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The Huron Expositor, 1984-07-18, Page 20Huron E • xposltor�. SINCE 1860, SERVING THE COMMUNITY FIRST A BLU RiBoort AWARD 1983 Incorporating Brussels Post 10 Main Street 527-0240 Published in SEAFORTH, ONTARIO Every Wednesday, morning JOCELYN A. SHRIER, Publisher RON WASSINK, Editor KATIE O'LEARY, Advertising Representative Member Canadian Community Newspaper Assoc Ontario Community Newspaper Association Ontario Press Council Commonwealth Press Union International Press Institute Subscription rates: Canada $18.75 a year (In advance) Outside Canada $55.00 a year (in advance) Single Copies - 50 cents each THE HURON EXPOSITOR, JULY 25, 1984 Second class mall registration Number 0696 a Sensationalizing National and international news is becoming more frightening with each report of war, murder or kidnapping. - North America -was stunned when a lone gunman killed 21 and injured 19 at a restaurant in California. The deliberate killings took over one hour and in the end, the killer was shot by police. In Manitoba, another man took his own life when cornered by police at a landfill site. The man killed four. A London, Ontario man has been charged in the death of his wife. His wife was gunned down over two weeks ago when the family stopped to help a motorist in distress. Her husband faces a charge of first degree murder and conspiracy to commit murder. Other world news is equally distressing. Item --Raging Tr,jpoli battle threatens ceasefire...lndian Parliament erupts over handling of violence.,,.Demonstrators in Manila dispersed with tear gas,..and the "news" goes on. We're living in a world where the daily pace of life continues to increase to the point where stress levels are being strained. Financial woe is one of the main forces that causes minds and people to snap. Many are reaching the breaking point. Unfortunately, the news of the daily press isn't really "news". Much of it is bad news --news that the press and public thrive on. The California massacre rated a full page series of stories in at least one daily paper. True, the murders happened. But it's time the press stuck to the job of informing the public. Bad news can instill more violence, especially when sensationalized. We're all faced with problems. And throughout the world, the problems continue to mount. Perhaps some good news will boost spirits and brighten the outlook of today's modern society --a society that is high strung and stressful. Let's keep informed, but let's do it without sensationalizing. - R.W. Got a beef or a bouquet? Write a letter today! Canada losing 19 farmers a day COUNTRY CORNER by Larry Dillon A nc" record has been established in Canada We are experiencing an all time high in the rate of farm bankruptcies The federal department of Consumer and Corporate Affairs has released statistics which shows 313 farmers have declared bankruptcy in the first six months of 1984. This is the highest level ever recorded for a six month period. Ontario with V farm bankruptcies. was topped only by Quebec where 101 farmers went under. This dramatic increase has been credited to the higher level of financial problems being experienced by livestock producers. The livestock production segment of the farming industry has been the hardest hit during the current economic recession. Rut not all farm failures end in bankruptcy. Some farmers simply quit the business before mounting losses eat away their entire investment Others sell everything in order to pay off their creditors. And sometimes the creditors sell the assets for them. The power of sale clause in mortgages allows the mortgage holder to give notice to the farmer. After a fixed number of days they can sell the farm in order to recover the loan money, in this case. a bankruptcy may never be declared. Farm organizations such as the Federation of Agriculture estimate that for every farm bankruptcy declared there are 10 other farmers who are forced to sell out or who simply leave the business without formal proceedings. This estimate is frightening. It indicates that Canada is losing its farmers at a rate of 19 a day or 6.886 per year. There is an increasingly large number of farmers who are able to pay only the interest on their debts. They are not generating enough profits to pay off any of the principal on their loans. Unless we have a change in the economic situation these farms will be the next in the bankruptcy courts. The current round of Interest rate hikes will also contribute to financial problems. both for the farms with floating rate loans and for those which have mortgage loans coming up for renewal. These figures raise some interesting questions. lfwe can afford to allow so many of our farm businesses to fail, do we need them at all? Is any action necessary to reduce or perhaps stop the high rate of farm failures? Why are we encouraging young farmers to enter the business? Is it the combination of a tough economic situation and unsympathetic government policy that's responsible, or are farmers simply poor business operators? The answers aren't simple. We five in a society where the economic conditions are under a certain amount of control, both by the actions of government and huge corpora- tions. The power to decide on the ultimate desirability of maintaining agricultural pro- duction in Canada. by Canadians. rests with those exercising this control, The individual farmers may continue to try. but they cannot succeed in a controlled economy unless they are permitted to. The current situation where we have a hodge podge of quota and non quota agricultural production is a nightmare. The Canadian economy has some farm commodi- ties controlled by quotas and others open to all competition. Farmer A may expand and compete with farmer B. but B may not compete with A without buying permission to do so. Either system would probably work acceptably. But the mixing of the two is creating hardships for the individual pro- ducers. GOVERNMENT MANiPULAT1ON The unequal application of supply manage- ment systems is only one example of the mismanagement of the agricultural portion of the Canadian economy. When the govern• ment manipulates either interest rates or the dollar value for political purposes, the farmer, who has no control over these changes becomes the innocent victim. The number of farms in Canada has dropped to 316,770. If we expect the farm failure rate of 6,886 per year to continue, it will only be 46 years before the last farmer will be leaving the business. Perhaps 46 years from today. some quiet and humble man will stand in front of his creditors and admit that he was wrong, that operating a farm in Canada was only a foolish dream. He will admit that he now knows that we can import our food cheaper than we can grow it. The last Canadian farmer will have to turn his head to hide the unwelcome tears. The wrong person will be crying - the whole nation will have suffered a great loss, Swingin' KIDS love swings. The tire swings are most popular as is evident as Jennifer and Carl -Ann Lindner lean back for more height Getting a push from Scott Saunders Is Joe Murray. (Wassink photo) Promises, promises, promises Promises, promises, promises --that's what our politicians are feeding us as they carhpaign for the Sept. 4 federal election. All we have to do is ask, and government gives us what we want. And in return, they want our vote. That's the problem with this country. Everyone's too busy kissing ass while at the same time Canada and the economy is going down the tubes. It's time people, especially politicians get on the ball --it's time they got tough. But is that what we want? ,That's the bind. We as ordinary people are expecting more and more from govern- ment. And most of all. we want money. Government is ready and willing to give. But they're giving to the point where the country is going broke. Back m January, the feds put on a splashy campaign asking people to stop smoking. It was in conjunction with Weedless Wednes- day. There were government sponsored ads, press releases and some useless parapher- nalia guiding smokers through a withdrawal process --cold turkey. The fancy little booklet was available to all. 1 picked one up at the drug store. SENSE AND NONSENSE by Ron Wassink The stop -smoking campaign was success- ful. It should have been because we as taxpayers shelled out $1.7 million to pay for itIn an editorial 'wrote in' January, P cued statistics which showed 50 ' per cent of Canadians were non-smokers. That percent- age has increased to 72 per cent. In their drive to get people to butt out, the government put up $1.7 million in this year's Campaign. At the same ,time govt. -nment faced a problem in lost revenue of $1.2 billion if every smoker decided to quit. Government is losing revenue, but they're making up for it by increasing taxes on tobacco sales. But now the tobacco growers arc hurting. People aren't buying their product and as a result, they're losing money. The growers have approached govern• ment for assistance. They wanted to set up a national marketing agency with powers to set prices and limit import, but such legislation died when the session ended in June. But other commodities Want breaks too. There's corn stabilization payments, soy- bean stabilization; hog stabilization; there are subsidies; free loans to big business; tax breaks and grants. Everybody has jumped on the, give me a grant, bandwagon. The list is endless. Last year there was a grant to paint barns. There are 4rants to babysit kids, grants for job creation, grants to fix roads, grants to complete official plans, There's even a grant to help townships with tax arrears. Granted, some grants are provincial, but the federal government hands out grant money as if there's an endless supply of it. It's because of such action that we can't live with grants. We peed money to create jobs and many of us need free money to stave off bankruptcy. Canada is in a financial mess. it's time government looked for the cause to the problem. Do we need grants because of poor Import/export laws? Are we over -producing or is government mismanaging public funds? Taxes are high. Some people get property tax rebates.'Thdn there's gas tax rebates. At the same time, civil servants are being well paid. Government is giving when they have nothing to give. In the meantime, the national deficit keeps increasing. It's time there was a stop put to runaway spending. We can't afford it. And to stop it, politicians looking for a seat in September have to take a get tough stand. John Crosble tried it a few years ago and got booted out, In retrospect, he was right. It's time politicians stopped buying votes. but at the same time. we have to stop voting for a political party because we were given something. Let's get Canada back on track. Different rules mean living in stress Most of us dream of a perfect world where there will be no more war, nor more disputes between neighbors, only love and romance ib marriage. Yet the seeds of the destruction of these dreams are planted almost at our 1 th Most of the problems in the world occur because people are different; they think differently, they live differently, they speak different languages. We dream of a world where people will be tolerant of difference. But that perfect world is far from arriving. So in the meantime we are divided by our, differences, and these start very close to home. Remember as a kid how the world seemed simple. There was one lacy in the world. your parents', and even if you thought it was unjust or too strict, at least you knew the titles. When you were old enough to make friends and visit those friends' homes. you discovered a culture shock that would be the equivalent of an adult visiting Asia. Suddenly all the laws changed. You were BEHIND THE SCENES by Keith Roulston used to wearing your shoes in the house. the laws of this foreign territory didn't allow it. Your family said grace before a meal, this one didn't. There were too many forks beside your plate at supper (no, they called it dinner). And the food, the food was different. They called it the same and you thought you were safe saying you liked that dish at home but when it came it tasted completely different and you had to force yourself to keep eating it without making some- remark. 1 remember rice pudding that way. Rice pudding was a favorite meal at our house but at my friend's, it was a near -liquid mess that I could never bring myself to eat. Things were even stranger when 1 went to visit at another friend whose parents were recent arrivals from Holland. They said grace in Dutch. They were nice people and tried hard to make you feel welcome but you felt scared all the time because you didn't know when you might be breaking some family law you didn t know about. At least as a kid you went home at night (or the next day if you stayed over) to the comfortable law's of home. The shocker for most of us. even when we're older and wiser. comes when we get married. Each partner tends to bring the rules from his or her old home to the new one. The first few months are hell. During the '70s everybody made it seem that marriages were made or broken in :tie marriage bed but I'll bet the most strain comes in the other rooms in the house. The old jokes about "that's not the way mother used to make it" are true. So's the one about one spouse squeezing the toothpaste from the middle of the tube while the other squeezes from the end. Even if both partners are reasonably neat, they won't be neat in the same way and that will cause friction. And heaven help them if one partner is fanatical about everything in itslace and the other is free and easy. Eventually, if the marriage survives that long. a new set of rules will be forged (i'm often amazed when 1 realize just how totally different i live today than when l was growing up). And by the time kids come along. they will have their own comfortable rules and will discover with a shock that everyone else doesn't live by them. And so the world goes. And as long as it does. people will live in stress when they encounter differences. Joining loser takes Ioyalty and guts You've possibly been wondering why I haven't been writing about current affairs: the 44th anniversary of D -Day; the Liberal leadership campaign; the Pope's projected visit; the Queen s projected visit; the lateness of 'the strawberries; the price of beer and other such trivia. i didn't write about the D•Day anniversary because it would have been contemptible of me. i wasn't there. My heart bled with the old veterans on TV as they searched the cemeteries of Normandy fol the names of old comrades who had died on the beaches. and wept at the waste of young Canadians. 1 got a lump as big as a golf ball in my throat. and wept a little too. But I wasn't there. On D -Day, 1944. 1 was playing softball in Northumberland, a god• forsaken cold, wet (even in June) piece of En/gland up hear Scotland. Oh, we'd heard the news on the radio, and wiywere excited and a bit disappointed that wee.weren't in on it. But the casualties hadn't started yet, and a bunch of us who had been training and training and training, on Spitfires, Hurricanes, then Typhoons, were formed into a makeshift squadron to repel a counter-attack from Norway, just in case. ,There was no counter-attack. So we played softball. Somebody sprained his ankle. That was D -Day for me. A year later, half of us were dead. !;didn't write about the Liberal leadership campaign, because 1 don't like inhaling hot amiseememern SUGAR AND SPICE by Sill Smiley air unless it's good for me. But 1 did watch and hear the final speeches and the convention. Could have been there if I'd bothered to get a press pass. No thanks. i've been to political conventions, and I've seen proud. ambitious men swallow their pride, ambition, and dignity scrambling for a few votes from delegates who don't represent the people. but The Party. it's a bit sickening. Turner had it made from the beginning. because the delegates. at least a majority of them, wanted a Winner. So, as some clever man wrote to the Globe and Mail, we now have a smart, rich, good-looking chap representing one of the major parties, and a smart, rich good-looking chap representing the other. Both are lawyers. Turner had better produce or he's a gone goose. Mulroney had better produce or he's baloney. Sliced. Take your pick. What was interesting about the convention was the reaction of the losers, who knew they were going to lose long ago. Mark McGuigan, who even looked like a jackal, scampered to Munro after the first ballot. it took some guts to go across to Jean Chretien. And some guts were displayed. Eugene Whelan, looking like an old elephant heading for that mystic elephant graveyard, made it first, big green hat and all. John Munro. about as much like John Turner as 1 am like Pierre Trudeau, made the long walk to Chretien. Then came John Roberts, a handsome, eloquent cabinet minister. Hugs and kisses. The only thing missing was the ghost of Judy LaMarsh, whose famous, "We've gotta stop this bastard", did not endear her to Pierre Elliott T., at whom it was aimed when he donned the crown , about 15 years ago. Just remember, these guys were laying their political future, and about 565,000 a year, on the line, when they joined the loser. it was a display of loyalty and guts and damn the torpedoes which made all the sweaty. shrieking, boring parts of the convention worthwhile. Enough about the leadership campaign. Which it wasn't. it was really a Liberal campaign for the next election. And all the hysteria produced might last two weeks. in a Canadian sumtt}ter. So. We wind up with a guy on one side who never won an election until after he was leader, and another guy who hasn't been in office for ten years. squaring off to be P.M. Lord help us. Now, let's get back to the Pope. He's coming to Midland, where 1 live. in September. There's a bit of panic, naturally, about security. traffic, and whether the stores can stay open on Sunday after he's left. I'm sorry. but you're too late. I'm completely booked up for the Pope's visit. i've divided my entire house into two by six feet sleeping spaces, and the entire space has been taken by a Pittsburg group called the Holy Moses Maria Polish Society. They get kitchen and bathroom privileges. There will he only two hundred of them at 5100 for the weekend. 1 oversold just a tad, and will be sleeping, myself in the toolshed. Two of my closest friends, whom i couldn't refuse. will be sleeping in my car. With their wives. Well, that takes care of the Pope. Unless he cancels his visit because John Munro calls an election tor that day. If he does, there'll be a Polish massacre. Of John Turner. As for the Queen, we've never been close. She's been ticked off at me ever since 1 didn't go to the Garden Party in 1945, for ex -Prisoners of War. She wasn't the Queen then, of course. She was just Princess Elizabeth, but apparently she was checking the list and she circled my name in red. Red! That's the name of the girl for whom 1 forsook the Garden Party. 4