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For they started off at pace designed to spread peace on earth and goodwill toward Board members, with president Eric McLean strewing the flowers in their path after he and his two followers had taken their places at the table. I was reminded of that bit the other night when three members of Ontario Secondary School Teachers Federation descended â€" now why did I say descended? â€" on a meeting of York County Board of Education to present a brief â€" ostensibly â€" on pupil-teacher ratio. “We are being fattened fol" firthe slaughter," is the wry comment of one. an_d general feeling of all. In one portion of this more-than- engrossing tale, the troops are preparing for a major offensive, when rations suddenly become greater. precious cigarettes appear in abun- dance and the rum quota is raised. Instead it was mentioned in order to draw an analogy from it for the little homily I’m about to deliver. In reading it one wonders why it never reached the heights of “All Quiet on the Western Front,“ or “A Farewell to Arms,” those other great war classics with which it is now being more than favorably compared. But I digress. This was not meant to be a book review. Now a Hamilton publishing company has resurrected it and put it out in paperback. It's called “Generals file in Bed,” and was first published in England in 1928. ‘ Have just finished reading a magnificent book about the First World War â€" if any book about war can claim to be magnificent â€" told from the Canadian side for a change. 'l‘wo short years ago, they never No region councillor in his or her right mind could expect the Markham people to sit around on Viewpoint from the regional desk). BYJIM IRVING Thornhill Ward 1 Councillor Daurio put his finger on the nub of the matter when he asked what Markham was supposed to have been doing all during the first 10 months of 1975. Even more ludicrous was it for region council at that point to hold up approval of debentures for necessary projects which of a certainty must be already com- pleted or far advanced. The region quite obviously has much to answer for. It is absurd, to say the least, for York region council to have left final consideration of the past year’s local municipal capital projects to the end of November. Markham budget Markham town council‘s finance committee chairman Stan Daurio put forward some very good arguments last week when he took York region council to task for the region‘s blockade of Markham’s capital budget. And it has been a most regrettable barrier to national harmony. The failure of bilingualism in this country has been due to a kind of inertia growing out of a variety of opposing human factors. This has been an aching waste, to say the least. A worthy step forward came last week with the decision to make French teaching available in this region’s public schools from Grade The York County Board of Education agonized a long time over this issue, but finally came down on the right side. For a century, more or less, the teaching of French in the schools of English Canada has generally been more a gesture than a reality. Within their area of respon- sibility, the school trustees may well have quietly done more to reduce the fires of separatism than their much more visible political counterparts at Queen’s Park and on Parliament Hill. French program step forward 1010] Yonge Street. Richmond Hill. [AC 4Y6 Ontario PUBLISHER J. G. VAN KAMPEN EDITOR HAROLD BLAINE The Liberal is published every Wednesday by Metrospan Publishing Limited â€" North Division. which also publishes The Banner in Aurora-Newmarket and the Woodbridge Vaughan News. York region council moving too slowly Ulhe liberal Wednesday, December 17. 1975 But I‘m sure it doesn‘t take any great stretch of imagination to visualize what great improvements could be brought about if the pupil-teacher ratio were dropped from that breathtaking high of 17.44 to the more serene and bargain Mystery improvements Now neither Mr. Herbert nor Mr. McLean nor Don Nixon, past chairman of the District 11 negotiating committee and the third member of the trio, gave any indication or dropped any hints as to what these “anticipated im- provements" might be. It also said that, as a result of higher PTR, “anticipated improvements in the quality of education at the secon- dary level in York County, to be achieved by providing more classroom teachers for the students, have not come about.“ “This shortage represents an in- creased work load for all teachers in the country." This, according to the briefl represented a shortage of about 15 teachers, all told, or one teacher per schooL With that established, McLean then handed the torch â€" in this case, the microphone â€" to John Herbert. treasurer of the District 11 group, who gave the board 30 seconds or so to absorb the four-page brief, before explaining it to them. Too harsh an analogy? Then read on. In short â€" or in brief â€" it was to the effect that the PTR as of Sept. 30 of this year was 17.44 and “not the expected ratio of 17.15 to 1." Now they had been restored and the board could “take pride in its ac- complishmentsf‘ could have got together with such a great feeling of mutual accord, McLean began, because trust and respect were non-existent. Still, on the whole, finance chairman Daurio is to be highly commended for meeting the oc- casion and for putting forward so well Markham’s side of the case. Right or wrong, the provincial legislature in its wisdom decided thatAmiatter long since. And Councillor Daurio went a little too far when he ventured to deny the region’s right and responsibility as overseer of capital spending in the local municipalities. That, however, wasn’t very constructive conduct. And probably in the process of requiring necessary accountability from Markham, some of the region’s stalwarts couldn’t resist the temptation to bait Markham’s representatives a little and then to watch their faces get red. Much of the region’s vfoot dragging is no doubt due to the slow process of assuming responsibility as capital budget watchdog from the province‘s Municipal Board. their hands for _most of the year In one of his last great speeches while still at the height of power as he advised McMaster University students in 1913, his words were as follows: Another writer in 1926 put it more colorfully, thus: “The soul of Canada is a dual personality, and must remain only half revealed to those who know only one language." The public school trustees have done what they can to make sure the soul of our land no longer is kept half hidden from our children. But bilingualism is neither impossible. nor all that difficult. for the general population so long as the atmosphere and the ap- proach is happy. Homer advice on the matter comes to mind from one of our greatest and most perfectly bilingual Canadians, Sir Wilfred Laurier. “If I were your age, I would not leave school until I could speak and write French." And that is the direction in which the school board, to its credit, is moving. This committee could suggest ap- propriate steps to be taken if the PTR didn’t always end up the way it was To bring this about, what better procedure than to form a committee of teachers and trustees who were members of last year‘s two negotiating teams? What waé necessary was a method that would insure schools would be staffed with the number of teachers agreed on. The brief then made haste. however, to point out money wasn't really the answer to quality education. At the same time, “increasing the board’s contributions to the fringe benefits of teachers. until the surplus is used up." Bonus for teachers Instead, why not an equal payment to all teachers “which would be calculated by dividing this surplus among all secondary teachers in York County.” In a thoughtful little paragraph on page 3, it reasoned that, if they were going to be refused those extra 15 teachers whose combined salaries would amount to something like one- quarter of a million dollars and have that increased teacher workload in the process, then it was a bit foolish to have all that extra money just sitting there taking on mold. I It would take a great student to be able to work under those deprived conditions. However, the brief was determined to be fair. Why it’s tantamount to having a teacher with five fingers on his hand, compared to one having just four fingers and a stub. basement level of 17.15. Surely, we can all see what a dif- ference .29 of a teacher would make. Ijust bet you expect a loud reaction to the man's accusations, never thinking Everyone is entitled to their opinion, I realize, but in all fairness I would have thought a little investigation on your part was warranted. Then again a war via your newspaper would boost sales wouldn't it. Life around the arena lately has been quiet for the most part since the beginning of this season and after reading your newspaper, I now know why. It’s unfortunate your reporter did not bother to verify the validity of the facts before printing the story. I have never written to a newspaper in the past but this time I cannot keep still over an article as contemptible as that which you saw fit to publish on the front page of the sports section (four columns and a picture no less) on Dec. 10. Dear editor Tight money conditions have existed for some time and the additional strain brought on by this disruption could force many firms into bankruptcy. Firms large and small were forced to lay off personnel in billing depart- ments, order departments and ship- ping. The delay in payments to small business firms put their cash balance in a precarious position at their banks. Along with the inconvenience to the individual, the 42-day postal strike af- fected the business community drastically. Dear Editor P03 ta/ 3 trike effec t is dras tic / expect you won ’t print this may be able to help...in college they sometimes called “ i be :hers etter ee of vere iting ap- “May we reassure you the reason for this delegation is to further the mutual trust and confidence that exists bet- ween the board and the secondary teachers by open discussion and just resolution of possible difficulties," the brief concluded. Fattening for the slaughter? Maybe I shouldn’t read books such as PTR “Generals Die in Bed,” during the was same week I have meetings to attend. You find sympathetic ears for just about anything you have to say, until casual observations become minor irritations and eventually major dif- ferences to be listed on the offical grievance list at the earliest op- portunity. That‘s what happens when you're sitting around the union hall, or the beer parlor, or in any fairly compatible group. The teachers and their spokesmen would no doubt find something else lacking in the system that was most necessary to honing the skills of the many child prodigies entrusted to their care. It seems strange the group would insist on such a committee, even though agreeing the PTR would eventually reach the 17.15 point as the year progressed. This admission came after Trustee Keith Hargrave of Georgina. himself a teacher, pointed out fall dropouts had probably already put the ratio down to that amount. What’s the difference? But just how much difference does it all make? While there was a grievance procedure in the agreement to cover such matters, “we feel that a con- tinuing improvement in com- munications could be better achieved by such a committee,” the brief stated. supposed to (Ed. note. â€"- The Richmond Hill Hockey Association was informed of the imminent charges by the person in question. Al Harrietha, but reserved comment at the time.) But until that time it’s just a lot of hot air. “After you have walkea a mile in the RHHA‘S shoes I might be prepared to listen to criticism.” In answer to tHe man‘s charges I will not comment but in answer to the shots taken at the _RHHA I say this. I fully expect you will not print this as criticism is a little hardto swallow, but in any case you know how one person feels on the subject. perhaps John Q Pupblic just might read between the lines and attack you in- stead. Should a group that has rchhihibuted to the health and well being of Canadians who suffered with T. B. have Campaigns which use the mail to raise funds face grave financial losses. The Christmas seal organization in our area, known to us as York-Toronto Tuberculosis and Respiratory Disease Association, are a case in point. The space problem resulted in the cancellation of orders to suppliers, thus causing a chain reaction to the business community. .Many firms were obliged to rent additional space to store completed orders that normally moved by parcel posi on a daily basis. BERNI CAMPBELL 18 Cartier Crescent, Richmond Hill, Ont. WW2§ Cost of the beautiful new spired place of worship was $17,000. The Christian education wing It replaced the frame structure built in 1846 which was destroyed by fire Dec. 21, 1879. Dedicated March 20, 1881, the present Richmond Hill United Church, was built as a Methodist Church. No group of Workers should be denied the right to bargain for better working co_n_ditions and wages. However, the '42-day disruption recently experienced by the Canadian tax payer was an unnecessary and Government must legislate laws to protect the individual and the business community, who in this case are the employers, who pay the bills for this government department. Our troubled economy faced with increasing effects of inflation could not afford this costly disruption. The British North Aherica Act guaranteed the right of every Canadian to mail service. Our federal govern'ment has allowed three postal strikes during the past few years. What ever happened to the motto “The miliIA mpst go through”? begn tyea_ted rso badly Below is another in a series of historic drawings being published in this newspaper. The Liberal has exclusive rights to Richmond Hill artist Helmut Haessler's drawings in two gift sets of six prints each. size 812" x11". suitable for framing. They are on sale at The Liberal office. 10101 Yonge Street. for $2.50 Built after 1879 fire Hot Lips WDHHDHIUNWHWDN Historic drawing series Richmond Hill United Church After some disagreement, they then met in the public school until 1846. The first Methodist services were held in this area in the early part of the 19th century, but local Methodists worshipped in the Presbyterian Church in the af- ternoon from 1821 for some years. was added in 1958 I think the quotationflvby Mr. Irving was speculative and very unfortunate. (MRS) MARGARET COBURN Program chairman. York County Board of Education Box 299, Schomberg, Ont. These facts were known to members of the committee. and confirmed by the ministry official, Mrs. Dorothy Greatorex, on Monday evening when she met with the board. per set. In set one are Anglican. Presbyterian and United churches. Old High School. Palmer House and Crosby Hall. ln set two are Burr House. Newbury House, Stockdale House. St. John's Anglican. modern Yonge St. and Yonge St. at St. Mary‘s Catholic at the turn of the century. The reason the report' was “withheld” was because it was requested by staff, not by the board, at the suggestion of one trustee, and the ministry of education complied with the staff request on the explicit un- derstanding that the ministry official would report to the director, and not to the board. If this expenditufe is justified, most certainly legislation to prevent a break- down in the future must be provided. This statement is not the correct reason why the report was not cir- culated to members of the program committee, and I am not aware of any trustee or board official who stated it was. Our recently introduced postal code was adopted after consultation and advisement with leading countries in Europe, America and the Orient. Millions of dollars have been spent on new facilities and equipment to speed up the distribution of letter and parcel mnil this country. Trustee has correction The Post Office is presently engaged in a mechanization program which will make our system the most flexible and reliable in the world. costly strikg mat proved nothing Mr. Irving stated "the study con- tained adverse reports on two teachers. and was therefore confidential under provincial by«laws". In the Dec. 2 issue of The Toronto Star, Chris McMonagle, a trustee from Markham, was quoted as believing a report had been withheld from the program committee by the director of education for the York County Board of Education. Dear editor I would like to correct a statement made twice by Jim Irving in the Dec. 12 issue of The Liberal. DOUGLAS ANDREWS, President Andrews Automatic En- closing Service Ltd., Box 31. Richmond Hill, Ont