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1.5 million Canadians were unemployed at the end of April. 40 percent of these were young people under the age of 24 â€" a total of 620,000 unemployed young Canadians. Staâ€" tistics Canada reports that young people comprise 25 percent of the labor force. While the April unemployment rate was adjusted to 12.5 percent, the rate for Canadians under the age of 24 was reported as 21.5 percent â€" almost twice the national rate. These national figures reveal that the Kitchenerâ€"Waterloo area has at least 6,500 young people out of work. This is before our schools and universities break for the summer. And so the recently announced Summer Canada funding for Waterloo Riding takes on added significance. Of the $170 million being expended by the Federal Government on the Summer Canada Program this year, Waterioo Riding projâ€" ects have received a total of $282,000. Formerly the Student Employment Proâ€" gram, this scheme has proven increasingâ€" ly important over the past several years. LETTERS, Outraged by drinker/molester comparisons May I tell you that my friends and I totally agree with your editorial comment entitled ‘"The Double Standard." Thus, it was with complete shock that I read the letter of R. R. Hudgins who decided there could be a parallel between drunken drivers and child molesters. When an individual decides to get drunk and drive home, he has neither murder nor accident on his mind. His brain is so fogged he loses controt‘ * No, there can be no comparison between drunken drivers and child molesters. What‘s more, the bleeding hearts whose sympathy goes to the criminal rather than the victims should be relieved of their exalted positions. This obviously was not the case with the highlyâ€"educated sober Mr. Johnson who should know right from wrong and who is a danger to society if he doesn‘t. The damage he has done to those childreén will follow them the rest of their lives. Which is better â€" a living death of guilt or complete extinction? _ A Liberal Opposition delegation, under David Peterson, of which I was a member, flew over the tornadoâ€" damaged area of Lambton county on Wednesday, the 4th May, to visit with affected property owners and municipal officials and discuss needs arising from the disaster. David Peterson (London Centre), James MacGuigan (Kent Elgin), Ron Van Horne (London North), Hugh O‘Neil (Quinte) and myself met with the local Reeve at Reece‘s Corners, and toured the tornado sites. The extensive damage suffered by many Southern Ontario communities once again draws attention to the need for the establishment of a consistent provincial policy on making support available in these situations. For a number of years, the Ontario Liberal Party has been concerned about the government‘s ad hoc approach with respect to victims of natural disasters. In 1977, Liberal House Leader Robert Nixon tabled a Legislative Resolution to establish an Emergency Relief and Disaster Fund in Ontario, stating "There seems to be difficulty in obtainâ€" ing government and even community WALTER McLEAN _ | Queen‘s Park HERB EPP Norma Sangoi Waterloo, Ont. assistance when these disasters affect only a few families. _ â€" â€" â€" I believe that a wellâ€"understood and coâ€"ordinated approach to these circumâ€" stances, whether they involve many hundreds of people or just a handful, would be in the best interests of meeting the needs of the people of this provâ€" ince." We believe that an emergency relief fund should be established to provide loan and grant assistance to individuals and communities subject to extraordinâ€" ary expenditure due to natural disaster, and that the assistance be payable through municipalities or by the Minâ€" istry of Northern Affairs in the unorganâ€" ized parts of Ontario. Of the 53 applications 1 reviewed this year, 37 have received Ministerial approvâ€" al. 9 are centred on the University of Waterloo, 4 at Wilfrid Laurier, and 24 at other agencies and institutions around our Riding. Under the terms of the Summer Canada Program, employers are reimâ€" bursed for a portion of the students‘ wages based on provincial minimum wage rates. A contribution is also made against overhead costs. Some priority is given to The province‘s usual policy of matchâ€" ing funds raised by municipalities in times of disaster and after special resolutions have been passed and speâ€" cial arguments made is not good enough. Local government should not have to pay for the damage. It is time Ontario had a clear financial program for the designation of disaster situations and a program whereby citizens directly afâ€" fected could have immediate assisâ€" tance. But as the number of unemployed young people rises at a tragic rate, the program has been hampered by a shortage of imaginative sponsors, who are willing to take the time to submit and oversee the individual projects. This year‘s successful applicants, however, have come up with ideas that 1 believe will prove very beneficial to the community, while offerâ€" ing young people shortâ€"term jobs which include the chance to learn valuable skills. 1. create the job; On behalf of staff and students at Laurel Vocational School, may 1 express our appreciation for Rick Campbell‘s fine article about our school. It‘s in the nature of Laurel to be a positive place, to look for the best in our students and to encourage them to keep trying. Your writing capâ€" tured this in a very sensitive manner. It may seem a small item but getting good media coverage is immensely imporâ€" tant to a school like ours. We have always been very pleased at the coverage the Waterloo Chronicle has given us and the positive way it has been presented. If we are successful, it is partly due to the efforts of people like yourself who explain and appreciate what it is we are trying to do. Positive coverage important Once again, thank you for your jourâ€" nalistic efforts and please accept one of our achievement ribbons for being a "winâ€" ner‘. â€"profit organizations that are willing Thank you, I. Ferguson Activity Director Laurel Vocational School A small dent 2. provide the leadership and supervision; and 3. make a commitment to at least three students for a period of from six to eight weeks (between May 2 â€" September 9). Mayling Stubbs of the local Employment Development office discussed the 53 appliâ€" cations with me. The Ministerial approval now permits the creation of 114 summer positions. Those hired will be working and learning skills in a range of occupations. One project, for example, will provide playground activities and camping experiâ€" ences for autistic children and children with learning disabilities. Our community will be benefitting from services not otherwise available. No positions replace or compete with existing community serâ€" vices. Another group of students in New Dundee will be compiling a survey of the practical requirements for a senior citiâ€" zens‘ residence in that community. Their study will be conducted in such a manner as to provide a model for future applicaâ€" tion in other communities. We now take you to the Local Unemployment Community Kennel (LUCK) where thousands upon thouâ€" sands of people are searching for jobs daily in a dogâ€"eatâ€"dog environment. In fact, the office is so overcrowded, it alarmingly resembles Hill Street Blues‘ precinct. *‘There‘s no doubt, when it comes to manpowerless," boasted an unnamed, unreliable source, "there‘s more people outa LUCK than any other unemployâ€" ment agency around." John Doak knew that the guy in the corner, head cupped morosely in hands, was a newcomer. All the telltale signs were there, old clothes, disheveled appearance, twoâ€"day stubble, faint but undeniable armpit aroma. Man, Doak thought to himself, it‘s those kind of guys who are giving unemployment a bad name. Doesn‘t he know that Brut 33, beige <threeâ€"piece and brown patent leathers are the name of the game? Nobody in 1983 expects a hobo to be out of work. Which is why Doak got the shock of his life in the ensuing conversaâ€" tion. *‘What difference does it make? I‘m here now aren‘t I? Unbelievable. Why, just last Wednesday I was telling the wife how I thought I had the safest job in the world. Then, 24 hours later, everyâ€" thing, yanked right out from underneath And today, the numbers have swelled by one ... ooo# 0 o% city? **No, no, they are garbage collectors, I was a garbage picker, they pick up anything, I was selfâ€"employed, proud of my craft, very discrimminating tastes. The hours were great, 4: 30 a.m. to 7 a.m. out in nature‘s fresh air, travelling the streets® and searching the bins. The family‘s been in the business for three generations now, and I had our two youngsters well on their way too. Started them off as junior stoopers at Elmira Raceway, working them up from coffee cups and old programs, and now they‘re right up there in the big time, ferreting out those discarded five dollar tickets from under the bleachers. Proud as punch of them. Figured it wouldn‘t be too long before they were right at my ‘"Hey buddy, you new around here, ainst‘ya?" *‘*So what was it you did?" "I was a garbage picker." ‘"Oh, you mean one of them soâ€"called sanitary engineers employed by the *‘*What‘s yer name?" ‘"Biff. Biff Rummage." *"And wad‘ya used ta doo for a livin?" *"Why, why, yes, as a matter of fact I 9++ WATERLOO CHRONICLE, WEDNESDAY, MAY 11, 1983 â€" PAGE 7 RICK CAMPBELL Trash can alley The fortunate participants are given a chance to gain job experience before searching for longer term employment. I am pleased that the Program is available, but the present scale barely makes a dent in the youth employment figures 1 quoted above. 1 will continue to press the Liberal Government to take a good long look at the human cost of allowing so many young people to face their future on such a b!m;-r note â€" unemployed with few prospects in sight ... Canada needs a strategy which affirms that our youth are a valued resource, their energy needed for Canâ€" ada‘s development. Still another group of students in the School of Optometry at the University of Waterloo will be involved with testing of vision proficiency and protective eyeâ€"wear for workers at ARC Industries ... These are just a few of the contributions which the Summer Canada Program makes, on a limited. scale, to the bleak employment picture which our young people face this summer. side, snatching those hubcaps, adding years to the life of paintbrushes, saving 2 x 4‘s from the incinerator, keeping that costume jewelry in cirulation. It‘s not everyone who can stand up and say they enjoy their work like 1 do. Or did, until last week." *‘*Why, what happened then?" *‘"Where you been living, bimbo? Haven‘t you heard about the budget leak? Everyone‘s been talking about it since Friday morning. These two crumâ€" bum reporters from the Grope and Blackmail take it upon themselves to create the news rather than reporting it, and go sifting through garbage for budget secrets. Numbers on paper, man, like, that‘s amateur stuff, no substance to that product. So there‘s this big uproar about them giving their business a bad name, but nobody, nosiree, nobody bothers to think about what it‘s done to MY business." "Hit a slump, has it?" *‘"Slump? That‘s got to be the underâ€" statement of the century! Everywhere 1 go now, padlocks on garbage cans, special surveillance, patrol cars actualâ€" ly stopping in back alleys now to see who works the night shift at the national newspaper. And nobody‘s throwing out anything anymore! They all think they may be next on the Grope‘s dirty laundry list. It‘s insane man, insane. Three generations of the finest garbage pickins you‘ve ever seen. Poof! Out the window." *"Just one. Heading up to Waterloo today. Heard a weekly newspaper up there is looking for a good columnist. But I don‘t think I‘ll get the job." **Why not?" ‘‘Hear tell the one they‘ve got now is writing about trash, and if that‘s not good enough for his boss, what‘s a guy like me going to do?" ‘I know Biff, I know what you‘re talking about, the little guy always gets it in the end. Have you got any leads on any new work?"