The Citizen, 2006-11-09, Page 5THE CITIZEN, THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 9, 2006. PAGE 5.
Other Views
Puff,- puff and awaaaaay!
These be trying times for. the nicotine-
addicted among us, friends. Every day
it seems there's a new list of places
whence smokers are proscribed from.
indulging their vice. . ,
Lighting up is increasingly verboten in....,
Canada's pubs and restaurants; in hotel lobbies
and barber shops.
Puffers have been ousted, coughing with
outrage, from bus terminal waiting rooms,
hockey arenas — even from the venerable
Royal Canadian Legion, once famous for the,
penumbra of first, second and third-hand
smoke it perpetually bathed in.
Some firms now forbid their employees to
smoke in the company parking lot — even in
the smokers' own cars. There's a community
in California that has even banned smoking
anywhere — including out-of-doors.
Hounded unmercifully from pillar to post
and from ashtray *to potted plant, what are
smokers to do? Where can they go?
Simple. Go on-line. Google
www.smintair.com and book a flight. Water
the geraniums, get Aunt Edna to look after the
cat, cancel the newspaper, pack your bags and
take a cab to the airport. Check your bags, find
your gate, climb abOard and smoke your brains
out.
Smintair — it's a corporate contraction of
Smoker's International Airways — not only lets
you smoke in flight, it wants you to.
Cigarettes, cigars, pipe or hookah. Black
tobacco, blonde tobacco or Burmese coarse
leaf. Matinee Lites or Turkish Ovals.
Smoke 'em if you got 'ern.
Smintair is the brainchild of Alexander
Ontario's Liberals have been advised to
make their message short and sweet in
an election next year — so what should
it be?
James Carville, a leading Democrat
strategist in the United States whom Premier
Dalton McGuinty's Liberals called in for
guidance, said liberals everywhere put out
long lists of aims that bore voters.
Carville suggested McGuinty send a short,
simple, relevant, easily understandable
message. The Liberals paid him $50,000
(U.S.) to speak for 18 minutes at their annual
general meeting and advice this costly cannot
lightly be thrown away.
Carville cited as an example President
George W. Bush raking in votes by saying he
once was a drunk, but now is reformed and a
born-again Christian.
McGuinty has never been an alcoholic, so he
does not have this option, but even if he did, it
is unlikely it would work in a more intelligent
Ontario.
McGuinty won the 2003 election using the
slogan 'choose change,' which had meaning,
because the previous Progressive Conservative
government had enfeebled services to give tax
cuts.
The Liberals cannot campaign asking "don't
choose change," because apart from being
unimaginative it would remind they have not
provided as much change from old-style
politicking as many hoped.
The Liberals cannot urge "stay the course"
because this has been Bush's constant message
in Iraq and it would seem a copy and remind
of a failed and tragic policy. "Don't change-
horses in midstream" is obsolete, because not
many are travelling by horse these days.
McGuinty may think of imploring voters not
to "cut and run," but the phrase has been used
repeatedly by Conservative Prime Minister
Stephen Harper when asked to withdraw
troops from Afghanistan, and would remind of
Schoppmann, a middle-aged German
entrepreneur who wants the world to return to
what he recalls as the glory days of
commercial flying.
That would be pre-1990s. Before airlines
throughout Europe and North America
imposed smoking bans on all their flights.
Herr Schoppmann remembers a golden ,—
well, yelloVvish-brown — age before that. An
age when, as the lumbering North Stars and
DC-8s feathered their way across the skies,
beautiful, smiling stewardesses served
delicious meals on snow-white linen with real
silverware.
And when the meal was done and you
settled back with a brandy or a Spanish coffee,
here came the stewardess to light your cigar.
"The whole bloody plane was a party,"
recalls Schoppmann. "It was great."
And Schoppmann intends for it to .be
great once more. Starting in March of
next year, Schoppmann hopes to have two
heavily modified Boeing 747s in daily
service.
Instead of shoe-horning 500 passengers
aboard, Schoppmann's birds will
accommodate just 138 — 30 in first class, 108
in business.
a policy that has cost Canadian lives.
Any slogan that uses the word "promise" or
an equivalent also can be ruled out, because
the Liberals have broken many, some because
the preceding government left them short of
cash and some they cannot blame on others.
Clues to what slogan/he Liberals will run on
may be found in things they have said.
McGuinty has argued the federal government
keeps too much of the taxes it collects in
Ontario and taunted Conservative leader John
Tory to join in standing up for their province.
But campaigning on the claim "the Liberals
stand up for Ontario" would seem a squabble
between governments, for whom it is hard to
whip up sympathy, rather than one involving
flesh and blood.
Liberals keep calling McGuinty "the
education premier" because he has improved
schools, hoping this title will stick to him, but
it is too narrow an issue on which to base .a
whole campaign.
McGuinty has said the Liberals have laid a
foundation for the future and could plead 'let
us finish the job,' but this might seem an
admission of work only half-done.
McGuinty has said he does not shrink from
tough decisions and cited his increasing taxes
after promising not to, but it would be illogical
to campaign on the claim he is tough enough
to break a promise.
McGuinty blames former Conservative
premier Mike Harris and even earlier New
Democrat premier Bob Rae for many current
On Smintair, nobody travels steerage
("Hospitality Class" in Air, Canada
Newspeak).
What's more there will be first class dining
for all. Menus featuring French, Italian,
Chinese and Japanese cuisine, not to mention
a lounge on the upper deck, at least three open
bars, luxurious sofas, a duty-free shop, a
recreation centre, a 200-movie entertainment
database and best of all, actual leg-room fit for
Kareem Abdul Jabarr in every single seat — six
point seven feet's worth .if you're flying first
class.
Which brings us to the bad news.
The price.
• It ain't gonna be cheap to fly Smintair.
You'll pay $9,300 for a return ticket flying
business. That rises to a stratospheric $14,350
for a single first class return.
Which brings us to the second piece of bad
news.
In order to avail yourself of Smintair's
invitation to smoke your brains out at 35,000
feet,, you're first going to have to make your
way to, umm...
Germany.
Or Japan.
That's the only route Smintair's nailed down
so far — daily flights between Dtisseldorf and
Tokyo's Narita airport.
So you can tack on another few thousand
bucks just to get from Canada to there and
back.
Nine thousand...15 thousand....we're
looking at pretty close to $20 thousand bucks
here.
Maybe it really is time to quit.
problems, but while voters would take this into
account, they would want to focus more on the
future.
The Liberals have started teaching qualities
like respect and fairness in schools and hinted
they would like to call Ontario a "province of
character," but that slogan may not appeal to
residents concerned with bread and biitter
issues.
The Liberals have done more than any
predecessor in protecting residents from
dangers as diverse as pit bulls and, most
recently, private career schools that rip off
students.
They could run as "the party that cares" but
have been wary of stressing this, because they
fear they will be accused of creating a nanny
state.
The Liberals now know their message
should be short and snappy, but what they
really need is someone who can tell them what
it should say.
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concise'
In battle and for peace
I n Flanders Fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
That marks our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.
—.John McCrae
As a child, while I may not really have
understood the meaning of those words,
somehow the impact was there. I cars recall
strong emotions during our school's annual
Remembrance Day services. I remember the
parade to the church and knew with a certainty
that the occasion we were marking had a
profound significance for us and the world in
which we lived.
Actually, I was a pretty patriotic kid. I stood
tall (well, as tall as I possibly could) through
the strains of 0' Canada. I raised my voice
proudly when singing the Maple Leaf Forever
and proclaimed in music my love of Ontari-
ari-aii-o.
But none of these have moved me as much
as the silence I observe each Nov. 11. The
perfect solemnity gives rise to strong feelings.
I am mournful and emotional, but most
importantly damn proud to be a Canadian.
With the movie and television industries
centred primarily in the United States the role
that our country played in both wars is often
given short shrift. Key battles and America's
role in them are one-sided depictions of Stars
and Stripes heroics and glory. The way some
stories are told one is almost expected to
believe that they alone fought.
Lest we forget, the Canadians were involved
in the First World War almost three years
before the United States. And it was only after
the bombing of Pearl Harbour in December of
1941 that the United States entered the Second'
World War, while Canada had sent the First
Canadian Division to England in 1939.
Certainly the accomplishments were not as
great as those of their greater allies but
Canadian troops on land, air and sea did their
country proud. Most of that history is listed in
glowing detail on the Veterans Affairs Canada
website.
There was Ypres in April of 1915,
Canadians' first major appearance on a
European battlefield. Our troops fought
through the night and mounted a counter-
attack to drive the enemy out of a plantation.
British prime minister Lloyd George said
that Canadians at the Somme, "played a part of
such distinction that thenceforward they were
marked out as storm troops; for the remainder
of the war they were brought along to head the
assault in one great battle after another.
Whenever the Germans found the Canadian
Corps coming into the line they prepared for
the worst."
At Vimy Ridge four divisions of Canadian
Crops attacked and won.
There was the Raid on Dieppe in the Second
World War, the conquest of Sicily, and of
course, the landings in Normandy.
Canada's fight for democracy has not been
limited to battle. Their contribution to the
Korean war was followed by peacekeeping
operations whicl have seen Canadian troops
deployed internationally in initiatives to
promote world freedom and maintain peace.
This Remembrance Day be silent to
remember their sacrifices then, and now. But
even more importantly stand tall and proud of
the country in which you live and that they
represented in battle and for peace.
Liberals seek message for election