Times Advocate, 1992-11-04, Page 4Times -Advocate, November 4, 1992
Publisher: Jim Beckett
tNOws r: Adrian Herta
IllSJSMe8lligsiesiget : Don Width
Composition Ms.Isger: Deb Lord
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Pre-election damage control
ever mind that the Huron-
1- Bruce riding voted 'yes' to the Char-
lottetown Accord, the constitutional re-
form package was dead the moment the
polls closed in Nova Scotia.
As pointed out in these pages before,
the governments of this nation cannot
be certain why it failed. The 'no' half
of the ballot did not allow for any ex-
planation. Did the voters fully assess
the deal and find it lacking? Did they
mistrust the powers given, or not given,
to certain provinces? Or did they vote
against an unpopular Prime Minister?
Now that the agreement is dead, west-
ern Canada will not be able to elect
senators, Quebec is not a signatory of
the Constitution and can continue to
flout its Charters, and native peoples
will have to wait for the right to self
government.
We can only hope some of the Char-
lottetown reforms will find their way
into legislation anyway. The free flow
of goods and persons across provincial
borders should have been in place long
before we ever signed the Free Trade
Agreement with the United States.
But what our federal government is
telling us now is that Constitutional re-
form will be put on the back burner for a
few years so that they can focus their ef-
forts on the economy. Are we to believe
that the government allowed the econo-
my to slide just because of a pressing
need for unity?
Reality must force us to realize that
this current recession is not so much a
result of Canadian government policies,
, but of sluggish economies in the United
States and Europe. We're just along for
the ride.
Government economic programs have
a way of backfiring too. Capital spend-
ing, as the NDP have learned, leads to
increase deficits, which are tomorrow's
taxes, thus scaring away investors.
Higher taxes to cut deficits also upset in-
vestors and make consumers uneasy.
The slashing of government spending
and bureaucracy. as proposed by a re
port last week, is likely not much more
than wishful thinking.
Whatever comes out of Ottawa in the
weeks to come can only be aimed at one
goal: repairing the damage done to the
government over the failure of its unity
bid, and to boost its image as a prelude
to the next election.
A.D.H.
Hell no!
ere we go again.
The liars and scoundrels in Toronto
are cooking up another big scam.
This one involves a $480 million
trade centre at the CNE grounds.
They are even committing half a mil-
lion bucks to the development plan and
$50,000 just for legal fees to write up
the invoice.
Remember the SkyDome? That's the
debt infested playground for the rich,
-lewd -and famous that ended .up .costing
about $600 million - twice the esti-
mates - all public money.
Remember where the money comes
from to pay for it?
That's right, while you couldn't pay
your mortgage and ate canned beans
and yesterday's cream puffs they were
yucking it up in Toronto pretty good.
But the Blue Jays were worth it, eh?
This latest gargantuan 1.3 million -
square -foot extravaganza is supposed to
create 4,000 construction jobs and 8,500
permanent jobs.
Probably estimates of the alleged bene-
fits of this plan are about as reliable as
estimates of the proposed costs.
There's no mystery about who will
reap from this charade and no doubt
about who will do the sowing.
If they're saying $480 million now, it
will be $700 million before it's done and
then the politicians will line up with
their fumbling excuses and their watery
smiles.
Send a message to the jokers in Toron-
to and Ottawa:
Hell no.
You've said it before.
Ammar Arems, St. Marys
Controls of technology
Some months ago, I created a -
ftctional character for this col-
umn. I called him "the button
man": a person who shrank
away from the increasing num-
ber of multi -function buttons,
switches, and digital displays in-
vading .l)is hie.
Society is quickly being divid-
ed into two kinds of people:
those who can remember how to
program their VCRs, and those
who cannot.
It won't stop at VCRs, of
course. Multi -button buffoonery
is invading just about everihing
that used to have dials and lev-
ers before. As a photographer, I
teamed to become comfortable
with the dials and scales that
adorned the surfaces of cameras.
Now I sec the latest models
have only a half-dozen buttons
or So. You just have to resaumt-
berthat holding down button B
while repeatedly pressing 'Anon
E changes the meter pattern, or
that doing it the, other way
around changes the shutter
think 1'11 stick with my dials
1.
and scales until my cameras are
wom out beyond repair.
Uh oh, the button man is me.
Do you remember when pock-
et calculators came on the
scene? I think the first ones
Hold that
thought ...
B
Adrian Harte
64
cost about £50 and could pro-
vide the miracle of digital an-
swers to addition, subtraction,
multiplication, and division at
the touch of a button. Only a
few years later we were using
machines with powers far be-
yond those first "four bangers"
and at a fraction of the cost.
Today. however, 1 have a nal-
culator that tellll& me wham .to do.
It looks like any other shirt
pocket calculator. It will odd
and subtract with the best of
them. But its evil personality
lurks behind a memory bank and
a clock.
It cost only $22, but this little
devil has memorized all those
phone numbers that 1 can't. It
also arranges my appointments
months in advance and beeps to
remind me that I'm soon due
somewhere else.
Worst of all, it keeps track of
all my bank account balances
and my credit cards and sums
them all up to remind me of how
feeble my net worth is.
It's getting to the point where
can't go anywhere, do anything,
or buy anything without consult-
ing the spirit that lurks within
those microchips.
I hear there are even .more
powerful models available to
control virtually all aspects of
life. I doubt I could be worthy
of such a device.
With the number of buttons
and digital. di playys in my life
quickly outstripping my -ability
to figure them out, I have to re-
alize that. soweday, the button
man will be me.
"Men are never so likely
to settle a question Lightly
as when they discuss it
freely."
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NES, �
Hurry up! Winter is coming
Like it or not, winter isn't far
away. Once or twice, the ther-
mometer has already dipped be-
low the comfort level. The soil
is good and hard, and we've
seen our first real snowfall. As
I'm writing this, some more
snowflakes are floating through
the air, competing for space
with the last autumn leaves. By
the time this column appears,
_Duncan might be building a
snow person.
Are your ready for winter? I'm
not. I wish the whole affair
could be postponed by at least a
month. To give me a chance to
do a few things around the
house. And in the house.
The leaves, for example. Eve-
ry year I wait for gusts and gales
'to blow them into the bush. In-
stead, the wind twirls around the
village, collects everybody
else's leaves and dumps them on
our front lawn.
"Cleaning out the garage," is
another chore I'm not looking
forward to. Every summer, the
garage becomes a storage shed:
bicycles, baseball bats, lawn
mowers, lawn chairs, the tent,
the rubber dinghy, half a .dozen
unfinished summer projects,
flower boxes, plus leftovers
from the last garage sale. All
this has to be moved to the
"shed". But before I can pile it
in there, I've go to pull all the
winter things out of 11: tobog-
gans and sleds, skis and poles,
snow shovels and other survival
gear -
I must put stakes around stra-
tegic points of the driveway, to
tell Norris the snow plough man
where the asphalt ends and our
precious lawn begins I should
Peter's
Point
e
Peter Hensel
tackle that little job right now ,
before the ground is solidly fro-
zen.
I'm proud of the shrubs and
perennials that manage to grow
in spite of my notoriously disas-
trous gardening practices. -Basi-
cally/I' just stick • them in and
i leave them to their own devices.
i Now I feel I should protect
some of these brave survivors
against the onslaught of snow
and ice.
Oh yes, the outside Christmas
lights have to,be put up before
the first blizzard comes howling
in. My grand plan this year was
to run lights all around the
gables of the house. But bbcause
of my ineptitude on a high lad-
der (Elizabeth calls it cowar-
dice) I think I'll just decorate the
clothes line.
I must call George to get our
furnace manicured and pedi-
cured. I should have contacted
him back in August when he
wasn't busy. Now I'll have to
wait in line.
And so it goes: Winter just sort
of sneaks up on me every year.
I'm such a conservative when it
comes to seasons I just like to
hang on to the status quo. Sea-
sonal changes frazzle me. On the
other hand, if I took the time to
plan this winterizing strategy
every year, I might actually wel-
come winter.
Do cars still need winterizing?
1 must phone to ask. Winter tires
arc a thing of the past, and that's
a blessing. But I must find the
scrapers and brushes before the
first freezing rain. I wonder
where they might be?
Elizabeth has had the chil-
dren's winter boots and snow
jackets organized and laid out
since Labour Day. 1 guess I bet-
ter root around and try to locate
my own boots. Or did I finally
throw them away last spring? I
can't remember. And where is
my parka'' Probably still at the
cleaners. It seems only yesterday
that I took it in. Where has the
summer gone`'
1 wouldn't consider living any-
where but in Canada. Yet once
in a while, don't you wish you
could makc your home in an-
other climate'' Where the sun
shines all year round? Where the
living is easy? No, I better stop
dreaming. Ahd get on with my
winterizing chores.
Graduated licencing for new drivers
Dear Editor:
Ontario is about to introduce a
system of licencing for new driv-
ers which would call for arta ape-
cial requirements for .yolutg,peo-
pplc. This program of
licencing proposes that new v-
ers would have an eighteen month
period in whichwecial regulations
would apply. This is to protect
new drivers and .assist them ,as
they gain knowledge and skill
throu
The hhigbe we that new driv-
ers must take a Drivers Education
course, that now drivers 0551101
drive on a highway where speeds
are posted over 90 km, .that pew
drivers will have a curfew of gum
midnight to five arm., .tat pow
drivers may be limited intim num-
ber of passengers they cprry, t
new dnvent snot have !►. ,• 1�.
adult driver with diem ( .
older) and that a zero ,$p1-
erancc will apply.
New drivers we often :involved
in accidents because of inexperi-
ence, distractions, high speed roll-
overs, cross median accidents and
alcohol related acccidents. It is
bad enough that a young person is
killed or injured but when that
young person kills or inthe �jaurresss a car
Wadof
�nsequences. By limit-
ing the number of s in a
new drivers car. di actions
the elements of accepting a dare or
show,,utntgg off are decreased. If an
aceWwtt does occur then the leas
chance of ,injury or death with leas
passengers in the vehicle.
The curfew imposed from mid-
• i to 5 a.m. takes new drivers
Off the roPd when it is most den-
Onus. me Oqtario Road EoPen
statistics show that most fool aoci-
ts.occur between ooe
f ` it.ni. on wobkeods. 11
thtt+o
Aims when many - dole
JIM
adult licenced idriver will
lake some respopdbility in the car
with the new. drivers. There are
new drivers who believe that one
or two drinks will not put them
over a .08 blood alcohol level
so it is okay to do this. An
can now charge a person w ' is a
new driver under the zero alcohol
tolerance if he/she believes the
young person has consumed alco-
hol. Notwithstanding a brcat aliz-
er may be used if the officer be-
lieves the person is impirod. This
will remove the new drivers privt-
tege to drive and charges of con-
suming alcohol under the legal age
of nineteen can also be laid. Vitae
circumstances are going toprovide
conform
rules of thee i. nayryoung [vera a
are about to ex-
driv-
activ.i-
tqt does not
Cri,Mid �o�ol in-
.
ve, �tlo�olIn
year