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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Goderich Signal-Star, 1978-04-27, Page 5sijkes ti Ontario Attorney -General; Roy McMurtry, wasn't the least bit im- pressed with the recent hockey wars between the Toronto Maple Leafs and the New York Islanders, that were passed off as sport to a coast to coast audience. The province's top legal man, although cringing from the barbaric tactics employed by the teams, said there was nothing in last Sunday's game to warrant criminal charges. But the man who stepped in on the Leafs -Philadelphia Flyers quarter -final match two years ago, that resulted in three charges being laid against three of the Flyers, said last week's hockey display was chippy and distressing because of the enormous influence it had on young, impressionable hockey players across the country. What is it exactly, that has McMurtry steaming under his protective cup? kze Well, McMurtry is incensed that our country's up-and-coming Gordon Howes and Guy Lafleurs, through television exposure, will go the way of Tiger Williams or (gasp) Dave Schultz, per- petrators of pugilism, hockey mer- cenaries. Undoubtedly Canadian minor hockey league players have already been in- fluenced by the he-man brand of hockey. Hockey is a fast game and hitting is a necessary part of it. But even crowds and spectators will groan with . delight as an oversized defenceman bangs a speedy winger into the boards or an unsuspecting forward is slammed into the glass, leaving bits of his anatomy lodged into the boards. But McMurtry is justifiably concerned that our minors are taking mental notes as they watch NHLers perform minor brain surgery in the slot with a Sher- brooke number 5. • G' F GODERICH SIGNAL -STAR, THURSDAY, APRIL 27, 1978—PAGE 5 Why if McMurtry had his way would NHL goalers not be permitted to inflict massive welts on the upper torsoes of opposing players for merely skating near the net? If McMurtry could bring the law into the rinks, would an unsuspecting defenceman be given a minor penalty for performing an appendectomy with his Koho to keep the slot area in front of his goaltender void of enemy attackers? Under such stringent regulations our professional combatants would have to he wary (just for a second mind you) of laying a two -hander across the haircut of an opponent, who was streaking in alone on the net, for fear of a two -minute slashing infraction. Would hockey reach the point where slashing, a high stick across the nose, an accidental elbow in the eye or a butt - end to the lower rib cage would be confined to play outside the vision of the referee? Should our attorney -general extend his jurisdiction to the rinks, then all that crash, bang, rip, tear and sockem stuff would have to be done on the sly. Unless, of course, one's goaltender is being mildly harassed by an opposing forward, in which case decapitation is condoned, with perhaps a minor penalty for un- sportsmanlike conduct). McMurtry is of the 'opinion that such tactics should be banned from hockey, but in what state would that leave our national sport? The game would be reduced to crisp passing and playmaking with furious end to end rushes as speedy wingers could con- descend on an opposing goal without fear of a crippling check. It couldn't work. Who would watch a hockey game if there were no promise of at least three major bouts with the oc- casional minor skirmish and the chance to view players writhing on the ice in pain. THE WEEK AFTER INFORMATION, BACKGROUND AND OPINION The Ontario Liberal and New Democratic Parties have threatened to force an election in the Province over the Conservative Government's planned 371/2 per cent increase in the cost of OHIP. Opposition members of the committee on social development approved a motion demanding that the Government drop its planned 371/2 per cent increase in OHIP premiums for the rest of the yar. The motion gave the government until last Tuesday to come up with another way to raise the $271 million it needs for OHIP. The alternative could be based on Liberal ideas put forward last week or PROVINCIAL POINTS other suggestions the government might have. If , th,e Conservative Government ignores the committee decision, Liberal leader Stuart Smith said he will move a non -confidence motion. The New Democratic Party, which voted in favor of the original motion to drop the in- crease for the rest of the year, would then have to vote with the Liberals to defeat the government or face ac- cusations of reversing its decision. Smith said that the intention of the two opposition parties is to make the government move but if Treasurer, Darcy McKeough refuses to yield on his It has been rather chic these days to reflect on the 10 years that Pierre Trudeau has been Prime Minister of our country. Newspapers, magazines, periodicals,radio and television have all, offered racy bits on the Trudeau tenure and the opposition parties in the House seized the opportunity to congratulate the PM on his anniversary. Last week the opposition said the government stands indicted for failing to assist the poor during the 10 years Trudeau has been in office. Trudeau, defending his government on the 10th anniversary of his swearing-in, rejected the charges and said the stand, then the possibility of an election is imminent. Although, it is an election most legislators would like to avoid. Six Liberals and six NDP members on the committee voted to adopt the motion defeating six Conservatives on the committee. McKeough has offered to extend Government premium subsidies to more people who pay their own premiums but have low incomes. But he gave no. indication on doing anything further on the major money making scheme introduced in his budget. Neither of the opposition leaders want to back down off their stand after strongly opposing the OHIP premium increases for a month, creating the risk of an election unless the Conservatives back off. When the committee report is raised in the Legislature, the Government will likely adjourn debate on it. The op- position would likely go along with that move until the Government has a chance to examine some options. Late last ,week the minority Con- servative Government left the door open to back off from the health insurance increase rather than face a provincial election, that could coincide with a federal election. Government House Leader, Robert CANADA IN SEVEN number of' people below the poverty line has been reduced during his ad- ministration. The exchanges came in another noisy commons debate period that saw more opening shots for an election campaign. Opposition leader Joe Clark accused the government of heartlessly taking money out of the hands of one of the poorest groups in the country - 2,500 elderly widows. James McGrath, PC member for St. Johns, quoted a study to accuse the government of failing to improve the situation of the poor. The report by the C.D. Howe Research Institute, an economics organization in Montreal, said the governments income redistribution programs since 1970 have failed to improve the position of the poor relative to the rest of the population. Trudeau said the report was the study of one professor and did nothing to disprove his statements in recent months that he has cut poverty in half since he came to power. He said Statistics Canada figures show the number of Canadians living below the poverty line has dropped to 10.5 percent compared with 19.5 a decade ago. Trudeau admitted there might be some confusion over the definition of the term poverty. If the poverty line is adjusted to show the increased cost of living, it is fair to say the government halved poverty during the last 10 years. And Trudeau sad that was progress. McGrath sug'g'ested the prime minister ask the five million living in poverty what they think of the statistics,' He demanded the government establish a poor person index, which would show how many Canadians are really living in poverty and would show what impact government policies for the poor are having. Clark said special attention should be directed toward the country's 2,500 Welch told opposition House leaders that McKeough's widening of premium assistance benefits for low income people, who pay their own premiums, was not the government's final response in the dispute. The message delivered by Welch to the opposition parties appears' to have come from the office of Premier Bill Davis. Davis said that the Government was not finished considering alternatives in the" OHIP matter. McKeough did not back off his stand on the premium increase voluntarily but elderly widows - a group referred to by the Advisory Council on the Status of Women as the poorest of the poor. Clark said elderly women are dealt a double blow. The widows Clark refers to are those who lose their husbands before they reach retirement age. They normally fall in the 60 to 65 age category, which makes them ineligible for retirement benefits. As long as their retired, husbands are alive they receive a spouse's pension from the federal government as well as the husband's retirement benefits and pension When the man dies, however, rather it seems at the insistence of Davis and the loss of the major revenue, measure from his budget raised questions about his future, But Davis claimed that McKeough's position was as secure as that of any person in politica] life. NDP leader Michael Cassidy, who has been the party leader for only ten weeks and might ha -ie. the most to lose in' an early election, stood firm on his party's long' standing opposition to health premiums'. Cassidy said the heat is on the Government to back off or face an election. the spouse's allowance is cut off. Health Minister Monique Begin said Clark used melodramatics' and false economic assumptions. She said it would cost millions of dollars to provide the spouse's allowance. She admitted that such a program would cost $1.4 million the first year and would jump to $5 or $6 million in two years. The Minister said she is doing her best to help all Canadians in the 60-65 age category, not just widows. The cost of a program to help this age group would be $600 million and she doubted she could get the MPs'approval to spend that much on social programs. 41411111110a4t., The Red Brigades, abductors of for- mer Italian Premier Aldo Moro, claimed last week that the 61 -year-old politician was still alive and gave the government 48 hours to release an unspecified number of Communists prisoners in exchange for his life. In a two-page typewritten message issued to newspapers in four Italian cities the group denounced previous statements in which Moro was said to have been killed and hisbody dumped in a remote mountain lake. Authorities searched the lake by plane but it was still frozen -and there were only a few !) WORLDWEEK animal tracks on the surface. The message, believed to be authentic, was accompanied by a photograph showing Moro holding an edition of a Rome daily newspaper. Also, as evidence that he was still alive, Moro sent a letter to Christian Democratic Party secretary, Benign() Zaccagnini. The letter arrived last Wednesday • evening and was im- mediately handed over to police. The contents of the letter were not revealed. News of receipt of the letter, said to have been signed by Moro, was released at the end of a five-hour summit meeting You think it's tough working for your boss you should try working for your child. Tough, uncompromising, tireless and eager. Four combinations in a boss that can make life miserable for an employee who wishes they were somewhere else. When I started to fix my daughter's bicycle the other day I wished I was somewhere else and she simply wouldn't take no for an answer. Nothing could be said to sway her. The bike was going to be fixed and that was it. All this from a four year old. It began with the spring like weather. She started to play outside more and more and spotted her bike in the corner 'of the garage. She wanted to go for a ride but discovered that the bike needed training wheels and a seat, two things I meant to look after during the winter. She wouldn't buy the argument that there simply wasn't enough time during of the Christian Democratic Party and government leaders. In their ultimatum, the terrorists did not mention any names of prisoners whose release they hope to obtain. There are more than 200 left-wing extremists in Italian jails and 15 of the Red Brigades founders are being tried on charges of subversion. In their new message, the seventh since the kid- napping in which Moro's five bodyguards were killed a month ago, the Red Brigades demanded a clear and definite answer from the ruling Democrats. the winter to fix the bike and wanted it shipshape immediately. I don't know wnat happened to the training wheels and there was some problem with the seat but I couldn't remember what. I really wanted to put her oj'f because she has a new bike comingfor her bir- thday and I figured if I could stall until August I wouldn't have to work on the old one. Forget it. �r Rather than try and con the child my wife decided to give her the new bike now so she can get use out of it during the summer. Figuring all that was needed was to carry the bike out of the basement I readily agreed. The new bike had more adjustments than the old tihe. The training wheels were missing (I don't know where they are either), the seat needed adjustment, the handlebars had to be switched with the old bike and blocks were needed for the'pedals. -If the Red Brigades do not get some clear and definite action from the government they say the death sentence already pronounced by the people's court on Moro will be carried out. The photograph, in black and white, showed Moto in shirtsleeves, shaven and in seemingly better condition than in the one released by his abductors two days after the kidnapping. In front of him was, a copy of a newspaper with the headline: Moro Assassinated? , But the photograph did not show Moro's hands actually holding the newspaper, raising the possibility a picture of the paper had been taken and superimposed over the photograph of Moro to make it appear he was alive. The latest communique set off a sigh of relief among Italians, who feared the Christian Democratic party president had already been killed. But it has also created an anguishing situation for the government, which has, until now refused to negotiate with the terrorists. The Christian Democrats called an emergency meeting to discuss the latest. development but did not make any of- ficial comment. The. Communists repeated their resection of the Red Brigades blackmail and do not want to make any kind of deal with the group. Police called off their two-day search for Moro's body after release of the news. They had been searching in the snowbound Abruzzi mountain area where they had been led by terrorists on a presumably false alarm, A message supposedly from the Red Brigades claimed that Moro had been executed and his body dropped into Lake Duchessa, which searchers later discovered was frozen over and the only sign of life on the lake was a few animal tracks across the frozen surface. After explaining all this to my daughter she looked at me and said "so„ What I was trying to say to her was that I really didn't want to get involved in all that rjght now and would get to it - on the weekend. She didn't buy that so I explained to her that some parts would have to be- picked up at the store and'I couldn't get to the store. She didn't buy that either so,I dropped the subject and to my surprise so did my daughter, until the following morning. My wife called and said she was trying to make some adjustments to the hike. 1 still hesitated because I really was busy but theh I envisioned the bike laying on the living room floor in more pieces than I cared to think of. I said 1 would he right there. Finally giving up I went and tried to fix the bike. I couldn't get the bolt loosened to switch the handlebars and it ended up stripped. I couldn't budge the handlegrip and ended up cutting it off. I couldn't get the seat low enough and ended up ,.having to get some pedal blocks ac'id I still can't find the training wheels. ' Putting my daughter off for another couple of hours while her mother went out for parts I slipped away to return to work. My daughter however, is con- fident the job will finally get done and to ensure that she went with her mother to buy the parts. As soon as they get home I have no doubt the phone will ring and I will be away from the desk for a service call. The whole job should only take 15 minutes but then comes thenext task. Teaching her how to ride it. 14er cousin doesn't need training wheels and I have little doubt that within a week my daughter will be wanting her bike altered which means taking off the training wheels. Now let's see, what can I tell her? •j efF Seddon 'l 1 0