The Times Advocate, 2004-05-19, Page 44
Exeter Times—Advocate
Wednesday,May 19, 2004
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Editorial Opinion
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EDITORIALS
Water customers
have to pay up
As reported in last week's Times -Advocate,
Exeter water customers will see their
water bills leap dramatically when the
municipality increases a $3.58 monthly water
charge to $23.58 per month. Billed quarterly, that
increases the charge from $10.74 to $70.74.
This is a huge increase.
Once again, the fallout from the Walkerton
tragedies can be blamed. As Deputy Mayor Dave
Urlin explained at last week's South Huron council
meeting, five years ago the monthly $3.58 was
reasonable; in the face of increased regulations
and operating costs after Walkerton, Urlin cor-
rectly punned the charge now "isn't even a drop in
the bucket." South Huron finds its water system
$600,000 in debt resulting from its inadequate
water rates, a figure that will remain at about
$300,000 at the end of the year even with the
increase.
The new water charge, while not yet official, will
be dealt with at a future council meeting. The fees
will last until the end of 2004, when new water
rates will kick in. Council expects to discover in
August what those rates will be when Dillon
Engineering submits its report to the municipality.
It remains to be seen how the public will react to
the new monthly fee. Will people be outraged at
the new price, which is six -and -a -half times the
existing price. Or will people agree they've been
let off lightly over the past few years with low
water rates? It can be argued residents could have
been given more notice of the increase, as the
municipality intends to make the new charge
include the month of May.
One thing is true for Exeter water customers —
it's time to pay the piper.
Kudos to letter -writing campaign
A big thumbs up to the Grand Bend Area
Community Health Centre (GBACHC) and Dr. Ming
Lam's patients for starting a letter -writing cam-
paign seeking provincial funding to allow the
GBACHC to add Lam to their physician roster and
run her Dashwood office as a satellite of the
GBACHC.
Lam is taking a leave of absence from her prac-
tice starting in July, but would agree to remain in
the area if she could work with the GBACHC
instead of running her own practice.
For the sake of Lam's thousands of patients, let's
hope the GBACHC's funding requests are granted
by the province and she continues to serve
patients in the area. In this medically underser-
viced part of the province, Lam's absence would
be major.
About the Times -Advocate
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We can change
Maybe it's just me. Maybe it's because I haven't been
educated at Harvard or studied in Europe or ever
designed anything that could be described as a "sculp-
tural object, a spatial container, a space with light and
air, a response to context and appropriateness of feel-
ing and spirit." Although my Grade 9 shop table came
pretty close. So maybe I'm the only one who thinks the
new World Cup trophy designed by world renowned
architect Frank Gehry looks like something Captain
Kirk would use as a garbage can.
It isn't that his creation is particularly offensive
or even ugly. Ugly is something I can understand
and (closely) relate to. And through time and tra-
dition and pure functionality, sometimes unattrac-
tiveness can take on beauty of its own such as the
Volkswagen Beetle, or a squat barn of a building
on Carlton Street that became the centre of the
known hockey universe.
But beyond the relatively minor issue of what, if
anything, a hockey trophy is symbolizing, is toss-
ing away traditions for the sole purpose of starting
a new one. As Gehry said about his creation and
the previous World Cup trophy, "it broke from all
that tradition and it opened the door for us to do a
new one that continued the break with tradition."
Ignored is the fact what is now the World Cup used to
be the Canada Cup with a trophy that actually meant
something that was abandoned, perhaps because
other countries were offended by the number of times
the word Canada appeared on the winner's part of the
trophy.
It is unfortunately a Canadian trait to change to
accommodate. Don't like the flag? We'll rip up the one
the country was unified under and hundreds of thou-
sands of soldiers defended and replace it with some-
thing that looks like it was designed by a committee. At
least until the next group decides it hasn't been prop-
erly represented.
Not all traditions are good ones of course, such as a
hockey team not going more than seven years without
winning a championship, although since it is now 11
years and counting, it seems to be a tradi-
tion that has fortunately passed into histo-
ry-
But
isto-
ryBut some countries and groups under-
stand traditions aren't made, they're cre-
ated. Or maybe it's the other way round.
Australians, with a stronger sense of self
than Canadians, stay true to their identity
with their national symbols. The
Australian flag, complete with ties to the
mother country of England, dates back to
1901.
The United States Marine Corps floats on
a sea of tradition, allowing its members to
identify with fellow Marines dating back to
its founding in 1775. The Corp embraces its past with
its emblem remaining almost unchanged since 1868.
It remains to be seen whether the World Cup trophy
will become part of the heritage of hockey and a part
of Canada. If not, we can change it in time for the next
tournament.
PAT
BAC
VIEW
BOLEN
K 40
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