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The Citizen, 2004-05-20, Page 5THE CITIZEN, THURSDAY, MAY 20, 2004. PAGE 5. Other Views Seemed like a great idea at the time Idon't ask much from life. I don't expect the stretch limos, flotillas of groupies. or a wallet full of thousand-dollar hills to light my Cohiha panatelas. I have no interest in becoming Lord Black of the Millpond. a guest on The Tonight Show or of winning that Lottery for Life — a red velvet hunk in the Canadian Senate. No. I only have one unrequited desire: to have, in my lifetime, One Great Idea. Is that so much to ask? Archimedes got his revelation in a bathtub. Newton got his under an apple tree. Einstein brainstormed "E equals MC squared" at his blackboard, and we can guess where Thomas Crapper was sitting when he got his inspiration to invent the flush toilet. One great idea. That's all I ask for: I'm not trying to he a Thomas Edison. filing a thousand patents for everything from phonographs to light bulbs. I just want one. I thought I had it back in Grade 7. I remember almost nodding off at my desk while the teacher droned on about The Rebellion of 1837, "Upper Canada was a tiny colony," he was saying. "not like the country of 15 million (hey. it was a long time ago) that we live in today." And I fell to doodling at my desk. Fifteen million...let's see...that would be 15....followed by six zeros. Imagine if I could persuade every Canadian to mail me... one penny. That would put 15 million pennies in my piggy bank. Or put another way, I'd have $150.000! Which was a fortune. hack when I was a kid. _ And that was- as close as -I ever got ni a Great Idea. The Achilles heel that fatally hobbled my breakthrough concept was the fact that I Ontario's ruling Liberals are insisting their shock by-election defeat is no guide to the future, but they should ask Roy McMurtry. Or Chris Hodgson. or Ken Bolton or even Greg Sorbara. McMurtry, now Ontario's chief justice, was a rising trial lawyer, as well as a best friend from university days and backroom adviser to Progressive Conservative premier William Davis when they decided it was time for him to enter the legislature. They chose a by-election in 1973 in the downtown Toronto-St. George riding that had voted Tory for four decades. But a motherly municipal politician. Margaret Campbell, who said Davis was arrogant, ran for the Liberals and defeated the anointed one. McMurtry prudently chose not to run against her in the next general election and Davis undemocratically pushed a Tory MPP who had been Speaker. Len Reilly, out of an even safer neighbouring seat and gave his friend comfortable passage. McMurtry went on to be an articulate attorney general, darling of the talk shows. liberal-minded judge - and despite his Tory background. outspoken critic of later Tory governments that cut court spending. But the byelection the Tories lost was'a sign voters were unhappy with their party and harbinger of setbacks to come, because they lost their majority in a general election in 1975 after scandals including dubious fund-raising and again in 1977 and failed to regain it until 1981. -- The Tories under Mike Harris won a byelection in .Victoria-Haliburton riding held by the Liberals in 1994. which shoWed Harris. then leader of a small third party. was on his Arthur Black couldn't think of a compelling argument to convince my fellow citizens to start mailing their pennies to me. My bombshell brainwave died a-borning. I admit, it sounds kinda lame a half-century later, but great ideas don't have to be blockbusters. Somebody invented the safety pin. Others came up with the ballpoint pen and the paper clip. Small items, but great ideas all the same. And it's not like it's hard to get a patent even for a lame idea. Paul Hanson of St. Paul. Minnesota just obtained a U.S. patent for his all-new method of treating heart-related chest pain. Hanson's solution: just drink limeade — but from concentrate. That's it — Hanson's Great Idea in a nutshell. He says it worked for him and the U.S. Patent Office was sufficiently impressed. Impressed enough to grant Hanson patent # 6,457.474. I think Michael Nelson's idea had a more obvious aura of greatness about it. Nelson recently opened a law office in suburban Orlando. Florida. leased himself a company car (Mercedes), printed up some toney-looking letterhead stationery listing all his law partners and-began soliciting business from the families of convicted drug traffickers. Did very well, too until a radio station investigated and found out that Nelson's law way up. Harris had developed his Common Sense Revolution policies promising tax cuts. smaller government and making people work for welfare benefits, hut there had not been much sign they were catching on. In the byelection Harris• also showed the hard-nosed attitude that became his trademark and charged, with much exaggeration, that the Liberals, his main opponents because the New Democrat government was ready to fall. were promoting same-sex rights ahead of the economy. Tory candidate Chris Hodgson won comfortably and a year later Harris cruised to a huge success in a general election. A by-election in Middlesex South riding in 1969 hinted at a future few suspected. An Anglican priest, Ken Bolton. won in an area traditionally Tory and the domain of premier John Robarts. The Tories regained the riding in the next general election. But the New Democrats had shown they could get votes in that area and within a couple of decades they swept it in winning their first and only • term in gOvernment. In another byelection that changed politics New Democrat Jim Renwick won Riverdale riding in Toronto, which also traditionally had partners didn't exist and Nelson was not a lawyer. As a matter of fact Nelson was himself a felon. serving time for bank-fraud. He could only 'practise' during the day as he, had to return to a half-way house each night. As near as investigators could figure Nelson made "several hundred thousand dollars" before he was nabbed. Not surprisingly, Nelson's half-way house privileges have been revoked. Still, Great Ideas don't have to be crooked and they don't have to involve lawyers (but I repeat myself). Take Dennis Hope of Gardnerville. Nevada. For the past 23 years. Mister Hope has operated a real_ estate company, selling lots to interested customers, But not in Nevada. Not even in North America. Not even on this planet. Mister Hope sells land...on the moon. Business has been so good that he's expanding. He'll now sell you choice lots on Mars and Venus as well. Going price: $20 an acre. How good is business? Very. Hope reckons he makes about $270,000 U.S. a year. And it's legal. It's based on something Mister Hope learned in school as a kid. Back when I was doodling through my history lesson, Dennis Hope was paying attention. He heard his teacher say that, while the international Space Treaty of 1967 prohibits nations from owning celestial bodies, it doesn't say anything about individual ownership. - Hope says. "I even wrote to the United Nations explaining my plan and asking if they had, a lariolblem-.with it. Nobody ever wrote hack." to •- But that was 23 years and $6.5 million ago. Great Idea. Mister Hope. been Tory. in 1964. Renwick had been a corporate lawyer and gave the small band of NDP MPPs expertise and dimension it had lacked and helped it become the biggest opposition party in the legislature. which gave it some privileges. Renwick's win also prevented former evangelist preacher and broadcaster Charles Templeton from becoming leader of the Liberals, who had struggled without success. Templeton was campaigning strongly for leader and ran also in the byelection to prove he could be a winner, but his loss there ended his leadership chances. Liberals who had to wait another two decades before winning government still talk about what they might have achieved under Templeton. Another byelection that pointed to the future was Liberal Sorbara's return from retirement when his party was in opposition in 2001 by winning in Vaughan-King-Aurora riding north of Toronto. The riding is in the 905-dormitory area that had been a Tory stronghold under Harris and been held by popular ministey Al Pallactini, who died. Within two years the Liberals under Dalton McGuinty swept into government. Funnily enough, • McGuinty as'. opposition leader claimed that by-election was very much a referendum on the government of the day, No-one would expect him as premier to admit the same today and not all by-elections governments lose have predicted the future, but some have pointed the way. Final Thought Smile — make everyone suspicious. — Unknown Bonnie Gropp The short of u On the block Atiny child's hand clasped,lightly. Eyes that see the brilliant blue sky overhead, the lush ground below, and a wall of legs. The crowd stretches seemingly for miles across country fields. , • • These are my memories of a wonderful summer day, some 40 years ago during my first visit to a farm auction. The reins on this rambunctious child were tight; high energy, of course. must be restrained when there is an abundance of opportunities to lead one astray. And yet, in retrospect it was probably unnecessary. The sights and sounds had awed this curious innocent. Wandering from table to table and among machinery, listening to the amiable chatter of neighbours and friends accompanied by the hypnotic drone of the auctioneer, there were far too many new experiences for me to be bored and restless. Actually my naivete resulted in only one misstep. Impressed with my brand new silver wristwatch, I kept raising my arm to check the time, until Uncle George gently grabbed hold and admonished me to stay still. Perhaps I'd raised the bidding on a butter churn. I hadn't thought about that day in forever, but all those memories came flooding back recently when my hubby, in quest of an automobile, invited me to tag along to an auction near Maryhill. This was. unbelievably the first since that introduction many. many years ago. Now wiser, I was no longer in need of guardianship. but upon arriving I did stick pretty close to the adult with me for awhile. Once attuned to my environment, however, I began to relax and take it all in. There was almost a carnival atmosp:iere at this event. A yard packed with people, visiting, discus.:ing, looking. The smell of grilled hotdogs permeating the air. Little children trying to break through the crowd as Mom or Dad hung on for dear life. i The sense of anticipation from some was almost tangible as they openly covetted objects and eagerly awaited their debut on the block. Still, for others, it was obvious the outing was no more than a chance to socialize as they wandered casually, expressing little interest in much of anything. Just like that first one for me, this auction was held on a glorious day of sunshine and azure sky. And, just like that first one, I still had problems seeing over the heads of the multitudes crowding around me. There were the same conversations, just from different voices. And the drone of the auctioneer was still hypnotic. Unlike that first time, however, I was able to observe this event with a somewhat jaundiced adult's eye. It was fascinating to see the initial cautious bidding take on a life of its own and escalate. It was also equally fascinating to watch people who refused to offer the opening bid, eventually slide past it without missing a beat. After all what's a $50 jump. they seemed to think, apparently forgetting they've already taken several similar jumps. But I also, amidst the quaint magic of this cultural phenomenon, saw its failings, at least for a serious shopper such as myself. When I want something I want it and I don't want to fight someone to get it, or pay more than it's worth, or worse yet, go home without it. Shopping isn't a competitive event for me. I enjoyed the experience. but I guess you could say while an auction might be a nice place to visit. 1 wouldn't want to shop there. Eric Dowd From Queen's Park By-elections can predict the future fit, 1 11.) i,1,11, I ) 1.