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Queen‘s Park report Critic for the Liberal Caucus, last week in the Legislature 1 questioned the Minister of Interâ€" governmental Affairs about the situation in Palmerston regarding property taxes. I am very concerned about the competence of the Minister fodlowing the discovery of alleged fraud in the Town of Palâ€" merston â€" a matter which is affecting al; most all the taxpayers in that community. Surely the discreâ€" pancy was noticeable in Government â€" records long before it was disâ€" covered by the Town Council and surely acâ€" (An employee of the Town Office has since been charged in connecâ€" tion with the matter.) While I recognize that the situation is now beâ€" fore the Court and thereâ€" fore sensitive to discusâ€" sion, I still believe that the Minister has a duty to explain to the Legislaâ€" ture how his staff could remain oblivious to the situation over such a long period of time. For several years it had appeared that local residents were not payâ€" ing their property taxes, in fact, the community was showing tax arrears in excess of 10 times the provincial average. Yet this situation continually escaped the attention of the Ministry. Only when a surprise audit was called by the Town Council was the alâ€" leged fraud discovered. More doorbell ringing. No answer. Finally, she forced open one of the celiar windows and crawled in, dragging her best white suitcase behind her. across the woodpile beneath the window. I‘d kept the door locked, because I‘d become used to doing so wh'qg;she was away. Hadn‘t heard the bell. Five minutes after She got home, 1 was wishing she‘d go away for another two weeks. Item. After looking forward to my old lady getting home from two weeks in the north country, after laying on arranâ€" gements for her to be picked up at the airport and dropped at our door, after making the house look as though I‘d hired an expert housekeeper, I blew it. Day after she got home, I got the ‘flu, which she took as a personal affront. Lay around groaning and hawking and I was listening to a particularly noisy TV programme. I wandered downstairs about the time she was to arrive, just in time to find her opening the cellar door with an expresâ€" sion the Gorgon would have envied. She‘d got in a bit early, rung the doorbell when she found the door locked. No reâ€" sponse. She checked the garage. Yes, the car was there; he wasn‘t off somewhere carousing, unless on foot. Lights in the house all on. SHOTGUN column coming up. Reason? I‘ve just been through a real mother of a ‘flu attack, and the little bit of brain matter still alive, inside a body that feels as though the Gestapo had been having a go at it, is not capable of the usual sustained, melodious, incomparable prose essay. t# ww m e uw ie t ts un ie ie pegricn ge in t un y . e en t BILL SMILEY Affairs A bill requiring all school boards in Ontario to provide special educaâ€" tion programs passed the Committee of the Whole House with the support of all three parâ€" ties after hours of wranâ€" gling over amendments proposed by the Minister of Education to satisfy Liberal concerns that the bill contained subâ€" stantial loopholes. Liberal House Leader Robert Nixon has acâ€" cused the Government of trying to manage the news by training civil servants on how to hanâ€" dle bad news. Last sumâ€" mer the Ministry of tion could have and should have been taken before now. If you read my column last week,.â€" you may be interested to know that a Speaker‘s warrant has been issued ordering the Minister of Consumer and Commercial Relaâ€" tions to hand over all doâ€" cuments relating to Niaâ€" gara Falls businessman, Carlo Montemurro, and the companies which he controlled including Reâ€" Mor Investment Manaâ€" gement Corporation. The Minister‘s role in the matter will now be investigated by the Jusâ€" tice Committee. There have been some interesting _ developâ€" ments in the House reâ€" garding the Minister of Environment, Harry Parrott‘s announcement of a liquid industrial waste site to be located on the South Cayuga tract of land which had originally been bought up during the early seâ€" venties because of former Treasurer, John White‘s dream of a new city. ' The land has lain unâ€" used since then and there is some conâ€" troversy over the fact that this site has been chosen because opposiâ€" tion members feel the decision was based on political rather than enâ€" vironmental concerns. I hope to report more fully on this situation in my next column. Housing began workâ€" shops to train housing authority managers on how to deal with reâ€" porters. In a speech reâ€" cently, the Deputy Minâ€" ister said that emâ€" ployees would be taught ‘‘what elements â€"reâ€" porters are looking for in a news story and sugâ€" gestions on the handling of bad news."" Mr. Nixon asked the Minister why the housing managers are not simply told to tell the truth. Item. Budget. Allan McEachen should be renamed Allan Machiavelli. Mackenzie King is chortling in his grave as he watches one of his disciples go through the old Liberal rouâ€" tine: you can fool most of the people most of the time ; use the carrot as well as the stick ; never let your left hand know what your right hand is doing; learn to speak out of both corners of your mouth at the same time ; and energy taxes if necessary but not necessarily energy taxes. Like me. I took two days in bed, and returned to work to find chaos. Three members of my English staff off sick, one of them for good, eighteen pieces of administrivia to sort out, new timetables to be arranged, and, feeling like a wet rag that has just been wrung out, eleventyâ€"seven essays and tests to mark, and four exams to set. I‘m looking at those New Career ads in the paper. Can‘t seem to find anything suiting a venerable gentleman with no manual or technical or organizational skills. I‘m thinking seriously of joining my son when he goes back to Paraguay. Surely I could be of some use down there. I make a fine pot of tea, and could teach English as A Second Language, and I am an expert at dandling babies on my knee. Item. Doctors and wellâ€"meaning friends urge you to take it easy, that you are not indispensable. Well, they‘re comâ€" pletely wrong. Some of us are indispensable. spitting and drinking plenty of fluids, until she was wishing she‘d stayed away for another two weeks. Item. The Constiâ€"bloodyâ€"tution. Trudeau acting like a Takirg it one day at a time Among those attending were Waterloo riding MP Walter McLean, enroute to catching a midâ€" night flight out of Toronto to Ottawa, former Liâ€" beral candidate Frank Epp, regional chairman Jim Gray, newlyâ€"elected Elizabeth Witmer of the Waterloo county board of education. Chamber of @ommerce president Jack Middleâ€" mass, Record reporter Cliff Kenyon ... and many others too numerous to mention. There weren‘t any symphony orchestras playâ€" ing â€" in fact, somebody could have turned up the Muzak â€" and everyone had to settle for cheap Canadian wine (albeit, one must admit the white stuff is getting better). City hall staff, aldermen, the mayor, friends and family all seemed to have a congenial evenâ€" ing. Having come to this paper from the city hall beat with the Cambridge Times, I had a good opâ€" portunity to come to know former Cambridge alâ€" derman Bernice Adams, who passed away last week. I certainly didn‘t see eyeâ€"toâ€"eye with her on some issues, but nonetheless felt Bernice had a pretty good head on her shoulders.. She could also be funny as all get out on oc casion. Speaking of Cambridge. I‘ve obviously been aware of the differences in style of that city‘s Monday night‘s reception at the Rink in the Park following council‘s inaugural meeting was a pretty good party. * * But there was a lively and friendly spirit among the 75 or so who attended, and that‘s what makes a good party. Though she could combatively joust with the best of them, Bernice actually had a softer side that was warm and folksy, as readers of her coâ€" lumn in the Cambridge Reporter would attest to. If anything. she will be remembered for her trenchant contributions to council proceedings, where she was known to hit more than a few nails on the head. Farewell to a hardâ€"working and colorful poliâ€" tician who served the city and region diligently. It was a good party 206 zo Gitane hh y uht SÂ¥ td Y 4b 00 H ++ 44‘ e ~ * ~ WATERLOO CHRONICLE, WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 3, toad â€" PAGH Oil and gas bills going up. Corn on sole of right foot killing me. Telephone bills exorbitant. Inflation far ahead of salary increase. Well, I don‘t have to fill in any more details. We‘re all in the same leaky boat. Item. Somebody is after me. Lost a filling. Twentyâ€"one bucks. Caught not wearing my safety harness. Twentyâ€"eight bucks. Sink plugged. Fiftyâ€"two bucks. The Feds are after me for income tax errors. Somebody stole my wallet. T wo hundred. Storm windows coming up. Over a thousand, and at the rate we‘re going, it‘ll be April before they‘re on. Brickwork needs about three hundred. Whole house needs painting, inside and out. About two thousand. However, the only way to do it is a day at a time. Tomorâ€" row I‘ll be a day nearer the grave, but I‘ll have done tremenâ€" dous things; shaving my face, brushing my teeth, going to work, marking some essays, sorting out a squabble among my Grade 10‘s. The possibilities are limitless. _ _ nearâ€"sighted lion, with his comfortable majority. Joe Clark and Ed Broadbent waving futile fists in the air. And the provinces, like so many jackals, each striving to tear off a juicy morsel of meat before the lion roars. Item I‘ll never write another ode to October. This has been the rottenest (rotten, rottener, rottenest?) in many a year. Where are the Octobers of yesteryear, with their magâ€" nificent colours, their clear blue skies and mellow sunshine, their opportunity to haul out the boat or get in a last few rounds of golf? JALSEVAC But there is little mention of the entire situaâ€" tion of the Protestant teachers, one who claims she was threatened with dismissal if she didn‘t coâ€"operate with the request to resign. The director of the separate school board exâ€" plained that if the teachers refused to resign, they wouldn‘t be dismissed. So why ask them in the first place? The reason given of being consistent with the stance towards Catholic teachers, who can be dismissed for denominational reasons, doesn‘t exactly ring of being conceived in the depths of divine wisdom. It‘s interesting to note that letters to the editor in the region‘s daily paper invariably refer to the case of Catholic teacher Anne Sutton, who was dismissed for marrying outside the church. One may not agree with the board, but it‘s their right to dismiss a Catholic teacher for denoâ€" minational reasons. What‘s really questionable is their stance toâ€" wards the Protestant teachers. I was frankly surprised by Frank Clifford‘s acâ€" tions last week in calling together nonâ€"Catholic teachers to tell them they‘d be asked to resign if found in contravention of Catholic church laws on marriage. Both counciis have appeared to have strong points lacking in the other. I‘ve witnessed aldermen cry during proceedâ€" ings, others shake with anger when making a speech, rude insults hurled at fellow councillors and city staff raked over the coals for one thing or another. Waterloo isn‘t near as much fun. It doesn‘t even have the same number of formidable deleâ€" gations of citizens‘ groups who would be content to throttle the nearest alderman. These differences in style, of course, are not a commentary as such on the quality of work done, or the substance of deliberations. council and the one here. Compared to Waterloo, Cambridge‘s council is And the council here seems likely to remain the terribly civilized and orderly institution it is.