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Home Newspaper of Halton Hills Established 1866 A Division of Canadian Newspapers Company Limited Guelph Street Georgetown L7G 3Z6 Ontario DAVID A BEATTIE Publisher and General Manager DAN TAYLOR Advertising Manager Mall Number DjU Preparing for a minor shuffle MIKE TURNER Editor Phone 8772201 Page THE HERALD Wednesday Its only fitting The achievements of residents in some communities often go unnoticed because there is no fitting recognition for their efforts Fortunately for Halton Hills the annual Municipal Awards Evening goes a long way towards honoring those who deserve to be singled out for their achievements In his or her own way each of the recipients of these awards is an ambassador for the community when they travel to other municipalities to pursue their respective field of endeavor These people have brought honor to Halton Hills and its only fitting that Halton Hills should honor them in return Scouting about Speculation is building here about the chances of a minor cabinet shuffle in February Or more likely a major re casting of cabinet this summer Much of the gossip centres on Treasurer Robert Nixon who is said to be destined for retirement after presenting a final budget late this spring The question of where Nixon is bound and when lies at the heart of the speculation Until he goes any major shift is on hold And since it is already generally considered too close to budget time to change treasurers although thats only partially true any cabinet moves this month would have to be relatively minor One theory is that the Liberals have been receiving such bad press over housing and health mat ters that Housing Minister Chaviva Hosek and Health Minister Elinor Caplan are almost certain to be transferred from their portfolios And the sooner the better the theory goes Incidentally the same goes for Liberal House Leader Sean Con way whose partisan style is wrong for the job The contrary view is that for all its socalled troubles the govern ment is still riding along at a com fortable level in the polls which in dicates things cant be all that bad politically Queens Park Derek Nelson Thomson Besides neither nor has really had a genuine chance to produce at ministries where the real chores are long term rather than short Their problems are in many ways ones of perception rather than content No matter who holds housing and health and given a boom economy no matter the par ty in power the cost of health care and the price of housing are going to continue to climb out of sight Mind you Hoseks troubles are fuelled by her lecturing school- approach to both opposi tion and media while Caplans in sistence on dodging questions rather than answering them doesnt help her case They could both take lessons from Nixon who actually responds to opposition and media queries NIXONS FUTURE The most interesting stories right now are based on speculation over what job Nixon will get when he goes High Commissioner or Agent- General to England are two posts often mentioned although they suffer as possibilities if as some suggest the family preference is for a genuine retirement More fitting in that context would be the essentially parttime jobs of Ontario Hydro chairman or federal senator In anycase with Nixon gone the job of treasurer opens up and the only name heard as a candidate is Management Board chairman Murray Elston whose quiet ways have apparently impressed Premier David Peterson The other major post in govern ment Attorney General is held by Ian Scott There are and have been for two years constant rumors about Scotts unhappiness with the political world and his desire to get out On the other hand it has also been said he wants to run for On tario Liberal leader some day The two streams of thought arent ex actly compatible Another consideration weighing on Peterson is whether he wants to proceed with the idea of a super- minister for the environment which would give incumbent Jim formal control not only over that ministry but others such as natural resources and energy There is also one final element to this particular cabinet shuffle that Peterson must ponder He has 60odd increasingly restless backbenchers who want some sign that they can make it to the governments front benches Editors Notebook Mike Turner Herald Editor There arent too many people who arent in some way tied to the Boy Scout or Girl Guide movement in Canada Many of us grew up with Scouts or Guides and some continued to be involved as leaders and counsellors when they reached adulthood Next week Scouts and Guides Cubs and Brownies Beavers and Tweenies Pathfinders and Ven turers Rovers and Sparks and the other groups if there are any Ive missed will celebrate Scout- Guide Week Too often everything Scouting stands for is taken for granted Some parents will send their son or daughter off each week for their meeting and then pick them up afterwards without giving much thought to what they do at the meetings There are a lot of cliches associated with the Scouting move ment and quite frankly many fit The Scouting and Guiding organizations are after all totally upright and beyond reproach The stigma attached to Scouting is that its almost too goody- goody But thats by no means a terrible thing Scouts Guides and the other associated organizations do a great deal in teaching young peo ple a sense of responsibility and honesty while at the same time helping to mature into wor thwhile members of the communi ty Out of those who are now ed in these organizations many will grow up to become community leaders whether as business peo ple politicians or merely as leaden in the Scouting movement passing along the same values to those coming up But the other side of the Scouting movement is an important one too Scouting can open up some wonderful opportunities to young people to experience things they wouldnt otherwise be able to The main thrust of Scouting is to learn through experiences That may mean camping trips In the dead of winter sleeping under lit tle more than a sheet of plastic or could mean trips halfway around the world to share scouting ex perience another nation and culture Im not sure if they still go camp ing in the winter The truth is when I was a member of Scouting my personal preference was the summer outings I liked the idea of battling blood thirsty mosquitoes more than the prospect of having to sleep in sub zero temperatures But one of the greatest ex periences Scouting provided for me was the opportunity to visit Japan for the World Jamboree of Scouting The fact that was the is important here since most of the actual Jamboree was wiped out by a typhoon Seeing another country though and particularly one as beautiful as Japan with such a magnificent history was something I could never have done had it not been for Scouting Today Scouting and the people involved with its operation are making it possible for other young people to enjoy a wide variety of experiences Not all will be able to visit other countries through Scouting But each of them will be better people for the experiences they share Public servants come into their own There was a time when public servants were known as the pussycats of the labor movement Tough strikehardened veterans of industrial and buildingtrades labor wars scoffed at the thought of government clerks stenographers teachers and other whitecollar workers hitting the bricks No longer The cuddly kittens are increasingly the tigers on the industrialrelations scene The trend has been going on for a few years now It started with municipal workers represented by outfits such as the Canadian Union of Public Employees and since has spread to provincial and federal employees The election a few years ago of Shirley Carr as president of the Canadian Labor Congress the countrys labor parliament was proof of the growing power of publicservice unions roots were in CUPE now by far the countrys largest union No 2 is the National Union of Pro vincial Government Employees an umbrella group that represents some of the brewery workers who will lose jobs because of the MolsonCarling merger Ranked third is the Public service Alliance the largest federal- employee union Two decades ago Canadas labor movement was dominated industrial unions such as the Ottawa Vic Parsons United Steel workers and the United Autoworkers now the Canadian Auto Workers What does this mean for the public when privatization and government spending cuts are issues of the day QUIET TIME A recent study by Board sheds light Author says industrial rela tions in private business is enjoy ing a period of relative tranquility Labor and business have had some success in reducing privatesector tensions But in the public and socalled parapublic sectors including teach nurses and other worke ho indirectly get their money government the situation is not improving The publicsector unions are becoming more distrustful and more militant says Benimadhu This uneasy climate will materialize in an arduous negotia tion process which will dominate the laborrelations scene in This militant atmosphere is evi dent in rhetoric issuing from Public Service Alliance head quarters in Ottawa Union presi dent Daryl Begn predicts confron tation unless the government softens its negotiating stance and provides more cash and job securi ty to workers seeking new contracts thiB year Strike action will have a debilitating impact on the delivery of many public services Bean said recently Whats behind the tough words Bean says the government has slashed 15000 jobs since 1984 Many of those disappeared through attrition or retirement In other cases the government plac ed those whose Jobs disappeared into vacant positions But often those left behind were expected to perform the duties of departed col leagues as well as their own This has eroded the morale of many survivors PRAISED MINISTER There was a flash of optimism last week when Bean praised the reappointment of Robert de Cotret as head of the Treasury Board which negotiates with federal employees Cotret held the same position a few years ago when the alliance negotiated a den tal plan and established master contracts for its members But Beans joy may be short liv ed Hie government has made clear its prime goal if deficit reduction De Cotret is unlikely to prove to be the amiable sort of bygone years Confronting a restraintminded government is a union with more effective strike power Inex plicably Treasury Board failed to get its lists of designated employees those forbidden to strike for reasons of safety and public security to the labor board on time That means more workers in sensitive jobs can walk out than in previous years Moreover a bothersome issue has arisen that could mess things up Its the federal smoking ban in government offices Defiant workers have been lighting up where they are not permitted Others have left work for long periods of time for smokes With members on both sides of the smoking issue the alliance has had trouble coping with this one and internal turmoil has ensued That spells bad news for negotia tions Whenever a large group of unhappy members exists it means trouble for both union leaders and employers especially if dissidents show their wrath by turning down a tentative contract Labor relations is often un predictable Agreements can be reached unexpectedly and talks that should be a piece of cake sometimes fail But this spring could be the time that one of the pussycats roars