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we ~"Scugog Citizen -- Wednesday, January 3, 1996 = LJ > "VIEWPOINT by John B. McClelland [LETTERS TO EDITORs So, how was your Christmas holiday? Don't ask me about mine, or I just might pop you one in the snout. What kind of flu bug has been floating around over e Christmas/New Years res Season? - Whatever it is, it jumped up and grabbed me by the throat (and elsewhere) right at Christmas and here it is the second day of 1996, and I'm still suffering. Enough of my paltry problems. Who the hell wants to read about the editor's bout with a Christmas flu bug? The daily papers, of which I am an habitual reader, d especially gloomy over the Festive season. And I'm not just talking about the murders, fire deaths, fatal car accidents that seem to be especially hard to comprehend at this time of the year. Doesn't tragedy in this world every take a day or two of? Apparently not. The handicappers, those who get paid to look back on 95 and ahead to 96, seemed to be painting an especially gloomy picture about life in this fair country. Pollster Allan Gregg took the pulse of the nation and found (surprise!) that his results this year are "the blackest set of findings I have ever examined in 20 yedrs of analyzing poll results." Canadians at this very moment are feeling downright pessimistic about the future and their little niche in it. There is a profound sense of unease und almost all of it has to do with finances. war boomers born between 1945 and 1950) are for the first time in their lives facing what can only be described as huge triple whammy. How to get their own children through college and whether there will be a job-when they are finished; how to care for their own aging parents, most of whom are reaching the age now where they need some degree of outside care; and finally, how to prepare for their own "golden years" which are creeping up in an awful big hurry. Most feel there will be nothing in the pension pot when they hit 65; there may not be enough to provide them with even basic health care; and the children and the grandchildren may still be living under the same roof in 10 or 15 years. ' Many look forward to the day People in my generation (the post when the mortgage is paid off and that stake in their home becomes their ticket to a happy retirement. Not so. What is going to happen to the price of houses when all .the baby boomers put their places on the market in the next ten or'15 years? There will be a glut of houses and the prices will do nothing but tumble. Kind of gloomy, isn't it? Even if you haven't got a bad case of the flu. And sort of hovering around over all this economic angst we all feel these days is the Quebec issue. Many 'of us, according to the polls, believe Canada will not exist as we know it in a few years. And many "just don't give a damn, either. Caught Gp in their own nightmares about their personal futures, they are sick and tired of having Quebec jammed down their throats for the last 20 years. "If Quebec votes to go, let them go and let the rest of us get on with our lives," is the resigned sentiment one hears more and more. I pondered these gloomy scenarios over the Holiday Season as I sat bundled against the slightest chill and feeling as if I'd been run down by a tank. There certainly wasn't much in the papers or on the tube to make me feel any better. In fact, one day things were so bad I s usly considered breaking my' lifelong habit of reading the papers from cover to cover. But one thing kept popping into my mind through the swirl of gloom and doom. As tough as things r may be in Canada for a lot of people these days, including the future of the country itself, I kept asking myself is there any place on earth I would rather be. Nope--not even a nice warm beach on some tropical island. Canada may not be the paradise that it once was. But dammit all, anyway, even with layoffs, government cutbacks, lack of jobs, declining health care, the threat of separation and Robbie Alomar leaving the Blue Jays, Canada is still the only place on earth you'll find this bird. Even when I'm hunkered down with the nastiest of flu bugs. I don't profess to own any magic crystal ball about what is going to transpire in 1996 but let me nevertheless take this opportunity to wish you, dear reader, all the best in the year ahead. 4 Taghe Editor: : As we face the prospects of a 'new year we face belt tightening and increased taxes in the form of user fees. The latest shocker is the proposed gasoline tax for G.T.A. which includes Durham Region. We already pay whopping taxes on gasoline, a gas tax on a new car and increased license fee on every vehicle. Why should motorists in Port Perry and _as far north as Lake Simcoé pay for Metro roads? Roads that are seldom used, if at all, by thousands of Durham motorists: Next will be toll roads. 'Bell Canada in it's never ending quest for increases says that increases are good for Canadians. The latest is the hundreds of thousands they will take out of our pockets in increased local rates this year and another hit next year making a total of $4.00 per month. With 10 million . subscribers that's a whopping $480 million. To get the increases approved with the Federal Government's CRTC, headed by the infamous Keith Spicer-- former head of the official languages fiasco, Bell promised to lower long distance rates. The Chretien government cabinet overturned the lowering of long distance rates as promised. Just like the broken promises to kill the hated GST. A government that is more concerned with . giving Quebec special status than protecting consumers from corporate gouging. Bell has profits of about $1 billion a year. Toronto Star says "Biggest bail out in history". The-banks continue to rip off thet" customers with the lowest interest rates on savings in living memory. One quarter of one percent which is 6ften eaten up by service charges. The interest is taxable income now T-slipped at $50 cut in half from former $100 reportable incomes The major banks have a combined profit of about $5 billion. (1995) Latest ics show 20,415 ) declared bankruptcy from January to October 1995 with business bankruptcies at 2,853 in the ame period. While hospitals face closures and health care along With social services being cut not one leading politician has questioned the mammoth cost of frivolous french! They cut and tax but never the waste of bilingualism. Billions spent by Ottawa plus millions here in Ontario for French Services Bill 8 introduced by David Peterson, and fully backed.by Bob Rae. The Rae government spent 4 million on French highway signs for the 401 Highway. French Immersion in Durham Region takes about 10 per cent of the entire school budget--some $36 million a year. All the billions spent on French has done nothing to deter the aim of separation by the Bloc and the PQ. Only the Reform Party has questioned the waste. Front page story in the Sun (Dec. 6) reads "TVO Outspends CBC On French Viewers"...it's $30 million of Ontario taxpayer's cash for only 800 primetime viewers, $37,600 per viewer. Charity starts at home Senior Editor of the Sun said recently that Canada is'the third largest English speaking country in the world. English is second only to Mandarin as the most widely spoken langhage, with French about 14th. In North America French is far behind Spanish. Editor John Downing said in conclusion Spanish Immersion for parents wanting more for thet kids is the choice. In conclusion Reader's Digest (Sept. 95) has a major story on "Canada's Farcical Refugee System". It states that Canada . 'accepts about 70%--a rate four times the norm for developed countries. The majority are economic migrants, not persecuted ones. The Digest says (most + widely read in world) "Many lawyers won't pass up a $1,500 fee for a few hours work no matter how flimsy a client's cJaim might be. In. 1994 in Ontario alone lawyers collected nearly $30 million in legal-aid fees for refugee cases. Various levels of government spend about $1 billion to take care of 30,000 or so refugee claimants who can afford to feach our borders every year". Monumental waste at a time Canadians are taxed to the hilt, many scraping to get by. Waste not, want not! Charity starts at home. Sincerely Dean J. Kelly, President Association of Dedicated Canadians (since 1967) =" . PortPerry, Ontario - Good question To the Editor: If Christmas were 7 days a week, all through the year: how long could the money and the booze last? 1 don't know © it'is strictly a rhetorical question: but first things do come first. 1 wish. Ron Ward R.R.1, Janetville Appalled at spelling errors To the Editor: As I was reading through your paper, | was appalled to see the spelling errors and lack of punctuation in the Cartwright Public School Christmas letters. My daughter's son attends this school and finds the "whole language system" very frustrating. It seems this system was created by the love and peace children of the 70's. My daughter now has to take out a loan for tutoring, which she can ill afford. Surely there is a school in the Port Perry area that can help her. Signed a worried grandmother; EJ. Lewis Blackstock Snow ploughing on rural Township roads To the Editor: First 1 would like to say that our roads are, in my opinion, kept very passable during winter snow storms. 1 do however question the ploughing three or four days after a storm continually winging the snow, widening the open surface of the road (rural roads), making it necessary for residents to remove snow from driveways. This snow is compacted with large chunks of ice and difficult to handle. Could the plough operators not push a button lifting the wing and eliminate this problem? 1. Would the operators fill their own driveways? 2. Fill the driveways of their relatives? 'Excess snow placed in driveways by ploughs could result in emergency vehicles, i.e. ambul and fire fighting L equipment being delayed. Some residents pay to have their driveways ploughed however no snow removal contractor will return three or four times, Would it not be possible to obtain the required width on the first or second pass With the plough? Thank goodness for the hydro poles, which to some degree deter the width that the wing can be extended. It is also noticed that salt and sand is applied shortly after the first pass of the plough and on the se¢ond pass by the plough is efficiently removed. Why not wait until the ploughing has been completed before applying the salt and sand? 1, for one, am prepared to remove the snow from my driveway as necessary, during a storm, but resent having to remove the snow from the end of my driveway three or four times after the snow storm is over. The excess use of men and equip tis, In my opini unnecessary, very expensive and no wonder the snow budget has been exceeded. In closing] am sure that | speak not only for myself but for Sunes others who feel as | yy Richards, Blackstock