Zurich Citizens News, 1978-04-20, Page 4Page 4
Citizens News, April 20, 1978
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"Mind you, the service is improving — I sent a letter from Edmonton and it got to Vancouver in two days —
unfortunately', I sent it to Halifax."
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A right to know
The Criminal Code of Canada says "ignorance
of the law is no defence" but the fact remains that
we still have little idea of the rights which citizens
of this country are entitled to.
The English form of justice which most of this
country works under, places positive obligations on
citizens, the requirement of filing income tax, the
filling out of census forms and in some places, the
removal of snow from the sidewalks in front of your
property.
While Canadian law places an emphasis on
public knowledge -of the law there remain few
places where legal information can be obtained
The most obvious form of legal information
would be a practicing lawyer but too often his
knowledge of certain aspects of the law is no better
than the common citizen.
A key to accessible law is the revision of the
legal language to something approaching laymen's
language.
Martin Friedland, law professor and author of
"Access to the Law" in a recent issue of Canadian
Consumer said "The state has an obligation to en-
sure that its laws are available in understandable
fashion to laymen ... yet very little attention has
been given towards accomplishing this objective in
Canada. Good citizenship requires a knowledge of
the law."
One way in which access to the law could be in-
creased was if explanatory notes could be included
with the statutes.
When bills are introduced in the House of Com-
mons explanatory notes are included for members
of parliament but by the time the laws are publish-
ed, the notes are no more.
You'd almost think somebody is trying to tell us
that we should not know what the laws of the coun-
try actually say.
A system that Canada should copy is that which
exists in England. A system of citizen's informa-
tion bureaus makes available information to the
general public.
It is true that making information available
would increase the bureaucracy and cost the tax-
payers more but this must be weighed against a
public that is increasingly frustrated by laws which
they don't understand.
Some progress has been made with the passing
of the Canadian Human Rights. Act but the fact
remains that the public still knows precious little
about our government or the laws that it makes.
In this respect we are light years behind our
neighbors to the south.
Horner seeks safe seat
It is becoming quite apparent that Jack Horner
will have to move from the riding he has chosen to
run in since popular opinion indicates he has about
as much chance of defeating Arnold Malone as a
snowball in July. There have been persistent
rumors that he will switch ridings and run in Bow
river thus making this one of the most entertaining
ridings in Canada. With three right-wing conser-
vatives running against each other, the vote would
"be split in all directions.
Jack Horner, in spite of''his party switch, still
has a loyal following, not because of his party
stand, but because he is Jack Horner. Stan
Schumacher also has a loyal following and would
take a solid chunk of the vote. Gord Taylor, the of-
ficial conservative candidate, one of the most pop-
ular men to run in provincial politics and no
political novice, would appear to be the favorite.
We feel the voters of this riding would be given
the best choice of candidates ever offered in any
riding. No matter who won there would be too much
difference in philosophy between any of the can-
didates. The addition of Horner into this riding
would make it fun for everyone.
If Jack decides to switch ridings the Bow River
constituency will look forward to having Senator
Horner sitting in their corner.
Nanton, Alberta News
.CNA
Sit
FIRST WITH LOCAL NEWS
Published Each Wednesday By J.W. Eedy Publications Ltd.
Member:
Canadian Weekly Newspapers Association
Ontario Weekly Newspapers Association
News Editor - Tom Creech
Second Class Mail Registration Number 1385
Subscription Rates: $7.00 per year in advance in Canada
$18,00 per year outside Canada
Single copies 204
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1:Iiseella»eous
By
TOM CREECH
Fleck
revisited
Once upon a time there was a quiet little com-
munity nestled on the table flat farmland of Huron
count that went about its business as any other com-
munity would.
Oh sure, there was the occasional brawl at the
local watering hole, but so what?
Then one day when it became known that a local
firm was having some problems with its workers and
that a big union was not too happy over the way the
workers were being treated, things began to happen.
A disciple of King Willie, ruler of Ontariariario,
was accused of complicating this labour' dispute
because his name was the same as the little company,
his family through a holding company controlled 50
percent of the firm and that the department which the
King Willie disciple was second in command owns the
building where this little firm is located.
And then came the plague.
Scientists were dumfounded; the plague came and
went with a frequency that was hard to predict but
when it appeared, it had a profound effect on this little
community.
After several weeks of sporadic outbursts of this
disease, it was determined that the air was fouled
whenever normal citizens saw other normal citizens
who were dressed in black and at times carried big
sticks. At certain times the normally clear air of this
country community was blue.
While our smart scientific friends realized that it
was human to vary our behavior patterns, they could
not figure out why normal people (aside from
children) would throw stones and overturn cars and
act in an animal like ,fashion whenever the normal
people in black were around in large numbers.
And then there were the normal people who lived
off the confrontation between the other two groups of
normal people and like the plague they were
everywhere for they were there to tell the normal peo-
ple of Canada what the heck was happening in this
thinly disguised animal show.
"The Fleck Variety Show" featuring Dennis
McDermott and a supporting cast of hundreds was one
of the finest examples of a media event to ever hit this
part of the country.
The following is a rough computation of who was
there and how many: CBC TV -Three, the Fifth Estate
(CBC) -Three, CBC radio -Two, CTV-Two, Global -Six,
CFPL TV -Four, CFPL radio -One, CKCO TV -Two,
CKNX TV -Two, CKSL radio -One, CJBK radio -One,
Radio Fanshawe-Two, one freelance radio person,
London Free Press -Five, Kitchener -Waterloo Record -
Two, The Times Advocate -Two, the Zurich Citizens'
News -One. This adds up to a grand total of 39 people
present to make sure that you, the public get all the
facts (or all the facts Ithat will fit).
The producer of the Academy awards couldn't
have done a better job; a crisp spring morning with a
bright sun and the most powerful labour leader in the
land arm in arm with two of the Fleck workers while
leading a procession of strike supporters almost a
quarter mile in length.
The press lapped it up.
To say the least, the Ontario Provincial Police had'
more than a passing interest in the morning's
proceedings and with a remote control camera on top
of the arena and numerous photographers on buildings
surrounding the Fleck plant, they were kept well in-
formed.
Not to be out -done Canadian Labour Congress or
the United Auto Workers had their own film crew on
hand to record the proceedings.
Emerging from the typical worker's car a white,
late model Lincoln Continental the four individuals
began to unload a trunkful of camera equipment.
These gentlemen came well equipped as they had
in their possession a piece of equipment that won an
Academy award for technical excellence.
McDermott's performance was excellent for both
the media and the police because if it had not been for
his settling influence an ugly situation could have
developed.
There is one thing we learned about McDermott
that some papers ignored: he sings a mean version of
"Solidarity Forever".
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