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a i Aw ei 4 -- PORT PERRY STAR -- Wednesday, Jan. 4, 1978 ---- FOR OS, SACRE Editorial Comment POSTAL WORKERS PLAY GAMES WITH OUR MAIL - Hews [tem- LVER 7HOUGHT OF ~Perspective- ~ THE PRICE OF GASOLINE Driving into your favourite service station for a fill-up has become a chilling experience for most car owners these days. And the reason is not the cold weather, but the price of a gallon of gasoline. It has more than doubled since 1973, and all indications point to further price hikes in the future. There is not very much anybody can do about this, aside from grumbling or snarling at the young guy (or girl) who happens to be working the gas pumps. But before you tear another strip off his (or her) back about the high price of gas the next time you're in for a fill-up, consider the following. Out of one gallon of gas that costs 91.9 cents, the mean old oil company takes 14.4 cents to cover operating expenses and the return on its investment; 15.2 cents goes to the producers of the crude oil (excluding Royalties and taxes); the federal govern- ment takes 14.9 cents in sales and excise taxes; the Ontario government takes 19.0 cents for the same reasons; and the provincial and federal governments take a further 10.0 cents in the form of Royalties and taxes paid by the producer on crude oil. Oh, yes, the retailer, the guy who owns or operates the service station on the corner, he gets 8.4 cents from every gallon of gas which you buy for 91.9 cents. : Now, nobody should for one minute start feeling sorry for the oil companies. The Seven Sisters, as the largest multi-national oil (corporations) are known, are doing just fine, thank you, and-will not have too much trouble showing a healthy profit in 1978. The fact is that the major blame for the high cost of gas lies squarely at the feed of the provincial and federal governments. Ontario, for example, collected 'a neat $547 million in 1976 which went into the province's general refenues. And in fiscal year 1976-77 the Fed in Ottawa banked $2.08 billion in oil and natural gas revenues. : The government rake-off in this country can be further illustrated by the fact that although the price to the motorist is still lower than almost anywhere else in the world, Canadians pay more for gas produced from Alberta crude than Americans pay for gas from Middle East crude;*which is delivered to east coast refineries at up to $4 more per barrel than the well-head price of Canadian crude. Complicated? You bet it is. The economics, the pricing and the selling of all products based on the black gold that lies beneath the ground sometimes baffles the experts, and is almost completely beyond the comprehension of ordinary motorists like you and me. Petronomics, a new word that has crept into the English language in recent years, is the new science of the marketplace. Oil has become the most precious comodity in the world, more so than gold, silver, or ~. CG LP rd SDF A ; Haak by John B. McClelland even food, because the production of food is now dependent on the production of oil. So the next time you snarl at the pump jockey filling your tank at the neighbourhood service station, think of all the fingers that take a piece of the gasoline pie, and our provincial and federal governments who are in there digging with both hands. JEAN AND PIERRE It was not too long ago that finance minister Jean Chretien told Canadians to spend their vacations at home because all the money going out of the country. -was hurting our already wounded economy. Chretien obviously believes what he says and he is spending the Christmas parliamentary recess in his home riding of Shawinigan, Quebec. Shawinigan in the best of seasons is not the vacation mecca of Canada, 'and in the dead of winter it must be brutal. = But Chretien's valiant example has been lost through the actions of his leader, the Prime Minister. Pierre took off last week for a quick visit to NORAD headquarters, which are located under some mountain in Colorado. That's the place where Canadians and Americans jointly plot the air defense of North America in the event of a nuclear attack by our collective '"'enemies". Of course, it is all well and-good for Pierre to visit NORAD, bolsters morale and althat. But he decided at the same time to take advantagérof the occasion by nipping over to Aspen for a little skiing. One could not begrudge the P.M. a day or two on the slopes in Colorado, but Pierre, in his infinite wisdom, decided that NINE days in Aspen would be more to his liking. One cannot help but feel a little sorry for Chretian. While he spends his vacation cross country skiing in wind-swept Shawinigan in a commendable effort to lead by example, the P.M. is burning up the slopes of Aspen, winter playground of the wealthy and famous. Oh, well. It's been years now since Pierre took advice from anybody. He's his own man and there just ain't nobody gonna tell him what to do or where to do it. It really is too bad that Pierre, who is said by many to be a man blessed with a superior intellect, cannot understand why more and more Canadians are looking at him and his government with disdain. It is not any one major thing that has destroyed the credibility of Pierre Trudeau in this country, but a 1001 "little things", that nibble and .chip away until there is nothing left. , The ski vacation in Aspen is not going to wreck the economy ot Canada, and likewise Chretien's decision to tough it in Shawinigan is not going to save it. But one thing is obvious, Canada is not getting leadership by example. It is not getting leadership, period. PLAYING "POST OFFICE" ? Wait and see So, it's off to Europe this May for four politicians and three top-level administrative officers from Durham Region. 4 . The mayors of Oshawa, Whitby and Pickering, along with Chairman Walter Beath will be taking in an international development seminar and trade fair in the Swiss city of Basel, with the expressed purpose of wooing potential industrial developers to Durham Reaion.' : The cost is estimated at close to $10,000, not much considering that Durham will spend some $250,000 over the next two years in an effort to attract developers, and $165,000 of this total comes in the form of provincial grants. The trip has already come under criticism for a couple of reasons, not the least of which is the Region cannot afford it, no matter who is paying. Also, the provincial and federal governments both have depart- ments of industry, trade and commerce, and it is part of their mandate to extoll the benefits of locating industry in Ontario. And finally, the trip to Basel will last less than a week, and with such a short time period, Durham will really be doing nothing more than running up the flag, to let the rest of the world know where we are located, anyway. All these criticisms, (and others) are valid, of course, but they are premature. A new industry of moderate size would more than return the investment in the first year of operation through taxes, wages, and start-up expenses. If the Basel trip can at least get the wheels turning towards one new industry, it would be considered a success. . But there is an old saying that the proof is in the pudding, and it fits well here. We'll be watching with interest to see if anything follows Chairman Beath and friends back to this side of the Atlantic, and reserve judgement until then. - Worth a close look The superintendent of the provincial jail in Whitby has offered Scugog Township and all other municipali ties in Durham Region the services of inmates for such things as snow shovelling. While there are some obvious problems that would need to be worked out, there are at the same time a couple of reasons why the proposal deserves at very least some closer examina- tion. First of all, as any pedestrian in Port Perry can see, the sidewalks in this community are difficult to navigate at times, and immediately following a heavy snowstorm, it becomes almost impossible to use the sidewalks in some areas of the community. As a result, pedestrians are sometimes forced to walk on the roadways, which is a safety hazard. Under slippery conditions, it is especially so with young » children having to walk to and from school. - Secondly, the proposal is part of an intitative by provincial Corrections Minister Frank Drea to have inmates of these institutions provide some kind of worthwhile service to the community. While experts in the theory of prisoner rehabilitation may argue long into the night the pros and cons of such a proposal, the fact remains that the mood of society over the past couple of years would seem to indicate that the debt owed by some who break society's laws is more than just serving a term behind bars. It is not uncommon in certain cases for the courts to demand that restitution in some form or another be part of the penalty. While accepting the proposal as a good one in theory, there are of course some difficulties such as who would supervise the work, who would provide the necessary equipment, how the inmates would be transported from the community to the jail, and indeed whether it would be safe to have a group of inmates working on the sidewalks of a community. This fear may be justified to some degree, but one can only assume that the provincial authorities have given this matter plenty of consideration, and that the inmates chosen for such a program would be those. who are serving their sentences on an intermittent. Christms holiday palsses without any resultant diffi- basis, or those who have been given such privileges as culties. The difficulties encountered by such a program are probably outweighed by the potential bengfits: the community would get some work finished that otherwise would most likely not get done. A sidewalk clear of snow and ice might save a senior citizen a __._ nasty fall this winter, and a sidewalk clear of snow and ice near a school zone just might save the life of young child. It's worth looking into.