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4 -- PORT PERRY STAR -- Tues. November 1, 1983 editorial comments ER A I RRR NR HANA A EC fodiens sae STL Ss ge > TELLIN UHIERE <b, " No THAT COULD LEAD JO [ © chatterbox by J. Peter Hvidsten DESERVE CREDIT Working for a newspaper has its good and bad moments, and last Sunday night was one of the bad occasions. I received a call about 8:00 p.m. that the local fire department had been called out to the scene of an acci- dent, so I grabbed my camera case and a warm coat and headed out. Driving to the scene of an accident, many things go through ones mind. How bad is the accident? Is anyone injured? Could it be someone I know? When I arrived on the scene on Sunday night there was no doubt in my mind that this was a very serious accident. Long before I got out of my car and made my way along the highway to where the accident had oc- curred, I knew that there was a good possibility that so- -meone had died in this accident: But the real reason for this column is to pay tribute to some of the men working at the accident scene. Policemen, ambulance attendants and firemen all work- ed together to help the trapped victims. In particular, I would like to point out the members of the Scugog Fire Department for their efforts. With the ""'jaws-of-life"' they carefully cut away portions of one of the vehicles and released the injured driver, enabling the ambulance crews get him to the help of doc- tors at the hospital. Although the other driver was not as fortunate, the firemen worked frantically for over half an hour in the cold to free him. With their equipment, which included portable lights, the jaws-of-life, winches, crowbars, etc. the firemen were finally able to free the man from the grip of the wrecked truck. It is at times such as these that we realize just how important this equipment is. How much it costs to pur- chase the equipment and to train the men becomes very unimportant. : We can be thankful that we have a council that sup- ports the on-going equipping of our fire department, but more importantly that we have dedicated men that know how to use it. Scugog Township can be proud of its firemen.- Editor's Note: The following column was written . by W. Roger Worth and represents the views of the Canadian Federation of Independent Business. HOW QUITTERS BECOME WINNERS If anyone doubts there are problems with Unemployment Insurance, they need only glance at the staggering cost of running the system: it has more than doubled to about $12 billion during the last few years. ._ While most Canadians would agree that the jobless should, indeed must, be assisted, there are real concerns that the scheme has become overly generous, providing a disincentive for able individuals to find work, and costing taxpayers money they can't afford to pay. Consider, for example, a few of the points made by the Canadian Federation of Independent Business in an Ottawa presentation. * Across the country, more than 200,000 Canadians annually quit their jobs, then collect Unemployment In- surance. In Ottawa's convoluted bureaucratese, these individuals are called "voluntary quits." * the question, of course, is whether such individuals should be allowed the luxury of quitting. * We can all sympathize with the laid off worker, or an individual who had the bad luck to be employed by a company that failed. But quitting voluntarily is something else again. * As the Federation says: "There can be no social rationale for workers and employers who pay the cost of Unemployment Insurance to support a bill of almost $1 billion for these 200,000 individuals who quit." * Our Unemployment Insurance benefit structures are generous indeed, when compared to other countries. In Canada, for example, some individuals qualify for up to four weeks of benefits for every week worked. Yet in countries such as West Germany, individuals can claim only one week of benefits for every two weeks worked. The Federation suggests Canada move to such a system. * At the same time, Canadians can draw benefits for a full 50 weeks. Yet in 43 states, our wealthy neighbour to the south only provides benefits for 26 weeks. The other nine provide them for 28 to 36 weeks. The Federation believes the maximum duration of benefits in Canada should be reduced to 26 weeks. * Canadian eligibility requirements for Unemploy- ment Insurance are lenient by international standards, and this undoubtedly creates problems. When the number of weeks worked in order to be eligible was last raised, for example, the vast majority of claimants sud- denly found they were able to find a few extra weeks of employment, allowing them to qualify. The Federation believes individuals should have to work a flat 20 weeks before they qualify for benefits. * Finally, Unemployment Insurance creates distor- tions in the system, An individual claiming benefits following work on a high-paying make-work project, for instance, will be reluctant to work at a lower paying job, even if one is available. What's more, unemployment benefits are now as much as $500 per month more than the minimum wages in some provinces. There's little wonder, then, that the Federation is calling for a publi¢ inquiry into Unem loyment In- surance, After all, the organization's mei and their employees are paying a big slice of what has become a staggering Unemployment Insurance bill. Walker's $400,000 Ontario Justice Secretary Gord Walker hit the front pages again recently over his giving $400,000 worth of un-tendered contracts to two close friends and political supporters for speech writing and to stage-manage the opening of six technical centres in the province. The Liberals and New Democrats in the Legislature quite predictably cried 'foul,' but Premier William Davis defended Mr. Walker by pointing out that nothing illegal took place and there was no breach of government policy on tendering contracts. Fair enough. We all know that provincial Cabinet Ministers must have speeches written and there is no way a Government facility can be officially opened without planning and co-ordination of the big event. It would be ludicrous for Mr. Walker or any other Conser- vative minister to hand these jobs to a Liberal or New Democrat. So, what was all the fuss about? Well, right off the bat, $400,000 is a fair chunk of bread for the average tax-payer in this fine province. Just how many speeches were written, how much work and expense went into the opening of these technical centres? Was it necessary to go outside the provincial civil service to get this work done? Surely, the Ontario civil service is not lacking people who can write speeches or plan the opening of a technical facility. Mr. Walker and the premier can come up with all kinds of reasons to defend the actions of the former in this matter. The point is that people can see through this sham for what it is: the use of tax dollars to reward friends of a Cabinet minister, one of whom by the way helped Mr. Walker write a little book recently on what conser- vatism is all about. Mr. Walker hotly denies that any of the money from the speech-writing contract was used to finance his book. What stinks about Mr. Walker's deals with his bud- dies (and the premier's defense of these deals) is how it happens, why-it happens and whether it was a necessary expenditure of public funds. The people of this province are being told to hold the line at six and five, they are being told to live with cut-backs in many areas, they know that universities and hospitals are fighting the financial pinch. Most reasonable people accept the fact that times are tough and some belt-tightening is needed. But Mr. Walker has no trouble finding 400 grand for his buddies to write a few speeches and buy blue rib- bons and coffee for the opening of government facilities. itis no wonder that government has become a dir- ty word, that people don't trust government any more and feel that politicians do a lot of talking out of both sides of their mouth. Mr. Walker didnt break any laws or rules, to be sure. - But he did succeed in adding one more little chip in the public confidence and trust. There isn't much more to chip away. Remembrance It comes as a jolt to learn that 114,000 Canadians gave their lives in the last two world wars and the Korean conflict. They came from all walks of life; the cities, small villages and the farms. Husbands, fathers and sons, the boy next door; many were hardly more than boys when they paid the supreme sacrifice by giving their lives to their flag and country on the. field of battle. About 114,000 of them in all. And this week as November 11 draws near, most of us will: buy a poppy and wear it in memory of those who didn't come home. In this community, the Port Perry Legion will hold a Remembrance Day Parade on Sunday, November 6, starting at about 10:00 A.M. and finishing with the ser- vice at the Cenotaph outside the Legion on Bay Street. The memory of the Canadian war dead has not been forgotten. The poppy, which has been distributed by the Legion since 1926, assures us of that. And last year, the poppy campaign raised almost $3 million in Canada to assist veterans and their dependents. As Remembrance Day, 1983 approaches and we pause to remember the Canadians dead in battle many years ago, it is sadly ironic that young men continue to fall in combat in many areas of the globe. As we remember the 114,000 brave Canadians who fell in battle, let us at the same time hope that this world soon comes to its senses. '