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Home My WebLink AboutThe Times Advocate, 2007-07-04, Page 44 Times–Advocate Wednesday,July 4, 2007 A ocna =CNA TIMES ADVOCATE Editorial Opinion PUBLICATIONS MAIL REGISTRATION NUMBER 07511 We acknowledge the Financial support of the Government of Canada, through the Publications Assistance Program (PAP), toward our mailing costs. Canada Jim Beckett – Publisher Deb Lord – Production Manager Scott Nixon – Editor CN 2007 BLUE RIBBON Si ft The Times -Advocate is owned by Metroland Media Group Ltd. Metroland 424 Main Street South, P.O. Box 850 Media Group Ltd. Exeter, Ontario NOM 1S6 • 519-235-1331 Doug Rowe -General Manager, Southwestern Ontario Division EDITORIAL Impressive display Canadians tend not to be as overtly patriotic as our friends south of the border, but a little flag waving once in a while is good for some national pride and it gives the kids an excuse to paint their faces red and have some fun. Both Exeter and Lucan put on excellent Canada Day celebrations on the weekend and the weather was cool enough to keep things comfortable. It would have been nice to see more people attending the festivities in Exeter and Lucan but the fact Canada Day was on a Sunday and it was a long weekend may have resulted in more people leaving town for the weekend. Still, the day was appreciated by those who did attend. What we need to ensure, though, is that events like these have enough volunteers to keep them going. Exeter has already lost its fall fair and concerns have been made about the lack of volunteers for Canada Day and the pos- sibility the events of the day will have to be scaled back. Small towns are struggling with these types of events and we need to ensure we don't let them fade away. Once they're gone, it's tough to bring them back. Small town events are often run on shoestring budgets with the same volunteers every year. Eventually, those volunteers who work year after year need some help. Let's thank the volunteers who do the work, but let's also offer to lend a hand to ensure these events survive. Canada Day well done We would like to say a big thank you to the Canada Day Committee for their time and effort in providing another great Canada Day celebra- tion. Your hard work and efforts Letters were much appreciated. to the Congratulations to the South r Editor Huron Fire Department for an excellent firework display. It was magnificent and will be the show to beat in years to come. THE HELM FAMILIES Exeter and Ottawa Mike Harris portrait unveiled at Queen's Park... Salary cap? What salary cap? Random ruminations after too much sun on Canada Day: • Apparently not much has changed in the so-called "new" NHL. The free agent hilarity started Sunday with teams across the league throwing obscene amounts of money to players who have never won a Stanley Cup and who probably never will. I don't have a problem with the players making boatloads of money — I do have a prob- lem with the team owners whining for years that they were losing money, then cancelling an entire season due to a lockout, just to turn around and continue to toss tens of millions of dollars around. The salary cap, which NHL owners said was a must if the league was to survive, now sits at over $50 million per team. Meanwhile Daniel Briere just signed a $52 million, eight-year contract with the Philadelphia Flyers and will receive an incredible $10 million in the first year of the deal. This for a guy who has never won a Cup and doesn't appear to be the type of player who can lead a team to a champi- onship. The New York Rangers went out and signed two -highly touted free agents, Chris Drury and Scott Gomez, and it looks like once again the NHL is turning into a league of haves and have-nots. Can small -market teams like the Edmonton Oilers and Calgary Flames afford a $50 million payroll? How long before they start singing the blues again? The Buffalo Sabres lost two of their best players Sunday in Briere and Drury because they couldn't pony up the cash to keep them. Ultimately, the current collective bargaining agree- ment between the players and the league will be seen as another failure by the league to control costs. The play- ers will continue to make their millions and if the salary cap continues to go up, smaller market teams (for exam- ple, the ones in Canada) will find themselves, once again, unable to sign the best and most expensive play- ers. The NHL continues to be its own worst enemy and its desperate attempts to sell the game in the U.S. (and by the same account, abuse the insatiable fans in Canada) have failed time and time again. The television ratings in the U.S. for the Stanley Cup finals between Anaheim and Ottawa were an embarrassment. Still can't wait for next season to start, though. Call it an obsession. • A right winger's favourite whipping boy, filmmaker Michael Moore, is at it again, with his latest movie, "Sicko," opening last weekend. The verdict? It's getting good reviews, although it is Michael Moore, so take this movie with a pound of salt. Politically, "Sicko" is more balanced than Moore's previ- ous films. He doesn't simply blame the Republican party for the variety of problems with the U.S.'s profit -driven health care system; Democrats, including Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton, take it on the chin, and deservedly so. Moore, though, hurts his own credibility in his efforts to hammer home his point. Yes, there are major problems with health care in the U.S. and most Canadians would agree we prefer our universal health care system, but in comparing the U.S. with health care in Canada, the United Kingdom and France, Moore overlooks the problems in the latter three countries. England and France, in par- ticular, come off looking like paradise. I'm still glad Michael Moore is out there doing what he does. A few years ago when the media in the United States acted merely as cheerleaders for their own government, Moore showed some guts by asking questions and making accusations. He took on the ridiculous Bush administration before it was popular to do so. I just wish Moore presented a more balanced approach and didn't play so fast and loose with the facts. SCOTT NIXON AND ANOTHER THING About the Times -Advocate Address & Office Hours Times -Advocate, 424 Main Street South, P.O. Box 850, Exeter, Ontario NOM 1S6. Our office is open Monday to Friday, 8:30 am to 4:30 pm. Closed on Holidays. 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For example, Jim Beckett's e-mail address is <jbeck- ett@southhuron.com> Our general e-mail address is ads@southhuron.com. The Times -Advocate Team Publisher Jim Beckett ext. 109 ADVERTISING Deborah Schillemore ext. 112 EDITOR Scott Nixon ext. 105 REPORTERS Pat Bolen ext. 113 Nina Van Lieshout ext. 107 CUSTOMER SERVICE Sue Rollings ext. 101 Elaine Chipchase ext. 102 PRODUCTION DEPARTMENT Manager Deb Lord ext. 103/114 Heather Bilcke ext. 103 Kelly Gackstetter ext. 103 ACCOUNTING STAFF Anita McDonald ext. 104 Ruth Slaght ext. 106 MargPertschy ext. 108 Heather Clarke ext. 111