Times Advocate, 1994-9-28, Page 4Page 4 Times -Advocate, September 28, 1994
Publisher: Jim Beckett
News Editor: Adrian Harte
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Opinion
EDITOR IA1,
Public left out of process
few village residents in
Grand Bend may be happy this is an
election year. This fall, they will be al-
lowed to decide whether or not local
government has fulfilled the promises
the candidates made three years ago.
One of those promises, for more open
government, seems to have been lost in
the translation from campaign to actual
reality.
Last Monday's announcement from
council that the village would be repre-
sented by a new logo is only the latest
example of government by secret com-
mittee in the village.
Other municipalities that have sought
to refresh their images through new lo-
gos, symbols, flags, or coats of arms,
have typically put the idea to the public.
Competitions, public meetings to select
final designs, or surveys of businesses
and residents are not unheard of.
Grand Bend council, however, has de-
cided it alone is the one judge of what
is best for the village, and "there is only
one group that has the authority, and
that's council," in the words of council-
lor Phil Maguire.
It would seem few were made aware
that council was seeking a new symbol
for Grand Bend. Was the business
community consulted about having the
village's image summed up in a stylized
lighthouse---
Does Grand Bend want to follow
Southampton's suit in choosing a light-
house logo? The difference here would
seem to be that Southampton actually
has a lighthouse off shore. Grand Bend
can only point to a small signal on the
end of the pier, and a lighthouse look-
alike on the Yacht Club roof - the actual
inspiration for the design.
Grand Bend residents will also recall
the marked difference in the introduc-
tion of user -pay garbage collection sys-
tems as seen in the village and in Exeter
to the east.
Exeter council debated the merits of $2
tag garbage collection for months ahead
of its introduction. Waste management
studies, presented to council and availa-
ble to the public, analyzed the plan; a
public meeting presented the issue t6.a..
concerned and suspicious public; busi-
nesses visited council meetings to dis-
cuss it - all before its introduction.
Grand Bend council, on the other
hand, simply presented and approved its
user -pay garbage system bylaw all in the
same night, as a complete surprise to
most. While it has proven a good pro-
gram for the village, some residents nat-
urally felt left out of a decision making
process that affected their daily lives.
Open government is not about after -
the -fact press conferences, special an-
nouncements and news releases. Open
government allows taxpayers to com-
ment on the decision-making process,
even if the final decision proves unpopu-
lar.
Grand Bend ratepayers will have to de-
cide this November if they still want
open government, or if they approve of
council operating like a corporate board
of directors - where important decisions
are often made over lunch or a round of
golf.
A.D.H.
What's on your mind?
The Times -Advocate continues to welcome letters to the editor as a
forum for open discussion of local issues, concerns, complaints
and kudos. The Times Advocate reserves the right to edit letters for brevity.
Please send your letters to P.O. Box 850 Exeter, Ontario, NOM 1S6. Sign your
letter with both name and address. Anonymous letters will not be published.
Ontario's political parties are scrambling to
grab votes from the Quebec election and com-
ing referendum notwithstanding all their protes-
tations that no patriotic, fair-minded Canadian
would do such a thing.
New Democrat Premier Bob Rae is heading
the rush, as befits the leader most likely to ben-
efit. Rae is expected to call an election next
year not long before the Parti Quebecois holds
its referendum on whether that province should
separate.
Many Ontarians' minds will be partly on
Quebec, wondering who among their own poli-
ticians would best encourage it to stay in Cana-
da.
Rae said there could be no justification for an
Ontario party to introduce the Quebec issue
into the Ontario election to win votes, because
no Ontarian 'has a monopoly on patriotism or
concern or care for Canada.'
Liberal leader Lyn McLeod and Progressive
Conservative leader Mike Hams 'are good Ca-
nadians' Rae said. 'I have great respect for both
of them.'
Any party which tried to use the Quebec elec-
tion in a partisan way, he said, would find it
would 'backfire'.
The premier presumably meant that Ontarians
would resent a party raising Quebec blatantly
to win votes or feel its politicians have enough
on their plates in their own province without
looking outside for issues.
But Rae added significantly that he will be
saying in the Ontario election that 'leadership
is important and I can be a better premier than
they can.'
A leader in a province when there are 'tricky'
issues needs 'judgement', firmness, determina-
tion and knowing what you are doing,' he said.
and he will emphasize this, although (Heaven
forbid) not necessarily relate it to Quebec.
But Rae's message was clear: he has the ex-
perience in negotiating between governments.
Neither opposition leader has any at the highest
level, while Rae has represented Ontario on the
national scene for four years.
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Published Each Wednesday Morning at 424 Main St.,
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Hold that thought....
By Adrian Harte
So, you know Exeter, eh?
I'm walking through the base-
ment of South Huron Hospital,
lost as usual. If I don't look as
if I know where I'm going soon
the people watching the security
monitors are going to get suspi-
cious and come and get me.
Finally, I find the room I'm
looking for, but I'm early and all
alone for a few minutes.
I look out the window at a
side of a building I've never
seen before. It doesn't seem to
belong in Exeter. How can that
be? I live less than two blocks
away, and yet I'm looking at
something that could be the
back of a store in Italy.
Since I have no way of know-
ing which direction I'm facing, I
don't know if it is the back of
another building, or even a hid-
den part of the hospital. Later,
after I leave, I satisfy my curios-
ity by tracking down the mys-
terious wall and am forced to
realize this town still has a few
things left to surprise me. Do 1
really know it at all?
Do you? I mean, why don't
you come up with all those
quick stereotypical notions
about this town: all the things
you accept for fact about most
of the people who live here.
I've had a census report in my
files for some time now, and I
still find that this town doesn't '
fit what people say about it.
Exeter is a big retirement
community, you say. That
would seem to be true. When
the town's population was 4,340
in 1991, there were 890 people
over 65 years of age. Four hun-
dred and ten of them were over
75. The total is 20.4 percent -
about one in five people is a
senior.
But to my surprise, the statis-
tics also show that there were
1,160 people under the age of
20, or slightly better than one in
four. If you extend the bracket
up to under 25 years, you get
one in three people.
Surprise.
In 1991 there were 210 more
women in town than men. This
is mainly because of the dispari-
ty in population in the over 75
crowd, but the difference is no-
ticeable in population groups
over 50. Yes, I agree, you
might have guessed that.
Alright, how about this one?
Exeter gained a significant pop-
ulation from the Netherlands af-
ter the war, right? So why do
only 90 people claim Dutch as
their mother tongue. That's not
as many as I would have be-
lieved, considering some 30
people claim German, 20 claim
French, 15 Greek, 15 Chinese,
and five each for Italian, Polish,
Ukranian, and Hungarian. An-
other 45 people claimed some-
thing "other" than English for
their mother tongues.
Nearly half the town is mar-
ried, to no -one's surprise. But
there are 120 single parent fami-
lies, 20 of them headed by men.
Some 230 people are listed as
divorced or separated.
There are even five families
with five or more children, but
thankfully none are single par-
ent households.
I'm still trying to figure out
where Exeter's seven indoor
pools are.
Are you sure you really know
Exeter? Can we all agree on
what is "normal" for this town?
One thingis for certain, if you
consider your circumstances
different, outside the norm,
chances are you're not alone.
Grabbing votes from Quebec fears
Rae was at the centre of trying to secure the
(failed) Charlottetown accord to appease Que-
bec and reducing trade barriers between prov-
inces. Rae usually is heaped with praise in such
talks because he speaks so much better then
most participants. He is the sort of articulate
leader people like to represent them outside
their province and this is the sport of area in
which he shines.
Rae true to form after the PQ victory was the
most inspirational of the party leaders with
comments like 'the friendship of the people of
Ontario for the people of Quebec is a deep and
permanent part of our lives.
'We are joined by history, trade, politics, but
perhaps most important of all by the strong ties
of the heart, of friendship and family. These are
the ties that endured and I have great confi-
dence that they will continue. I will continue to
speak up for a united Canada'. There was no
doubt Rae was putting himself forward as best
able to deal with Quebec.
Harris, while similarly insisting that Quebec
should not be an issue in the Ontario election,
made it clear he will not yield an inch to Rae
in being entitled to speak for Ontario.
The Conservative leader sent his own con-
gratulations to the PC and said he is prepared to
work with it in confederation.
Harris wanted it remembered that the fight
for unity has been led by Tory premiers, includ-
ing William Davis who worked cooperatively
with the earlier PQ government and gave mo-
mentum to patriating the constitution and John
Robarts who called the productive Confedera-
tion of Tomorrow conference. Harris revealed
he has ambitions eventually to be included in
such. company.
Harris and McLeod in discussing the referen-
dum also could not resist accusing Rae of mis-
managing Ontario's economy so it is a sorry
example of the benefits of being in confedera-
tion. Ontario's parties will use Quebec
wherever they smell a vote.
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