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Huron Expositor, 2015-12-23, Page 44 Huron Expositor • Wednesday, December 23, 2015 www.seaforthhuronexpositor.com ikon Expositor PUBLISHED WEEKLY — EST. 1860 P.O. Box 69, 8 Main Street Seaforth Ontario NOK 1 WO phone: 519-527-0240 fax: 519-527-2858 www.seaforthhuronexpositor gyp] POSTMEDIA NEIL CLIFFORD Advertising Director neil.clifford@sun media.ca SHAUN GREGORY Multimedia Journalist shaun.garrity@sunmedia.ca DIANNE MCGRATH Front Office seaforth.classifieds@sunmedia.ca NANCY DEGANS Advertising Rep. nancy.degans@sunmedia.ca MARIE DAVID Group Advertising Director Grey Bruce Huron Division 519 376-2250 ext. 514301 or 510 364-2001 ext. 531024 SUBSCRIPTION RATES 1 YEAR $50.00 (47.62+2.38 GST) 2 YEAR $95.00 (90.48+4.52 GST) SENIORS 60 WEEKS $50.00 (47.62+2.38 GS1) 120 WEEKS $95.00 (90.48+4.52 GST) Publications Mail Agreement No. 40064683 RETURN UNDELIVERABLE CANADIAN ADDRESSES TO CIRCULATION DEPARTMENT P.O. 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We acknowledge the financial support of the Government of Canada through the Canadian Periodical Fund (CPF) for our publishing activities. Canada There's an inherent unfairness in charity at a donor's impulse compared to broad-based government programs — but a lot of benefits, too Mark Sutcliffe ere is no glory in paying taxes. When Justin Trudeau, for example, decided not to accept the child care benefit introduced by the previous Conservative govemment, he didn't return the money to the federal treasury, where, presuma- bly, it could have been used to help the families who needed it more than his own. Instead, he gave the cash to La Maison Bleue, a Montreal charity that helps vulnerable women during pregnancy and the first months of motherhood. If a future prime minister saw more symbolic and philanthropic value in giving money to a non-gov- ernmental organization that helps a specific subset of the population, rather than supporting widely administered public social pro- grams, what are the rest of us expected to do? We can't begrudge Trudeau the choice of a small gift to charity, nor the corresponding tax receipt. But whatif the giftwas alotlarger, say US$45 billion? That's the estimated amount Facebook founder Mark Zucker - berg and his wife Priscilla Chan are pledging to donate over the course of their lives. The announcement was greeted with considerable praise, but a few people raised ethi- cal considerations. By transferring his wealth to his own charitable foundation, Zucker - berg will avoid a significant tax bill. That means instead of billions of dollars going to the U.S. govem- ment, where the funds could be allocated to a variety of community priorities, they will be dispensed as Zuckerberg sees fit. The apparent inequity in the dis- tribution of goodwill is a recurring theme. Recently, many people were drawn to the story of Pizza Dad, an Ottawa restaurant employee whose co-worker launched an online fundraising campaign. "Just trying to make a dadwhoworks really hard for his family have a better Christmas!" the co-worker wrote on a crowdfundingwebsite. He set $2,000 as the goal; within a few days, the storywas shared widely and donations from around the world totalled almost $6,000. On the surface, it's a heartwarm- ing holiday tale. But what if other people needed the money more but didn't have access to the same net- work? Or what if their stories simply didn't strike the same responsive chord? In the world of fundraising, a dis- proportionate share of resources has always gone to some charities, whether they do abetter job of com- municating their need, have the right people speaking on their behalf, or just get lucky. There are health research organizations that toil in obscurity until awealthyfam- ilyis struckbythe disease and make it their philanthropic priority. The effect appears to have been exaggerated by technology. Look at the success of the ice bucket chal- lenge, which raised more than $100 million last year for ALS, awindfall five times greater than the total donations the previous year If equity is the goal, would all this money — whether Zuckerberg's $45 billion or the smaller amounts you and I contribute to charity— be better off in the hands of govemment? It's not a simple question. For one thing, there arises no guarantee government can distribute money more equitably or proficiently than the private sector. There are biases in almost any decision made bya human. And govemment can be frustratingly inefficient. Certainly, public -sector funding is meant to be more judicious than the whims of social media. Taxes, effectively, were the original crowd - funding. Yet, there's an important distinction: taxes aren't optional. letters to the editor Clarification from former principal Dear Editor, I read with interest your article about the with- drawal of funding for the Community Living opera- tions. I believe I could add some clarification to one part of the article as I was the Principal of Huron Hope School in 1969 when those children who were identified as mentally chal- lenged first came under the auspices of the Boards of Education. There is an error in the article indicating these children were at the McCurdy School prior to 1968. Prior to 1969 educa- tion in the school system was denied to these chil- dren and many will remem- ber what was then called the Associations For The Mentally Retarded set up their own schools in halls and church basements. Locally Bonnie Graham ran the Queen Elizabeth School here in Goderich. Florence Reavie was Principal of the Golden Circle School. (By 1975 all three Huron County schools for the mentally challenged were accommodated in our Ele- mentary Schools). The Huron County Board of Education led the way and became the first Board in Ontario where all children had classrooms in the Ele- mentary system. In 1969 two classrooms were located in the J.A.D. McCurdy School in Huron Park to house Huron Hope School. To my knowledge it was the first school in Ontario where children who were then labelled "retarded" had classrooms adjacent to the classrooms of all children from Kinder- garten to Grade Eight. This was not accepted as the norm for many and in 1972 an article I wrote on the integration was published by the Canadian Association for the Mentally Retarded and distributed at an Inter- national Congress as a "unique Canadian story': By 1983 it was recognized, as Bruce Shaw pointed out, that this integration could be carried further if the older children could be accommodated in the High School where they would be with their own age group. I remember doing a slide presentation to the staff who were somewhat hesitant in their expectations for the outcome of this venture. However Principal Bruce Shaw had a vision and it was carried through for those teenagers. The younger pupils remained at the J.A.D. McCurdy School. Sadly the McCurdy School was later closed, then van- dalized and burned. But for many these classrooms were an affirmation of their right- ful place in the community. -Eleanor Smith More than 450 families assisted for Christmas Dear Editor: Huron -Perth Children's Aid Society On behalf of the staff and Board of Directors of the Huron -Perth Children's Aid Society I thank everyone who contributed to our Christmas Bureau Cam- paign this year. Your gener- ous donations allowed us to assist over 450 families and 1000 children during the Holiday Season. Whether it was a contribution of your time, talents, monies, shopping, transportation, wrapping, and phone answering or hosting your own fund- raiser; all acts of kindness help with the success of this annual campaign. Thank you for your generous gift. Sincerely Shaun Jolliffe MSW, RSW Executive Director Huron -Perth Children's Aid Society SEAFORTH HURON EXPOSITOR — HOURS OF OPERATION MONDAY: 9:00 - 5:00 • TUESDAY: - CLOSED • WEDNESDAY: - 9:00 - 5:00 • THURSDAY: - 9:00 - 5:00 • FRIDAY: - 9:00 - 5:00 • SATURDAY & SUNDAY: - CLOSED ADVERTISING DEADLINE: FRIDAY AT 2:00 • PHONE 519-527-0240 • FAX: 519-527-2858 www.seaforthhuronexpositor.com