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Home My WebLink AboutThe Citizen, 1988-02-24, Page 4PAGE 4. THE CITIZEN, WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 24, 1988. Opinion Olympics getting too big It may be heresay to say it just when Canadians are proudly hosting their first winter Olympic Games but perhaps it’s time the Games were either abandoned or radically altered. The Games seem to have been blown out of all proportion. There is, of course, the matter of costs. Hundreds of millions were spent in Calgary on new Olympic faciliities, some of the money apparently not very wisely given the disastrous weather conditions. But more than just the ridiculous amounts of money involved, it is the incredible emphasis on winning, particuarly on winningforyourcountry, thatisspoiling the games. A momentary slip and Brian Orser, Canada’s best hope for a gold medal ends up second and a nation practically goes into mourning. There is just too much emphasis put on one event that happens only once every four years. In the downhill skiing, for instance, a dozen or so skiiers are capable of winning on any given day on any given course yet only one can be called Olympic champion and so the pressure is on and one little gust ofwindcanmeanthe difference between “success” and “failure”. One one-hundredth of a second is all it takes. It is not the athlete’s fault that things have got out of hand, it’s the rest of us. It’s the fault of all of us who see such games as a way of proving the importance of our nation. So we have given our athletes more and more money to train, provided them with the best equipment and resources (our skiiers have used wind tunnels to practice getting the best aerodynamic position). Some athletes have turned to drugs and some teams probably have used the infamous “blood-doping”. Through it all the one authentic Olympic hero may be Eddie “the Eagle” Edwards the British ski-jumper who is at the Olympics because he wants to be and not because he can expect to win. Eddie and the bobsledders from Jamaica capture the original spirit of the Olympics, games that are for the individual athlete to do his best, not a substitute for war to prove which nation is the biggest superpower. Let’s take the flags of the Olympics. Let’s take the ridiculous expenditure of money away. Let’s give the games back to the people who really count, the individual athletes. Tough guys win Canadians are agreeable people, perhaps too agreeable. Perhaps we should learn a lesson from our neighbours to the south that sometimes it is more profitable to be less agreeable. The Canada - U.S. Trade Agreement remains under attack and its approval seems somewhat in doubt in the U.S. Congress while in Canada the whole thing, despite some continued provincial (and newspaper editorial) carping, is an accomplish ed fact. The Canadian system of government made implementing the agreement so simple .that once the government of Prime Minister Mulroney, with its huge majority, signed the deal, there was little more that could be done. There could be no second thoughts. For better or worse we were stuck with it. The U.S. system is a whole lot different. President Ronald Reagan may have signed the agreement but that’s no guarantee it will be passed into law by the U.S. Congress which is dominated by members of the opposite party. In the last week senators and state governors have been lining up demanding Canada change its policies as the price they’ll accept for approving the deal. All this may amount to sound and fury signifying nothing but it may also mean our government, which badly wants the agreement signed, may quietly change some Canadian regulations to placate American critics. We were in a bad bargaining position from the beginning: basically wanting only to retain the status quo against mounting American protectionism. We gave up many Canadian policies (which the government probably didn’t really like anyway) before the hard bargaining even began. But the hard-headed American bargainers see this as a chance to pry even more concessions out of our government. Angered by a proposed takeover of Federated Department Stores Inc. in his home state by Canadian businessman Robert Campeau, Howard Metzenbaum, U.S. Senator demands the deal be changed to reduce what little remains of foreign investment screening in Canada. Never mind the fact not a single takeover has been turned aside. Never mind that American politicians look more and more foolish as they on one hand criticize Canadians for being worried because the majority of our business is foreign-owned while they go into paroxysms of agony if they see a single major American company bought by foreigners, these powerful U.S. legislators have the potential to shape our lives in this country. On the weekend U.S. governors joined the debate demanding changes in Canadian policies that would help the textile industry cushion the shock of free trade. One U.S. government official suggested that if Canada goes ahead with the plan the Free Trade Agreement is dead. For Canada, the negotiation of the agreement is long over. For the Americans, who don’t care if they’re seen as friendly nice guys, the negotiations go on in fact, if not in name. Let’s hope that this time nice guys don’t finish last. 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] gather 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: Talk inevitably got around to the Olympics this morning. After people talking about the opening ceremonies and some of the daredevil sports involved Julia Flint said she had to worry about the Olympics because it seemed the whole thing was a big sideshow that drew our attention away from the real troubles of the world that wouldn’t go away. Billie Bean said he knew just what she meant. The really important things are just about forgotten with all the Olympic hoopla. “I mean there might be a beer strike and the news isn’t even on front page.” TUESDAY: Billie was saying this morning that maybe we should be adopting the American system of choosing political leaders. “These primary things sould like a real good deal” he said. LookatNew Hampshire. Half the people in the United States probably didn’t know where the place was but this week-there are more tourists there than in Florida with all the candidates for both the Republi cans and the Democrats there trying to win the primary and all the media people there to cover it. Billie suggested to Ward Black thatif the primary system over comes to Canada we should make sure we get one here in town. Think of what it will do for the economy, he said. Yeh, said Tim O’Grady, but make sure you get one of the early stops in the campaign when there are still lots of candidates in the running. A month from now you may be able to hold an all-candi dates meeting in a phone booth. WEDNESDAY: Julia was pointing out an article in the newspaper that said an American medical journal said people in the U.S. had never been healthier but they feel sicker. Tim said that he spent some time in a hospital in Florida one time when he was down there and when he saw the bill he can understand why they feel that way. THURSDAY: Hank Stokes said this morning that he’s glad he lives out in the hills where there isn’t a neighbour for miles because he doesn ’t have to worry about people complaining how he farms at least. He was talking about a farmer down in the Niagara Penninsula who has been charged with noise pollution because of “bangers” which were supposed to scare the birds away from fruit crops. 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