Times-Advocate, 1987-09-16, Page 4Page 4
Times•Advocate, September 16, 1987
Times Established 1873
Advocate Established 1881
Amalgama ed 1924
imes
10111
dvocate
Published Each Wednesday Morning at Exeter, Ontario, NOM 150
Second Class Mail Registration Number 0386.
-Phone 519.235.1331
eN
A ccww
Serving South Huron, North Middlesex
& North Lambton Since 1873
Published by J.W. Eedy Publications Limited
LORNE EEDY
Publisher
J1M BECKETT
Advertising Manager
BILL BATTEN
Editor
HARRY DEVRIES
Composition Manager
ROSS HAUGH
Assistant Editor
DICK JONGKIND
Business Manager
SUBSCRIPTION RATES:
Canada: $25.00 Per year; U.S.A. $65.00
C.W.N.A., O.C.N.A. CLASS 'At`
AN,POti'T 9E A RACIST —
WHAT 911FERENCE. COULD
A FEW 130ATLOADS OF ,
WHITE REFUGEES MAKE?
Support ADAPT
This fall, the Huron County Board of
Education is sponsoring a program call-
ed ADAPT, which stands for Alcohol,
Drug Awareness Program Today.
The program will run in all five of the
county's high schools from October 26 to
November 6. Exeter committee
members are teachers: Terry O'Rourke
and Bonnie Becker.
As we are all aware, substance abuse
of all kinds is a major problem in today's
society and, according to . ADAPT of-
ficials this is particularly evident here in
Huron. •
ADAPT is working to make students
and the community in general more
avn are of the significance of these pro-
grams and hopefully this will lead to
some behaviour modification in such
areas as drinking and driving, drug
usage, and abuse of negative substances.
ADAPT will be bringing in a number
of guest speakers from all over the pro-
vince: theatre groups, local speakers and
authorities. As well, films, videos, print
information and other presentations will
be used to inform students. The high
school has a total commitment to the
project.
We hope similar support will be
generated throughout the community for
the two-week period. A monetary dona-
tion which would help to defray costs
would give a big boost to the program or,
people may be able to help in other ways
by providing other resources they may
have access to. If you can help call Terry
O'Rourke at the high school. 235-0880.
Strong Liberal voice
The results of Thursday's provincial
election appear to prove most On-
tarioians are against Free Trade.
As results began coming in Liberal
strategists said the landslide victory was
a warning to Ottawa to watch out in any
free trade pact with the United States
that hurts our interests.
David Peterson continually pledging
that the Liberals would not let Brian
Mulroney "trade away the heart and
soul" of Canada, asked voters to endorse
his six conditions for any deal.
Peterson will put forth a strong voice
in retaining the Auto Pact and farm
marketing boards which are two of the
most important issues affecting this part
of the province.
Why did the Liberals sweep Ontario
and the local Huron riding in particular? -
()n the home front, Jack Riddell as
Agriculture Minister for two years has
represented farmers well with a strong
voice in more ways than one and has
been openly accessible to all persons in
his constituency.
In his short term as Agriculture
Miner Riddell introduced 80 farm in-
iti' Ives and upped the agriculture
bu get province -wide by 72 percent.
As for Peterson's popularity there
are a number of reasons.
First of all he assumed office as a
mere politician and wasn't expected to be
the great saviour of our province. Being
the underdog and probably underrated
and winning the 1985 election was a plus.
•
Politics are somewhat similar to
sports; fans and supporters like to back
an underdog.
A plus for Peterson was the firm and
decisive way he handled the 25 day doc-
tor strike early in his term of office as
premier. •
Although the Premier didn't come
out a winner in the pre-election debate it
didn't seem to matter to most in the pro-
vince. His personality comes across as
comfortable and non abrasive.
Peterson says he will begin to fulfill
some of his election promises when the
Legislature reconvenes in early
November.
One of the first things on the agenda
will be to pass legislation freezing auto
insurance rates at last spring's levels,
roll back premiums for taxi, drivers and
young male drivers by 10 percent and set
up a rate review board.
That's one area that almost everyone
in the province is hard hit by and any
relief will be greatly appreciated.
The last week of the election cam-
paign was disastrous for Conservative
leader Larry Grossman. A week before
the voting was to take place he said elec-
tors should not. support David Peterson
because he is too similar to former.
Premier Bill Davis.
To put the final nail in the coffin, the
day of the election the Toronto Star
reported another former Tory leader
Frank Miller also saying Peterson was
like Davis, but that was good.
Sick of ripoff
This week I'm on a bandwagon
which I've been on before.
Yup! I'm complaining about
the price of gasoline again. I'm
getting sick and tired of being
ripped -off by the big petroleum
companies who seem to think
that the public are not only blind
but stupid. They think that they
can manipulate us like puppets
on strings and that we don't
notice just what they are doing.)
Maybe some people have so
much money that they don't see
or care what is happening at the
pumps but I don't believe that for
a moment. Even if people are
wealthy they don't like being
cheated, and that is exactly what
is happening right now to all of us
who drive cars.
Let me refresh your memory
back to a lime not so many years
ago when the price of oil was
almost $40 a barrel. The price of
gasoline at the pumps was $.:►()
for unleaded gas. (F'or !hose of
you who aren't into metric prices
that works out to about $2.50 per
gallon.
Then the price of oil couldn't be
held up artificially by the oil ban-
dits any longer and dropped to
less than half that. Did that affect
ck:
By the
Way
by
Syd
Fletcher
the price of gasoline in Canada?
Not for a long time, you can bet
your sweet hippy! They had to
use up all the oil they had bought
at the higher prices was the ex-
cuse of our 'friends' at the to .
Eventually the price drop a
bit (almost down to $.40 a itre)
but not for very long. Every once
Most over 30
Results of the 1986 census as
prepared by Statistics Canada
recently arrived on our desk and
we will pass on some of the in-
teresting information.
While the decline in the birth
rate has resulted in much smaller
preschool and primary school
age populations in 1986 compared
to 1961, the size of these groups
has stabilized during the 1980s.
The preschool population
(under six years of age has in
fact increased by nearly 2 per-
cent over the 1981-86 period while
the primary school age popula-
tion has decreased by only 3 per-
cent. These changes are small
compared to the declines observ-
ed during the baby bust and
reflect the stabilization in the
birth rate during the 1980s.
The stability of this dependent
population implies that there will
not be additional pressure on the
delivery of elementary educa-
tional services into the early
1990s.
Although the number of people
under age 14 has not changed
much since 1981, the population
aged 14-24 has declined
significantly. Most persons in this
age group were born during the
babyhust era of the late 1960s and
1970s when birth rates were drop-
ping rapidly.
Between 1981 and 1986. the
secondary school age population,
(14-18) decreased by 15 percent
while the youth population.
(111-24) experienced an 8 percent
drop. Thesedecreases have
stated, and will continue to exert
a downward pull on the number
of persons entering the labour
market. This is in sharp contrast
to the 1960s and 1970s, when the
baby -boomers entered the labour
in a while it would climb back up
until somebody in Ottawa would
squeak a little and the companies
would in unison move that price
down a little. Did you notice I said
in unison? Isn't it interesting -how
the prices from one gas company
are exactly the same as its
friends across the street?
Now some of the stations are
selling unleaded gas for $.53 a
litre even though the price of oil
is still very low and there is a glut
of it on the world market.
That disgusts me. It makes me
feel helpless and angry about a
world of big business which
tweeks the little guy this way and
that without much recourse.
Perhaps a boycott of certain
companies should be organized,
starting with our state-owned gas
company which seem.. to be
worst of the bunch: Boycott them
for a whole month and let them
know what it is like to be hurt in
the wallet.
Maybe that's the only way to
get them to listen.
market in record numbers.
The population aged 20-64 con-
tinued to increase between 1981
and 1986. This group was 66 per-
cent larger in 1986 than in 1961
and grew by nearly 8 percent dur-
ing the 1981 period.
In 1986, 56 percent of this
by
Ross Haugh
- �.
general working age population
were 35 years of age or older. In
future years, as the baby -
boomers move into their forties
and beyond, the working age
population will become increas-
ingly concentrated in the older
age groups.
The population aged 65 and
over has grown from 1.4 million
in 1961 to 2.7 million in 1986, a rate
of increase more than twice that
of the population as a whole. The
numbers of those 75 years of age
and older increased at an even
higher rate. In 1986, there were
just over I million persons aged
75 and over, more than double the
number in 1961.
More than half the . population
over age :30
The aging of the population is
clearly reflected in the fact that
the median age of the Canadian
population is now the highest in
history. In 1986, the median age
of the population was 31.5 years,
up from 29.6 in 1981 and 26.3 in
1961.
In 1986, nearly 11 percent of the
population were 65 years of age
and older compared to less than
8 percent in 1961. In contrast, in
1986, 21 percent of Canadians
were under 15 years of age com-
pared to 34 percent in 1961.
British Columbia had the
highest median age, (33 years) in
1986 followed by Ontario and
Quebec with median ages of 32
years. At the other extreme, the
Northwest Territories had by far
the youngest population, ( Median
age of 24 years) followed by New-
foundland with a median age of
28 years and Alberta and the
Yukon with median ages of 29
years.
In 1961, there were 106 women
aged 65 and over for every 100
men in the same age group. By
1986 the ratio had jumped to 138
women for every 100 men.
The gap between the number of
males and females increases
with age so that for the popula-
tion 85 years of age and older,
women outnumbered men by
more than two to one in 1986. This
imbalance between females and
males among seniors is largely
due to differences in longevity,
with women outliving men an
average of seven years.
Family size dropping
While there are more families
in Canada, the typical family is
- now smaller. Family size has
declined since 1961 when the
average family size was 3.9 peo-
ple. Since then, the decline is size
has been steady. In 1976, the
average family had 3.5 people, in
1981, 3.3, and in 1986, 3.1.
Majority
While the number of childless
families has increased, close to 70
percent of Canada's families
Please turn to page 5
Still dreaming
When I was a kid, I did a lot of
daydreaming. Wouldn't it be
wonderful to have a fast, noisy
motorcycle? Or a sports car? Or
to he rich or powerful or popular?
I am far too busy to daydream
now. I have my hands full keep-
ing up with today's realities that
were yesterday's dreams.
But I often wonder what might
have happened if my wishes had
come true. What would I be doing
now?
For example, what if I had run
away with the circus? I would
have started at the bottom, clean-
ing out the elephant stall, help-
ing to pitch the tent, washing the
trucks and trailers. I would have
been promoted to stable boy, liv-
ing cannon hall, target for the
knife -throwing Randolinis.
Following unicycle and low -wire
training I might have dazzled the
crowds with my ability to juggle
seventeen.burning torches while
cycling on the back of a galloping
white stallion. I would not have
qualified for the trapeze and
would have been a failure as a
lion tamer, and I don't know
whether I would have become an
escape artist or a magician in a
black satin suit and cape. But I'm
convinced that I would have end-
ed up eventually as a clown, emit-
ting noises like a car horn while
being poked in the nose or getting
somebody's hoot in life157thind.
But what about my idea of join-
ing the French Foreign Legion?
I would have helped La Grande
Nation to lose Indochina, give up
Algeria and surrender
Equatorial Africa. I'm not sure
PETER'S
POINT
•
whether l would have been
decorated as a hero liberating
damsels in distress or in com-
promising situations or court-
martialed as a deserter after the
first skirmish. Perhaps .1 would
have advanced to quartermaster
or drill sergeant. At any rate, by
' now I'd enjoy a modest pension,
living in Tahiti, surrounded by
several ample but ravishing
wives, scores of •children and
grandchildreq.
What if 1 had launched a
brilliant financial career al the
age of 15, banking my pocket
money instead of squandering it
on rubbish? As my grandmother
used to tell me: "If you save a
nickel a day for ten years, you'll
he on your way to financial
independence."
That was before pocket
calculators. and neither m'r
grandmother nor 1 ever question-
ed the fruth or examined the
wisdom of that statement. Now I
can figure out that at the rate of
interest in those days my nickels
would have netted me about 200
dollars by the time I turned 21,
enough to become a major
shareholder in a peanut vending
enterprise. No. I wasn't meant to
he rich.
But what about my musical
talent? I often pictured myself as
a performer - alone on stage with
that enormous concert grand, or
playing first violin with the
Boston' Pots while Herbert von
Karajan was killing himself
because I refused to join the
Berlin Philharmonic. I did give
that one a try. My piano lessons
were characterized by their brief
duration. I don't remember who
gave up first, my teacher or me.
Needless to say, I never made it
for the Conservatory of Music.
But 1 am moderately proficient
with the mouth organ.
Daydreams - all of them.
Maybe they are useful to
measure our successes and
failures by. Do you every wonder
what your kids may be fantasiz-
ing about?
i
•