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PAGE 4, WEDNESDAY, JUNE 13, 1984, WHITBY FREE PRESS whitby Voice of the County Town Michael lan Burgess, Published every Wednesday by M.B.M. Publishing and Photography Inc. Phone 668-6111 The Free Press Building, Publisher - Managing Editor 131 Brock Street North, P.O. Box 206, Whitby, Ont. MICHAEL KNELL CommunIty Editor CONWAY DOBBS Advertising Manager Second Class Mail Regist ration No. 5351 The only Whitby newspaper independently owned and operated by Whitby residents for Whitby residents. Job creation measures aren't working, report shows Buried amongest the mass of paper generated by Durham Region as part of the council agenda last week were two reports dealing with the general welfare *assistance program that is operated by the Region. One of these reports addressed the aqtual caseload currently borne by the region's social services department. Compared to March, 1982, the welfare caseload has increased by 14.9- per cent and the actual amount of money distributed has increased by 34.3 per cent. Compared to September, 1983, the welfare caseload has increased by 18.2 per cent and 'r W! ri WA Tq It has been a strange spring in southern Ontario, but in Northumberland County, at least, it would have been hard to find fault with a recent weekend morning. We were wakened early, about 5:30 I think, by the heavy honking of a low-flying flock of Canada geese. They were only à fevýfeet over the house, and in that con- fused state somewhere between being asleep and be- ing fully awake, I wasn't certain that they weren't com- ing through the house rather than just over it. I was awake just enough to go back to sleep with a feeling of deep contentment. The weathermen and the calendar make mistakes, but the geese don't. When geese fly north, the land is waking up from another winter, spring is here, and the fleeting Canadian summer is almost within our grasp. When we did finally get out of the bed, it was just as the geese had advertised. And there were more of them through the morning. Several times I heard that faint, growing gabble which meant another flight was coming, and I dropped what I was doing and peeled my eyes. I did a fast count on one undulating V forma- tion and estimated seventy to eighty birds flying fast and high. There was one spring night a few years back when we heard the geese flying over the house right through the night. And the next day, the sky was almost black with them - one flight after another, as many as three V's in view at a time. Another year, we were driving northeast from Castleton when we noticed a flight of geese just over the car, and co-incidentally, following the road. Because of that, I was able to clock them at more than forty miles an hour. I can't imagine what rural Canada would be like if the geese ever stop flying over in the spring. They are symbolic of everything I value most. I've been thinking lately that if I ever get out of this crazy business, I'd like to write a book about Canada geese. We watched a film on the whooping crane on television not long ago. American researchers put a little radio transmitter on one of the whoopers and followed the flight by car and aircraft from their wintering ground on the Gulf of Mexico ail the way to Canada. I'd like to do the same thing with a flight of geese sometime, starting with a wintering ground in Chesapeake Bay perhaps, and following a flight ail the way up to where it summers on some northern Canadian lake. I can see a book in that. Where they stopped and why. The topography of the country they flew over. What they found to feed on. How long it took them. How they spent the winter. Where they nested. How long it took for the goslings to hatch. How many survived for the flight back. That kind of thing. If there is a book in a week in the life of Bill Buckley - and there is, a good one - there's a book in a flight of Canada geese, and I'd.like, towrite it. welfare costs have increased by 26.3 per cent, in- cluding Inflation. What this report tells us is that the job creation programs introduced, by the provincial and federal government have not made a significant impact on those of us living in Durham Region. Another piece of evidence to support this view is the local unemployment statistics. According to the local Canadian Employment Centre, some 16,000 from the Oshawa, Whitby and Ajax area were out of work, in April. This is up from 15,000 in March. The steady increase in the demand for unem- ployment insurance and general welfare assistan- ce benefits will eventually bankrupt the taxpayer. What is obviously needed are more effective job creation measures. It is also obvious that, those measures already in place have not accomplished what they set out to do - at least in our area. This newspaper has never been taken with the ideals of socialism and we do not believe that this philosophy will provide the answers to our current economic problems. 7 However, we believe that it is in the best in- terests of the community as a whole for ail levels of government to acknowledge that unem- ployment is the number one econpmic problem in this country. If people are working, then people are par- ticipating fully in the free market. They are buying homes, cars, furniture, and ail sorts of goods and services which in turn will produce more jobs and a healthier economy. While we admit that this view is somewhat sim- plistic it does not appearto be faroff the mark. Conversely, if the numbers of unemployed con- tinues to grow, then the drain on our taxes for unemployment and welfare benefits will also con- tinue to grow. Regional Councillor Tom Edwards has ad- vocated that Durham Regional Council appoint a task force to determine whether or not it is in the region's capabilities to address the problem of local unemployment. He has-suggested that his task force be composed of people from all segments of our community - labor, management, clergymen, and politicians. Perhaps they can come up with a few local solutions. We do not always agree with Edwards' politics, but in this case he has a valid suggestion. We are at the point, and have been for a few years now, where if unemployment in Durham Region is going to be reduced then we are going to have to lead ourselves. It is more than obvious that we cannot rely on the provincial and federal gover- nments to do the job. No one can really predict what Edwards' proposed task force will recommend, however, that does not mean that it should not be established. It is interesting to note that at last week's meeting of Durham Regional Council, not one of our elected representatives made comment on the report. Yet, this report clearly shows that we can expect more of our tax dollars to be spent on providing welfare benefits to an increasing per- centage of our residents. If this trend continues, it will place a great bur- den on the taxpayer. This is not a glamourous issue, no one will get credit for doing something positive and those politicians who take the popular stand that welfare recipients are doing nothing other than ripping off society are not confronting the problem. There can be nothing more important than put- ting people back to work. Durham Regional Coun- cil has a positive obligation to tell the senior levels of government that their programs are wor- thless and to propose concrete and workable alternatives before the cost of unemployment becomes to great to bear. f i - <il.