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The Citizen, 1987-03-25, Page 36PAGE 4. THE CITIZEN, WEDNESDAY, MARCH 25, 1987. Opinion Free Trade not cureall Prime Minis ter Brian Mulroney indicated last week his strategy towin approval for free trade in Canada is to divide and conquer. The Prime Minister seems ready to turn the tables on the traditional provincial trendofOttawa-bashingby using Ontario and anti-Ontario feeling as a major selling point to make free trade possible. If Ontario hates free trade, as Premier David Peterson says, it must be good for everybody else. In areas like western Canada and the Maritimes trade barriers have always been seen as favouring Ontario at the expense of the rest of the country. Maritimers look back in history and see that in pre-Confederation days they had the most prosperous economy in the country and that afterward, power shifted west to Montreal and Toronto. They feel it’s no coinci d|c ncc. People in the east and west see the natural trade as running north and south, be tween Halifax and Boston in the east, between the prairiesand places like Chicago and Minniapolisin the west. Confederation has imposed artificial trade patterns of cast and west which have tended to make the central part of the country, especially Toronto, the centre of the country’s trade. With these historic feelings of grievance it is natural that many would agree with the Prime Minister that free trade is the way of the future. In fact Mr. Mulroney promoted the idea last week saying that free trade will help the disadvantaged parts of the country pull themselves up by their bootstraps. The truth is, if anywhere in the country is going to benefit by free trade it will be the very “golden horseshoe’’ of southern Ontario that is so universally despised across the land. The rational of free trade is that it will benefit everyone by promoting efficiency. Factories, for instance, will be able to deal on a north American market and lengthen their production runs. In other words, the big v. ill get bigger. The people most likely togain advantage in free trade are the people who already have the advantage. Southern Ontario not only has the large factories and powerful financing but it is close to the large population markets of the U.S. Mr. Mulroney seems to be grasping at any argument he can find to sell free trade, even if it means playing on long-time insecurities. If the Maritimes and the West buy his arguments they may regret it. Peterson's popularity a temptation We could have predicted two years ago that David Peterson would be about the most popular politician in Canada. But Mr. Peterson is now in a dilemma. One of the things that has made him ride so high in the polls is his ability to rise above partisan politics. For one thing, he dismisses polls and suggests they a re over rated and refused to gloat. People admire his straightforwardness. Not everybody in the Liberal party in Ontario is so non-partisan. With the party sohigh in the popularity polls that they would sweep to victory if an election was called tomorrow, the pressure mounts by supporters for Mr. Peterson to go to the polls as soon as possible after the two-year agreement with the New Democratic Party expires. The strategists in the Liberal back-rooms worry that once the Legislature is back in session the continued heat from opposition parties is bound to tarnish the reputation of the government. They want Peterson to strike while the honeymoon is still hot. Thetroubleis, ifpeoplesuddenlythinkthatMr. Peterson has become a political opportunist, will they be willing to continue to support him in such huge numbers as they apparently do now? Mr. Peterson can point to the last election that brought his party to power as an example. When the election was called by Premier Frank Miller, fresh from his victory for the Conservative party leadership, he had a spectacular lead in the polls. Pundits wondered if the Liberals could survive. Mr. Peterson, (and perhaps more so Mr. Miller) turned that around to the point the Liberals actually got more votes than the Tories, although the Conservatives got two more seats. As long as the government is effective in its minority position, most people in the province are ready to leave it that way. Mr. Peterson might look greedy trying to take advantage of his high standings in the polls. The one thing that might change the situation is a too-strident attack by the opposition parties when the Legislature resumes. If they provide too much acrimony, too much obstruction, Mr. Peterson may have the excuse his supporters want to call an early election. The waiting land 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. TUESDAY: Julia Flint was talking this morning about the plans to start the seal hunt up in Newfound­ land and the fact the local sealers are worried the protest groups will flood in and cut off the adult seal hunt too. “Those poor people," Julia said. “They can’t make a living as it is and some well-healed idealists keep taking what little they have away." "What they’re doing," said Billie Bean who always has all the angles covered, "is going about it all wrong. Everybody else is looking for a way to get the tourists, right? Even Grand Bend and Bayfield can ’ t attract tourists in the spring. These guys should stage a seal hunt every year, attract hordes of animal rights activists, jack up the rates in all the local hotels like they do for the Olympics, then sit back and relax for the rest of the year on the money they made. There’s a lot more money in skinning tourists than skinning seals." WEDNESDAY: Julia was talking this morning about all the gor­ geous weather we’re having and saying she was just as glad she wasn’t fighting crowds at Pearson International to fly south when she could be home enjoying this weather. Tim O’Grady said he hasn’t had alotoftimetoenjoy the weather because he seems to be spending every free minute he gets running around taking his two sons to hockey tournaments during the March break. "Now isn’t that typically Cana­ dian," Ward Black said. "We bellyache about our rotten weather all the time then when we get great weather we stand shivering inside a hockey arena all day long." FRIDAY: Billie was mentioning this morning about the Ontario high school students who went down toQuebecCity fora skiing holiday for the March break and tore the place up. Could be enough to bring back separatism, he said. Ah well, Tim said, at least they’re being patriotic. In his day the kids used to go to Fort Lauderdale. Now at least they’re keeping their money in the coun­ try. Writer worries about hazards THE EDITOR, In the communities of Brussels. Blyth. Walton. Ethel. Belgrave and Londesboro we have indus­ tries that are handling potentially dangerous materials. 1 am not saying the operators are not the best or that they aren’t Continued on Eage 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. Box 152 P.O. Box 429, Brussels, Ont. Blyth, Ont. NOG 1 HO N0M1H0 887-9114 523-4792 Subscription price: $15.00; $35.00 foreign. 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