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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Brussels Post, 1981-03-18, Page 20 Established 1872 Serving Brussels and the surrounding community I "151,t'kf '11.04 11 11',:13 !PT,: n4tspoixta:•nlptik•4tra 4,00"r 113 0 •4*.ter , r,PA- EST, 1872 4Bnissels Post BRUSSELS 519-887-6641, A Andrew Y. McLean, Publisher Evelyn Kennedy, Editor AP WEDNESDAY, MARCH 18, 1981 Member Canadian Community Newspaper Association, Ontario Weekly Newspaper Association and The Audit Bureau of Circulation. Subscription rates: Canada $12 a year (in advance) outside Canada $25 a year (in advance) Single copies - 30 cents each Published at BRUSSELS, ONTARIO every Wednesday morning by McLean Bros. Publishers Limited cl,'"111111111111P41 4 Qh9,,,z WYO. 114"AAr,k,AII,14101,10AANIIIMVA1101.14ACIrlf,f0r8044#A,AA,ACOAAAAW4"M"."*""4"4"""4" At least vote March 19, election day is almost here and that means we should be prepared to get out and vote. In the Huron-Bruce riding, big shoes have been left to fill, since Murray Gaunt, a well-known and well-liked politician decided to resign from political life. Consider why Murray Gaunt was so well-known and liked and apply these factors to your three choices of candidates before marking your ballot. The three candidates have been in enough different places around the Huron-Bruce area that people should know where they stand on the issues. Take all these things into consideration, then get out and mark that ballot because voting is important. The party you want may not get in, but at least voting shows who the majority of people feel should be in power. 's,A 4117 11 Box 50, Brussels, Ontario NOG 1H0 The Ontario election? What election? Behind the scenes by Keith Roulston Somewhere in Ontario Friday niorning, someone is going to wake up, here the election results on the radio and say: "I didn't know there was an election going on.'' That's the way it's been in this provincial election campaign over the last few weeks. Amid constitutional debates, presidential visits and pundits pulling Joe Clark limb from limb, there hasn't been a great deal of attention given to the provincial election. At one point, Liberal Leader Stuart Smith, campaigning door-to-door had problems not only getting people to recognize him, but believing there was a campaign under way. All of which of course, delights Premier Bill Davis who knows that people who aren't worked up about anything aren't likely to turn a government out of office. He hopes people just stay sleepy enough to let him slip in with a majority so he can have the next four or five years without the discomforts of minority government. The campaign reinforces the thought that despite what people say about the provincial government being closer to the people, federal politics is still where the excitement is, at least in Ontario. The federal government decides the fate of the country, how it will deal with .foreign countries, what it will spend on defence, how it will attempt to promote foreign trade to increase the incomeof the people of the country. MORE GLAMOUR There arc provinces where provincial politics seems to have as much if not more glamour as federal politics. Three conic to mind: Alberta, Newfoundland and Quebec. Political leaders in those three provinces have found the secret to whipping -up enthusiasm for provincial politics: you run not against your opponents but,against the federal government. You see in provincial campaigns if you take shots at the other parties in your province you not only run the risk of getting shot back, but you automatically eliminate having a good portion of the voters on your side, people who will stick with their party through thick and ,thin. If' you run against Ottawa, however, you're lighting an opponent that isn't going to fight brick. You can also. look like the underdog, Which - is always good in politics. You arc- the underdog, gamely championing the cause of the poor people of your province who are being trampled on (substitute raped, ripped-01T, violated, dis- franchised, for the sake of variety by those despicable, greedy feds (personified by the devilishly clever Pierre Trudeau whc is a communist, fascist, machiavellian dictator). A CONVENIENT ENEMY Peter Lougheed, Brian Peckford and a succession of Quebec premiers have learned to appeal to the little people of their provinces and what they have ended up with is the support of the "little" people.. the people who want to see things in black and white, not confusing, muddled shades of- grey. Solutions are made easy, light the hated feds and save our provinces. The same kind Of paranoia politics surfaces regularly in the United States where the common enemy is conveniently located outside the country: the communists. Anyone who doesn't support you then is a traitor, someone who supports those bad buys who are out to get us 'all. That kind of campaign hasn't been unknown in Ontario. Premier Davis himself used it a few years ago to will a majority, government. The feds were taking "our tax money" and giving it to Quebec and the Maritimes and other poorer sections of the country when we need it here. He also used the fear of bilingualism to win the "little" vote at one time.. This time Mr. Davis has been in a more difficult position. He perhaps showed leadership for the first time in his career at the consitituion. He may not have been pleased with everything about the proposal or the way it's being .handled but he has stuck by his guns, much to the displeasure of some of' his own supporters. So he can hardly light an anti-Ottawa campaign this time. Neither of course can the Liberals, because they would be in a way lighting themselves, insulting the very voters who put Trudeau in power. EACH OTHER So the parties have been left to .fight each other. They have been left arguing aniong themselves about who is the least qualified to run the government. It's like a high school debating class on some esoteric subject that nobody seems to really care about. It doesn't touch the baser passions of the people, summon up the hate and prejudice • that seems to flow in sonic other parts of the country at election time. Maybe we should be grateful for dull elections. A long slow burn creeps across Sugar and spice By Bill Smiley Hello, out dere! Are you as sick as I am of the whole foofawraw concerning our unpatri- ated constitution. Are' you fed up with the daily battle in Parliament: the finger-pointing, the jowls- shaking, the threats of coercion by the Liberals, the howls of defiance of the Tories, the yelps of frustration of the NDP? And all over a piece of paper that has been residing, quietly in Westminster, London, England. for more years than most of us are old. Are you becoming a mite nauseated by having your tax dollars used to bolster infirm orporations like Chrysler and Massey- Ferguson, that could not hack it in the market place? Or the same tax dollars (yours) used to hay up oil companies, paying about thirty per cent more than the shares arc worth on 'he stock exchange? Are you tired to the teeth with the constant bickering among the provinces, and the constant squabbling between them and Ottawa? Are you totally ticked off with the constant threats of separation from the Wealthy West, the Querulous Quebecois, and recent- ly, of all things, the New-C it Newfies? Are you thoroughly disgusted with unions who serve the public- postal, hospital, transit- thumbing their collective noses at the law? There you are. A lot of rhetorical questions. It's exactly like the questions for alcoholics. If you answer "No" to one of them, you are an alcoholic, trying to hide in the closet, If you answer yes, to all of them you are also an alcoholic. If all my readers are as angry as I am, or even half as angry, with all this raucous shouting, all these cries of "Gimme," or "Me too," there must be a long, slow burn, 'ike a dynamite fuse, creeping across this ountry. My kid brother, who spent thirty-five years in the uniform of his country, and not at any desk job, .retired reeently,. with the Distinguished Flying Cross,: among many other decorations. He was a full colonel in our armed forces. He .has a pretty good pension. and is young enough to undertake a second career. One would'think he'd settle clown to write his memoirs, or perhaps run for parliament, or at least resign himself to writing caustic letters-to-the-editor, signed "Col., Ret'd." from his comfortable home somewhere in Canada. One would be wrong. He picked up stakes, turned his back on his own country, and retired to Florida. He had "had" Canada up to the ears. And i don't blame him. Let's go back to the constitution. What a lot of poppycock! If the government had quietly asked the opposition parties to agree to requesting the British government to send the silly thing to Canada, there would have been no problem. The Brits ate used to it. Nobody is against motherhood or a constitution coming borne. But now that we don't build statues of public figures, Pierre Trudeau wants one built of paper, that will find its place in the history books. As a result, he and his centurions ate bull-dozing their way through Parliament, alienating the provinces, and radiating an arrogance that 'hasn't been Seen since the days of C.D. Howe. and his demand for closure, because Parliament was getting in his way, back in the Fifties. • And the Tories, stung bitterly by being turfed out of office after only a few months wandeing the corridors of power, are coually intransigent .in their opposition. They won't give an inch, even should the Liberals offer one. On the sidelines, the NDP runs around in circles, trying to attract some attention. They supported the Liberals on the Constitu- tion only because they hate them less than they do the Tories. How about those tax dollars used, without so much as as by-your-leave, to prop .up near-defunct manufacturers? Sure, some would go bankrupt, Some jobs would be lost, But couldn't more jobs be created by using those hundreds of millions positively, than by handing crutches to foreign-owned corporations? What in the world was accomplished by using money out of our back pocket to buy Petro-Fina at a ridiculous price? Trite, we Have more Canaciian.,Owned gas stations. But this company will not put one mote litre of gas into our energy programme. And if the new acquisition is as well,run as the Post Offi A ee, Lord help us all. nd, as I have always said, if anybody wants to separate, let them go to it. I, for one, would not fight to hold Canada together, to force an erring son or daughter to stay home against his/her will. If Newfoundland wants to go, let it (it?) go. With all that oil, and all that fish, along with some spuds front P.E,I. the natives could live like kings on fish -'n chips forever. The country would be bigger than Iceland, and a lot better off financially, But if. she goes; let, the government' stop reaching into my wallet for welfare and baby ; bonuses and coastguard protection;andnew air-strips for Newfie. I've run out of space. and haven't even begun. If you are. as sore as I am about the way this country, is falling apart, under an onslaught of sheer, unadulterated crap, sound-off. Let's hear you. Shout if from the housetops. If you, are as sore as I am, welcome, Sorehead. Let's be Soreheads together. To the e ditor: Let rumours lie There have been some people in. the village of Brussels who don't listen very well; A few Wecks ago the Brussels Post w'as phoned and asked if they would take a picture of a hockey leant, who. woo their OD" championship in Western Ontario, Somebody is this town said that the photographer would riot come. The person or persons who got that story going should listen more carefully or keep their mouth shut. This has made a few people very upset, The girls said that they would be glad to