HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Brussels Post, 1976-12-01, Page 12Sugar and Spice
by Bill Smiley
Who needs Quebec?
Like so many others, I was completely
astonished by the sweeping victory of the
Parti Quebecois in La Belle Province.
I was also just dreadfully, dreadfully
upset at the thought of that darn old
separatorateest Rainy Levack taking over
as Prime Minister of Quebec and
exercising his rights .to exorcise that fair
province right out of the body politic of this
Great Nation.
In fact, I was so disturbed by the whole
thing that when my assistant department
head, Jeanne Sauve, came up to me in the
hall, grinning fiercely, and said, "Vive De
Gaulle!" I just gave her an icy look and
walked on.
I made myself scarce when my old
shuffleboard partner, Bill Chenier, was
looking for me for our usual noon-hour
game in the staff room. No way am I,going
to be buddies with some guy who is
probably an underground agent for Rainy
Levack.
However, I got my own back in a sort of
sneaky, and you might even say sadistic'
way. I asked my four-year Grade lls if
they'd heard the news that the government
of Ontario was going to put everyone with a
French-Canadian name in concentration
camps, just as our federal government, in
its infinite stupidity, did with the westcoast
Japanese after Pearl Harbor.
Boy, that shook them. They started
looking around at each other. Half my
classes are made up of Robitailles,
Cadieuxs, Cadeaus, Moreaus, Bourgeois
and so on. I said: "It'll certainly be nice to
have smaller classes." Their mouths were
open.
Then one guy in a front seat, with a good
Scottish surname, started to grin, and said,
in the impeccable English I instil in my
students, "Ya, sir, I heard that there
broadcast. But you diddiCh6ar it all. They
changed their mind. They ain't gowna
putten in camps. They're gowna line em all
up and shootem." My cold, stern look
began to crumble, and pretty soon we were,
all laughing as they realized they'd been
"had" once more by Old Smiley. •
Then we talked about what the
separation of Quebec would mean. The
kids, as usual, weren't too perturbed.
Dynasties can come and go, as far as they
are concerned, as long as they don't get a
homework assignment out of it. The only
thing that upsets them is a case of
unrequited love, or the breakdown of the
TV set just as the big Sex or violence scene
gets started.
The possibility of Quebec separating
from the rest of Canada upsets me just
about as much as it does the kids. I love
Canada as, it is, but I don't think that
Confederation and all that jazz is a sacred
thing. It was put together by a bunch of
politicians for reasons that were not
entirely altruistic, and if another bunch of —
politicians wants to disband the club, so be
it.
The original plighting of troths was
basically a marriage of convenience. After
more than a hundred years of marital
disharmony, if one of the parties feels the
union is incompatible, why not get a
divorce?
When I was the age of my students, the
British Empire stretched around the world.
In the cant phrase, the sun never set on it.
Today that mighty Empire has shrunk,to a
tiny, beleaguered Britain, financially on
the rocks. Does anybody really care, except
a few elderly pukka. sahibs?
People love frightening themselves and
each other. Political columnists are having
a hey-day, speculating on the "balkaniza-
tion" of Canada. After Quebec drops out,
speculate the worry warts, B.C. and the
Maritimes will probably become part of the
U.S., the prairie provinces will secede and
form a country called Manalsask or
something, and Ontario will be left sitting
high and dry, the only remaining bastion of
the trueblue WASP Canadian. Nobody
seems to worry much about Newfy.
Maybe it's time this country had a jolly
good shaking up. We seemed to have
changed in the last few decades from a
vibrant and vital young nation with lots to
be proud of, and plenty to look forward to,
into a sour, crabby and suspicious
middle-aged country, beset by inflation,
unemployment and strikes.
We run down our leaders.We seek
security rather than adventure. We whine'
about American domination and do nothing
about it. We bitch about playing our part in
NATO and giving money to poor coup tries
and letting in too many immigrants and
anything else that is unselfish.
Despite high unemployment, we have
one of the most erratic labor forces in the
world. Despite our tremendous natural
resources, we let the Americans and the
Germans and the Japanese do the
investing in our development, because we
haven't the guts to take the risks ourselves.
Maybe the threat of separation by
Quebec is just the jolt this country needs to
get the old adrenalin flowing once again.
This is a great country, but it won't be
great for long if it is inhabited by a ,nation
of chickens. Or sheep.
Life is change. things that don't change
die. Let's remember that and not panic
when there are indications of change,
however great it may be.
People We Know
Mr. and Mrs. Ross Wightman,
Tracey, Pamela and Kevin of
Chatham spent last week with
their parents Mr. and Mrs. Edgar
Wightman,
The Belgrave Men's Choir
provided the music at Westfield
Fellowship Hour on Sunday
afternoon. Rev. Leslie Ball of
Wroxeter was the minister for the returned from holidaying at
service. Acupulco, Mexico.
Misses Maria and Michelle Mrs. Jean Wills of Milton
Arruda of Toronto, who have
spent the past two weeks with
their grandparents Mr, and Mrs.
Cliff Logan, returned on Sunday
with their parents Mr. and Mrs.
America Arruda, who have just
visited for a few days last week
with Mr. and Mrs. Ross Anderson
and other relatives in the area.
Reception
At The
BRUSSELS IN !
BRUSSELS, ONT.
and ay Friday S atur d
Tiffens Orchestra
Sunday Special
Ham, Steak with Pineapple Ring
.BRUSSELS POST, , DECEMBER , 1970
for
Fill & Vatotte
51'1ORTREED
Fri. Dec, 10
Family Paradise
Ladies please' l ring flinch
Ind Wilbee Orchestra
.$ .1.4tONWAI:04i*I•
9 to 1
BRUSSELS LEGION
Music by
The Foursome
Tickets Available
Texan Grill Hayward Variety
People We Know
Mr. and Mrs, Mack $haw spent
last week with their son DouglaS
in Toronto. They also visited with
Mrs. Helen Hetherington and
cousins, Dr. and. Mrs, L. Grose.
ETHEL TEEN TOWN DANC
Ethel Community Hall
Fri. Dec. 3, 1976.
Admission $1.50
Snack Booth Door Prize &
Dance Prizes
Music - Stevens Country Gold
Rock 'n Roll D.J. Everyone Welc
******************
Entertainment at
* BRUWLS
THE QUEEN'S HOT
* 1 Friday and Saturday Night
(Ovei
* Freedom Road Ban
* New Year's Eve tickets now avails
* Music by Earl & Martha Heywo
BRUSSELS OPTIMISTS
Ch ristm as
Dance
SATURDAY DEC. 4
itc4t- '47
*if
trO'
14 Regular Games 3 Specials at 25.00 each
I Share the Wealth doOt.gotite.
Admission $1,50 Extra 'CAMS 256 or 5 for
Sharp
tindet-the.,alisiiites. Of the Brussels Branch
218 tit the tariadiart Le glen
Mrs. James S, Arm
and Leona attended
party in Ottawa in ho
25th Wedding Anal
Dorothy and Wilson
TURKEY
BINGOS
BRUSSELS LEGION HALL
Friday, Dec. 3
Friday, Dec. 10
Friday, Dec. 17