HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Citizen, 1988-02-03, Page 4PAGE 4. THE CITIZEN, WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 3, 1988.
Opinion IF ITS ALL
THE SAME TO
YOU... I THINK
No simple solutions
to abortion dilemma
The Supreme Court decision last week saying the present
abortion law is unconstitutional has muddied already unclear
waters.
The decision makes it clear again that there are no easy
sol utions to the problem and the politicians charged with trying
to sort out the mess can be excused if they’d like to take a
southern vacation and never come back.
On one hand is the reality that law or no law, women are going
to seek abortions. Abortion was legalized in this country
following decades of horror stories of women dying because of
botched abortions in back allies. On the other hand there is the
reality that with 65,000 abortions taking place annually, even
pro-choice supporters must agree there are already too many
abortions. Throwing off all restrictions to abortions may only
increase the number of people who seek abortions because they
haven’t taken proper birth control measures earlier.
You cannot legislate morality. Governments should know
that by now. And yet, in a world where the influence of churches
declines steadily, how do you make people act responsibly?
There seems to be only one possible solution to the problem
and that is to make sure there are as few abortions needed as
possible. Society must tackle the problem of encouraging
proper birth control on all fronts, from education to making sure
birth control devices are easily available. Somehow people
must be convinced that taking precautions doesn’t take the
romance out of sex.
If abortions were being carried out only for those women for
whom birth control methods had failed, or for those who were
the victim of rape or those whose health is truly endangered by a
continued pregnancy, there would be much less emotional
division in the country. There would also be a lot fewer
abortions. The old saying “an ounce of prevention is worth a
pound of cure’’ is as true as ever in this case.
Is this the famous Wnato
level playing field?
There has been much talk around the free trade issue of a
“level playing field’’ for Canadian-U.S. trade but some
businesses in Canada must wonder if their own government
isn’t helping tip the field in favour of the Americans.
Two government decisions last week made it harder for
Canadian businesses to compete. Of greatest interest locally
was the decision of federal agriculture minister John Wise to
continue the ban on the use of the weed killer alachlor (the basis
of the popular chemical Lasso) because of possible health
dangers.
The decision was made despite the recommendations of a
special review board which said that the proven danger of the
chemical, which it had been charged, could cause cancer in rats
and possibly in humans, was not as great as the harm that would
be caused to farmers by banning its use.
The minister may have made the right decision. In matters of
safety it is often better to be safe than sorry. Yet, if there is
danger in the use of the chemical, why do we continue to import
grains and beans from the U.S. where the chemical is still
widely used?
Lasso is far cheaper than the alternative weed killer farmers
will be forced to use by this decision. Our farmers who already
face subsidized American competition, now must also work
with an expensive chemical while their U. S. competition gets to
use the cheap alternative.
Lastweektoo, afteragreat deal of pressure, Health Minister
Jake Epp announced changes to the proposed bill that would
put tight controls on the tobacco industry. But the changes he
came up with made the restrictions even harder, not made them
easier. There was no relenting on the ban that prevented
advertising of cigarettes in Canadian magazines or kept
tobacco companies from sponsoring cultural and sporting
events.
Again, the decision of the Minister may be absolutely right.
Yet while we cut off our magazines from a major source of their
advertising and weaken them financially, we still welcome
American magazines by the millions that promote Marlboro
Country or tell our young women that “they’ve come a long way
Baby!” because they smoke when their grandmothers had to
sneak a smoke.
The decisions point out one of the problems with a free trade
agreement with the U.S. Our government may make perfectly
sensible decisions but the Americans don’t follow leaving our
industries as a disadvantage. Some level playing field.
Mabel’s Grill
There are people who will tell
you that the important decisions in
town are made down at the town
hall. People in the know, however
know that the real debates, the
real wisdom reside down at
Mabel's Grill where the greatest
minds in the town [if not in the
country] gat her for morning coffee
break, otherwise known as the
Round Table Debating and Fili
bustering Society. Since not just
everyone can partake of these
deliberations we will report the
activities from time to time.
MONDAY: Julia Flint was wishing
she could be with Prince Charles
and Lady Di down under in
Australia these days. “I might
even put up with all the hoopla
they’ve got to go through if
somebody would pay her way down
there.”
Hank Stokes said he might even
put up with the Australians if
somebody would pay his way down
there.
Tim O’Grady said it really is
quite an achievement the Aussies
are celebrating down there. Two
hundred years ago they shipped in
the first thieves and convicts from
England and now they’ve built a
modern, hardworking nation from
it. Meanwhile in Canada we took
hardworking peasants from
France and Scotland and eastern
Europe and 200 years later,
judging by our business leaders
and politicians, we’ve turned them
into thieves and convicts.
TUESDAY: Speaking of travelling,
Ward Black was saying this
morning that Australia or just
about anywhere would seem to
have a warmer welcome than
France is giving Jeanne Sauve,
Canada’s Governor-General on
her current trip. Seems the French
are upset with Canada over the east
coast fishing dispute and they’re
taking out all their frustrations on
the lady. Yes, Billie Bean agreed,
but give the lady credit. She hasn’t
floundered once because of it. She
seems to be going along just for the
halibut.
WEDNESDAY: Tim was giving
Ward a hard time this morning
over the government’s decision to
tell CBC it can’t go ahead with
plans for an all-news cable televi
sion channel unless it gets a private
partner. Maybe, Tim suggested,
the government has in mind a
partnership with Tory-TV, the
news service the Conservatives
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had set up to tell their side of the
story because they felt the rest of
the news media was unfair.
“Then,”Timsaid, “theycould
show a highlight film of the
Conservative party for the last
year. Of course that would be
pretty short so they'd have to fill in
therestofthe time with movies:
“blue” movies of course.”
THURSDAY: Billie Bean said he
had heard that a committee of
MP's was going to be going to Haiti
to see if Canadian aid is being used
properly. "You ever noticed,” he
said, “that these committee’s
always pick tropical countries to
visit in the middle of winter?”
FRIDAY: Mabel wasn’t as quick
with the coffee this morning as she
usually is. Instead of pouring a cup
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