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Home My WebLink AboutThe Huron Expositor, 1962-05-31, Page 2• Since 1860, Serving the Community First Published at SEAFORTH, ONTARIO, every -Thursday morning by MeLEAN BROS.,, Publishers $ ANDREW Y. MCLEAN, Editor I to • w Member Canadian Weekly Newspapers Association Ontario Weekly Newspapers Association O Audit ,Bureau of Circulations Subscription Rates: aF Canada (in advance) $2.50 a Yea Outside Canada (in advance) $4.00 a Year V 1. P ` SINGLE COPIES -- 10 CENTS EACH Authorized 'as Second Class Mail, Post Office Department, Ottawa SEAFORTH, ONTARIO, MAY 31, 1962 Voters Face Important Questions Tlie decision which Canadians must take on June 18 will be based to a great degree on the assessment which each will make of : (a) the position which Canada hasheld during recent years as compared with other 'coun- tries in the free world, and of (b) the. proposals' for the future• that best can. get Canada moving ahead again. Among the questions that must be asked are these: • Will the. 1,000,000 new jobs that will be required in the next four years be provided if the present trend of drift continues? • When statistics of increased pro- duction and income and employment during the past five years are quoted, do we realize that the population of Canada also has increased, and that such statistics do not take this fact in- to consideration? • When the government says it has accomplished all. it set out to do in its first five-year plan, are we satisfied with the fact that production per Can- adian has fallen? • Are we content to pay increased prices for manufactured goods, food, Can Be medicinal supplies and a wide range of other items of daily use in our homes and on our farms which are caused by a 92 -cent dollar? • Do we believe the budget deficits of recent years otalling three billion are an indication of good gov dollars ernment, and do we realize that such. deficits are but a postponement of tax- es? • When we are told we are paying an the average less personal income tax than we did five years ago, do ' or- ry that the average Canadian is pa ing more, in total Federal taxes, than he was paying five years ago? • Do we regard our increased trade with Communist countries as being suf- ficiently secure, or should we be active in developing trade with other areas in view of the rapidly changing trading patterns in the free world? • Are we satisfied with our finan- cial position, or should we take steps to rebuild confidence in the growth of the Canadian economy and the stabil- ity of her finances? On the answers to these and- other questions which each voter will pose will depend the outcome of the election. Interesting But Spay Little Must a speaker with some meat in his message prove a bore to his audi- ence, while the speaker who dealsin froth and jokes hold the attention of his listeners to the •end?. Anyone who attends with any frequency events where speakers are on the program finds too often this is the case A neighboring daily recently sum- med up the situation editorially : 'This is one of the most distressing features of modern life, when there is so much emphasis -on the techniques of communication. Too many persons who have nothing to say, say it well. And too many who must have plenty to say don't know how to say it. What is worse, some of the smooth and articu- late communicators are listened to' by millions and many are being over- paid for their small ideas. And the thinkers among us often hide away in their , cloistered halls, unwilling to master the art of communication or expose their wisdom to a critical world. "Come right down to it, • we should be more critical of the scholars among us who will not bother to be heard, than of the ones who are heard too much. What of those who have been endowed with wisdom and been priv- ileged to accumulate knowledge? The Bible, of course, says stern things about hiding lights under a bushel and bury- ing talents in a field. "As for the others, the . experts at passing on things that don't matter, t h e intellectual haberdashers 'who clothe their cliches and trivial in hand- some packages, they do have their tem- porary reward. But they seem tragic, too, full of personality and Madison Avenue ratings signifying nothing. Happy Babbits who, like the Chicago politician, climb to higher and higher platitudes of success." A MACDUFF OTTAWA REPORT THE SLOW CAMPAIGN OTTAWA—For a while it ap- peared that the 1962 Federal election campaign would be fought in a vacuum, with only the party workers listening and the voters stifling a mighty yawn and turning to the comic section instead: But in these last three weeks before the polls open in June 18, the big guns will be boom- ing loud enough. to awake even the most determined hermit, and the parties .are confident that public - interest will perk up considerably. This quiet campaign has been deliberately planned that way by both the major party lead- ers, and perhaps by the New Democrats and Social Crediters as well P.rime Minister Diefenbaker says he's been travelling from coast to coast to •listen to the heartbeat of the people, to check their aspirations, their hopes and their desires. When he has all that information available, then he plans to be- gin campaigning in earnest. Liberal Leader Lester Pear- son doesn't use such high-sound- ing phrases, but his campaign technique has been the same. For the, first four weeks, he stuck pretty Much to the same text in all his speeches, break- -ing little new ground, and avoiding sharp controversy in most of his utterances. Liberal henchmen emphasiz- ed it was a "meet -the -people" tour for the national leader. He wanted to meet as many voters as possible, and hold down on the heavy speech -making for the closing weeks of the cam - Both men avoided the big eities, except as•a place to hang their political.hats overnight en rotite to smaller centres. Titus, while both the Liberal and Conservative caravans have crisscrossed repeatedly through and over Toronto; Montreal and • er has not tytlrt�a raig,eentro�, the.e yettboo . a major' .rally in any Prime Minister Diefenbaker has been drawing giant crowds in tiny towns, an interesting but not necessarily significant indi- cator of his grass -root support. Medicine Hat, Alberta, turn- ed out more than 3,000 citizens to hear him. Yet the response apparently was not as great as that for Mr. Pearson before smaller audiences. Oddly .enough, when one con- siders the public opinion, poll reports, the biggest crowds of the campaign .have been on hand for NDP leader Tommy Douglas and Socred leader Robert Thompson. Mr. Thompson, with his Que- bec deputy, Real Caouette, ad- dressed a multitude variously estimated at from 3,500 to 6,000 on a Sunday in Quebec City. Mr. Douglas found a similar welcome in New Westminster, B.C., and pulled twice as many listeners as Mr. Pearson did .a day later in Calgary. But although the politicians put great stock in crowds to. indicate a groundswell when the numbers are large, they are not an entirely reliable guide to voter support. Even NDP officials in Calgary conceded that Mr. Douglas' aud- ience there was made up large- ly of the curious rather than firm supporters of the Party cause. And in that of all cities, the NDP is hardly likely to garner much support on voting day. The major party leaders thus have themselves to blame for voter apathy. Evidently it's the way they want it, to let the campaign reach boiling point only in the final few weeks be- fore the polls open. There was at least a flour of the 1958 enthusiasm in evidence in suburban Toronto last week when both Mr. Diefenbaker and Mr, Pearson went hunting for votes "en the swine day in the sante area. But although h the Prime Mire Ester alloyrgd himself to be :