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THE NEW TANNERTHURSDAY, APRIL 2, 2009 7 GRAPEVINE with Mike OLeary The Way I See It Food drive Saturday Dont forget to leave those non- perishable food donations in plastic bags at your front door by 8:30am this Saturday morning April 4 in time for the Scouts, Guides, Cal- vinist Cadets annual fundraiser for Acton Foodshare. Items needed include canned meat, fish, fruit, stew, vegetables, tomatoes, pasta sauce, peanut butter, jam, ketchup, rice, macaroni, and cheese, cereal and side dishes such as Sidekicks, instants potatoes and stuffing, as well as snacks suitable for school children. Foodshare has a good supply of soup, baby food, canned pasta, baked beans, chickpeas, and kidney beans so the former items will help them feed the needy over the next few weeks. About 22 households need the help of the food bank each week and the num- ber is rising. Scrapbook workshop Creative Memories consultant Tammy Somerville is donating part of the proceeds from her hands on National Scrapbook Day workshop on Saturday (April 4) at St. Albans hall on Willow St. Somerville will provide instruc- tion on safe photo and memory celebrations with both traditional and digital scrapbooking and assist participants in starting keepsake albums. Theres a fee for the all day event. Contact Tammy at 519- 853-4174. Elvis appearing Elvis will be in the building at Knox Presbyterian Church in Acton on Saturday, April 25 for a night of gospel music, for which Presley was famous. Tickets are available at the church office 519- 853-2360 or 519-853-0318 or 519-853-0216 A taste of Spring Theres nothing quite like pan- cakes with good old fresh maple syrup, maple baked beans and maple sweets and its all going to be served at Limehouse Memorial Hall this Saturday, April 4 from 9am till 1pm. There also a bake table for that other sweet tooth. Kids 5 and under are free. Colon cancer seminar Halton Healthcare is always working to educate people in Halton about cancer, its diagno- sis, treatment and prevention. On Tuesday, April 21 they are having a free seminar on colon cancer at Milton District Hospital featuring surgeon Dr. Jeff Kolbasnik and Enterostomal Therapist Yvonne Van Impe from Acclaim Health. Colon cancer is one of the most deadly forms of the disease but early detection can stop it in its tracks. Milton Hospital is located at 30 Derry Rd in Milton. Laurens Locks for Cancer Nine year-old McKenzie Smith Bennett Public school student Lauren Matsuo has decided to cut her hair and donate it to a com- pany that makes wigs for cancer patients. She is also collecting pledges to be donated to the Can- cer Assistance Services, Halton Hills. They provide free services to people touched by cancer. Lau- ren is hoping to challenge other students to make a goal and give back to the community. If you would like to make a donation on Laurens behalf please call 519- 853-1224. Tax receipts will be available for donations of $10 or more. Acton Connection A note from Burlington sports scribe Denis Gibbons, a former Actonian, mentions that we prob- ably missed the fact that one of the owners of the Toronto Maple Leafs of the Senior Intercounty Baseball League who died last November, was from Acton. Marilyn Mellor, who was Fred Mellors daughter, was married to Jack Domenico and they were inducted into the Etobicoke Sports Hall of Fame in 2000. The couple owned and operated the Leafs for 40 years at Christie Pits, well known for its battles on the diamond. Dr. Vanderbent honoured Theres still one or two tickets left for the evening to honour Dr. Vanderbent at the Royal Can- adian Legion hall on Friday, April 3 but they are likely to go fast. The evening will not only have former patients, but Dr. Davids peer to celebrate over 40 years of service in Acton and area. Tickets are $30 per person and are avail- able at Halton Hills Furniture and Links2Care Church St work Reconstruction of Church St. in Acton is scheduled to start again on Monday June 6 with a completion date about the end of July. Work had to be stopped from John St. to Main St. S. because of an early start to winter which ef- fectively grounded construction machinery. Temporary repairs on the street allowed motorists to ac- cess but it was sure bumpy. Petiton signing The McKenzie Smith Bennett (MSB) School Council is urging prople to sign the petition theyve been circulating opposing the sale of MSB land by the Halton Dis- trict School Board. Local trustee Gerry Ockendens motion to delay any sale of surplus property until the Board has a final report was passed by the Board at their March meeting. The MSB School Council would like to have 4,000 signa- tures for their petition to present to the Board. A delegation will take the petition to the school board at a meeting in May Petitions can be found at both the Acton and Georgetown Home Hardwares, Royal Jug City, The Movie Gallery and Giant Tiger in Acton Last Monday President Obama spelled out in detailed terms the conditions that GM and Chrysler have to meet in or- der for the U.S. Government to continue loaning U.S. taxpay- ers money to those companies. Unlike past investments in this industry there are plenty of strings attached. Hours later both Canadians and Ontarios Finance and Industry Ministers issued their own set of condi- tions for GM and Chrysler Canada. To say the gloves were off as both governments laid down the law to these once auto giants would be an understatement. The first casualty was GMs American CEO Rick Wagon- er. But dont feel too bad for him, Hes walking away with a reported +/- $23 million. I understand the rest of GMs American Board of Directors resigned, or is planning to, in the aftermath. So far I havent heard of any recent casual- ties amongst the most senior executives of GM or Chrysler Canada. What surprised me is that one of Obamas main targets was the United Auto Workers (U.A.W) in the automotive in- dustry stateside. Traditionally unions have been big Demo- cratic Party supporters. I assume theyre not happy with their man in the White House but its hard to see what op- tions they have. The alternative would probably be bankrupt- cy (Chapter 11 or worse in the States) which would im- mediately render those union contacts null and void. The Canadian governments have sought assurances from the President that, as a con- dition of their continued The sound of the other shoe falling financial support, that 20% of North American Auto produc- tion will remain in Canada. That should be little comfort to GM and Chrysler workers be- cause that 20% also includes Ford who has not asked for a bailout package.yet. Ford, in fact, is offering new car buyers 3 months protection on monthly car payments if the buyer loses their job in an effort to increase sales. The problem here in Ontario, and in the States in not just the job losses at GM and Chrysler, not that these arent important. The larger problem is that it is estimated that 500,000 work- ers are directly and indirectly tied to the auto industry here. That includes parts and raw material suppliers, many of whom are right here in Halton Hills. Add to that, restaurants, coffee shops, retail stores of all types and the situation is not encouraging unless gov- ernments act decisively and quickly. In Canada, and in the United States, much of the taxpayer anger at these bailout packages is aimed at the autoworkers themselves and in particu- lar their union. Many people think their salaries and bene- fits packages are excessive especially when compared to foreign manufacturing plants also located here. So did the autoworkers wage packages bring these once giant corporations to their knees? I think not, I think bad man- agement is totally to blame. Anytime a company fails, 9 times out of 8 its because of short-sighted, inattentive or greedy management. In the case of the 2 auto companies its probably all 3. Do the autoworkers make a high wage? It appears so, but then Ive never worked on an assembly line so I cant com- ment on that. More than once during my business career Ive thought that my family and I would have been bet- ter off had I worked at one of the car plants. But I had two personal problems that stopped me. I hated working shifts (I did it for 1 summer during my Ryerson days) and I enjoyed working on my own so I stuck with my sales. In my opinion the Can- adian Auto Workers Union is making a mistake saying they wont re-open their con- tract with GM. My read of the situation is that none of the three levels of government is bluffing in their demands. You will notice theyre de- mands, not suggestions. If any of the Canadian car plants fold because of the CAWs intransigence the union will take the brunt of the criticism. My opinion is that there will be little sympa- thy for them even from other unions. Other unions might fuss and fume but silently theyll be thanking their lucky stars its not their members. No-one wants to take a step backwards when it comes to their wages. But the reality may be jobs and no wages. If that happens God help us all SCOTIABANK PROMOTION: Acton branch of Scotiabank had a special promotion of mort- gages last Friday to alloy fears of people alarmed at the mortgage mania which has enveloped North America. Bill McNally left of Johnson Associates tehre to assist Lorraine Bellizi-Hoare, branch manager and Ceclia Casalinuovo the senior personal banking officer at the branch - Ted Tyler photo