Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Brussels Post, 1980-10-22, Page 2We get what we deserve Who will run, for council? The names are now in, the election race is. on. , unfortunately in some muncipalities, community apathy hasresulted in council members getting in by acclamation and although those who get in that way will no doubt do their very best for the. community, ;it just isn't as good as an election. Those running for council for the most part would just as soon have an election so.they can feel that they've earned the.position they've been elected to. Although many criticize the actions of council Members, few people are willing to run against them to show their dissatisfaction. Besides that type of apathy there is voter apathy:, We all 'know people who don't. 'go out and vote because they figure it won't make much difference who gets in as their council members. But in realityiit- could make quite a diffefence who serves on a council. In the 1978 municipal election, the turnout at the Brussels polls was excellent with 75 per cent of the qualified voters turning out to vote. In Morris only 50 per cent voted and in. Grey Township there was only a 30 per cent turnout of eligible vOters. Let's hope there are better turnouts this year.. Remember, this is your, community and how you vote will affect what happens in the municipality in the coming two years. Sugar and spice By Bill Smiley COnstipation bull roar • ot41,F#1•1!ok.41.47a1•!logoy4toor:w4.kvoyow• SATI ,M.A11111111,Thil ."14ff141. 41;01.,41.$1 russe. ilrriksoms1,;4;••!4:48 1k004.1,. Nu ssyst# islo !qv nd the scenes by Keith,Routston • WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 22, 1980 , • Serving Brussels and the surrounding community. Published each Wednesday afternoon at Brussels, Ontario By McLean Bros. Publishers Limited Evelyn Kennedy - Editor ,Pat Langlois -.Advertising Member Canadian Commuoity Newspaper Association and Ontario Weekly Newspaper Association °IAN Commutop Tho flag, ornd per. speo00 while the enemy was firing shells and mortars and machine-guns at your old school friends! "What old school, friends? You mean them jerks that went on to high sehool and volunteered to go and get themselves shot in some foreign country. They were no friends of mine. They were suckers." Seething, ,I tried another; tack, unable to believe this was a fellow-Canadian, but willing to give him a third chance. I took three deep breaths, then explained calmly. "A constitution is the backbone of a democratic country. It sets out the rights and obligations of its citizens. Aren't you interested in that? Would you like to live in a country where you had no rights?" I thought that might stir some smoldering spark of love of country. But he wasn't so dumb. He was crafty, in fact. "Whyshould I? I liVe in this country, where I got a right to vote for any dummy I want to, write a letter to the newspaper saying what. I think of the government,' belly up to the bar on Friday night, and call in sick Monday. What more do ya want?" I retorted with some asperity, "And what .about obligations? Don't• you think a good citizen has obligation ?: The word means things that you should do." His reply: "Then I'm a hell of a good citizen. I got more obligations than I can handle: nine kids, a crabby wife, a boss who has a slight stroke every time I ask for a raise, and govment trying to grab one out of every three bucks' I make. And I come in here for a quiet drink and I gotta talk to turkeys like you about constipation. Don't talk to me about obligations." Desperately, I tried another tack. There must be some decent thing in this man, a fellow Canadian. 'But surely there are some things you'd like to see down in black and white, something solid and dependable, in a truly 'What's all this here,bullroar about repatriating the Canadian Constipation?"' demanded the rather beficOse chap at the. next barstool. Somewhat timidly, I replied (I don't like bar-room. brawls unless somebody else is them, "I think the word is constitution, not Constipation." And in a little attempt to ease the tension, added, "We have enough of that now," not meaning constitution. He didn't get it. He snorted, "Constitootion? I'm in great shape," giving his beer-belly a smack and hawking up a few gobs after inhaling deeply on his White Owl cigar. Well, I was getting a bit nettled I'm not a troublemaker or a flag-waver, but I'm a good Canadian. I didn't have to listen to this beery bore. I began quietly enough. "The word is not repatriation, but patriation. The suffix I "re" means 'back.' as in 'return.' If we repatriated the constitution, it would mean that we were bringing it back to Canada, ut it has never been here in the first place. So we use the word 'patriation,' meaning uh..." He Was not impressed by my quite lucid explanation, nor my obviOus education. "Patriotism, that's the stuff. There's too many of these rotten, long-haired minks in this country, who wouldn't fight for it if they hadda." .1 rolled my eyes, figuratively, heaved an inaudible sigh, and asked the inevitable,. happy enough to change the subject, "What oath were you with in World War' II?" I knew that's what he Was leading up to. "Outfit? Outfit?" and he laughed a deep gargly, belching rumble. "I was in Intelligence. I was intelligent enough to get a job in the shipyards and make a bundle." I was more than nettled by now. :I was more like poison ivy. I almost snapped, "Good for you! You were making a bundle For.an idealistic young nationalist it was, a frightening time. Just as a feeling of Canadianism was growing, it appeared the, country might be torn apart completely. It was the, early 1960's. The shock-waves from FLQ terrorist bombs were being felt across the country. Canadians who had always taken the , country. for granted suddenly started to wOrry, Some people thought something had to be done. 'Among them was the Prime Minister Lester B. Pearson', winner, of the Nobel Peace Prize for his work at the United Nations. Little did he 'know that' in the coming months he would nearly need the United Nations to bring peace in Canada. The Prime Minister felt, Canadians needed things to pull them together, to breed a 'sense of nationalism. One solution was the planning Omissive pelebrations in the country for the centennial year in 1967, but that was, still far off. What was needed quickly' was some- kind of symbol. He decided it was time Canada has its own flag. It was hard; he felt, 'for' many ' Canadians not of, British descent to have much feeling for the Red. Ensign, with its Union Jack; in the upper corner. What was - needed was something truly Canadian. In the corning months this attempt to find a unifying symbol,almost tore • the country apart. John iefenbakets 'who blended ,a fierce sense of Canadfanism with an equally-fierce lo :yalty to Britain and the Queen, saw in the 'government plan everything. he detested: about Liberals and Pearson in particular. He rallied monarch- ists, old Soldiers, and traditionalists behind him in a holy war against the proposal for the flag. The young and the growing group of nationalists generally backed the Prime Minister„ The fighting was fierce and dirty and seemingly went on for months. The question was, would the conntry be torn apart by. the, very thing ,supposed to unify' it? When' the government finally pushed throtigh its bill adopting the new flag. there ' were bomb threats against the people who, whipped the tag up their flagpoles„ The Royal Canadian Legion refused 'to fly the new flag for' years... WHAT FUSSY • Today it's hard to• , believe all the fuss. It's-a decade and a half since the fight erupted. It seems faintly funny to look back on it. We've had since then re 'cessions " and near depressions, •referendums and • soaring inflation, all of whiCh seem far more :real and threatening than the flag debate could have been. Canadian constitution, comething you could, fall back on?" "I nearly always fall back on the bed. But you're right. There's a few things that should be wrote • into something, even though the lawyers would always find a way aronnd them.' ' "What did you have in mind?" I asked eagerly. There was a spark! He was not a total ash.. `Well, I gotta few things that might help out Trudeau and them other peacoPks and, barnyard geese that make up 'our leaders. First, there's that there Women's Lib. I'd stamp them out, with ho bnails. Then there's that there French. If God had wanted a man to speak French, he woulda had him born in. France Of Kuebec, right?" "Go, on," I said grimly. Short Shots Continued from page I. with green boulevards separating two-lane traffic on both sides. There are some high rise appartment buildings but not nearly as many as seen in our cities here. Houses are mostly constructed of frame. or stucco with neat, well-kept lawns and yards. If you think of Winnipeg as a prairie city with no, or few trees you are wrong. There are a great many trees, beautiful Manitoba Maples and graceful weeping willows among others. In certain parts of the city there are no driveways into the homes. There are laneways running behind the houses and garage face these laneways. Parking on the street in front of homes' in 'the daytime is These memories have come, back to me., in recent weeks as a way Of putting in perspective the current bitterness over the constitution "and the federal govern-, ment's Plans to bring it to. Canada front. Britaindespite the opposition of, more, than half the, provinces . I remember listening to the closing session ,of the last consititutional conference on ;my. car radio . as I travelled that Saturday a month or so , ago and ,worrying about- the:future of the country. I still worry when. I hear the Aire warnings that Canada could be torn -apart by the ?government's actions. I hear people -talking about Western separatism if the government doesn't cave in to. :the wishes of Premiers Lougheed and Bennett and Lyon and I kitty will. the .country every recover? Then remember the flag debate, and the feelings of the time that the country could. never recover from such bitterness. This, country; it seemys destined always to go through bitter controversies. The flag debate was just a minor skirmish in our. history of wrangling: I wasn't old enough to remember the:great, pipeline ,debate but the country' survived it. wasn't born when 1_ the conscription crisis split theeountry, a split for once that was to affect the country for years to come. BIRTH PAIN'S 'In fact you can • go' back to, the,. very beginnings of the country to see how often it seemed the country couldn't survive its' 'birth-,pains. Canada became a ,coast-to-' coast nation: because of the building • of the OR, but if 'yeti, go back to. the. history ,'-, books, particularly books like Pierre Ber. ton's The National Dream, you'll see the fighting and bickering Went on. 'for years: Sir John A. Mac:donald,-revered as a great nation builder today, was a drunkard, idiot and scoundrel to many in those days. Initead 9f building a nation he was testing a Axing country 'apart. . This sense of Perspective is' iinportitpt iii living through everyday life. We often' feel that we are at a time of crisis such .as has never, been seen before:; We worry about • the crisis in Afghanistan and forgef that we, lived through the Cuban' MiSSile• Crisis: We wOrry about the arms race' and forget we Managed to ,survive- the Cold War Of the: fifties. It's not to say we shouldn't be concerned about today's crises because only by being concerned; by being ready to do what we can to avert dangers can we keep a country going. The wise person, however, keeps things in perspective.' , "Well, there's the pill, right? That's O.K. But the tonsfitootion should have-it somewhere that a woman can't speak while . her husband is drinkin' his coffee and tryna read the paper. They could call it' A • gobstopper. • . • And it should be in there that ,welders get paid more than teachers. And that old people. should live in classy homes, like hotels. Insteada.them dumps. Right? • "And dope peddlers• should be stran- • gled. And people should be buried decent, wrapped in a blanket, insteada two thousand bucks wortha junk. And..." But it was too much for me.. I hurriedly slapped down my usual 20 .cent tip- and fled., — • • , 7»: Not before' he got his last word in. ' 'Take it easy, Constipation." • • permitted but not at night. There are a number of meticulously groomed .parks. The winding drive along the Assinaboine River reminds one of the Parkway Drive in Ottawa. Here also are., pathways for bicycles and joggers and Wellington Avenue is closed Sunday for bicycling. In most .cities blocks are more or less squarer In. Winnipeg, at , least in Some areas, you would find that on North-South streets blocks are much longer than is usual while those of east-west streets are of average length. Streets are rather rough. This, we were told is due to the texture of the underlying soil which undergoes a great deal, of expansion and contraction causing surface cracking and breaking. • ****** More about Winnipeg next week.