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The Citizen, 1991-02-13, Page 5Arthur Black It’s hard to feel good about February I have, down the centuries, tilted at my share of windmills in this space. I have looked on the bright side of Post Menstrual Syndrome. I’ve championed the Toronto Maple Leafs, The Beachcombers, the prose style of Richard Rohmer and I believe I even once said a kind word about Bill Vander Zalm, but I have not, by Thor, tried to use this column to defend the indefen­ sible. Until now. I am about to say a few kind words about February. I know, I know — it is the most unloved, intrinsically despicable month on the Calendar. Citizens can find it in their hearts to forgive April for its showers and November for its gales, but February? It is the dead cold heart of the unforgiving winter wasteland. The middle of nowhere. In February, the festive Christmas season is just a mocking memory. Spring is a heart-tickling tease beyond the farthest horizon. It’s hard to feel good about February. Even its name is clumsy and unmelodic. It comes from “februa” - a Latin term for thongs of goatskin that were used during the festival of Lupercalia back in Roman times. Selected youths would run around the streets of Rome swinging these A few myths debunked BY RAYMOND CANON There are a number of myths that seem to crop up periodically about Canada’s relations with other countries or theirs with us and now is as good a time as any to try to put paid to a few of these. I’m not sure how they got started; all 1 know is that they have been around for some time and do not seem in any hurry to go away. One that I have heard for decades is that foreign corporations are gradually buying out our companies with the result that foreign ownership, especially American, is increasing rapidly. About every time that you read of the purchase of a Canadian company by an international conglomerate, this myth reappears. If you want to check the record, you will find that the opposite is true. Canadians own more of their own industries than they did 10 or 20 years ago. To tilt the scales even more in our favour, some foreign owned companies, such as 3M or Pratt-Whitney, have given their Canadian affiliates a world mandate to produce specific products; there is, there­ fore, no conflict of interest with the parent company. As for the Americans, they are com­ plaining about us. On a per capita basis, we own more of the United States than they do of Canada. To cite one example, over the last decade they have seen two well known aviation companies, Learjet and Link, pass into the hands of the Canadian conglomerate Bonbardier. At the same time Bonbardier was also swallowing up a well-known British aviation company, Shorts of Belfast. Another favourite comment is that the free trade agreement has caused the loss of thousands of low paying jobs in Canada. Free trade has nothing to do with it; this is simply the result of the internationalization of corporations that set up plants in those countries where unskilled labour is cheap­ est. A report on the economic situation of California recently came across my desk; 1 was not surprised to find that state officials were screaming just as loudly as Canadians about such jobs being lost to Mexico, Indonesia and Tnailand are other favourite iocations, not to mention communist China. Another less frequently heard comment is that deficit financing isn’t so bad since it is financed by selling bonds to Canadians; goathide thongs at childless matrons. Legend had it that getting swacked with a februa during Lupercalia would make a woman fertile. So there you have it - a month named after a chunk of goat hide. But enough gloom! I come to praise February, not to moan about it. Let’s look on the bright side. Well, there’s Groundhog Day, for one thing. Each year on February 2, citizens from burgs as various and far-flung as Alliston, Ontario and Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania crouch, shivering in the mud and snow around the entrances of ground­ hog holes to see (a) if the groundhog survived January and (b) whether he will come out, stand semi-erect and cast a shadow. If he does, it’s supposed to mean that we’re in for six more weeks of winter. 1 think it’s rather wonderful that come February 2, winter-bound humans still- have the pluck to get up, get dressed and go outside to skulk around rodent dens waiting for the weather word from furry forecasters. But Groundhog Day isn’t the only celebration that makes February such a fun month. Oh, my no/ Why, there’s the Milwaukee Home Improvement Show opening on February 17 and Ferris Wheel Day on February 14. Did you know that George Washington Gale Ferris invented the Ferris Wheel? Well he did, and his birthday anniversary is February 14. 1’11 bring the candles if you’ll bake the cake. in short, the money stays in Canada and thus is spent here. Would that it were so simple. The truth is that our yearly deficit is so large that we cannot finance it in Canada; we have to sell bonds to the Japanese and other foreign investors to make up' the difference. That money certainly does not stay here and the interest we pay on it during the life of the bond also serves to make our current account deficit worse than it might normally be. With that inferiority complex that seems to show up now and again, there is a general belief that nobody takes Canada seriously in its efforts Xp play a role in the world. 1 assure you that the opposite is the case. The world can’t ignore us; wp have the seventh largest economy in the industrialized world; we are still the largest customer of the United States, we are an active member in both NATO and the UN and we have a standard of living that is still Centre appreciates generosity' THE EDITOR, On behalf of the clients and the Board of Directors of the Wingham and Area Seniors Day Centre, formerly known as the Day Centre for the Homebound, we would like to thank all of the generous people, who made a donation to the centre during the last year. This interest in the Day Centre is greatly appreciated. These contributions allow older adults and per­ sons with disabilities to live in their own homes for as long as possible, by keeping them active, happy and well in the community. Last year the Day Centre served 120 people ranging in age from 45 - 96 years of age from North Huron and South Bruce Counties. Most of these people wish to remain in their own homes for as long as possible. The Seniors Day Centre works with several agencies whose goal is to provide Home Support Services. The Day Centre has undergone several changes over the last couple of years. The first being a name change, additional staff, a new location and the development of a Dav Away Program for those with Alz- heimers Disease or Related Disorders. To coincide with the development of the new facility, automatic doors were installed to Canadians are downright hearty when it comes to enjoying February. There’s the Winterlude Festival in Ottawa and Expo Nautique -- the Montreal International Boat Show. On February 8, hordes of winter-whipped frostbacks converge on Kelowna, B.C. for the annual Spaghetti Bridge Building Contest. The Calgary Winter Festival gets underway on Febru­ ary 15, as does the Yukon Sourdough Rendezvous. There’s a Winter Carnival in Muskoka and the world famous Yukon Quest in which champion teams of dog sledders race over 1.000 miles of the toughest terrain on the planet to get from Whitehorse to Fairbanks, Alaska. 1 know - I haven’t even mentioned the February festival or carnival or fiesta or hootenanny that your town holds each February - but that’s my point. Canadians are so busy inventing different kinds of fun in February we don’t have time to notice what a bummer of a month it is. But you know the very best thing about February? It’s something the Ancient Romans bequeathed more than 2,000 years ago. Looking at their calendar they realized that July had one more day than August. Since both months commemorated Caesars it was important to strike a diplomatic balance. So the Romans plucked the 29th day off the tail end of February and gave it to August. This made August the same length as July. It also gave the month of February its most attractive characteristic. Brevity. the envy of almost every nation. Michael Wilson is a respected finance minister, Stephen Lewis made his mark at the UN, many Canadians in the field of arts are more famous in other countries than they appear to be at home. Just go to Europe and find out what it is to be a Canadian as compared to an American. An adjunct to that is in the field of international trade. We seem to be afraid of that field as well and it is true that some Canadian products are not competitive due to price or quality or both. However, those firms that take trade seriously and show that in their efforts to market their good outside Canada do rather well at it. Space precludes me from citing a number of examples but telecommunications is cer­ tainly one. If 1 have given you food for thought, I have achieved my goal. I am always glad to hear opposite opinions but only when backed up with solid facts. promote ease of accessibility and indepen­ dence for participants of the program. The doors cost $15,000. The Day Centre has been able to raise half of this money to date. Grants are not available for this project. The Day Centre only needs $7,500 in order to reach its goal. Donations to the centre are tax deductible. Any contribution or additional contribu­ tion that you can make will promote a positive self-image and feeling of indepen­ dence among the people who attend the program. These people can enter the building easily using wheelchairs or wal­ kers, without waiting in the cold for someone to open the door. If you can help in any way, either by making a contribution, no matter how small or large, or participate in a fundrai­ sing project, please do not hesitate to call the Day Centre at 357-1440. An Open House will be held the Spring of ’91. Hope to see you there! Earl E. Hamilton Chairperson. Gloria Workman Director. THE CITIZEN, WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 13, 1991. PAGE 5. Letter from the editor It takes getting sick to appreciate health BY KEITH ROULSTON You’ll have to pardon me if this column doesn’t inspire thoughts on the greater truths of the world. After battling various ailments the past week it’s hard to think of world problems. First it was a bout of flu that put me on my back last weekend and let me up to my knees but not much farther for the rest of the week. Out of five people currently living in our house, last week was a lost week for three of us. Then this past Saturday just when the fever seemed to be down and the hacking cough manageable, something new hit, a stabbing pain in the stomach that made sleep impossible and finally sent me to hospital for relief. This is being scribbled on a pad at bedside while doctors, after a battery of tests, try to find the problem. I’m always amazed at how illness changes your perspective on life. You can be a person who reads several newspapers and watches the world news nightly but once you get sick nothing beyond six inches before your nose matters. The war in the Gulf means nothing compared to the battle of microbes within your body. The latest government tax means nothing compared to how fever taxes your strength. Time takes on a new perspective especially in the night when waiting for five minutes to pass can be like an hour in daylight when you’re busy. Even work has less meaning. I’ve virtually never missed a day’s work to sickness in more than five years since we started The Citizen. The idea of not being around on a Monday or Tuesday was impossible to contemplate but now it’s two weeks in a row that the rest of the staff have had to pick up the slack. When you’re well you don’t waste much time thinking about how well you are. We take nothing for granted as much as our health. We know there is the world of doctors and hospitals but it sits there in the background, like so many communities within the community that we never discover until we become personally in­ volved. Once inside the walls of a hospital you realize how fortunate you’ve been for so long. Seeing people who have spent months in hospital, seeing some who will never come out, you realize how even a week’s illness is pretty small potatoes. It makes you feel guilty for all those times you took your health for granted, maybe even drove your body too hard trying to squeeze extra hours into a day. You realize how precious your health is. But illness is also an education. Most of us don’t realize what a large industry even one of our “small” Hufon County hospitals are. A constant stream of people goes through my door taking temperature, blood pressure, bringing food, taking away what the food has done when its mission is over. There are cleaners and ward aids and nurses and doctors. Then there’s the equipment that is as space-age as those “smart” weapons we keep seeing from the war in the Gulf. Even the simple thermometer isn’t simple any more. Now it’s an electronic gadget: a box with a probe that goes in your mouth while they read the temperature on a gauge. This morning they watched pictures of my inside on T.V. through ultra sound. Then it was on to x-ray where I felt like a character on Startrek as the huge machine lifted and whirred around me, even picking me up and lying me on my back at one point. All of this helps one understand why health care takes up so much of our tax money these days. We’ve come a long way from the days a doctor could do many operations in his own office. It’s easy when you’re well to think perhaps we’ve gotten carried away. When you’re sick, however, you’re grateful for every dollar they spend.