HomeMy WebLinkAboutTimes Advocate, 1995-10-04, Page 4Page 4 Times -Advocate, October 4, 1995
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EDITOR 'REAL.
Try to imagine being on the losing side
hat's sauce for the goose is sauce
for the gander. Or is it? Canadians from
coast to coast are losing patience with
what's happening in this country.
They have no time for the endless
whining of those Quebecers who want to
separate from Canada. They are intolerant
of First Nations people in British
Columbia, in Ontario, in Quebec, in New
Brunswick who are agitating for what they
consider to be their rights.
Many Canadians are growing more
belligerent and vengeful with each passing
day as the problems of the French in
Quebec and the Indians in many parts of
the land are chronicled in the news.
What's wrong? Why this constant and
bitter struggle between the Quebec
Separatist and other Canadians? Why do
our native people complain and rebel
though Canadian taxpayers pour millions
of dollars every year into their
communities?
The average three -generation English
speaking Canadian is unable to fathom the
answers to these questions because they
have always been on the winning team.
They have never been, nor can they ever
be, a part of the defeated French and native
minority in Canada.
Despite the fact their ancestors were ,
German or Dutch or Swiss or
Scandanavian, they came to Canada after
the First Peoples had been subdued and
after the English had defeated the French.
Though their ancestors were once in the
minority too, they had no history with
Canada - they simply threw in with the
majority and became part of it.
Their children were born to the majority.
They gave little thought to the conquered
minorities - the Indians and the French who
were here long before them. They set about
as the majority to make the laws, set the
pace and build the nation, assuming that in
time everyone would assimilate and be
satisfied.
Some did give up and give in. But many
did not - and according to Lucien Bouchard,
never will.
If today's average Canadian is having
difficulty understanding that, he needs only
to think how he feels when more recent
newcomers to Canada arrive here to
demand change in our Canadian mores and
traditions.
Consider the frustration and the anger that
still exists among Canadians over just one
Mounted Police officer who asked to be
permitted to wear a turban instead of a
stetson with his regulation scarlet tunic.
Imagine if you can, the extent of that
frustration and anger if the Canadian people
had to bear the equivalent of thousands of
turbans in the Royal Canadian Mounted
Police over decades of protest. That
exercise should provide insight into the way
some of the French and much of the native
population view their Canadian brothers in
1995.
What's sauce for the goose is not always
sauce for the gander. It's a fact of life that
Canadians of all backgrounds must accept if
we're ever going to have a truly united
Canada.
Goderich Signal Star
Your Views
Letters to the editor
Death penalty reinstatement
"Is it not time you called your MP
and informed him to get off his
"high horse..."
Dear Editor:
It would seem very strange, that during the sum-
mer recess, the Minister of Justice would advocate
that it is not within, either, the agenda of the Liberal
Party or that of himself, to even consider the rein-
statement of the death penalty.
I state this as a voter and citizen, whose wishes
and desires, a Member of Parliament has been put in
Ottawa, to fulfill. They may state it is not within
their agenda; I merely say "who cares"; is it not the
agenda of the "people" for which they are to repre-
sent?
We, the People, are tired of the "so-called" intel-
lectuals who state that capital punishment is not a
deterrent to capital crimes. Let us say for the mo-
ment that they arc right. It is not a deterrent to that
first murder, but how many ex -criminals leave pris-
on to commit the same crime. It would definitely be
a deterrent to that second murder, as the criminal in
question, would have already been hung.
The people are fatigued with all the "lame -duck"
excuses used by the so-called "Members of Power."
The Government is busy trying to cut Medicare ex-
penses, while still paying over $60,000 each a year,
for undesirable garbage such as Clifford Olsen and
Paul (Teale) Bernardo.
Is it not time you called your MP and informed
him to get off his high horse and listen to the con-
stituents in every riding in the country. The majority
want Capital Punishment reinstated. Since they were
put in office by the people within your, their riding
to fulfill their wishes and act upon them, why do
they not do as they wish? Inform them to put their
own personal agendas in the garbage, and act upon
the wishes of the people who put them there.
G. Trude!!
Hamilton, Ontario
A View From
TORONTO - Ontario's opposition Liberals
have not had much to cheer about lately, but
they have been offered a faint glimmer of hope
in an unusual candidate for leader.
Sean Conway, who was deputy leader when
Lyn McLeod was trampled by Mike Harris's
Progressive Conservatives in the June election,
has the most impressive credentials on paper of
any leadership candidate in a couple of dec-
ades.
Conway, an MPP for 20 years although still
only 44, has been generally acknowledged for
most of that time as the.best orator in the legis-
lature.
It was Conway who described the circumlo-
cutious speaking style of the Tory premier,
William Davis, as 'like the old Cononial Rail-
way, which twisted and turned, chugged up hill
and down dale and meandered through the re-
motest sidings before eventually reaching its
destination.'
When earlier Tory governments gave most of
their summer jobs to party members, Conway
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ef.T.laleti210etta
ters
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./.1/41r,:�r> Hy'1eatfla~r;A4ir�
Walking is one of the easi-
est and for me the most plea-
surable ways to get some ex-
ercise while enjoying a
pleasant conversation and
perhaps an interesting view.
Running can be aggravating
to joints but walking is a low
impact activity which can
still provide a good cardio-
vascular workout if the heart
rate is increased sufficiently.
Experts believe the. heart
rate should reach about 70
per cent of maximum heart
rate. To determine this, sub-
tract your age from 220 beats
a minute, then take 70 per
cent of this figure.
By walking vigorously
three times a week for 45
minutes, blood pressure can
be lowered by improving the
heart's efficiency. Strength-
ening your heart will also
Walk for health
lower resting heart rate,
which means less work for
the muscle.
Walking is an activity
which can be integrated into
daily routines with relative
ease. If you own a dog, you
probably already walk and
the length and intensity can
be increased gradually. By
choosing to walk to work or
when running errands, this
moderate exercise can help to
fight illnesses such as dia-
betes, osteoporosis and ath-
erosclerosis (narrowed arter-
ies).
Diabetes is reaching epi-
demic levels today in North
America. According to medi-
cal research, 90 per cent of
diabetes is due to lifestyle.
Every 40 seconds, a new dia-
betic is diagnosed.
Exercise can help to reduce
- l.tt � �.�.�,.•
'
the main cause of diabetes,
obesity. The ability to me-
tabolize sugar is compro-
mised by obesity. Exercise
has been found to improve
glucose tolerance even with-
out a decrease in weight.
Attacks of migraines were
found to be cut in half when
sufferers were started on an
exercise program which in-
cluded walking for 30 min-
utes, three times a week.
Walking has been found to
lower the demineralization of
bones and it is an excellent
way to fight •osteporosis.
Walking also oxygenates
blood which is brought to the
muscles and "oils" the cardio-
vascular system, decreasing
the risk of a blood clot that
can travel to the heart, Lungs
or brain.
quipped 'there are more young Tories in Al-
gonquin Park this year than deer' and he de-
scribed an abrasive New Democrat leader, Mi-
chael Cassidy, as 'an ice -cube wrapped in
sandpaper.'
Conway was so admired the federal Liberals
drafted him in the 1984 election to travel the
country and introduce and warm up audiences
for then price minister John Turner and listen-
ers liked Conway more than Turner.
Conway was house leader and education min-
ister when the Liberals were in government.
MPPs still commonly stay in the legislature to
listen to him, a tribute Accorded few, and apolo-
gize they may not be able to match him when
forced to follow in debate. Only the current
NDP leaderand former premier Bob Rae
comes close to rivalling Conway's way with
words.
On the debit side, Conway's classic oratory
with its long, flowing, grammatical sentences,
well marshalled arguments, historical referenc-
es and colorful phrases is a bit out of fashion,
Under new management
particularly because snappy one-liners suit TV
better, and he needs substance as well as patter,
which McLeod's Liberals were short of. But he
would give Harris, who is not strong on rheto-
ric, a good run in any argument.
Conway also passed up several earlier oppor-
tunities to run for leader. He could have run
theoretically when Stuart Smith was chosen in
1976. Both entered the legislature at the same
time.
Conway would have been a credible candi-
date when David Peterson became leader in
1982 and later premier and would have won in
a walk in 1992 but encouraged McLeod to run,
which also casts doubt on his judgement be-
cause she was outmaneuvered by Hams. Con-
way as well has mused often about leaving pol-
itics for a new career.
All this suggests Conway lacks ambition to
be leader and staying power. He says he is run-
ning for leader this time because he has been
shocked by Harris's 'radical conservatism and
mean spirit' in cutting services built over dec-
ades by parties including the Tories and could
never have got so worked up at earlier, moder-
ate Tories led by Davis and John Robarts.
Even more intriguing is why someone who
turned down leadership when polls were more
encouraging would feel he has a chance of de-
feating a party that won by a landslide in June.
Conway points to possibilities that Harris's
cuts will offend many who by the next election
will have had enough of being governed suc-
cessively by extremist parties in the Harris To-
ries and NDP.
The NDP having had a turn at government
also has lost its ability to promise paradise and
is losing its stitr turn, Rae, torn by griping and
not much of a rival so that voters will turn to
Liberals expressing balance, moderation, com-
passion and tolerance.
This scenario is imaginative as one might ex-
pect from a master story -teller, but it still can-
not be written off as pure romantic fiction.