HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe 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
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