The following text may have been generated by Optical Character Recognition, with varying degrees of accuracy. Reader beware!

The Canadian Statesman, Bowman ville, May 13, 1998 Page 4 ffl)e Canadian Statesman Former Publishers and Partners Rev. John M. Climic and VV. R. Climie 1854 -1878 M. A. James, 1878 - 1935 • Norman S. B. James, 1919 -1929 G. Elena James, 1929 -1947 • Dr. George VV. James, 1919 - 1957 Produced weekly by James Publishing Company Limited Also Publishers of The Clnrington/Courticc Independent P.O, Box 190, 62 King St. W., Bowmanville, Ontario L1C 3K9 Tel: 905-623-3303 HOURS: Monday to Friday 9:00 a.m. until 5:00 p.m. Fax: 905-623-6161 lnternet-statesmanOocna.org - Publications Mail Registration No. 07637 Assoc. Publisher - Rick James Editor - Peter Parrott For 144 Years, Our First Concern Has Been Our Community Publisher - John M. James Plant Manager - Rick Patterson Ad. Manager - Brian G. Purdy Production Supervisor - Ralph Rozema, Suzanne Bennett, Tim Bowers, Kevin Britton, Sharon Cole, Laurens Kaldeway, Barb Patterson, Tyler Sellick, Jim Snock, James Stephenson, Vance Sutherland, Jim Tuuramo Advertising Editorial Lavcrne Morrison Brad Kelly, Lorraine Manfredo, Laura J. Richards Office Supervisor - Angela Luscher, Junia Hodge, Grace McGregor, Nancy Pleasance-Sturman, Marilyn Rutherford, Libby Smithson Editorials Election Ahead? It's beginning to look a lot like election time in ■ Ontario. There arc a number of signals, including the recent "good news" budget which promised an early implementation implementation of tax cuts and a general re-opening of the provincial purse. And now, hardly a day goes by without an announcc- ' ment of some new provincial initiative. If the number of messages through our fax machine is any indication, an election is certainly a possibility. For instance, there was word last week of a new program to increase the number of police cadets in Ontario; another program will add more cops on the beat; yet another announcement proclaims proclaims that legislation will cut the commercial and industrial education taxes during the next eight years by about half a billion dollars. The first installment will be '.a $64 million cut this year. The announcement of the multi-billion dollar plan to increase the number of nursing home beds (also over the next eight years) is another example of those loose political political purse strings. Like most shrewd political announcc- ■ ments, the truly big-spending programs arc spread over many years. This allows ample room to maneuver in the future, adding or subtracting funds from various programs programs according to the necessities of the day. For instance, the provincial government could quite easily extend those eight-year plans to ten or twelve years, while still taking credit for the original announcement. Other signs of the election include more visits by cabinet cabinet ministers to local ridings. There's also the advantage of what arc generally seen to be favorable economic and job conditions as well as opinion polls showing that the provincial Tories' main opposition -- the Liberals -- ; are losing a few points from their lead in the public ; approval polls. ; It would also appear that protests over hospital clos- ; ings, the Metro Toronto amalgamation and education ■ cutbacks have subsided a little. (Certainly the anger is - out there. However, it may not be,present among the i-. general public tq the same degree as it was, for example, $last fall.) And there,doesn't seem to be any new controversy controversy on the horizon which will cause the Tory,popularity Tory,popularity to drop. ! All of these factors point to the strong likelihood of an ; election. Perhaps it could occur in the fall of this year. ; It is true that the electorate may have reservations ; over governments who call elections when they still ■ have a couple of years ' remaining in their mandate. ' However, Tory strategists must weigh that kind of back- ! lash against what might turn out to be favorable conditions conditions today. Timing in politics is probably more important than any other factor. And the timing looks good for Ontario's Tories. If you were in Mike Harris' shoes, wouldn't you be tempted to call the vote soon? Agriculture Big Business In the GTA ; "Agriculture in the GTA is significantly greater than | is generally recognized." That's the view from the provincial Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs which recently released an agricultural census for the regions of Durham, York, Peel and Halton. The OMAFRA points out these regions produce (according to 1996 census figures) $585 million in gross farm rcecipls annually. That's 7.5 per cent of Ontario's I total agricultural production. ! Or, to put it another way, the four GTA municipalities | surrounding Toronto produce more gross farm receipts | than the provinces of Nova Scotia, New Brunswick or Prince Edward Island. ! Huron County, with $512 million in gross farm receipts is Ontario's number one agricultural county. But farmers in the GTA produce 14 per cent more revenue on 13 per cent fewer acres of crop land than the farmers in Huron County. It's not a bad showing for four regions whose rapid urbanization might lead many of us to conclude that the major crops arc subdivisions, parking lots, streets and shopping malls. Definitely, that's not the case. ; Agriculture, although not highly visible to non farm folk, j is a major employer. And, like any major industry, it pro- ! duces the spin-off benefits related to supplying goods j and services, transportation and processing. | We should also point out agriculture is an essential j service. Everybody eats and therefore, everybody relics | upon this industry. ; The Ministry of Agriculture, in reviewing the census ; statistics for 1996, notes that pressures from urbanization urbanization and the loss of agricultural land to development make it increasingly difficult for many farm businesses to operate in the GTA. However, agriculture in the GTA benefits from some of Ontario's most productive farmland farmland and climate as well as close proximity to the consumer. consumer. These are facts that need repeating as urbanization 1 continues in the GTA. It's time to include preservation of agriculture into the planning process, not just because of the need for green space and because of the fact that the barns, fields and ' cows arc a charming pastoral scene. Rather, we should see agriculture as the major industry that it truly is. A Defining Moment in Canada's Letter to the Editor Bethesda House Thanks Supporters Dear Editor, On Sunday, April 19, 1998 Bethesda House held a Celebrity Auction at MacGregor Auction Centre to raise funds to open a local resource centre centre for women and children. children. The response was incredible. We raised over $3000 that day. At this lime I would like to send out a warm thank you to all of you who helped to make the auction a success: everyone everyone who generously donated items to be auctioned auctioned that day, everyone who contributed their time and skills towards the event and everyone who reached deep into their wallets to support this important project. In particular, I would like to thank Mike MacGregor and his crew at MacGregor Auctions for making the event possible. possible. Sincerely, Maty Anne Martin History Letter to the Editor Editor's Note: Since this letter was written, it appears that the federal government may re-think its Hepatitis C decision. Dear Editor: There are 1 defining moments in the history of great nations. Moments that sometimes pass without without the populace really grasping the importance of the event. Yet, in years to come, those who write history history will point a finger to such an event and wisely state that this was the start of the collapse of a government government or an entire society. society. Such a defining moment took place when the House of Commons refused to provide finan cial compensation to thousands thousands of Canadians \?ho became ! victims of Hepatitis.,C',as a result of a tainted blood system that was provided to innocent Canadians up to the year 1990. Compensation was offered to those victims who contracted the disease between 1986 and 1990, even though Justice Horace Krever stated that there was available testing of blood supply as far back as 1981, however the government government of the day never acted upon this information. information. The present govern- l ment draws the compensation1'line' compensation 1 'line' at 1986, stating that those Canadians that contracted Hepatitis C prior to that time would not receive compensation, leaving thousands of sick Canadians to fend for themselves in the years to come, while those who contracted the disease between 1986 and 1990 will receive the help they deserve from the government government we elected. Personally, I know none of these victims. However, I do have a son who received numerous blood transfusions in the late eighties and early nineties as a result of a horrible industrial accident that almost cost him his leg. He did not contract Hepatitis C and has gone on to live a normal life, in spite of the years of hospitalization, operations, skin grafts and the like. To say that he was blessed is understating the situation. However, here we are on the eve of the new millennium, millennium, part of a society that blindly closes our eyes and our hearts to the sad plight of thousands of our fellow Canadians. The outrageous outrageous fact is that the majority of our elected Federal politicians had the opportunity to right a wrong and failed to do so. One of the great things about being a Canadian is our deeply rooted sense of fair play. It probably goes back to the Plains of Abraham where the English defeated the French and then set them up with their own province, language and laws. I often wonder if the "victors" would have handled handled things differently had they known all the turmoil that would come to Canada as a result of that decision. The answer is probably "No", Why? Because we are Canadians Continued on page 5 Thoughts Unlimited by Rick James Phony Phone Scams It seems no matter how many times we're warned not to deal with people over the phone, you still hear about rip-offs and scams that arc just too good to pass up. In the last few weeks I've received a number of calls from readers-- readers-- mainly seniors -- asking me what they should do about callers who have the deal of a lifetime for them. All they have to do is send money to take advantage of the huge rewards being offered. My simple simple answer for them is... DON'T DO IT! Unless I know the caller or I have initiated the contact, I will not deal with anyone over the phone. When an unknown boiler room operation dials our number pushing books, stocks, new windows, tickets, carpet cleaning or charitable hand-outs, my short answer is that I do not deal with people over the phone. If they want to mail me the information, fine, I will look at it and call them back if I'm interested. Rarely do I receive anything else in the mail. Unfortunately, when they start offering free cars, vacations and appliances as a prize for just buying a box of lightbulbs, too many people arc lured in and bilked of their savings. As the saying goes, if it sounds too good to be true, it is! Something I find very odd is that police departments warn us not to deal with people who ask for money over the phone, yet I constantly constantly receive calls from police associations trying to sell circus tickets for disabled children. How do you know if it really is the police calling? One caller found out that it wasn't the real cops last week when the tickets lie purchased in good faith over the phone from an unidentified police association were not what he thought he was buying. It wasn't a lot of money and the wording on the ticket was vague enough to make it difficult to pursue, but the bottom line was that the individual had been ripped off. A scam that targets businesses involves selling advertisements in programs. The false programs usually arc based on topics such as drug abuse or illiteracy. The caller will say that "you were good enough to help us out last year and we can run your same ad again this year for $25." The sales pitch includes claims that the programs will be distributed to every student in Durham Region, but in most cases, you never see a final copy, If several people in an organization organization arc responsible for purchasing advertisements, this scam will eventually fall through the cracks and can be profitable for the crooks. Even more annoying are the calls from auto-dialing fax machines that start at 000-0000 and keep adding one digit in search of other fax machines that will receive promotional material about computer products. They run 24 hours a day and I received one of those calls at 2:48 in the morning last week. If you pick up the phone, you will hear a beeping lone every few seconds. The line will then disconnect when the auto-dialer does not detect another fax machine, allowing the system to move on to the next phone number. The last time I checked, it wasn't illegal, but it sure is annoying. My favorite line to use on people who phone the house trying to sell their scam is that "I am busy right now, but I will gladly call you back if you give me your number." Of course, the answer is always no, to which I respond, "Oh, you don't like to be bothered at home either!" Not Just On The Phone Of course, scams arc not restricted to just the phone. One of our readers brought this letter to our office asking if we knew anything about it. It involves an old bank account of a relative that has been sitting dormant for many years. When that happens, after a specified period period of inactivity, the government publishes a list of accounts which can be claimed by the owner or a relative with the appropriate documentation. documentation. But, it also provides a feeding bonanza for individuals to search the list and contact the owners or relatives with the information. Of course, they will only make the information available for a piece of the action, Here is the text from the letter received by one of our readers about an account owned by his deceased mother. Sec if you think it is real and decide whether you would send the money, We have read in a governmental publication that you have an unclaimed amount of $382.35 that legally belongs to you, and which yon seem to have been unaware of for many years. This money will eventually be turned over to the government's treasury if unclaimed by yourself. We offer to send you a copy of this information, so you may have the proof in order to claim back and repossess that money Our fees are $38.23 (10%). You may send us a postdated cheque for that amount, that ivt- will hold for three months. It takes approximately two months to gel a refund on your part. If the information is not useful, we commit ourselves ourselves to send you back your cheque if you ask for it within a delay of three months. Sincerely yours, Gerard L Fortin Consultant. The information may be legitimate and an address and phone number arc included on the letterhead so you can investigate further if you are interested. But, whatever you do, DO NOT SHOW THEM THE MONEY! If the person who wrote the letter has access to inactive hank account information, with a few phone calls to your bank and members of parliament, that information should be just as available for you.