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4 EDITORIAL Take a hike! The Canadian Petroleum Products Institute (CPPI) recently distributed a brochure attempting to explain why gasoline prices fluctuate. There has been widespread complaints that prices are unnecessarily high, especially on weekends. This has been corroborated by the experience of millions of motorists who have become very price sensitive in view of the wide fluctuations in prices. According to the CPPI, numerous investigations, including those conducted by both federal and provincial governments, have concluded that price swings are the product of market competition and the cost of the product. Local competition, the brochure says, has the greatest influence on the price. In a typical market, most consumers purchase gasoline based on price and even the difference » of two-tenths of a cent per litre F| (6 to 8 cents per fill-up) may be | enough to sway consumers' || buying decisions. Because of *| this, the CPPI says, service stations react quickly to the | price posted by their competi- ) tion, adjusting the price accord- } ingly. | Ultimately, however, the ) CPPI maintains, the pricing returns to a level that ensures a reasonable return to owners and investors. It all sounds reasonable but pardon this consumer for being skeptical when they claim local competition influences the price most. Service station operators here have told this skeptic that the giant oil companies set the prices and if you don't comply you won't be selling their products very long. In order to grab bigger shares of the market they have elimi- nated many of the smaller service stations by withdrawing their brands and forcing them to buy from independent wholesalers. For instance, Acton has only two service stations in town, and two on the fringes. At one time there were at least eight service stations selling gasoline. The result is that the operator must buy at the prevailing price and sell at a price where sometimes there isn't much margin. When the big companies want to squeeze they can lower prices to levels the independents can't match, without courting bank- ruptcy. Of course, one has to agree with the oil giants, one reason why gasoline is priced so high in Canada compared to the United States where you can still pick up a gallon (U.S.) for a buck, is the taxes levied by both governments. Based on a price of 56.8 cents per litre, the governments take over 50% in taxes, 28.6 cents to be exact. If they spent those taxes on the roads and traffic regulation then there wouldn't be too much quarrel. How- ever, it's a cash cow that is milked for other programs as well, making motorists pay more than their share of this country's upkeep. There are those who maintain prices are not high enough, that we should follow the example of European countries where gasoline prices are often double ours. The argument is that it would not only conserve precious oil supplies but be environ- mentally better as well. Could be, but anyone who has been to Europe or Britain and seen the traffic there knows gasoline is considered a necessity. Even with splendid public transportation systems people still prefer to travel by car. Gasoline prices in this neck of the woods have been as low as 48.9 cents per litre in the last few weeks but there was an abrupt change on the Easter weekend. By the time mid-week rolled around prices were as high as 55.9 and as low as 52.9 per litre. Who knows where they'll go from there but it doesn't seem as if = old rule of supply and demand really has much influence on em. THE NEW TANNER ae lied ~- DAFFODILS blooming in Laura Dietrich Memorial Gar at THURSDAY, APRIL 23, 1998 im 6 S S den at the corner of Main St. N. and River St. add a Spring touch to this picturesque corner of Acton, where the School Creek murmurs its way past the library. A favourite spot for wedding photos with its adjoining bow bridge and weeping willow, it is in contrast to busy Highways 7 and 25 which border the scene. -- Ted Tyler photo Proud to belong to F ederation To the Editor, Iam an elementary school teacher of 29 years. I am proud to be a teacher, proud to have contributed positively to public education in this province and proud to have had the honour of being a part of so many children's lives. It is my hope that I have had a positive influence on my students, developed a strong work ethic, expected responsible behav- iour, encouraged them to believe in their varied abilities, to become life long learners and critical thinkers. At present I am teaching grade eight students, whom I enjoy immensely, and who bring joy to my day. I am also proud to be an active member of my teachers' federation, The Federation of Women Teachers' Associations of Ontario. At the lo- cal level I serve on the executive (a voluntary non paid position) of the Halton Women Teachers' Associa- tion, I am writing this letter to coun- teract the malicious campaign of the Harris government against the vari- ous Teachers' Federations in On- tario. When the premier said in his visit to Milton: It's not teachers I slam, it is their unions," I knew that I needed to write the editor to inform readers of some of our activities. Just last week Halton Women Teachers' Association put on a fash- ion show to raise over $2000. For CAVEAT and wrote, produced and inserviced Halton Teachers with a curriculum document on TV vio- lence geared for the junior years. Last year our own members wrote, pro- duced and inserviced our teachers on another anti-violence curriculum called "Never Another Faceless Vic- tim" ed for intermediate stu- dents; Prior to this we had encour-" aged all our schools in Halton to have Serge LeClerc into their schools by paying half the costs. Mr. LeClerc is a motivational speaker on anti-vio- lence was just prominently written up ina recent weekend Toronto Sun. Each year our members ue and run the Red Rose White Ribbon cam- paign against violence within our schools and the community to raise awareness re violence in our society and raise money for the Halton Rape Crisis Centre and Halton Women's Place. In addition to inservicing our own locally written curriculum, we also arrange for other professional devel- opment sessions throughout the year such as the one being offered in two locations next week entitled "Cel- ebrating the Classroom: which is produced by our provincial federa- tion. We co-operate with community groups in being a part of such ac- tivities as, "Take Back the Night", "The Annual Meeting of Haltons Women's Place", "The United Way Campaign", "Caveat Theatre Eve- nings", "International Women's Day" and 'Days of Action", to name a few. For several years now we have sponsored children's sports teams in Oakville, Burlington, Milton, Georgetown and Acton. Each year we sponsor at least three different teams in Halton. We proudly keep the photos of the numerous teams that we have supported. We upaot workshops for our students. In the past we have pare _ ticipated in Literary workshops for young authors, science, health issues such as anorexia and presently or- ganize and deliver an overnight ca- reers conference at McMaster Uni- versity for our grade eight girls. It gives them an opportunity to look at non-traditional careers while expe- riencing the university campus. Over the years we have offered additional evening and weekend presentations/workshops for mem- bers and the community on topics such as "Women's Health", "Sex Role Stereotyping", "Bias in Chil- dren's Literature", "Learning Basic Auto Mechanics" to name a few. We offer scholarships and bursa- ries for both students in our Halton High Schools and members' chil- dren. Most are in amounts of $500 and more than a dozen are given out each year. We honour our graduat- ing grade 8 students in all schools with a plaque and gift in the area of science and mathematics. Oh, and yes, as all unions we do negotiate with the Halton District School Board for the best possible collective agreement for our mem- bers. We do try to promote and ad- vance the image of our teachers, raise the status of the teaching profession and ensure a high standard of pro- fessional ethics. To this end we or- ganize bargaining workshops, week- See PROUD, Page 11 ; . : : 59 Willow Street North Acton, Ontario L7J 128 (519) 853-0051 Fax: 853-0052 Tanner Editorial Hartley Coles Frances Niblock Mike O'Leary Angela Tyler Lynne Burns Advertising Sales Dianne Circulation Composing Christin Karen Wetmore Publisher Ted Tyler Marie Shadbolt Distributed to every home in Acton and area as well as Maggie Petrushevsky Ellen Piehl adjoining communities. Preston e O'Leary ADVERTISING POLICY Every effort will be made to see advertising copy, neatly presented, is correctly printed. The publisher assumes no financial responsibility for typographical errors or omissions in advertising, but will gladly reprint without charge that part of an advertisement in which an error may occur provided a claim is made within five days of publication.