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V 1 Editorial Comment Why Would He By the time this appears in print, Canada's new Prime Minister- Designate John Turner will have been scrutinized and analysed by just about every columnist, editor and commentator in the business. And it won't end this week. His every move and every comment will be put under microscopic inspection in the weeks and months ahead and so will those of his family. You would wonder why anyone would work so hard to attain that kind of importance. Mr. Turner is not a citizen whose entire life has been devoted to politics. He was a cabinet minister about 10 years ago and left to be part of the corporate business world Want the Job? where he met with some measure of success in acquiring a fair amount of wealth and prestige. In recent years, he hasn't shown any real desire to re-enter politics, although certainly his name kept cropping up as a possible successor to Mr. Trudeau. Now he's not only back into the political race, he's just won the first neat over six opponents and shortly will launch the final to determine whether he will remain as Prime Minister or become Leader of the Opposition. He doesn't appear to be a crusader, but must get some kind of satisfaction out of the challenge. It's just as well somebody wants those jobs and is willing to put up with the abuse that accompanies them. But, you have to wonder why. The School Funding Dilemma The jury of educators, parents, and others interested in the future of Ontario's school system is still deliberating the pros and cons of last week's announcement concerning concerning added funding for separate schools. Indeed, the Davis decision is so unexpected that it raises moçe questions than it answers. Nobody seems to know whether the move will mean the secularization secularization of the private school system or the "privatization" of the secular system. Moreover, it might also be pointed out that one cannot read too much into Mr. Davis' announcement announcement because he is really only adding adding public funding to two more years of high school. (That's keeping keeping in mind the fact that grade 13 is being phased out and there is partial partial funding already forgrades nine and 10 at the separate school level). The announcement also represents represents only the first step towards a plan which will be phased in over several years. Nobody, including the premier himself, knows the details details of how the new system will work. But aside from the vagueness surrounding surrounding the announcement, we expect expect that it will result in major alterations alterations of the school system. In fact, if the Davis plan is followed, followed, it could well lead to the end of the public school system as we know it today. Ever since the disappearance of the one-room schoolhouse, the educational educational field has become a major bureaucracy with centralized control control by the Ministry of Education. It was agreed that education would be provided for the public in a non-sectarian atmosphere with financing by public taxation. And to respect the historic rights of the separate school system, there was provision made for parents to support support a Catholic education in the elementary level and in grades nine and ten. But now that the Ontario premier has announced extended funding for the separate system, one wonders wonders how he can avoid providing public funds to other private schools. In fact, the premier announced that a commission will be established established to review private school funding in Ontario. Looking beyond the next five or ten years, we wonder if we will see the creation of a decentralized school system. One can imagine an educational system in which taxpayers pay an annual bill to the Province of Ontario Ontario for educational purposes. From the total tax bill, the province would divide up funds for various school systems. Parents would then send their children to the school of their choice and perhaps pay any tuition which would be needed to bridge the gap between the amount of funding granted from the Province Province and the total required to operate operate the school. Again, this is only conjecture. But based on the decision by the premier, premier, it would not be unreasonable to foresee the education ministry becoming a body which would licence licence schools and see that minimum standards are kept. Moreover, the Ministry would also be in charge of distributing education education funds to the various private, semi-private and public school systems. systems. We presume that there will always always be a public school system to guarantee a free education to every child. But the power of the public schools which have governed education education in the province for so long may be drastically curtailed. Under the system we envisage, most parents would elect to send their child to a school having a particular particular religious or educational philosophy or perhaps offering special programs in areas such as sports, music, or activities for gifted children. It's correct to say that this multiplicity multiplicity of schools would be chaotic and perhaps result in a duplication of facilities. : ' Some parents would object to-the kind of controls that a provincial government might impose in return for contributing public funds to private private education. But, on the other hand, the idea of a decentralized school system would be welcome news for the many parents who feel that for one reason or another the public school system is lacking in areas such as development of moral standards, academic rigor, or discipline. Would a multiplicity of schools make our Ontario society less tolerant tolerant and more divided into ghettos of religion, race, or social status? Is the creation of private schools an attempt by government to shift more costs onto the parents? Will we develop a two-tier educational system, with those in the public schools receiving fewer opportunities opportunities than those who have participated participated in the more sophisticated private school system? Or will the encouragement of private schools bring education back into the control control of parents where it belongs? These are some of the unanswered unanswered questions lurking behind the premier's announcement. But the more immediate questions questions will involve the actual implementation implementation of the separate school expansion. Many topics such as the use of school facilities, transportation, transportation, and funding have yet to be answered. You can expect that the Ontario government will move slowly and cautiously towards a goal which can only be guessed at. 0% (Eanaûtan S-tateaman 623-3303 Durham County's Great Family Journal Established 130 years ago In 1854. Also Incorporating The Bowmanvllle News The Newcastle Independent TheOronc News Second class mall registration number 1581 Produced every Wednesday by THE JAMES PUBLISHING COMPANY LIMITED 62-66 King St. W„ Bowmanvllle, Ontario L1C 3K9 4 I D V l ► JOHN M. JAMES Editor -- Publisher GEO. P. MORRIS Business Mgr. BRIAN PURDY Advertising Mgr. RICHARD A. JAMES Assistant Publisher DONALD BISHOP Plant Mgr. All layouts and composition ol advertisements produced by the employees of The Canadian Statesman, The Newcastle Independent and The James Publishing Company Limited are protected by copyright and must not be reproduced without written permission of the publishers. $ 15.00 a year -- 6 months SB.00 strictly In advance foreign -- $45.00 a year Although uvory pmcmition will bo taken to avoid error, The Canadian Statesman accept;; advertising in Its columns on the understanding that it will not bn liable for any furor in Iho odvorlisomonl published hereunder unless a proof ol r.uch advertisement is requested in writing by the advertiser and returned to The Canadian Statesman business ollicn duly signed by Iho advertiser and with such error or cor me lions plainly noted In writing thereon, and in that case If any error so noted is not corrected by The Canadian Statesman Its liability shall not exceed such a portion ol Ihe entire cost ol such 'idvertislment as Iho space occupied by the noted error boars to Ihe whole space occupied by such advertisement Donald's 50th Anniversary Ducks Come to Metro Zoo Photo by Walt Disney Productions 1984 SUGAR and SPICE We've Changed V - ■ - ■ ■ ■ -- There has been a tremendous change in the manners and mores of Canada in the past three decades. decades. This brilliant thought came to me as I saw a sign today, in a typical Canadian small town: "Steakhouse and Tavern." Now this didn't exactly knock me out, alarm me, or discombobulate me in any way. I am a part of all that is in this country, at this time. But it did give me a tiny twinge. Hence my opening remarks. I am no Carrie Nation, who stormed into saloons with her lady friends, armed with hatchets, and smashed open (what a waste) the barrels of beer and kegs of whiskey. I am no Joan of Arc. I don't revile blasphemers or hear voices. I am no Pope John Paul II, who tells people what to do about their sex lives. I am merely an observer of the human scene, in a country that used to be one thing, and has become another. But that doesn't mean I don't have opinions. I have nothing but scorn for the modern "objective" "objective" journalists who tell it as it is. They are hyenas and jackals, who fatten on the leavings of the "lions" of our society, for the most part. Let's get back on topic, as I tell my students. The Canadian society has roughened and coarsened to an _ astonishing degree in the last 30 years. First, the Steakhouse and Tavern. As a kid working on the boats on the Upper Lakes, I was excited and a little scared when I saw that sign in American ports: Duluth, Detroit, Chicago. I came from the genteel poverty of Ontario in the Thirties, and I was slightly appalled, and deeply attracted attracted by these signs: the very thought that drink could be publicly publicly advertised. Like any normal, curious kid, I went into a couple, ordered a two-bit whiskey, and found nobody eating steaks, but a great many people getting sleazily drunk on the same. Not the steaks. In those days, in Canada, there was no such creature. The very use of the word "tavern" indicated iniquity. iniquity. It was an evil place. We did have beer "parlours,," later exchanged exchanged for the euphemism "beverage "beverage rooms." But that was all right. Only the lower element went there, and they closed from 6 p.m. to 7:30, or some such, so that a family man could get home to his dinner. Not a bad idea. In their homes, of course, the middle middle and upper class drank liquor. Beer was the working-man's drink, and to be shunned. It was around then that some wit reversed the old saying, and came out with: "Work is the curse of the drinking class," a neat version of Marx's(?) "Drink is the curse of the working classes." If you called on someone in those misty days, you were offered a cuppa and something to eat. Today, the host would be humiliated if he didn't have something harder to offer you. Now, every hamlet seems to have its steakhouse, complete with tavern. It's rather ridiculous. Nobody Nobody today can afford a steak. But how in the living world can these same people afford drinks, at current current prices? These steakhouses and taverns are usually pretty sleazy joints, on a par with the old beverage room, which was the optiome of sleaze. It's not all the fault of the owners, though they make nothing on the steak and 100 per cent on the drinks (minimum). It's just that Canadians tend to be noisy and crude and profane profane drinkers. And the crudity isn't only in the pubs. It has crept into Parliament, that august institution, with a prime minister who used street language when his. impeccable English failed, or he wanted to show how tough he was. It has crept into our educational system, where teachers drink and swear and tell dirty jokes and use language in front of women that I, a product of a more well-mannered, or inhibited, your choice, era, could not bring myself to use. And the language of today's students, students, from Grade one to Grade whatever, would curl the hair of a sailor, and make your maiden aunt grab for the smelling salts. Words from the lowest slums and slum- miest barnyards create rarely a blush on the cheek of your teenage daughter. A graduate of the depression, when people had some reason to use bad language, in sheer frustration frustration and anger, and of a war in which the most common four-letter word was used as frequently, and absent-mindedly, as salt and pepper, pepper, have not inured me to what our kids today consider normal. Girls wear T-shirts that are not ' even funny, merely obscene. As do boys. Saw one the othér day on an otherwise nice lad. Message: "Thanks, all you virgins -- for nothing." nothing." The Queen is a frump. God is a joke. The country's problems are somebody else's problem, as long as I get mine. I don't deplore. I don't abhor. I don't implore. I merely observe. Sadly. We are turning into a nation of slobs. Letters to the Editor The Canadian Statesman Dear Mr. James, Once again we are writing to thank you and your staff for the excellent coverage you gave us during this past year. Wc are especially grateful for your extra efforts put forth during April, our campaign month. As the figures show, we have well exceeded our goal for 19114 and it is witli your fine support that these figures have been realized. We wish to extend a special thanks to your advertising manager who published a full page ad on our behalf, during April and to the sixteen sponsors sponsors who supported the ad. With this level of support and generosity of all concerned concerned our ultimate goal will surely be realized. Sincere thanks. Marg Maciver liowmanvillc and District Canadian Cancer Society The Honourable Jean Chretien, Minister Energy, Mines and Resources,. House of Commons, Ottawa, Ont. Dear Minister, It is with a sense of frustration frustration that I write this letter to you, and with hope that your letter of February 21, 1904 addressed to the Region of Durham contained an error committed due to the pressures pressures and demands upon your time which are required by your quest for the leadership of the Liberal Party of Canada, In this letter you stated that the Federal Environmental Assessment Review Panel's 197» report provided a recommendation recommendation "that the Port Granby site should not he used for thu refinery, but that no decision was taken in respect to the second recommendation that the site should not be used solely for waste storage." Mister Minister, we find dial an incredible statement, devoid of fact, which has only been uttered once by Eldorado Nuclear Ltd. and is so ridiculous ridiculous they have not repeated it publicly since. I would like to draw your attention to the actual wording of the panel. On page 3» of ihe report it states: 5.2.3. "Conclusion: "Conclusion: the proposed Port Granby location for the refinery refinery is unacceptable and, in the absence of the refinery the site should not be used solely for any new waste management facility." Following this conclusion are 12 reasons why Port Granby is unsuitable for a waste management facility. These 12 reasons arc as true today as they were in 197». The Town Council of Newcastle, Newcastle, the Region of Durham and the people of Ibis area are unanimous in their opposition to a renewal of another panel review and the demands on our time, finances, energy, family and occupations this process entails. As wc stated at the outset, it was probably an oversight and one which can be easily corrected corrected by an immediate reply from you that the findings of Hie 197» Panel will stand and that Eldorado Resources Ltd. will be required to broaden its search for a suitable nuclear dumpsite, as was requested by the elected Councils and the people of this area. Sincerely yours E. J. Vcldhuis, Chairman, Port Granby Monitoring Committee, P.O. Box 122, Ncwlonville, Out. LOA 1J0 Dear Mr. James: In most areas of this Canada/Bermuda Territory, the 1984 NATIONAL RED SHIELD APPEAL is now finalized. How very grateful we arc for the response and support that has been so readily given. Analysis confirms that (quite literally) tens of thousands of volunteers actively participated in this year's well-organized canvass. In most areas, a brief, intensive, solicitation period Inis resulted in a marvellous VICTORY. Your personal involvement in tills essential maintenance- THE MARCH IS ON! Many physically disabled men and women need your help. Please give generously, funding effort is deeply appreciated. We very much hope that we can count on your continuing practical interest and support in the months ahead. As our billboards are saying; "God bless - thank you for caring" Yours Sincerely, (Frederick J. Halliwcll) Lieut.-Colonel National Campaign Director The Salvation Army ABILITY FUND