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Despite "women‘s liberation"" and "conâ€" sciousness raising". despite affirmative action programs and despite the entrench ment of the equality of the sexes in the Canadian constitution, women are still left hoiding the short end of the economic stick! The statistics, particularly those conâ€" cerning elderly women, are appalling. Most Canadian women over 65 are single, widowed or divorced. HMalf of those who are widowed or divorced live below the poverty line. One third of those who are single are poor. This means approximate ly 3 out of 5 elderiy women live in penu ry. The need for pension reform is obvious The unfair treatment of women under the current pension system is not deliberate â€" the federal green paper "Better Pensions for Canadians" admits there are few overtly discriminatory provisions in the plans. Concerns for pension reform, howâ€" ever, are more pressing for women than for men for a number of reasons: Liberal Environment Critic Murray Eiston (Huronâ€"Bruce) recentiy issued a statement in connection with the poliu ter of Torontos beackes and the priorities of the Ministry of the Environ The piscards which line Toronto beaches are evidence that the quality of the environment has fallen dramatcaliy from the list of poilicy priorities of the Ontamo government While acid rain spreads. suiphurous and nilric emis sions continue urchecked. Toxic wastes leak from our landfill sites lindustria) discharges kill wildlife. and dangerous chemicais are discovered in animails from the smallest organism io man him Poliution is best stopped at the source The beach closings in T to sadiy reveal this is not being The Humber Sewage Treatment Pight is one of three which dump treated wastes into the Humber River The two are located at Boiton and Kleinberg. When operating properiy . they discharge rela tively clean effluent (secondary treal ment) into the river. Malfunctions can occur. In addition. there are a number of combined sewage storm drains which empty into the Humber which at times of high water volume can overflow and dump untreated waste into the river. in _ 1. women live longer than men on average, and thus need income for songer self E;';: ifil little or no opportunity to participate in either an empioyerâ€"spONâ€" 2. most elideriy women "< workforce participation, ans ;;c*h' (:u-\ it must be assumed,. the solution is dilution of the water by rain fall The editor‘s duty, as reported in the Dresden (Ont.) Times, 1889; "It is the editor‘s duty to speak of his town as the liveliest place under the blue arch of heaven. Speak of a deceased citizen as a fallen oak when he died with the jimâ€"jams. Call a man a prominent and influential citizen when you know he is the best poker player in town . Speak of a little street arab as a brightâ€"eyed youth on his way to fame, and call a man who has a few dusty bolts of calico and a soldier‘s blue coat a prosperous and experienced dry goods merchant. Call a lawyer a leading light of whom the profession ought to be proud, when you know him to be an ordinary pettifogger."" And even then you won‘t satisfy them. As reported in the Centennial Issue of the Dresden (Ont.) North 9 . Cz Lnwaa bucca e reds es ces n# SBl. Kent Leader on Town. Queen‘s Park Report WALTER McLEAN Is that so? lhev:)LL:iSIU; of the 100th anniversary of the ha .+ limited m Desperate need for change 1t is worth noting a warning from the Toronto Area Watershed Management strategy Study. "Urban stormwater runoff{. combined sewer overfiows and sewage treatment plant effluents appear to have particular significanace in the impairment of receivingâ€"stream water quality . especially with respect to bacte ria, nutrients and heavy metails." Rather than heeding warnings, howey er. the government at Queen‘s Park is rejigging its priorities as a result of wasteful spending practices of the past and the environment is suffering _ In 19%182, some $361 million was allocated to the Ministry of the Environâ€" ment. in 1982â€"83, the figure had fallen to $346 million This fiscal year, the figure is down another $32 million to $314 million in addition, staff is being pared. it has been reduced from 377 in 1982â€"83 to 373 this yaar and a freeze on hiring has been impoased The Humber River and the Don River should be cherished and protected as valued \natural resources of benefit to the ma}:y millions of people who live in and visit the provincial capital. Instead, they are allowed to deteriorate to the point that the wastes carried by them are poliuting the Toronto shoreline. And while the answer is to invest more funds in sewage treatment to achieve a cleanâ€"up, the government spends less. sored pension plan or the Canada Pension Plan (CPP): â€" 3. pénsion benefits for surviving spouses are provided for only 20% of private sector pension plan mem?ers; 4. survivor benefits under the CPP are inadequate â€" currently the maximum is less than $200 a month; 5. a spouse‘s allowance is available to those aged whose spouse received the meansâ€"tested Guaranteed Income Supple ment (GIS): poor women who are single, widowed or divorced, however, receive nothing until they reach age 65. Widows receive the spouse‘s allowance only if their husband reached 65 before he died. Most of these problems could, of course, be resoived with stopâ€"gap measures â€" such as increasing the availability of GIS and the amounts allocated. But the pension problem for women has far deeper roots. It touches the lives even of those women who are today in their early 20‘s. t Both public and private pension plans provide for retirement income that is earningsâ€"related. The more you earn before retirement, the better off you‘ll be in your ‘"goiden years"‘. Since womes‘s wages average only 58% of men‘s wage (compared to 51% in 1911‘ ), their pensions will provide a correspondingly lower inâ€" In addition, more than 1 miltion women in the labour. force work partâ€"time, compared with only 400,000 men. Partâ€" time work means almost no job security, low wages, few benefits (such as sickâ€" leave plans or pension plans), and little opportunity for training or advancement. In the case of women working fullâ€"time, family responsibilities cause their work gecords to show higher job turnover and less sustained job tenure (few men stay home when a child is sick!). My colleague in the Official Opposition, Honourable Flora MacDonald, M.P., has registered diaarpoimmenl with the lack of effectiveness of the government‘s affirma tive action program. This program was instituted in 1975 and "led to the betlief that the advancement of women would be rapid C‘mon, admit it, it tugged at your heart last week to hear the news that fur cuats have been nixed for onâ€"camera reporters of the People‘s Network. ... After eight years of soâ€"called equal opportunity, only 0.2% of the women in the public service are in management posi tions and only 5.7% are in the scientific and professional categories. Yet, at the same time, the number of women as support staff and in the junior levels has increased bfl 13%". Reform needed. The problem is, where do we start? One recent change is the implementa ‘ion of the childâ€"rearing dropâ€"out provision in the CPP. This entitles those members of Â¥Yup, the official CBC memo spread like wildfire. Image is the problem man, image, you know, the word that deâ€" scribes people who spend so much time trying to appear as they want to be, they never have time to be themseives? Well, the way CBC figures it, they can‘t have reporters looking overpaid and overdressed when interviewing poâ€" verty â€"stricken Nanook on a Baffin Island ice floe. So turf city go the fullâ€"iength minks, three quarter rabbits and preâ€" sumably raccoonâ€"tail hats as well. Just to put your mind at ease, we reporters here at Fairway Press have received no such memos banning our use of nylon parkas or meiton car coats. Needless to say, any memo making reference to fur would be superfluous Not totally inaccurate. You see, we are what is referred to in the business as working reporters. No, that‘s not a cheap shot at other media types, they work hard as well and generally do a fine job. But with our manpower having to be spread over so many areas, we also get to do neat jobs like mix photo chemicals, wash processors and other equipment, bundle old newspapers, yes clean out garbage pails and so on. We don‘t mind the yard duty, we just feel more comfortable knowing we won‘t soil $150 dress pants doing it. any w a y . You see, here at Fairway Press, we have this reputation of being underâ€" dressed, not overdressed. But of course the main reason why we have dressed down at Fairway all these years is because we want everyone we deal with to feel like a million bucks. Yes, the truth has come out of the closet, so to speak. Standing beside us, the people of Waterloo must delight in their own sartoria) splendor. Guys like Honest Jake, from Jake‘s Used Cars, in his $49 checked polyester sports jacket. Imag ine him after talking to one of our reâ€" "Hey Schwartzy, see that guy from the Chronicle, what an unmade bed, hell he looks so down and out I wouldn‘t even think of selling him today‘s sawdust speâ€" cial." “Waym' Wino would be equally buoyed over to the Dew Drop Inn, having just been asked in a manâ€"onâ€"theâ€"street interâ€" WATERLOO CHRONICLE, WEDNESDAY, AJGUST 17. 1983 â€"â€" PAGE 7 For the peephole "Griswald, d‘ja just see that young scooper from the weekly paper talking to me? By the time he was finished I felt so sorry for him I give him six bits, tell him to go get hisselif a hot meal. The view how he manages in these economic fourth estate must really be hurtin‘ these days." _ realized he had it so good until talking with our junior er, decked out in his brother‘s handâ€"meâ€"down golf plaids. ‘"‘Hey, the kid needs a break," Slick was telling his pal Waiter Gait the other day, "Listen, we‘ve got five corrupt deals on the go now anyway, won‘t do us any harm to spill the beans about one. Take the pressure off the others, and at the same time we‘ll be making that Raggedy Andy reporter over at the weekly a big star. It‘s the least we can So you see, there are assorted beneâ€" fits, many more than we‘ve mentioned here, to underdressing on the job. But now that the CBC has tried to steal our thunder by dressing down their reportâ€" ers, we‘re forced to venture in the area of oneâ€"upmanship. So therefore, citizens of Waterloo, prepare for the shock of your life. While it is still a decision being tossed back and forth in the boardroom, there is every possibility that Chronicle reportâ€" ers, and their peers at other Fairway Press journals, will soon be seen in public nude. That‘s right, in the Emperâ€" or‘s New Clothes. I mean, why stop at mink? Or melton? Or madras? No matter where we go, or who we interview, we will always find someone worse off than us. So the only way to make them feel like a somebody is to wear no clothes at all. Imagine that, sitting at the media table at council meetings in the buff. Padding around press boxes in the altogether. Capturing the fun and excitement of Waterioo Days, wearing nothing but a heart shaped helium balloon. the work force, who earn little or nothing while raising children up to seven years of age, to drop those years from the calcula tion of their pension income. The net effect of this provision will be to raise the pensions of working mothers by 23% on average . We might get arrested, but that‘s just a chance we‘ll have to take, 1 suppose. We‘ll risk anything to make the peeâ€" phole, er, people of Waterloo feel impor And with our bodies, the ploy will allow us to interview the Stick Whizzers of the city, for the first time ever looking us squarely in the eye. tant On the surface, it appears that amend ments to the CPP an:':;w QPP would be the most immediately effective way to solve some of the ‘rroblema â€" they have the flexibility and the universality re quired. For instance, it would be possible to provide coverage to homemakers. 48% of the respondents to a recent Kitchener and Wateriloo Chambers of Commerce questionnaire on pensions supported this option. Aithough most respondents sup ported increased covera#e through private plans, rather than through increased government involvement, a .uniform pri vate pension plan system in Canada would take 30 to 40 years to pay full pensions. To date, there is no Canadian,consensus on what has to be done. The Parliamentary Committee ‘on Pension Reform will} holid hearings across Canada this fall. We are onmly now becoming aware that there is indeed a need for change, and that need, WLfly in the case of elderly women, s desperate . ian, he never