Loading...
The Times Advocate, 2008-12-31, Page 66 Times -Advocate Wednesday, December 31, 2008 OPINION&FORUM&NEWS Reader says Harper had no choice Gerry Smith s letter (Dec. 24 Times -Advocate) was both thoughtful and intelligently written. It s a bit tiring when Ben Forrest s weekly writing is let s bash Prime Minister Harper. Parliament is always closed for Christmas ;,....„/""' season, anyway. The governor general s closing was not anything unusual and did not affect anyone too much. Mr. Harper had no choice but to appoint senators to even the odds a small bit. How do you suppose 58 de- vious Liberals became so powerful who appointed them? Iggy is an improve- ment over the other bunch but it s a stretch to say he s the smartest man in Canada. (Editor s note: Forrest s column called Ignatieff the smartest man in Canadian politics, not the smartest man in Canada.) Thank goodness Prime Minister Harper is steering the ship. Maybe if the disgruntled Liberals crossed the floor their job would be secure for four more years and no worry of an election. by them or their suppliers, but I am very concerned how we are reacting to the possibility that our auto industry might go completely down the drain. We need to keep our senses about us and take the time to reason how these companies got themselves into this predicament in the first place. Most industries utilize bank loans for day to day opera- tions and for the funding of capital purchases. I m sure the auto industry does this as well, but publicly traded companies also raise a considerable portion of their funding by selling shares. This adds a degree of vulnerability. When operational funding becomes dependent on investor confidence, the entire cor- poration places its success on shaky ground. Numerous things can shake the confidence of investors, as we ve all seen in recent months, and share values can plummet within hours. When such devaluations occur, additional bank loans may have to be secured to maintain cash flow, but that s easier said than done. When investors get skittish about placing their money in certain companies, bankers are quick to take note and new credit is suddenly hard to come by. We should then ask: Why is it the Big Three have so quickly run out of operating funds? Without their financial statements we must speculate by what we see with our eyes, when compared to other segments of manufacturing in Ontario. Without going into needless and lengthy speculations, it ultimately comes down to one thing. The decisions made by corporate management! Management (including boards of directors) control the li- quidity of a company, and even when economic downturns throw them nasty curves, it s up to management to come up with appropriate responses to keep the company afloat. That s why we call such enterprises free. Management is free to make the day to day decisions for the well-being (or detriment) of what they control. And here we come to the crux of the matter. Because management can not control outside forces, they must have provisions in place for weathering unforeseen financial storms . Obvi- ously, at least two of the Big Three failed to do this. That was poor planning, and poor decisions have consequences, sometimes forcing the company to fold. Such is the nature of free enterprise! When poor management decisions negatively impact the livelihood of thousands of workers, should there not be ac- countability? Why else would shareholders allow top man- agement to draw such large salaries? They are paid to be responsible! If the Big Three are worth saving, any rescue plan should start with a complete replacement of top level management. A new management team should be hired and this new team should submit a business plan in which investors and lend- ing institutions are confident of success. If bankruptcy is the only way to achieve this, then so be it! Any form of bailout without first firing (without severance) those who were paid to prevent this very thing from happening, is morally wrong and unjust. We already see ample evidence of this within some American financial institutions who received bailout money. The money is now being used for expensive man - r Letters to the Editor BARBARA WESTMAN, Dashwood Common sense should be imperative Last week s editorial entitled Help was imperative was in line with what the media has been positing for months, and since the printed media is your bread and butter, we should not be surprised by your endorsement of a bailout. But just because the automotive industry supposedly em- ploys up to 400,000 people in Ontario, does that mean we should throw common sense out the window? When we collectively (as taxpayers) start undersigning huge loans to private enterprise, we have most certainly thrown the concept of free enterprise out the window. The media has not been able to report on all the intimate details (ie: financial statements) of the Big Three, nor should they, but there is something glaringly wrong with governments stepping in to bail out publicly traded companies. A glar- ing error because governments are not lending institutions! Government has no mandate to lend money to anyone, let alone private enterprise. Government has a mandate to col- lect money by taxing its citizens, and then redistribute such monies for the common good of those citizens. But bailing out private companies is not for the common good, for a host of reasons. If the auto industry does in fact employ as many as 400,000 people in Ontario, that is but a fraction of all those employed in other segments of our economy. Should all automotive jobs suddenly disappear, that would certainly impact our economy, but it would not cripple our province! No doubt we would all then have to do some financial belt -tighten- ing, but would that be so bad? Don t get me wrong. I don t have a vendetta against the Big Three nor those employed MAY MAY 7 • "If people don't wake up and smell the roses soon about supporting the farm- ers, we won t have any food to eat. And the slogan good things grow in Ontario, we re going to have to take that off the TV pretty soon. That is the message from Wendy Ab- solom, union representative for United Food and Commercial 175 about the dos- ing of CanGro in Exeter and the loss of food processing capacity in Ontario. MAY 14 • "It takes three to tango. The bureau- crats, the elected staff and the commu- nity, if you want to succeed, said South Huron chief administrative officer (CAO) Roy Hardy, who was the guest speaker at the South Huron Chamber of Commerce (SHCC) Annual General Meeting May 8 at the Ironwood Golf Club. Hardy, who presented, Reflections of a Small Town, has been the South Huron CAO for about four months and has al- ways had a passion for politics. • The proposed 2008 Bluewater bud- get will be voted on May 20 in Varna at 7 p.m. The draft budget sees net expenditures of $4,126,324, which represents a 2.84 per cent increase over 2007 which was $4,012,304. Although 2008 was not a reassessment year, the Bluewater Current Value As- sessment (CVA) for 2008 increased over 2007 by $14,406,800. The 2007 CVA was $1,203,880,950, while the 2008 CVA is $1,218,287,750, an increase of 1.19 per cent. MAY 21 • Annex Publishing and Printing is dos- ing its Exeter office, effective June 30. Vice-president and publisher Diane Kleer confirmed with the Times -Advo- cate that the Simcoe-based publishing company is closing its Exeter location on Thames Road West. Four employees in the circulation and production depart- ments will lose their jobs. MAY 28 • "Blindsided" was how Coun. Kay Wise described herself May 22 after a $1 million federal funding announcement in Varna left Hensall out even though the Bluewater application had been for a joint Zurich-Hensall grant for lagoon projects. Making the Zurich funding announce- ment was Perth -Wellington MP Gary Schellenberger on behalf of Infrastructure Minister Tony Clements. agement retreats, and even while staggering back from the brink of bankruptcy, the new found money is being used to pay out bonuses. Unbelievable! Unless those responsible are first replaced, why would we expect corporate culture within the auto companies to change for the better? Help may be needed, but the only imperative should be that such help comes from legiti- mate lending institutions and according to rules these insti- tutions already have in place. Without that happening, we may as well kiss our bailout money goodbye, and depend- ing how long this down -turn lasts, the Big Three may still end up going under. JERRY DE BOER , Exeter Bureau says thanks To the community of Exeter and the surrounding area: Thank you! Thank you for your generosity again this year in supporting the Huron County Christmas Bureau. Togeth- er we have helped over 130 families have a happier Christ- mas season. We would like to say thank you to all the businesses and or- ganizations who so generously gave back to this community. Thank you to all the schools and churches that gathered and delivered so many donations to us. We would like to send a really big thank you to all the individuals who took the time to stop by to give a donation. We were overwhelmed at the generosity of the community, especially in these uncertain economic times. Together we were able to give 300 children a gift under the tree, new clothes to wear and some good food to eat. Thank you for sharing the happiness of the Christmas season to others in our community. SYLVIA AND SADIE POST, Huron County Christmas Bureau Community thanked I would like to take this opportunity to thank our generous community for supporting our Adopt a Family campaign this holiday season. The response was overwhelming! We received games, toys, puzzles, clothes and food for the families we serve at Big Brothers Big Sisters of South Huron. Being our first year, we were unsure of how successful this would be, given the current state of our economy. I am proud to say that all the ornaments were taken off our tree within the first two weeks, allowing us to deliver gifts to 64 children for Christmas. We are very grateful that even after all the ornaments were taken, we were receiving phone calls inquiring What else can I do? If you supported this campaign in anyway, thank you! I had the joy of delivering these gifts, and witnessed the grate- fulness from the parents, and the smiles on the children s faces. We live in a giving and thoughtful community, which is something that we need to remember all year long. See you next Christmas! AMY SCHWARTZENTRUBER, Casework co-ordinator Big Brothers Big Sisters of South Huron Update from South Huron mayor SOUTH HURON So much for my pre- diction of an open winter this year. It looks like I was over ruled by all the people who wanted a white Christmas. All I can say is, Don t start so early next year. This type of weather plays havoc with our winter budget and it also plays havoc with the staff who try to keep the roads in good shape. Be- fore you book your winter holiday to get out of this weather, I will still stand by my prediction and say the warm weather will be here after Christmas. I wrote about drinking and driv ing last year and I would like to re- peat the same for this year. The most precious paper in our pocket is our driver s license. We worked hard to get it. We had to have the right skills and we had to study the rules and regulations, but it didn t matter how much trouble we had to go through, getting our driver s license was well worth it. When we finally got it, we valued the prize as a privi- lege to have. It was a privilege then and as the years go by, it is still a privilege. Think what life would be like without it. The act of drinking alcohol and driving is a sure way of destroying that privilege of hav- ing a driver s license. We are in a holiday season and we might have the tendency to be celebrating with al- cohol involved. Please consider your alcohol intake if you are driving. Make that decision whether you are going to drive or not before you start drinking. If you are going to drink, make arrangements to get home. It is the OPP policy to take a zero tolerance towards drinking and driving because the results are so devastating. Not only can you hurt or kill yourself, you can also hurt or kill innocent people. Driving while over the legal limit is dangerous, costly and against the law. You are not being fair to yourself and you are not being fair to others using the road. Please make our roads alcohol free this season and for the rest of the year. Extra funding from the province will mean there will be more Ride Programs in On- tario this holiday season. This time of year is a festive season and should be full of fun and fond memories. From our house to your house, Susan and I hope you had a Merry Christmas and want to wish you a happy and prosperous new year. KEN OKE