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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Citizen, 2007-06-28, Page 5THE CITIZEN, THURSDAY, JUNE 28, 2007. PAGE 5. Bonnie Gropp TThhee sshhoorrtt ooff iitt Ontario’s Liberals have lost their lead approaching the last lap in the Oct. 10 election, but it should not be concluded they have lost the race. Premier Dalton McGuinty and his party had been ahead of the Progressive Conservatives by a comfortable average five per cent in polls for more than two years, but in the latest they are neck-and-neck. This is like Michael Schumacher being caught by a rookie driver on the final stretch. The poll also sounds accurate, because the Liberals had just endured their worst two months of intensive criticism and negative publicity in nearly four years in government. They had been attacked for failing to protect buyers of lottery tickets from cheating vendors and steering funds for immigrants disproportionately to organizations run by Liberals. Both are serious issues and the Liberals had few answers, ministers spent most of their time refusing to resign and virtually no other news came from the legislature. The opposition parties will raise the issues again in the election, but they are not as life- threatening as they seemed. Voters want government to run any operation efficiently, but they are much less likely to march in the streets to protect those who squander their money on lotteries than they are to safeguard, say, autistic children. The Liberals also have agreed to have the auditor general investigate the immigrant grants before the election and a government normally would not accept such a probe unless it had some confidence it will find non- Liberals also got their share. The two issues probably will dissipate a lot in an election. McGuinty also is being attacked constantly for breaking a promise not to raise taxes, but he should be able to communicate more effectively he lacked money mainly because the preceding Conservative government lied when it said it had balanced the books. McGuinty will have no trouble showing the Conservatives and New Democrats broke many promises when in government. Conservative leader John Tory claims he can find enough waste in government to do without McGuinty’s health tax, which raises $2.5 billion a year, and the Liberals can embarrass him by challenging him to point out where it is. The Liberals are financially stronger than their last budget suggested and will have some money to buy voters, but would be unwise to promise a large tax cut, as the last Liberal premier David Peterson did in an election, when it was seen as last-minute desperation and sealed his defeat. The Liberals on balance probably will win votes from Tory’s promise to provide money to other faith-based schools that Catholic schools already receive. The Conservative leader claims he wants equity, but he will gain votes from some Jewish, fundamentalist Christian, Muslim and parents of other religious beliefs who have pressed for it. More voters, however, may be concerned the funding will lead to more students being educated and raised with only those in their own religions, which will hinder understanding, appreciation and tolerance of each other, and support the Liberals. But the biggest asset the Liberals have is the huge range of legislation they have brought in to protect residents, more than any Ontario government in history. This includes such worthwhile measures as protecting residents from smoking and pit bulls. An example was mentioned a few days ago, when a national study pointed out Ontario is among the few jurisdictions that have made booster seats in cars mandatory for children between four and eight years of age and this is saving lives. Some of the protection is flawed, particularly in not going far enough, and the Liberals have never wrapped it in a package and said what they have done, presumably because they are afraid of being accused of creating a nanny state. But the Liberals provided it almost always with the support of the other parties, who never did it when they were in government and had the opportunity, and they need to mention it this election to protect themselves. The value of age Everything is simpler than you think. And more complex than you can imagine. – Goethe Not to put myself on the same cerebral plane as Herr Goethe or anything, but I’ve noticed that myself. How nothing is really simple, I mean. Take a three-word question that gets asked a gazillion times a day at checkout counters around the world: Paper or plastic? When first confronted with this choice, many years ago, I blurted “Paper, please”, and felt very virtuous, knowing that at least one environmentally-sensitive citizen wouldn’t be contributing to the landfill problem of non- degrading plastic bags. I basked happily in the warmth of self- congratulation for some time, until some eco- zealot pointed out that more air and water gets polluted in the production of paper than in the production of plastic bags. And besides, you can use a plastic bag over and over again. Don’t try that trick with the paper bag full of damp celery you brought home. So I set an empty pail in the cupboard under my sink and began putting all my plastic grocery bags in there, hauling them out for re- use as needed. But taking advantage of the darkness of the cupboard, my plastic bags multiplied like mayflies and were soon spilling out on the kitchen floor. And even the ones I re-used had a short life. Sooner or later they split or ripped and had to be tossed in the garbage, eventually to make their way to a landfill site where, my eco-zealots assured me, they would take approximately 10 centuries to break down. There is, of course a solution to the shoppers’paper-or-plastic dilemma. It’s called the BYODB option. Stands for Bring Your Own Damned Bags. This is something Europeans figured out decades ago. If you stand at the checkout counter at a Tesco or Sainsbury’s in England waiting for the clerk to bag your purchases, they’ll look at you as if you’re daft. “Didn’t bring bags?” they’ll ask incredulously. Then they’ll give you some, but you’ll pay for every bag you get. European shoppers go to the grocery store with cloth or mesh bags tucked under their arms as a matter of course. It’s something that’s slowly catching on over here. Superstore now charges for every plastic bag they give you. An increasing number of shoppers are taking the hint and bringing in their own cloth bags. It’s an idea you’d think even North Americans couldn’t screw up. You’d be wrong. The good news: we consumers are gradually cottoning on to the idea of bringing our own cotton bags. The bad news: Paris Hilton is in charge of the advertising campaign. Might as well be. The latest must-have fashion accessory? Designer shopping bags. Some of these cloth bags are relatively cheap. Mountain Equipment Co-op sells a bag for $9.99. The Roots Eco Bag will set you back $14.95. But that’s low-end stuff – strictly for the lumpenproletariat. No, if you really want to be a trendy, champion-of-the-environment Beautiful Person, you need to pick up the “I Am Not a Plastic Bag” tote from British designer Anya Hindmarch. This bag originally cost about 20 bucks Canadian, but it sold out and has since become a collector’s item. e-Bay shopper wannabes pay up to $150 on line for one of these bags. And that’s still pretty plebian. If you really want to make yourself a contender for the Bono/Suzuki Good Housekeeping Seal of Approval, I think you’re looking at The Stella McCartney organic canvas bag. It’s only four ninety-five. That’s four…hundred…and ninety-five. Dollars. It gets sillier. Castiglioni offers a foldable grocery bag for $843 – and to add insult to obscenity, it’s nylon. But if you really want to go top drawer, pick yourself up a Silky Pop bag with the famous Hermes logo plastered all over it. Price tag for this cutie? $960 U.S. We’re talking shopping bags here. No zippers, no buttons, no secret compartments. No fine, hand-tooled Italian leather. Just cotton-pickin’ cotton bags. It’s all about advertising, of course. Every designer bag carries the company logo, prominently displayed. Will Rogers once defined advertising as “the art of convincing people to spend money they don’t have on something they don’t need”. Modern merchandisers have taken that equation to a new plateau. Now they want to sell us a bag to take it home in. Arthur Black Liberals still in election race Funny how sometimes it just takes age to recognize the value of something. Like age for example. Youth seldom gives thought to the value of history. There’s too much energy to expend to sit around and listen to stories of the good old days. Old people can’t provide the kind of excitement a young heart and mind needs. And old buildings are just buildings, a little run down at times, and certainly not with the aesthetic appeal of the more modern structures. At least that’s what they think. But with age comes wisdom, the wisdom to know that out of the past comes the best stories, that old people infuse life through their experience, and that old buildings have character and their own tales to tell. Though I grew up in a new home, I spent many holidays in farmhouses built decades earlier. While I was too young to recognize what I felt in those rambling structures, I know it was magic. The high ceilings, the attics full of dark mystery (and the odd mouse or bat), the deep wood trim all appealed to me in some exception way. And when the day came that I was presented with the choice of building my own home or buying an older one, I chose the latter, with all its wonderful warts. Another old building that fascinated me as a youngster was the Carnegie Library in my hometown. Those rooms with wooden shelves full of books had a grace and charm not evident in modern versions. They enchanted me and I could spend hours in those environs. And as Brussels finds itself facing a decision regarding the future of its Carnegie Library, I have only one thing to say. It should be a crime to deface one of these buildings, to alter it without keeping its historic beauty or remove it from existence. The Carnegie Libraries were built through donations by Andrew Carnegie, who believed the best way to provide free education and foster growing communities was by establishing a library. He donated $56 million for the building of libraries world wide, including 111 in Ontario. Over 60 still exist today. Nearly all of the libraries were built according to a formula which required the town that received the gift to: demonstrate a need, provide a site, provide 10 per cent of the cost of the library’s construction to support its operation and use the building as a library only. Maintaining older buildings can be financially exhaustive. Municipalities struggling to keep the bottom line in the black must find the best ways to use taxpayers’ money in providing the necessary services. But often, historical value is lost in economics. Carnegie Libraries are beautiful buildings with an important history and an impressive legacy. I admit that in creating my own personal library I don’t frequent the public one as I did years ago. However, sometimes there is more to what we strive to keep than the service it offers. Brussels was once known for its beautiful downtown architecture. Over the years so much of that has been lost as buildings were neglected and lost. Hopefully, council will see that there is too much history to the Carnegie Library to cast it aside without careful consideration. It should be designated a heritage site and preserved for generations to come as an example of one man’s vision, as well as a community’s respect for the value of age and our history. Other Views Paper? Plastic? or Hermes? Eric Dowd FFrroomm QQuueeeenn’’ss PPaarrkk “Far away there in the sunshine are my highest aspirations. I may not reach them, but I can look up and see their beauty, believe in them, and try to follow where they lead.” – Louisa May Alcott Final Thought