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The Citizen, 2003-05-28, Page 5THE CITIZEN, WEDNESDAY, MAY 28, 2003. PAGE 5. Other Views TVcYe come a long way, babies Ran into a guy I know by the name of Elston down at the coffee shop last week. Actually it was outside the coffee shop. Elston was leaning against the fender of a pickup, legs crossed, sucking on an Export A. “Still smoking, Elston?” I asked. (I have a talent for the obvious.) Elston fixed me with a mahogany-stained index finger and, in a bad imitation of the Marlboro Man, snarled, “I’ll give up smoking when they pry my cigarettes from my cold, dead fingers.” Elston is a member of a dying breed - literally and figuratively. He is also head of an ad hoc group called Smokers’ Rights for Canucks. The SR for C folks think that smokers are harassed and discriminated against by government, civic institutions and the public at large. And of course they’re right. But so are SARS carriers, lepers and people carrying burning smudge pots. There has been a tectonic shift in the public attitude toward smoking in our lifetime. Non- smokers just don’t want smokers around them anymore. Not in restaurants, not on the buses and not in the workplace. . Smoking is the newest taboo and smokers are our latest pariahs. This change is huge. I grew up in a world where smokers (myself included) indulged pretty well any damned place we pleased. At work, I had a drawerful of pipes and an ashtray on my desk. When I flew Air Canada I asked for a seat in Rows 16 to 18 because I knew I Eves appears to be back in race A week is a long time in politics, the saying goes, and the reawakening of Ernie Eves is proof of it. The Progressive Conservative premier, after failing miserably for a year to attract support for an election, is suddenly touching buttons and having luck with timing that could win votes. Eves turned off many electors, after he took over the premiership from Mike Harris, by such acts as saying he would sell the province’s hydro transmission network but changing his mind, subsidizing hydro rates to keep them low and discouraged building new generators, and unveiling his budget in an auto-parts plant to dodge opposition parties’ questions. The kindest thing said about him was he was a ditherer. But Eves has now made promises that will appeal to many voters and one does not have to like them to recognize this. One to ban strikes and lockouts in teacher­ school board disputes, which earlier Tory premiers shied from, will attract many who always have felt teachers are paid too much for working too few hours. Eves has accused teachers’ unions of being more militant than teachers’ rank-and-file, which will spur the many who dislike unions to get enthusiastic about him. Eves attacked at an opportune time, because a dispute between a Catholic board in Toronto and its teachers quickly left 69,000 students without classes, which some will see as proof a ban is needed. Eves also has attacked unions as a whole. He promised a workers’ bill of rights forcing unions to obtain approval of all their members, not just those who turn up at a meeting, before striking or spending on political advertisements, which will delight his business supporters as they shell out their companies’ cash for Tory ads without even consulting their shareholders. The Tories traditionally are strong among Arthur Black could fire up as soon as the seatbelt sign went off. We smoked in theatre lobbies, in taxis and elevators - in doctor’s waiting rooms, for crying out loud. I remember, maybe 15 years ago, being in a three-hour meeting with a dozen or so people, at the end of which a red-eyed non- smoker asked if, next time, we who indulged could curb our habit for the duration of the meeting. She was almost booed. What - give up smoking? Was she nuts? Some kinda crank? Today (where I live at least) nobody smokes in restaurants or bars. And you can spot office buildings by the disconsolate clots and clumps of nicotine addicts clustered around the entrances, hunched over their Rothmans and Viscount 100s, smoking and shivering. Even those fume-laced oases are beginning to disappear. The last time I was in Toronto I passed a federal government building with a big sign on the door: ABSOLUTELY NO SMOKING WITH 9 METRES OF THIS ENTRANCE. The anti-smoking campaign is relentless. Last month, the city of New York - NEW Eric Dowd From Queen’s Park older residents and to keep them Eves has promised over-65s a rebate that will eliminate the provincial part of their property tax and save them an average $475 per household a year. Seniors are public-spirited and willing to pay their share of taxes, but many need money and will find this lure hard to turn down. Eves also promises to allow homeowners to deduct part of the interest they pay on mortgages from their taxable income and eventually save up to $500 a year, a benefit for only those who can afford to buy homes. Eves has promised to get even tougher on crime and particularly protect children and Public Safety Minister Bob Runciman, as much of a hawk as any police officer, says he is looking at chemical castration to deal with serial sex offenders. Getting tougher will be supported by many particularly because around the same time a 10-year-old girl, Holly Jones, was kidnapped and murdered in Toronto. Eves also has raised, far more than Harris did, concerns about immigrants. He would refuse refugee claimants help from the province’s legal aid plan even to defend themselves against criminal charges, although Final Thought Lots of folks confuse bad management with destiny. - Kin Hubbard YORK! - announced a ban on smoking in public gathering places. And in California there are places where you’re not even allowed to smoke OUT of doors. Is this a good thing? Well, yes and no. It’s helpful that we’ve gotten over the idea that smokers have the right to pollute everybody else’s air space. But you’ve got to get just a teensy bit nervous when governments start issuing behavioural bans and lifestyle decrees. Not that die-hard smokers are butting out or anything - far from it. Type ‘smokers rights’ into an internet search engine and you’ll find more than a quarter of a MILLION websites devoted to preserving the privilege of smokers to get up your nose, as it were. New Yorkers haven’t said Uncle, either. Sure, you can’t legally smoke in Gotham bars anymore - but you can still sidle up to the brass rail at the Trump World Tower’s World Bar and order yourself the latest New York cocktail - the Smokeless Manhattan. It’s a blend of Laphroaig Single Malt scotch and Churchill’s Tawny Port, cut with three dashes of orange bitters and a twist of orange peel. A bartender at the World Bar says, “The smooth libation tastes more like a fine Naduro cigar than a Marlboro or a Parliament”. Well, maybe. But it puts me more in mind of something Roseanne Barr once said: “I quit smoking. I feel better, I smell better and it’s safer to drink from old beer cans around the house.” this would mean some innocent people would lack proper representation. Eves would also require some immigrants with skills to sign agreements to live in communities that need them for a minimum period, rather than automatically flock to Toronto. Such distinctions will appeal to many, including those who feel visible-minority immigrants are not as good as themselves. Tories now are starting to boast Eves is “decisive,” a claim they would not have dared make a few days earlier. Many voters will ask whether Eves can afford his new policies or be relied on to carry them out, because he has changed his mind before. Some will feel they are too right-wing, or selfish, or so different from his past views, when he supported allowing teachers to strike and spoke cordially to unions, that he has dreamed them up for no other purpose than to win an election. It would be foolhardy to predict Eves will win an election on them, but he is back in the race. Letters Policy The Citizen welcomes letters to the editor. Letters must be signed and should include a daytime telephone number for the purpose of verification only. Letters that are not signed will not be printed. Submissions may be edited for length, clarity and content, using fair comment as our guideline. The Citizen reserves the right to refuse any letter on the basis of unfair bias, prejudice or inaccurate information. As well, letters can only be printed aS space allows. Please keep your letters brief and concise. Bonnie Gropp The short of it Sometimes it works It was a morning more than 20 years ago. 1 awoke at dawn. It was not that I couldn’t sleep, but not exactly that 1 could either. My brain was abuzz, not nervous or edgy, but alive, alert and keen to get on with the day. The day was less enthusiastic. The sun struggled for dominance over a persistent cloud cover. While in my heart and mind there were flowers and music, outside it was grey and broody. None of this mattered however. A bustling breakfast enjoyed, a house full of happiness, and a little craziness, then a hectic schedule of details and finishing touches. Thanks to my early rising, hours loomed before us. Yet, while time normally marches on with an assured steadiness, it moved this time on feet so swift there was barely time to catch our breath, let alone think of the weather. It was my wedding day. May of 1980. Not too hot, not too cold. The rain pretty much co­ operated with just some excited drops showering our new status as we left the church. The sun, it would seem doesn’t always shine on a happy bride. This special day in my life, which ultimately brought me to so many other special days, has been revisited a bit lately thanks to a spate of ads for buck and does, community showers and upcoming weddings. It has been a bittersweet exercise. Thinking back to that day is nostalgic, but the memories are still so vivid it’s hard to imagine over two decades have passed. Yet, that many of the newlyweds-in-waiting are people I have known most of their lives, since they are peers of my children, only makes me even more aware that 23 years has indeed gone by with remarkable speed. In that course of time I have come to view marriage somewhat differently than the young woman who spoke her vows way back then. Less idealistic, more practical, I approach the ceremony with cautious optimism Statistics have shown that half of those married will divorce. People live longer and our development as individuals often means the person we choose early on, may not always be the perfect mate for us as years pass. And certainly no one should stay in a situation that makes them unhappy. But then there is the other half. The ones who won’t give up too easily, who love and occasionally fight, who compromise, who struggle, who survive for no other reason perhaps than they really did mean it when they chose this person as the only one with whom they want to share a life. It is a romantic notion, which despite a level of cynicism, I cling to. Despite society’s trend. I’m not ashamed to say I believe in soulmates. What a couple shares may not meet with others’ expectations, but if it works for them it’s magic. This past weekend, we attended a family wedding. This couple was, while much younger than us, still quite a bit older than the majority taking the plunge of late. Yet, there were no fewer stars in their eyes. They are hopeful. They believe when they said “until death do us part” that they meant it. While some may argue against monogamy, against being faithful, there are those for whom the commitment of marriage still has value. Though it won’t always be flowers and music, if you look hard enough they’re probably still there.