PAGE 4, WEDNESDAY SEPTEMBER 29, 1982, WHITBY FREE PRESS hitby Voice of the County Town [ Pub Michael lan Burgess, Publisher - Managing Editor The only Whitby newspaper independently owned and operated by Whitby residents for Whitby residents. L lished every Wednesday by M.B.M. Publishing and Photography Inc. Phone 668-6111 The Free Press Building, 131 Brock Street North, P.O. Box 206, Whitby, Ont. LESLIE BUTLER Community Editor ELIZABETH NOZDRYN Advertising Manager Second Class Mail Registration No. 5351 By-laws help make Whitby clean and safe Dear Sir: DurIng my past several visits to your town, I have, amongst the many things, been very impressed by the way your by-laws are enforced. Therefore, when I read In your Issue (September 15, 1982) the criticism leveled by Mr. Doug Anderson at the town's standards officer - re the Queen's Hotel - i was compelled fo express my opin- Ion, based upon my experience In Toronto. With ail due res- pect to Mr. Ander- son and his con- cern for historical buildings, which he should have, he should take into consideration the many individuals who will take the at- titude they can ignore all by-laws, this Is constantly being done here. I personally think that Whitby should be proud, they have an officer who will not allow things to get out of control. i brought to the attention of my alderman how on my several visits to Whitby, that i had not seen a cat or a dog running at large - which ls a big pro- blem here .- he im- mediately wrote for a copy of your by- laws, they are putt- ing It through here. Whitby should be proud that a large city is copying them. in case someone should think I am a cat and dog hater, i have had dogs all my Ilfe and cats, but for the safety of my wife and famlly I would never allow them to run at large (rables); also in con- sideration for other people who tried to keep the city look- ing attractive by gardening and good lawns. Thomas Booth, 30 Sharron Dr., Toronto. Weékend and shift workers need quality daycare facilities too Dear SIr: It is time that we in Durham Region took a look at our priorities. It Is time that our regional daycare centers ex- panded to accom- modate shift work- ers and those who work weekends. With more and more women enter- lIng the workforce for longer periods, quality 24 hour care is essential. To those who say it cannot be done, I say it was done during Worid War Il, and is belng done today in Hamilton. To those who say It should not be done. i say we cannot afford not to pro- vide 24 hour care. Children are being left- alone now in Durham Region when they should not, due to the fact that suitable care that accommodates the parents' work- ing hours is not available. I believe It Is time that.we made quali- ty 24 hour child care a high priority. The cost of not doing so will be extremely high. Joan A. Gates, 1502 Cedar St., Oshawa. Heart foundation appreciates support Dear Sir: For many years, I have been contact- Ing you on behalf of the Ontario Heart Foundation and asking for your pro- motional support for the endeavours of our organization. This support has ai- ways been freely given - and for that, we Indeed, are most grateful. In part, your help over the years has facilitated the growth of the organization and because of this growth a program of "decentralization" is currently under- way. From now on, media contact with be in the hands of the local Heart Foundation staff and/or volunteers. in closIng, may I extend my personal thanks to you for your tremendous co-operation over the years. It is my sincere • hope that this sarne support will be given now to your new contacts. With best wishes. Yours very truly, Esther M. Richards, Director of Public Relations, Ontario Heart Fou ndation. It has occurred to me more than once in the past few years that General Motors of Canada may have the worst public relations of any major institution in this country with the possible exception of the federal Liberal party. They have a common style, for one thing, in which the Presi- dent of General Motors behaves like the Prime Minister and vice versa; It's as bad one way or the other. The ar- rogance of General Motors is so striking that I arn begin- ning to feel sympathy pangs for the UAW, which I have believed ail along is trying to get too much. G.M. appears to have only a two speed transmission when it comes to a public relations policy. First gear is to say nothing, even disdain to answer media phone calls. Second gear is to say something tough and to get the President's foot lodged as firmly in his mouth as is humanly possible. It was the second approach that the- President of G.M. Canada, Donald Hackworth, took recently. He told reporters that if the Canadian UAW doesn't give GM the same kind of wage concessions here that the parent union gave General Motors in the States, G.M. wili move car production out of this country. G.M. Canada employs some 36,000 people and any major production cut would be ruinous, not just for the.employees affected, but for the country. If G.M. had set to prove that a multinational subsidiary of a U.S. parent company could not be a good corporaté citizen of Canada, it couldn't have made the case more strongly. In daring to suggest that G.M. Canada might just pick up its marbles and go home to Papa, the company has effectively said to hell with its employees, to hell with the Canadian consumers, and to hell with the auto pact. Under the terms of that last agreement, if G.M. were to stop production here but continue to sell cars in this country, the company, or rather its customers, would have to pay import duty on each automobile. That would tend to make the price of a G.M. product prohibitive in this country. So the G.M. threat is really nonsense. It's the kind of arrogant male obscenity that may sound ra- tional in the rarified atmosphere of the G.M. executive locker roorn in Oshawa, but it's not the sort of thing that should be repeated in mixed company. And in the unlike- ly event that the G.M. president really does mean what he says, he'd better watch his step. Companies have been nationalized for a lot less than that. That's not news, but that too is reality.