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The Citizen, 2005-10-20, Page 5THE CITIZEN, THURSDAY, OCTOBER 20, 2005. PAGE 5. Other Views Liberal: just a four-letter word Q Then 1 use a worc*/’ Humpty Dumpty said, in rather a ▼ ▼ scornful tone, “it means just what I choose it to mean - neither more nor less.” The question is,” said Alice, “whether you can make words mean so many different things.’’“The question is,” said Humpty Dumpty, “which is to be master - that’s all.” I have seen more than a few words and phrases get torqued into new and twisted meanings in my day. I remember when Roy Rogers was a cowboy, not a restaurant. I remember when Tim Horton was a hockey player, not a donut shop. I remember when ‘gay blade’ referred to a fun-loving man about town. What’s a gay blade today - a bi-sexual left winger with the Mighty Ducks? And speaking of left-wingers...what have we done to the word ‘liberal’? When I was growing up ‘liberal’ was personified - in the political sphere at least — by Lester B. Pearson, a genial, bumptious butterball of a man with an engaging stutter who worked like a beaver and Got Things Done. Pearsonian liberalism morphed into Trudeaumania, which was stylish, saucy and infinitely more hip. Then we had the John Turner fly-by followed by eight centuries of Jean incohere nt-in-both-official-languages Chretien. And finally Paul Martin. When I think of Paul Martin liberalism I think of - I don’t know - room temperature Jell-O? Nothing that comes out of his mouth has any weight or substance. He’s not so much Liberal as Blabberall. McGuinty may be ignoring his best bet Premier Dalton McGuinty is having trouble figuring out what he wants his image to be two years before an election and he may be ignoring his best bet. The Liberal premier a few months ago was trying to get himself known as ‘The Education Premier,’ based on help he has given education including increasing funding and keeping peace with teachers, but this never caught on. The only people heard venturing it were Liberal ministers and aides and certainly it was not a common talking point in barbershops and bus queues. While many feel deeply about education, it also may be too narrow an issue on which to base an election. McGuinty is hampered in winning a positive image particularly because he broke a promise not to increase taxes and more recently his finance minister, Greg Sorbara, had to resign because he is being investigated by police. In his speech from the throne the premier reached out for another image, as a leader who can assure economic prosperity. He titled the speech, although it covered many topics, Strengthening Ontario’s Economic Advantage, and claimed that, while the province faces challenges in the global economy, he has set it on courses that can overcome them. Liberals need to suggest they can be good economic managers, because voters in many elections have considered this their weak point and Progressive Conservatives as having more business savvy, although they could not always prove it. But McGuinty oddly keeps ignoring the best potential weapon the Liberals have, that they have done more to protect residents on a wider range of issues, sometimes treading on new ground, than any government in memory. Among many examples, they will ban smoking in all workplaces and enclosed public­ Arthur Black If what the feds did to the word liberal wasn’t confusing enough, consider what provincial governments have accomplished. Remember Robert Bourassa, one-time head of the Quebec provincial Liberals and staunch personal ally of... Brian Mulroney??? And look at British Columbia. The premier of B.C. is Gordon Campbell. Who is also head of the B.C. Liberal party. Gordon Campbell a liberal? My dictionary (Canadian Oxford) defines the word as ‘given freely, ample, abundant, not strict or rigourous.’ Calling Campbell a liberal is like calling Genghis Khan the Laughing Buddha. But Canadian linguistic depredations are as nothing compared to the mugging the word ‘liberal’ has endured south of the border. In the U.S., to be called ‘liberal’ is to be slimed with the sleaziest epithet in the political lexicon. It has replaced 'commie rat’ and ‘pinko traitor’. It is hurled like boiling oil from the Republican ramparts on the heads of anyone or any institution that dares to criticize the machinations of the Oval Office. How could a whole nation turn its back on a word which signifies ‘open-minded, not prejudiced’? It’s enough to drive a country to drink. And it has. Come with me now to Rudy’s spaces starting next June and are the first government in Canada to put drastic curbs on pit bulls, which have caused horrific injuries. They will no longer accept residents being judged by religious law and, as part of a campaign to make students more Fit, will require elementary schools to remove junk foods from vending machines and replace them with milk and granola bars, and give students more physical exercise. They will direct much future home-building toward city centres to restrain urban sprawl which causes residents to drive too much and promotes pollution and obesity, and prevent building on a huge areas of southern Ontario to preserve a greenbelt. They are giving municipalities more powers to protect historic buildings for the public benefit. Among new traffic safety measures, they require car safety seats for more children and deter motorists passing school buses parked with their lights flashing, which has caused deaths, by permitting police to charge owners as well as drivers, and this list could go on. The Liberals have not gone as far in protecting as they should and their failings include giving miserly increases in welfare benefits and the minimum wage so many receiving them are not shielded from hardship. But it still is an impressive list of going further to protect than previous governments. Bar in the Hell’s Kitchen section of New York. As befits its surroundings, Rudy’s is a hole-in- the-wall kind of joint - sawdust on the floor, a jukebox in the corner - no karaoke here. But every Thursday night Rudy’s transforms into something very rare in that country these days. A hidey-hole for citizens who feel left out of Bushamerica. Thursday nights. New York members of this endangered species make their way to Rudy’s for a club meeting. The club is called, but of course. Drinking Liberally. And it’s catching on. What started as a haven for New York non-Bushies back in 2003 has mushroomed. First a chapter opened in San . Francisco. Then Houston copied, followed by Oakland. When the American electorate gobsmacked international opinion by electing The Village Idiot to a second term, they also sent thousands of disenchanted Americans into the arms of Drinking Liberally. Membership soared. Today there are 86 chapters of Drinking Liberally spread over 37 states. What do attendees at a Drinking Liberally get-together actually do? Cry in their beer, obviously. But they also talk about future political campaigns, listen to left-of-centre candidates and generally network with citizens of the same political persuasion. As the Bush administration begins to discover the gumbo of corruption and incompetence sticking to its cowboy boots, the future of Drinking Liberally can only be described as rosy (not to be confused with pinkish). More and more Americans are finally taking back their democratic right to tell Washington to go to hell. Who knows? They might even resuscitate the word ‘liberal’. their only rivals being the New Democrats from 1990-95, who focused a little more narrowly on safeguarding organized labor. McGuinty’s biggest single theme by far has been protecting residents, but he has put little effort into publicizing it and publicity his actions received often has been through controversies they raised. McGuinty has never even collected them in a list and boasted this is what he has done to protect people. He marked completing his second year as premier by giving interviews to news media and never once mentioned protecting residents among his accomplishments. McGuinty employs hordes of public relations men to promote his policies and there has to be a reason he has not emphasized the many ways he is protecting people. The most likely is he worries some will accuse him of creating a cradle-to-the-grave ‘nanny state,’ which can be a dangerous label these days, but these are still policies that can help him win an election. 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'3S space allows. Please keep your letters brief and concise. Bonnie Gropp. The short of it In the moment It really isn’t about the minutes, hours or days. Life, when you think about it all comes down to seconds. Birth may seem to take forever, but in truth the reality occurs in a specific second. Death too arrives at a heartbeat. A tender gesture lakes but a moment to deliver yet is treasured for some time after. Likewise it only takes an exhale to spew forth unconsidered words that may cause a lifetime of regret. Races are won by a nose, challenges lost by a split-second delay. Often those moments are ones we wish we could relive. It only took a few brief seconds last week for the life of a young man to change forever. A day began as any other, just another one on the job, doing what he had done time and time again. Then in an instant things went horribly wrong, and he sustained serious injuries that he blessedly survived, but have by all reports irrevocably changed his life. However, as is often the case in our small towns it was also an instant that affected an entire community. The victim is a life-long resident of the village with extensive family connections. The victim’s father had worked at the same place of business before him. Long­ time residents knew the family well. They had watched him set off to school, play ball, and get into his fair share of mischief. This young man had formed and maintained lasting friendships from chilohood, many of whom still lived within the community. Thus, as volunteer firefighters appeared on the scene it was with the knowledge that the victim was someone they knew. It wasn’t long, of course, before their vehicles attracted a crowd of the curious, but more certainly of the concerned. As word filtered along the street, first that there had been an accident, then the nature of the tragedy, and finally that it had happened to someone they had watched grow up, it hurt the heart of many. As minutes stretched close to an hour, many of those hoped for news, some insight to help them understand, to let them know it was all going to be fine. , In the days since a caring community continues to do what it does best — find a way to make the shock and the pain a little less. If heart can make a difference, the support and donations would change the outcome. Unfortunately, that is not likely to be. And 1 can’t help but keep returning to the fact that so much change began without a hint, that such a short time had such a significant impact on one man, his family and the many people who care about them. We tend to think about our lives in terms of years. Milestones are marked annually. But it is interesting to look back at a year and see the many things that have changed in one’s life. New names arc added to families, much­ loved and familiar ones may now only be in memory. There arc new wrinkles in dear faces, new aches, pains and scars. It only takes a moment for everything in your world to be different and there arc certainly many of those in a 12-month period. Wednesday morning, was a reminder that every second of every day is important. We would do well to never forget that and live each and every one of (hem that way.