HomeMy WebLinkAboutTimes Advocate, 1992-03-18, Page 4I Imes -Advocate, March 18 1992
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Publisher: Jim Beckett
News Editor: Adrian Harte
lus$usss Msltsgpsr: Don Smith
Compealtionillottoper: Deb Lord
Publications Mail Registration Number 0386
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"Meir are never so likely
to settle a question rightly
as when they discuss it
freely."
... Thomas Macauley
Published Each Wednesday Moming at 424 Main St..
Exeter, Ontario NOM ISO by J.W. Eedy Publications Ltd
Telephone 1-519.235-1331
o.r aR1OS21O816
Ontario NDP hell -bound
he disintegeration of the On-
tario NDP has become a p_ ro-
-- uncial sport. -
Like no other Canadian government
in no other time, Bob Rae's cohorts dish
up an almost -daily smorgasbord of
scandal, outrage and buffoonery.
The -Shelley = idartel: affair .is --probably
the most grotesque display of political
duplicity exposed in the past 20 years.
Here we have a sitting MPP setting
out in a methodical and deliberate man-
ner to destroy a private citizen for pure -
1) political reasons. She does this
through a blundering mixture of hes and
malice and is being covered by her boss,
the man elected to lead Ontario through
ns worst economic crisis in history.
The Sudbury dermatologist that Mar-
tel managed to defame and in his own
worst - "completely ruin" - had of
course committed the dastardly crime of
criticizing the NDP's decision to cap his
salary.
You may wish to argue one side or the
other of doctor's salaries; but notwith-
standing the fact that the government
eventually rescinded the cap for special-
ists in the north, salaries are clearly be-
side the point here.
Martel has become the official symbol
of the NDP: duplicitous, obsessed, out
of control. - -
:Martel of course, is not alone in all
'Alts.
In the Attorney General's department
referred to by some insiders as the "po-
litburo" - they hunt the mole who dared
disclose the machinations of paranoia
that runs the province's top legal organi-
zation.
Crown Attorneys viewed as too "pro -
police" are being examined for political
correctness.
One of these is Leo MaGuigan, a vete-
ran crown who could not be described
as flamboyant but can be described as
effective.'Presumably he has an attitude
problem.
The latest assault on Ontario is now
emanating from Rae's office.
Provincial appointees have been or-
dered to. answer a questionnaire which
asks them:
- Are you a First Nations person?
- Please indicate your ethnic group
Black, East Asian, South Asian, South
east Asian, West Asian and Arab, white
or other.
- Are you a person with a disability?
- -Are=you_aianc phone/.
It even provides an example:
"If you were born in Canada but are of
-Egyptian descent, you • would select
West Asian and Arab."
Or:
"If you are of European descent but
were born and brought up in the Middle
East, you would select white."
This is not an historical extract front
Nazi Germany or a dictum from South
Africa or Louisiania; this comes front
the office of the Premier of Ontario.
Can this be tolerated?
Can this government be allowed to
plow under what is left of Ontario socie-
ty with impunity?
The NDP has become a danger to its
own constituents; its laws'and its beliefs
about right and wrong no longer mesh
with those of Ontario citizens.
This government is a failure; a mas-
sive, dangerous failure.
And at its present rate, before it is fin-
ished, it will inflict damage to the Onta-
rio economy .and to Ontario life that will
take decadesto repair.
Rae has the. pow.errte top. hat-3sitap-
pening. -
He should immediately rescind the
race questionnaire; there should be a
public inquiry into the workings of the
Attorney General's department; the divi-
sive portions of proposed changes to the
Labour Relations Act should be immedi-
ately struck; Sunday shopping should be
left in the hands of store owners where it
belongs; disgraced and disgraceful lia-
bilities like Shelley Martel should be or-
dered w resign their seats.
The government of Ontario is heading
for economic ruination; it already ap-
pears to be ethically bankrupt.
Why does it want to drag eight million
Ontario residents to hell along with it?
Sr. Marys JRama1-Argus
spring? Whit spring?
This column is not published
on the west coast. So when 1
write about Canadian spring, I
am excluding spring in semi-
tropical southern British Colum-
bia. I am talking about spring in
the real Canada.
Where 1 live- and where most
of you live - spring arrives on
the heels of a big. snow storm
around May 10th and ends on
May 70th, when it is followed
by the years fust torrid heat
wave.
Yes, Canadian spring lasts for
10 days, if we're.lucky. So what
exactly happens on the day of
the March equinox, when every:
body tell us . that spring has .ar-
rived?
I'll tell you what happens to
women who put their fur coats
in storage and wear their spring
finery in March? They freeze to
death. What happens to men
who park their parkas and
switch to raincdats in March?
Their brains freeze. They wan-
der out into the white, wind-
swept landscape, never to be
seen again. And parents: who
send their -children's snow suits
to the cleaners before May
should be locked up.
Spring indeed! Why, I *lewd
more snow at the the -end of
March than 1 do during the rest
of- the winter. Oh, the sun can
shine warmly at noon, just to
tease everybody. when the next
blizzard is just around the cor-
ner.
Peter's
Point
Peter Helsel
Just because the first suicidal
robins appear in your backyard,
way ahead of the pack, doesn't
mean that spring has sprung. No
matter how hard these early
birds may try, they won't get a
worm, because solidly frozen
worms do not crawl to the sur-
face. The only thing that could
save the,arly s frorh star-
vation tsaur.
Spring in March was invented
in burepc.:For us, it's nor scnsc.
It's un -Canadian. 11 is true that
Canadians • like everybody else
- can enjoy four seasons. It's just
that they're not divided into four
equal three-month periods.
Canada - the real Canada- has
just under four months of sum-
mer - from the end of May to
mid September -, two months of
fall - from mid September to
mid November - six -months of
winter - from mid November to
mid May -, followed by ten days
of spring.
O.K. We've now established
that our Spring is shon, and that
it won't start for a .while yet.
This leads to the following ques-
tion: should we even bother to
prepare for it? Should we rush
out and purchase a spring ward -
tube, for wimple? If I were in
,lite Clotting (Minos, I'd urge
you to.dy jest that, And 1 sympa-
thize with Canadian retailers'
_Nilo _Wpg jitulprffly from . year to
oar .,that their wring inventory
will Wm Over. If Busy matnage to
sell Weir wares, it is only be-
cause of sill ibe );piing hype that
•+originates 111'twos when;, spring
is three t)teighs 4epg ind arrives
early. '
I'm Geniality ;net 51Qm in rec-
ognising the freed of Canadian
spring. 011sra, lqo, have no-
ticed. 1'm, not nolle as pessimis-
tic as the well known Quebec
chansunnier pilus Vigncault,
who sling (k;utaliatel into Eng-
lish):
My country • 111 1tgtgyptty,
..,illlrglps 5
Fake fitness
Winter is making an encore
performance, much to the gener-
al disappointment of us all, but
last week's hint of spring made
e+swarc that I -may not be'l=
ly.ready for warm weather any-
way.
All of you who will soon be
signing up for baseball, soccer,
tag -team bungee jumping or
whatever, will no doubt be re-
gretting that you did not play as
much indoor volleyball or go
skiing quite as much as you
planned over the winter. Will
you be in slupc ioi .,pring and
summer? Isn't there any kind of
crash course device for trim-
ming a few pounds, getting the
• • heart rate up and •building mus-
, cle tone all at the same time?
How about an exercise bicy-
cle? Sure, just spend a few min-
. utes each day pedalling away in
front of the television and soon
all will be well. It sounds so
easy, so entertaining. How else
can you explain how dee sport-
ing goods people have managed
to sell so many millions of those
instruments of torture to an un-
suspecting public.
I've got one. I bought it sec-
ond hand from a friend f don't
remember what 1 paid,. but it
was too much considering how
much i use it. My first impres-
sions were that the saddle was
too overstuffed and wide to al-
low proper pedalling, so 1 re-
placed it with a real bicycle sad-
dle. I then got rid of the u frigln
handlebars and the rubber block
pedals in favour of more .realisti-
cally useful parts.
Despite my attempts to make
real torture
it more like a real bicycle. I still
could not simulate the freedom
and joy that com'froni cruis-
ing streets:. .roatcl5.hc lcth-
'sion adjustment only 9hcre cs
or decreases the sensation of
Hold that
thought ...
By
Adrian Harte
stomping through a boli, there is
no breeze to keep you from
sweating profusely, and the
whole thing whines loud enough
to drown out everything except
your own thoughts of Roman
galley slaves, and mediaeval tor-
ture chambers. Forget watching
television.
Foriunately, the exercise bike
folds up to hide in a corner of a
closet where I can forget 1 even
own it.
There are alternatives for those•
who wish to pedal indoors.
There is a thing called a "wind
trainer" to which you bolt your
own bicycle and pedal away.
llnlcJrtunatcly. i( _feels Jikc rid-
ing a bicycle held by a vice and
it howls like a taxiing wide-
body jet. My dad has one, and it
gels as much use. as my exercise
bike.
More rare torture devices arc
called rollers. In this case you
try to ride an unsupported bicy -
cic on drums, with only the rota-
tion of the wheels and your un-
canny sense of balance to stay
Letter iu Editor
upright. 1 tried a sct several
years ago, and if you think they
sound a little crazy and danger-
ous, you're only halfway..there.
You certainly don't get bored.on
rollers. Thr admnalin pounds
through your veins just from the
sheer terror of straying off the
50 -centimetre wide drums.
So trying to- use a bicycle in-
doors is not such a great idea.
What about all those people who
become convinced that a rowing
machine is a better solution''
How many people bought one
who have never rowed in a rac-
ing shell, so who convinced
them it would be fun to squirm
on the Boor, bathed in perspira-
tion',
With enough money and delu-
sion, one could easily put to-
gether a home tonurc chamber
complete with an electronic ex-
ercise bike, a rowing machine.
stair stepper, cross-country ski
simulator. and all mariner ol be
zarrc contraptions designed to
make fitness an artificial expert
dice.
I do get .1 glimpse irorrl time to
time ol people who have a tetter
idea. Instead .01 trying to lake
fitness indoors. they put on
long -johns and sweaters and ride
nal mountain _bikes through the
snow . slush and gravel u, Mem'
grcmonths between the ski
season and the genuine warns
weather.
"final sounds like they Iounti a
better way to go. So 11 anyone
out burr is looking lor cur,
.cnrent. foldable, easy -to -Ute
hums fitness machine ..or a boar
anchor...you know where to fi nl
me.
Wad to live in Exetw
Dear Edger:
I hope this article will make
your readers realize is it did us.
dust how lucky we are, in times
such as these, to be protected by
people in our local businesses and
crur own Exeter Town Pdicc
Force.
Last week a caring employee of
MacLeans Home Hardware called
to tell us an article we had ordeied
had come in. In the process since
both my husband and I were out of
town that day, our answering ser-
vice picked up the call. Somehow
in the middle of the row -ding the
phone in the basement fell off the
vat? making it„tagtted to. the cm-
ploycc of Mac
Leans that some-
thing had hap-
pened to the per1110
son on the other
end of the line. Can
you imagine hear-
ing a voice, then all of a sudden
crash -boom no ten; at the other gad
of the line. Immediately Chief
Harkness of thetxetcr Detachment
was informed of the incident. In-
vestigating the home, finding only
locked doors and garage he pt+o-
cceded to question the neighbours
to the where -abouts of the resi-
dents. Getting the rums of a rela-
tive he .celled to see how he could
either enter the house with our
breaking locks or verify tihat stn
homeowners were safe.
When we received a Walt arum,
Chief HwIcuess, I was alarmed at
first but only to later feel rclJev ••
that such an incident would ever lk
investigated. r. J
Our hats go off to this concerned
citizen end persistent officer 1
think both of ,,these parties should
be recommended for their act. of
!Concern fur other people's well
Wing.
Signed, Glad to Live in Exeter
hayloft Al Case