The Brussels Post, 1974-05-01, Page 2EiTAILPHIQ
JIM
4Brussels Post
WEDNESDAY, MAY 1, 1974
Serving Brussels and the surrounding community.
Published each Wednesday afternoon at Brussels, Ontario
by McLean Bros.Publishers, Limited.
Evelyn Kennedy - Editor Tom Haley Advertising
Member Canadian Community Newspaper Association and
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BRUSSELS
ONTAIU0
Why the freeze ?
Several townships in Huron are affected by .the
freeze on commercial development which was
imposed on 62 rural areas of the province by Housing
Minister Sidney Handleman on Friday. The province
is trying to block uncontrolled commercial
development in rural areas where official plans have
not yet been adopted.
Goderich and Colbourne Townships had
commercial development frozen this Winter when the
province moved to block a shopping centre which
was planned for the outskirts of Goderich. Now Hay,
Stephen, Turnberry, Usborne and Morris also come
under the commercial development freeze.
• Although municipalities may be worried about the
loss of local autonomy this move implies, the freeze
on shopping centre . development until land use
regulations have been drawn up may save us a lot of
grief in the long run.
„ Housing Minister Handleman says some shopping
centre developers have deliberately sought out
townships which have no zoning controls. The
townships may be quite delighted when a shopping
centre developer approaches with a site in Mind. The
increased assessment looks great.
But the services which the township will
eventually have to provide to this type of
development can cost more than any benefits. Then
there is the possibility of unplanned patches of urban
development .scattered here and there on what was
prime agricultural land.
The townships are assured that the Ministerial
orders announcing the ban will be rescinded as soon
as local land use controls are developed and that any
commercial developments which "rightly belong in
these rural townships" (presumably developments
which would have been allowed had township plans
existed;, will be allowed. Any exemptions to the
orders are expected to be processed in about -six
weeks, less time than it takes to get a re-zoning
application through the Ontario Municipal Board.
The Ontario government is offering assistance in
developing and preparing land use by-laws to all the
townships which are covered by the bans. Some
townships are already working on their plans. The
province's freeze will no doubt encourage the other
rural townships to get their own plans together.
It seems a little "big brotherish". But all the
province is really doing is protecting us from
ourselves. It's saying that as soon as the rural
township's make some rules, they can follow them.
But until then the province is going to make sure that
somebody is laying down guidelines that commercial
development has to meet.
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Last week's column, if you recall, had a
smashing ending. It left your hero asleep in
a small hotel in -a small town in Germany,
Lahr, home of most of the Canadian Nato
forces in Europe.
Up betimes, after .14 hours sleep, and
tottered down to the dining-room, smelling
for coffee. Hadn't eaten for 16 hours,
And it was there, sipping a coffee and
cognac, in an effort to get the bones
moving, that my crazy kid brother, the
Colonel, found me at 7.30 a.m. We
exchanged our usual fond greetings.
Him: "Hello, you clot. Just up?
Supposed to be on our way,"
Me: "Hello, clot. Yes. Who cares? I'm
dying,"
Him: "You're getting a little thin on top,
like Dad."
Me; "You're getting a little thick 'in the
middle, like Mum,"
The contrast between us was never
clearer. He was spic and span, gold braid.
gleaming, fresh-shaven, full of beans,
, ready to hit the road for Ranistein, his
base. I was in a rumpled flannel shirt, sock
feet, unwashed, unshaven, uncombed, and
ready to hit him for showing up so early.
He's always like that. And I'm always
- like that. He comes flying out of nowhere,
talks a blue streak, tells a hundred stories.
and goes clashing off to somewhere, I come
dawdling out of somewhere, sit around as
taciturn as a turtle, and go dawdling off to
nowhere.
He's a hustler; I'm a poke. Perhaps
that's why he's a colonel and I'm more of a
kernel.
Anyway, it's a great combination to
throw together for a three-day crash course
on Germany - a hustler and a poke.
I must say we didn't have a cross word in
those three days. Although I admit I-
thought he was going to have a baby when
he came to pick me up for lunch with the
Commander-in-Chief, a four-star general,
and found me still in bed. That was at
11.30; lunch at twelve noon sharp "And
you don't keep generals waiting- and -we
have fifteen miles to drive," We made it
with 19 seconds to spare.
And he wasn't exactly chortling when we
st arted off to catch the plane home and
after we'd driven like a bat out of hell for
ten minutes, I observed, "Gracious to-
goodness. I've left all my money in your
apartment; we'll have to go back." He
didn't say a word, but there was steam
coming out of his ears, and I think he lost a
fair bit of enamel off his molars.
But that was later. Let's go back to Lahr,
where I left you breathless to read , what
would happen next. There we are, He is
hustling me out of the hotel and I am
dawdling and poking in his wake.
Lahr is something of a company town,
In last week's paper you printed a letter
from Mr. Mason Bailey, a real estate agent
from Clinton about the abundance of food
we have, and we do. But when he starts on
peoples who don't live on our continent I
submit that he's dead wrong. He admits
that people in India ate starving unless
they have money, thereby intimating that if
there was enough money there would be
enough food. That is a very doubtful
supposition, for if there was enough food it
would not be so expensive that only the
rich can buy enough of it. Also he
conveniently forgets the hundreds of
thousands African people who are dying
right now
from Starvation.
sure, they have no money either.and there
is still enough food in the world today to
feed every person if transportation and the
division of money Was better. Btitthe world
wheat .supply is estimated by the United
Nations to be down to one month by the
end of August. The population of the -world
Will be double What it is now in. a Mere .35
with the canadian forces as the
"company", The town itself 'has about
17,000 people, plus 12;000 Canadians on
the periphery. A big industry for the town.
There are about 5,000 Canadians in the
military. The rest are made up of families,
teachers, and assorted odds and sods.
Canadian forces there make a real effort
to get -along with the • German community
and are closely knitted- with it. Interest-
ingly the Canadians do all their dealings in
German marks, while the Americans, at
their bases, deal in U.S.dollars.
At Lahr, the Canadians publish a lively
daily newspaper, Der Kanadier; have their
own churches; excellent schools; and
sports facilities galore. But of course, it
isn't home.
And the troops. never forget that they are
there on serious business, not on a
European holiday.
I received an impression, perhaps
wrong, that the Canadian forces feel that
they're somewhat forgotten, that the folks
at borne are rather apathetic about the boys
in dark green, the "violent, obedient
ones" out there on the periphery with
guns.
This is not exactly assuaged by the heavy
cuts in our armed forces in Europe. These
have been cut approximately in two, from
10,000 to 5,000. The land forces are down
from a brigade to a brigade-group. The air
arm has been. whittled from twelve
squadrons in 1954 to three squadrons of
attack fighters in 1974. .
This hurts, if you are in the service. But
morale is high, despite the ancient
Centurion tanks, and we have cracking
good troops in the -front line, made up of
tanks, commandos and infantry.
In the air, we have, to quote a
well-informed source (my brother), "The
best pilots in Europe", and he means it,
•vith• no blarney. They are all fighters, and.
they have a vital role called "first attack'', •
More of this later.
But let's get back to Lahr, and get on '
with this wretched trip of mine. My brother
is now hustling me into his car. The town is
pretty with spring flowers everywhere, a
change from blizzards. There is a branch of
the Bank of Montreal. And there is Jack
Thomson and his wife.
He's a first cousin of ours. They live in
Winnipeg. It could happen only to me. I fly
four thousand miles to savour the ancient
hostelries, cathedrals' and castles of old
Germany, and I wind up sitting at a kitchen
table talking and drinking with a cousin
I've met once before in my life.
I don't think we'll make it to Ramsteini
destination, but we'll have a try next week.
Special note for Western readers: Cousin
Jack was in his underwear, and his wife in
her nightie, when we • arrived.
years. What happens then?
Contrary to what Mr. Bailey says, there
are food shortages right now_ in parts of the
world and impending food shortages in all
of the world, even here, for it is very
shortsighted if We think that the world will,
stand idly by, seeing their people st arve
while we indulge ourselves. Regardless of
the arguments of real estate developers,
we have to do everything in our power to
preserve food. producing land.
If new cities are to be built, it should be
in Northeren Ontario in non-agricultural
areas even if it costs more and is more
inconvenient. If the highways, airfields,
etc. were built on land that lies
under thorn trees there would be no
objection, but that seldom is the case, The
ability of farmers to increase their
efficiency as in the past is severely
hampered by oil Shortages, whence the
fertilizer conies from. I agree with Mr.
Bailey that impulse 'has overcome his
better judgment.
Yours qttlyf
Aditati'Vbgt- glYth,
To the Editor
Food shortages are real