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[ -- Citizen -~ Tuesday, August 11, 1992 . EDITORIAL 0 "> RHO - Canada needs to "take five' It's fair to say that as the summer of '92 moves into mid- August, most Canadians would like nothing better than a cou- ple of weeks of seasonable weather before they have to pack the ids off To'school, And if they had another wish it would be that somebody call an immediate "time qut" in the constitutional wrangle that has been been dragging oh for two decades. If ever a country needed to "take five," a long break, a "time out" from anything, it is this haggling and finagling, this humming and hawing, this posturing, this double-talk that has left most of us weary, confused, angry and fed up to the eye- brows with this merry-go-round. How can the Prime Minister and the provincial premiers possibly justify the amount of time, money and effort they have poured into this debate over the last few years? Have they not taken a stroll down main-street Canada to ask every-day Canadians what they think of this lunacy? Obviously not, for they are getting together again to see if they can come to an agreement on, of all things, an elected senate. Aside from a few politicians who sniff power in a Triple E senate, does anybody really care? How can they carry on this constitutional dance at a time when there are so many other issues hitting Canadians in the teeth. Unemployment, for example, is officially running at over 10 per cent. The real figure is quite higher. Welfare roles are at record levels; both national air lines are in a financial nose- div Close to 300,000 jobs have disappeared forever; compa- nies ike Canadian National are in such bad shape there is talk of laying off 10,000 employees; the Newfoundland cod fishery has been shut for two years; car sales are down, retail sales are down; housihg starts are down; bankruptcies (personal and corporate) are up; consumer confidence has been shattered; and Mike Wilson spent his summer trying to ink Canada to a free trade deal with the U.S. and Mexico. . How. many jobs has the constitutional wrangling created? Aside from a few high-priced consultants who pulled $2 mil- lion from the tax-payers pocket, you would need two fingers ne hand to count them. How many more jobs have to go down the tubes, how many more factories have to shut their doors, how many more com-. panies and individuals have to go bankrupt before those peo- ple up in Ottawa decide they have been paying too much attention to the wrong issue? The country is not going down the tubes, but there are some very, very serious problems that need some very, very close attention. The fact these serious problems have not been getting full attention from the first ministers is a national disgrace, and perhaps the main reason why so many ordinary Canadians say they have lost faith in their elected leaders. I's not as if a constitution is lacking in importance. That's not what's a stake here. It's a question of priorities, what do we need more. It's time for a time out. The country needs a break, and the first ministers need to devote their energies to our number one priority: getting Canada back to work again. The way things are going, there appears to little chance to 'break the constitutional log-jam, anyway. Why not back away and give tempers a chance to cool? We could end up with the worst of both scenarios: a Canada fractured down the middle, without a constitution; broke, and out of work. THESE BOOTS ARE MADE FOR WALK'N . ... AND THAT'S WHAT Li DO CONSTITUTIONAL | TALKS so. MADE IN FRANCE ONE OF THESE DAYS THESE BOOTS ARE GONNA WALK ALL OVER YOU | | [LETTERS To THE EDITOR Frustrated. by landfill sites To the editor: The proposed landfill sites in, Scugog Township are a major concern lo everyone----or they should be. Hopefully, the people who live in Port Perry are aware by now of how serious this has become. And hopefully, they are reading and: willing to fight right along "¥ us. 1 am not on one of the propos landfill sites, but I might just as well be. A road separates my house from the L7 site. The L2 and L3 sites are less than a quarter mile away. I can see all three sites from my kitchen window. I guess fi tion is the best word to express @y feelings. 1 love my home and property as 1 have for the last 15 years. I do not want the stench, pollution or sight of a dump near my home. P.E.S.T. (Preservation of the Environment of Scugog Township) is working very hard to fight a dump. They are doing a wonderful job, but they can't do it alone. They need new ideas as well as funds. | am not in a posi- tion to hand over a lot of money. Talking to others in the impact areas, I found they are in the same dilemma. We all wanted to help, but felt we had nothing to con- tribute. . Then 1 realized that everyone has something to contribute. It doesn't matter if it big or small! That's when I came up with the idea of having a Bake Sale in aid of PEST's fight. I spoke with a neighbour Tot Holtby, who lives on one of the dump sites, and she quickly agreed this would be a 'good idea for fund-raising. She was a great help, making numer- ous phone calls from a long list of people. And she worked very hard at the tables. Her dawghter waved a "don't dump on us" sign at passing traf- fic, and received hundreds of encouraging honks from motorists. My friend, Trudy Louvelle, who lives in town, quickly offered her help when she heard my idea. My neighbours and friends are fantagsic people, thus everything ily into place. Pat Sparling was extremely helpful; Fred Christic came to my rescue by putting up and taking down the signs.'My good friend and neighbour, Laura Watson, was supportive right from the start, and really made me feel about what | was doing. Mi Holtby helped drive baked S to our saleJocation. to let us use his property at the corner of Highway 12 and Concession 3, an ideal spot to publicize our concerns. 1 was thrilled with the huge assortment of baking that arrived, and sincerely thank all those who donated this baking. And a special thanks to those with a "sweet tooth" who were big supporters of our cause. We could not have done this without you. I want to say thank you to everyone for making this project such a huge success. I want to tell my friends, neighbours, and all who helped out that I very proudly handed over $500---and feel real- ly great. Lynn Loughlin, RR 4, Port Perry. 'Strike YY from list Editor's Note: The following letter, was sent August 4 to C.E. Mcintyre, General Manager of the Interim Waste Authority. Dear Mr. McIntyre: Zero Garbage/Scugog has this day handed a brief to the IWA at its Port ores This brief is a comprehehsiye critique specific to the YY sites(Highway 7A) of steps 1104 and step 5 in the IWA land fill site selection process. The primary point we are absolutely obliged to make is that "the whole ptocess is ill con- ceived, in particular the method- ology used to determine "urban shadow" as shown by the IWA designating full time family farms. It is under duress that we even participate in this flawed process. Each_déscipline has been eval- uated in as much detail as can be expected from a volunteer group under stress in the insufficient time period allowed. Tourism, which is a major J [ Published by Scugog Citizen Publishing Ld. | Co-publishers: S- industry in Scugog has been\\ added to the criteria. We feel the IWA was negligent in not includ- ing tourism as a factor initially. We should also like to point out most strongly that some of the reference material used by M.M. Dillon Ltd. was difficult to obtain and in some cases not even made available to us. A great deal of time and effort by a wide segment of Township citizenry has gone into this brief "and our findings conc the' YY site is unacceptable, particu- larly from the viewpoints of transportation, agriculture and biology. We would demand most strongly that the YY site be stricken from the list immediately so the community may retum to some degree of normalcy. Thank you for your attention and we look forward to a positive reply. ~ Bill Lishman, Chairman, Zero GarbagelScugog. 36 Water Street | Port Perry, Ont. L9L 12 i Phone 985-NEWS Fax: 985-1410