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LETTERS TO THE EDITOR THE HERALD Wednesday January Page Politics and editorials each a responsibility To the editor of The Herald To be In public life Is to be visibly Involved in Important Issues and therefore In roversy Fair enough After all the only way to avoid criticism Is to do nothing Your elected represcnta lives all understand and As true as it is in general how much It is for mem of government who must take positions on all Issues and most of all for the leader of the country Debate Is welcome and he However for it to be meaningful and productive both sides need to feel that their integrity and motives are well regarded Facts are more useful than emotional or part bum reactions while judge ments and Interpretations are sometimes misleading A special responsibility exists for the news media with its power to communicate wld and influence the public Sometimes the thin line bet ween hard news and editorial comment seems blurred in times such as these There to be a tendency to more than praise Ills widely known as the scapegoat theory Everyone gets it in turn business labour the pro fessions governments even the media Itself Nor Is the leader of the country our Prime Minister spared He la the symbol of all that happens and bad He is only one but he Is fair game His very appearance and statement are critical Inour parliamentary system the national leader must ap pear often In the House of Commons and in the media and he docs Recently Prime Minister appeared on TV for his yearend interview His two main subjects nation unity and how they are related Public re action appeared favorable however some editorial com ment was Interesting and de serves a reply even at the risk of being branded an apologist Lot us call It a difference of interpretation It is said that the sho uld be a conciliator as well as a leader must listen as well as Woman questions decision to hold byelection for post To Electorate of Halton Hills As a citizen of Hills and having participated In the past election In an effort to seek a scat on our local council I believe In our democratic process of pal government I believe enough to want to be a part of It enough to want to butetolt However my faith has been somewhat shaken in relation to some of the men who are the pillars of our society the lead of our community the law makers of our town I feel I have been discrimin against perhaps because my qualifications were in doubt perhaps because lam a woman perhaps because of my lack of Influence with council Why must 1 be forced to enter a second election in less than four months in an effort to gain a vacant scat on council in Word If the answer is Our demo cratic process of govern Then I definitely agree however In this case I disagree Because council did appoint a member of our local council to the regional council without considering any other quail fled applicant I feci that it discriminated directly against me by riaht In gainthevacantWanMctialr I lost by a mere 120 votes During the past three years when a vacant seat has red there has been no doubt In the action taken by council The person next in line the runner up in the last election was appointed What changed the minds of council this time Perhaps in the past council wrong fine let It now rectify Its mistake However council should be consistant In Its approach and act in a democratic way when both vacancies As much as the regional post should be filled Immediately a stand in could be used until all the parties Interested and qualified for the position were considered and then the appointment made Consequently council could decide if there were a vacant seat In Ward election I feel that a clearly slated by law regarding sit should be adopted Would a second election have been called If I had been an influential experienced man lead As a hardworking MP my Judgement that our moat of his time listen to Parliament in question period to provincial premiers to caucus to cabinet ministers to party leaders to his own advisers to the public to foreign officials to consultants probably to his wife and child ren certainly more openly than a President Ho listens and remembers He both seeks and offers When all that is done he does what any leader should do ho ma the best decision he can and goes on to test it out In practice Scarcely a bill or action goes through Parliament without hearings the limit time available and without modifications and amend In response to the demo cratic process Our would permit nothing less However there comes a lime to wrap up one piece of business and get on with another On national unity Mr Trud position has always been clear No separatism no two nations no special status On that ho has the full backing of The Liberal Party Beyond that a great deal is negotiable such as the major changes in financial arrangements con eluded with the provinces re cently I saw no mention of that in some editorials There are many other examples Too often it Is forgotten that the federal government must take a strong position on behalf of the weaker provinces and regions while the stronger ones prefer to go their own merry way Too often it is forgotten that Canadian people move from one province to another and expect the same standard in each a form of national unity for which the federal government must as some responsibility These loo are issues of unity and national importance and he has taken a clear stand on them as every party leader should These are reasons why there must be a strong central government ligation and balkanization of this huge country can only serve to weaken It as some would do either deliberately or unwlt llngly Other key issues he has spelled out consistently for national unity are equal opportunity for both Individuals and regions and so that Can can address their government In the ial language of their choice None of the opposition parties More than wish needed for waste Issue not stealing kids but why cults attract them To the editor of The Herald In response to the editorial on deprogramming I don t believe that attacking the or hare na Is the Issue at stake here I have no association with these groups do I wish any but I feel they only represent a problem we have within our own society These groups arc not hippie cults but heavily disciplined religious with rigid moral codes strictly enforced The issue Is not look at them stealing our but rather why are our children leaving their homes to join these religious groups These groups ore obviously filling a need for these children that we can t What Is that need It would be better for us to ask why the children go than be involved In stealing the children back from these groups After all these children left their homes and joined these groups of their own free will Maybe we say these children are being brainwashed by these groups because we re afraid Who is brainwashing ourselves into believing these groups are evil because we re afraid to face the fact that these groups supply an answer to our child ren that fills needs that we can t fill I put it to you You decide Bill Clint To the editor of The Herald It seems to me that an elected representative should be doing more than wishing for solutions to the garbage or hydro problems Hydro Garbage solutions on M list of wishes Town Her aid realise it Is difficult being heard when an M Is not a member of the Official Opposition The Bradley Georgetown Hydro Line is a disgusting example of Ontario Toryism The route was signed and scaled in May of by the Davis Cabinet The garbage problem long years garbage dumping at Site is utterly unbelievable in this day and age and wishing for a solution will not change the mind of those who are proposing his environmental disaster He of logical tests which arc subject to question the tests were made by people recommend the site long landfilllng is not in our best interests or in our best Interest Our elected representative should be working towards legislation outlawing garbage sites of over five years dura He should be telling the people in the area of Site that If and when the bulldozers come that he will be standing hand In hand with in opposition Had I been elected I lint would have been my stand and if I am elected In the future lhal will be my land Civil disobedience Is a serious matter but the pro tection of our heritage calls or measures This Is no election mmlck on my part my is high on the list supporting the People or Plan In the Pickering area and I have stood up and been count id in many communities across I his Province I support the old a dago If wishes were horses beggars would ride William A Johnson Reader election observations To the Editor of The Herald In reference to the Dec municipal elections Since a municipal election of that nature will no doubt be more than a week away I see no reason for being refused this privilege of a private campaign via the press at this time While many parents may have similar feelings may I stress that I am still very capable of functioning on my own and that this letter was compiled by none other Unfortunately many of these issues should have been brought to light at the meeting just prior to the elections Dec 78 However the time element that night was the primary problem and in retrospect perhaps this route will reach more people I should en to stick to the Issues and avoid attacking any in dividual though my feelings of frustration at this point make It more difficult to compose myself And since attack is the common language which is more easily understood by some perhaps It should be considered We arc all aware that in means work there is much less exertion in drifting with the tide There are Issues which have never been resolved never will be while we have people sitting in office who never cease to pass the buck or whose favorite phrase is the budget wont allow it or that a not my problem Whose problem is if It Is frequently thrown to the parents who in turn throw It back to teachers And while this goes on It may get halfway to Burlington by carrier pigeon Then someone says Who Is our Trustee And how do we get to talk to him And when do how do we get him to represent us and then sec to It that our needs are met I recall at the meeting bearing a Trustee say he hod telephone service and next breath slated he had received only calls in the past year I receive more calls than that In one day but then I am not on the job hours a day and set up my priorities and get the jobs done cord ng to the greatest needs From my experience after attempting to call the same person repeatedly without uccess you redirect your dialling finger usually the next level upward Which brings me to the next Issue our board office In Burlington whom I tried to contact In late November only lo learn our direct line was no longer In service Now I can rend the writing on the wall and it differs from the reason given for the service being llnued Don me I II call you Thou shall not disturb the comfortable few I wonder what tactics one must employ engineer this inconvenience It certainly would require time and effort Just think with ail that time and effort on our hands our bus problems could all be solved If there have been no further complaints regarding the buses then I say the mission was accomplished the buck wos passed with It all takes time your concern Is being considered and get back to you and of course the budget The taxes have been collected long live the budget All perfect alibis to turn off most people I for one am still waiting far that call As the wife said the husband when he lost his blankets on a chilly winters night Fear not the comforter I afraid here are few parents and children who have had any comfort from the absurd bus service much less some words of comfort from the people who are responsible for the service However I will share one remark mode by a knowledgeable Individual they stand on city buses why not on school buses A good relationship with a parent docs not begin nor grow with flippant remark like And it is common knowledge that a good relationship with parents s vital We re not interested In casual remarks lack of concern for our children disregard for our needs We are looking for someone who places value on our needs gets the job done and takes credit for it only when it Is done Many people have worked very hard to improve situations certainly it was an insult to the generous and dedicated group who did a fine Job only to hear someone else take the credit Tor it We do have a problem and in final analysis feel free to lay blame wherever you choose If it s to the parents 1 the parent plead Ignorance We go to school for every other profess on and we must always do proof of our qualifications before anyone will hire us But the most profound profession the parents upon whose shoulders rests society nobody even asks us recite the A Somebody somewhere must surely be saying Oh I forgot A I- razor Group hopes council listens To the editor of The Herald So the preliminary report is in on the suitability of Site as a garbage dump t it the result is exactly what predicted it would be two months ago Now the group that is pushing this dump has some real to use Of course It too bad that the members of Reg lonal Council have no such informollon of the other possible sites which would permit them tomake an intclli gent informed decision So now we know that Site is suitable cheap to use accessible So very accessible with good roads into It and a busy railway line along one side Why garbage could be brought In from anywhere by roll upon payment of a suit able fee No wonder the con suiting firm from Toronto could expect only minimal nuisances from the use of the site It depart dream Unfortunately a dream such as this would soon become a acre nightmare Mr rightly slates that Council must make some hard decisions soon on long term plans for garbage disposal Those decisions must bo based on facts All available facts on all methods of gar Our group is working very hard to supply as much information as wc can to members of Council to ment the single line of facts provided by the group pushing We hope they are listening Eleanor Social Catering CALCULATING DROPOFF The skills of calculation by students drop quickly when Ihoy use electronic calculators says trustee Bill Calling for a report on the regulation of their use in schools Mr Prlestner said the devices are used in various daises and not just In math classes It has been two years since the board throw out teaching by rote he said And he added If the batteries wear out we re In trouble CONVOY SAVEM00 JOHNSON MESSENGER REG JOHNSON MESSENGER SIDEBANDER REG My VNF UHF CB RADIOS AMATEUR RAMOS ANTENNAS MARINE ELECTRONICS PROFESSIONAL COMMUNICATIONS HALE HP BRAMPTON 459- oppose their objectives None seems to have any better alternatives Surely that is proper leadership Some people tend to call arrogance what other people call strength Some leaders are not called arrogant nel Iher are they considered strong Arrogant Is a term tossed around loosely these days for either emotional or partisan reasons even by people who have not checked its meaning In the dictionary If It is to be applied to people who have strong sincere stand on something In the face of strong opposition then it should be applied to many strong minded people In our society Including editors As for debate on Important Issues there is as much as time and commonsense allow In one of the federal societies In the world As for votes and elections the majority of Can do not seem to wont them prematurely when they have produced a clearcut majority government demo cratically Let us simply hope that when the next election comes along In due course all parties and their leaders will have as clear firm pool on the Issues as the Prime Minister is accused of having As polls even people like Premier Williams Davis admit that elections arc the only real polls For now the Trudenu gov mandate to govern is clear as of July 1974 For those who would continue rals ing the Issue of wage and price controls in this connection the answers are clear The resisted controls longer than any other party hen brought them In temporarily only in the face of worsening Inflation and the reluctance of Canadians to accept voluntary restraints Controls are now succeeding dramatically with he support of most Canadians and provincial governments Any other course would have been considered rigid by the same editorial critics Let that Issue be put to rest As for the rise or separatism In recent years the facts should be obvious It Is sup ported only by a determined minority The vast majority of Canadians both of French and English want to keep Canada united The were finally elected only on a mandate of better government not of sep aratism In a country as big and complex as Canada re gional differences always exist and should not be exploited for partisan or personal reasons There is no evidence that Canada Is any less united than before fact the optimists would say more united by Its challenges acts are one thing inter pre another Frank A Member of Parliament Halton PRICE WEDDING GOWNS NowSpr WOEMD BINGO Every Wednesday I at Royal Canadian Legion pm J EARLY BIRDS Regular Games at Jackpot in 52 numbers mutt go 2 OTHER I SPECIAL GAMES J Proceeds to Retarded Children Minor Sports Georgetown Hospital WELCOME Tr ItKSllan will i THE HERALD 8774812 MIDWINTER SALE SPECIAL LOW PRICES NAKCOMM