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The Citizen, 1987-08-26, Page 5THE CITIZEN, WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 26, 1987. PAGE 5. 'Go for it' Brussels fair queen's advice Recently returned from an exciting three days as a competitor in the Miss CNE pageant, Brussels 1986-87 Fall Fair Queen Linda Ten Pas says it is an experience every girl should have. The richest country in the world BY RAYMOND CANON From time to time there are economic statistics published which purport to show the relative wealth of various countries in the world. This figure is calculated by taking the population of a specific country and dividing it into the gross domestic product. If that latter expression baffles you, it is roughly the sum total of the goods and services which are purchased by the private, business and government sectors over the period of a year. At any rate what these statistics do is show with almost monotonous regularity that the richest country in the world is Switzerland. This may or may not come as a surprise but, whatever your reaction, this meansthatthe average Swiss is richer than his counterpart in Canada, Germany, Japan or the United States. There has to be a reason. Since that is my old stomping grounds and I go back there once a year on business, I am going to try to explain why I think the Swiss have become the richest people in the world and have remained that way for so long. It has nothing to do with the fact that the banks take deposits from all over the world and are very secretive about it all. It has just as little to do with the ability of the Swiss to keep out of wars since the last country to invade them was Napoleon. Itis simply thatthe Swiss manage to use a large amount of economic common sense which would be just as applicable in other countries if they wanted to make the effort. First of all, the Swiss use their brains. There are no minerals to be found in the mountains that guarantee large export incomes. There is nothing but the Swiss themselves and, if they produce some product or service, they have to give good value for the price or else their customers will go elsewhere to get the same product or service. A case in point is the watch industry. For decades this industry flourished in Switzerland but gradually other countries such as the Japanese started to challenge the Swiss supremacy and for a while succeeded quite admirably. There were a number of bankrupt­ cies and mergers and I must confess that the competition really shook the Swiss up for a while. However, the industry gradually got its act together until it was able to take on the foreign competition and regain its position as No. 1. In the Swiss labour unions there are no graduates of what I call the Arthur Scargill School of Diplo­ macy. The Swiss long ago gave up any idea of practicing confronta­ tion in their negotiations with management and thus, while Swiss workers are extremely well paid, strikes are all but unknown in the country. If there is one, everybody seems to be embarrass­ ed about it and the walkout lasts only a short time. With this approach, both management and the unions can concentrate on turning out a good product and thus making money. Switzerland has a relatively large number of foreign workers and they are what is generally called a Gastarbeiter or guest worker. As in Canada such workers tend to do the menial jobs that the Swiss don’t want to do. However such people are not citizens but simply guests and when there is no Continued on page 10 Linda Ten Pas's advice to all girls between the ages of 17 and 23 is to go for it whenever they get a chance to run as a contestant in their local Queen of the Fait contest. Exhausted but happy after her three days in the Miss Canadian National Exhibition competition in Toronto last week, the 1986-87 Brussels Fair Queen says she never had so much fun in her life, and is not one bit disappointed that she didn’t make it into the contest finals last Wednesday. “It was just such a fabulous experience, and 1 was so proud just to be there representing Brussels that(notwinning)didn’tbother me a bit,’’ she says. “Everybody should run for Fair Queen if they can.’’ MissTen Pas wasoneof 114 girls from ali over Ontario competing for the title of Miss C.N.E., the culmination of three hectic days of activity leading up to the final decision, which took place last Wednesday during the opening ceremoniesofCanada’s largest exhibition. The annual pageant gives every girl chosen as Queen of her local agricultural fair during the previous year a chance to try for the crown, as well as to reign over related events throughout the coming year. But even the losers in the contest are winners, the Brussels Fair Queen says, because the entire process is so much fun, there is so much that can be learned, and everyone gets a chance to meet girls from all over Ontario during the all-expense-paid trip to Tor­ onto. “I met some really great people, and have formed some lasting friendships with some of the other ‘Cow Queens’ - that’s what we call ourselves, becausewe all come from agricultural fairs,’’ Miss Ten Pas laughs. She adds that she already knew several girls from her experience on the F. E. Madill track team and as a member of the Brussels Figure Skating Club, and had met them all before last February, when all 114 girls were guests of honour during the annual Ontario Agricultural Societies con­ vention in Toronto. Miss Ten Pas travelled to Toronto on August 16 with Mi­ chelle Statia, Miss Howick Fall Fair for 1986-87, and was billetted with all the other contestants at a University of Toronto residence where they held an impromptu pyjama party their first night in the city. On Monday morning, she went for her interview with the pageant judges, who asked her, among other things, why she wanted to be Miss CNE and why she wanted to write her autobiography some day. “All of us were pretty nervous going in to the interviews, but they were all so nice and friendly that the time just flew by,’’ she remembers. Later in the day the girls spent several hours at the CN Tower, then attended a cosmetics seminar where they were given a number of free samples, as well as advice on howtostay looking fresh during the hectic schedule to follow. The girls had been told to wear their crowns and sashes at all times when they were in public view, and Miss Ten Pas was amused by the number of people who asked her if she were from Brussels, Belgium. They had also been advised to wear pumpsatalltimes, asflatshoes “make everyone look 30 pounds heavier, ’ ’ but by the time the girls got to the Eaton Centre after spending Tuesday morning tour­ ing Queen’s Park and the legisla­ ture buildings (where they met Progressive Conservative leader Larry Grossman), then walking for five miles down Toronto’s Yonge Street and back again because their bus had not shown up, the first thing Miss Ten Pas did was to buy some low-heeled shoes to relieve her aching feet. On Tuesday afternoon all the contestants gathered at the CNE bandshell for a pageant rehearsal, then went to the Old Spaghetti Factory for supper, and back to the unveiling of the renovated Prin­ cess Gates at the CNE, where they got to see a $30,000 display of fireworks which the Brussels girl says were really impressive, de­ spite a drizzling rain. Although the contest judges had been observing the girls through­ out most of the day’s activities, none of them had a clue as to their standing, Miss Ten Pas says, and the excitement mounted steadily until the very last minutes of the pageant, which was held Wednes­ day afternoon, right after the Exhibition’s opening ceremonies. The final judging began at 10 a.m. on Wednesday, when each one of the 114 contestants walked on the bandshell stage, introduced herself, and said where she was from. By lunch time with the pageant sponsors, some girls were beginning to show signs of nerves, but MissTen Pas said she never felt the tension, because out of 114 contestants she figured she had no chance to win, anyway! Back at the CNE Bandshell for the final time at 3 p.m., all contestants were present to ob­ serve the official opening ceremon­ ies of the Exhibition, then went on stage, one by one in alphabetical order, to introduce themselves to the public for the first time, then lined up and released the red and yellow balloons that each girl had been holding, still with no clue as to their standing in the judges’ calculations. Then came the first cut: seven girls were chosen as semi-finalists, with Leigh Soldass, Miss Hensail- South Huron Fall Fair being the only Huron County girl to make the cut. Miss Ten Pas said that the disappointment of some of the contestants was hard to hide, but said that she herself still felt nothing but the pride in being there for Brussels, although she admits that she was thrilled to see her parents, Hank and Agnes Ten Pas, in the front row of the audience watching the show. “1 knew they were coming down, but it sure was good to see them there,’’ she said. Each of the seven semi-finalists then gave their prepared speech­ es, which all the girls had in readiness but most did not have a chance to use. The speakers were interspersed between other acts of entertainment, so that it was still nearly two hours before the final choices were made, while all 114 girls were still on stage. Finally, at about 6 p.m., each of the semi-finalists was asked an off-the-cuff question, and the new Miss CNE was named, along with the two runners-up, and all contestants rushed forward to congratulate Heidi Robinson, Miss Landsdown Fair, as Miss CNE for 1987-88. Elaine Ste. Pierre, Miss Plympton-Wyoming Fall Fair was chosen as first runner-up, and Karen Sayles, Miss Paris Fair, became the second runner-up. For the other 11 exhausted contestants, itwas all over, and they were hustled off the stage and intothe armsof waiting parents and friends, their days in the limelight over, the long trips back home and to a familiar bed all that was left, save for the memories that the past few days had brought, memories that will live forever for most of them. “Do you know the only thing 1 missed,’’ MissTenPasasks. “1 never had time to see the CNE itself - I’ve NEVER been to the CNE!”