By: Ish Theilheimer, Publisher
KILLALOE, ON: There is hope. The sun is coming back. Our pipes have thawed and most of the neigbours' septic systems have too. The days are getting longer. And some of Canada's biggest consumer and tax scams are being exposed.
A real jobs fund, please
The furor over the Canada Jobs Fund is welcome. When we came to Killaloe in 1974, the place was just on the upswing after years of decline. Massive provincial and federal investment was paying for schools and hospitals and services. People were getting their homes insulated with federal help. Roads were getting straightened and paved. Families in which no one had ever been able to read and write were sending kids off to school and the professions.
Canada was building community colleges, hospitals, health centres, affordable housing, transit and other things that helped everyone and created lots of jobs too. I suspect my neighbours want more of that please. And fewer PR snow jobs and phony tax give-aways - flat taxes, higher RRSP limits, jobs funds, or whatever - that only benefit the wealthy.
Fight for your food
Not that we can expect too much taxpayer or consumer protection from the feds. As noted in Straight Goods last Monday, Canada completely let down its consumers at the international talks on genetically modified foods in Montreal. If it weren't for protestors freezing in the street outside, Canada might have given away the store.
Fortunately, "we" didn't get away with opening up the world floodgates to unchecked use of this technology. Yes, GMOs may hold technological promise. But it is an ominous and still-unproven technology. Why foist it on consumers and farmers?
You can fight for your food. Check out both Parts 1 and 2 of Stephen Leahy's Top Ten GM Food Fibs Straight Goods this week.
Bullies lose one - but get off easy, so far
Nice to see bully cops lose in Toronto. Policing is a difficult and often dirty job and we appreciate the work of those who keep our communities remarkably safe. (It isn't, by the way, the most dangerous trade by a long shot. Loggers, miners, construction workers, truckers and many others have much higher occupational death rates and poorer benefits.)
The people who help keep us safe include Canada's many good cops, but they also include amateur hockey coaches and teachers and social workers and anyone involved in community sports or service, especially kids' organizations like Guides/Scouts, Big Brothers/Sisters, the Y's, etc.. None of these volunteers or professionals would or could even suggest a threat to the well-being of those who don't actively support them. The Toronto police union did just that.
That's why an apology and retraction of Operation True Blue isn't good enough. These public servants were using the power of public office to harass and intimidate citizens and politicians who criticized them. These same bullies would be first to call for strict discipline for young offenders. They need to be disciplined firmly and swiftly.
Two weeks old and learning to crawl
Straight Goods is two week old today, and we still feel like we're learning to crawl. Producing a daily publication useful for both frequent and occasional visitors is a challenge with a small staff. We're delighted with the great writers we're getting to know, and with the kind of great stuff coming in over the electronic transom from readers across Canada. Saul Chernos' Monday food review at a corporate AGM is a cool example of the kind of stuff coming in.
The mail has been helpful and supportive. And frequently it gives pause. Michele Landsberg of Toronto took some exception to "the occasional anti-urban barb." The point is well taken. Michele points out that "Contrary to the common Canadian fantasy, living in the country does not make you better, smarter or more moral."
No argument there, although I will refrain from mentioning the names of several prominent horses' arses masquerading as public officials here. Nor will I mention the years-long controversy over where to locate the municipal office in the neighbouring town. Or the stupid rivalries, feuds and gossip that liven up a cold winter's night huddled around the old computer screen.
All we can truly say for ourselves in the sticks is we know one another a lot better than most people in the cities seem to. It's my hope Straight Goods can help Canadians get to know one another a lot better, and exchange useful information, no matter where they live.
As they used to say on TV back in the '50s when I sat in front of my first video screen, keep those post cards and letters comin'.
- Ish Theilheimer
February 7, 2000
PS: Please fill in our weekly survey this week. We're going through big changes and planning a whole site redesign. Our design was always seen as interim - result of having to suddenly recruit a new webmaster 9 days before launch! So we want to hear from you how we can improve Straight Goods.
Ish Theilheimer has spent most of his 50 years raising hell, attempting to beat the system, organizing in the community, playing fiddle, and running small businesses - welding, bar bands, theatre, organic pork and hot dogs, and, for the last 20 years, freelance wordsmithing. He works and lives with his wife and partner Kathy Eisner in the log home they and their daughter Sandi built in 1979 on an old farm near Killaloe in the upper Ottawa Valley.
