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The Citizen, 1990-05-30, Page 4PAGE 4. THE CITIZEN, WEDNESDAY, MAY 30, 1990. Editorials "Little people’ share blame If the current Meech Lake crisis leads to the break-up of Canada as it appears more and more likely it will, Prime Minister Brian Mulroney will go down in history as the man who presided over the destruction of the country but the councillors of Sault Ste. Marie may be just as responsible. The seriousness of the situation is brought out, not by the fact political leaders are squabbling, but that ordinary people seem to be in a mood that appears it will lead only to independence for Quebec. While Prime Minister Mulroney will bear heavy responsibility for the way he tried to solve the problem of getting Quebec to sign the constitution through a back-room, late night deal, it has been a series of little things that have ordinary Quebecers thinking they might as well leave confederation because ordinary English Canadians don’t want them. In emotional issues such as this, symbolic images burn themselves in the minds of people. The passing of ‘ ‘ English-only’ ’ resolutions by municipalities across Ontario, the province that has been most favourable towards Quebec’s aspirations over the last 20 years, probably convinced many in Quebec that even their friends were against them. Pictures of people in Brockville burning a Quebec flag or of people protesting Meech Lake by saying Quebec separation is the answer may have hardly been noticed by many in the rest of Canada but in Quebec these were taken as direct insults and are now in the back of the minds of the 60 per cent of Quebecers who now favour a sovereign Quebec. The backlash in Ontario, of course, was loosed by a similarly symbolic event in Quebec when the provincial government overruled a supreme court decision under the Charter of Rights and said no language but French could be used on store signs. It’s easy to say that Quebecers are over-reacting to the actions of a few foolish English Canadians just as the flag burners are over-reacting to a perceived threat of French dominating the country, but in such things common sense doesn’t always prevail. The danger for Canada is that it is much harder to repair this kind of damage than it is to change the minds of a few political leaders. If a first ministers’ conference is held and the Prime Minister gets all the premiers in a room where he can exert pressure on them as he did in the original agreement three years ago, he might get agreement on Meech Lake. Changing the opinion of millions of individuals, however, isn’t so easy. Can Canada be saved? It will take a lot more good will on both sides than people have been showing to this point. It will take a huge amount of leadership to heal wounds that seem very deep at the moment. We all at least owe it to our country to not make things worse by silly, insulting gestures that can only be more symbols of intolerance. Illustrating a point Striking truck drivers across Canada are showing the idea of a “level playing field’’ under the Canada-U.S. Free Trade agreement is much easier to dream up than to bring into reality. The truck drivers were blocking roads to protest what they felt was unfair competition from American truckers under the twin government initiatives of deregulation and free trade. It was easy for the government to make the two moves but the consequences for the people affected are much harder to solve. Canadian truckers say they are being driven out of business by American truckers who don’t pay as much for fuel, insurance and licences as Canadian truckers. But under free trade what is the solution? We already have a large government deficit so we can hardly afford to cut taxes that add to the higher cost of fuel in Canada? The cost of insurance is beyond government control, particularly when government believes in less, not more controls. We seem to be stuck with the worst of both worlds and ordinary people are getting hurt. Federal Transport Minister Doug Lewis last week, heading into a meeting with truckers, said deregulation has brought about more competition in the trucking industry. In the short term, he may be right, but in the long run, if small companies are driven out of business and only the big guys can survive, competition will be reduced, not increased. If trucking becomes dominated by American firms we’ll be left without any Canadian-controlled transportation facilities in many areas of the country where railways have been abandoned. The truckers are just the first to be affected by what is a basic flaw of the free trade process. If Americans have fundamental structural differences in the way their country functions that give their companies an advantage, how can Canadians compete unless we change our entire way of doing things to match the Americans? Unless we actually dismantle the border and join the U.S. can there ever really be a level playing field? Exposed Mabel’s Grill There are people who will tell you that the important decisions in town are made down at the town hall. People in the know, however know that the real debates, the real wisdom reside down at Mabel 's Grill where the greatest minds in the town [if not in the country] gather for morning coffee break, otherwise known as the Round Table Debating and Filibustering So­ ciety. Since not just everyone can partake of these deliberations we will report the activities from time to time. MONDAY: Tim O’Grady was tell­ ing Hank Stokes there seems to be one way to guarantee farmers will have enough rain for their crops unlike the past couple of years: have more holiday wekeends. Tim said he hadn’t planned on being in town today but it was so cold and rainy that he gave up on the cottage and came home. Hank says he really feels sorry for Tim. “I hate it when it rains on my holidays too ... when 1 get them every five or 10 years.” Julia Flint says she’s always glad of an excuse for a holiday but she really has to wonder about the reason for this one. “Who else but Canadians desperate for a holiday after the long winter would have one to celebrate the birth of a Queen who never set foot in the country, who died 90 years ago and nobody alive can remember and who left a moral structure that people have been rebelling against ever since?” TUESDAY: No wonder the coun­ try’s breaking up, Billie Bean says, when the latest survey says, horror of horrors that more kids are playing soccer these days than hockey. How can the country survive if the kids aren’t playing the national religion. Julia groaned. “Does this mean some time up ahead we can look forward to six months of soccer playoffs on television too?” she wondered. Tim said soccer may be popular with young kids but it may die off among the teenagers and adults. “If people believe the advice of the Italian soccer coach that sex and soccer don’t mix, there won’t be many over puberty playing in Canada. Sex is one sport that has more participants than hockey and soccer and baseball all put to­ gether.” WEDNESDAY: To think, Ward Black was saying, that the country is in a national turmoil over telephone calls that weren’t an­ swered. He was talking about the resignation of Lucien Bouchard who was upset over the compro­ mise proposed for the Meech Lake. The Prime Minister hinted that if only he’d been able to get through on the phone to Mr. Bouchard in Paris to explain what was happen­ ing the whole thing might have been avoided. If the failure of telephone service is helping the breakup of the country just think what the mail service might do, Ward said. THURSDAY: Tim asked Julia if she thought she’d be getting a pair of the new Marla Maples jeans that the girlfriend of Donald Trump is now bringing out. Julia said she never even got the jeans of the Donna Rice, the last celebrity bed mate who promoted jeans. “Donna who?” Billie wondered. “How quickly they forget,” Tim said. “Can’t blame the girl fo-LL grabbing it while she can beforeT people forget her too,” Julia said. “Particularly before Donald for­ gets her,” Tim said. Julia said you have to feel sorry for the poor girl. She’s only going to get $500,000 to promoting the jeans which doesn’t seem like a lot when you could have married Donald and got a piece of that pie. FRIDAY: Tim said he’s sorry to Continued on page 5 The Citizen. P.O. Box 429, BLYTH, Ont. N0M 1H0 Phone 523-4792 P.O. Box 152, BRUSSELS, Ont. NOG 1H0 Phone 887-9114 The Citizen is published weekly in Brussels, Ontario by North Huron Publishing Company Inc. Subscriptions are payable in advance at a rate of $19.00/yr. 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