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Page THE HERALD OUTLOOK Saturday July 1989 the HERALD OUTLOOK is published each Saturday by the HILLS HERALD Home Newspaper of Hills A Division of Canadian Newspapers Company Limited at Street Georgetown Ontario L7G3Z6 Second Class Mail Outlook Unhappy Just say cheese Registered Number STAFF Your Business Diane Thornton Feeling a little blue and in need of a quick lift Say cheese or bet ter still stick a pen between your teeth Emulating a smile can give rise to happy feelings medical resear chers say The theory dates back Charles Darwin who wrote about it in If most people tried putting on happy face it could cause some unhappy looks on the faces of peo ple who sell caffeine alcohol and happy pills No one need mood boosters anymore thanks tc the ease of saying cheese Psychiatrists too could see their client list dwindle as former ly depressed patients walked around pronouncing the eeeee sound and chomping on their pens and pencils Mind you the techni que only works when people do not have a good reason for feeling sad researchers caution Many different studies have been done of the relationship bet ween facial expression and mood according to a recent story in the New York Times The obvious rebuttal is that we tend to feel hap py before we look happy In other words the mood causes the facial expression not the other way around Thats not to say there is no con nection between the two HOTHEADS FROWN Indeed Robert a psychologist at the University of Michigan links changes in facial Berrys World REMINISCING IN BEIJING PUBLISHER David A Beattie EDITOR Brian MacLeod AD MANAGER Dan Taylor Donna Ron SPORTS EDITOR Colin Gibson COUNTING I Joan SNAFU by Bruce Beattie muscles to the temperature of blood flowing to the brain The higher the temperature the worse the persons mood Cooler blood results from a pleasant facial ex pression Other researchers say the link has yet to be proved Even proponents of die link ad rait that thoughts memories and reallife events are more impor tant than face muscles in deter mining a persons mood But peo ple who go around scowling all the time may be contributing to their own unbappiness they say Just think A simple parting the lips a flashing of teeth could change a persons life if done often enough Im not saying that all moods are due to changes in the muscles of the face only that facial action leads to changes in mood Dr Za says If hes right he certain ly has uncovered a useful body of information In his opinion the physiology of the change is that as face muscles relax or tighten they raise or lower the temperature of blood flowing to the brain The temperature changes affect the part of the brain that regulates emotion MONKEY SEE Researchers tested the hypothesis on different volunteer groups asking people to adopt cer tain facial expressions without tell ing them the mood the expression was supposed to reflect For the most part people reported feeling surprised when they opened their eyes wide and let their mouths drop open for example This leads one to wonder how deeply the feelings run People may mimic a sense of well being without really feeling it the happy face may be little more than an act Now you tell me this doubles as a lightning rod Nuclear safety needs not being met Ottawa Almost a year ago the Commons energy committee told Parliament the agency which regulates the nuclear industry was substantial ly deficient in money and man power However someone in Ottawa was either asleep or cared not hear than improving ft situation has worsened The Atomic Energy Control Board is not some minor agency which designs heraldic crests or mulls over landscaping plans for the prime ministers garden Its purpose is to ensure that use of nuclear energy does not endanger public health and the environment No matter which side of the nuclear debate one takes there must surely be agreement on one point that the industry must be regulated so that safety is assured Nuclear energy plays a major role in Canada today Onehalf of Ontarios electricity comes from nuclear plants and the provincial government is committed to more over the next decade About pei cent of electricity generate across Canada comes frorr nuclear reactors The public might reasonably ex pect then that high priority would be given to a watchful eye on the industry Instead regulation is be ing shoved to the backburner APPEAL MADE Last summer Rene J A Leves AECB president appealed to thenenergy minister Marcel Masse to restore a halfdozen posi tions cut from the agencys staff He asked for a increase in staff and budget so the AECB could effectively do its job The reward for his impertinent was another cut In the 198- fiscal year the AECB will see its personyears thats the amount of work one employee can do In a year fall to 264 from 289 and its budget drop to million from 4 million last year Last month and his of ficials were again before the Com mons committee Their remarks reveal frustration at the inability to do their job For the public the comments are downright scary said there are users of radioisotopes in Canada One third of radioisotopes users about 1100 did not meet accep table standards in 1987 and their number is increasing This is because inspections are too infre quent and the incidence of unsafe practices is too high Levesque added that inspections should be made at least once a year But in practice it is sometimes longer than two years between inspections Among users the AECB regulates are 18 nuclear reactors 10 research reactors uranium mines hospitals and cancer treat ment centres and industries As technology in the nuclear in dustry changes the AECB falls even farther behind told the committee the agency has no resources for retraining or up dating the knowledge of reactor operators A divisional manager Pierre Marchildon added that the thinks there should be some design changes to the shutdown system of the Pickering A reactors near Toronto but so far only a super ficial review has been possible He said a review should also be made of the new Candu reactors now being designed but this cant be done because even operating tors put a strain on staff Jim another divisional manager told MPs that as reac tors get older more things wear out He said he would not say there are greater risks but it is dif ficult for AECB officials to satisfy themselves that risks dont exist The dismal list goes on said the AECB has fallen behind in its safety commitments to the International Atomic Energy Agency which by the way ranks Canada last among developed countries terms of staff and money spent on reactor inspection ADVERTISING SALES Valois Craig Teeter Roberts PRODUCTION DEPARTMENT Dave Hastings Supt Annie Myles Susanne Wilson CIRCULATION DEPARTMENT Marie PRESSROOM FOREMAN Brian PRESS ASSISTANT Todd Aikman Spending estimates are ignored By RENNIE Ottawa Bureau Thomson New Service In a spring ritual followed by many Treasury Board presidents before him Robert Cotret presented Parliament in April with the estimates the federal govern meats annual spending blueprint The detailed plans for dispensing government largesse over the coming year and reviews of departmental performance are referred directly to House of Com committees for critical ex animation But there is concern the estimates described by Auditor General Ken Dye as the best single source of information on department programs are large ly ignored by MPs Senior bureaucrats claim the politicians seldom take full ad vantage of the estimates and miss the best opportunity to measure government accomplishments Parliamentary Library research officer Peter Berg who prepared a twopart review of the handling of the estimates found the scrutiny of MPs usually leans to matters of constituency interest and items of embarrassment to the govern ment Public interest in government spending has grown over the years and so have the estimates from a relatively simple single volume to a hefty threepart set of documents Recent additions and refinements require departments to outline results they expect to achieve from program expen and account for use of past funds POWERFUL TOOL Yet former correctional services commissioner Donald has said most parliamentarians dont seem to realize or care that the departmental estimates pro vide them with a powerful tool In four years of presenting estimates to the House of Com mons committee on justice and legal affairs I only encountered two members of Parliament who showed interest in the reported ac tual results or achievements of the Correctional Service of Canada he told an Australian audience several years ago Douglas an economist educator and former deputy- secretary of Treasury Board described the attitude of MPs as less than enthusiastic noted that the committees there are 20 perusing this years estimates are stricken with high absentee and turnover rates among members In a Canadian Tax Foundation paper said there is a lack of interest on the part of MPs in reviewing established program spending There is no incentive for government MPs to be critical and opposition MPs concentrate on department managers and feign outrage at the extravagant expen ditures made for such line items as entertainment travel and fur niture Theres a reason for that Yeomans said I learned 23 years ago that the Canadian public is not in in good management in the public service Therefore parliamentarians and ministers lack real motivation in this sub ject To help MPs understand and evaluate departmental programs in their committee reviews Berg has prepared a list of 16 general questions to consider when review ing thestimates