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Clinton News Record, 2014-07-09, Page 44 News Record • Wednesday, July 9, 2014 www.clintonnewsrecord.com NewsCl Record PUBLISHED WEEKLY — EST. 1860 53 Albert St. P.O. Box 39 Clinton ON NOM 1L0 (519) 482-3443 www.clintonnewsrecord.com SUN MEDIA A Quebecor Media Company NEIL CLIFFORD Publisher neil.clifford@sunmedia.ca MAX BICKFORD Advertising Manager max. bickford@sun media.ca DAWN JOHNSTON Sales Representative clinton.ads@sunmedia.ca TARA OSTNER Reporter cl inton. reporter@sunmedia.ca CHRISTY MAIR Front Office clinton.classifieds@sunmedia.ca SUBSCRIPTION RATES 1 YEAR $50.00 (47.62+2.38 GST) 2 YEAR $95.00 (90.48+4.52 GST) SENIORS 60 WEEKS $50.00 (47.62+2.38 GST) 120 WEEKS $95.00 (90.48+4.52 GST) Advertising is accepted on the condition that in the event of a typographical error, the advertising space occupied by the erroneous item together with a reasonable allowance for signature, will not be charged but that balance of advertisement will be paid for at the applicable rate. In the event of a typographic error advertising goods or services ata wrong price, goods or services may not be sold.Ad- vertising is merely an offer to sell, and may be withdrawn at any time. The Clinton News -Record is not responsible for the loss or damage of unsolicited manuscripts, photos or other materials used for reproducing purposes. Publications Mail Agreement No. 40064683 RETURN UNDELIVERABLE CANADIAN ADDRESSES: CIRCULATION DEPARTMENT 53 Albert St., Clinton ON NOM 1L0 (519) 482-3443 We acknowledge the financial support of the Government of Canada through the Canadian Periodical Fund (CPF) for our publishing activities. Canada pocna Member of the Canadian Community Newspaper Association and the Ontario Community Newspapers Association editorial Will byelections mean bye-bye Harper? QMI Agency As byelection results rolled in on the evening of June 30, did Prime Minister Stephen Harper start contemplating the loca- tion of the nearest exit door? It's possible. After all, the quartet of by-elections arguably gave him plenty of cause for concern. In the Alberta riding of Fort McMurray -Athabasca, his party's candidate won handily, as most expected. But Team Harper received less than 6,000 of the nearly 84,000 entitled to vote. That means only about 7% of Fort Mac's electorate were moti- vated enough to get off the couch and go vote Conservative. Also cause for concern: when contrasted to the 2011 general elec- tion, the Tory share of the vote in the riding shrunk by more than 20%. And the Liberals - the damned NEP-foisting socialist Liber- als! - came a respectable second in Fort McMurray -Athabasca, the very heart of Alberta's oil industry. They didn't win, as the polling firm Forum Research had predicted. But the Trudeau Liberals are surging, even in places like Fort Mac, where all that previously preserved them were endangered species laws. Turnout was similarly dire in a second Alberta riding, Macleod. There, the Conservatives won convincingly - but, as in Fort McMurray, the Liberals quadrupled their share of the vote from 2011. And, as in Fort McMurray, the Grits displaced the NDP as the Conservatives' principal opponent. Back East, where the remaining two byelections were taking place in Toronto, the Conservatives were given much more to fret about In Scarborough -Agincourt, where the Tories were most compet- itive, the Liberals won all but one of 160 polls. They also received more than twice as many votes as the Conservatives - who had blanketed the riding with despicable leaflets that falsely claimed Justin Trudeau favoured the sale of marijuana to kids. In Trinity-Spadina, meanwhile, the resurgent Liberals took back the riding they had held from 1993 to 2006. But the Con- servatives received a measly 5% of the vote - the same share as the Green Party candidate. As is well known, it's foolish to suggest that byelections portend general election results. Here in Ontario, for instance, Kathleen Wynne's Liberals did poorly in a string of byelections - and then won a stunning majoritywhen all the votes were counted on June 12. But, as he sifts through the byelection entrails, Harper can reliably extract three truths. One, Justin Trudeau is no flash in the proverbial pan. His popularity endures. And millions spent on attack ads haven't changed the reality: in the 50 -odd polls that have been con- ducted since he became Liberal leader, Trudeau remains Cana- dians' favourite choice to be prime minister. Two, Canadians clearly want some sort of a change from Harper and/or his Conservatives. It isn't scandal, so much, that has muddied the Conservative brand. It's likelier the passage of time: nearly a decade in power has left the Conservatives look- ing decidedly tired and old. To many Canadians, they don't rep- resent places like Fort McMurray or Macleod in Ottawa any- more - they ARE Ottawa. Three, Harper doesn't have much to work with. Sure, he will boast about a federal budgetary surplus in the coming months - but with most provinces facing sizeable budgetary deficits, Harper's fiscal success won't be so clear-cut to many voters. And, apart from the surplus, what other issues can help Harper win support? Not ethics, and not social programs. What story will he tell on the hustings? It's unclear. Clearer, however, is that exit door. All that Stephen Harper need do is step through it. And - presto - all of problems described above become someone else's. column Bringing back the reflective age Tara Ostner The Clinton News Record As I discussed in my introductory col- umn, philosophy, literally translated as the love of wisdom, means very much to me. Having spent five years studying the sub- ject - four years as an undergraduate at The University of Waterloo and one year as a graduate student at Queen's Univer- sity - it is very much a part of who I am. I first fell for the subject in my first year at Waterloo and, during my time there, went on to explore the general questions of phi- losophy concerning knowledge (episte- mology), being (metaphysics), right and wrong (ethics), a just society (political phi- losophy), and essence and existence (exis- tentialism) As a graduate student at Queen's, my studies intensified and my knowledge became specialized. I also studied philosophy during a fun time of my life. Back then, I was able to sleep in late, eat as much as I wanted to without having to worry about putting on the pounds, and partied at the bars until the wee hours of the morning. I had few responsibilities and it was great. I was, in many ways, a free woman. However, looking back, I now see that what was so freeing about those days was not necessarily the fun and lack of respon- sibilities but, rather, the fact that I read and studied philosophy almost every day of my life and at any time that I wanted to. What makes philosophy so liberating you might ask? In short, it is because it stretches and expands the mind more, I think, than any other subject out there. It forces you to reason and think critically and never allows you to become compla- cent in your thoughts. By addressing the most fundamental questions of our uni- verse, it makes you realize how minute your own life and personal issues are. In short, it makes you humble. In this sense, philosophy is similar to religion in that, at its root, its aim is to seek something higher than oneself; in the case of the latter, that something else is God, and in the case of the former, it is wisdom. By thinldng about issues that rise above and transcend our common day-to-day experiences, like religion does, philosophy picks you up and takes you to another plane of existence. For this reason, philosophy is not nec- essarily opposed to religion; assuming that it is is a common misconception that I feel obliged to correct. Even though many phi- losophers are atheists, many are believers and, conversely, while many religious thinkers are believers, many are philoso- phers. And note, too, that for some religious thinkers, God is wisdom, and for some philosophers, wisdom is God. Phi- losophy and religion, therefore, are not necessarily dialectically opposed to each other and I think that people do a disser- vice to both subjects when they think that they are. One difference between philosophy and religion that I think does exist, how- ever, is that everyone can be said to have their own philosophy, and of course the same is not true of the latter, i.e., everyone does not have their own religion, namely, non -believers. How does everyone have their own philosophy? Because everyone has their own beliefs, values, desires, pri- orities and basic convictions about life. Even though one might not realize it, these things inevitably speak to and say some- thing about their philosophy of the world. I think that this is a very cool fact about humans that not everyone recognizes or cares to think about. Furthermore, people don't realize that taking the time out of our hectic lives to recognize and understand their beliefs can have beneficial and in many ways therapeutic effects. For instance, realizing and then understand- ing one's personal philosophy can lead to a clarity of mind and sometimes even ease anxiety and depression. After all, a con- fused or depressed mind is sometimes a result of conflicting beliefs or a general unawareness of one's underlying assumptions. So, the question becomes, then, how can people come to realize their own per- sonal philosophy? Quite simply, I think, and that's by acquainting themselves with the ideas and theories of the greatest thinkers of our time. And, so, in my col- umns, by discussing personal stories, local events and current issues, at the same time, I hope to be able to share with the readers the wisdom of, say, Plato, Aristotle, St Aquinas, Hume and Sartre just to name a few. To say that these thinkers are over- looked in this day and age is an under- statement and the fact that they so plainly are is, I think, a travesty. We need more reflection in our lives and less busyness. We also need to realize that oftentimes the latter is, I think, an interesting indicator of how much we are actually lacking (and perhaps subconsciously desiring) the for- mer, and, in some cases, greatly so. Looking back, I now see that the effects that philosophy had on me l0years ago are actually continual, and, very likely, lifelong, and for this I am thankful. As long as I con- tinue to incorporate the subject into my life, I will always feel its freeing effects and, there- fore, knowthe true value of reflection. 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