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SECTION TWO WEDNESDAY, MAY 29.1991 s&t Canadian &latmtatt Durham Region's Great Family Journal Established 137 years ago in 1854 Also Incorporating . -------- The Bowmanville News iMtl The Newcastle Independent 1 * * * - The Orono News Second Class mail registration number 1561 Produced weekly by Jemes Publishing Company Limited 62 King Street West, Bowmanville, Ontario L1C3K9 416-623-3303 Fax 416-623-6161 John M. James Editor - Publisher Richard A. James Associate Publisher Peter Parrott Brian Purdy .Donald Bishop Associate Editor Advertising Mgr. Plant Mgr. All layouts and composition of advertisements produced by the employees of James Publishing Company Limited are protected by copyright and may not be reproduced without the permission of the publisher. Allhough every precaution will be taken to avoid error, the Canadian Statesman accepts advertising In Its columns on the undemanding that 1 will not be liable lor any error In the advertisement published hereunder unless a prod d such advertisement Is requested In writing by the advertiser and returned to The Canadian Statesman business office duly signed by the advertiser and with such error or corrections plainly tided In writing therein, and In that case H any error so noted Is not corrected by The Canadian Statesman ha liability shall nd exceed euch a portion d the entire cost d such advertisement aa the space occupied by the noted error bears to the whole apace occupied by auch advertisement. Night Time Interest At least once a year, someone has the audacity to suggest that meetings of Newcastle Town Council ought to be held in the evenings. Most recently, Bowmanville Regional Regional Councillor Ken Hooper suggested that both of the council sessions -- not just one -- should take place on Monday Monday nights. The idea was defeated, albeit albeit narrowly. This is unfortunate. The only thing wrong with Councillor Councillor Hooper's suggestion is that it didn't go far enough. It should have also called for evening meetings of the general general purpose committee where elected officials do most of their work, or at least that portion of the work that the public sees. In some ways, those of us in the media media would prefer daytime meetings too. They allow municipal business to be conducted during working hours, leaving our evenings free for ourselves or (as is more often the case) coverage of other events. But daytime hours are not in the best interest of the public. The number of people interested in attending attending a council session may be small. But, it's made even smaller by the fact that Newcastle councillors are meeting at a time when most citizens are working. Participants at most meetings of municipal council fit into the following groups: consultants, lawyers, developers, developers, civil servants, elected officials, and media. No doubt, it's more conVen-' ient for all of these people to have daytime daytime meetings. But, wait just a minute. Isn't there something missing from this picture? Are municipal councils private clubs for the "insiders" who participate most frequently in the process? Or are they the grass roots of democracy who exist in order to serve the public? If town councils are private clubs, . then daytime meetings are fine. We wouldn't want to inconvenience the lawyers, public servants or media, would we? But, if these meetings are : for the benefit of the public, then it's incomprehensible why the public ; shouldn't be encouraged to attend. Evening meetings would provide that encouragement. Think about it. Anyone hoping to ;; attract the public to an event usually • holds it on a weekend or during an >; evening. Most drama productions, ser- • vice club meetings, sporting events, . school open houses, retirement dinners, dinners, and all the other social events •'take place either on weekends or in ' the evenings. In fact, if you want to 'hold an event and you don't want to " attract a crowd, the best time to hold it is between nine and five on a weekday. weekday. i; Now, there are those who might say Vthat regardless of when a council 'meeting is held, you aren't likely to get a big crowd except on those rare occasions occasions when taxes are raised by 100 per cent or plans for a nuclear waste dump are unveiled. That being the case, does it really matter when municipal meetings meetings are held? Yes it does. A change to daytime council sessions sessions because of poor attendance is something like a minister deciding that since attendance is low at the 11 maybe problems such as multi-billion lar deficits and Canadian 'unity Uncertain Highway Let us hope for a speedy resolution to the questions of if Highway 407 will be built and where it will be located. The construction of new expressways expressways is never a popular process because because such roads will disrupt neighbourhoods, neighbourhoods, occupy farmland, and require the purchase of vast amounts of private property. And yet, anyone who has driven in Toronto in the past few days can tell by traffic conditions that the Highway 407 will be needed, That is to say, it will be needed if people are going to continue to drive cars. And there's every every indication that they will. The unfortunate thing about the Highway 407 plans is that they could take upwards of 30 years to be finalized. finalized. In the meantime, individual residents residents and municipalities will have considerable difficulty in making plans for their property. In the Town of Newcastle, it would be difficult to plan future land use anywhere north of Taunton Rd., if the path of the 407 thoroughfare is un known. And that is why we need to complete complete the assessments and hearings, public input, and all the other parts of the process as soon as possible. We need a definite idea of exactly where the highway corridor will run, (And, of course, part of that process would include verification of whether the 407 highway is needed at all or whether the funds should be spent on alternatives such as better public transit.) transit.) It's completely possible that in 30 years, it will turn out that the land is not required after all. But even then, it could possibly be used for a mass transit route or a greenbelt, or even bicycle bicycle paths, for all we know. But, if a clearly-defined path of the future 407 Highway is laid out, we will all be better off. A decision on Highway 407 would allow municipalities and individuals to get on with other matters. Otherwise, Otherwise, we arc looking at 30 years of uncertainty. uncertainty. Vlilii by Andrea Adair a.m. Sunday service, he might just as well move the time to Thursday, afternoon afternoon which is more convenient to his schedule. Of course, the idea is nonsensical nonsensical because there are important traditional, spiritual and theological reasons behind Sabbath church services. services. And, although evening meetings of Town Council may lack a support from a theological point of view, there's an important principle of accessibility connected with any democracy. The traditions and philosophy behind evening evening meetings should not be taken lightly because our democratic beliefs affirm that public business should be open to scrutiny by citizens. And such scrutiny is more difficult when the meetings take place at inconvenient hours. Provincial and federal governments have long ago distanced themselves from the people they serve. In fact, their members have become such an ivory-towered elite that most folks talk about the actions of government as if they were committed by an army of occupation occupation rather than a group of men and women that they have elected. Local governments have generally been closer to the people. And yet, with their high-priced help and their expensive buildings and all the other trappings of political hogwash, even this country's local elected officials are coming very similar to their provincial and federal counterparts. It sometimes seems that they, too, want to climb into their ivory towers and lock the door behind them. No doubt we are dreaming in technicolor technicolor when we make the following supposition. Nevertheless, we would be willing to suppose that if Newcastle Council were to hold traditional evening evening meetings, there might be more interest in local government among the citizenry. This, in turn, would eventually lead to a larger pool of talent represented in the municipal elections. And there would be more informed ballots cast by the voters. As a result, there would be better local government, greater prosperity, lower taxes, and more pleasant communities communities in which to live, work, and play. Before you knew it, other municipalities municipalities would see our success and copy us. Then they would have better communities. And, having seen the success of local governments, it's just possible that federal and provincial authorities would take note. And maybe maybe we would have more responsive government at that level too. Just iavt dollar deficits would be more speedily resolved. Well, we admit that this is only a dream. Nevertheless, there are important principles behind the concept of evening evening council meetings. There is little doubt in our minds that governments today serve mainly the civil service, paid lobbyists and politicians. Evening council sessions would not bring about an end to that problem. But they would be a small first step. There have been a number of mixed views and opinions regarding the truckers' blockade of two weeks ago. Some people supported the truckers' stance unconditionally, unconditionally, while others others felt the point took too long to be made. To say a number of people were inconvenienced inconvenienced by the truckers' actions would be like saying saying mosquitoes sometimes sometimes bite. I, oddly enough, was one of those people inconvenienced. inconvenienced. Frequent readers of this column know I live in Whitby. Travelling the infamous infamous 401 daily usually poses little problem. At 7:30 in the morning, most drivers are heading west. This gives me the luxury of not having to battle traffic. Hence, when the trucker trucker convoy started to back up traffic, I had no problem problem getting to work. The problem, however, was getting home. I got off the highway in Oshawa, took a back road to Whitby and patted myself myself on the back when I saw the line up of vehicles vehicles trying to get off the- highway at Thickson Road. Ontario Provincial Police, Police, by this time, had closed the highway from the Thickson Road interchange interchange to Westney Road in Ajax. I was patting myself on the back until I saw the mass of traffic along all the roads in the area. What normally is a five minute drive to my house from the Thickson and Champlain intersection intersection took half an hour of creative driving and plotting plotting to avoid traffic. Thinking that Whitby hadn't seen that type of traffic for a long time, I was increasingly getting more and more steamed. What would happen, I wondered, if emergency vehicles had to get through to take someone to Toronto or to help someone in my little neighbourhood? Fortunately I didn't hear of any problems such as that. But they could have happened. So I, although not to. the same extent as some, was inconvenienced by the truckers. Two weeks later, I will grudgingly admit that being being inconvenienced was the intent. What would be the point of protesting if no one was affected? No one would take notice and nothing would change. Maybe nothing will change for the truckers now. Maybe they still won't be able to compete with the U.S. But as so many people said when it was happening, happening, at least they did something. . It is not news to learn Canadians are a tad lethargic lethargic when it involves the government. We criticize readily ' enough but aren't quite as quick to put ourselves on the line, the way the truckers did, and perhaps face a fine for some kind of civil disobedience. Most of us think there is no use in speaking out and would rather grin and bear it. The only other time I can remember people taking taking a stand against the government and actually invoking a change, occurred occurred a few years ago when senior citizens spoke out against the federal federal government's plan to de-index their pensions. The spunky seniors i and succeeded the feds left their pensions alone. Recently, some people tried to speak out against the GST, the latest assault assault on our chequebooks, but the cry wasn't loud enough and it didn't threaten too much of anything. anything. But the truckers practically practically stopped people from moving along Canada's Canada's busiest highway and made it impossible for anyone working in Ontario's Ontario's busiest city to get to work. Whether you agree with the truckers' protest or not, you still have to admire them. They brought attention to their plight and took a stand. The rest of us, meanwhile, merely pulled our head out of the sand for a brief moment to grumble about the traffic. Trustee Feels Schools Should be Part of Test Dear Sir: The current issue in all the media is Ontario's refusal refusal to allow our 13 to 16 year old students to participate participate in the Canada Wide Testing of student achievement. achievement. I am currently a school trustee on the Peterborough. Victoria, Northumberland and Newcastle Roman Catholic Catholic Separate School Board. I have very much enjoyed reading the many letters to the editor in the various newspapers. I must compliment compliment your Editorial Comment, Comment, Canadian Statesman, May 8, 1991 "Educators Don't Like to Do as They Say". Your editorial, presented both sides of the issue very fairly. The area of cost, the possibility of teaching only to achieve great test scores and the fairness to ethnic students were all given a fair explanation. However, and perhaps - more importantly, importantly, you did point out the very real cost of education in Ontario. The Ontario Provincial Provincial government's share of Educational Costs are one of the lowest Legislative Grants compared to other provinces. However, our municipal municipal tax share is fairly high in Ontario compared to other cities and towns in Canada. We pay approximately approximately 70% of our Local Taxes to support education and it is only reasonable to ask what are we getting for our money. Finally, neither your editorial editorial nor my comments are intended to be negative. We are not suggesting that our students would not score well on these standard tests. In fact, I think our students would do very well. However, However, it appears that the Ministry Ministry of Education administrators administrators just do not want to know or do not think that our students would benefit from the experience. What is the benefit in not knowing where we stand? Who are we really cheating by not giving our students feedback? feedback? ! The Federal Government wants to get into the act according according to the throne speech, (refer to the Toronto Star, May 14, 91, "Ottawa aims at national goals in school system"). Something must be very wrong in Ontario Ontario not to want to compete. I think both our teachers and our students would benefit from the challenge. Our athletes athletes train for the Olympics and the excellence these games demand. It is true that not everyone is capable of competing in the Olympics Olympics but we should encourage encourage our young adults to go as far as they can with what they have. Parent and School Trustee, John O'Toole. HOG Owners Help Charity The Oshawa Chapter of the Harley Owner's Group (H.O.G.S.) presented a cheque for $10,000 to the Grandview Rehabilitation and Treatment Centre of Durham Region on Sunday, May 26,1991 at 1:00 p.m. at the Centre. The funds were raised through the sale of raffle tickets on a Harley Davidson Motorcycle. "We're thrilled with the support of the H.O.G.S", says Linda Watson, Executive Executive director of the Grandview Grandview Centre. "This is the ■ second large donation this group has made to the Centre, Centre, as well as a number of smaller donations, and we're very appreciative." The donation donation will be used towards the purchase of major equipment. equipment. The Oshawa Chapter of the H.O.G.S. was established established in 1987, has a membership membership of 50 and belongs to the International Organization Organization which has a membership membership of approximately 150,000 in Canada and the U.S..The Oshawa club chose to support the Grandview Centre as their main community community project. They have also made donations to the Salvation Army and Denise House, and their members assist with the annual Christmas toy drive. "We wanted to support organizations in our own community and at the same time create awareness of our club", said Wes Parker, public public relations representative of H.O.G.S. Canadian CENSUS (plekse print) 1. Name. : 2. Address: 3. Dak eft birfh-' uan\/ [1 V. H. Mari+at siaHis 5. My own opinion on issue oP Canadian unify is • cev&4| Report from Ottawa by Ross Stevenson, M.P. for Durham The fact that you're reading reading this newspaper places you in a privileged class. About one in three Canadians Canadians either couldn't read it or would be reluctant to try. That's one compelling reason why the recent federal federal Throne Speech focused on education and learning as a principal government priority priority for the 1990s. Despite the fact that Canada already spends more money per capita capita on education than almost any other industrial nation, there's ample evidence that the system isn't working properly. Surveys show close to a fifth of our population is functionally illiterate - unable unable to read at a secondary school level. Overall, 38 per cent or about 6.9 million adult Canadians are in need of some literacy training. Three out of 10 young people drop out of high school before before graduation, at a time when the job market is looking looking for ever more specialized skills and training. It's not just school systems systems that need attention. Canadian industry devotes only half as much money proportionally to employee training as do U.S. companies. companies. Japan spends five times and Germany eight times as much on company- sponsored programs. Governments have thrown a great deal of money money at education with questionable questionable results. Ottawa currently currently spends about $11 billion, and the recent Onta rio budget allocated $9.1 billion billion - 19 percent of total operating operating expenditures -- to schools, colleges and universities. universities. Many municipal tax bills show at least 50 percent percent is for the local school board. Anyone who is knowledgeable knowledgeable about our Constitution Constitution understands that education education is a provincial responsibility. Ottawa's involvement involvement basically _ has been to provide financial assistance assistance to the provinces for post secondary-education and retraining programs. ■However, the federal government government believes its national leadership is required to achieve agreement on what is expected and needed from our learning institutions by the year 2000. Actually, some provinces already have begun reviewing reviewing tneir educational systems systems and standards and are thinking about improvements. improvements. Ottawa has no intention intention of trying to invade this area of provincial jurisdiction. jurisdiction. The role of the school system system is to equip young people so they can be trained and retrained throughout their working years. For that they need basic language and mathematical skills, to know how to think and familiarity familiarity with computers. It's estimated now that their working years will encompass encompass at least eight different jobs or careers, each lasting from three to five years. Anyone who questions this needs only to look at how sophisticated an aver age office has become during the last two decades, progressing progressing from manual typewriters typewriters and carbon paper into the electronic era of word processors, photocopiers, photocopiers, fax machines and computerized computerized data systems. Clearly this is no time for anyone to be dropping out of school, unable to read or to cope with simple mathematics. mathematics. As the Throne speech stated: "This is not the kind of performance that will guarantee increasing pros-' perity for our children; in fact, it has give rise to concerns concerns whether the next generation generation of Canadian men and women will be the first to have a lower standard of living than their parents." The Throne Speech listed four specific goals to be achieved by the end of this decade: *Cutting illiteracy rates by half. Ensuring that 90 per cent of the population attain high school graduation or tne equivalent by age 25. *Doubling the number of post-secondary graduates in mathematics, sciences, and engineering. increasing four-fold the training provided by employers employers for their employees. The aim is to do much better, not just by spending money, but by seriously examining examining what is right and wrong with our education and learning systems, and by demanding tne most from them. That, to me, seems the least we can do for our young people and for our country's future. IF 2 Pressing Matters In One Small Town - by John E. James - "The decline and fall of our own little empire" by John E. James This democratic society of ours, still much admired and envied worldwide, appears to be coming apart at the seams. Evidence to support such a theory is everywhere. Consider the sporting world. Recently Recently two multi-millionaire baseball players simultaneously enjoyed 'big' nights. One was speedster Ricky Henderson, Henderson, Himself stole a record-breaking Base #900 and something. No small feat, but was it really necessary for 1 Ricky to delay the game, to distribute autographed t-shirts and pre-printed press releases to the media. Henderson Henderson then proclaimed himself "the greatest there ever was" in front of 30,000 ticket purchasers, and previous record-holder Lou Brock, who had graciously graciously attended to offer personal congratulations! congratulations! The other "hero' was 43 year old pitcher Nolan Ryan, who quietly pitched an astonishing seventh no- hitter at an age where many of us break sweat getting out of bed. After the game, Ryan modestly accepted accolades accolades for tne incredible performance, and went about his business. Ryan is a class act. Henderson embarrassed embarrassed himself, the game of baseball, baseball, and the American people. Do we respect Ryan? Unequivocally "Yes". Few feel the same about Henderson. Now ask yourself: which of these two types of performance occurs most frequently with kids today? Oops, and Omigoodness, maybe it's Ricky-Time. From the Majors to the Minors, the Ego Age is rampant. Football players can't cross a goal-line without performing performing a choreographed ritual. Hockey Hockey players boogaloo back to the blue line after scoring. Basketball players point victory fingers at crowds after a single basket. You see this type of behaviour everywhere, everywhere, not just in sports, Why are we encouraging such a self-destruct mind set? Down the road it can only create horrendous problems for North Americans, as we try to interact not only with each other, but also with a world rapidly becoming a unified Global Global Village. The same typo of "Me, Above all Others" attitude has become popular with our politicians. Best example we can think of in recent memory conics courtesy of Canada's" Prime Minister Brian Mulroney. Basking in the premature glow of what seemed to be an inevitable Meech Lake Accord, Mulroney boasted how he'd manipulated the scenario to a point where "rolling the dice" would resolve the constitutional crisis. Unfortunately a couple of premiers, and one old Manitoba Indian MPP named Elijah Harper had different ideas. We'll never know whether Mulron- ey's self-serving words affected the decisions decisions and actions of those involved in the process, but you can bet your boots it lingered in their minds at the critical critical juncture. Everything we do today seems self- laudatory, or self-indulgent. More and more, people look after themselves first, and everybody else later ... provided provided such 'benevolence' doesn't cost ■them personally. Another excellent example popped up a few years back, when finance minister Mike Wilson suggested reforms reforms to the universal old age pension. Legislation intended to aid deficit reduction reduction would have resulted in cutbacks cutbacks for seniors capable of paying their own way. Understand a few facts here: 1) no socio-economic or demographic group in the world is better off than Canada's Canada's senior citizens; 2) nobody in the country was more aware of tne need, nor better equipped to appreciate the rationale behind such a move; and 3) almost unanimously, senior citizens voted to install this particular government government for the specific purpose of fixing the fiscal nightmare which plagues this country and threatens our future stability. It sounded like a good idea, until seniors realized they also would be asked to make sonic sacrifices. Reaction Reaction was swift, and vehemently negative negative ... to a point where Wilson was eventually forced to abandon a ke; part of his overall national debt reduc tion strategy. Shortly afterward, the governmen elected with the largest majority ii Canadian history, the group we al (seniors included) sent to Ottawa witl an unmistakable mandate to returr this nation to a solid fiscal foundation began to sputter ineffectively. That was roughly five years ago Since then, particularly in Ontario the "Me First" mind set has becomi further entrenched. What else coulc explain the amazing giveaway govern ment of David Peterson's Liberals, oi the subsequent election of Bob Rae's New Democratic Party. . Thanks to those two political par ties, and a bizarre array of legislator already implemented, or currently be ing proposed, Ontario has becomi something akin to a leper colony in tin eyes of Business. Perhaps you'vi heard the joke: "What's our biggest ex port?" Answer: "Jobs." We've come a long way Baby, fron the day John F. Kennedy said: "Asl not what your country can do for you but rather what can you do for you: country." In tne early Sixties, the statemen sent a tingle through every man, worn an and child old enough to understanc its ramifications. You can't help but wonder what son of reaction it would produce today. We arc in serious trouble, With nc turnaround in sight. L '1