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The Board is comprised of 16 Trustees, eight from Kitchener, two from Waterloo, four from Cambridge and two from the townships of Woolwich and Wil mot. There are 49 schools offering instruction administered by the Director of Education, Six super intendents and approximately 800 teachers. As the year is drawing to a close, 1 thought it might be of interest to do a windâ€"up column. The follow ing items of interest are for the most part extracted from our Director‘s end of the year report It‘s old hat to hear that we have experienced declining enrolment, but for those who like statistics, read the following: In September of 1975 enrolment in our system reached an allâ€"time high of 17,0M4 pupils. The succeeding years showed dramatic decrease to this past September indicating 14,898 pupils. The decline of 145 pupils for the period 1981â€"1982 is the smallest decrease in the last seven years. Projections for the system predict a stabilizing of enrolment in 1985. 1982 leaves with some unsettling scars on Waterloo Region. The approach of a New Year provides a chance to set this old year‘s developments in a thoughtful and sobering perspective. While 26 of our schools require portables and 22 schools are using all classroom space, there are 75 vacant classrooms in our system. There is, however, much comâ€" munity use of our schools. During the 1981â€"82 school year 509 applicaâ€" tions for use of our schools, after hours, were processed. 122 were sponsored by Community Serâ€" vices. Parish use accounted for 100, private use 201, and Commerâ€" cial (fee charged) 57. There are 13 1982 saw record numbers added to our Region‘s welfare rolls â€" up 8.7% in November, with 3,496 individuals and families receiving aid. That was a stag gering 56% increase from November, 1981. And the sad, but not surprising aspect. according to Regional Social Services Director Phil Johnston, is that almost half of these people are employable. 125 people came to the Welfare Office in November. They came after they had exhausted their unemployment insurance benefits. This trend is expected to worsen as record numbers of companies mothball parts of their production capacity or declare bankruptcy â€" and jobs disappear. During 1982. Statistics Canada projects that over 3500 Ontario companies will have declared bankruptcy. Before Christmas I spent a day in Ottawa meeting with Willy Brandt, former Chancellor of West Germany, the Rt. Hon. Edward Heath, former P.M. of Great Britain, and Sonny Ramphael, Secretary General of the Commonwealth. WALTER McLEAN School views ANN MARIE SEHL RICK CAMPBELL â€"â€"1$ on vacation agreements with Nursery Schools, Heritage Language Programs, 0.E.CT.A. (Waterioo Unit) and A.C.L.D. Most groups use our facilities for the school year, Le. cubs, scouts and sports programs A number of Board policies were revised and a new policy passed called ‘"Supervision of Certified Staff Members." Two new onâ€"going committees were formed. They are: "Liaison With the Director of Education"‘ to informally discuss ideas and/or situations dealing with personnel, policy, procedures and adminisâ€" tration of collective agreement matters. 1 serve on this commitâ€" tee. The other, called the "Compenâ€" sation Committee" of which I am Chairman, deals with all monetary aspects (pay, benefits, allowances etc.) for all Board personnel. The above items are not meant to be exhaustive but simply an attempt to bring you upâ€"toâ€"date on some aspects of Board responsibilâ€" ity and function. Since they may, by themselves, tend to sound rather clinical let us be reminded that basically, a Catholic school is one in which God,. His truth and His life are integrated into the entire syllabus, curricula and life of the school. I sincerely hope that as we bid fond adieu to this past year and thank God for His many blessings we will joyfully look forward to a New Year that is challenging, enlightening and kind to all. Happy ‘83 everyone‘! From our discussions it became clear that the international background to these local statistics is equally gloomy. The worldwide recession is deepening into an economic crisis which is as dire as that of the 1930‘s. It is especially harmful to the Third World, where some of the poorest countries, (comprising an estimated 300 million people). experienced "negative growth" in 1982. The industrialized ‘North has another set of economic problems. Unemployment has reached some 30 million people, and is particularly high among our young people. Many industrialized nations experienced a yvear of zero economic growth, and others faced a decline in national incomes. The international leaders reminded Ca nadians that the whole world is now interdependent. That means there can be no lasting recovery among the northern industrialized countries without first sti mulating Third World countries of the South to a positive path of development Yes â€" jobs in Canada depend on the ability of African, Asian orâ€" Latin American Countries to purchase the goods we man ufacture!‘ Against the dark recessionary back ground, new notes of hope are being struck: 1. 50 countries have adopted a food Moving out of darkness In the final hours of the session, on Dec. 21, some 10 bills became law. Almost three months had been spent in debating the Government‘s _ major â€" piece â€" of _ economnic legislation, the public sector wage restraint bill, then the Members agreed to push through necessary law and return in the New Year to handle remaining pieces of legisla tion to which the Government wants assent. On January 17, 1983, the Legislature will reconvene, to permit the completion of ministry estimates and passage of the budget bill The most , controversial and significant legislation awaiting final consideration is Bill 127, which requires all Torontoâ€"area elemenâ€" tary and secondary school teachers to bargain collectively with negotiators who represent all of Metro. There is no firm agreement as yet as to how long the January session will last prior to prorogation. TRUST FIRMS Following close upon the heets of prolonged and tough debate on the controversial sale and refinancing of some‘ 11,000 apartment units in Toronto, the provincial government has given itself wideâ€"ranging new powers to regulate loan and trust companies. The Minister of Consumer and Commercial Relaâ€" tions introduced the bill to amend the Loan and Trust Corporations Act, which was supported by all three political parties, and was pushed through the Legislature rapidly. The takeover of Crown Trust by Greymac Credit and the purchase of Greymac Mortâ€" gage Corp. could now come under provincial review. Amendments which took effect on Deâ€" cember 21 would enable the province to take possession of trust and loan companies more easily, to impose terms and conditions on their operations or block their acquisition by new owners. Just prior to passage of the legislation, it was disclosed that the minority shareholders of Crown Trust Co. (controlled by Greymac Credit) have been left in the dark about key financial details of the company‘s planned amalgamation with Greymac Trust. When the Minister was questioned in the House, he was uncertain whether Crown Trust‘s takeover by Greymac Credit would come under the new legislation. Greymac Credit has already purchased about 96 per cent of the shares of Crown Trust, and it has made a followâ€"up offer to purchase all the remaining shares. The amendments apply to any transfer of shares of a trust company where the transfer had not been Queen‘s Park Report 2. the world is on the brink of a dramatic childâ€"health revolution â€" a U.N. program combining new immunization techniques and successful encouragement of breastâ€" feeding can save the lives of more than six million children a year at very low cost; strategy approach, placing the issue of increasing selfâ€"reliance at the centre of national development efforts; 3. in the last 20 years, the International Development Assoc. of the World Bank has expended $27 billion on 1300 projects, realizing an 18 per cent rate of return; 4. there is no scarcity of energy resources in the Third World â€" what is required is large scale investment which, in turn, can lead to the stimulation of economic recovery in the North:; and 5. through the 1970‘s, the developing countries consistently outâ€"performed the industrialized countries in real economic growth, investment and future growth. In those ten years, their share of total imports bought from our developed marâ€" ket economies rose from 18 per cent to 28 per cent. These five examples are just some of the hopeful signs of revitalization of the international economy. Rather than cut ting development assistance budgets, the Northern countries should be looking to the funds they invest in development SESSION ENDS WATERLOO CHRONICLE, WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 290, 1982 â€" PAGE 7 HERB EPP entered into its books as of December 21. According ta the Minister, since the shares of Crown Trust purchased by Greymac Credit have already been registered, he "would not expect they would be involved in this legisla tion"‘. However, Liberal Leader David Peterson said a member of his staff had discovered that the transfer may not have been complet ed, which would mean that the takeover could well come under the new amendments. His agreement to passage of the bill in one day was given because such a move was in the public interest". The Minister was asked by Deputy Liberal Leader Sean Conway if he was aware that Seaway Trust Co., which holds $76â€"million worth of mortgages on the controversial 11,000 apartment units, is offering guaranâ€" teed investment certificates at interest rates 2.5 to 3 points higher "than the rest of the market", and that these certificates are being offered for sale through the Provincial Savings Bank of Ontario. JOB CREATION David Peterson has charged that the Ontario Government is not being aggressive enough in creating new jobs in the province this winter. Expressing his dismay and disappointment that the Provincial Treasurâ€" er returned from a meeting in Ottawa with no firm jobâ€"creation initiatives, he said "Now Miller is talking about doing something in his next Budget, which could be March, April, May or June ... I ask how many jobs he‘s going to create and I get no response. I would have thought they would have, at some point, stopped the tea party and started talking very, very seriously about the problems." Both Opposition Parties have advocated a larger commitment of public money to job creation this winter. The Liberal Party wants the Government to sell its shares in Suncor Inc. and its land banks to raise more cash to put people back to work. PREGNANT WOMEN AND WORK A Ministry of Labor inspector‘s decision that a woman does not have the right to refuse work which endangers her unborn child has been overturned by the Minister. The inspector decided that Mary Lou Ruttan, a counsellor for the mentally retarded, had no right to refuse work because she was not in imminent danger and because the fetus is not specifically covered by the Occupational Health and Safety Act although she had been warned by officials at work â€" the Midwestern Regional Centre â€" of the dangers of a pregnant woman being infected by hepatitis. assistance to revive world trade. Trade then can serve as an "engine of growth"" in both North and South. To bring our focus back to unemployâ€" ment levels in Waterloo Region, we must recognize, as well, that up to 40% of manufacturing jobs in our area depend on the expansion of the global economy through world trade. International ecoâ€" nomic coâ€"operation is an investment in mutual prosperity for both North and South â€" a stimulus for employment in all countries. Just as the Marshall Plan in 1946 was in the selfâ€"interest of the U.S.A .. so today we need a transfer of wealth to the Third World. There is a ‘"crisis of liquidity" in the South. Many Governâ€" ments are defaulting on loans, including Mexico, Brazil, Argentina and Korea. This is a problem we in the North share with the South. If they go broke, our banks are directly affected‘! I believe that we can move out of the darkness of 1982 with a balanced reâ€"order ing of the international economic system. We can begin to leave hunger, disease and underdevelopment behind, and at the same time put Waterloo Riding‘s unemâ€" ployed back to work. â€" Thank you for your support during this past year. â€" HAPPY NEW YEAR!