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Spring is in the air and in North Simcoe that means the sap is running, sugar 'shacks' are steaming and the pancakes are tasting better than ever. Achille Marchildon of Lafontaine has been heading into the sugarbush for 41 ' % ptt, FE : It's nice work if you've got a sweet tooth years this year, then spent days casting a wary eye on the bubbling sweet stuff to en- sure his family's annual supply of syrup won't be burnt. He's got 180 pails hanging in the bush around his home but maintains '"'It's a all get some." Achille will sell to passers-by however. Here he is holding a bucket used for sampling syrup while grandson Murray Odesse pours more sap into the first of a series of three: vats used to boil the liquid. Handleman slams federal 'big brother' attitude by Mark Fisher . The Ontario Minister of Consumer and Commercial Relations came down hard on the federal governments efforts in the field of consumer protection on Monday night in Barrie. : Speaking to 45 people at the annual meeting of the Barrie branch of the Con- sumers Affairs Association of Canada, Sidney Handleman called the federal attitude 'a belief in the/thorough incompetence of the average consumer," which can only be rectified with the intervéntion of "Big Brother" government and a strangle hold on the business community." He told the audience in the Consumers Gas Blue Flame Room that the provincial government, conversely, has been doing a little job in consumer affairs. "We have believed," he said "'and quite correctly I think that given: the opportunity, the consumer understands consumer interest Council notes... better than anyone else, including the government."' ; He told his listeners that the CAC could 'help make government more aware in the future by keeping it in touch with the needs of the consumer, and added, "'if you can con- vince the federal government of that, the. CAC will have made a tribution." Early in his speech, Handleman said "the real problems of Ontario and Quebec have been ignored' while the federal government remains preoccupied by bilingualism and separatism. He went on to describe what he termed "overlapping legislation" in the consumer field and said it would cause confusion among consumers and leave them uncertain about which government to turn to with their troubles. One example he cited was the borrowers standing con- V.O.N. request turned down Town council Monday night turned down a request from the Victorian Order of Nursing, for a grant to help offset expenses incurred over the past year. Finance Committee chairperson Mary Rogers told council she thought the group offered very worthwhile services, but she maintained that there were other avenues open for the Order to pick up the money it needs. "We never did it before, so we shouldn't set a precedent now," she said. She added that with the financial restraints in effect this year, "we'll need every nickel we've got." Reeve Art Stewart, who is one of council's representatives on County Council, pointed out that the county generally supports the Victorian Order of Nursing. "We'll find out Thursday what our county levy will be,'"' he said. '"'There's no sense paying twice." Street lights may be unsafe Penetanguishene residents may be well advised to steer clear of the street lights on Main Street. In a letter to the town, considered at Monday night's council meeting, Ernie - Lalonde, of the Water and Light Commission, pointed out that the lamp standards, which were installed in 1949, have deteriorated around the bases as.a result of the corrosive December's fine Council voted Monday night to take no action on a request from the Town of Valley East to endorse its resolution that the date for municipal elections be changed from early December to early November. On a somewhat ironic note, Mayor Vince effect of salt used on the roads winter. Lalonde pointed out that many of the standards are actually perforated, and may be unsafe. He recommended that the town either replace the standards or at least reinforce the bases in the interest of safety. The letter was referred to the committee level for further consideration. time for election Moreau noted that it wouldn't make much difference when the elections were held. "If you only get 20 people out when you're going to spend a million bucks, how are you going to get them out for an election?' he asked. during the Daylight saving time next month Council Monday - night authorized the Mayor to proclaim Daylight Saving Time effective in the Town of Penetanguishene, ' beginning at 2:01 a.m. on Sunday, April 30. Councillor Ken Tannahill jokingly suggested the town should go on Daylight Saving Time at the beginning of April instead of at the end. He said the argument that children should't have to go to school in the dark didn't mean anything since it is already getting light by 7:00 in the morning. "We could be the first in the province to go on is? he said. Mayor Vince Moreau suggested he could make an amendment to the motion, but he declined. Silver jubilee is this year A celebration of the Queen's Silver Jubilee could be a part of this year's Summerfest. Council Monday night received a letter from Ontario Premier Bill Davis advising it that funds would be made available from Wintario for such a celebration. Councillor Frances St. Amant said she thought the idea of observing the Jubilee was he slow pace of the construction of new ashroom facilities for the use of people attending provincial court at the Penetanguishene town council chambers came under fire at Monday night's council meeting. The washrooms, which are the respon- sibility of the province, are being built behind the chamber, and have been under con- Struction for a number of weeks now. Town a good one, and she asked if anyone was planning to undertake some sort of celebration. She was told no one had any plans at the present time, but council agreed that the thing to do would be to pass the letter along to the Chamber of Commerce to see if it would be interested in making the Jubilee a part of the annual Summerfest. onstruction behind schedule Clerk Yvon Gagne told council that the completion date for the facilities was sup- posed to have been March 31, but he had been told bad weather had been responsible for the delays. Mayor Vince Moreau told council the construction should have taken about a week, and council decided to send a/ memo to the province, asking if the work jcould not be speeded up. | Town borrows $78 thousand Council voted Monday night to issue debentures amounting to a total of $78,100 to help pay for the purchase of land for the Purpose of widening Penetanguishene Road, and for the construction of a sanitary sewers on Leonard Avenue, Don Street and Yeo Street Lane. / The interest rate on the debentures will be 10 per cent, and the money will be repaid over a period of 20 years./ and depositors protection act, introduced last -- November in Ottawa as a means of stopping loan sharking, while eliminating the com- plexities of the credit business and providing more information on terms of loan. Many of the provisions of the act are already covered under existing provincial legislature such as the consumer protection act, the collections agency act and the un- conscionable transactions release act. Handleman expressed concern that it might take the courts years to sort out whether federal or provincial rules apply in par- ticular cases. : He critized in particular the onus put on the lender to prove that a charge rate of interest is reasonable. This provision might allow the deliquent debtor an incentive to default on his loans, forcing lenders to raise interest rates to other borrowers. This in turn might drive the honest borrower into the arms of the very loan shark the legislation is designed to protect him from. He called it a "bad law", saying it was drafted with little provincial participation and added that despite opposition to the bill, "the federal government seems determined to make as few alterations in it as possible." Another example of federal intervention he said, is proposed revision to the bank act which would give the federal government more control over credit Unions caisses populaires, presently provincially chartered ° and regulated. He mentioned that the federal government also have plans to soon declare an interest in the securities field for which the provincials, have for years had their own securities commission. 'Disentanglement - no decentralization - should be our goal" he told the audience. Following the speech, Handleman an- swered questions from the floor for 15 minutes and wound up with some advise for motorists after questioned by CAC Program Director, Bob Nickason. He said the province has embarked on a program of publicity to protect consumers from. automotive rip-offs. Manufacturers distributors and garage representatives are warning people to find out if repair can be made under warranty, get signed estimates and, if drastically over charged, to get in touch with his ministry for advice on how to seek rebates. As for putting disreputable automotive people out of business, he said "I don't know how you can possibly stop him in advance." He added that new guidelines for rust inhibitors have been agreed too, through the automotive dealers association, dealers he says, will stand behind their warranties which he called "very good"' It's beginning to look more like April than March in Penetanguishene as the snow is melting and the warmer weather is setting $914,000 to be spent NIP plan gets approval Work on the East End Neighbourhood Improvement Program area is two steps closer to reality this week, as a result of the approval of the East End Redevelopment Plan by a group of citizens last Thursday, and by Penetanguishene Town Council Monday night. About 15 concerned east end residents showed up for the meeting Thursday night in the Royal Canadian Legion hall, to hear NIP coordinator Steve Fournier run down the confirmed projects to be undertaken in the area, and break down the costs of these projects. At the end of the meeting, the citizens unanimously voted to approve the plan, which calls for nearly a million dollars to be spent in the area. At the end of the meeting, Penetanguishene Mayor Vince Moreau told the audience, "'I think we have a very good plan, a very workable plan and a very ambitious plan." He also said, "We have the people capable of keeping it going and I fully expect to be on schedule for each year's projects." With regard to the low turnout for the meeting, he said, "I don't think we expected too many people: The plan was pretty well established." West end representative on the NIP steering committee, Orval Ambeau, added, "I'm surprised we got as many as we did."' At Monday night's council meeting, where the plan was given the town's official ap- proval, a number of the councillors com- mented on the redevelopment plan, prepared in its final form by NIP coordinator Steve Fournier, saying it was well put together, straight forward and complete. The introduction to the plan related the various steps it had already gone through, and the way the plan had been evolved. The meat of the plan was the list of projects to be undertaken, and the years in which they will be started. Slated for implementation in 1977 are: - road and drainage improvements on Burke Street. The work will include the in- stallation of storm sewers, concrete curb and gutters and a concrete sidewalk on the north side of the street, and road reconstruction and paving. The total cost of the work is to be $258,000, with the town paying $129,000. - the acquisition of land adjacent to McGuire Park in order to construct a neigh- bourhood childrens' playground area, adequate parking facilities, and a pedestrian access route to the facility from Yeo Street. The cost of the land acquisition is expected to _ be $100,000, with the town paying $25,000. - road shoulder, drainage, parking and landscaping improvements to Victoria Crescent. The total cost is $5,000 with the town's share coming to $2,500. - the widening of Brock Lane-in order to facilitate snow removal during the winter months. Again, the cost is to be $5,000, with the town picking up $2,500. Slated for implementation in 1978 are: - road and drainage improvements to Nelson Street between Main Street and Burke Street. The cost is to be $71,000, with the town paying $35,500. - the development of the children's playground area and parking facilities ad- jacent to the present McGuire Park facility. The total expenditure is to be $90,000, with the town paying $22,500. - lighting improvements to Yeo Street, Fox Street, Don Street and Leonard Avenue. Fourteen mercury vapour street lights will be installed on 35 foot poles along certain sections of the streets. The total cost is $2,500, with the town's share coming to $1,250. The program set for 1979 includes: - drainage and road improvements to Wolfe Street between Fox Street and Nelson Street. The cost is expected to be $138,000, with the town paying $69,000. - the construction of a sidewalk on Brock Street between Church Street and Main Street. The cost will be $7,500, with the town picking up $3,750. - drainage and road improvements to Peel Street between Simcoe Street and Sheridan Street. The cost estimate is $25,000, with the town paying $12,500. .and maybe we'll get the May flowers in April in. But it's not all sunshine and flowers, as Betty Valentine, an employee of the Town Office, found out Monday afternoon, when The two projects slated for implementation in 1980, the final year of the program are: - road and drainage improvements to Fox Street between Robert Street East and Don Street. This step will cost approximately $195,000, with the town's share coming to $97,500. - drainage improvements to Brock Lane. This final step in the installation of a storm sewer system in the east end NIP area will cost about $15,000 with the town paying $7,500. A contingency fund of $2,000 is also in- cluded in the list of expenditures. Two unapproved projects, drainage im- provements to Chatham Street and Simcoe Lane, were also listed on the plan, but cannot The be undertaken as the plan now stands because of funding limitations. The total cost of the, projects to be un- dertaken over the next four years is $914,000, with the town being responsible for $409,500. That figure will be offset by grants from the Ministry of Transportation and Com- munications, applicable to some of the "hard service' projects, and by Community Centres Grants, applicable to "soft service' projects, like the McGuire Park im- provements. After a short discussion of the plan, council voted unanimously to accept it, and to Pass it along to the senior levels of government involved in the NIP scheme, for their ap- proval. of Colour Comics Penetanguishene Citizen 68 pages Wednesday, March 30, 1977 Vol. 10, No. 13 20 cents Chamber shoots for 250 Membership drive underway this month The Penetanguishene Chamber of Com- merce is in the midst of a three phase membership drive. Chamber secretary Ruth Rose said yesterday letters are being sent out to all the businesses in town, and the chamber is hoping for a total membership of 250 this year. ; Meanwhile, negotiations are underway between the chamber and a number of people who are interested in renting space in the Chamber. of Commerce building. When the old post office building was rented to the chamber last fall, it was the intention of the chamber to rent out space to local businesses. Since that time, renovations have been going on in the building, but no one has moved in. Chamber vice president Hans Rick said last week negotiations are underway with an accounting:firm which should move into the building in the beginning of May, if all goes well. The name of the firm has not yet been announced. Snow bylaw out for another year, overnight parking okay tomorrow Penetanguishene may or may not have already received its full quota of snow for this winter, but the town's snow removal bylaw goes out of effect on April 1. As of tomorrow night, automobile owners will once again be allowed to leave their cars t treets i NO STOPPING AT ANY TIME she had to use her umbrella as she went home from work. Staff photo The bylaw, which allows police to ticket or tow away cars parked on the streets between the hours of 1:00 and 7:00 in the morning, came into effect on November 1 of last year. Its purpose is to make sure the snow plows are not obstructed by parked cars, as they make their late night rounds during the winter months. 2 Wintario draw still up: in air The Penetanguishene Chamber of Commerce should know within two weeks whether or not a Wintario draw will be held on June 9, in conjunction with its Summerfest. The chamber had been considering two locations for the draw, the high school gymnasium and the curling club, but the high school has been ruled out because exams begin on June 10, the day after the draw is to be held. Representatives of Global Television, the network which broadcasts the Wintario Draws, were in town Monday to look over the curling club, and the chamber secretary, Ruth Rose, said they told her they would come to a decision about the site within two weeks. Georgian sailing -course offered Haul in those sheets, jibe-ho and all that; Georgian College will be offering an adult introductory sailing program this summer, in conjunction with the Town of Penetanguishene Recreation Council and the Midland Bay Sailing Club. The course will be offered from July 18 to 29, on Monday, Wednesday and Thursday evenings, from 6:30 to 9:00 and on Saturdays from 9:30 a.m. to noon. The registration fee for the program is $30.00. The college will also be offering courses in golf, painting and sketching, outdoor photography, defensive driving and motorcycle training, in Penetanguishene. o~