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Page 12.Halton HillsThis Week, Wednesday, July 22, 1992 Farming different in Alberta by Jamie Harrison A 17-year-old farm girl from Alberta says that farming near a large city is vastly different that the type of farming she is accustomed to. Collette Eleniak who hails from Lamont, Alberta, — a rural com- munity about an hour outside of Edmonton — was in Halton Hills as the winner of a 4-H ten-day exchange program. CORE’S Well Tests Well Cleaning “Lots of things are different out here,” Eleniak said, citing popula- tion, traffic, and land prices as the major differences. “There is no way we'd be able to afford to have land (out here).” she said. “(In Alberta) a lot of farmers don’t have large farms, and have to work another job to be able to afford it.’ Eleniak said that despite the fact her family raises cattle and pas grain on their 48-acre farm, “(farm- ing) is like a hobby for my dad” who works another job to help pay the bills. Her trip to Ontario was spon- sored by the Royal Bank of Canada, which also offered exchanges to New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, and Manitoba. In the past Collette has taken part in exchanges to Quebec and Minnesota, as well as other parts of Alberta. After a three day tour of southern Ontario’s more famous attractions including Skydome for a Blue Jays game, a night at The Phantom Of The Opera, and a visit to the CN Tower, Eleniak, arrived at the home of Phyllis Moffat in Norval. Moffat, the Ontario 4-H Counsel Director, has hosted students from across Canada for the last ten years, keeping in touch with most of them after they’ve returned home. Eleniak is the oldest of four chil- dren who along with her parents are all members of 4-H. She said her involvement with 4-H has been beneficial to her development as a student and a farmer, helping her = 2 Collette Eleniak with public speaking and non-agri- cultural related activities. After she gets home and gets caught up on some rest, Eleniak plans to tell her fellow 4-H mem- bers about her trip to Halton, and just how different it was from her previous trips. “Tm really glad that I was in 4- H,” Eleniak said, adding, “it helps you make really good friendships.” R.E. McCALL MEN'S, WEAR, Little Out O1 211 Guelp! Northview "piaza " §77-7361 | Parliament Hill report Garth Turner, MP Halton-Peel days ago, the premiers of nine provinces came to an agree- ment on how the Constitution should be changed. To just about everybody’s surprise, Ontario pre- mier Bob Rae did an 11th-hour flip-1 poy and agreed to a Triple-E Senat So, Seton we decide or disagree with him, what does Triple-E mean’ The first E: This stands for Elected. Right now, the country’s 108 senators are appointed by the prime minister — recently from lists of people submitted by the provinces. This unelected senate has the power to overturn laws passed by the elected House of Commons — and that’s not how democracy is supposed to work. So, if we’re going to have a sen- ate (personally, I’d rather not), then it had better be elected. The second E: It means Effective. The idea is, if we elect people to a new senate, then they should have the power to do some- thing. Under the most recent pro- posal, the senators would be able to defeat House of Commons laws on a sliding basis. That is, if half of them voted against a law dealing with natural Tesources, it would die. If 70 per cent of the senators voted against any other kind of law passed by the Commons, then it, too, would be dead. If 60 per cent voted against, then there would be a joint sitting with the House of Commons, where almost 400 of us would vote again. If this sounds complex and con- fusing, you have caught right on. It Is. The final E. This is the contro- versial one, and it stands for ual. Right now, the Senate is made up of differing numbers of sena- tors from each province. Ontario and Quebec, which contain over half the population of Canada, have 24 seats each. Little P.E.I. has four, Saskatchewan six and New Brunswick ten. The Triple-E model would give each province the same number of Senators - eight. The idea behind this is that the Senate should not reflect the basis of democracy, which is representation-by-popula- tion, but rather give more power to the “regions” - which means any- thing that isn’t Ontario and Suddenly, Ontario’s share of the Senate would drop by:more than half. Over 60 per cent of the power in the Senate would be given to provinces representing just. 15 per cent of the Canadian population. This means that when people in P.E.I. went to the polls to vote for senators,their votes would carry 74 times more weight that voters in Halton-Peel. Each P.E.I. senator would repre- sent the interests of about 17,000 people, while each Ontario senator would represent 1,250,000 people. This is equal? Those who want the Triple-E Senate, in my view, are trying to hoodwink us into believing that all the provinces are equal, while they are not. Provinces like P.E.I.,-New Brunswick and Nova Scotia are based on a Canada which existed 125 years ago, when Upper Canada (Ontario) and Lower Canada (Quebec) where just a fraction of the size they are today. I think a better model is this: Make the last E mean Equitable - have equal power given to five regions in this country - Maritime, Quebec, Ontario, Prairies, B.C. and the Territories. They would be more balanced in terms of economies, populations and national influence. That way the smaller provinces would wield more clout than today, but the fun- damentals of democracy would not be smashed. By the way, the premiers also agreed on almost 20 more MPs in the House of Commons, plus those 80 new, elected senators. I don’t know about you, but in my opinion, the last thing this country needs is 100 more federal politicians. Let’s have less govern- ment in Canada, not more! _FAMILY RES TAURANT Mikael & Fay Your Hosts sun:= =Thurs. & Dessert "2 FOR 1" SPECIAL Junior New York Steak Includes Soup, Juice, Coffee i Banquet facilities available BREAKFAST SPECIAL | Bacon, Ham or Sausage Home Fries, 2 Eggs & Toast *14,° 232 Guelph St., Georgetown 873-7818 Andy Voelker, manager of Wendy's Georgetown for 4 1/2 years turns over the keys to Leona Poot who will manage the local outlet. Andy is going on to manage Wendy's Brampton location at Main St. and Vodden Dr.