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= a VAT MNT ALU SO TITAS A EI SL RT 3 3 £ {i eal i ha ' [Dx 4 BVA BRE - } » ATER AE Atel £0) editorial com at ! NONE 4 AT f ALTA PUREE Is PRCSE | SRR A FR SET ARCORY AS A aide " The Ratepayers It is encouraging to see that the Scugog Rate- payers Association did not fold up last week and slip quietly 'into oblivion. Far from it. There had been strong fears that the eight-year old Association had run its course and a lack of support would force it to dis-band. turned up atthe annual meeting March 28, the Assotiation elected a new executive for the coming ~ year made up of some new members and some long-time faithful supporters. And it appears as if this combination of old and J new is going to set out in a new year with vigour and determination. Indeed, one of the first official acts of the new president, Perry Grandel, of Nestleton, was to write a snappy letter which appears in this week's edition of the Star, outlining some of the aims and concerns of the Ratepayers, and urging more Scugog citizens to get involved with this organization. Unfortunately, ratepayers associations seem to live an ebb and flow existance, too often blossoming only when there is a hot issue in front of the public that causes just about everyone to want to get into the act. And sometimes the reverse is. true. Associations think they always have to be "rocking _the boat' and creating mischief to be effective and maintain their public appeal. Instead of offering We . Sy constructive criticism and a positive force in the (7 municipal affairs of a community, they become Si stridently single-minded, and lose credibility with AS the majority of residents. > 144 2 We are confident that the Scugog Association can. Aly ] steer clear of these pitfalls. But.at the same time, we arse hope that it can raise its public profile, take a stand a! on an issue, and back up that stand not with emotion Bie or petty politics, but with strong evidence, solidly. it researched and documented. ' 0 To suggest that a ratepayer association has no PARA "raison d'etre" just because there is no controver- : it sial issue in front of the public overlooks the fact that 7 municipal affairs, especially in a two-tier system like Durham Region, is becoming more and more complex all the time. Public awareness in general of just how the system of municipal government functions is sur- 3 prisingly low, considering the fact that municipal government is the closest to the people and decisions made by local councils often have the most direct - impact on the citizens of a community. . For these reasons, we would suggest that aside from getting involved in hot issues when they arise, the! Ratepayers Association has an on-going role to play: namely, increased public awareness and education. There was a suggestion last week that the wh do SN sk d - a a Despite the fact that only a handful of people "IF LoucHEED can po 17 --socANF Scugog Association sponsor a series of seminars, possibly in the form of night school classes in municipal affairs. This is an excellent idea that deserves to be explored. A series of public lectures. or seminars dealing with such municipal topics as property taxation, zoning, planning-or the different functions of regional and local councils would likely be well received. : ® , Certainly, the topic of regional government in this area is an ongoing issue. Even after eight years, there is still a lot of confusion, mis-under- standing and suspicion about the Regional system. And there is more than just a little anger, as well, when Regional taxes, for example, increase in Scugog this year by a whopping 18 per cent. _In his letter to the Star this week, Mr. Grandel says that Regional government is one area the Association will be examining, and expecting some. answers why Scugog Township's share of the Region- al budget increase is almost seven per cent higher than the city of Oshawa. } Finally, we would strongly urge more residents of Scugog to take an active interest in the Associa- tion, pay the $3 annual dues and become members. As one member pointed out last week, being part of the Ratepayers Association for several years was a great way to increase personal knowledge of local government and municipal affairs. We wish the Association and its new executive well, and hope that this time next year it is not faced with the unhappy prospect of folding for lack of public support. : } : POLITICAL MEETINGS Went to a political meeting recently, first ol in years. It was a nomination meeting to + [i select a Tory to run in the next election. And, HX despite my rather jaundiced view of politics hs and politicians, I was able to muster a little w ripple of the old feeling that politics is exciting, and the democratic process is far from perfect, but better than most systems devised by civilized man. 0 As an old weekly editor, this was nothing oy new to me. I published a weekly paper in a WH rural riding, and had to go to the dang 0 things. Often had to drive fifty miles, sit La through a smoke-filled nominating I convention, drive home, arriving about 2:00 Tri .a.m., and have to write the story for next ry minute of it, even when my man lost, which AG he frequently did, because I lived on the LION water, and the farm vote would almost Fic always lick us. Farmers are thicker than thieves, when it comes to politics. If it's a Liberal riding, they vote a solid Liberal. If it's Tory, they go Tory. If it's NDP, they're crazy and must live in the West, according to Liberals and Tories. As a newspaper editor and quandem writer, I have been wooed by all parties. And, as a human being, I like to be wooed, whether it's by cats, grandchildren, beautiful women, or politicians. As a result of this personality weakness, I have worked, and written, politically, for all three major parties in Canada. I felt rather badly that the Social Credits did not woo me. -1 have written speeches, radio scripts, virginal. night. advertisements, and many '"'news releases" a euphemism for political plugs the editors just might run for free, for all parties. Inever felt that I was prostituting myself, even though I didn't intend to vote for the guy I was working for. I was simply using a skill for someone, usually a friend, who'd asked me, because he didn't have the talent g morning's paper. But I enjoyed every --or-the time to do it himself. There's another reason I didn't feel like a prostitute. My total reward for all this was one bottle of Crown Royal, and fifty dollars, deductible for the candidate. And in every case, I voted against the guy I was promoting, which made me feel sort of Well, you don't want to read about my devious path as a political fink. Let's get back to that convention I went to the other It was a typical Canadian nomination convention. I figured, as I wandered off into the winter night with some young neophytes who had never been to one. . Cigar smoke, a lot of red-nosed guys whispering to another lot of guys with whiskey on their breath. A series of boring speeches, in which every candidate pledged virtually the same thing, and invoked that But what's this, when I walk band warming up in th three hundred of the old party But I needn!t have worried conventions on TV, we Canadia with decent decorum. or decorum, actually shouted big name in the sky, the provincial leader. And assurance that we must all pull together for the party, no matter who won. group whacking out some deafening stuff. Banners, signs on sticks, silk scarves denoting your voting preference. A kilty Holy Old Nelly, I thought, what is the sober Canadian voter coming to? And when I took a look at the size of the crowd, I was shaken. I was used to two or people who handed out jobs in the liquor store, gave the nod to the contractors of the right .persuasion for construction work - a post office here, a new dock, there. Despite the effect of American political There were no demonstrations. No fights, no marching around the hall, fiercely cheering their candidate, except for a few teenagers who embarrassed everybody. Those honest Canadians wiggled their banners a bit, even held them up. A few uninhibited souls, with no sense of decency name of the man they were going to vote for, but were careful to shout it only when others were doing the same, 50 thai they wouidn't - Lll a : r= _ Fm be: singled out or humiliated by sounding emotional. There: were no wank ca diigtes: naturally. A women's place is in the home, or out rounding up candidates (male), or providing the lunch. ¢ : There were seven candidates, only two of them with a hope of winning. Some of them might have seen themselves as Joe Clarkes, winning on the fifth ballot, after the big shots have knocked each other out. This doesn't happen on a riding level. There is no cornering of delegates, last- minute deals and promises. The candidates all stand up near the front, smiling desperately. The wives of the turkeys who ran without a hope are whispering harshly in their husband's ears about all the money down the drain. But their husbands are euphoric in the knowledge that they can some day say they ran, and were narrowly defeated for parliament. The candidates all said the same thing, in different words. My man made the best speech, came second on the first ballot and stayed second until the last ballot, when he soared to second. It was all over. We elected a possible back-bencher in? A rock ----------------2 flacks, the too much. ns behaved it was democracy at work. You can't beat them there farmers, when they get together. Why don't théy do it more often? Because they are stubborn individualists, that's why. aloud the And good for them. 2 1] ae umes instead of a potential cabinet minister. But os ----R i ------ TR