Zurich Citizens News, 1975-06-26, Page 4PAGE 4
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ZURICH CITIZENS NEWS
THURSDAY, JUNE 26, 1975
Finding a name for July 1
Who can honestly say living in a nation which isn't a world power
doesn't have its advantages.
While the United States is busy tackling all the world's problems,
Canada single-handedly takes on the real problems that threaten
the daily existence of 22,000,000 troubled Canadians.
And Canadian newspapers shove Cambodia and the Middle East
off the front pages to cover these earth -shaking debates and Canad-
ian editorial writers forget inflation and lack of housing mom-
entarily to express opinions on these matters to grave inportance.
What is the issue of our times? From those same folks on Parlia-
ment Hill who brought us the never -shattering Flag debate of
1964 and the "It's them or us" American football on
Canadian soil controversy of 1974 now comes the What Do We Call
Our National Holiday bally-hoo of 1975.
Yes sir, folks, this latest of Parliament productions makes the
Flag debate look like the uban missile crisis and the American foot-
ball controversy resemble the fall of Saigon. This issue has the
potential, if not treated properly, of breaking up the
nation, transforming us into 10 banana republics and .sending us
all down the drain, 24 Sussex Drive and all.
Reports emanating from Ottawa note that our country's MP's
are in a dither as to what to call July 1, the anniver-
sary of Confederation.
Some Liberal MP's want to settle the issue once and for
all by formally designating the country's big national holiday as
Canada Day. It's time to do away with the long-standing, semi-
official designation Dominion Day, which some find distasteful,
they say.
The proposal has MP's bickering again over whether the word
dominion should be referred as part of the national heritage or
banished as an unhappy reminder of subservience to Britain.
For those in favor of Dominion Day, the word is not a reminder
of subservience to Britain but a word of God. Searching for a name
for a new country, Sir John A. Macdonald picked up a Bible,
opened it to the first page and selected a random verse;
"And God said, Let us make man in our image, aftr our
likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea,
and over the fowl of the air and over the cattle, and over all the earth
and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth."
Or so the story goes.
But that's mixing, religion and politics and that's like mixing oil
and water. There is nothing more non -religious than the
backstabbing and conniving of politics and there is nothing
more non-political than everyone have the same leader.
Getting back to the point, it has been argued by some who
refuse to take the controversy seriously that July 1 should be
called Day Canada in keeping with the trend towards
short, sometimes bilingual, snappy new games for federal
government departments and agencies. You know Air Canada,
Statistics Canada, Agriculture Canada, Labour Canada, even Team
Canada.
Nowadays however, people don't call July 1 Day Canada, Canada
Day, Dominion Day, Confederation Day or any other day, includ-
ing June 30. They call it the long weekend.
In the popular lingo of the day, you hear "Hey,
watcha doin on a long weekend."
So how about it? There's Long Weekend Canada, Canada
Long Weekend, Long Canada Weekend, Weekend Canada Long.
Little league woes
The United States -controlled Little League Inc., tilted its rules
• recently to shut out tiny Taiwan from this year' s baseball playoffs.
Seems Taiwan's been winning too often.
But the 'official' reason given by Little League executives is even
more hysterical. They announced they couldn't afford to ferry in
teams from far-off places because they have already blown $250.
000 in court battles last year keeping girls from playing on the
boy's teams.
Moans Moe Druick, Director of Canadian Little League
Inc., 'everytime we were sued by a mother wanting her daughter
on a boys' team we had to hire a lawyer to answer it.'
As Montreal sports columnist John RFobertson acidly put it,
'if there's anything more demeaning than losing to a bunch of
Orientals --it' s exposing America's red-blooded young athletes
to potential defeat by the pre -teen feminist movement.'
Robertson said the whole infantile controversy makes him want
to 'throw up.'
Isn't it time Canadian coaches and parents laughed the entire
pressure -cooker, win -mad -Little League system clear out of exist-
ence. We should set up more community leagues to serve ALI
boys and girls interested in playing team sports --teach them exp-
ertise, sportspeopleship--and let them have some FUN.
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InternationalScene
(BY RAYMOND
A LONG WAY FROM HOME
If some told me some day
that I would be writing an art-
icle in a hotel overlooking the
Tigris River inBaghdad, I would
have laughed at him. I am not
laughing now since that is precis-
ely what I am doing. My room
is thank -fully air-conditioned so
that I can do it in relative comf-
ort because the first thing I
found out about Baghdad when I
got here is that it gets hot,
very hot. Even at midnight
it's hot.
In case you are wondering why
I am here in the first place,
let me assure you that it was not
simply a matter of looking for
a new place to visit. I have long
got past the stage of travel-
ling for the sake of going some-
where new.
My main purpose is to drum up
trade for Canada. We have a
very unfavourable balance of
trade these days and this has
been reflected in the drop in the
value of our money in relation-
ship to other currencies. What
we have to do is get out and sell,
often in competition with many
other foreign companies but we
do make good products which
can comp;ete very well in foreign
markets. However, we can't
sell them simply by sending
brochures. That is why I am here
and you will understand better
in a minute.
Let me tell you a bit about
Iraq first. It is an Arab country
situated between Syria and Iran
and in the past has sometimes
had the reputation of being the
odd man out among the Arabs.
The government is what we
would call rather left wing and
as such is very centralized.
Until recently it was having a
real battle with a Kurdish min-
ority in the northern part of the
country, a minority that was
being supported by Iran. Finally
Iraq and Iran made their peace
over the Kurds. More recently
£here has been a dispute between
Iraq and Syria with Iraq claiming,
with considerable justification,
that Syrians were holding back
tolo much of the water in the
Euphrates River before it flows
into Iraq . This dispute, too.
seems to have been settled so,
at the present time, things are
relatively peaceful.
But the big thing in Iraq is
oil. Three years ago the Iraqi
government nationalized the big
oil fields that had been run by the
Americans about six billion
dollars annually.
This is not being put into
banks or foreign real estate but
instead it is being poured into a
rapid industrial development
that is attempting to bring what
has been a relatively backward
country into a more modern
age. This means buying large
quantities of material from
other countries. That, in short, is
Independent Shipper
to
United Co-operative
of Ontario
Livestock Dept
Toronto
Ship Your Livestock
with
Roy Scotchmer
Monday Is Shipping
Day From Varna Stockyard
CALL BAYPIELD 5654636
By 7:311 a.m. Monday
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Wilmossonsumlinanl
CANNON)
the reason I am here.
If I hadn't driven in Rome and
other cities where wild drivers
are in plentiful supply, Baghdad
would terrify me. As it is, I
rely on a very friendly taxi
driver at the hotel to get me
arolund. His English isn't too
fluent but he sure knows how to
drive.
The hotel I am staying in is
adequate but not spectacular
by our standards. There are
signs of shoddy workmanship
in various places and mysterious
holes in the ceiling which, I
suspect, allows workmen to get
at such things as the air cond-
itioning.
All this is rather secondary,
for the hotel staff at the desk
and in the restaurant have been
extremely helpful and friendly,
to a degree that would put
many Canadian motels to shame.
English is the main language,
after Arabic of course, which I
do not speak and so I commun.
icate quite well with the clerks
and waiters in the hotel. Maybe
they should come and give some
Canadians a few lessons.
Iraq is, if you remember
your ancient history; the seat of
a very ancient civilization and I
hope to get some of the mus-
eums before I go to my next
stop Kuwait. In the meantime,
business and more business,
heat and more heat and the feel-
ing of being a long way from
home in a strange but fascin-
ating atmosphere.
Here is how to make a wind-
mill bank to save for a rainy day.
First, obtain a plastic coated
quart milk carton. Close the
gable and staple or seal with
tape. Cut a slit in the gable for
coins. Spray paint or cover with
self -sticking paper.
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268 Main St., Exeter
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Phone 2332433 Exeter
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