HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Citizen, 1990-06-27, Page 5Arthur Black
THE CITIZEN, WEDNESDAY, JUNE 27, 1990. PAGE 5.
Defying
deadly deadlines
“Dear Arthur: I love your column! It’s
the first thing I read when I pick up the
paper. But I’m curious -- surely it doesn’t
take you seven whole days to fill half a
page of newsprint. What do you do the rest
of the week?’’
Faithful reader in Richmond
Well, Faithful, (can I call you Faith?) -
you’re right. It doesn’t take seven whole
days to write a column. Some weeks I find
myself with whole spare minutes on my
hands. Much of it I spend as I’m sure you
do - letting in the cat and putting out the
garbage, subduing dandelions on my front
lawn, broken-heartedly weeding strands
out of my hairbrush and wondering if I
should take up crocheting toupees.
But mostly, Faith, old pal, - mostly I
spend my spare time doing what I’m doing
right now -- sitting here, staring at the
mute, accusatorial, phosphorescent glow of
a blank computer screen, waiting for
inspiration to strike.
Sometimes, when it’s very close to
deadline as it is now, I pray a little.
“I’m not asking for The Great Canadian
Novel, Lord” I’ll say. “Just a little notion -
The International
Scene
If you're travelling,
beware bargains
BY RAYMOND CANON
When the grass starts to turn green and
the temperature climbs to a more accept
able level, people get out their travel
brochures and start thinking about the
summer holidays. While I do not intend to
give you any idyllic undiscovered spots (I
gave you one last year and I’m keepin the
rest to myself), I am ever ready to help you
out with such things as currency problems
just in case you have any. Are you ready?
It may or may not come as a surprise to
you to learn that the Canadian dollar has
gone about as high as it is going to go for
the time being; in my opinion it is already
too high but that is another story. Unless it
falls flat on its face in the next few months,
it should make your trip to the United
States not too painful from a financial point
of view. There could well be some drop in
the next few months but the Bank of
Canada seems bent on keeping interest
rates high in Canada compared with those
in the United States so the chances are
quite good that there will be little change in
the near future.
However, Europe is another story. Don’t
forget that we tend to price our currency in
terms of the U.S. dollar and forget about its
value in other currencies such as the
German mark or the Swiss franc. Let me
break the news to you that our dollar has
gone down about 10 per cent in terms of
both of the above currencies which means
that a trip to those countries is going to cost
you that much more. In addition both the
Germans and the Swiss are experiencing a
rate of inflation higher than that of a year
ago; because of this be prepared to look for
bargains with more diligence than you
normally would. The same story is true for
both France and England; inflation in the
latter country has been higher than that of
Canada since last year so there will be
some noticeable price increases there as
well.
You should know by now that it pays to
read the fine print on any tourist bro
chures. The prices quoted on such pam
phlets is usually the rock-bottom one and
it’s available on Thursdays only to left-
you know -- something that could maybe
fill a half page of a newspaper.”
I look out my window. Nope. Wrote
about looking out my window last month.
Hum a few bars of “Get A Job”. Glance
at calendar on wall. Study fingernails.
(Hangnails. Have I ever written about
hangnails? Probably).
Despairingly look down at feet.
And there it is. My inspiration. Rufus
the Wonderdog. My stalwart furred amigo
and staunch four-pawed companion! A last
minute desperation move? Not a bit of it.
Rufus is a dog worthy of a whole series of
columns - if not a feature length
documentary. Okay, you’re not seeing him
at his best right now, collapsed over my
bedroom slippers, snoring with his tongue
hanging out, but at least you can see his
basic features. Colour: black and white,
just like a Holstein (and at 85 pounds),
built kinda like a Holstein, minus the horns
and udder). Breed: Australian Shepherd -
or so the pet store owner’seemed to mutter
out of the corner of this mouth while he was
counting my money.
I take it on faith that he’s terrific at
shepherding Australians, because he’s
certainly good for nothing else.
Well, not true. In times of crisis, Rufus
responds like a trained member of a crack
Canine Commando Corps. A knock on the
door, an explosion, a raised voice, a
low-flying bluebottle fly - Rufus’ response
is instantaneous and unquestioning. He
growls, barks, then gallops directly to his
owner (me) and sits on my chest.
handed people whose I.Q. is between 114
and 116. Furthermore it is valid only on
aircraft taking off on Runway 28 between
the hours of 10.40 and 10.45 on every other
Thursday unless it is cloudy. Believe me,
these restrictions are certainly to be found
in the fine print; it is extremely annoying
not to notice them and rush off to your
favourite travel agent thinking that you
have got the fare of the century.
If you are going to Europe this summer,
remember one additional fact. Eastern
Europe is far more open that it was a year
ago and many Canadians whose origins are
in that part of the world are flying back to
visit relatives. Unfortunately Eastern Euro
pean countries do not have much in the
way of airline service to Canada so that
existing airlines are having to take the
extra load. When I went to reserve my seat
for the middle of June, I found that one
airline was already fully booked for the day
on which I wanted to travel. Fortunately I
was able to find a seat on another
scheduled airline going to the same place
and so everything is in order. However, if 1
had left things as I usually do, I would have
found myself scrambling to get any old seat
to Europe.
Letters
A new tradition is born
THE EDITOR,
This past weekend Meech Lake died but
the Community of Blyth rekindled the
Rutabaga Festival which promises to be an
annual event. Community spirit and fun
took over the village all weekend long.
Many thanks to all the volunteers, spon
sors and people who participated in the
events.
Jane Gardner
Secretary
Blyth Rutabaga Festival
Pornography
promotes violence
THE EDITOR,
I am responding to a letter by the editor
of this paper in the May 2 edition entitled
“What is the solution to violence”. I know
there is no easy answer, but I find it
irritating when “well learned” people ask
Worse luck for me if I happen to be
standing.
Other attributes? Rufus hates squirrels
(’though not enough to actually, you know,
confront one) and has deep misgivings
about any human being under the height of
36 inches. Though not precisely a coward,
Rufus will never be confused with Don
Cherry’s bull terrier (or with Don Cherry,
come to that). He’s a non-fighter. A
pacifist. If he barked with a lisp I’d solder a
bow tie to his collar and name him Lester
B.
He has other talents that are less
endearing.
He’s the only dog I know who howls
when he hears the National Research
Council Official Time Signal.
He’s the only dog I know who passes gas
at the sound of Barbara McDougall’s voice.
Which is why we don’t watch the news
much around our place.
Rufus is not what you’d call gainfully
employed. In fact if the deadbeats of the
world ever need a mascot, I would
nominate my mutt to stand (lie) for office.
But he’s cute and he loves to lick you
right in the face when you need it most --
and once, his sham, preposterous John
Crosbie bark actually drove a flock of pesky
Jehovah’s Witnesses from my door.
And then of course there’s the time he
shuffled into my office, collapsed on my
carpet slippers, looked up at me with those
big Uncle Tom brown eyes ...
And saved my bacon, 30 minutes before
my deadline.
/ •
’■ •/. -■ •
After some of the horror stories that we
have been reading in the papers about
tourist operations going under, and appar
ently reliable ones at that, I would
recommend that this year you stick,
whenever possible, to scheduled airlines.
The other day when I was in to see my
friendly (and very reliable) travel agent,
there was a call came from England. It
seems that the charter company had seen
fit to change the ground rules in mid
stream and the couple in question found
themselves having to stay in England three
days longer than expected. That could,
under ordinary circumstances, be tolerated
but the same copule had left their two
young children in the care of one of the
grandmothers who herself was booked out
two days after the couple arrived home.
How that little problem was going to be
resolved had not been worked out when I
left the office. With a scheduled carrier,
that never would have happened.
The good news is that the terrorists seem
pretty quiet these days. I hesitate to say
this since, some of these ugly people might
read this and decide that it was time they
got back into action again. Just to be safe,
get out your old St. Christopher’s medal.
such questions as they shake their heads in
dismay. When a way to minimize the
problem is suggested they are unwilling to
lift a finger towards the solution.
For years psychiatrists and psychologists
have been warning us of all the ill effect of
violence in movies, on T. V. and violent toys
for children. More recently law enforce
ment in Ontario has made the connection
between violence against women, wife
beating and child abuse directly to maga
zine and video pornography. This connec
tion is so solid that a special unit of the
Ontario Provincial Police has been set up to
clamp down on such material. (Project P).
Yet people insist they don’t want
censorship. They say they don’t want
people telling other people what they can
or can’t view. Don’t misunderstand. I’m
not against freedom of speech. In fact I’m
very much in favour of it and I’ve taken
advantage of this right and your generosity
to publish my thoughts and concerns in this
paper before.
However freedom of speech and artistic
Continued on page 17
Letter
from the
editor
The media
is failing our nation
BY KEITH ROULSTON
Run ragged from rutabagas the other
night, I flaked out in front of the television
and watched a few minutes of the
award-winning German film DaBoot, about
the adventures of a German U-boat crew in
the Second World War.
As the German seamen hunted allied
shipping and cursed their enemies when an
allied destroyer nearly sank them, 1
thought how much things have changed in
Europe in the last 50 years. After nearly six
years in which people were killed by the
millions on both sides in which whole cities
were turned to rubble, who could have
imagined that now Europe would be
moving toward political unity.
I couldn’t help but contrast that amazing
transformation with what was happening in
Canada that same historic day when the
Meech Lake Accord officially died, some
Quebecers celebrated feeling indepen
dence is just around the corner and two
M.P.s walked out of the Liberal convention
saying they couldn’t support new leader
Jean Chretien who, they said, was a traitor
to Quebec.
If the people of Europe, after all the
atrocities, after killing each other with all
the weapons of modern technology, can
move toward harmony and unity, why
should we Canadians be moving toward
breaking up a prosperous country where
people have more freedom than in nearly
any other country in the world? Are we
really so petty that we can live on old
grudges forever? People in English Canada
who get upset about the cost of bilingual
ism, can that be as terrible as the bombing
of Coventry? The British seem ready to let
very real grievances die but not the people
who stomp on the Quebec flag and pass
“English only” resolutions in their munici
palities.
On the other side there are many just
grievances on the part of Quebecers but
does the fact people for many years had to
learn English to do their jobs or talk to their
federal government compare to the de
struction of Hamburg by the firebombing
by the allies.
How can we keep fighting the battles of
the Plains of Abraham, the Riel Rebellion
and the Conscription issue when Euro
peans seem ready to bury the hatchet?
There's no doubt our political leaders
have let us down, increasing political
tension rather than smoothing it out. Just
as guilty, I think, is my own profession, the
journalists. Journalists are supposed to dig
beyond the mere surface of issues but
neither in Quebec nor the rest of Canada
does it seem to be happening. Listening to
the commentaries and political panels on
the weekend it seems all the major media
have bought into the idea put forward by
Prime Minister Mulroney and Quebec
Premier Robert Bourassa that a vote
against Meech Lake was a vote against
Quebec. Nobody seemed interested with
the reasons why people didn’t support
Meech Lake. It was easier to let everybody
be branded with the people who burned the
Quebec flag.
The fact people worried about the rights
of natives and women, worried about the
sell-off of powers to the provinces, worried
about the requirement for unanimity for
future constitutional change was ignored
as everybody focused on only one aspect:
Quebec’s desire for a “distinct society
clause”. Opposition to all those things
made one anti-Quebec.
Even on the “distinct society clause” the
journalists never bothered to look at why
people opposed the clause. Nearly all
responsible people realize Quebec is a
distinct society. Millions of people outside
Quebec sympathize with Quebecers who
worry about the future of their culture.
That sympathy has led us to accept things
we wouldn’t at first have approved, like
Continued on page 23