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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Times Advocate, 2006-02-08, Page 44 Exeter Times—Advocate Wednesday, February 8, 2006 =CNA Editorial Opinion TIMES ADVOCATE PUBLICATIONS MAIL REGISTRATION NUMBER 07511 We acknowledge the Financial support of the Government of Canada, through the Publications Assistance Program (PAP), toward our mailing costs. Jim Beckett — Publisher Deb Lord — Production Manager Scott Nixon — Editor tirt Published by iroland Printing, Publishing Distributing& Ltd. 424 Main Street South, P.O. Box 850 Metroland Exeter, Ontario NOM 1S6 • (519) 235-1331 EDITORIAL Interesting start That didn't take long. Soon after officially becoming prime minister, Stephen Harper wasted no time walking into his first controversy as leader of the country. His choices for cabinet Monday raised eyebrows from some and disappointed others, even Conservative supporters. Harper, in effect, did what most politicians do — he ran on promises to clean up government and end cronyism, then promptly displayed the same characteristics as his predecessors. Monday, Harper made an unelected Montreal businessman a member of the Senate and Minster of Public Works and Government Services. This was obviously an attempt by Harper to have his party gain some kind of a foothold in Montreal. But this move, appointing an unelected man to cabinet through the Senate, doesn't look good no matter how Harper tries to sell it. Harper also managed to lure David Emerson, a Liberal from Vancouver, over to the Conservative Party, appointing him International Trade Minister. Emerson was just re-elected a Liberal two weeks ago. Harper, so outraged when Belinda Stronach crossed the floor to the Liberal Party last year, apparently doesn't have a problem when such moves benefit his party. In other words, it's OK for a Liberal to turn his back on his party and become a Conservative, but not OK when the reverse takes place. And how must the voters of Vancouver feel, who thought they were re- electing Emerson as a Liberal? Many of them probably feel they wasted their vote. They did- n't vote for a Conservative. While all is fair in politics, the nerve Harper showed in his appointments Monday was strik- ing. Will the arrogance and back room politics that personified the Liberal Party change under Harper? According to Harper's decisions Monday, not likely. On the plus side, if he manages to keep the west happy and continues to increase Conservative support in Quebec (thereby taking votes away from the Bloc), Harper will have had success in strengthening this country. But let's not get ahead of ourselves. Football, the Stones and no power While the hydro went out for about the mil- lionth time Sunday night during the Super Bowl, I couldn't help wondering how angry I would be if the power went out during a game that actually meant something, like, say, the Stanley Cup. As I've written before, I couldn't care less about the NFL or the Super Bowl, although I had a pass- ing interest in this year's game because my friend is a Pittsburgh Steelers fan and I wanted to see how his team was doing. Unfortunately, they won, which means I have to put up with him being in a good mood. Since he's also a Toronto Maple Leafs fan, this may be the first time in his life one of his teams has actually won something. My other interest in Sunday's game was the halftime show. I wanted to tune in to see how lame the geriatric Rolling Stones would be. They didn't disappoint. They played three songs, including crusty old nuggets "Start Me Up" and "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction." Boy, talk about stretching your- selves artistically, guys. How about playing a song we haven't all heard five million times? Of course, no one wants to hear anything they've written since about 1975 because, well, what would be the point? And who told Mick Jagger and Ron Wood it would be a good idea for them to wear midriff - baring shirts, allowing the rest of us the wonder- ful pleasure at staring at their 60 -year-old pasty - white stomachs. As for Keith Richards, he actual- ly looked pretty good, considering he's been a corpse for 30 years. But back to the hydro issue. In Exeter, it actual- ly managed to stay on for the halftime show, but went out for the last couple of minutes of the game, including much of the post -game festivities. I'm sure football fans were quite pleased to have the power go out every few minutes for the most important game of the year. The fact the hydro kept coming back on only made things more frustrating — just when you thought the problem was fixed, the power would go out again. I've lived in many different communities across this province, and I've never expe- rienced the kind of power outages like we endure in this area. Frankly, it's unac- ceptable. Last time I checked, we were liv- ing in the 21st century, not the days of "Little House on the Prairie." And yes, I realize the fact we live in a rural area us more susceptible to blackouts and our unpredictable weather makes the problem even worse, but it doesn't mean we have to be happy about it. It also doesn't explain why people I know who live in the middle of nowhere don't have the same problems with their power. Maybe we should get rebates on our hydro bills every time we're inconvenienced like we were last weekend. SCOTT NIXON AND ANOTHER THING makes About the Times -Advocate Address & Office Hours Times -Advocate, 424 Main Street South, P.O. 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E-mail Us Web site: www.southhuron.com TA e-mail addresses consist of the person's first initial and last name followed by @southhuron.com. For example, Jim Beckett's e-mail address is <jbeck- ett@southhuron.com> Our general e-mail address is ads@southhuron.com. The Times -Advocate Team Publisher Jim Beckett ext. 109 ADVERTISING Deborah Schillemore ext. 112 EDITOR Scott Nixon ext. 105 REPORTERS Pat Bolen ext. 113 Nina Van Lieshout ext. 107 CUSTOMER SERVICE Sue Rollings ext. 101 Kim Hern ext. 102 COMPOSITION DEPARTMENT Manager Deb Lord ext. 103/114 Heather Bilcke ext. 103 Kelly Gackstetter ext. 103 ACCOUNTING STAFF Anita McDonald ext. 104 Ruth Slaght ext. 106 Christina Scott ext. 108 MargPertschy ext. 111 Heather Clarke