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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Citizen, 1989-05-03, Page 4PAGE 4. THE CITIZEN, WEDNESDAY, MAY 3, 1989. Opinion The games people play For Canadians who were sick of hockey playoffs and scared to look to see how the Blue Jays were playing lately there was an alternative last week: watch the games being played in Ottawa. Where to start? Well maybe it starts before the last election when Finance Minister Michael Wilson virtually took a holiday to get out of sight while Brian Mulroney forgot about budget deficits and went on a spending spree from coast to coast delivering promises such as a federal-governmentbacked national day care policy. These weren’t, the Prime Minister said, election promises, but were commitments. That allowed him to assail the opposition parties for the cost of their election “promises” and their disregard for the pocket books of Canadians. So now comes the budget and the “commitments” to things like daycare aren’t commitments any more. Mr. Wilson is back and the deficit is now number one priority. Nowthegamesoflastweekbeginwiththecivilservantwho delivers a summary of the budget to a Global News reporter. For the reporter to go public with the fact he has obtained the summary is in thepublicinterestsinceifhecouldgetit, socouldpeople whostood to be able to turn that knowledge into big profits on the stock market or in other business dealings. But that wasn’t good enough for the reporter. He had to divulge the contents of the document, to broadcast it coast to coast before it could be properly announced. The silly scoop-oriented journalism of the bad old days returns. Now it was the opposition parties turn. Mr. Wilson asks for a special session of the house immediately so he can read his budget a day early. The opposition parties refuse, so Mr. Wilson calls a press conference and reads the document before the television cameras. Then the opposition leaders, led by John Turner of the Liberals, want us to believe this is an abuse of the privileges of the Members of Parliament, that they should hear the budget first. And finally there’s the actions of Mr. Wilson and Mr. Mulroney in denying they have anything to apologize for, with Mr. Mulroney, in his usual bombastic way, calling the opposition parties “juvenile delinquents.” The whole thrust of the Mulroney government has been towards less government and more personal responsibility but the government, in protecting Mr. Wilson is saying it doesn’t believe in personal responsibility. As Finance Minister, Mr. Wilson must be responsible for the actions of his department. By saying it’s not his fault and he’s not going to take the rap he is as guilty as the corporate president who’s employees deliberately pollute the air or water but he can safely say it wasn’t his fault. Canadians are being told we face a grave crisis because of mounting national debt. We’re told we must all pull our belts tighter to work through this problem. That kind of commitment, however, will only come when people have faith in the people asking them to make the sacrifices: the politicians and their messengers, the media. Surveys show that the two least trusted groups in society are politicians and journalists. Last week did nothing to improve the situation. Playing without paying If you can call the tune but get someone else to pay the piper you’ve got the best of both worlds. Our federal and provincial governments seem to be managing to do that quite nicely lately. Provincially last week, the government announced with great fanfare in its throne speech that it wanted to see children start school earlier. Like the announcement a couple of years back that the province wanted to see smaller class sizes it sounded good. But school boards may have shuddered, remembering that earlier government decree. The cost of making class sizes smaller has been borne very much by the local school boards because provincial grants haven’t kept up with the costs. Is there any reason to think this time may be different? The federal government last week in its budget announced that the government would be pulling out of Unemployment Insurance, that from now on the entire costs of the program would be borne by employers and employees. Fair enough, except the federal government wants this to be more than just an insurance program. It wants it to be a social program. It wants it to help out the economy of the poorer provinces. Only a couple of weeks ago Barbara MacDougall, minister responsible for the program announced that further time would be allowed for parents to take time off work at the birth of a baby; costs to be paid through unemployment insurance. If governments want to shape these programs they should be prepared to pick up the tabs. Spring’s in bloom 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 Filibustering So­ ciety. MONDAY: Billie Bean said that all this talk of tax increases in the budget certainly has got to him. If he finds his wife in a romantic mood these nights he’s almost afraid to go along because he’s afraid they might have put a tax on it that he hasn’t heard about. Yes, said Hank Stokes, they used to say the only sure things were death and taxes, but we may have to give up on the death part because we’ll be too busy paying the taxes to take time off. TUESDAY: Tim O’Grady said that even with him being a lawyer, he was getting sick of the endless trial that is the Dubin Inquiry into the use of drugs in illegal sport. Yeh, said Julia Flint, is just hasn’t been the same since the weightlifter explained how they got around the taking of urine samples. She had the men around the table squirming at the memory but thankfully didn’t go farther in the details. Billie said he thought they should be looking into the use of drugs in professional sports too. “The way the Leafs and Blue Jays play, I think somebody slipped them some sleeping pills.” WEDNESDAY: Ward Black point­ ed to a picture of the Lieutenant Governor arriving at Queen’s Park in a horse drawn carriage yesterday to read the speech from the throne. “It’s typical of the way the Liberals do things: horse and buggy.” But Tim turned the page and pointed to a picture of Michael Wilson being fitted with new shoes to give his budget. Take a look at it, he said, after this budget we may all be walking. THURSDAY: There was a good deal of talk this morning around the table about the budget leak but Ward Black wasn’t there to take the ribbing the others were ready to give him. Maybe, said Hank Stokes, with all the cutbacks in defence the government is plann­ ing to give the armed forces the secret weapon of Conservative cabinet ministers in combat situa­ tions: invisibility. What I’d like to know, Billie said, is how come it was the budget that had a leak but the submarines that got sunk. The Citizen P.O. Box 429, BLYTH, Ont. NOM 1H0 Phone 523-4792 P.O. Box 152, BRUSSELS, Ont NOG 1H0 Phone B87-9114 The Citizen is published weekly in Brussels, Ontario, by North Huron Publishing Company Inc Subscriptions are payable in advance at a rate of $17 OO/yr ($38 00 Foreign) Advertising is accepted on the condition that in the event of a typographical error, only that portion of the advertisement will be credited Advertising Deadlines Monday, 2pm- Brussels; Monday, 4pm- Blyth We are not responsible for unsolicited newscriptsor photographs Contents of The Citizen are © Copyright Serving Brussels, Blyth, Auburn, Belgrave, Ethel, Londesborough, Walton and surrounding townships. Editor& Publisher, Keith Roulston Advertising Manager, DaveWilliams Production Manager, Jill Roulston Second Class Mail Registration No. 6968