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PORT PERRY STAR -- Tuesday, October 21, 1986 -- 5 Viewpoint . ..- McClelland Is the CRTC crazy? . Last week the Commission ordered Bell Canada to roll-back some $200 million to customers in Ontario and Quebec. If the order stands (Ma Bell is making noises about litigation) it could mean customers will get two months free standard service, or about $23.00 in savings. Now, getting $23 bucks out of Ma Bell sounds just dandy, on the surface and all poor beleaguered phone subscribers should be dancing in the streets and phon- ing congratulations to the CRTC. But wait a minute. If you think your friendly phone company is simply going to roll over and play dead on this issue, think again. ' No matter how you cut it, $200 million is a fair chunk of loose change, even for a huge outfit like the Bell. I have no doubt whatsoever that the CRTC will win this skirmish, but sure as anything, the company is going to come up with some way over the long haul to get that money back from you and me. There is no way the peo- ple who sit in the Bell board rooms are going to let $200 million slip through. their fingers and no way the shareholders are going to stand for it, either. The company will re-coup that $200 million in pen- nies and dimes if it must, and since Bell has an exclusive monopoly in Ontario and Quebec, it won't take too long for those pennies to add up. The other way around it, of course, is for Bell simply to cut the level of service. Already corporate big-shots are making noises about that, stating that $300 million in capital projects slated for next year, will be shelved. Maybe the best way around this whole issue would be simply to de-regulate the phone industry, throw it open for competition and let Ma Bell fight for the business. The market-place, rather than the "RTC would dictate phone rates, and in the long run the customer might be better served at lower rates. Quite frankly, the notion of a government regulatory agency telling a company to roll back $200 million leaves me feeling a trifle nervous. Nobody gives up that kind of bread without a fight, and you know who will end up smack in the middle. NOT HIM AGAIN There are stories floating around that the federal Liberal Party is trying to persuade Pierre Trudeau to take over the reins of the party for the 1988 election, lead for two years and then retire again. A lot of weird things have been going on within the inner circles of the Liberal Party organization, but resurrecting Pierre Trudeau from the political grave- yard is just about the most riaiculous thing I've ever heard. First of all, Trudeau may have made some dumb moves in his political career, but nobody has ever call- ed him stupid. It would be the height of folly for this guy to even consider a come-back as Liberal leader. Besides, he's too comfortable as a private citizen to ever think of jumping into the political arena again. My guess is that the Trudeau rumour was floated last week for one of several reasons. a/ to make life even more miserable for John Turner with a national convention just around the cor- ner. Pooh John. Not only does he have the shadow of Keith Davey looking over his shoulder, now the spec- tre of Trudeau is there too. Somebody really has it in for Turner. . b/ to scare Jean Chretien into getting off the fence and declaring that yes, he would like to be Liberal leader, if the Party want him. ¢/ to make Brian Mulroney look good in the eyes of the Canadian electorate. If Trudeau was ever resur- rected as leader, Mulroney's stock would immediately go through the roof. Maybe this Trudeau rumour was "planted" by someone in the Mulroney camp. In any event, the Liberals are becoming a joke what with all Turner's lems, the scheme to pay off Iona's: mortgagé when she steps down from her $60,000 a year job as national president, and now the idiotic rumour that Trudeau is waiting in the wings. Mulroney must be chuckling all the way to the opinion polls over the machinations of the Liberals. While I strongly believe Trudeau has no intention of attempting any kind of a come-back, the guy was known to do the unexpected. Remember his secret wed- ding that took the entire country off guard? Or how about the time, he announced he would step down, then changed his mind? This is the guy who did a silly little pirouette in the presence of Queen Elizabeth, gave the finger to un-employed rabble rousers in BC., grew a beard while Opposition leader, turned the army loose in Montreal to round up the FLQ in the middle of the night, shoved a burly radio reporter, drove a Mercedes roadster around Ottawa, and on retirement just drop- ped totally out of the public spot-light. If nothing else, Trudeau always marched to his own drummer and seemed to take impish delight in doing the unexpected. Who knows if some kind of ambition for come-back lies in the recesses of Pierre Trudeau's formidable mind? On second thought, the possibility should not be totally dis-counted. As I said before, there are some wierd and strange things going on within the Liberal Party. Yesterday's Memories 60 YEARS AGO Thursday, October 21, 1926 Mrs. Bradley, with her husband, Dr. H.M. Bradley of Wheatley, Ontario, spent a few days last week with her parents, Rev. and Mrs. Atkinson, Port Perry. Mr. Fred O'Boyle, Myrtle, was at Fenelon Falls last week buy- ing cattle. ' 35 YEARS AGO Thursday, October 18, 1951 On Wednesday, October 17, Port Perry suffered another loss to its business area when a sudden fire levelled the grist mill of Jas. Goodall and Company on the Waterfront. The value of the building was estimated at $60,000 and the contents at $35,000. It was only par- tially covered by insurance. The tower of the Port Perry 'Town Hall", presently occupied by the Gossard Company of Toronto, has been considered unsafe and has been removed. It has been replaced by a shallow cottage roof which covers the bell, still used as a fire alarm. 25 YEARS AGO Thursday, October 19, 1961 Mrs. Phyllis Sinclair, Blackstock, attended the Bay .of Quinte Young People's Conference at Almonte recently. Winners of the Lucky Draw held by the Figure Skating Club on October 14, 1961, were first, Mrs. E. Summers, and second, Al Shaw. 20 YEARS AGO Thursday, October 20, 1966 Mrs. Marjorie Aldred, R.R. 3, Port Perry, was installed as No- ble Grand of Maybelle Rebekah Lodge No. 348, Port Perry at an in- stallation ceremony by District Deputy President Sister Betty Ma- jor of Orono Lodge. Mr. and Mrs. Henry Wotten spent a few days last week touring the Lake Huron area, taking in the plowing match enroute home. Mr. Jim Lee, Greenbank, won the Dr. Drymond trophy for the best ploughed land for any resident of Southern Ontario. J.J.J. Gibson, Reeve of Port Perry, Ed (Sam) Oyler, Reeve of Reach Township, Victor Aldred, Reeve of Scugog, and John Hamilton, Reeve of Cartwright were among the first to officially open the new direct dialing system at Bell Telephone in Oshawa last week. 10 YEARS AGO Wednesday, October 20, 1976 Howard Hall, chairman of the Community Memorial Hospital board and chairman of the new Scugog Community Memorial Arena, became Port Perry's first Citizen of the Year in a brief ceremony during a meeting of the Scugog Ratepayers' Association. Others run- ning for the association award were Bill Brock, Fred Christie, Richard Drew, Dr. Matt Dymond, Diane Lackie, Lawrence Malcolm, and Bev Muir. The business and commercial areas of Port&erry were undergo- ing many physical changes at this time. The LCBO removed their store from Queen Street and have set up business at the corner of Mary and Perry Streets. Royal Bank manager Bill English said their operation would move into the vacated premises of the LCBO. Joe Podres announced his intention to run for the Port Perry seat on council. Letters Insurance -- other side responds To The Editor: I'm writing in response to the col- umn by Cathy Olliffe which ap- peared in the Star on September 30. But first, I'd like to say "Cathy I enjoy your column very much and Iread it regularly." I usually agree ~ with what you have to say. Except this time. Sort of. I agree with some of the things you said, but others I. think are a little off base. Let me explain. You see I work for State Farm Insurance in Brooklin. Now I don't want you to think that I'm some sort of insurance activist who's going to blast you for putting down insurance companies. Not true. I'm considered an office manager, which is just a glorified term for somebody who does everything in the office. I sell some insurance, I service policies, I'm a secretary, I'm a receptionist, and I'm a soundimg-post for our policy- holders. Now don't get me wrong, " most days I do enjoy my job (except Monday mornings). But being in the position that I am, I'm subject to all of our policy holder's complaints. Most of which are about our rates. Dogs on the loose To The Editor: Why is it that a tragedy must oc- cur before we tackle a problem that we know has existed for a long time. Just recently my daughter was bitten in the leg by one of the neighbourhood dogs. It was serious enough that it required a trip to the hospital emergency, many trips to the doctor, lost time at school and of course all related expenses. What is really scary is some of the reports of small children having half their face torn away or even an in- cident like this resulting in death. Now, finally I'm angry! I'm angry with myself for not doing something about this situation before but I didn't want to cause problems with my neighbours. I'm angry with some of the neighbours for even now, they still choose to let their dogs run free. I'm also angry with the law that something serious must happen before they'll do anything about a problem. WE CAN'T AFFORD THE RISK. With the on-going problem of rabies in our area we can't afford to let dogs run free and become infected and then possibly spread the disease through the whole neighbourhood. We can't afford the risk of a dog tak- ing a playful nip at one of our children and causing serious injury. We also can't afford the risk of los- ing friends because the dogs choose to do their business anywhere else but home. I would also like to ask who is the victim? In time my daughter will probably heal completely. The dog on the other hand will probably be put down. Who is the victim when they come in contact with rabies or run in front of a car? Many people think they are doing their dogs a favour by letting them run free. If you love your pet, and your neighbourhood, please think again. Adrian Brobbel, Seagrave. Like I said, I'm their sounding-post. By now you've probably realized that I'm going to use you for my sounding-post, because there are a lot of things I want to get off my chest about insurance and your ar- ticle just gave me the perfect opportunity. First of all, people seem to think that since I work for an insurance company that I get really cheap in- surance rates. I don't, but I wish I did. I'm only 21 and I have to pay the same rates as the next person. But for some reason people don't believe me when I tell them that. I hate pay- ing high premiums as much as everybody else does. Secondly, people blame me per- sonally for their high rates. I don't make the rates and I don't decide who can get what rate. I have to follow the rules of our head office and I have to give rates based on those rules. If somebody happens to get burned with a high premium, it's not my fault and there's nothing I can do about it because if I don't follow the rules, I wouldn't have a job anymore. Why people don't understand that is beyond me. Now getting back to your article, there are a few things, I'd like to comment on. Keep in mind that what I'm about to say refers most- ly to State Farm and may differ (Turn to page 6) Letters to the Editor ... our policy It has always been the policy of this newspaper to encourage our readers to make use of the letters to the editor column. Our readers have a right to freely express their opinions and view- points on just about any subject, and we feel that a lively letters column helps make a better community newspaper. We insist, however, that a letter writer sign his or her name. On rare occasions, we will agree to with-hold publication of a letter writer's name, if we feel there are very good reasons to do so. Under no circumstances will this paper print an anonymous letter to the editor. While we enjoy receiving letters from our readers, we must continue to insist on knowing the identity of the writer.