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Section Two Last week, while clearing out a cupboard, I came across an edition of The Toronto Star dated October 16, 1977. The editorial of the day talked about a falling dollar, rising prices,, mounting unemployment, more bankruptcies, bankruptcies, bigger budget and trade deficits deficits and investors scared by uncer- tainty over Quebec. Prime Minister Trudeau said, "Canadians "Canadians are a bit soft" and must reap ize there are no "secret recipes in a box" that will cure the nation's ills. He went on to tell us that if people want long-term prosperity they'll have to discipline themselves, toughen toughen up and show restraint, "and if they don't discipline themselves we will discipline them.' With our falling dollar the world is telling us that we are living beyond our means, Trudeau Trudeau said. I see a lot of what Mr. Trudeau said would have to happen, already coming true in the province. Our government government has cut the number of ministries ministries from 28 to 20, saving $40 million million in overhead costs, a year. Spending on government operations has been cut by over 11 per cent since 1991. By contrast, for the peri od 1985 to 1990, spending went up by 61 per cent. The cost of telephone communications, including cellphones, cellphones, has been cut by nearly 4 per cent during the past two years. Spending on advertizing has been reduced by 26 per cent between 1990 and 1993. For the same period, the cost of travel by public servants has been cut by over 15 per cent. The Expenditure Expenditure Control Plan is saving $4- billion in 1993-94 by restructuring public services, streamlining operations operations and cutting layers out of the bureaucracy. bureaucracy. The Social Contract between between the government and the 900,000 broader public sector employees employees and their employers will save about $2-billion in compensation costs this fiscal year and preserves public sector jobs by spreading the savings fairly across all employees. In last week's column I reported on the savings made in health-care, down from 10 per cent increases every every year to less than one half of one per cent this year. Our government stopped the practice of Using up ministry ministry and personal budgets before the end of each fiscal year, a custom that had been carried on for the last 50 years. Through careful management at the constituency office I have turned back several thousands of dollars dollars from my budget each year since 1991. In the fiscal year just ended on March 31st, I returned almost $7,000 to the government. I spend my own money very carefully, and I'm the same with taxpayers' money too. The cuts made, in many cases have been painful. But through self discipline we are beginning to see improvement overall. Some people have told me that once we get rid of the NDP government then everything will get back to normal again; someone someone said that at the meeting when the Acute Care Study was presented in Bowmanville. I'm afraid that everything everything as we used to know it, has changed forever, and it doesn't matter matter which political party is in power. Public services cannot be maintained just as they have always been; they must be made more efficient and more effective and that will continue to be the case whoever forms the next provincial government. From the same 1977 Toronto Star, Continued on page 4 Why, after years of spending taxpayers' taxpayers' money on child welfare benefits, benefits, taxpayer supported day-care centres centres and social assistance, do we continue to see child poverty statistics statistics soar?. It's heartbreaking to say the least that innocent children have to live in poverty when this country offers its citizens so much. Almost 16 per cent of Canadian children live m poverty. Imagine! Statistics Canada says that 57 per cent of children brought up by a single single mom will not rise above the poverty poverty level. As much as we stick our collective collective heads in the sand and push the issue issue away, the fact remains this deplorable deplorable situation affects us all. First, there is the shear waste of human ability, higher taxes to provide provide social assistance, increased street crime and the added cost of housing and rehabilitating young offenders. offenders. The federal government is finding out that money transferred to the provinces to support low income families has had very little impact on child poverty figures. Some might argue that the federal government should be spending more. But research shows that even if more money were spent to combat child poverty, it is questionable the money would do any good. Figures show that less than 40 per cent of single moms receive financial support from the dead beats they were married to. This should make all of us mad because we taxpayers end up paying the bills for the dead beats. Research does point out one clear correlation with child poverty and that is unemployment. In 40 per cent of child poverty cases the bread winner worked, on average, three months per year. How much self respect can a person person have who only works three months out of a year? What's worse is that this loss of self respect is passed on to the next generation. So, is there an answer? Clearly, the economy has got to create more jobs. And while we do not need more direct child support programs, we need incentives for business and industry to get involved in job training. The Canadian Statesman, Bowmanville, Wednesday, August 10,1994 3 by Laura J. Richards Sight First Concert Not to be Missed Next Thursday night, August 18, a concert will be held for "Sight First." A friend of mine, Christine Alison Wallner, will be presenting works by Mozart, Beethoven and Chopin at the Bowmanville High School Auditorium. Auditorium. Last year's concert at one of the local local churches proved to be successful and left many people wanting more of her graceful style on the piano. Sight First is an international Lions Club project aimed at eliminating blindness. If you're looking for something to do, and want to help a good cause, drop in to listen to Christine. Y ou won't be disappointed. Ganaraska Adventure Features 65 Local Farms and Gardens Another event coming up is the Great Ganaraska Countryside Adventure. Adventure. This is the second year for the tour which will take many people to some of the 65 farms and gardens within the northern area. This year if you decide to wait to get your tickets at the Clarke Museum on Saturday morning there will be lots of people to greet you, take your money money and send you off on a great adventure. adventure. I will be amongst those folks taking taking your money for this good cause. While there are 65 places to visit, I did not meet a single person who had made it to one-half of the places on the schedule last year. According to the tour booklet, tourists will have much to see within the area that takes in the north-eastern area of Clarington and the western area of Hope Township. There will be a quilt show and demonstration, a game farm with English English Setter kennels, a stud farm, a pheasant farm, and a garlic producer. At the quilt show, be sure you take a look at the crazy quilt pieced together together by the dressmaker of Lucy Maude Montgomery. There will be plenty of food to fill your tummies along the way, and to fill your handy-dandy coolers too. Be sure to bring plenty of ice-packs to keep produce cool. For those of you who did go on the tour last year, go again this year and bring some of those friends you "bragged to last year about the tour. The event's profits go to SAGA (Save the Ganaraska Again). Tickets can be picked up at a number number of outlets from Port Hope to Toronto. Toronto. For information, call Kristin McCrea at 983-9339, she'll be happy to tell you more. Also, keep your eyes peeled, Brad Kelly and I will be writing a couple of stories on a few of the really different stops on the tour. Some Thoughts on The Endangered Animal Sanctuary The animals that are currently living living at the Endangered Animal Sanctuary Sanctuary on Lakeshore Road near Newton- ville have not left yet. It has been almost 14 months since they were moved in from East Gwilli- ambury. The saga the animals have gone through to find a home is just amazing. amazing. I hope that where they are going now will be a happier heme for them, with lots of space and larger runs. While people protested loudly about the animals being in Clarington, I think people over reacted. All their fears about wild animals came to the forefront and triggered nightmare scenarios. Fears about the unknown went unchecked unchecked and became the nightmare on Lakeshore Road. I fail to see what the big uproar was all about. I've heard about the burning of materials. But, come on, surely other people have burned a few things before...like before...like leaves or garbage. You don't think grass or garbage smells? Regarding the zoning, the handlers brought the animals in without the proper zoning in place. That was the wrong thing to do. However, these animals are only animals. They will go where they are shipped, without too much trouble. But, I do wonder, what would have happened if the monks had been orphaned orphaned children and the animals had been farm animals. Would the same sort of actions have been taken? Probably not. After all, goats don't prowl and horses don't roar. What a pity! by Rick James "Power of Attorney" One issue that many readers are constantly constantly asking me to write about is the government's plan to change how powers of attorney are administered in Ontario through the Substitute Decisions Act. Because of my on-going debate with our M.P.P., Gord Mills, they want me to address this complicated issue, and hopefully hopefully have it changed before it comes into effect early in 1995. There is a tremendous amount of fear surrounding the facts and fiction about the act, and unfortunately, recent advertisements from the government government do nothing to ease that perception. Even Alan Silverstein of The Toronto Star has criticized the ad campaign by saying, "Distorting the truth violates the public's mind." To be fair, the N.D.P. government is taking more heat over this issue than it deserves deserves because the new law is not drastically drastically different than the status quo. But, there is one tiny section of the act which could create problems for a small percentage percentage of the population. Under the current system, powers of attorney attorney can be assigned by you to an individual individual whom you trust to handle your financial financial affairs. If, at a later date, you are declared to be legally incompetent or are institutionalized, that person would automatically automatically become your legal representative. representative. However, as I interpret section 16(7) of the proposed law, the public trustee would become your statutory guardian first, even though you have already appointed appointed someone else. The person you selected selected can then apply to the public trustee for control of your estate. And, as Alan Silverstein states in his column, " There's no guarantee your attorney attorney will displace the Public Trustee as guardian of your property, either. It has 30 days to approve your original choice, with the courts being the final arbiter." In most cases, I would think it should be just a formality to transfer control of ah individual's assets from the public trustee to his or her own attorney. A representative representative of the public trustee's office confirmed confirmed this by indicating the government would check to see if a power of attorney exists, and the transfer would then be made. Since it should be rubber-stamped, you have to ask why the public trustee should be involved in the first place. Despite the assurances from the public trustee office, anyone who has ever had to deal with government will shiver at the thought of the time and energy it will take to recover control of a loved one's estate from any level of government. Especially a department like the public trustee's office office that was criticized recently by the provincial auditor for mishandling the majority majority of files it administers. Something to remember is that for any of this to happen, you have to be legally incompetent. For example, your parents may both suffer from severe Alzheimer's Disease without being declared legally incompetent. incompetent. Unless an unhappy relative or friend complains about you holding power of attorney and abusing it, the public trustee is unlikely to become involved. Although I don't have statistics available, I suspect a very small percentage of the population is actually declared legally incompetent. incompetent. You can also avoid the problem of interference interference from the public trustee by refusing refusing the statutory guardianship. But, if you are declared legally incompetent, how can you refuse anything? You planned ahead and assigned power of attorney to a individual so you wouldn't have to -- or were unable to -- make such decisions. I suspect the intent of.this section in the act is to protect someone who assigned a power of attorney to an individual, but that person's ability to manage your financial well-being is questionable. On the other hand, would you rather have decisions decisions about your financial financial assets decided by a government appointed civil servant who knows nothing nothing about you or your wishes? If I have planned ahead and made the decision about who should handle my finances in the event I become totally incompetent, and that person mishandles my money, there's nobody to blame but me. Which emphasizes the importance of having an up-to-date power of attorney. It's just as important as having your last will and testament reviewed regularly. You stand a far better chance of re-gaining control if you can provide current documentation. documentation. Other than this small section of the act, there are some positive changes in the act, especially if you have not assigned power of attorney to anyone. Regardless, the subject subject is very confusing and you should consult consult with a lawyer on a regular basis to ensure ensure you are as protected as possible. As I said earlier, it's unlikely you will be affected by it since you need to be declared declared legally incompetent for the government government to become involved. But if the act becomes law, it's also big enough to become become a huge nuisance for your family.