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The Wingham Advance Times, 1995-11-01, Page 44 tEbe Wingham tbbante-Cinto Published each Wednesday at: Box 390, 5 Diagonal Road, Wingham, Ontario Phone (519) 357-2320 Fax (519) 357-2900 `J.W. Eedy Publications Ltd. Second Class Mail Registration No. 0821 We are: Jim Beckett — Publisher Audrey Currie — Manager Cameron J. Wood — Editor Cathy Hendriks — Ad. Sales Stephen Pritchard — Production Jim Brown — Reporter Margaret Stapleton—Reporter Eve Buchanan — Office Louise Welwood — Office • • • ,...Wrrrrr4.... z --Editorial Viewpoint ,Justse 1 l't o ith an incredible national debt over our heads and the Quebec question continuing to wreak havoc on the economy, one question comes to mind: How much would Walmart give us for the prov- ince of Quebec? The American -based department store is rapidly ex- panding in Canada, creating more jobs than the separat- ists have and maintaining a slightly higher level of con- fidence in out investing market. Walmart is also looking for every opportunity to expand their operations — ac- tively seeking new markets. If we provide this simple scenario some serious thought, we can see how it would benefit the Canadian public much more than keeping Lucien Bouchard and Jacques Parizeau. For example: in Listowel Walmart has offered to pay the town tax money for three years even though the land they want to occupy is located outside the town limits. Quebec, like The Township of Wallace to Listowel, is outside the limits of Ontario. Perhaps Walmart would pay Ontario taxes if we raised the same kind of con- cerns that the Town of Listowel has? Walmart has also built sports facilities in other communities to appease the general public. Perhaps they would build Ontario a basketball court for our new National Basketball Asso- ciation team, the Toronto Raptors. The taxpayers of On- tario wouldn't have to foot the multi-million dollar bill for the new athletic building and would still have the opportunity to see professional basketball. With Walmart purchasing Quebec, the tax base for the federal government would skyrocket as private in- terest would own every acre of Quebec, thereby reduc- ing the size of government in Ottawa, which is also a major concern. MP pensions axed as they no longer rep- resent public interest! By selling the Crown land, suffi- cient funding could be raised to pay down a significant portion of the. national debt. The white elephant of Mirabel Airport could be con- verted to a distribution centre for shopping carts. The mountain region could be used to test new skiing prod- ucts; the Gaspe Peninsula, fishing tackle. Imagine how many door greeters would be required just for the Onta- rio-Walmart border, not to mention that along Eastern Canada and the United States? Why, the possibilities are endless. Money could be saved nation-wide on bilingual pro- grams. School curriculum could switch from French Im- mersion to Retail Marketing Immersion; more useful skills in our global economy. Heck, students may even learn about blue light specials in the meat department: barbecue tongue in cheek.— CJW 'x' •:ws'iMSSAR. sip^ hs f`ys.,4f, y, 3 .:a A reason to smite Wingfram A reason to laugh. Quebecers still went to the polls Monday and voted on separation. Hard to believe we let them get away with treason. Only in Canada, you say? Pity. CL 0 Member of: OCNA CCNA The Wingham Advance -Times is a member of a family of community newspapers providing news. advertising and information leadership. Letters Policy All letters to the editor must bear the writer's name, telephone num- ber and address. The Advance -Times wel- comes letters. We re- serve the right to edit, but will endeavor to preserve the author's intent. Deadline for letters is Monday before 10:00 a.m. Some exceptions may apply. Fax: 519-357-2900 or mail to: P.O. Box 390, Wingham, Ontario NOG 2W0 with Margaret Stapleton NOVEMBER 1948 H. V. Burden was granted per- mission by town council to erect a building and conduct a grocery business in the Hillcrest area. As well, Joe Kerr was granted a per- mit to build a storage garage on Josephine Street. A six -man rugby team has been organized at the Wingham High School and has been practising for the past three weeks. It is hoped next year a rugby league will be formed in Huron County. A new telephone directory has been issued in Wingham and nearby centres, featuring on its buff -colored cover the familiar figure who stands on the globe and is known as "The Spirit of Communication". This year's di- rectory is a little fatter than its predecessor, reflecting the Targe increase in the number of tele- phones. It contains 68 pages, compared to the previous 60 -page directory. A successful Halloween party was held at Belgrave school with the Billy Coultes and Eleanor Walsh winning prizes. Howick Township's oldest resi- dent, Charles Irwin, will be 95. years of age on Nov. 2. NOVEMBER 1961 C. Lloyd & Son Ltd., Wing - ham, announces that Donald Lloyd has been transferred to 'ngham after several years as Toronto district manager. Mr. Lloyd and his family will be mov- ing to Wingham in November and will occupy 'a new home on John Street, which now is under con- struction. A presentation and dance will be held in the Bluevale Hall on Friday evening in honor of Mr. and Mrs. Charlie McKay (Joanne Cobb), recent newlyweds. John Robarts will become the next premier of the Province of Ontario following his election as leader of the Progressive Conser- vative Party. Mr. Robarts suc- ceeds Premier Leslie Frost, who has resigned. A decided asset to the village of Wroxeter is the new "Edgewa- ter" restaurant on the main street. It is owned and operated by Mr. and Mrs. Percy Henley. NOVEMBER 1971 An occasion that comes to very few, Mr, and Mrs. Ira Campbell of Belgrave, quietly celebrated their 74th wedding anniversary at their home. Both are 93 years of age and reasonably active. Roy Pattison, reeve of East Wawanosh Township, will make his second try to become warden of Huron County. Keith Collyer made an interest- ing find during the past few months and only recently learned its real significance. While raking stones, he spotted a peculiar rock and took it home. Following an examination at the University of Guelph, it has been determined that the stone, actually a fossil, is 300 million years old. NOVEMBER 1981 By the time all the bills are paid, the Wingham Public Utili- ties Commission expects to have paid about $40,000 for repairs to the town standpipe which were carried out this fall. Rachel Battye of Blyth has been awarded second prize, for her tuernbrance Day eoem in a Canada -wide contest sponsored by the Royal Canadian Legion. The Wingham Junior Citizens are hoping to save the annual San- ta Claus Parade in Wingham. The town business association will not sponsorthe parade this year, plan- ning instead', an extensive Christ- mas shopping promotion. Former Wingham businessman, G. L. (Verne) Dunlop died recent- ly at Hanover. Mr. Dunlop owned and operated a shoe store in town. hWNE$ ,4Y, .NIJVE$f8 i 1995 Stealing from the poor Dear Editor: Social assistance benefits to sole - support parents (and many others) will be drastically reduced as of Oc- tober 1, 1995. Over 40 per cent of all social assistance beneficiaries are children. A sole -support parent with two children under the age of 12 will re- ceive a maximum of $554.29 per month topay: rent/mortgage, fire in- surance premiums, heat, hydro and property taxes. Many families will lose their current housing, some will be left homeless. The basic needs allowance for the same family of three falls to a maxi- mum of $397.63. The family has a total of $13.07 per day ,to provide all further necessities, including food. A joint study by the Middlesex/ London Health Unit Life*Spin and the City of London Department of Social Services found that a family of three requires a bare minimum of $94 .per week for a basic nutritious diet. Mike Harris is literally taking food. from the mouths of Ontario's poorest citizens to carry out his Common Sense Revolution. You won't need to look elsewhere to find grinding poverty, despair, depravation and hunger. This is Mike Harris's Ontario. Joan van den Meer, Wingham Amalgamation not the answer Dear Editor: Once again, Huron County taxpay- ers are about to get the short end of the stick. If amalgamation of school boards as proposed in the Sweeney report goes ahead, we are in trouble. By linking the Huron and Perth pub- lic boards, Huron County taxpayers will have only three representatives instead of the current 16. If you have concerns about your education tax, you will no longer have a local trus- tee to contact. Likewise, parents with complaints will have no local re- course. •Huron and Perth are the lowest spending public boards around. As long as education is financed with lo- cal property taxes, things can't im- prove. There is nothing to gain by merging the poor with the poor. ' •The creation of county boards in 1969 was supposed to save money. We all know what happened. The creation of "super boards" will lead to the same kind of increases. •We spend only 3.5 cents of every dollar on head office administration. In some large boards, it is claimed that less than half the dollars are spent in the classroom. •Amalgamation may reduce spend- ing in some high-cost boards, but those of us already at the lower end will no doubt see costs escalate. •We know that "made for Toronto" solutions should not be applied across the province. A better solu- tion for Huron is to keep working at building partnerships. That is where the real tax savings will be made. Trustees in Huron have already shown leadership in cutting costs. Taxpayers with concerns about education spending would be well advised to investigate the real costs of amalgamation. The time to act is now. If you want to keep costs in Huron under control, call 1-800-562- 6954 to express your concern. For more information, contact your local trustee. Roxanne Brown, Chairman of the Board Huron County Board of Education On a diet of bologna TORONTO -- Politicians like to boast that they had humble begin- nings and tough times, but Premier Mike Harris has pushed this a bit far by his claim that he was even hard up for something to eat. In supporting his government's claim that welfare recipients whose benefits it has reduced can manage by spending $90 a month on cheap foods like the humblest of sausages, the Progressive Conservative pre- mier said he often had to exist on bo- logna in his younger days. Harris re- called it as not the most enjoyable experience, but enough to spur peo- ple to get jobs. No one can dispute that the pre- mier, who shows no signs of malnu- trition and to the contrary is often described as burly, ate bologna at times, but nothing in his history sug- gests he needed it as a steady diet. Harris's father owned successively a welding supply business, fishing camp and ski resort and Hams spent some time in university and teachers' college and later according to his of- ficial biography was "a teacher and businessman who owned and operat- ed several successful enterprises in- cluding a downhill ski club and a summer tourist resort." The.,premier's father and his first wife also could not remember his eating much bologna at the time he started working, but thought he was well fed. if Harris was reduced to eating bologna at times in school, he would have been comforted by the knowledge his diet would improve with the next cheque from dad, so it Fro 's Park with Eric Dowd is not at all the same hardship as welfare recipients' being forced to live unvaryingly on filler sausage. Harris has an image as a straight, blunt talker even when it hurts, but his embellishment has given oppo- nents an opportunity they are seizing to accuse him of being "full of balo- ney", which will have a much longer shelf life than the food he was talk- ing about. But Harris is in a long line of On- tario premiers who tried to show they knew hard times and therefore could appreciate voters' problems. Harris's predecessor, New Demo- crat Bob Rae, insisted he lived "pret- ty frugally" and his family "have a car loan and a mortgage and don't live a life that's very different from millions of others in this province." There was no rush to pass the hat around because Rae as premier had a salary part tax-free worth about $110,000 a year, twice the average family's, so he did not have quite the same struggle to put bread on the ta- ble. Tory premier William Davis was a lawyer and son of a lawyer and it would have been ludicrous to pretend he had difficulty making ends meet. But Davis's aides liked to put it. around that he was just a small-town guy at heart who gave up a lot to serve the public and would not have much when he retired because he would' never feel comfortable in the boardrooms of big business, whereas at last count he has collected 17 di- rectorships. Tory premier John Robarts could never really pose as a man of the people because he also was a lawyer and married into the establishment and dressed every inch of it in his impeccable suits and his hobby was pheasant -shooting. But he liked it to be known that he'had a plebeian con- nection -- he enlisted and spent part of World War Two as an ordinary seaman. Robarts's predecessor Leslie Frost was yet another lawyer who could never plead poverty, but his constituents always knew when he was about to call an election because he would trundle out his beat -up old car just like theirs. The one premier who never im- plied he had to tighten his belt was Liberal David Peterson, who came from a well-to-do family, never dis- guised it feeling it fit the yuppie mood of the times, almost lived in a tuxedo and scarlet cummerbund and was accused by opponents of having a "lifestyle of the rich and famous." Looking too prosperous was one of the reasons that Peterson lost an election in 1990, but politicians know none of their number has ever suffered from appearing too poor and humble.