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a Waterloo Chronicle, Thursday, April 6, 1972 The halting of payment of property tax cre- dits, the increase in the price (and not just the tax) of liquor and the increase in university tui- tion were not presented honestly to thepeople. The Tory budget is nothing 'more than an at- tempt to pull the wool over the taxpayers' eyes while charging them more for their "meagre pleasures". K Darcy McKeough; the provincial treasurer. received many insults and angry comments af- ter the budget was brought down in the legisla- ture last week. Mr. McKeough probably doesn't feel too bad about it, because he's paid to stand in the limelight and catch all the bad land good) things hurled the way of the gov- ernment's budget. It must be remembered that this budget isn't a creation by Darcy alone, but a typical Tory shaft to the people of Ontario. It is regressive in almost every instance. The Tory idea of good economy is increased taxes and decreased government spending. This will do little to create jobs since the increased taxes will also prevent the consumer from spending more. In fact, about all it will do is make up for the break which the Tories gave the people before the October election. An article appeared recently in a business pub- lication commenting on how there is an "ur- gency to stabilize labor relations in the public sector." As usgal there is an attempt to blame the workers for all the problems in the provi- sion of "essential services". There will never be any "competent or stable labor relations" in this country or anywhere else until people become conscious of the fact that management is involved in these "rela- tions" just as much as labor is. If the sympathies of those who had consider- able public influence had lain with the workers when the union movement began, then the term would probably be management relations. The article in question takes the lead from a Quebec employer Federation and says that the best way to clean up the public sector is to force unions to provide essential services before the workers strike and to provide stiff penalties for violations. Of course the article doesrft suggest who should define essential services. This means that the workers can't strike until services are provided which should be eliminat- ed by a strike. The article cooly sums this up as a weakening of the union's bargaining clout. “...but there should be some things more im- portant to those who choose to become public servants than the exercise of clout." reads the article. It doesn't seem believable, but this ar- ticle seems to hint that workers in the public sector should have more dedication to those that benefit from their labor than to those who de- pend on them for the necessities of life: that they should sacrifice what little power they have so that there are "stable labor relations in the public service." The workers in the public service have had a particularly hard fight to gain what "bar- gaining clout" they have, and now an attempt is being made to take it from them. Until there is a careful study by the Cana- dian people of both sides of the "relations" issue, there will be no good alternative to the strike. 9 Published every Thursday by Fairway Press. a division of Kitchener-Waterloo Record Ltd. 30 Queen St t N ' Kitchener Ontario Address correspondence to Waterloo Square Wat- erloo Ont Telephone 744-6364 Ontario budget WateHdo aluminu- ESTABLISHED 1854 SUBSCRIPTION RATES In Canada one year 88. in United States and Foreign countries: one year $10 Clout necessary (mm: Fraok Goldsplnk The Waterloo Siskins Junior B hockey club is play- ing its games in the Kitch- ener auditorium. The split was caused by an inability to reach an a- greement with the Waterloo arena commission on ice time for its playoff games. The temporary "parting of the gays" was accom- plished on a friendly basis 2Oeary agq -. _ _ 10 years ago Waterloo __ fire fighter's association and the fire and light committee of Waterloo Not too long ago, I wrote a column suggesting what would happen if housewives went on strike. A long, in- telligent and often witty let- ter from Mason Bailey, president of the Huron Coun- ty Federation of Agriculture tells me bluntly that there is another species in our so- ciety which, if it went on strike, would make a house- wives' strike look like a box luncheon. Naturally, he is talking about farmers. Farmers are like the weather: every- body talks about them but nobody does anything. I'll quote bits from his letter, and make some com- ments. He asks tersely, "What if all the farmers went oh strike? . . _ Most of society and the majority of columnists seem to have for- gotten that farmers con- tinue to exist. And that is just what farmers are doing! Existing! Net farm income in Ontario has dropped over 30 per cent in the last three years, In 1971, Canadian farmers received less than I0 per cent of the money that Canadian consumers spent on food .. Well, Mr. Bailey, l'll ac- cept your figures, for a start And they certainly don't make me want to plunge Into farming with a $30,000 mortgage and the prospect of working l0 or 12 hours a day. SIX days a week. On the other hand. like all LiiiisHuiiue l l T council are “all heated up" over the firemen's 1952 con- tract with the city. The fire- men told council in a letter that they were referring their contract to arbitra- tion. But they Jater agreed to delay action for a week pending a final counter-pro- posal by the committee. Files of Yesteryear In the letter the fire fight- ers pointed out that an over whelming majority had voted to take the issue to arbitration on four points: salary schedule, accident and sickness clause. leave figures, they can be mis- leading. How many Cana- dian farmers grow coffee, tea. fish sugar, pepper, pea- nut butter. oranges, bananas and all the other items that beef up our food bills? Another of your points strikes a sympathetic chord in me. "I was in a restaur- ant last week. The menu said one egg, 50 cents. Do you know what farmers got for eggs last week? 22 cents a dozen for Grade A large; 7 cents a dozen for cracks." This is utterly ridiculous, and somebody, obviously the farmer, is being shafted. The only solution I can see is to demand "cracks" in restaurants. Which is prob- ably what we get in some places anyway. I share completely your burning wrath at restaur- ant prices, And now let‘s sit back and hear a howl of protest from the restaurant owners, who are starving to death. The average one isn't. and works long hours for a decent living, But those room service prices in hotels drive me right out of my skull $165 for a sandwich. $1.50 for a pot of lukewarm coffee You go back to the war. when sugar and butter were rationed and otherwise honest people would cheat. he or steal to get enough or more than enough, And you say It would happen again if farmers went on strike I agree Some would, but a minority, in my opinion, I think the farmers would get a good deal of sympathy and support, just as the coal miners did in England, des- pite the hardships their strike imposed on millions. In such an event. you suggest that "Bootlegging food at inflated prices would become as common as drug peddling. The boot- legging farmers would start to show a profit. Some might even be able to hire help at the minimum wage." Surely, right there Is one spot where government could help - by subsidizing farm wages. of absence and service credits. Pyears ago. _ _ -. The government subsidi- zes practically everything else that even approaches work. Or simply pays people not to work. Surely the next logical step would be to make farm work attractive, financially, rather than pay- ing farmers not to grow grain. or spuds. or what- ever. However. we mustn't mention government and logic in the same breath Aity atteriipt at cheating under the gas rationing plan should be "nipped in the bud", according to Twin City spokesmen. They en- dorsed a Windsor proposal that the category of each car be designated on, wind- shield stickers. Gordon Thompson, presi- dent of the K-W branch of the Canadian legion, ex- pressed the belief that "a lot of peome are trying to You mention something that depresses me i that the average age of farmers in Ontario is about 55, that not many young men can start farming under today's conditions. and that even if they can. the liberated little woman has other ideas And you also point out rather pungently that if the average age of housewives "Was 55 and no replace- ments forthcoming. you Bill Smiley Amos Avenue takes its. name from Amos Weber Sr.. get more gas than they As a mark of respect to a life-long Waterloo farmer council decided to name a street running off Erb Street West in his honor. 40 years ago Mayor Dan Bohlender an- nounced this week that the Waterloo market will revert to the former opening hour of 1:30 pan. would have something to scream about." Youve right The scream that would echo across the land would be apocalyptic. But my heart IS with you. chalk. and will be even the next time I pick up a $1 49 a pound hunk of steak, look at it wistfully. replace It. and reach for the ha mixing However, I agree with your premise that the farm- er has been left sucking the hind teat in' these years , inflation, I think the chic trouble is the same as that of the housewives farmers are too stubborn and indr vidualistie to get really orga- nized, They should. per- haps. set up their own (oops. processing. handling and sales organizations That. of course. would leave us with mobs of unemployed middle-men. Another point in your argument is that corpora~ tions may take over food production. “If wealthy cor- porations ever replace the family farm and hire organ- ized labour, there probably will be food strikes." That is an appalling thought. Would that mean that I couldn't buy one of those "chickens" that taste no more like chicken than my old running-shoes. unless you plaster them with some synthetic flavoring? Would it mean that I couldn't buy any of that enriched hr. that tastes like wet kleen