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HomeMy WebLinkAboutZurich Citizens News, 1977-02-02, Page 4Page 4 Citizens News, February 2, 1977 WHET ioti eEOPLE COMPLAINING ABauT-YOU'RE ALLOWED to Go ANYWHEfE PLEASE? Ogel- "We'll fight to the finish" Quebec Canada has a problem — a big one. Will this country remain united from sea to sea, or will Quebec separate, likely to be follow- ed by British Columbia, Alberta and who knows who else. Canadians are facing a critical point in the growth of their country, and it is very discouraging to see how this crisis is being faced by our Prime Minister, Pierre Trudeau. Mr. Trudeau has issued an ultimatum to Quebec Premier Rene Levesque. He wishes Mr. Levesque to hold a referendum on separation in Quebec immediately. If the people of Quebec vote against separa- tion, Mr. Trudeau says Mr. Levesque should resign. If the people of Quebec vote for separation, Mr. Trudeau says he will resign. The conceited arrogance of such a plan astounds us. Canada can get along without either Mr. Trudeau or Mr. Levesque and this challenge issued by our prime minister is absurd. The problem Canada is facing does not depend on the political futures of these two men. Canada's problems will not be solved by getting rid of Mr. Levesque, and Quebec's problems will not be solved by getting rid of Mr. Trudeau. It seems Mr. Trudeau has become so wrapped up in his personal power that he cannot see to the root of the problem. He seems determined to treat the symptom of Canada's problem, Mr. Levesque, than treat the causes of the problem which have led us to this point in our history. Bilingualism seems to us to be one of the basic problems Canada must face. Our constitution gives equal rights to French and English, but those rights exist only on paper. In Quebec there are severe limitations on English-speaking residents; outside Quebec there are severe limitations on French-speaking residents. Neither is willing to give the minority a chance — regardless of whether that minority speaks English or French. In Europe most people speak at least two languages and are proud of it. Why is it that in Canada we are so arrogant as to assume our language, whether French or English, is the best. To us, one solution seems to be to somehow reach the point of true bilingualism, and in this our government has failed miserably. It is money wasted if spent on trying to get adults who don't even want to speak French to take lessons to do so. The ap- proach in teaching French in our public schools has also been money wasted. When we teach our children to communicate in English we do it by speaking only English to them — complete emersion, and they learn to communicate. We give them six or seven years to learn the basic communica- tion before we bother them with difficult tenses, rules of grammar, and spelling. If we wish to become a bilingual nation, or even to stay a nation at all, it would seem obvious we must begin in earnest to teach ail children in this country both languages — and we must do it by a complete emersion process even if it is only for one hour per day. Becoming a truly bilingual country will not solve all our problems, it will not even make us unique as many countries in the world are bilingual. But it just might help us to understand the problems we face, it just might give us some pride in being that much more able to communicate with and knowledgeable about others in this country and it just might give us something to begin to build this country on. At least by saying "je suis Canadien", I am a Canadian, we can feel a positive statement of what we are. Anything would be better than our pre- sent statement of existence which goes something like, "I am a Canadian, I am not an American." FIRST WITH LOCAL NEWS NEW HOURS MONDAY, TUESDAY and FRIDAY 8:30 - 5:30 The *id by Cathy McKinley If this winter ever ends there will be exceeding great joy in my heart. I have been pushed, pulled and shoved out of more snow drifts, frozen the tips of my ears and the end of my nose more times and shovelled more snow than I have ever done before. In fact, if you added all the years of my life together I would still have shovelled more snow this winter alone. This might be a good time to say thank you very much to all those who have come to my rescue in the past couple of weeks, I know there are a lot of you. But it is not just me that people have been helping. I have heard more stories of people helping people, in fact go- ing out of their way to help other people than I could possi- ble recount. That perhaps is the onlygood thing that is coming out of all of this, the way people are pulling together and lending a helping hand. About the only other good thing I can think of that this stormy weather is causing is that in the country there is a shortage of bread and the delicious smell of fresh home -baked loaves are once again drifting out over the countryside. The numerous accidents which "'have occurred all around us over the past few days make those of us who were lucky enough to avoid them feel just a little bit humble. And believe me it is only luck which did keep most of us out of those accidents if we were driving. To be so completely cut off as you are these days if you happen to be alone in a car surrounded by a swirling wall of white is frightening. The knowledge that if anything is stopped ahead of you, you are going to hit it because you can't even see the front of your own car, the fear of stopping yourself for fear you get hit or freeze to death, the inability to see clearly enough to turn around and retreat before the storm, all of these tend to emphasize the complete dominance of the weather and our own insignificance. It is a very startling experience, but hardly unique in this land of ours. • If you are wondering why the paper is so small, or late, or without too much news, the explanation is a simple one. Nothing happened last week, from Wednesday on, everything was cancelled. Finding news where there is none is a tricky task. Did any of you happen to notice the new masthead we have started using this week? The masthead is the signature of the paper located at the top of the front page. We decided a new signature would be in order and this is what we have come up with. If you have any comments con- cerning it, either good or bad, please let me know. I would be very interested in hearing them. Well today is Ground Hog day. According to tradition, if the ground hog comes out of his burrow today and sees his shadow we will have six more weeks of winter, otherwise spring is just around the corner. Maybe there is some merit in all this snow after all, I doubt if any ground hog will even be able to tunnel. his way out of his burrow let alone stick around long enough to see his shadow. Look out spring, here we come. 11151 WITNEOCAE NEWS Published Each Wednesday By J.W. Eedy Publications Ltd. Member: Canadian Weekly Newspapers Association Ontario Weekly Newspapers Association Manager - Betty O'Brien News Editor - Cathy McKinley Second Class Mail Registration Number 1385 Subscription Rates: $7.00 per year in advance in Canada $18.00 per year outside Canada Single copies 20c