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a Or L{ Pi FAR ) va hdd yg 0 tly ANY . LN SATA rant IS Ce ih we > x 4) CIE x : writin Ny aL AN SEL wh IS REAL J UC WRAY LINSHE a LSA RAY . aE ly a 2d windows. Your wife complains of the Get home from work and find that the Canadian Christmas," they could really imate ye nthoe booze, tuning : oid terrible draught from under the basement furnace ison the blink, and the repairmanis shove it to us be learing, "Yes, we thought As it is now, we know that Christmas is hi door. You investigate and find that one of tied up for the next two days. And your wife we'd wait this year until the last day of like a mirage. It's way off their somewhere ie the basement windows has been blown in is also fit to be tied up over your dilatori- Lastember, you know. Avoid the pushing: and no need to panic. Then, with that i and has smashed on the woodpile. You ness. and vulgarity of the holiday rush. startling Suddeness, it's December 22nd. all i 3 clamber up over the wood, knocking pieces Surely there is some way around this If nothing else, it would give us a break the Christmas trees have been bought "the® J 4 off shins and knuckles, and jam some suddeness of December. Is there not some from the massive nauseating volume of only remaining turkeys look like vuliires 4 1) cardboard in the gap. far-seeing politician (if that is not a pre-Christmas advertising, which begins and the liquor store is bedlam. Who's for ie i i 5 Creep cautiously outside, and nearly bust ~~ contradiction in terms), who would in- toward the end of October and ¢ontinues, Lastember? o§ your bum. There's ice under that thar snow. troduce a bill to provide for an extra month remorselessly, right into Christmas Day. r * Ng RANE N still fall and you must get the snow tires djd storms on one of these fine Saturdays, ahd throw some firewood into the cellar, and get some boots and replace the gloves you lost last March. Christmas is away off there. And then - bang - you look out one morning, and there's December, in all it's unglory: a bitter east wind driving snow, and a cold chill settles in the very bones of your soul. Winter wind as sharp as a witch's tooth sneaks in around uncaulked doors and tottering along a day at a time, thinking 4 Make it to the garage, and find that you car Finally get them open with a bucket of hot water and a barrel of hotter language. Slither and grease your way to work, - arriving in a foul mood and with bare hands crippled into claws, bootless feet cold as a witch's other appendance. Come out of work to go home and find a half-inch of frozen rain and snow covering your car, and no sign of your scraper, and another deep dent where some idiot slid into your car door on the parking lot. I could go on and on, but it's only rubbing salt in the wounds of the average Canadian. between, let's -gay, November 25th and before plunging into their pre-Christmas sales, which are promptly replaced by their -January sales. It would be greai_ for the Post Office, which could start warning us in June that all Chrismas mail must be posted by the first day of Lastember if we wanted it delivered before the following June. It would make a nice talking point for all those deserters aid traitors and rich people who go south every year. Instead of smirking, "Oh, we're not going south until Boxing Day. Hate to miss an old-fashioned Best of all, perhaps it would give dummies for him. Somewhere in the Bill should be the warring, in bold type: "Procrastinators will be Prosecuted!" Jeez, why not? They persecute you for everything else. If such a month were added to the calendar - maybe we could start it with Grey Cup Day - people like me wouldn't go thinking that Christmas is weeks away. Instead, on the last day of Lastember, with all their winter chores in hand, they'd kyow that Christmas was practically on top of them, like a big, old horse blanket, and they'd leap into the proper spirit, lining up a The Argyle Syndicate Ltd. LE] bd i 4 The Rush Affair The Carl Rush affair which has dominated the business of Scugog council for the past couple of months and generated a large amount of media attention is winding down as the local council faces - 4,7 do ee . the reality of a Cabinet order and court orders that nia of Fab? i T02 forced a re-zoning for a 10-acre building lot sought by p . Ha Mr. Rush. The reasons why Scugog has fought the case (at + considerable expense) have been well documented: it would set a precedent that could see just about every farmer in the Township trying to sever off a 10-acre lot that has little or no agricultural use. After all, there are few farmers in Scugog who couldn't find a very good use for the $40,000 or so that such building lots apparently can be sold for. One cannot blame Mr. Rush, especially. He bh obviously set his sights on this particular lot and + spent thousands in legal fees over the past couple of years. In fact, one almost feels a kind of admiration for Mr. Rush's determination. A lot of people would have thrown up their hands a long time ago in frustration and simply looked around for another piece of property. At issue in this case is not necessarily the precedent that might be set. Nor is it the fact that Mr. Rush is getting a building lot in Scugog Township. Rather it is the intrusion by the Ontario Cabinet into a matter of local jurisdiction. ~ On 4 January 25, 1978, the Cabinet overturned decisions of the Durham Land Division Committee, the Scugog council, and the Ontario Municipal Board, and! ordered that the re-zoning and official plan amend-* ment be passed. While the Cabinet must retain certain executive authority and decision-making powers, the question is whether this should extend to decisions on behalf of individuals. The executive authority of the Cabinet should be wielding only when the greater public good is at stake, when a Cabinet decision will have an advantageous effect on all or at least a substantial & majority of the people of Ontario. To make a decision in a secret meeting on behalf ¥ Py of any individual is certainly open to suspicion and Vou mean THE Guy WITH THE ARTIFICIAL BEIT CHIE OUT OF COR ARTI criticism. To make that decision in.the face of }. FIREPLACE AND PUT ALL THIS UNDER OUR LIL OLE ARTIFICIAL TREE ? ~earlier rulings by duly elected and appointed local ¢ officials with clearly defined mandates compounds this suspicion and criticism. to local autonomy and the planning process? Is this a The people of Scugog, and the Township council Local municipalities have been given the power healthy state of affairs? which has carried on this rather expensive battle, and authority to regulate land use through zoning Precisely why the Cabinet ruled in favour of Mr. deserve now a full disclosure as to why the Cabinet restrictions and official plans. The Ontario Munici- Rush in this specific case has never been made clear, made its decision on January 25 in favour of Mr. pal Board has the power and authority to hear other than that the 10 acres in question has no viable Rush. - appeals from citizens who question a local decision, agricultural use by itself. The latter may be so, but If, as some people now suspect, the Cabinet feels 0h and the O.M.B. can over-rule the local municipal- it comes full circle again to the reasons why farmers it may have acted too hastily and without examin® | 3 x ities. If the Ontario Cabinet can over-rule all the are prohibited in parts of rural Ontario from all the possible ramifications, would it be too much to Ho local bodies on behalf of an individual, what happens severing off their usable land for estate-type lots. (Turn to page 5) i bill 5 ® December Sth. o like me a chance to avoid looking like such a ay I wouldn't care what he called it. It could dummy. Procrastinators, who flourish at be Lastember, referring to your fast-dying during a sunny November, such as we had ps 2, hope that Sieve Wouany be 2 Jigy this this year, would have no more excuses. All : year. ©r Last Lall, or Xinal Warning, or their wives would have to do is point to the y She's Acomin! Anything thatgaveusa good calendar and say, "Bill, do od so ow it's BS Jolt. only three days until Lastember. Isn't it & 4 i It would-be a good thing for merchants. time you did your Lastember chores?" 5 | They could have special Lastember sales of In fact, if that fearless politician who is ¢ t DECEMBER TOO SOON doors are all frozen solid shut. Beat them gloves and boots and snow tires and ear going to introduce the Lastember Bill in the i December is a trying time. For one thing with your bare fists until the latter are muffs and caulking guns and weather h : : hy. ) p ouse wants some advice, here is a codicil it's so dang SUDDEN. There you are, bleeding and your car is full of dents. stripping and antifreeze and nose warmers, ?