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The Citizen, 1988-03-09, Page 4PAGE 4. THE CITIZEN, WEDNESDAY, MARCH 9, 1988. Tax jump just what Ontario Tories need Parties that are out of power worry and scheme to see how they can get back into power but in the long run, it’s usually not their own doing but the failings of the government that makes their dreams come true. In that there is hope yet for the Ontario Progressive Conservatives. Recent polls showed the Conservatives were a long way from starting a recovery after their disastrous election defeat last Septemberbutthelightattheendof the tunnel may be in sight, provided by Premier David Peterson and his Liberal government. Last week Mr. Peterson began musing aloud that an increase in Ontario’sseven percent sales tax might be needed to provide the government with more money. Nothing could get the Tories back on their feet faster. OntarioTreasurer Robert Nixon says he has to get the money somewhere to pay the bills for higher costs in health and education. Premier Peterson blames years of neglect by previous Conservative governments for the big new expenses in both areas. Since the Liberals came to power in 1985 they’ve spent a lot of money updating hospitals and a lot more must be spent on overcrowded universities. Those expenditures may indeed be needed and Mr. Nixon mayberightwhenhesaysthesalestaxisa democratic tax because it’sright upfront where everyone can see it but politically, that’s a liability, not a strength. It has taken Ontarians years to resign themselves to having to pay seven per centextraformostthingstheybuy. We may have finally forgotten previous Conservative governments that gave us the tax, first as a little amount then steadily more, but we’ve never completely forgiven them. The thing about a one per cent increase in sales tax is that every time we have to dig out a few extra pennies at a store we’re going to remember Mr. Nixon and Mr. Peterson and it’s not going to make us want to rush to the polls to re-elect them. in any language, it's paranoia Just when Canadians were starting to relax and think they could leave the language battles in the past at least for a while, paranoia has sprung up among hardliners on both the English and French side of the language question. There has been a rebellion of some Progressive Conservative backbenchers in Ottawa because they feel a new bill updating the bilingualism legislation makes second class citizens of unbilingual English Canadians. These MP’s, mostly western­ ers, see dark plots that will make it impossible for English speaking people to get any jobs with the civil service even in Western Canada where currently less than three per cent of federal jobs require bilingual ability. It’s only slightly less crazy than the loonies who feel that bilingualism is a plot by French Canadians to take over the entire country and that someday down the road a law will be passed that makes it illegal for people to speak English. This kind of paranoia is only fanned by the idiocy on the other side of the Quebec border. While the rest of Canada has been moving to make French Canadians more welcome, Quebec has been turning a bilingual province into a province where it was against the law to have an English or Greek sign on the front of your shop or restaurant. A Quebec court finally said Bill 101 was illegal but the case is being appealed to the supreme court and there are shudders about what will happen if the law is thrown out there. Premier Robert Bourassa, faced with the change of the Parti Quebecois back to a party that advocates separatism, is afraid to even say what he might do if the court decides Bill 101 discriminates against English-speaking Quebecois. Last week he claimed that English-speaking Quebecers would rather live with unbilingual French public signs than stir up social unrest. But there are English-language rights groups such as Alliance Quebec that want their own right to protect their endangered language. Amid all this idiocy there are some real signs of hope. The Journal, on CBC television recently looked at 20 years of bilingualism in Canada and showed just how much progress we’ve made. Pierre Trudeau hoped bilingualism would help Quebecoisbreakoutoftheirfortress mentality and feel at home in all of Canada. Evidence in the program showed that has happened as French-speaking former Qeubecers living in far off Vancouver talked about how their attitudes had changed and how they felt that Vancouver was part of their country too, that their country didn’t stop at the Ottawa river. And last week when an English-language version of the Hollywood hit “ Broadcast News ” was put back on the screen of a Montreal theatre after being pulled earlier because of a Quebec law that forbids English-language films to be shown for more than 60 days unless a dubbed French version is made, those cheering the loudest were not English Quebecers but French. One said “eventhough my mother tongue is French, I prefer seeing English films in English. You miss the essence of a movie when it is dubbed or translated into French. The law is ridiculous.’’ Common sense from people of good will will win out in the end if only we can suffer the fools on both sides of the language question in the mean time. 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: Ward Black was saying that all this disclosure of sexual preferences was getting out of hand. He just wished people would keep it to themselves. Billie Bean said he didn’t mind stating his sexual preference and if he had his choice, his choice for sex would be somebody like Vana White. Well, saidHankStokes, since everybody seemed to be coming out of the closet he thought it was time he declared himself hetero­ sexual. Julia Flint said she’d talked to his wife lately and wasn’t so sure he should brag about it. TUESDAY: Billie was saying this morning that he’s really looking forward to spring and he thinks those Canadian and Soviet skiiers who are going to ski from the Soviet Union to Canada over the top of the world for 100 days are nuts. “A hundreddaysfromnowthe only skiing I want to be doing is behind a boat,’’ Billie said. -Tim O’Grady said maybe this was practice for that. Once we get those nuclear submarines up there, maybe the sailors will go waterskiing behind them since there won’t likely be much else to do for excitement. Ward said he wasn ’ t too sure this was a good idea. What it will likely do is just give more refugees an idea of how they can get into Canada. WEDNESDAY: Billie Bean, as he lit up a cigarette this morning, said there is one more reason why he wouldn’t want to move to Toronto. “Not only couldn’t I afford a place to live, not only couldn’t I afford a place to park my car, but now they wouldn’t even let me have a cigarette at work so I could relax and forget my troubles,’’ he said. He could just imagine the “smoke police’’ coming along and throw­ ing him injail because he lit up a cigarette on the job against the new anti-smoking by-law. The police wouldn’t have to torture him because they’d be doing him mental cruelty just taking his cigarettes away. Tim said he was glad he didn’t live in the city because then he’d ha ve to be the one enforcing the law in his office and that was the last thing he wanted to get involved with. Already he has trouble just trying to keep peace in his own office. He’d rather be an NHL Continued on page 5 [Published by North Huron Publishing Company Inc. ] Serving Brussels, Blyth, Auburn, Belgrave, Ethel, Londesborough, Walton and surrounding townships Published weekly in Brussels, Ontario P.O.Box152, P.O.Box429, Brussels, Ont. Blyth, Ont. N0G1H0 N0M1H0 887-9114 523-4792 Subscription price: $17.00; $38.00 foreign. Advertisingand newsdeadline: Monday 2p.m. in Brussels; 4p.m. in Blyth Editor and Publisher: Keith Roulston Advertising Manager: Dave Williams Production and Office Manager: Jill Roulston Second Class Mail Registration No. 6968