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Home My WebLink AboutThe Citizen, 1988-03-30, Page 4PAGE 4. THE CITIZEN, WEDNESDAY, MARCH 30, 1988. Liberals, give us a choice No matter which poll you read, whether it be last week’s controversial Angus Reid Poll that puts the federal Liberals in third place or this week’s poll that puts the Liberals in first place, the fact remains that the least popular of the three party leaders is John Turner. Given the unpopularity of Brian Mulroney with most Canadians it is hard toimagine how Mr. Turner could be behind even Mr. Mulroney in personal popularity but he is, and by a good margin. In fact one wonders just how far out front the Liberals might be if not for dragging the anchor of Mr. Turner’s unpopularity with them. The Liberal party may deserve Mr. Turner for their cynicism in naming him leader, not because they thought he was the best man but because they thought he was the most winnable leader backin 1984,butthe re stofusdon’tdeserveMr. Turner. Democracy is not served when the main alternative party to an unpopular government has a leader who has failed miserably to give the people an idea that he really has any policy he firmly believes in. Mr. Turner has spent so much time tacking around trying to catch the breeze of public opinion that he seems to have totally forgotten what direction he’s trying to head in. Once a supporter of Free Trade, he now seems hardly credible as its strongest opponent. His stand on Meech Lake has nearly split his party as he tries desperately to keep his Quebec wing happy. Meanwhile Jean Chretien, the man Mr. Turner defeated to win the Liberal leadership, the man Liberals would have elected if they had voted how they really felt instead of who they thought would win, visited London last week and drew a huge crowd of enthusiastic students. He’s a man not afraid to take stands and passionately fight for them. That passion, that feeling that a political leader really believes in something and will fight for it, has been missing in this country for four years. Canadians are waiting for a chance to have a passionate commitment to something again but Mr. Turner and the Liberals won’t let them have that chance. Let's get tough on trade It was another bad week for Canada on the trade front last week as internal Canadian policies bowed to external trade pressures from both the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) and the United States congress. The Canadian government is caught in a bind on the trade issue. With a government staking its record on Free Trade and fewer subsidies, with the Free Trade deal with the U.S. awaiting ratification in the U.S., Canada has all the bargaining power of a mouse in a snakepit. How can we argue for freer trade, for instance, when our provincial governments mark up foreign wines so they will cost more than locally-produced wines? And when we’re busy telling the Americans we want level playing field it doesn’t sound good when we change the rules before the agreement is even ratified to give our clothing makers a better break in buying imported textiles. The difficulty for ordinary Canadians is that this seems to be a one-way street. There’s not much doubt that practices like the Liquor Licence Board of Ontario’s policy of marking up European wines to help Canadian wines to be more competitive isn’tfair. On the other hand, why doesn’t our government ever fight the battle against subsidization at the other end. European w ines come to Canada cheaper than our home-grown wines but only because they are highly subsidized by governments over there. Somehow the GATT investigators failed to take that into account when they ruled Canada was being unfair. Similarly, nearly every Canadian policy is under the microscope in the U.S. Congress andisbeingbrandedas unfair. The implication is that if there is going to be Free Trade the rules of the game must be harmonized and Canada is going to have to play by U.S. rules. The deal might go down a little better on the Canadian side of the border if our government pointed out a few more of their problems. Americans, for instance, made a judgement against Canadian lumber because they claimed Canada was not charging enough to lumber companies for the rights to cut timber. Perhaps we should be arguing that American minimum wage laws are unfair because they are so low in southern states that it is impossible for our companies to compete. When our government doesn’t make such arguments, when itdoesn’tstandupfor the different circumstances in Canada, it leaves room for the doubters who wonder if the government would really like to see our laws harmonized with American laws. Brian Ireland, speaking at the East Wawanosh Federation of Agriculture’s annual meeting last week, for instance, told the story of the large turkey producers in southern Ontario who called the Queen’s Bush Ministry offering to hire farmers driven off the land in this part of the country at a little better than minimum wage. The turkey farmer said he wasn’t afraid of possible ruin from cheaper turkey imported from the southern U.S. because once Free Trade was in effect, Canadian governments would be forced to lower the minimum wage levels to those of the southern U.S. and he would be able to get cheap help. Mr. Mulroney and his supporters would say that’s nonsense that they have no hidden agenda with free trade. They could proveitby standing up and turning the arguments on the Europeans and U.S. for a change. The river is not patient in duress, Although the pond above the dam is still; Power comes with white rebelliousness When the flood is pent to turn the mill. Unknown 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 co untry]gath er for morn in g 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: Billie Bean was saying this morning that after spending some time hanging around the arena this weekend he’s come to the conclusion that the older the players on the ice get, the more childish the fans in the stands get. Take a game of tykes hardly old enough to skate and fans from the two sides are likely to laugh and joke together and get along like civilized human beings. Asthekids mature to peewee, the fans get more immature and start yelling at referees, and sometimes each other. By the time the players are nearly fully grown at midget and junior level, the fans have regress ed to savages that have barely crawled out of the caves, cursing referees, threatening to go several rounds with opposing fans outside the rink and generally behaving in a way that would get them sent to their rooms with a spanking if they were five. TUESDAY: Ward Black was crow- years,” he said to Tim O’Grady. “Guess that shows that Mul- roney’sfinallygettingthe mess Trudeau left straightened around.’’ “Funny thing,’’ Tim said, “everything seems to be the best it’s been in four years. Unemploy ment’s the lowest it’s been in four ing about the rise of the Canadian dollar. “Highest it’s been in four years. The dollar’s the best it’s Continued on page 6 [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. Box 152, P.O. Box429, Brussels, Ont. Blyth, Ont. NOG 1HO N0M1H0 887-9114 523-4792 Subscription price: $17.00; $38.00foreign. Advertising and news deadline: 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