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4 NORSHORE SENTINEL Tuesday, December 20, 1 960 TRAIN COUNCILLORS As seen at Nipigon’s recent Nomination Day Dilemna there is a growing need for more citizens who will put their name forward for public office. An answer, in part, to this problem may lie a few hundred miles to the West in a wilderness hideaway near Atikokan that is fast becoming almost world famous. The Quetico Training Centre, set up by the Ontario government, is a haven of learning. Here, far from the distractions of community life, interested groups can attend courses on everything from square dancing to labor relations. The courses, conducted by top experts from across the nation, are of various lengths with the groups paying what is usually a small expense for their room and board. Is it not possible to have a week long course on municipal administration at Quetico every spring? Representatives of the Ontario government could be the directors with councillors and would-be candidates for public office attending. It goes without saying that such a course would be of untold value to the communities of Northwestern Ontario The experience learned at these seminars, passed on to town affairs, is bound to increase die calibre of municipal administration. The fact that any citizen may attend will be an incentive to would-be candidates. Even experienced councillors, reeves and mayors could gain much valuable knowledge. And most important of all, it could bring about an increased interest in municipal affairs and, it is hoped, end situations such as the Nomination Day disappointment of Nipigon. Malines To Rome YOUR M. P. REPORTS By DOUGLAS FISHER. MJP., Port Arthur The Archbishop of Canterbury’s courtesy call on the Pope has sparked a spate of speculation in religious circles from Jerusalem to London. What will come of the English prelate’s spadework to achieve Christian unity? Was the meeting with Pope John XXIII a "holy summit” as some newspapers dubbed it? Viewed in its broadest aspect, the meeting is regarded as historic in its potentialities by many of the world’s influential churchmen. Anything that will foster the "unity of spirit” between churches is all to the good, they say. Organic union may never be achieved, but unity without uniformity conceivably is a little nearer. The Rome meeting recalls efforts made by Cardinal Mercier of Belgium in the 1920s to Bring about a rapprochement with the Church of England. The great Belgium patriot invited a small body of English theologians including laymen to meet a similar body of Roman Catholic scholars at Malines in spider to explore their grounds of difference. The Conversations at Malines, as they became known, were started unofficially, but at a later stage they were held with cognizance of Archbishop of Canterbury. Great hopes were held by both sides that the groundwork for reunion had been laid, but they were dashed by papal encyclical of 1928 which held that "adjustment” of doctrinal differences was impossible. The atmosphere of friendship and respect that marked the Malines talks between lesser dignitaries heightens the significance of the Rome meeting between the spiritual heads of the two churches. There are other straws in the wind. The ecumenical council called by the Pope to which the Eastern churches have been invited is one. Archbishop Fisher has already met Eastern Orthodox Church leaders at Jerusalem and Istanbul. Too, the inroads being made by communism are leading to a closing of the ranks by Christian bodies in an effort to stem what they see as a growing tide of atheism. NORSHORE SENTINEL The Norshore Sentinel is published every Wednesday in Port Arthur 1. The Sentinel Office is located on Front St. in Nipigon, box 279. Phone 36Q . Authorized as second class mail, Post Office Dept. Ottawa. Charles D. McOuat, editor and publisher. Donald F. McOuat, advertising manager. Nipigon has been nationally newsworthy again. This time the story centers on the failure of candidates to come forward for municipal office and on the interim'arrangements which find George O’Neill holding two positions, one by default, the other by acclamation. May I say to the people of Nipigon: do not feel badly or ashamed because this happened in Nipigon. In my judgment, Nipigon is the liveliest town in Port Arthur constituency. It has done a lot with very little, in terms of basic economic strength. This dearth of candidates will not happen again, now that the situation and the responsibility have been underlined. But the apathy and disinterest in public affairs which the Nipigon situation reflects, are a symptom of a gathering crisis in Canada. In recent years we have seen cancer and heart disease emerge as the new public health enemies. Probably their growth is related to the stress and strain of modern life. Similarly, with public life or, what I like to call, our political duties, the new disease attacking health is a lassitude, a "shrug of the shoulders”, a general "couldn’t care less” attitude of more and more people. The idea of every adult a thinking citizen is going. The slogan today of "Vote as you like, but vote!” is so nice and so neutral. Much better would be: "Think, then vote!” Our society is much like the mechanical set-up of our new automobile. Each year it becomes more specialized and refined, needing more thoroughly trained mechanics. Sometimes as a teacher, rather than a politician, I feel we have been slipping badly because we have failed to make enough of our people see that the control and direction of every aspect of government is demanding more and more from us as citizens, not less. Recently in a municipality in our region, a tremendous increase in the annual election interest was shown. Why? Because the tax bills had suddenly skyrocketed. Man after man whom I talked to was angrily concerned over what those "damned ‘councillors” were doing. In every case of complaint, I found the complainer had never been to a council meeting and had almost no knowledge of the municipality’s general problems of income or service needs. In the long Cold War period it has become trite to talk about freedom our wonderful way of life, and the marvels of democracy. It is all facade and bluster if a large proportion of our adults ignore the duties of a citizen. After a century of free, public education and a steady increase in educational standards one would expect an increasing crop of candidates, an ever-higher percentage of voters. Instead, we tend to relapse. Except for the phenomenal vote in the '58 federal election, the percentage of voters in most elections has has been rather disappointing. Some of my cynical friends in universities have argued to me that a nation, a province, and a city will always tend to be governed by a small elite and only an elite will accept the responsibilities and seek the rewards of office. By 'elite’ is meant a small group of people who have education, talent, and drive. One might call it an aristocracy of ability. Now, this idea seems antidemocratic to me. It seems to argue against our optimism in education, in the belief in the judgment of every citizen. May I return to Nipigon. I do not believe that Nipigon has only a small elite of bright, energetic people. There are dozens of people with common-sense and energy and judgment. They should examine their own consciences, their own concepts of democracy, and then without timidity, offer themselves for service in municipal office. QUOTE FROM YESTERDAY There is a tide in the affairs of men Which, taken at the flood, leads on to fortune; Omitted, all the voyage of their life Is bound in shallows and in miseries. Shakespeare