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The Citizen, 1992-01-29, Page 4PAGE 4. THE CITIZEN, WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 29,1992. Now we'll see who cares Ontario Premier Bob Rae told the sad truth last week: Ontarians just can't afford to live in the manner to which we've become accustomed. He then shifted the burden for fighting the battle against higher government costs and lower government revenues to local councils and boards when he announced transfer payments will increase only one per cent this year. What the premier has done, is create a "bottom line" in government just as there is in private business. The disciplining factor in private business has always been that if you spend too much you go broke. Until now, there always seemed to be a bottomless pocket for government spending. Local councillors and education trustees are between a rock and a hard place: they already know there will be a substantial tax increase for residential taxpayers in the county because of the change in the market-value assessment. They know that many people are already going to have a tough time paying their taxes without adding any new costs. It’s obvious then that any significant new costs will mean program cuts. Any large salary increases are likely to mean job cuts. Over the coming months many public sector employees and their unions are going to have to make some tough choices. How much brotherhood, for instance, will be shown in wage demands? Will the upper level employees with plenty of security be willing to freeze their own wages or at least modify their demands in order to save the jobs of poorer paid, less secure colleagues? And what will be the reaction of professionals in "caring" fields like health care and education. Will people be able to sacrifice their own salary ambitions for the good of their professions, or will they insist on ample pay hikes and bring about closure of hospital beds or dropping of educational programs? So far the signs are not good. Union leaders have been talking tough, saying their members cannot be sacrificed in the name of restraint. Still, there is hope. Who would have believed provincial civil servants could be convinced to keep their wage settlement to one per cent? We understand that teachers at one local school notified then- union they'd be willing to hold back salary demands if it meant the board wouldn’t cancel programs. These are tough, sad times but something good can come out of even bad things. If a new spirit of co-operation can be fostered through dealing with this crisis, the country will be a better place.Abandoned Let's all give a little So far the constitutional conferences involving selected ordinary Canadians have proven the general public is more willing to compromise for the sake of the country than the provincial premiers. A week ago in Halifax, the people at a government-sponsored conference agreed that if Quebec needs more power to protect its distinctive culture, it should have it, but the rest of Canada should retain a strong central government instead of giving too many powers to the rest of the provinces. It's not the kind of things premiers, seeking more power for their own little empire, are likely, to agree with. Illis past weekend in Calgary, the topic was Senate Reform. The participants in the conference were willing to discuss the West's controversial demand for an Elected, Effective and Equal Senate. Some even wanted to go beyond that demand to look at a Senate that would give equality to women by holding half the seats for women and that would make sure aboriginal people would have a proper say in government by designating so many Senate seats to native peoples. There has been great flexibility shown by these ordinary Canadians. Compare this to the premiers. Premier Bourassa of Quebec refuses to come to a constitutional conference. Premier Getty of Alberta says he wants to do away with official bilingualism and take us back to where we were 30 years ago- a notion that will alienate Quebecers even more. Premier Rae of Ontario says there's no way Ontario will go along with a Triple E Senate (and Quebec agrees). Quite frankly, the politicians don’t seem to have grasped what ordinary Canadians understand: the time for playing politics is over. If the arguing doesn't soon end there will be no country left to argue over. Now's the time to be flexible. If a Triple E Senate will help, then how much can it really hurt Ontario? If the rest of Canada remains strong, what docs it matter if Quebec has more of the same kinds of powers it has had to itself all along. Let's get on with it. Let's stop bickering. Letter from the editor Aren't we past reflected glory1? For a while there last week, I thought I had returned to the days of my youth. No, it wasn't because the snow was up to about the same eye-level it was when I was being dressed up in a snow-suit by my mother. It wasn't because I felt so young again either, because a little snow shovelling can quickly remind you of your advancing age. It was because Canadians last week seemed to have reverted to the habit of 30 years ago of getting great pleasure out of taking credit for some semi-Canadian's success in the great nation to the south. The silliest thing I've heard since I was in public school was the talk last week of the "Canadian connection" in the Super Bowl where the quarterback of the" win­ ning Washington Redskins was z By Keith Roulston Mark Rypien, a "Canadian" who was bom in Calgary but didn't do much more than take his first few breaths there. Slightly less disturbing was the fuss over Roberta Bondar- one reporter talking about the lump he got in his throat as he watched her hurtle skyward in the U.S. Space Shuttle. Dr. Bondar is truly a Cana­ dian and she has really accom­ plished something in being chosen for the program and undergoing years of intense training to prepare her for her mission. But while she has reason to be proud of herself, and while she may provide a needed role model for young girls who may take a new interest in science, it's hardly some­ thing that all Canadians should look on in national pride. Dr. Bon­ dar was on the mission because Canadians helped pay for the cost of the shuttle program developed by the Americans. It's sort of like paying for a ride in the taxi, then feeling a pride of ownership in the vehicle. If Canadians can take any pride in a space shuttle voyage it's only because we closed down the Avro Arrow program 30 years ago, throwing Canadian engineers out of work so they could flood south to help the American space program. But once again, as in those days when we cancelled the Arrow, we seem to need American approval to make ourselves feel good. Remem­ ber the bad old days when we didn't have any big-time stars of our own so we kept borrowing anybody who had done much more than pass through Canada on a train and stop for dinner? Remember how we used to claim Deanna Durbin as a Canadian actress even when she moved to California as a child? Or Glenn Ford, or Walter Pigeon or Mary Pickford? These stars were about as Canadian as coconuts but we claimed them anyway. During the war years they were flown into Continued on page 6 CitizenTheNorthHuron P.O. Box 429, BLYTH, Ont. NOM 1H0 Phone 523-4792 FAX 523-9140 P.O. Box 152, BRUSSELS, Ont. NOG 1 HO Phone 887-9114 FAX 887-9021 The Citizen is published weekly in Brussels, Ontario by North Huron Publishing Company Inc. 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