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Times -Advocate, November 17;1982
imes -.
Times Established 1873
Advocate Established 1881
Amalgamated 1924
dvocate
Serving South Huron, North Middlesex '
& North Lambton Since 1873
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A political ploy
Some people may have cheered when Prime
Minister Trudeau announced plans to establish a royal
commission of inquiry into the national economy.
After all, things are not that bright in that par-
ticular area, and some intensive research would
perhaps be beneficial.
However, much of the cheering has now stopped.
First of all, there is considerable dismay over the
fact the commission has been established for a three-
year period. Obviously, there isn't going to be any im-
mediate benefit from the commission study, and while
the medium and long-range plans for the nation are
of some concern, there is more concern that unless
some action is taken now, there may not be much left
to salvage when the commission reports after the
three-year study.
Of equal concern is the naming of former finance
•
minister Donald Macdonald tohead the commission.
During his tenure in that position, the nation's accoun-
ting practices were seriously called into question in the
annual reports of the auditor -general. The examples
of mis-management were numerous.
As a former finance minister, Macdonald must
also be considered a contributor to the policies which
have led the nation to its current position and further,
as a potential party leadership candidate, there is con-
cern that his findings and recommendations may be
made with some political connotations to further his
quest to succeed Trudeau.
The credibility of the commission is already under-
mined and smacks of a political ploy by the Prime
Minister to get his party out of the heat.
What is needed, of course, is a commission that
could be considered non-partisan to get the economy
and the future of this nation out of the heat.
Poor source of revenue
Whatt in the world will be taxed next?
That's a question asked by many people and now
the members of the Canadian Cancer Society have join-
ed the list.
For- almost a year now, the Society members have
been staging an appeal with the federal government
over the loss of their exemption from federal sales tax
on materials either produced in Canada or imported
from another country for public education purposes.
The tax man to date has turned a deaf ear to the
petition and as a result the Society will end up paying
up to $100,000 in taxon educational materials which are
produced for distribution without charge to the public
for the purpose of prevention or early detection of
cancer.
Surely a government which gets millions of tax
dollars from the tobacco business could show a little
more compassion - and commonsense - towards an
organization on the opposite side of the picture. But
then, that would be working at cross-purposes,
wouldn't it?
Heads on straight
The Liberal party recently held a national conven-
tion - a meeting at which all members of the party were
permitted to express their opinions about the things
the Liberal government should be doing or not doing.
The real shocker resolution to come before the
meeting was one from the Young Liberals, who
demanded immediate reform of the patronage system
and rooting out of the "power brokers," the non -elected
officers of the party who are the real power behind the
prime minister's throne.
Selected as examples were Senator Keith Davey,.
generally believed to be the master -mind behind
Trudeau's public image, and Jim Coutts, former
Trudeau private secretary.
The Young Liberals have pin -pointed the unease
which affects many Canadians today, who believe that
our country is not, in fact, being governed by its elected
representatives, but instead by a few selected and
favored bureaucrats. These powerful officials are not
subject to removal by the country's voters but they
hold power at the will of the prime minister and a few
close associates.
Although the Young Liberals' resolution did not
say so, it is not difficult to compare the targets of their
objections to the power enclave with which President
Nixon surrounded . himself before the Watergate
disaster. Such supporters and assistants are dedicated,
not to the best interests of the nation, but rather to the
maintenance of their particular patron in a position of
absolute power. As long as the king is on the throne,
the mandarins are secure.
These Young Liberals have their heads on
straight!
Wingham Advance Times
A long wait for election taily
Some people may not have noticed that
CFPL-TV decided to change its name to
TV -London, but the municipal election
night coverage by the station indicated
quite clearly that it considers itself a
medium for city dwellers primarily.
Several local citizens recounted as how
they had sat watching TV -London for
some time expecting coverage of the area
municipal elections, but it never came.
Advertisements suggested that the sta-
tion was going to provide "live coverage
of Western Ontario election results".
Those advertisements obviously over-
stated the extent to which the station was
prepared to give audiences in Western
Ontario an indication of how they and
their fellow citizens had voted, with the
exception of a few mayoralty contests in
some other cities. '
Instend of finding out what happened
out here in the boondocks, TV viewers
were confronted only with the frequent
showing of the London election races.
That became very boring for most,
especially in some cases such as the
mayoralty race there, where the outcome
was clearly indicated once the first ballot
box was opened and counted.
The daily newspaper arm of the same
communication business didn't do much
better. Readers looking for the results in
Tuesday's edition of the London Free
Press were a day too early. `
I'm not going tocomplain too strenuous
ly, of course, because their indifference
BATT'N
AROUND
with the editor
to areas outside the confines of London
does help sell weekly newspapers.
It's just difficult to understand how
come the big city boys only think we're
worth their troubles when there's a bit of
dirty underwear hanging out.
• • • • •
While the disarmament question was
not included on any ballots in this im-
mediate area, it did get answered in
several municipalities and, as expected,
was given a "yes" by the majority.
However, the "yes" was not quite as re-
sounding as some may have expected,
primarily because there were some solid
arguments presented in the final days of
the campaign.
1
The main thrust of the arguments was
that it would be folly to negotiate with the
Russians from a position of weakness and
more than one person, suggested that in
fact the Russians were behind the cam-
paign for disarmament.
If the disarmament proponents think
the Russians are going to be swayed by
public ()Pinion to end the arms race, they
have only to ask someone in Poland or
Afghanistan what those probabilities real-
ly are.
In case they've missed the news of the
past few decades, the Soviets have not in-
dicated any desire to stay within their own
boundaries and live in peaceful co-
existence with the rest of the world.
Commenting on the disarmament vote,
Col. Tom Lawson of the Royal Canadian
Regiment said, "I am as strong as anyone
in my desire to see an end to the turmoil
and killing on this planet, but 1 am equal-
ly strong in my belief that we cannot
make any progress in this altruistic
endeavour from a position of weakness
and indecision".
Now that they have some sort of man-
date, it will be interesting to see what the
disarmament backers do with it, and for
that matter, what the Russians do with it.
The light at the end
of the tunnel
Voices from the past
I have come up with
some items that bring
back memories and voices
from the past.
A few months ago, a
young colleague of mine
was heading off to Zim-
babwe (formerly
Rhodesia) with his wife
and children to teach
school there.
They didn't know a soul
in that part of Africa. I
hada thought, which oc-
curs every so often.
"Mark", I told him, "I
have an old war -time
friend who lived in
Rhodesia. I'll dig up his
address, and maybe he
can at least give you some
tips on life there."
So I went to my old
prisoner -of -war log book,
and there it was. Unfor-
tunately, Don McGibbon
lived in Bulawayo, not
Salisbury, to which Mark
was posted. However, I
gave him the address and
anote to my old friend.
There was every,
likelihood that he was
dead, or had moved, or
had got out of the country,
as so many white Rhode-
sians did when a black
takeover • seemed
inevitable.
And the other day, while
I was having lunch; a
member of our staff was
reading a letter from
Mark's wife. It turned out
that they'd been sent to
Bulawayo, not Salisbury.
She described conditions,
pretty grim - curfews,
house searches for in-
, surgents, and so on - and
the letter said: "And
we're going for a picnic on
Sunday with Bill Smiley's
old air force friend."
You could have knocked
me down with a Spitfire. I
hadn't heard from Mac
since 1945, when we were
both incarcerated in
prison camp. We'd been
on the same Typhoon wing
in Normandy, where I
knew him slightly. He'd
been shot down shortly
after I was, and, joined by
a wounded Australian,
Frank Land, we wound up
Sugar
and Spice
Dispensed By Smiley
as a trio doing a train
journey all over Ger-
many: first to a camp oc-
cupied by British and New
Zealand veterans of
Cyprus, then to an inter-
rogation centre , at
Frankfurt, then off on a
long haul across the war-
torn country to a prison
camp, where we wound up
in the same room in
barracks.
As if that weren't
enough to start the juices
of memory flowing, my
wife, while cleaning out
drawers and boxes, came
across a cache of ancient
letters and pictures that
I'd forgotten existed.
There I am, Leading
Aircraftsman Smiley, at
21, black hair, white teeth
(the opposite of the pre-
sent), wedge cap tilted to
one side, dashing
moustache, cocky as only
a young fellow can be
when he knows he's going
to be a fighter pilot.
And there I am again,
on a prison camp iden-
tification card, complete
with numbers and finger-
print, soon after I'd been
shot down, looking
bewildered and anything
but cocky. And another
photo, at another camp,
front and side view, look-
ing 10 years older, stubble
of beard, mean. And final-
ly, a photo taken soon
alter release, sporting the
magnificent handlebar
moustache I'd grown in -
camp.
There's a picture of
Freddy Wakeham, Cana-
dian, Eric Necklen, New
Zealander, and self, in
front of our tent in Nor-
mandy. I am the only sur-
vivor. And another one,
both leaning against a
Spitfire's fuselage, of two
of our gang, a motley
crowd, when we trained in
Shropshire to take off and
land Spits without killing
ourselves. Jacques Van
der Perren, Belgian, and
Singh Thandi, Indian Air
Force.
Van escaped when the
Germans invaded
Belgium, made his way
through occupied France,
got over the mountains in-
to Spainand wasthrown in
jail for six months. He was
eventually released, got to
England, joined the
R.A.F., and was shot down
and killed on a mission not
far from his home town in
Belgium. Singh Thandi
went back to India. I
heard he was killed flying
Hurricanes in Burma. We
were closer than most
brothers. The only one of
that crowd left is Jack
Ryan of Toronto. The
others were from half the
countries in Europe, and
from all over the then
British Empire.
Here's a letter, written
to my mother, from Casa -
jus Pascal, postmarked
M. Stammlager XI, Deut-
sbland, It's in French.
Part of it: "Ici mon ami
Bill, votre fils qui actuelle-
ment dans mon stalag..."
and so on. He told her I
was en parfaite santee (in
perfect health) and tried
to reassure her. How good
of him. I don't even
remember him; although I
knew a number of French
POW's. He ends by say
ing, in French: "I hope
that he" himself will be
able to write you soon."
Why couldn't I write then?
Who was Casa jus? Must
dig into the memory cells.
And on they go. A letter
from my squadron leader
describing my last mis-
sion, and holding out hope.
A letter from a chap in
Florida to my parents. He
listened every night, on his
short wave radio, to lists
of Allied prisoners an-
nounced by the Germans,
and had caught my name
and home address.
And a happy, happy.
telegram, marked Sans
Origine, and Important,
from 64 Squadron: "Hap-
py to inform you that your
son F/O Smiley W B T is
safe and well as prisoner
of war. Letter follows."
A letter of commisera-
tion from my college
president, when the first
"missing" report went
out. Finally, a letter from
a chaplain in England:
"So happy to be able to
welcome and chat with
your son, on his safe ar-
rival in England." Dated
May 25, 1945.
' People in those days
really cared. And I've on-
ly skimmed the surface.
Reverse the situation
We were travelling in
the Deep South, the part of
the U.S. where the local
people speak with a
beautiful slow drawl and
the pace of life seems to be
just a little slower. Come
to think about it,
everybody in that part of
Georgia seemed to be
moving at just a little
faster than a dead stop.
In one restaurant there
was an abundance of
waitresses but all of them
just moseyed along at the
speed they were used to.
Once' we got used to it
though, it really wasn't
that bad. I think that we
tend to be a little too hur-
ried in our life style.
It was in that same
restaurant though that an
unusual situation happen-
ed. As we were entering
the building there was a "
very tall state trooper ,
standing there giving a
very close took at
was going on. Then it
dawned on me. It was the
whole issue of segrega-
tion. Not so many years
Perspectives
By Syd Fletcher
everyone who entered.
Just ahead of us was a
young Negro man. He
looked nervously 'at the
trooper and mouthed "Is it
alright if I go in?" The
policeman eyed him cold-
ly up and down, then
grunted an unwilling
assent.
For the life of me I
couldn't understand what
before that Negro man
would not have been
allowed into that
restaurant other than as a
waiter.
He went in though and
sat down at one of the
counter stools and
ordered, still very nervous
in his manner.
Now don't forget - this is
a big restaurant and he
was the only Negro in
there. Reverse the situa-
tion and think how uncom-
fortable you might be in a
place totally filled with
people of another colour.
In a few minutes a
young Negro family came
into' the restaurant.
Although it was fairly ob-
vious that the first man
didn't know them he made
eye contact with them and
smiled. His,back
straightened up ad it was
really amazing the change
in his air of confidence.
Now, l doubt that such a
scene would take place as
quickly in the 'States' now
(ten years later) but it is
surely a marker of the
way racial prejudice and
discrimination can affect
a group of people.