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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Citizen, 2007-05-24, Page 5THE CITIZEN, THURSDAY, MAY 24, 2007. PAGE 5. Bonnie Gropp TThhee sshhoorrtt ooff iitt People have written Pulitzer Prize- winning novels in less time than it is taking Ontario’s Progressive Conservatives to jot down a synopsis of policies on which they will fight the October 10 election, but they are finally getting some interesting ideas off their chests. The Conservatives under leader John Tory have been criticized for not having enough policies close to an election. Premier Dalton McGuinty’s Liberals have had tough times recently for failing to protect against lottery cheats and steering grants to immigrant friends, but they are a long way from digging their graves by themselves. Tory has now responded to the issue of the day, climate change, and promised targets even earlier than the Liberals. He said he would reduce Ontario’s greenhouse gas emissions 10 per cent from their 1990 level by 2020, which would be substantial, because emissions have risen rapidly in 17 years. The Conservative leader has set a further target of a 60 per cent reduction by 2050, although he will not be around to be held to account for it. Maybe his grandson will be premier. Tory has promised stricter building codes and incentives to prompt business and said the province will contribute by using green power for its buildings and getting rid of high- emission vehicles. Tory also has emerged as an enthusiastic supporter of nuclear power, which he says is cleaner and safer, and would reduce emissions by using it more. This is a contrast to the Liberals, who are being pushed reluctantly toward more nuclear stations. Tory’s proposals are short on penalties, but he says a basic premise is polluters will pay. Tory also says he would reduce toxins, which contribute to many illnesses including cancer, by requiring businesses to identify high-risk chemicals they use and come up with plans to replace or reduce them and receive help including tax breaks. Tory promises to do a better job of managing taxpayers’ money. He is emphasizing the Liberals have increased annual spending by $20 billion since they were elected in 2003, which sounds like they have been advised by Conrad Black. Tory cites as examples McGuinty’s use of costly government planes, as if they were paid for by frequent flyer points and unnecessary redesign of the trillium emblem by an advertising agency with ties to his party. He says Conservatives would show respect for taxpayers’ money. Tory has said he will cut personal and corporate income taxes “responsibly” and get rid of the health tax the Liberals brought in that raises $2.4 billion a year. But apart from saying he will fight harder for fairer healthcare funding from the federal government, he has not said how he could afford to do so without this money or what services he would cut. Tory favours residents being able to pay for medical treatments in privately-owned clinics through their government OHIP cards, where this would avoid long, painful waits. Costs are the same or less than in publicly-owned facilities. The Conservative leader would tackle rising residential property taxes by capping individual increases at five per cent a year, which would please some, but merely postpone their increases and meanwhile transfer part of their burden unfairly to others. A major cause of the increases was former Conservative premier Mike Harris’s downloading of services on municipalities and Tory says some of this was unfair, but has not promised to have the province take them back. Tory would move 10 per cent of government offices from Toronto to smaller communities to strengthen their economies and says Toronto would not lose, because he would fight harder for investment here. Tory also would offer immigrants who now flock to the Greater Toronto Area incentives, including speedier immigration, if they settle outside it – they might for a start also prefer cheaper housing and less traffic. These are not ideas that will start Ontarians marching in the streets, but a few months before an election they give them more to think about. Green at the top Here’s a factoid to make you feel old: Larry King has been on the air for half a century. Fifty years we’ve been watching and listening to the guy in the red suspenders and the windshield-sized horn rims talk to everybody from presidents and prime ministers to pop phenoms and porn stars. Reclusive celebrities who will talk to no one else show up like salivating lapdogs on the Larry King show. Marlon Brando made a grandiose (if largely incoherent) appearance, as did the paranoically private Elizabeth Taylor. Every famous person eventually shows up in prime time across the table from Larry. The only celebrity he hasn’t booked is Osama Bin Laden – and if the Saudi Arabian psychopath ever does surface, don’t bet the family silverware that he won’t do it in the guest chair on the Larry King Show. Now the tough part. I come to bury Larry, not to praise him. Well, not ‘bury’ exactly…but to ask a pertinent question: How did this schlub manage to become the most famous interviewer in the world? Larry King is, to put it bluntly, a terrible interviewer. He doesn’t ‘interview’ his guests – he plays patty-cake with them, tossing Nerf ball, inoffensive, feel-good questions that would make your Aunt Edna feel unthreatened and at home. Which, ironically, is the key to King’s success. Famous people line up to appear on the Larry King Show because they know they’ll never be challenged, never be embarrassed, never be asked to account for the shortcomings in their public life or private morals. An appearance on The Larry King Show is a PR cakewalk. A no-contest triumph. Larry King will bend over backwards to make you Look Good. Which in turn makes Larry look like a serious player in Olympus. You scratch my back, I’ll massage yours. Don’t know why we bought into it. There are plenty of good interviewers around – Charlie Rose, Peter Mansbridge, Robert MacNeil, Jim Lehrer… George Strombolopolopol – you know who I mean. And Oriana Fallaci. Ah, Fallaci. She died last year, did Oriana Fallaci, still fighting and spitting and clawing like the wildcat she was. She weighed, maybe 100 pounds, soaking wet – even when she was full of cancer. Stood about as high as your breast bone. She was a giant. One time, back in 1969, this diminutive Italian journalist found herself at Cape Canaveral covering the return of the Apollo 11 space mission. She was in the post-mission media scrum, jockeying with all the big, beefy American media TV anchors as they strove to get ‘face-time’ with the returning astronauts. The anchors were full of important, stentorian-voiced technical questions along the lines of: “Can you elaborate on the ratio of the G-Force re-entry vectors vis-a-vis the tectonic feedback during the lunar orbit rendezvous” – that sort of thing. The astronauts responded with highly technological, exceedingly robotic answers. Until Oriana Fallaci fought her way to the front of the media scrum and snatched the microphone. “Yes,” said the emcee, “the, ah, little lady from Italy…your question?” And Fallaci fixed the astronauts with a steely gaze and asked the three word question that all the world wanted to hear the answer to: “Were you scared?” The astronauts fell apart. Hemmed and hawed. The question wasn’t covered in their Media Relations manual. Fallaci – in three words – reduced them to humans. Larry King – in 50 years of interviews – never asked a question so pertinent. And he probably never will. His…blandness extends to his movie reviews – to the delight of Hollywood. Hollywood loves Larry because Larry loves Hollywood. He’s always good for a good review. Remember the universally panned You, Me and Dupree? Critics hated it. Larry wrote “Fun and Very Funny.” Did you sit through the deadly dull De- Lovely – a biography of Cole Porter? King called it “Far and away the best musical biography ever made!” How about the laughably awful Two For the Money? King called it “The best movie about gambling ever made!” King says: “I know (the movie makers) are only looking for a catchphrase. If I like the movie I give ‘em a quote. If I don’t like something, I’m not gonna rap it.” King is such a feel-good reviewer that even his pans turn into raves. He saw the movie Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest and confessed (uncharacteristically) “I had no idea what was going on. I told…the studio, ‘I didn’t understand the damn movie at all. I’d have to see it over and over again to figure out what happened.” The studio ads quoted him: “Finally, a Movie Worth Seeing Over and Over Again!” Larry – of course -- didn’t mind. You scratch my back, I’ll massage yours. Arthur Black Tory getting election polices in place Sometimes I even surprise myself. It was a now moment — one of those times when everything around me was so perfect it was easy to shut away intrusive thought. Birds singing, sun shining, and me with hands deep in dirt, could hardly let notions of what might go wrong, or unsettling conceptions of what has been sneak into my easy mind. To say I was feeling pretty laid back would be downplaying the condition considerably. It was probably the fact I was in this mellow mood that brought about the realization that followed. But, even in the days since, my feeling hasn’t changed. Let’s go back to the afternoon I was first speaking about. The time, on this day, was being spent in a worthy spring pursuit — bringing colour to my private world by getting my planters put together and into place. I was as down to earth as one can get standing on a deck. A friend had joined me in the task, making the going even more pleasant. Our busy hands were rewarded for their efforts by the feel of silken petals, textured leaves, the gentle give as dirt and root pulled from the containers. Water burbled in the fountain, and below the surface of melody created by Michael Bublé and Collective Soul pouring from the speakers. Then from the adjacent schoolyard a bell cut through the air, announcing recess. Exuberant youth burst through the doors, lively and ready to burn off some pent-up energy. I was so into my project and the atmosphere, grooving to the tunes and being outside, burning off my own pent-up energy in my own way, that I barely noticed the kids. They blended into the picture already in place as if they’d been there all along. But my friend was watching them. And came up with a most interesting statement. Looking over at the boisterous scene, studying the group as they shouted and played, she said, “I’ll bet they’re looking over here and wishing they were grownup.” The truly strange thing about this moment was I didn’t even say “Huh?” I looked at those kids, with all their freedom, their agility and innocence and felt not a breath of envy. I wouldn’t give a bag of gumballs to walk in those sneakers one more time. Don’t get me wrong. I loved being a child. It had its downside, but mostly what I choose to remember is plenty of attention, a carefree existence and fun to be found in just about every corner. When I was little my parents liked it if I slept in. They preferred I go outside to play and stay out from under their feet. No one wanted my opinion, so I wasn’t under any obligation to have one. People looked after my needs and saw to my welfare. Nice then, but not again thanks. I was a little shocked to discover I like not just being a grown-up but being a middle-aged grown-up. Every line on this face has been acquired by living this life, whether by smiling, worrying or lifting it to the sun. I may not know everything, but I have acquired a certain level of wisdom. Mostly, I have almost learned what’s important and what isn’t. Childhood is a wonderful time, there’s no getting around it. But I have to tell you I was very pleasantly surprised to see myself, now firmly standing atop the hill, and in looking back, seeing grass less green. Other Views The man who would be king Eric Dowd FFrroomm QQuueeeenn’’ss PPaarrkk