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Wednesday December the HERALD Opinion Has the system let down local environmental groups ByBENDUMMETT The Herald Should local environmental groups such as Protect Our En vironmental Water Resources POWER and Furiously Opposed to Acton Dumping FOAD put their faith in the existing system to fight the Acton dump proposal According to famed American en vironmentalist Lois the an swer is no In her recent address to POWER members Ms said the system will inevitably fail the public because its the creation of the powers that be the govern ment An institution Ms Gibbs says that doesnt have the public interest in mind Ms Gibbs points out it was only after she and other residents of the chemical dumping ground Love Canal in Niagara Falls em barrassed the New York State government to take steps to protect the area residents Scientific data and legal arguments supporting the residents failed to generate government ac tion she said Ms Gibbs line of argument im plies governments including the Ontario provincial government naturally operate at odds with the interest of the general public In the case of the Acton dump proposal that means when the proposal goes before the govern ment supported Environmental Assessment Hearing approval is inevitable Ultimately evidence submitted during the hearing by POWER members and others op position to the project will be rejec Bens Banter by Ben Dummett ted The first question that comes to mind is who comprises the general public Presumably its both those who oppose the project and those who support it Assuming this answer is correct it only seems right that the govern ment as a representative of all the people afford both sides an op portunity to present their cases Its this argument the govern ment is using to reject requests by POWER and members that the project be permanently shelved instead of being allowed to go before a heanng However local ratepayer groups whenever they get the chance quickly point out it was the current Ontario Minister of Environment Ruth Grier who before being elec ted said publicly she opposes the establishment of dumps anywhere on the escarpment And where is the Acton dump being proposed for Why the United Aggregates quarry located on the Niagara Escarpment of course Its not surprising then that POWER and members dont have faith in a process supported by the current government Instead of supporting the process why didnt the New Democratic Party once in power immediately take steps to change the system in a way that the process would reject the Acton dump proposal outright To be fair to the provincial gover nment maybe it tried to do so but found it to be impossible Im not sure if local groups should or shouldnt rely on the system to fight the Acton dump proposal But I am theyll find it necessary to challenge it in a way they feel is appropriate if the province doesnt support those statements regardmg the escarp ment it made prior to gaining power Canada shouldnt look south for economic help A few years ago used to teach in California At that time that state was a beehive of ideas possibly the world centre of social and cultural innovation Sure we had some problems racial tension some nasty pockets of poverty but byand large California was the leading edge of the world A couple of weeks ago I had oc casion to go back there for business It was shocking Los Angeles that proud uninhibited city has the look of the Third World Country Wealthy neighbourhoods next to slums which have nothing to envy to those of Mexico City or Teheran Rolls dealers and a few yards away garages which re mind me of those of Central America The once glorious San ta Monica beach a row of junk shops with buildings Motorways bridges which seem to have been neglected for years But most important a general sense of direction and despair The universities I visited looked frozen in time as I would have left the day before Well actually the kids are now very respectful not necessarily a good sign in an academic environment I went from there to other cities and a couple of other South Western states While nowhere else I had the same sense of being in the Third World I found the same lethargy and lack of purpose While it is certainly possible to do business there and I did it is also evident that if we in Canada ex pect the American economy to get us out of our own slump we better think again The eighties have damaged the American psyche social fabric and economy to a point where the recovery process will have to be enormous Baloney Well how do you integrate five million slum dwellers with irrelevant skills in a modern economy And this in one city alone Compared to the situation I saw our economic problems are positively a golden state of well- being We have at most one million of unempoyable peo ple Roughly percent of our population The USA has 30 million of them something like Another View by Carlo Testa percent Sure some products and ser vices are much cheaper there than in Canada but at what im social cost Anyhow no reason to rejoice here just the need to understand that if we want to get out of our economic slump we better realize that we are not going to get pulled out of it by our big neighbour While I was there the hur ricane over the excessive in terests charged by credit cards to their customers was blowing at full force Back in Canada I found that the some of out political mentors have mounted the same white charger ft makes sense banks and other credit institutions have never enjoyed a great amount of sympathy and there is plenty of political hay to be made from ac cusing them of gouging the public Some of the arguments used however are bizarre It is a fact that possession of a credit card has practically become a ty in our world It is almost im possible except by going around with wads of banknotes to book into a hotel or rent a car without giving the friendly clerk an print of our card On the other hand the use of a card as a means of obtain ing access to instant longterm credit is an act of free choice Sure I know that some people in these difficult times do not have much choice but the fact re mains that using a not as a convenient way of payment but as an instrument of credit is foolish What banks have clearly done is that they have rather created two types of credit The standard bank loan which requires some solid guarantees and is made available at a reasonable cost and the loan through a credit card which is obtainable prac on demand but is extreme ly expensive The banks are taking ad vantage of their customers not by overcharging interests but by creating the false impression that a credit card is free money The banks play the role of the snake oil peddler and those who use their product are suckers Which begs the question of what is the role of the banks political en tics in the scenano Why raise the rather anecdotal credit card soapopera together with the tragic plight of the USA Because both have a common denominator The ease with which we tend to avoid our responsibilities and to look elsewhere for solutions The solu tion to our problems will not come from the States and will not come from lower interest rates on credit cards unpaid balances It will come from better manage ment of our national and personal finances that is from us Columnist is once again rescued by Dear Abby Whew Once again Dear Abby has come to my rescue Just when I was beginning to feel hopelessly out of touch with yet another Important Modern Reality Abby has declared that hugging is dumb Gee It s enough to make a guy want to reach out to Abby and give her a great big urn a great big smile of gratitude Actually I should probably clarify this a little Dear exactly called hugging dumb But the other day she printed a letter from a woman who feels highly uncomfortable about hug anyone except members of her immediate family and Abby assured her that shes far from alone in these feelings and that she need not feel the slightest bit guilty When speaks the world should wake up and smell the cof fee As you may have guessed I am a Reluctant Hugger And this poses quite a problem in a socie ty which conditions us to believe that healthy and caring people should go around embracing everyone they meet Granted I understand the ra tionale behind the Hug Move ment The theory is that we can all benefit by warm and mean ingful human contact And I have nothing against this notion per se I just think we sometimes underestimate the amount of warm and meaningful human contact that can be achieved via fax For quite awhile I confess I was beginning to worry that my hesitancy about hugging might reflect some deep rooted ty to open up and trust And in deed its possible my views on hugging were warped by certain childhood experiences When you grow up in a family of four boys you quickly learn that a hug is not a spontaneous gesture of brotherly love Rather its the opening hold in a match and will lead if nol ruthlessly countered to the figure four leg lock or perhaps thepilednver We were never a hugging My father is a warm and generous man but he has always believed that hugging has its pro per time and place like say on a football field after a touchdown has been scored Instead we did a lot of hand shaking Naturally this shaped our views on displaying emotions not to mention our physique Weirs have never been noted for upper body strength or for profound cardio vascular fitness But weve all got fingers that could crack walnuts Anyway Ive tried my best to adapt to the current mania for hugging Ive reached the point where I can feel almost com fortabte hugging women friends The trouble is the modern guy is also expected to hug the modern guy Perhaps its my own miserable insecurity But when a mate ap proaches in hugging mode I feel a desperate urge to turn to anyone standing nearby and blurt Im not going to enjoy this Honest Weirs World by Ian Weir News Service I Perhaps my aversion boil down to the implied state that guvs should hug other guvs in order to show they are sensitive and nurturing Now there s nothing wrong with this Except there are times when I just don WANT to seem sensitive and nurturing Id rather seem remote and vaguely dangerous a man with different bicepts but truly powerful digits Besides I can help harboring dark suspicions about where male hugging can lead You know what I mean If guys aren t awfully careful it can lead to drum beating and Retreats On which they share their deepest feelings about what it means to be male and ar rive at the triumphant and liberating conclusion that women are entirely to blame for the fact that men are such weenies Ah well Perhaps I m over reacting And as I say I have nothing against warm and mean human contact Really 1 honestly think you and 1 should do this sort of thing much more often So perhaps we should exchange fax numbers PeoplesForum Citizen wants to help seniors Dear Editor I have just read your latest edi tion in which Mr and Mrs Pickup said that regular help for seniors was unavailable I sympathize with them Five years ago after spending years with a firm I lost my job due to a company merger I had to do some kind of work so I advertised that I did house keep ing duties painting etc Recently I placed another ad in the paper for one whole month from which I did not get one rep ly I have had considerable ex perience looking after the elderly with plenty of references and my rates are quite reasonable How come nobody saw this advertisement when there ap pears to be such a need to help keep seniors in their home I still have time on the occa sional Saturday and some even ings to help out Yours truly Stephen Truchan 2 Acton Write us a letter The Herald wants to hear from you If you have an opi nion you want to express or a comment to make send us a letter or drop by the office Our address is Guelph Street Georgetown Ontario 3Z6 All letters must be signed Please include your ad dress and telephone number for verification 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