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Home Newspaper of Halton Hills Established PC leadership race gets rolling A Division of Canadian Newspapers Company Limited Guelph Street Georgetown L7G 3Z6 Ontario DAVID A BEATTIE Publisher Manager DAN TAYLOR Advertising Manager Mail MIKE TURNER Editor Phone 8772201 Page THE HERALD Wednesday January 1989 Volunteerism 100 Volunteensm 100 No its not a credit course offered at a high school or community college but maybe it should be Its something Acton offers that a lot of communities could go to school on Thursday night Councillor Rick Bonnette made an astute observation at an open house designed to beef up in terest the Halton Hills Volunteer Ambulance Service foi Acton Bonnette pointed out Acton is traditionally known for being exceptional when a call for volunteers goes up It was hoped Thursdays gathering at Acton High School would encourage people to become involved with the facet of the ambulance service lnitiaed six months ago to deter mine whether a need was warranted for Acton A few of the more than 40 people who attended the meeting probably left wondering why they had come in the first place It was made clear there isnt a lot of remunera Don or glory to look forward to by being a member of the volunteer ambulance service But those few along with those who really felt they could make a difference in the wellbeing of their community were there The fact that over people responded when a localized ambulance service for Acton was in jeopardy says something in itself Volunteerism 100 Compared to the track record of many communities that represents a 100percent concern for the community Stick with the facts Hamilton area Cam Jackson kicked off the Ontario Progressive Conservative leader ship contest last weekend It wasnt official mind you but there is no other way to interpret the speech he made to a Tory riding association It staked Jackson s tent in what the media call the right wing of the party Thats where most of the rank and file are located but it is con ventional wisdom that while being right wing can win you the party leadership it also guarantees youll lose the general election to follow Still Jackson seemed undeter red He summed up the great dividing line in PC politics as the chasm between the politics of convenience and the politics of conviction He was for conviction of course specifically mentioning his vote against rent controls in 1986 the only vote cast against them in the legislature Claiming that our base of voter support in Metro Toronto was threatened top Tory advisors pushed us toward the road of con veniencehesaid But having opposed rent con trols all my hie I couldnt change my mind just because some pollster said our Toronto seats were at stake He dropped other lines that if continued into the leadership cam due to officially begin later this year will make many or dinary Tones nod their heads in Editors Notebook Mike Turner Hera Editor There ib much ado these days concerning the survival slash war slash adventure games pro posal At the risk of sticking my face in someones target sights Id like to offer a few observations First of all people are going to argue about a lot of things regar this issue Eventually it will come down to someone deciding whether this type of operation is too noisy or too dangerous and in fringes on the way of life for those directly affected And Im staying clear of this of the discussion completely The point Id like to make is about the game itself And con trary to what some people may feel it to only a game Ive had the opportunity to play the survival game twice before The tint outing I found it ex hUaxatmg The second time some of the novelty was gone but it was most definitely fun And I certainly take exception tc suggesting Im some type of warmonger because I enjoy this sort of thing For my money I got a good workout and quite simply had a lot of run We all picked up a few welts along the way but no one was In essence its a chance for grown men and women by the way to act like a bunch of Gome Monday we were back at work just like the rest of the grownups can with the people who are concerned over how such an operation will affect their livestyle But try to stick to the real issues Dont try to label the people who will come in to play the games as a particular type of human be ing Can we assume people who come in to the community to buy an animal fur coat all hate animals This is certainly a contentious issue and it will eventually be resolved one way or the other But its important to stick to the facts Queens Park Derek Nelson Thornton Sorvke These include references to the size of government too big and costly Liberal mismanagement workers compensation and the auto insurance board defence of private property against coming amendments to the trespass act family values Sunday a common pause day and the Lords Prayer to remain in schools and law and order a Victims Bill of Rights and special taxes on criminals Jacksons rhetoric was sometimes critical media will undoubtedly call it Bush league as when he noted the day passes given to a young offender who Is a triple murderer PUBLIC WARNING Instead of cutting off unescorted day passes for this dangerous offender the Liberals are busy trying to find out who issued the public warning so they can fire him Thats right The Liberals are more concerned about a murderers privacy than public safety But he also waxed philosophical as when suggesting that to Liberals and socialists compas sion is measured by the number of people receiving handouts Our party measures compassion by counting the number of people who no longer need handouts Conservatives know that economic growth and job creation are the best social programs government can provide and so on Jackson isnt alone out there the leadership wars mind you just the first to express his vision in such an open and obvious cam pa speech Party president Tom Long whose conservative views are similar to Jackson s and have been widely disseminated for far longer is also generally con to be running flat out for the leadership Currently he is touring the pro vince advocating that every party member should get to cast a ballot for the next leader the socalled one man one vote option a change in the partys constitution that will require twothirds support at a constitutional convention to be held here Feb 11 It doesn t hurt Long s candidacy to be shaking all those hands like ly again he did the same tour ing pep talks all through the federal and provincial campaigns as well as before and after becom ing president Moreover hes been a key figure in seeking internal party reform which naturally tends to excite Tones but puts everyone else to sleep Some Tories and pundits con Long the man to beat but that will likely depend on just how many and how varied his competi tion There are at least another half- dozen possible contenders standing wings Children pay in debtridden countries By JANET DUVAL Herald Special Imagine you have to repay a loan that your parents took on years ago Imagine that youre having trouble doing so The bank insists that you sell the food in your cup boards and the hardwood trees on your property to raise the cash and it wants your children to leave school and go to work to earn more Its an unthinkable scenario and yet similar to what is happen ing all over the Third World as countries try to repay foreign debts they incurred in the 1970s now totalling trillion dollars Back then banks were flush with oil dollars from the Middle Bast and developing countries borrowec them sometimes for grandiose projects sometimes for weapons Sometimes the money simply went into the pockets of dictators like Marcos of the Philippines who has now deposited the money in his western bank accounts Mean while it is the poor of those coun tries who suffer under huge debt loads that will probably never be repaid Many countries have to borrow money simply to keep up their interest payments Brazil owes trillion Mexico billion Sudan uses per cent of its export earnings to pay its debts Such countries have to export more to the west in order to raise foreign dollars to pay their debts They must cut expensive social programs such as education and health Huge rainforests in Brazil Indonesia and Ethiopia have been cut for export at great risk to the earths environment Farmers who used to feed their families well now grow crops for the west while their children go hungry All over the Third World malnutrition and illiteracy are increasing the environment is suffering and there to anger and unrest Why ask the poor are we paying for something we never wanted pro jects which were of little or no benefit to us UNICEF harshly condemns the situation The rich got the loans and the poor got the debts says its report and its the children who are paying for it with their lives Some countries have already paid more in interest than the original debt was worth Several Georgetown churches are concerned about the situation Their committee Ten Days for World Development has written to the Chairmen of Canadas major banks to whom over billion is owed They ask the banks to con sider the moral and ethical conse quences of their loans and to think about forgiveness or reduction of the loans Committee members have also visited some of the local bank managers to talk about the pro blem Bankers expressed concern and interest and offered various suggestions for approaching their own head offices and the public They pointed out that foreign loan losses from countries who are unable to pay right now have no effect on domestic service charges to bank customers One manager suggested that banks are anxious to maintain a good public image If they could be shown to be good guys by cancelling or reducing foreign debt they might do so Foreign debt is really everyones problem It affects the poor abroad bank shareholders here and the health of the whole planet Bankers are recognizing that full payment of principal and interest will never come and that people in rags dont make good customers for western goods Georgetown churches and the Ten Days committee are spon soring a special prayer vigil related to the debt and environ ment situation One on Sunday Feb S at at St Georges Anglican Church AlNare welcome for an hour of contempla tion prayer and special music