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Pae8 'Whltdy FieeP"OS, Wednesday, January 25. 1995 whoty bsies DES NEWMAN'S,'CALLTO0ARMS' Leaersmust work together to build a srogregionfl T/w following is t/e speech by former Whitby, mayor Des Newman, as outgoing president of the Durham Region Manufacturers Association, at t/e aasociation's recent annual meeting, after lie had been roasted by seueral colleagues. Madame Chairman, Mr. Minis- ter, Your Worships, 'ladies and : ntemen, let me thank you for ighere. My friends who have jrtîi 'a:d n this roast, Iknow hats of golid your ab ar hears ofgodf»Illed with over- flowing love and for that Fim truly grateful. I have lived in many places but this place, this province and this country has been home for me. It was where I was married, where my children were born, whero I Kad.the immense plea- sure of serving my cammunity and my country -- and I know now what the English poot meant when he said: Lives there a man With soul 80 dead W/ho neyer to himself/zas said Tisaiw my own, my glorious lanirL And because I wish ta give something back, I listenod ta the wondru admonition of Albert Schweitzer when he said 'For mankind's sake, open your eyes and look for some wýork that needs a little friendship, a little syinpathy, a littie human voico. Sarch and seo if there is not some place where you can invest your humanity.' Well, of course, I did look and I found it. My place,. my Canada and hore I invested my humanity. DRMA is one of the important stops along the way. It ia built ini two constituencios, government and business, and it is those constituencies that I talk ta tonight. A.nd i want to bogin with this simple quotation from Proverbs which saxys'Where thero is no vision, the people perish.' And I wanted tbegin with that because there is mounting evi- dence from a]most every side that governm ents in thia country are al cope with two funda- mental problems: first, the in- creasing compleity of govern- ment, and secondly, the desire.for participation i the procss. Tiiere are no simple answers for those issues, for many.of the problems rise fromn confiicts of conscience, of changing social and moral values. But a greater number of problema are the result of growth and technology running faster than our ability ta cope. We are at last maturing into realization that as long as we continue ta, react to change with- out a positive set of goals and declared sense of purpose, that aur very life, aur very existence cannot h lp b ut deteriorate. As you heard, I have s nt almoat haîf of my adult woring life in local government, at bth the local and national level but always in support of local government. The other haif of xny working life has been spent in the manufacturing sectar, in the aerospaoe industry, 50 clearly you as individuals and this organization as our meeting plac e are important ta me. I ami an unabashed and non-repentant supporter of local government. I seo it not as a steping stane ta greater political office but very much an end in itself. I see it as the very centre of a government infrastructure needed not only ta provide ser- vices in the ground b ut services ta eople regarding their hopes enci their fears- carefully tending the engine w;hich drives thi local and the national economy; and, most importantly, providing the safety valve for individuals in this society. What kind of structures and what kind of people therefore do we need ta influence the future? A future which will ho haîlmar- ked by insistent demanda for clarity and efficiency and public participation in governiment. In- creasingly I believe we will need strong urban leaders and resouroeful,' ,multi-dimensional managers working tagether as a teami and net in the traditional mode cf a master/servant rela- tionship. Mon and womoen who will ho willing ta, run risks and ho in- novative, who are propared ta, look at least five years down the road for operational require- monts and at loast 20 for policy requiroments; who are prepared ta, oducate thomselves and their public; who will not ho afraid of their constituencios but will will- ingly embrace them in the pro- cesa Iwho will seek ta, enlist the energy and the spirit of the dopressed in the socioty and net bo simply satisf»iodwith placat- ing them; who will have the strength ta hoe disobedient -- and I do use that word carefully -- ta provincial and foderal dictates which ravish rather than enhance the woll-hoing cf thoir community; who demand a rationalization of patterns in political interventions in the pro- cssa. It is for those reasons that I ask rny colleagues from ail the municipalities in this region. to, com toethrte beave thoir fîohilsm at home, to work ta, uild a stronger region with suf- ficient political clou t that it really would become the meeting place for re solution of intergov- ernmental contradictions; a place where rationalization of provin- cial imperatives and federal ini- itiatives must meet and mesh wvith community desires; the umbrella which will protect the interosts of local municipalities and permit them the freedom ta develop and evolve as their own citizens demand. That is ane man's point of view -- a caîl ta arms if you wish -- but it ia concern given with the conviction that if local govern- nient withers, the roots of demo- cracy grow dry. If it is genuinely alive, it nourishes the reality of democratic freedom. That, then, is one reality; the reality of the community --the focus of many efforts. A major study completed a couple of years âgo by Decima Research revealed that we are coming out of the recession a littie meaner with a much grea- ter determination ta, support nieasures against. those wha threaten social dislocation and uncertainty in the environment. We did not like the recession, of course, but we believe that we survived and we are botter for that experience. Increasingly also, we blazne the old rules and the old waysf ong tings with those problems and as a con- sequence we are bocomning more responsive to new ideas and more individualistic and there is a growing sense of our ability ta accomplish things. Perhaps one of the most remarkable ffindinga in that work was a continued belief ini the intrinsic value of work. Ninety-seven per cent of those surveyed agreed that it's very important ta take prde in what 1 do in my job while 82 per cent reported that they in fact looked forward ta poing ta work and doing tei1jbsweleach'day- and only il per cent disagreed with the. statement that P'm proud of that company that I work for. Alan Gregg,' the president of Decima, what ls surprising when you look at these findings is how enduring the commitment ta work- ls in the face of canyon- tional wisdom and evidence about the new society and labour unrest specifically. What makes this commitment even more star- tling is the knowledge that the intrinsic value and p ide associa- ted with work is Zut the only work-related attitude which has' not changed and is not changing; for while the, commitment ta work endures, Canadians are in- creasingly finding it difi icult ta. realize thËeir bitions in that workplace. Further, when given a choice between hîgher salaries and other benefits, 84 per cent chose job security; 81 per cent chose a safer, more enjoyable environment; 60 per cent chose greater access ta manpower traiin programs ovor salaries. W a al this le telling us is that we are maturing socially as a nation and that our workforce is not only botter informed and individuahistic but that we face an increasing1 challenge ta meet their oxpectations. Add ta ail of that the enormous impact of technology in aur society and you understand that we live in very challenging times indeed. In- creasingly national strategies wiIl have 'ta respond ta local options in order ta respond to the technological revolution that le taking place before our very eyes. It is now understood that tech- nology drives ail of tho world economies and that the industry- targeting strategies first adopted by the Japanese and now being CoI)ed by many other nations wIl continue to affect the indus- tries that are so targeted. Segments of the North Ameri- can industrial base as you know, are in a period o# rapid recon- struction. Some industries who have failed ta adopt new techno- flogies wiil continue ta fragment, atretching inta. specializud areas. Markets will ho totally different; we are in a very special way part of that change. SEE PAGE 35 GIi or RPa h IU.ffo FREIE... SE IA Seia ghgts Jan. 26th, Feb. lst & l6th lpm February 7th - 7pm to 9:3Opm k: i sheltered growth Use the balanced approach to enhance your RRSP returns. The RRSP with 40% more tax savings! M Inteçgrate your RRSP into your overail investment strategy. RRSP Selection and Strategy a And much more. - FiwuanciaI Get the most out of your RRSP. COilceot Cail for reservations NOW! Seating is Iimited. - Socuriti.s DEREK DUTKA SeringWhibyandOshwasine 186 106 Stevenson Rd. S.,, Oshawa5 977 . -J "--- l-'l -1 - " - - - %.0 e Serving, Mitby and Oshawa since 1986 C«pWb à à koW hW Fod Odm FU Smb >pudb i à WW Smtim de 1