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HomeMy WebLinkAboutTimes Advocate, 1993-11-03, Page 61ltt6 Allisine4111111111Ne, November.$;lillt3 "1111Mr: JIM ttlsdlittt r.Matlaa fir. asaarwarte imimmimpaimprseirtainn 1 • i0113.. felev a.Iesnerwwd AireiallMlailluellkositipmesso *moo pas**7.O4.4.T. ousib suit tai li venony siptcwsrlwlesf sspei. 1111111.1111.1.111111100 (total 00.00) + 4.20 O.S.T. 11001111111101161000$14.00 t ) tp.) D1 til "Men are never so likely to settle a question rightly as when they discuss it freely." ... 'T'homas Meoeveley PuuMMd Hos Wediiesday Mof,Mig at 42411th 14., i0r.ter, ewli>illo, ?OM ire by J W.telt Publkontilie LW. 'tisl.puau. lAts 2ssssSi es.1-.1.0111mtaess Where's Ontario's opposition? 117 ith Jean Chretien's Liberals still a government -in -waiting, there is little the public can do to ponder the re- sults of last week's election, except to over -analyse the numbers. And yet those numbers are quite fas- cinating. The near-complete sweep of the Conservatives and NDPfrom Rar- liatnent has captured:the,attentions:A most political pundits and mucks:tithe local coffee shop chatter. •Theneal question is whatbas been left in1h it 'place. The official opposition is now a party without one seatioutside Quebec. If Lucien Bouckarddaes:on .the full re- sponsibilityDf-bis!iffice,:etanAtte main- tain€hissepraratist:agenda? How easy is it toitmrnidown a system that provides youcandial1 your MPs with the perks imckprivilegesoaf being Her Majesty's _Loyal Opposition? . -Theiunofficial opposition, Preston Manning's 'Reformers failed to :gain.any more.thansix seats. west of Alberta, de- spite.Bapturing a healthy chunk :of the -p©pulartiote. Cantheytruly speak out .for all ofCumadatany.better than the Bloc? -TheliberaIrsoronghold is, of course, Ontario's:98kseats. 'That sounds a_little :unusual considering that the Liberals .have -traditionally been more of:a Le- bec -centred party than their rival -Con- servatives. They are noW the voice of central Canada and the Maritimes, and fairly weak in Quebec. There are advantages to having Onta- rio so well represented in the majority government, but it also has its pitfalls. Consider that when Brian Mulroney's to - ::ries were ruling the roost, local Liberal :opposition members like Joe Fontana in _London East and Ralph Ferguson in Lambton-Middlesex could be counted '-on to complain loudly when they ;smelled a rat. When the Conservatives .:tcame.up with policies, legislation, gov- lernment contracts, or spending cuts that specifically.affected Ontario, those two would speak up for this region. While some may doubt their effective- ness -against Me Conservative majority, if asked, they are sure .to say they be- lieve they made a difference. Where are Ontario's watchdogs now? One Reform MP in Simcoe Centre sure- ly isn't enough to be heard over the 98 Liberals toeing the party policy line. The challenge is therefore Preston Manning's to prove his party cares about the whole nation, Ontario included. Bouchard cannot be counted on to do it for us. The challenge is also there for the Lib- erals to become their own opposition and look at both sides of policies that .af- fe.ct,Ontario:iat tsiness,.industry, jobs, and .social :prc sutra:'" Cre may be no one else in Question Period to do it for them. A.D11. Exeter council to oppose plan "Of course, no such arrangement is perfect... Dear Editor: Re: County of Huronyo(gig Stec As you know, the County has proposed a change in its voting structure, in part, to reduce the cumber of individuals who attend County Council and thereby stream -line the operations and cut costs. Ex- eter Council supports these objectives completely, without hesitation. We are. however, very concerned with the plan to assign only one vote to each municipality reproaett- ed at Council. There is certainly precedence and ex - S1 Wine examples of this arrangement, but our County's history has stressed the need for accounta- bility and representation to be assigned on a propor- tional basis to be fair and just. Of course. no such ar- rangement is perfect because geography, population and economic factors all come into play, but the plan of multiple votes based on population is a rea- sonable compromise, in our opinion. Exeter will oppose the play, and we ask for your support to meet the county objectives while at the ..name time safe -guarding the principle of adequate tcpreaentation by the municipalities. Yrpurs very truly, lime Shaw, Mayor Peter's .Foint 4° By Peter „Ic:;sr:J "Alex, time to get out of the shower!" I always started out with a friendly reminder. A couple of years ago we installed an energy- saving shower head m the kids' Whmom to cut down the hot-water on. It didn't work. Because 20 minutes r the energy saver used the same amount of hot water as 10 minutes under the normal shower head. The trouble was, the kids - especially Alex - didn't know when to quit. After ten minutes, l knocked on the door and shouted. After fifteen minutes 1 knocked again and yelled. After twenty Minutes I got mad, and 1 could feel my blood pressure tieing. No more of that. We've fixed the problem now. 'Thanks to an iogenious idea tbat.appeare,d to me in a dream, we now have the fust remote shower control (patented under the panne of Showennot&M) in the country. It is relatively simple and istexpensive. I had Fred the electroinagician convert an aid TV re- mote control for use with the shower. It works like this. As soon as Alex steps into the bathtub and starts the shower, 1 switch on the Showermote7M and set the timer button to 10 (for ten minutes). Automatically the timer reduces the amount of water. This gives Alex an opportunity to rinse the shampoo out of his hair, or whatever. One minute lir, the water flow is cut down to a trickle. 30 seconds later it shuts off. Shower- moten4 prevents the water hem being turned on again for 15 minutes. Readers who would like to own a Shower - mote.' may write to me in cane of this paper (please enclose no money). They may also be interested in an adaptation of this gadget, which I use in restaurants. 11 is simply .called SpasitaT'''. It helps to ensure quick service from people we used to rall.waiters and waitreases. Since the *naval of politica) correct- ness. we mast address them as servers. Let's say were sating at Pi's, and we've just bad our soup or salad. Now Duncan wants an �t thought... Hy Adrian Harte Life on the fringes Perhaps one of the more en- joyable aspects of the federal -election campaign forme was the chance to:meet with most of the candidates running in this re- gion. As reporters, we send to . forget the majority of people en- tering the polling booths have met only one or two, if any of the candidates listed on the bal- lot. Much has been -made, and will be made, of the outcome of the election. How the electoral map of the country has been re- drawn, and so forth. But.per- haps an equally interesting as- pectwas the.largenumbers of candidates most people found on their ballots, representing parties they had ;heard little or nothing about. Because I turned up early for one all candidates meeting (so did a few candidates as there was some confusion about the start time) I .had a rare opportu- nity to stand around and chat with some of the so-called fringe party representatives. I have to admit I used to feel an overabundance of candidates, several of which have the tiniest chance of being elected, only clogged up the system. They distracted voters from the main issues, they made debates and town hall meetings clumsy and awkward by giving people eight or nine answers to the same question. Now I'm not so sure. I found it hard to talk candidly with most of the main line party representatives. They recited fa- miliar party policies with pre- dictable regularity. They had carefully rehearsed statements about their track records, their commimients to voters, and all other things they dare not stray from when tallcing to a member of the•local press. All fine fel- lows to be sure, but it's hard to scratch that hard gloss finish. The fringe candidates, howev- er, were lots of fun. Most don't come from parties with an offi- cial answer for everything. When asked for an opinion, they sometimes come up with one of their own. They don't mind dis- agreeing with their leaders; none of them expect to get elect- ed anyway. That's true. they really don't harbour any illu- sions about becomiteMPs. As far atey're concerned, they're just there to make sure their fa- vourite issues are raised at each and every meeting. Some day, they dream, one or two of them will actually be elected, and be able to raise those same ques- tions in Parliament, whether about the environment, Chris- tian ethics, free enterprise, trade agreements, personal liberties, or what have you. We've all heard the fears about a balkanized Parliament, paralyzed by having too many dissenting voices. But it seems to me those who fear that the most are the mainstream parties. At last count, our government has five parties on the benches, and one independent. We'll sec just how unworkable a splin- tered house really is. The fringe candidates really are more fwi. I discovered the Green Party candidate had a di- lemma on his hands. He didn't have a driver's license, being op- posed to automobiles; but he needed to be driven to meetings throughout the riding, particu- larly since his bicycle had been stolen a few days before. I also shook hands with a Marxist- Leninist. I couldn't help but wonder if CSIS had snapped my picture at that instant, and it's .now on file somewhere in Otta- wa. No, I shouldn't joke about such things; but there is definite- ly something more fun about hanging around those who don't make politics quite sodullas their opponents. And what about thar4t thee-' icy. You nw,.thoee_--. spent a fortune on convincing the country that by hiring 7,000 guys to bounce around on their behinds, the country's problems would disappear. Doug Hen- ning said he could make the der' icit disappear like he made an elephant disappear. Trouble is, does anyone believe.the ele- phant was really gone? Here, in Huron -Bruce, I know . no one who met the candidate, whose photo didn't even appear on party literature, and he still got 242 votes. If you add up the number of supermarket tabloid buyers who still believe Elvis is alive, the party certainly has room to grow. The fringe cannot be ignored. They are getting votes. If you add up all the non -mainstream votes in any riding and add them to the second place candi- date's total, you'll see what 1 mean. That back row in Parlia- ment may have to make room for more than just those two Conservatives. Rem control isthe answer other glass of water, and Stephanie needs a new fork (because Alex dropped hers on the floor). I no longer have to erase my neck trying to catch `jute server's eye. Instead, I discreetly push the Limber 1 button of Sparks7" . Electrornagically the server receives a rather pleasant but distinct 3 volt electrical shock and at -1io signal ;,pointing out at which table slime is wanted. In- stant attention is usually forthcoming Let's say we're finished our meal including dessert, and Elizabeth or 1 would like the bill (we sometimes take toms). And let's say the number 1 button didn't impress ess the server who may have a lendencYtitWow4kopmegio the Other weak signal. 'rime for button number 2, which sends an 8 volt message and a more urgent audio signal. 8 volts arc certainly not painful. It's roughly what you suffer when you inadvertently climb over a farmer's a electro.fence.-But most people try to avoid arch contact. However, for the sake of explaining the new device, let's assume our server doesn't respond, • ,and we are forced to press button number 3. if you can imagine your average restaurant serv- er with a lively, crackling chain of pretty yel- low sparks flowing between hnerhis hands and rears, you've got the picture. We usually get pri- ority over other guests. Fred and 1 arc working on other adaptations. In time for thrisunas shopping, we hope to have a version ready that makes deparunent scare clerks leave their employee lounges and come running to help us find what we're look- ing for. 'People who fail to answer the telephone mes- sage 1,left or their answering machine may find it to their advantage to dial my nwnber before I push button number 1 on Tekmote . And ob- noxious drivers sticking to the left lane of a faint four -lane highway will move over soon after.l use RoaarnoteW to let tbum know what 1 tipink of them. pppor1wnilies for forliter.itilitpialiallsAre 4