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The Brussels Post, 1979-02-14, Page 2f1 UU(LS WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 14, 1979 opowRio. Serving Brussels and the surrounding community. Published each Wednesday afternoon at Brussels, Ontario By McLean Bros. Publishers Limited *CNA •, Evelyn Kennedy - Editor Pat Langlois - Advertising Member Canadian Community Newspaper Association and Ontario Weekly Newspaper Association eNA Subscriptions (in advance) Canada $9.00 a Year. Others $17.00 a Year. Single Copies 20 cents each. Brussels Post Love every day Valentine's Day--that special day that is romanticized by poets everywhere. It would be nice to think that everyone went along with those poets and spoke thoughts of love and kindness to everyone else on February 14. But we know it isn't so. That day as every other day will be marred by rude words, angry fights and the continuing wars in countries around the world. Not much room for sentiment these days. Just a quick trip to the drugstore to pick up a card with a barely-looked'at verse inside. Not like the old days when cards were elaborately and painstakingly decorated by hand and when they meant something very special. Nowdays about the only people Valentine's Day has a special meaning for are the children. They still seem to know what it's all about as they drop a valentine for Grandma or Grandpa in the mailbox and send their cards to their .special little friends. They know those valentines are supposed to be a symbol of liking and loving. But of course they haven't yet grown up into the cyncial world of adulthood so they still give freely of themselves and their feelings. The adulst could take a lesson from them by showing love and kindness to everyone, not just on February 14 but everyday of the year. Why should we pay? Ontario Hydro seems to be a victim of its own successiV ,dvertising campaign. For sometime, Hydro has been sponsoring a series of newspaper and television commercials advising consumers that "wasting electricity turns people off!" Apparently Hydro users have taken the message to heart, turning off unnecessary lights, using energy- burning appliances 'only when necessary and generally being a little more conEcious of wasted energy around the home. Of course, when we see office buildings and skyscrapers ablaze with lights at night, it may seem pointless for the ordinary consumer to worry about leaving on an extra light or two when a room isn't being used. But individual energy saving has been an important factor in .::utting down on Ontario's electricity needs. Both the successful advertising campaign and Ontario Hydro's miscalculations in estimating future power needs in the province have -esulted in the company being left with a hefty power surplus on its lands. One company spokesman said the company overestimated local demands for the 1980's by as much as 40 per cent. Now the power company is negotiating the sale of its excess power to eastern seaboard states to the south of us. The idea is that the sale of surplus power will prevent we taxpayers from paying for power we won't be using. Consumers, after all, deserve a small pat on the back for taking Hydro's message seriously and cutting back on wasteful energy demands. Now let's hope consumers will be rewarded for their efforts when they receive their monthly hydro bills. Consumers shouldn't be penalized by having to pay for the power Ontario Hydro has suddenly discovered it doesn't need! It's cupid's day Behind the scenes by Keith Roulston We're good losers I guess if you're a Canadian and your interested at all in hockey you've got to talk about the outcome of the Challenge Cup series on the weekend. I think both Canadians and Russians have always looked at our confrontations as something of a competition between the two systems and in that battle the Soviets certainly came out on top. I'm not saying our system of democracy was found wanting; I'm saying our hockey system was found wanting. The Soviets goal in hockey is to present winners in international play. Our system is designed to make money for greedy little men all over North America but particularly in the United States. In the play Les Canadiens, playwright Rick Salution used the history of the proud Montreal Canadien hockey team as a parallel to the history of Quebec. I think hockey in general can be used as parallel to Canadian History and just as Canada has been the victim of foreign economic domination in nearly every natural re- source from oil to iron ore, so we are the victims of foreign ownership of the thing that comes closest to the national psyche, our game of hockey. The foreign multi- national company that owns hockey in this country is the National Hockey League and we have been ill served by it. Just what good have Canadians gotten from the NHL? Not very much. We have three teams while the Americans have 14. Even one of the teams we have got, the one in Vancouver, one of the most successful franchises in the league was only admitted because the Canadian government and the Canadian public put the heat on because the city was left out of the first round of expansionby greedy owners who sought big "markets" in the U.S. because they thought it would bring a big television contract and plenty of riches. The contract didn't come and ma ay of the cities picked turned out to be duds, The owners, including Canadian owners like the greedy Harold Ballard, overlooked the real hockey cities in Canada reaching for the pot of gold in the U.S. The rival World Hockey Association was pretty stupid in many ways over the years but at least it had the sense to locate teams in Canadian cities and today of the six team left, three are in Canada. If Canadians were really being served by the NHL the move to amalgamate the leagues to give Canada six teams would be going ahead quickly. Yet greedy little men like Ballard are doing everything possible to prevent that. Even those in the league Who support the merger want the WHA teams stripped of all their good players before the merger takes place. Probably nothing illustrates the careless treatment of the Canadian hockey fan by the NHL more than the Challenge Cup itself. The NHL didn't have anything to lose in that series, the Canadian Hockey fan did. It was the pride of Canada that was at stake not the pride of the NHL. They don't have any pride, those owners, just big pockets. Just take a look at the way things were set up for the series. The series was played in New York, once again because the owners hoped for big tele- vision revenue and plenty of media attention. In the long run, they didn't get it because that game meant nothing to most Americans while it meant a good deal to Canadians who could only watch on television. Moreover, in their greed and the greed of men like Alan Eagleson the millionaire director of the players association, the game was played by an all star team of players who had virtually no time to play together before meeting a top class team. Now if this had been a truely exhibition series this would have been all right but by billing the games as The Series of the Century (no doubt for more media hype in the U.S.) the NHL gave it more importance than it deserved. Canadians have shown themselves good losers (we've had plenty of practice) and haven't used excuses. But let's face it, how can a team of players who've never worked together suddenly become a team that can fairly compete against powerhouse like the Soviets? If playing together for a long time really doesn't matter, why did the Soviets spend more than a month preparing for the series as a team? Our guys had two short practices together. It was sheer arrogance that made Eagleson and the others think that we could hope to beat the RI, 'ans under the circumstances. The all star teal.. couldn't have beaten the Montreal Canadiens in a three game series either. Although the Canadian hockey fan and the players suffered, when all is said and done the loss was probably a good thing for Canadian hockey, because our system for training hockey players is not as good in many ways as it once was. Everything in our hockey system is geared to pro- fessionalism today, even in the lowest reaches of minor hockey. It takes many dollars to outfit a youngster to play the game today and then he goes to play in a (Continued on Page 3 ) Advertising is accepted on the Condition that in the event` Of a typographical error the advertising space 'Oceupled by the erroneous item, together With reasonable allowance for signature, will not be charged let but Ihe'bolande Of the advertiterhent will tie paid for at the applicable rate. Wlihe every Whitt Will be made to Ilittite they are handled With publishers cannot be responsible for the mum Of Unsolicited manuscripts Or photos: