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Home My WebLink AboutClinton News Record, 2014-05-14, Page 44 News Record • Wednesday, May 14, 2014 NewsCl Record PUBLISHED WEEKLY — EST. 1860 53 Albert St. P0. Box 39 Clinton ON NOM 1L0 (519) 482-3443 www.clintonnewsrecord.com SUN MEDIA A Quebecor Media Company NEIL CLIFFORD Publisher nei I.clifford@sunmedia.ca MAX BICKFORD Advertising Manager max.bickford@sunmedia.ca DAWN JOHNSTON Sales Representative clinton.ads@sunmedia.ca CHRISTY MAIR Front Office clinton.classifieds@sunmedia.ca SUBSCRIPTION RATES 1 YEAR $50.00 (47.62+2.38 GST) 2 YEAR $95.00 (90.48+4.52 GST) SENIORS 60 WEEKS $50.00 (47.62+2.38 GST) 120 WEEKS $95.00 (90.48+4.52 GST) Advertising is accepted on the condition that in the event of a typographical error, the advertising space occupied by the erroneous item together with a reasonable allowance for signature, will not be charged but that balance of advertisement will be paid for at the applicable rate. In the event of a typographic error advertising goods or services at a wrong price, goods or services may not be sold. Advertising is merely an offer to sell, and may be withdrawn at any time. The Clinton News -Record is not responsible for the loss or damage of unsolicited manuscripts, photos or other materials used for reproducing purposes. Publications Mail Agreement No. 40064683 RETURN UNDELIVERABLE CANADIAN ADDRESSES: CIRCULATION DEPARTMENT 53 Albert St., Clinton ON NOM 1L0 (519) 482-3443 We acknowledge the financial support of the Government of Canada through the Canadian Periodical Fund (CPF) for our publishing activities. Canada ,10Cna Member of the Canadian Community Newspaper Association and the Ontario Community Newspapers Association 1 editorial Hudak not wasting any time in revealing plans 0 ntario PC party leader Tim Hudak raised more than a few eyebrows last week when he announced if elected as Premier he would cut 100,000 public sector jobs. Hudak was not done there as he also promised to eliminate agencies such as the Ontario Power Authority, LHINs and the College of Trades. Hudak said doctors, nurses and police officers would not be among those whose jobs would be cut, but teachers would. He also indicated that he would decrease funding to municipalities and cut corporate taxes. Although some political critics and both NDP leader Andrea Horwath and Liberal leader Kathleen Wynne decried Hudak's plans, no one should really be very surprised. In the past two provincial elections, the PCs have run on marginally conservative agendas. Their leader in 2007, John Tory, can hardly be compared to Ronald Reagan or Mike Harris - yes, the same Mike Harris who's name either elicits fond memories or chills up the spine depending on one's personal opinion. After the Bob Rae's NDP party more than doubled the province's debt, Harris and his PC party swooped in and prom- ised cuts, cuts, and more cuts - and ulti- mately won an 82 -seat majority. Sounds a bit familiar, doesn't it? It seems that Hudak is forgoing any of the formalities and going right on the "conservative" offensive. While this may not be the second com- ing of the Common Sense Revolution, it is what many right -leaning voters in Ontario have been looking for years now - a government that will cut spending and "corporate welfare': While there will be voters (and govern- ment employees) who do not like what Hudak is suggesting, it has people talking and it is a wise strategy to appeal to the portion of the province's conservative population that have felt alienated by the Liberal's style of governance over the past decade. DF www.clintonnewsrecord.com column Supreme Court naturally conservative It's like Stephen Harper thinks he's a leading lady on Melrose Place. Always picking a cat - fight with someone. So much drama. And all for naught. Previously it was the Senate, Elections Can- ada, banished inner circle members - now the government's latest tiff is with Supreme Court Chief Justice Beverley McLachlin. The government's complaint, in a nutshell, is that McLachlin called them up to say that it seemed like Marc Nadon was ineligible to rep- resent Quebec on the SCOC for constitutional reasons. It's apparently within her purview as Cana- da's chief justice to ring up with such advice. But even if it isn't... All this drama for a phone call?! Seriously. What is this, Mean Girls 3? In March the SCOC rejected Nadon and the government didn't get the appointment they wanted. And now they're taking the appar- ently unheard of step of politicizing the chief justice - calling out McLachlin for just doing her job in a way that didn't win them the prize. This is not their first spoil sport lash out at the SCOC. The day the court struck down the country's prostitution laws in December, Employment Minister Jason Kenney opined that the courts "should be restrained at the exercise of judicial power in overturning dem- ocratic consensus:' Chew on that. He's saying if Parliament passes a bill perhaps the court should not be able to intervene. In other words, there could be no such thing as unconstitutional legisla- tion. Or, to paraphrase Richard Nixon, "when 308 MPs do something, that means that it is not illegal." Are we to believe Kenney is this uninformed in material that is currently taught in Grade 10 civics courses? Are we to believe Kenney is saddened that there exists a restraint on tyranny? Or on hasty populism? Or on discriminatory legislation? Are we to believe that Harper and Kenney, in their pouting over SCOC decisions not of their liking, are earnestly hoping to pave a path for Justin Trudeau to be given the tools to radi- cally transform the country in a single term should he ever win a majority? The problem here is not that they're being a typical bunch of conservatives, as the opposi- tion would have you believe... but that they're not being conservative enough. Washington Post columnist George Will recently reminded his readers that American conservatives' "indiscriminate denunciations of 'judicial activism' inadvertently serve pro- gressivism. The protection of rights, those con- stitutionally enumerated and others, requires a judiciary actively engaged in enforcing what the Constitution is 'basically about,' which is making majority power respect individuals' rights" Sadly, Canada does not have a constitu- tional tradition as robust as in the United States. But the message is the same: The mob more often than not leans left (i.e. endless demands for "more"). Slapdash votes in the House are a polite society form of mob rule. The court is a check on mob rule. Therefore the court is a check on rampant leftism. This is akin to the Conservatives' disdain for the Senate. The entire concept of sober second thought is, again, a conservative notion. By all means, bring on the term limits and other reforms, but most problems with the Senate are crises of particular, not crises of the whole. Doesn't it make Harper leery that the NDP has been anti -Senate for all these years? Shouldn't that tell him something? But according to economist Friedrich Hayek, writing in 1960, the two mindsets may be more alike on this than both would like to acknowledge: "The conservative does not object to coercion or arbitrary power so long as it is used for what he regards as the right purposes. He believes that if government is in the hands of decent men, it ought not to be too much restricted by rigid rules... Like the social- ist, he is less concerned with the problem of how the powers of government should be lim- ited than with that of who wields them; and, like the socialist, he regards himself as entitled to force the value he holds on other people." Still, it's jaw dropping to think any small gov- ernment proponent would oppose the con- cept of restraining tyranny of the majority, even if it's on the basis of "Well under my watch things will be different:' The biggest problem with that is your watch is always over sooner than you think. To be clear, it's our government and we can do what we want with it. No one is arguing you can't object with individual SCOC decisions. Nor should it be a litigious playground; Harper was right to defund the Court Challenges Pro- gram. And the majority certainly has the abil- ity and right to change the Constitution and radically alter the court, Senate and more. It just can't be done quickly. It takes time and significant consensus. As it should. Anything else is hubris. Perhaps as the Harper era draws to a close and the cabinet rushes to get in more majority term revisions, such petulance like lashing out at the courts will increase. You can certainly see where they're coming from. It's frustrating to have the resume -slim Trudeau biting at your heels, threatening all you've worked to build. But that's democracy. Harper and the gang do themselves no favours by trying to force the country to pick sides in these snafus, as if opinions on long- standing institutions are akin to preteen girls picking which cafeteria clique they'll sit with. - Anthony Furey CLINTON NEWS RECORD — HOURS OF OPERATION MONDAY: 9:00 - 5:00 • TUESDAY: - CLOSED • WEDNESDAY: - 9:00 - 5:00 • THURSDAY: - 9:00 - 5:00 • FRIDAY: - 9:00 - 5:00 • SATURDAY & SUNDAY: - CLOSED ADVERTISING DEADLINE: FRIDAY AT 2:00 • PHONE 519-482-3443 • FAX: 519-482-7341 www.clintonnewsrecord.com