The Citizen, 1991-02-06, Page 5THE CITIZEN, WEDNESDAY. FEBRUARY 6. 1991. PAGE 5.
Space continues
to intrigue us
Put three grains of sand inside a vast
cathedral, and the cathedral will be more
closely packed with sand than space is
with stars.
Sir James Jeans
A wonderful commodity, space. As
someone once pointed out, without space,
all matter would be jammed together in
one lump -- and that lump wouldn’t take up
any room.
Of course, space is a very relative
commodity. There's more of it between
atoms of mahogany than between atoms of
balsa. More on a hockey rink than on a
chess board. More between residents of
Tuktoyaktuk than between residents of
Tokyo.
And then there’s Outer Space. These
cold, clear winter nights are perfect for
gazing up at the sky and rediscovering the
real meaning of space. It’s the same
wide-screen extravaganza, unreeling night
after night. Your grandparents watched it.
So did Mackenzie King and Champlain and
Shakespeare and Cleopatra and Moses and
Methuselah all the way back to those
Arriving in
a new country
BY RAYMOND CANON
There is nothing quite like immigrating
to a new country and those of us who have
done it all have memories of the first little
while.
To be honest, my vision of Canada was a
typical one but, since I arrived in relatively
warm weather, there was no ice and snow
in sight; that came later. My first
recollection is of driving along the highway
to our destination. I noticed a sign that said
‘‘Maximum 35” and assumed that was the
name of the next town and that it was 35
miles away. Imagine my surprise when, a
few miles down the road, the same sign
appeared again followed by a third similar
sign several miles further on. I asked about
that, and was told laughingly that the sign
indicated the speed limit, not the distance
to any place in particular.
My first day in a Canadian school has its
memories, too. The principal of the place
decided that the first thing to do with me
was to determine the state of my English.
That having been accomplished, 1 was let
loose on the kids at recess. They responded
as only dirty, rotten kids can at such an
age. They made fun of my clothes and my
accent and anything else which struck
them as being different. Don’t forget that a
new little immigrant was a rarity at that
time; I was the only one to arrive at the
school that year. To say that it was rough at
times was an understatement but they built
Canons tough those days and I survived.
Now there are any number of new
immigrants and, if the government of
Canada has its way, there will be
considerably more of them during the
1990’s. Many of my readers will presum
ably be in the same status I am in that they
arrived at some time or another; many
others will have been born here and have
never had the experience of settling down
in another country. For what they are
worth, here are a few thoughts on the
subject of immigration. You can agree with
them or you can write a nasty letter to the
editor protesting such nonsense.
nameless, heavy browed shuffling ances
tors of yours and mine, huddling in caves,
fearfully peering out at the nocturnal spill
of jewels across the sky.
It’s a very humbling experience, looking
at the night sky. It’s one of the few things
mankind hasn’t managed to alter or
desecrate. I sometimes think that if our
leader had spent more time levering his
massive mandibles skyward and less time
rolling dice in the back room, Canada
might not be in the mess it’s in. But
politicians tend to cluster in cities, and
like pollution makes cities the worst place
to star gaze.
In any case, 10 minutes of uninterrupted
star gazing makes Canadian politics seem
farther away than Jupiter.
I haven’t managed to pick them out yet,
but I understand there are four newly-
named asteroids winging around up there.
They used to orbit under the stunningly
boring names of Asteroid 4147, 4148,
4149 and 4150, but- astonomers in a
playful mood decided to re-christen them
Lennon, McCartney, Harrison and Starr.
That’s right -- the Beatles in Outer
Space.
Sort of ... loosely in the sky like
diamonds.
It’s not often you’ll catch astronomers in
a playful mood. They are, by and large, a
solemn bunch. And if you ever want to
catch them at their grim and grumpy
worst, ask astronomers what they think of
astrologers.
‘‘Pure hokum!” they’ll snap. ‘‘Utter
For openers, few indeed are the immi
grants that do not bring skills to this
country that we can put to good use. Of
course there are a few undesirable ones but
that is par for the course regardless of the
country. If we encourage such immigrants
to develop their talents and contribute (that
is the key word) to the Canadian mosaic, all
of us will be better off.
All the statistics I have seen indicate that
immigrants have a net positive benefit to
the country. It may cost a bit to get some of
them here but once they are here and
settled in, they contribute far more to the
economy than they take out. To take only
one industry, imagine what the restaurant
profession would be like today without the
contribution that immigrant chefs and
entrepreneurs have made.
There is, however, something that
disturbs me. We must be careful lest we
find that our society has been so watered
down with so many influences that we run
the risk of being the epitome of blandness.
What we have to decide is what character
Scouts-Guide Week, Feb 17-24
THE EDITOR,
February 17 - 24 is Scout-Guide Week.
February 22 celebrates the combined
birthday of Lord and Lady Baden Powell,
founders of the Scouting and Guiding
movement. The big Kickoff to the week is a
church service attended by all the scouting
and guiding groups in Blyth area. The
service is at Londesboro United Church
February 17 at 11:15 a.m. Everyone is
welcome. Come and celebrate with the
community’s youth.
Both Scouting and Guiding help youth
become responsible members of the Cana
dian Community, encourage adventure and
enjoyment of the outdoors, and have a
spiritual basis. However, there are differ
ences in their structure.
The Guiding movement in Blyth is made
up of Brownies, Guides, and Pathfinders.
Each of these groups is led by Guiders
which are all a member of Radar District
Council. Radar District is made up of
Blyth, Clinton and Vanastra Guiding
groups.
nonsense!”
Astronomers have no use for a people
who predict the future by eyeballing the
arrangement of the planets.
Astronomers can produce roomfuls of
data to prove that astrology and horoscopes
are just a crock of moonshine -- the
problem is, most folks don’t want to hear
it. 1800 daily newspapers carry horoscopes
on this continent. Editors claim it’s
invariably one of the most popular fea
tures. A recent Gallup Poll discovered that
55 per cent of North American teenagers
believe that the position of Venus vis a vis
Saturn will determine their chances at the
Saturday night dance.
And it’s not just North American
teenagers. In the East; politicians and
businessmen regularly consult astrologers
for help in selecting auspicious dates to
launch new enterprises. In Korea, China
and Japan, it’s the neighbourhood sooth
sayer who gives the final nod for wedding
days.
My favourite quote on astrology comes
from a New York city detective whose job it
was to bust fortune-tellers for operating
without a licence.
‘‘I’ve gone into hundreds of fortune
tellers’ parlors” she recalled, ‘‘and I’ve
been told thousands of things, but no
astrologer ever predicted that I was a
policewoman getting ready to arrest her.”
So I guess when it comes to astrology,
you can put me down as suspicious.
But then you know what we Virgos are
like.
istics that are pertinent to this country we
want immigrants to accept and where we
will give them the freedom to do their own
thing. One thing that riles me is when
some ethnic group feels it is appropriate to
demand the same rights for their language
that are enjoyed by English and French.
That should never be the case; as a
German speaking Canadian, for example, I
would like to see the German language and
culture promoted whenever it is feasible
but to put it on a par with our official
languages? Never!
Most immigrants are, on balance, happy
to be in Canada and to become Canadians.
While I like to get back to Switzerland to
visit and work, I am quite happy to be here.
The country has been good to me and for
me, and my feelings are shared by many of
my immigrant friends. If we can concen
trate on taking the best of what we all have
to offer and remember that immigration is
not an easy step to take, our Canadian
mosaic will present a far more pleasant
picture.
The Brownie, Guide and Pathfinder
groups in Blyth each do their own
fundraising, i.e. Girl Guide cookie sales,
calendars, baking, cheese, and colouring
books. Funds earned are usually earmark
ed for specific projects. Community service
is an integral part of Guiding through all
levels and the Guiding groups in Blyth
have served at local caterings.
The structure for Scouts is different from
Guides. Sponsors are the motivating force
behind organizing Scout Groups. The
sponsors obtain the charter (and renew it
yearly) arrange for facilities and provide
the supervision and leadership required. In
fact a partnership is formed between the
institution or organization who wishes to
use Scouting programs and the Boy Scouts
of Canada.
A sponsors lends its name and prestige
to the Scout Group and lays down general
operating policy. Its group committee
carries out the policy in conjunction with
Boy Scouts of Canada policy and reports to
Continued on page 6
Letter
from the
editor
Small business
community feels
under seige
BY KEITH ROULSTON
If Canada is to pull out of the current
recession somebody has got to start paying
attention more to the needs of our huge
small business sector because lately most
people in business for themselves wonder
if they’re not in business for big govern
ment and big business instead.
Statistics show that three out of every
four new jobs is created by small business
and yet, except when politicians give
speeches, nobody seems to give a damn.
Nearly every government policy from Free
Trade to government backing for mega
projects like the Hibernia oil field develop
ment is designed with big business in
mind. What’s more, new government taxes
like the GST put a far higher burden on
small business than large corporations
because the small business person doesn’t
have the resources to turn accountants
loose on solving problems created. One
business commentator recently predicted
the GST would bankrupt many small
retailers because the large companies
would be able to offer GST-free sales for
the first couple of months and drive out
competition from small retailers who don’t
have the kind of financial clout needed to
absorb extra costs in the name of long-term
gain.
There's also a weariness among people
I’ve spoken to lately, a sense of fatigue of
having to deal with GST after the Employer
Health Tax last year, on top of new
regulations on this, that and the other
thing. They’re wondering if it’s all worth it,
if anybody cares.
A study released by the Canadian
Federation of Independent Business last
week shows it probably isn't worth it. The
survey showed 59 per cent of small
business owners earn less than $27,000 a
year. By comparison, only 52 per cent of
people working for other people earned
that little. Over all. the average earning of
all small business owners (taking in even
the eight per cent who earned more than
$80,000 a year) was $28,400. The average
for employees was $27,400. Employers
who worked by themselves without em
ployees averaged $19,200.
For this the owners averaged 46 hours a
week on the job, 13 hours more than
employees. More than half Canada’s
800,000 employers spent more than 50
hours a week with their business compared
to only seven per cent for paid employees.
And none of this includes the hundreds of
thousands of farmers in Canada who work
long hours for little return.
Traditionally the desire for indepen
dence has been a strong incentive for
people to run their own business despite
the long hours and poor pay but many
people are starting to question that. A
friend I talked to the other day said she’s
glad to be working for someone else now
after running a family business for years.
It’s nice to go home at night and not have
to worry about the business, she says; nice
not to have to worry about how the bills are
going to get paid or how to help employees
be their most efficient.
And people in small business don’t feel
too independent anyway. They feel like
they’re unpaid tax collectors for the
provincial government for the provincial
sales tax and Employers Health Tax and
for the feds for income tax, unemployment
insurance, Canada Pension Plan and the
GST.
Our education system is geared to
training people to work for big business or
government, not to mention people who
may work for themselves or in some other
small business. Business courses at univer
sities concentrate on turning out another
generation of managers to step right in at
IBM or Imperial Oil.
Yet we face a crisis if we can’t attract
bright young minds as entrepreneurs. For
one thing, we have to keep regenerating
our economy. Only by having competitive
new firms come along can large firms be
Continued on page 6