WHITBY FREE PRESS, WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 2,1987. PAGE 7 PAGE SEVEN DON'T DISCUSS In a democracy, it would be reasonable to expect that the people would determine the issues. The reality of this election and most others is that the parties decide well in advance what the issues are and stick to them. The candidates and their leaders create the news and the media dutifully reports it. Efforts by citizen groups to focus attention on other issues are lost amidst the flashy orchestrated hoopla that only a major party can create. Politicians recognize minefields when they see them and deftly sidestep the thorny no-win issues. In the last election, the issue that everybody talked about except the politicians was separate school funding. It would be this year, too, except for the Supreme Court's recent decision accepting its constitutionality. Except for pockets of resentment in southwestern Ontario, it is now a dead issue. Locally, because of our proximity to two large nuclear generating stations, nuclear nergy and its byprôducts are an on- going non-issue. Durham Nuclear Awareness, an antinuclear lobby group, is trying its damndest to make nuclear power an issue but are studiously ignored by the politicians. We in the media report the press conferences but in the absence of any meaningful can- didate response, the message is lost in the mass of other election news. Having been in similar situations myself, I can appreciate their frustration at being systematically brushed off with evasive or non-existent answers. The questions they raise are important ones that deserve to be debated, and although I disagree with their position, I resent the way our "leaders" are ignoring their concer- ns. But there are other oigoing issues that never get much discussion. One of these is municipal government. But this is a provincial election, you say! True, but municipal governments operate under rules laid down by the Province. Remember the Queen's Park bashing that took place during the last local election, especially over the Regional Act change allowing three regional councillors for Whitby. The Province decides who what and when our council will be elected; it determines the rules under which municipalities execute zoning and other planning issues (and determines what your property assessment is and hence influences what your taxes will be; it decides how much the municipality will receive in grants each year and hence the proportion of revenue the Town must raise from property taxes. Yet no politicians, municipal or provincial, are talking about these issues - they save their pun- ches for between elections when they can safely castigate each other before a cheering electorate that can't turf either one of them out of office. (Remember the indignation of our council that a provincial Environmental Assessment Board could overturn their decision to prevent Decom from building a waste transfer station in Whitby. Why haven't any of them raised the matter during this election?) Education is another issue which is being brushed off with vague promises of more money for this, better facilities for that, etc. Every three years we elect a school board which administers rules set out by the provincial government which, by the way, also con- tributes about half of their overall budgets. Between elections, the board passes numerous motions and sends deputations to Queen's Park asking or demanding this or that. But now that we have an election the trustees are silent - the people best qualified to ask the meaningful questions aren't doing it. But the issue that no politician likes to face is the growth and inef- ficiency of our civil service. Everyone of us regularly encounters the bureaucracy and we come away shaking our heads at the way the government works. Four officials are sent from Toronto to do a job that one should have been able to do over the phone; you try to get what you thought was a simple piece of information and get shunted from department to department; you want a 'yes' or 'no' answer and you get a vague response that leaves you dangling; the person who can give you the answer is never there and when you finally catch him, he refers you to someone else. The frustration is endless yet we keep paying more and more of them higher and higher salaries. The best of them get out and hire themselves back to the government as consultants at even higher pay. Meanwhile their previous position is filled even though the work is being contracted out. Our bureaucracy is the living proof of the Peter Principle that every position tends to be filled by incom- petents. Occasionally, a government will attempt to reform the civil ser- vice but almost invariably the bureaucracy gets bigger. Gover- nments never have the political will to actually fire anybody, they use attrition and hiring freezes which means that as good people retire or bail out the concentration of deadwood gets higher and higher until the resulting stagnation forces the government to start hiring again. Someday we are going to have to have a government which will put our tax dollars ahead of political expedience. And that brings us to the real issue - the bottom line - who pays and how much. On that issue our politicians are unanimous - they would rather talk about what they're going to give us than what they're going to take away. PhonNo. I j* LOCAL ARCHITECýTURtAL CONSERVATION AD)VISORY COMMITTEE in i Feer A CONTEST FOR SUMMER STROLLERS AND SUNDAY DRIVERS Sponsored by Whitby's LACAC* to encourage an awareness of our local architectural heritagre Each week though the summer, the Whitby Free Press will publish a picture of an architectural detail of a building somewhere in Whitby. A draw will be made from all the correct entries received by next Tuesday morning at 10 a.m. for a copy of an interesting heritage book The correct answer along with a -picture and description of the building in question will be published in the next issue along with a new mystery detail. All entries will be entered into a grand prize draw on Sept. 26, 1987 If you can identify this picture, submit entry below to the Whitby Free Press, 131 Brock St. N., Whitby, L1N 551. Winner will be selected next Tuesday at 10 a.m. THIS WEEK'S WINNER ORMA HARDIE, 708 Dunlop St. W. BIGLOW'S BLOCK 112 Dundas St. West This notable downtown Whitby building was one of the first brick constructions at the 4 corners. Built by Joel Biglow-in 1859 to house his "People's Cheap Cash Store", this exquisitely detailed Renaissance Revival style block has subsequently been used for many businesses,lncluding the Bassett jewellery store from 1902 until 1915. Despite its changing face, the original storefront columns remain intact behind later ad- ditions. - - - m - - - - - - - - - - - - - ---- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - LOCATION Name Address A