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PAGE 4,,WEDNESDAY NOVEMBER 16, 1983, WHITBY FREE PRESS whitby wr Voice of the County Town Michael lan Burgess, Publisher - Managing Edito The only Whitby newspaper independently owned and operated by Whitby residents for Whitby residents. Put iblished every Wednesday by M.B.M. Publishing and Photography Ine. Phone 668-61 11 The Free Press Building, 1311 Brock Street North, P.). Box 206, Whitby, O)nt. PO. Box 206, Whitby, ont. SANDRA LUCCI Community Editor ANDY THOMSON Advertising Manager Second Class Mail Registration No. 5351 Small Companies Getting Attention They Deserve by W. ROGER WORTH Flnally, Canada's smaller companies appear to be getting more of the attention they deserve, and it's about time. For years, it seems, policy makers attached to government and big business have viewed small and medium-slzed enterprises as their tiny brothers and sisters, a necessary part of the famlly, but a sector that contributed littie to the overall economic cause. When blg companies faced major financial problems during the recession, for example, the government mandarins rapidly endorsed plans to bail some of them out. At the same time, the nation's chartered banks appeared more Intent on making massive loans to multi-nationals and foreign countries thousands of miles away, rather than increasing loans to businesses down the street or around the corner. Until the recession, a decade or more of bigness prevalled. Governments fired big money at big business to resolve big employment problems. In many cases, small business became a footnote in those great macroeconomic schemes. But times have changed, dramatically. The bureaucrats and their political masters have belatedly found that small business has really been creating a majority of the country's new jobs. And studies indicate that while small and medium-size enterprises were actually adding jobs In a down economy, their counterparts in larger firms were shedding employees. More important, perhaps, Is the fact that a remarkable 150,000 new businesses were started in Canada last year, and another 200,000 startups are forecast for this year. In the midst of this perceived move from bigger to smaller, a fundamental change is taking place in the way smaller firms are treated. Suddenly, en- trepreneurs seem to be getting respect. Governments are providing additional support and assistance, and the mandarins are really listening to input from groups representing small business. Many major accounting firms now have booklets or newsletters targeted at the sector as they attempt to pick up additional business. Thousands of consultants are now concentrating on the sector, finally realizing the true extent of the market. More important, perhaps, the bankers have finally seen the light. Most of the lending organizations have now upgraded services to smail and medlum-sized firms: advice on operating independent firms is readily available, competition for business in the sector is Intense and it is a rare day when one bank or another is not attempting to outdo its competitors in advertising and promotion. All of this activity, of course, does not mean all small business problems have been resolved, nor are they about to be. But it does suggest a new era for smaller firms has arrived, with the country's real job producers finally getting the attention they deserve. they deserye. I noticed in THE GLOBE AND MAIL recently that Geoffrey Stevens, an old Press Gallery colleague, has been appointed Managing Editor. The story mention- ed that Mr. Stevens wrote a book called STANFIELD in 1973. There was another appointment in the same story, another book title and another author. It occur- red to me that if "publish and be damned" used to be a journalistic credo, that "publish or be damned" is fast replacing it. We've become almost as bad as the academics. We've got to get something between hard covers, or our careers falter. In the past few days, three books by journalists have landed on my desk. So far, l've read only one of them, an autobiography by Charles Lynch, the Ottawa columnist for Southam's. It's a good book, well-written, entertaining, full of the insights a man develops after years in the Ottawa bear pit. But it is also full of newsmen, and anecdotes about newsmen, and after 30 years of it, my fellow workers are beginning to bore me silly. There is a self- perpetuating myth in the news business that the most interesting people a reporter meets are other journalists. That may have been true in an era when journalism was more passionate, more colourful and better than it is now. But not any longer. My older colleagues tend to stand at the country's press club bars, embellishing the same old anecdotes and memories so unmercifully that if you stay away for 5 years, they're almost, but unfor- tunately not quite, unrecognizable. The newer of my colleagues have journalism degrees, PhD's, and a kind of earnestness that one used to expect from mis- sionaries. They don't drink to excess like the previous generation. They work to excess instead. I'm not sure which group is most depressing. The best friend I ever had was a retired advertising man. He was much more interested in boats, food and things that are none of anyone's business, than he was in advertising. i have another good friend who is a civil servant, another in the promotion business, another who's a sign painter, another who is a cabinet maker, and another who is a tobacco farmer. A sculptor, several artists, an art salesman, a PR/politician, and a safe-cracker are aiso among my friends. And I swear to you that I will never read another reporter's autobiography again as long as I live. . Maybe I won't even write another one Dear Editor, As a God-created human being, wife, mom, teacher and tax- payer, I direct this let- ter to the Durham Board of Education. While not every trustee agrees to present policies and recommendations, I must direct this letter to the whole. Our Constitution of Canada was founded on Judaeo-Christian prin- ciples. "God shall have dominion from sea to sea". Hence comes the name The Dominion of Canada. Our learning institutions from Kin- dergarten to Grade 13 to dergarten to Grade 13 through to university were founded on the same principles - the Bible. Allow me to thank and praise these foun- ding fathers. Had this not been so, I may not be able to express my freedom on this editorial page. What has happened to the solid foundation that was laid? This is the foundation that our war veterans and those of other free countries fought and died for. This is the foundation referred to in the poem "In Flanders Fields". "To you we throw the torch; by yours to hold it high." When the solid foun- dation of any structure is pulled out from un- derneath, be it a house, a country or - an educational system, great will be the fall of that structure. As a native Canadian, I accept our "mosaic society" and multicultural nation. My forefathers welcomed all nations to this land. While our history books may not have recorded this, my forefathers lived and belived in the principles. taught in the Bible. With respect to great men of the past, be it Sitting Bull, Bhudda, Ghandi, or Mohammed, no one has ever died for the sins of the whole world and rose from the dead to sit at the right hand of God the Father save Jesus Christ. This is the Christ whose birth we celebrate at Christmas; this is the Christ whnqP resurrection we celebrate at Easter; this is the Christ who says "Except the Lord build a house (or an educational system) they labour in vain that build it." -Psalm 127:1. Durham Board of Education, perilous times are here. You must go back and build on the solid rock of our foundation. Did you know that: banning of the strap (corporal punishment) is contrary to God's law? "The rod (strap) and reproof give wisdom but a child left to himself bringeth his mother to shame." Prov. 29.15; opting out of Christian Religious CONTINUED ON PG.19 LETTERS TO THE EDITOR Mý