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WHITBY FREE PRESS, WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 21, 1985,.PAGE 5 I have sworn upon the altar of God eternal hostility against every form of tyranny over the mind of man." - Thomas Jefferson THE _ CROW'S NEST by Michael Knell Exciting tirnes ahead for downtown Whitby Those of you who take the time to take in the thoughts I offer for public con- sumption every week know that I'm pretty enthusiastic about the recent developments in Downtown Whitby and the excellent leadership being shown by chairman Ed Buffett and the other members of the Business Improvement Area Board (or B.I.A.). Last week, there was cause for new interest as the board made three really positive announcements. Firstly, the new downtown directory was finally published. This book will be distributed to over 10,000 homes and businesses throughout the community. The book was handsomely done and provides a wealth of information concerning the goods and services available in the downtown core. This will be an excellent reference for all Whitby residents, especially those who are new to our con- munity. The only advise I can give is, when you get yours, read it, then use it. The second major announcement was the introduction of the Downtown Em- ployee Discount Program. Any person working or owning a business downtown will receive a discount card for the B.I.A. entitling them to a 10 per cent discount at about 56 per cent of downtown businesses. While the discount won't apply to 'sale' merchandise and services, it will in- clude many big ticket items such as stereo equipment and many personal ser- vices such as dry cleaning. Ed told me that this program is the result of the B.I.A.'s first annual general meeting which was held earlier this year. At that gathering, many downtown merchants noted that their colleagues and employees rarely shop downtown. So, one of the best ways to induce downtown employees to shop there was the discount program. Ed notes that in many shopping malls offer the same type o prograrn. The third major announcement was that a public meeting will be held Aug. 27 at which time the three major studies concerning the downtown core will be discussed. Not only will the streetscape and store facade guideline studies be in- troduced but so will the long range marketing and promotion program. While the marketing study will tell us what we already know, for the first time it will be documented and the B.I.A. members will actually have a plan of ac- tion to discuss. This has been a long time coming. However, the B.I.A. does have one major hurdle left to overcome - the budget. If the truth were known, the B.I.A.'s annual budget of $20,000 is a joke. Especially when you consider that $10,000 of it is already committed to repaying the C.A.I.P. (Commercial Area Improvement Program) loans. The key to any good plan of action i's execution. In fact, a plan - no matter how well thought out, no matter how excellent - isn't worth the paper it's written on if it isn't carried out. And that, almost without exception, requires money. One thing that Ed and the rest of the board would like to see is the retention of Georgina Phillips as B.I.A. co-ordinator, at a reasonable and realistic salary. She's done a bang-up job of producing the directory and her involvement with the B.I.A.'s other projects has been invaluable. But it simply isn't practical to keep her on when the board only has a budget of $20,000. I mean, she doesn't even have an office. She works out of Ed's office and her own home. Having a full time co-ordinator would have many great advantages. B.I.A. members would have a resource person at hand to advise then on all sorts of matters. She could also be an active promoter of the downtown core - especially in the area of attracting new business entreprises. Let's face it, while we have scores of fine businesses downtown, we dont have sufficient diversity. We have to attract new business downtowfl. If the down- town core can offer the diversity of goods and services that can be found in shopping plazas, it will go a long way to ensuring its long term prosperity. The downtown core also has to promote itself to Whitby residents. It has to engage in professional advertising and marketing campaigns if it is to keep (and even enlarge) its share of the local consumer dollar. Shopping plazas have professional people on staff to do these jobs and I see no reason why the downtown core shouldn't have one either. But the key to that is, of course, money. Money to pay salaries and provide of- fice space and otherresources. I've said it before, and l'Il say it again: the tue has corne for the individual member of the downtown core to make this commit- tment to the future. Sure, it will cost a few dollars more every year. But if those dollars bring in more business then surely, it's a few dollars that have been wisely invested. I would also like to take this opportunity to echo Ed Buffett's sentiments and urge every downtown businessperson to attend the Aug. 27 meeting which will be held, tentatively, at All Saints' Anglican Church beginning at 7:30 p.m. It's your future they are going to discuss and you should be part of it. The B.I.A. also needs your ideas, input and committinent. Exciting things are going to be happening in downtown Whitby over the next few months. But unless the downtown business person gets involved, it wilI al be for naught. WITH OUR FEET UP By Bill Swan Canada had own slave traders From the Quebec Gazette, 1767 and 1766: "To be sold: a healthy Negro boy, about 15 years of age, well qualified to wait on a gentleman as a body servant. For futher particulars enquire of the printers." And: "Run-away, the 25th instant, from Mr. Grant. Merchant at Montreal, a Negro Man, named Brouce, the Property of Lieutenant-Colonel Christie: He is a Stout well made Fellow. about 5 feet 5 inches high, speaks English and French. and stammers a little in his speech. Whoever secures the said Negro, and delivers him to the said Mr. Grant, or to David Elves, Esq: shall be paid a Reward of TWO DOLLARS. and all reasonable Charges.---Montreal, 25th September. 1766." One of the curious twists about Canadian history lies in the agreement we all subscribe to: Canadian history is boring. Boring, boring, boring. Usually because we've left out all the interesting parts because those are the topics that inflame people's passions. Note the two excerpts about, taken from the Quebec Gazette (via Issue No. 18 of Horizon Canada). Somehow in my school days we must have been told that slavery in Canada once was legal. But when we talked about its horrors, all examples were taken from the grand country to the south of us. which had abolished slavery much later (than the British abolition in 1833) So in Canadian classrooms for generations now, Abe Lincoln freed the slaves, the British became civilized long before that, and we avoid all mention of such atrocities in Canada the bland. Schools, and teachers, et al, can get away with such deceptions because as a group we are woefully, ignorant about our own history. Because Canadian history -- despite the single-handed at- tempts by Pierre Berton -- never has been marketed in the way American history bas. Such is our national identity that we pay to import American history (mixed, as it often is, with culture via radio, tv and movies) of dubious veracity. No wonder that school children in Canada can name the first and the current presidents of the U.S. but can- not name the current or f irst Prime Minister of this country, Many cannot even identify the name of the position (they insist on calling him the president). Such old cliches came rushing at me this week when I picked up a copy of the magazine named about: Horizon Canada. This is a series of 120 magazine-type publications on Canadian history, tastefully produced, articulately written and inex- pensive ($1.95 an issue at the supermarket cheek out, or $1.50 each if you buy 90 issues at a tine.) The publication is truly Canadiait, in that a government grant is credited on the mast head. But aside from that, the copies I sampled are a delight, and full of revelations we didn't get in school. A few tidbits from an article entitled Ties That Bind, by Marcel Trudel (Issue No. 18): We think of slaves as Negroes. But Indians out- side the French alliance were also captured and en- slaved. Possibly because they were more plentiful, Indian slaves sold for roughly half of Black slaves. Every school child in Canada knows that fur traders and explorers opened up Canada. We were told -- and I assume that children today are still taught -- that they sought beaver pelts and the secret passage to India. Says Trudel: "The explorer CONT'D ON PG. Il