Canada for greater slices of the tax-
payers' pie has reached a point where few
of us know now much we pay to whom
for what purposes.
Three and sometimes four levels of
government compete for the tax payers'
allegiance; control and regulate his life
and tax his personal wealth. Yet the over-
lapping bureaucracies of federal, pro-
vincial and municipal administrations have
so blurred the responsibilities of each that
the taxpayer—who is also the voter—has
little idea for what each level is respon-
sible.
Worse, the citizen -taxpayer no longer has
any standard by which to judge priorities,
or measure the effective use of his money.
We are over -governed to coin a cliche.
Granted that most of our money goes to
provide services which the politicians would
argue we have voted for, it would be re -
Renate
A recipe for resource recovery...
Take out a pencil and paper and write
down Gisela Soostmeyer's most prized
recipe:
- churn up some old newsprint with
sewage sludge.
- add lots of water.
- heat the mixture to 36 degrees Celsius
(97 degrees Fahrenheit).
- and wait.
What you'll get won't tantalize your taste
buds, in fact it will probably give you gas.
But that's the best thing about this
recipe.
You see, the whole point behind it is to
recover valuable methane gas from these
two sources of waste. In the process the
newspapers are destroyed, eaten by the
bacteria in the sludge.
The practical benefits of the process have
been known for years.
freshing if the various levels of govern-
ment would try to tackle their problems on a
basis of need and efficiency. Instead we
too often are treated to the tiresome display
of each trying to grab the biggest share of
the communal pot.
For instance we havefederal and pro-
vincial ministries of labor, natural resourc-
es, health, social security, environment,
consumer protection and business regula-
tion. Add to this municipal involvement in
health, social security, environmental pro-
tection, transportation and education and
you find how the taxpayer supports enor-
mous bureacracies which overlap in dread-
fully wasteful manner.
How does the beleagured taxpayer -
citizen choose within three jurisdictions?
Surely the time has come for governments
to co-operate rather than compete for the
privilege of spending tax dollars and free
the financial resources needed for one level
to do things well.
Recovery
Ontario Government research funds for
people like Gisela complement the Environ-
ment Ontario program.
"My $1,200 Experience '76 grant gave me
the opportunity to take on a project and
follow it through from beginning to end,"
said the 33 -year-old Toronto housewife.
"The 10 -week project will be valuable job
training."
And finding a job will likely be a small
worry for the award-winning chemical
engineering graduate.
"I'm anxious to. continue working in the
environmental field," Gisela said. "A third -
year course in environmental pollution
focused a general interest I think I've always
had."
"I've been composting ,;our family gar-
bage now for more than nine years and
I always try to buy pop and milk in return-
able containers..."
by Cathy McKinley
When I was a little girl, I disliked winter. -._I didn't like
snow, I didn't like being cold and I didn't like having to wear
bulky clothing.
Now that I am somewhat older and perhaps wiser, I
realize that I still dislike winter, and here it is already.
Snow in October is not unheard of, but by tradition the
snow that falls in that particular month is supposed to melt as,
soon as it hits the ground, and it is not supposed to snow
for more than one day at a time. So what do we have? Snow,
in October, that is not melting, and it has continued for two
days. Now I ask you, what did I ever do to deserve this?
To top it all off, on this past wet, snowy, cold Monday
morning, I went to get into my car as quickly as possible to
avoid the cold as much as possible, and lo and behold, for
the first time in almost a year, I have a flat tire on my car.
Now, who can blame me for resenting winter?
Besides that, an old man told me we are in for a bad winter
because the hickory trees are very heavily ladened with nuts.
This may or may not be true, it probably depends where I
spend the winter.
*********
• Well, October 14 has come and gone and I'm glad to say it
did not seem too successful for the unions in my point of
view. The turnout was a far cry from the 100 percent the
unions wanted, it seems the rank and file members are not as
dedicated to the cause as their leaders would have us believe.
In fact, some of them did not even seem to know exactly
what it was they were protesting against. One sign written
in magic marker in the London protest march read "We are
protesting price controls"—price controls? The price had
been scribbled out in ball point pen and the word wage writ-
ten in, but it would seem this indicates a fair amount of con-
fusion within the ranks. As long as someone else hands over
mass produced signs saying the proper thing, the union
members seem capable of carrying them, but they really
don't seem to care that much.
I support 100 percent all those companies who docked
those workers who refused to work last Thursday. By not
working, those people cost their employers a lot of money in
lost production and half filled shifts. Why should the employ-
er have to pay because the worker wants to protest against
the government. If I were an employer I would be• making
darn sure I got any lost revenues made up for because of that
strike and if docking every person who went on strike one or
two days pay would do it, than that is what I would do.
After all, those unions had signed contracts with their
employers which they chose not only to ignore, but to flag-
rantly and openly break. Now some of those same unions are
crying because the employers are taking another day's pay
to make up for the flagrant disobedience of their signed
and legal contracts. What's fair for one is fair for the other. If
you break the law, as those who broke contracts and went
on strike last Thursday did, then you had better be prepared
to take the consequences without crying about it. I have a
feeling you're not going to get much sympathy.
After all, what would happen if the employers decided to
protest wage and price controls by locking everyone out of
their businesses, making then lose a day's pay while the
employers marched down the streets blocking traffic. I have
a funny feeling the unions would raise an awful rucus say-
ing how illegal and unfair it was.
If the employers ever did decide to pull such a stunt, with
the unions action as a precedent, they would probably get
away with it in this mixed up country of ours and then I
would fine myself in the unusual .(for me) predicament of
agreeing with the unions. Nobody should be allowed to take
advantage of others in this manner and get away with it.
�/aPoc�G�
6:?/:(///4_R{.1w2z
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