The Citizen, 2004-11-18, Page 5THE CITIZEN, THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 18, 2004. PAGE 5.
Other Views
But never, never on a Sunday
Well, I see Nova Scotians came down
— narrowly — against Sunday
shopping. In a plebiscite last month
55 per cent of the citizens who voted said
'NO' to 'the option of being allowed to fill a
shopping cart, crawl the malls or bring home a
two-four of Moosehead on Sunday.
This makes Nova Scotia the only province in
Canada to retain that cultural fossil of
yesteryear, the six-day shopping week.
It also made Nova Scotians the butt of much
smirking and derision in newspaper stories
and business reports on television and radio
across the country.
Our ever-vigilant neighbours to- the south
noticed as well. To many Americans it must
have been just one more pathetic example of
Canoehead Frostbacks stubbornly slinging to
their quaint and antiquated 19th century quasi-
feudal lifestyle.
"Nova Scotia voters reject Yankee
materialism," simpered the newspaper, USA
Today.
Most Halifax retailers, who were (not
surprisingly) in favour of open Sundays, went
nuts when the voting results were announced.
"We've just kicked a $25 million boost to
the economy in the face," grumbled one store
owner.
"A victory for the Amen corner," sneered
another. . -
I'm sure if those wee-hours yukmeisters
Ralph BenMurgui and Mike Bullard
(remember them?) were still around, they
would be chortling, hugely into the late-night
ether about those bumptious Bluenosers and
Organized religion has a vastly different
view of politics in Ontario than it does
in the United States and a lot more
Christian spirit.
This was underlined when representatives of
-most of Ontario's religious groups came to the
legislature to promote their goals only a few
days after President George Bush had been
swept back to power.
In the U.S. the so-called religious right of
mainly • fundamentalist Christians played a
major part in keeping Bush_ in office. They
supported him because he says he is a
Christian, his favourite philosopher is Jesus,
his favourite book is the Bible and he is guided
by the hand of God.
They do not question how this equates with
his attacking Iraq, giving reasons that have
proven groundless and killing 100,000 people.
Nor do they ask whether this is consistent
with his domestic policies of giving tax breaks
that help mostly the well-off and caring little
about the poor, ensuring all are covered by
medicare or protecting the environment.
Their views contrast sharply with those
expressed by the Interfaith Social Assistance
Reform Coalition which held a news
conference at Queen's Park. It consists of
representatives of the Anglican, Roman
-Catholic, United, Baptist, Presbyterian,
Lutheran, Unitarian, Mennonite and Christian
Reformed Churches, Salvation Army,
Canadian Islamic Congress, Buddhists,
Hindus and two Jewish groups.
The .coalition protested that the Liberals
since being elected under Premier Dalton
McGuinty have not done enough to help the
poor, and that minor increases in social
assistance have left many deep in poverty.
They called for substantial increases.
The Liberals have announced an increase in
the minimum wage to only $7.15 an hour and
the coalition said this is so low that working on
it guarantees poverty. It called for the
minimum wage to be raised to $10 by 2007:
The churches said the Liberals promised
their backward ways.
Imagine! ,Actually choosing to deprive
yourself of a basic human right the rest of
North Americans take for granted!
Well I say: good for Nova Scotia. They may
be the last remaining people .on this continent
who have not been shucked and jived into
believing that shopping twenty-four-seven is
what life is all about and nothing is real unless
you can buy it at the mall.
Just a reactionary Old Fart ranting? Well,
maybe.
It's true that I'm antique enough to
remember when Sundays in Canada were truly
a day of rest. There were no baseball games to
line up for, or movies to go to. You couldn't
buy a beer or a book of stamps. All stores were
closed and if you turned on your TV all you
got was an Indian Head test pattern to watch.
Sounds boring, but a funny thing happened
with those Sundays. We took advantage of
them to do things we couldn't do on the
other, more frenetic days of the week. We
actually used to make long, lazy afternoon-
length visits to people -in their homes -- even
have them back to our place. As families, I
mean.
money for affordable housing, but have not yet
come through or matched federal funding
available, and urged a co-ordinated attack
through a new ministry that would deal solely
with housing, instead of having
responsibilities scattered among several.
They want more housing for victims of
domestic violence and people with mental or
physical challenges.
They complained the Liberals also failed to
match federal dollars for child care and should
provide 20,000 new child care spaces over
three years for which parents would pay at
most $5 a day, and subsidies for those who
cannot afford this.
The religious groups concluded the
preceding Progressive Conservative
government cut taxes so the province was left
without enough revenue to fund services and
the Liberals acted responsibly in increasing
taxes in their first budget.
But they argued the Liberals' health
premiums weigh harder on modest and
middle-income households and need to be
made more equitable.
Religious groups have played a fairly
consistent role in Ontario politics in recent
years. In the 1980s many of the same churches
complained Tory premier William Davis failed
Final Thought
To love and be loved is to feel the sun from
both sides.
— David Viscott •
Sing-alongs around the family piano were
not unheard of. Books got read and gardens
got weeded.
Peaceable chores got tended to. Morn
darned and sewed. Dad tinkered away at his
basement workbench, doing no large damage
to various malfunctioning household items.
There was plenty of down time too — an hour
or so in the hammock if the weather allowed,
otherwise a snooze on the chesterfield with
only the hypnotic tick-tock of the mantel clock
to lull you even deeper into sleep.
I remember old pastimes that don't seem to
be around anymore. Whistling. Whittling.
Drowsy games of crib and canasta around the
kitchen table.
Well, who's got time for that nowadays?
And who needs home-grown entertainment,
really, when you've got a beeping cellphone
on your belt, 500 channels on the boob tube
and an ever-boinking computer in the den
reminding you that YOU'VE GOT MAIL!
Besides, it's not as if Nova Scotians have
entirely consigned themselves to the Dark
Ages. As Bill Harrison, president of the
Hotel Association of Nova Scotia puts it,
"Nova Scotia is a place where you can't buy a
shirt on Sunday, but you can sure lose your
shirt."
That's right — Nova Scotia casinos will still
be wide open for business on Sunday.
The Nova Scotia government, which gets a
Mafia-esque rake-off from "the casinos, knows
that a principled stand on Sunday shopping is
all very well.
But some things are sacred.
to speak up against repression in such
countries as South Africa.
In the 1990s the combined churches
criticized Tory premier Mike Harris for cutting
welfare payments by 21 per cent.
They said they recognized government has
to live within its means, but the burden of
achieving this was being placed too 9iuch on
the poor.
They also claimed Harris pictured Welfare
recipients, the homeless and unemployed as
responsible for their own plight.
The Interfaith Coalition intervened in the
2003 election, arguing not enough attention
was being paid to the poor and the winner
should increase welfare allowances and the
minimum wage and provide more affordable
housing. A group calling itself Faith Leaders
of Ontario from most of the same churches
also paid for full-page newspaper
advertisements calling on the parties to do
much the same, but neither endorsed a specific
party.
The most vocal of Ontario's religious groups
are on a different track from those who
influenced the U.S. election and most
Ontarians, thank heaven, will agree with them.
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Over early easy ,
It was August 1974. I was a young mother
expecting my second child in December.
A lack of money, and concern over when
exactly my babe would arrive prompted me to
begin a practice that I followed faithfully over
the next three decades.
Fast forward to 2004. Five issues of The
Citizen are all that's left to be published before
Christmas arrives. And I, true' to form, have
about 90 per cent of my shopping complete.
Back in that summer, oh so long ago, I
managed the seasonal spending by spreading
out the cost over several months. One local
merchant in my hometown had a layaway
program allowing me to put so much down
each week. By the first of December,
everything was purchased and wrapped.
Which turned out to be a real blessing in that
my daughter arrived two weeks past her due
date. After a maternity ward stay of six days
(I've just shocked all the new moms) I was
back in my home Dec. 23, organized and able
to enjoy my best Christmas present.
And while it may have been practicality that
first initiated this method of coping, it was that
end result that has kept the habit going. It only
took that first year for me to realize that while
others were fighting bad weather and long
lines to finish their last-minute shopping, 1 had
time to curl up in a chair and be warmed by the
sparkling display of my Christmas tree. While
stress levels rose, while people felt pulled in
several directioq, worried about getting
everything finished, I was home with my little
boy and new baby girl, quietly (well, as quietly
as anyone with a two-year-old could)
anticipating the holiday. While the spending
was behind me and I could enjoy tire beauty. of
the season at its peak. others were burdened by
its commercialism.
Needless to say, my strong need for
organization and control responded well to the
idea of getting the dreaded shopping iist out of
the way lickety split.. It's with amusement,
however, that many of my friends now watch
as a state of panic sets in if I haven't got at
least one gift purchased by, the end of October.
And that's not helped by the reality that
many people have caught on. Where once a
shop clerk would look befuddled if I
mentioned in November that my purchase was
a Christmas gift, now they are usually asking
before I get a chance. Where once a weekday
trip to the city to purchase those hard-to-find
items meant virtually deserted halls and stores,
now you can find on any given day, crammed
aisles and checkouts well before the traditional
`rush'. Where once I held the special
distinction of being unique, now I bear the
rather unremarkable stamp of following the
trend.
And it is that following that has become one
of the biggest surprises. People are actually
getting started ahead of me and for someone as
anal about this as I am, that's not a good thing.
With others telling me about the presents
they've bought, my sense of competition
prickles and I feel the urge to push harder and
faster to stay ahead.
In the past two weeks, therefore, I have
attacked my list with the intensity of a focused
competitor and am pleased to say that the
finish line is within my sights. A smug
satisfaction is settling ;n, accompanied on a
more positive level but a heightened level of
excitement. Because I know that as the season
of peace and joy approaches, I won't be
dealing with the commercial, but will have
instead time to enjoy its true value.
Ontario churches more humane