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The Citizen, 1997-07-02, Page 4PAGE 4. THE CITIZEN, WEDNESDAY, JULY 2, 1997 C itizenTheNorthHuron P.O. Box 429, BLYTH, Ont. NOM 1H0 Phone 523-4792 FAX 523-9140 P.O. Box 152, BRUSSELS, Ont. NOG 1H0 Phone 887-9114 FAX 887-9021 E-mail norhuron@huron.net Publisher, Keith Roulston Editor, Bonnie Gropp Advertising Manager, Jeannette McNeil PAID The Citizen is published weekly in Brussels, Ontario by North Huron Publishing Company Inc. Subscriptions are payable in advance at a rate of $27.00/year ($25.24 + $1.76 G.S.T.) in Canada; $62.00/year in U.S.A, and $75.00/year in other foreign countries. Advertising is accepted on the condition that In the event of a typographical error, only that portion of the advertisement will be credited. Advertising Deadlines: Monday, 2 p.m. - Brussels; Monday, 4 p.m. - Blyth. We are not responsible for unsolicited newscripts or photographs. Contents of The Citizen are © Copyright Publications Mall Registration No. 6968 Somebody’s listening, finally The new Rural Health Care Framework announced by Ontario Health Minister Jim Wilson and his parliamentary assistant, Huron MPP Helen Johns, shows that for the first time, the Mike Harris government seems ready to listen to the people. Created after a storm of protest about threatened hospital closures in rural areas of the province, the new policy seems to recognize the realities that rural people knew all along: that you just can't transfer policies for urban areas to small towns and the countryside. Lack of public transportation, severe winter weather conditions that make travel impossible, the high risk of injury where a large proportion of the population works in a hazardous occupation like farming — it all creates special circumstances that would have risked the lives of rural Ontarians if the government’s earlier guidelines had been followed. It made eminent sense to listen to the complaints of the thousands of people who turned out to meetings in Huron and Perth, Grey and Bruce to protest plans to close hospitals. The difference is, this time, the government listened and reacted. There has been a tendency to see anyone who opposed the government as being a “special interest group”. There has been a tendency for the government to think its ideas are pure and any compromise would be a change for the worse. For that reason the government set up all kinds of commissions to put decision making beyond the reach of public opinion. It’s ironic, then, that Municipal Affairs Minister Al Leach got into trouble for doing what an MPP is supposed to do — represent the interests of his constituents. His problem was he interfered with the operation of the “arm’s length” hospital restructuring commission, set up to prevent political interference. Now that the government has put some common sense back into the Common Sense Revolution, could it be hoped it’s infectious? Could it be hoped the government will re-examine its push to amalgamate municipalities no matter what? Local politicians know there will be relatively small savings, more bureaucracy and loss of a sense of community ownership of local government if there is a major restructuring in rural areas. So far, that message has not been heard by the government. — KR Proper competition bill needed One day last week Scotia Bank announced it will buy National Trust The following day, The Royal Bank announced it will buy the country’s largest insurance company, London Life. The concentration of Canadian business continues and there’s nothing that will stop it short of a federal government with the courage to bring in a proper law to prevent restriction of competition. We were supposed to have such a law by now. When the Canada-US Free Trade Agreement was introduced we were also promised new competition legislation to prevent too much abuse of the system by huge corporations. Instead, we have an economy that favours the amassing of power by huge corporations to the detriment of the little guy- Recently in Nova Scotia, a small, long-established, family-owned food chain was squeezed out because of price-cutting by two huge chain-store operations which were battling for new territory. Those stores were selling products for less than the independent was able to buy wholesale. When the owner complained to the competition bureau in Ottawa, he was told there was nothing they could do. (They had one conviction for unfair competition in the past 12 years.) The huge power of some corporations allows them to dictate the market. The entire magazine wholesaling business in Canada, for instance, was recently reorganized because Wal-Mart said it wanted to deal with only one supplier for all its stores in Canada. That power allows the chains to dictate the price they will pay to their suppliers, to the detriment of other competing retailers. Some of our local retailers, for instance, have actually found they can buy some products at retail rates from a large chain store cheaper than the wholesale rates they get from their suppliers. Even in the free-market-loving U.S., they have much better competition legislation than we have in Canada. They have had since the turn of the century, when Teddy Roosevelt realized monopolies had too much power. Canada needs to catch up. — KR Letters to the editor THE EDITOR, On behalf of my wife Kathy and myself, I would like to extend my best wishes to all the residents of Huron-Bruce and indeed to all Canadians, on this, the 130th birthday of Canada. On July 1, we as Canadians had the opportunity to celebrate the benefits of living in a country like Canada, a nation that has been built on the values of peace, open- mindedness and tolerance. Our society places such a strong emphasis on equality and co­ operation that we have gained global praise and envy, earning the well-deserved reputation for being the best country in the world. There is no place that exemplifies these qualities like right here in Huron-Bruce. Our strong agricul­ tural background is a characteristic upon which our nation was founded. Our peaceful and quiet surroundings are coveted by others and serve as a source of pride for everyone within our boundaries. Over the past year we have continued to make our productive contributions to the global community. We persisted with our efforts to achieve peace around the globe with our commitment to the Canadian bom idea of the United Nations peace keeping effort, we began to witness the results of our international lobby to halt the use of land mines and we enjoyed the honour of being selected to host the worlds APEC nations in an economic conference. Domestically we have seen our financial future brighten dramatically with an increase in exports and economic growth combined with a massive decrease of our deficit, inflation and interest rates. Our success in the past year mirrors that of our endeavours over the previous 129 years. Our determination and conviction serve as an inspiration and example to the world of the fact that Canada is a capable and compassionate member of the community of nations. As Canadians we should be proud of our achievements and confident in our future because our recognition of a system of morals and core family values is truly our greatest accomplishment. Paul Steckle, MP Huron-Bruce. THE EDITOR, Through your paper I wish to acknowledge the generous sponsorship of the Brussels Public School's Martin Murray English Award and the Ken Ashton Mathematics Award by Mr. and Mrs. Ron Clarkson and Mr. and Mrs. John Exel respectively. We appreciate these donations recognizing student achievement Thank you for your assistance in this regard. Sincerely, David Kemp.