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Times Advocate, 1989-01-11, Page 4`Page 4 Times -Advocate, January 11, 1989 Times Established 1873 Advocate Established 1881 Amalgamated •1924 QI'► BLUE RIBBON AWARD 1985 toC 'Published Each Wednesday Morning at Exeter, Ontario, NOM 1 SO Second Class Mail -Registration Number 038'6. Phone 519-235.1331 Serving South Huron, North Middlesex & North Lambton Since 1873 Published by j.W. Eedy Publications Limited Pit • CCNA ROSS HAUGH a a Editor HARRY DEVRIES Composition Manager ' BIM BECATTT Publisher & Adsertising Manager - • DON SMITH Business Manager SUBSCRIPTION RATES: Canada: $25.00 Per year; U.S.A. $65.00 Justa technicality. et's pretend for a moment... • What would happen if Cana- da suddenly became an exclu- sively monolingual country, with one of- ficial language: English, of course. "Craquelins" would be erased from the back of our cracker boxes, "Lait homo geneise" would disappear from the milk cartons, and "ketchup aux tomates" would become a thing of the past on our bottles of Heinz. Most importantly, only English would have privileged status in affairs of the federal and provincial governments, AND the federal courts. After all, more than 60 percent of Can- ada's population speaks English. Or, picture this scenario: the indige- nous Indians or Eskimos (Inuit) decide to make their own language, the official language of the Northwest Territories. After all, they account for the over- whelming majority of.the population. Subsequently, all signs in Yellowknife Fort Simpson, and -Reliance are convert- ed to Eskimo. It might have little impact on us in Ontario, but what of the English speaking residents of those small com- munities? For them it would .be a con- fusing onfusing and demoralizing situation. Why? Because this language law would violate their freedom of expression, and the Ca- nadian Charter of Rights. Nevertheless, this is almost the identi- cal situation that the English speaking minority in Quebec now faces. English-speaking Quebec comprises 20 percent of the province's total popula- tion. And what, rights do they have? Almost none, really. The answer is clearly stated in Premier Robert Bouras- sa's.Quebec language bill 178. Bourassa terms this bill as merely a ;," ,,,,,1 -ton of .freedom of ex- pression:- - "Just a technicality..." How perceptive and discerning of Mr. Bourassa! How discouraging a betrayal for Eng- lish _Quebec! . Believe it or not Quebec, Canada has a DUAL cultural heritage that stems from the British conquest of the French colony of New France in 1763: As a result, today BOTH, French and English are.Canada's official languages. In 1980, the threat of separatism by the largely French-speaking province of Quebec was averted when a referendum was soundly defeated by Quebec's elector i-iite. The referendum was to mandate Quebec's government to negotiate terms of sovereignty for Quebec. In other words, undisputed and inde- Where do pendent political power for Quebec. However, the referendum was com- pletely defeated -- something Bourassa and Quebec seem to have forgotten. Quebec, it seems, has an astoundingly short memory: it too is a province in a democratic country. It too joined the Canadian Confederation in 1867. This means that Quebec must abide by the Canadian Charter of Rights, and learn that French-speaking Canadians do not own Quebec; Quebec belongs to Can- ada and to Canadians. - Who are Canadians anyway? They are not just people of the French or British descent. - - - French Canadians constitute 27 percent of our population, most of whom are concentrated in the province of Quebec, and in New Brunswick where they com- pose about one-third of the population. Canadians. of Britishdescent make up -40 percent of the population (1986 statis- tics). In the meantime, ' let's 'not overlook the REST of the Canadian population: Con- tinental European groups (other than French) have risen steadily from 8.5 percent of Canada'spopulation in 1901, to an astounding 20 percent in 1981. The principal continental groups are Germans, Italians, Ukrainians, Scandina- vians, Dutch and Poles. - Let's not forget that, particularly in the 1970's and ' 1980's, many immigrants also arrived from Asia and the West In- dies. • . - Where are the language rights of non - French, non-English speaking Canadi- ans? They are notbanning languages other than their own from signs in com- munities that are predominately German or Italian, for example. - Quebec has turned its back on the free- dom of expression, an important demo - (Atha; value, to pr(4110T� ? point,. that French is the only language of Quebec; that Engltsh and `other languages are non-existent in the true face of Quebec. - Thus, Bourassa is using the "notwith- standing" clause obtained in the prov- ince's Cfiarter of Rights, to let him over- ride the supreme court's ruling to strike dovjn Bill 101. So, congratulations Manitoba• Premier, Gary Filmon. - You are the only Premier with enough effrontery and courage to withdraw a resolution, to ratify the Meech Lake agreement. Let's hope Ontario and the rest of the provinces follow suit and squash the agreement, before Quebec decides to outlaw English in New Brunswick. Andrea Yunghlul in The Advance Iplug in? This Christmas led me further tension cord, this one has no into the world of rechargeable, bounds to its uses. sorry "cordless"; appliances. So what's next? My radios and flash guns have long been powered with those ubiquitous nickel -cadmium bat- teries, but I'm now fascinated by thc potential of other cordless gadgets. I'm almost willing to believe the Dustbuster is one of this decade's, maybe century's, most important inventions, right behind the car and airplane. Currently, I'm testing the limits of a cordless hand mixer and a rechargeable drill. i reason if a drill's usefulness is directly pro- portional to the length of its ex - 4 old that thought... by Adrian Harte How about a rechargeable car? i hear that a British Columbia company is beginning to market thcir Exar: an electric car you plug in at night. No gasoline, no -pollution. It looks Fleck enough, sort of a cross between a Lotus and- a Toyota, but it sounds more like a European milk truck than a sports coupe. I'll be stuck with intern?l combustion for a while yet. We -already have rechargeable people. Yvonne Reynolds says she often goes off on weekend retreats to "recharge her batter- ies". No onc has yet got the cou- rage to ask her how that works. Now what we really need is a ,. Please turn to page A costly habit The topic of New Year's reso- lutions is prevalent at this time of year and despite statistics we used in last week's column, smoking is still high on the list of priorities for new resolutions. • . We have talked to several peo- ple who will try to stop smoking during the coming year and we wish them luck. This brings up a. question can we afford to let Canadians smoke? Tobacco not only carries health and social costs to the indi- vidual, it is also expensive for society as a whole. Smoking accounts for about $2.4 billion of our bills for phy- sicians' services, hospital care, drugs and administrative servic- es. That was more than one per- cent of Canada's 1980 Gross Na- tional Product. On top of that, smoking-related ailments lower work productivi- ty. -Smokers arc more likely to take days off and to work at less than full capacity. If these workers were to quit smoking, GNP might rise by as much as$1..5 billion. So the to- tal cosrof smoking approaches $4 billion annually. • On the other hand, there are -some financial benefits to society from smokers, including the sav- ingsinpension payments from the premature deaths of smokers and income from the tobacco in- dgstry to fanners, manufactur- ers, distributors and retailers. But the statisticians point out that these possible benefits of about From the ; editor's disk by Ross Haugh t $1.5 billion arc far outweighed by the costs. - Nevertheless, Canada has one the ghost rates of tobacco con.• ,p tion per adult. Each day the average, smoker lights up 31 cigarettes, an increase of five per day since 1965. The yearly pro- duction of cigarettes has risen from 43 to 64 billion. However, although Canadian smokers have increased their to- tal consumption, there are fewer smokers around. In the last eight years the proportion of non- smoking Hien in the population has risen from 43 to 56 percent. and that of women from 65 to 68 percent. There have been .1 number of non-smoking advances -in the last decade, including restrictions pn smoking in public places 'and an increased assertiveness of non- smokcrs. If these trends contin- ue, we -might enjoy a welcome - boost to the economy. For a person who has never smoked it is easy to -.say, butt - out. * * * * It's interesting to hear of some of the. incidents taking place at Canadian -United States border. points since the much belea- guered Free Trade Pact has gone into effect.: By some of the comments of travellers, it is evident that very few people truly understood what the agreement really meant and it wasn't about to opcn the borders, to bringing products back and forth freely. Even though some items are duty free, all arc still liable for the federal sales tax. Interestingly enough is the fact the only food- stuffs allowed to come across from the United States free of duty are frozen fish. So, if you. buy fresh fish across the border, better get them frozen first.. Oh, there is another catch and that's not intended as a pun, the frozen fish must be made or pro- cessed in the U.S. Freezing in the dark Since I'm the one who pa s the hydro bills, I always make sure that the thermostat is turned way down before we leave the house. What's the point in heating the place when no onc is there? Eliz abe.u) i11`.,•• �.: �.ir. i � : .: t� house is like a barn whcn we get. back, hut it only' takes two or three minutes to warm up, so what's the big deal? It was the same last night. We came home around six, aftcr spending several hours away, and even I had to admit that the house was rather cool. The out- side temperature was minus 20, and inside it was probably around plus 18. I shoved the thermostat all the way up to 22, and . the furnace came on. Ten seconds later, it stopped. At the same time, the lights went out. No, it wasn't a fuse. A look outside assured us that our neighbours wcrc in the dar too.- Once again, we were wit tut power. It seems to happe' alot these days. Most of the car, a power failure is just a - inor in- convenience. I migh ose a half an hour's work on t' c computer. A roast may not - • cooked. And the clocks have • be reset. Last night, timing was bad. We were fr .ding in the dark. Lighting a lot of candles was no problem - it was like Christmas all over again. The kids love candles. And flashlights. But it was getting too cold in the house. We really should build a fireplace. Or install a woodstove or convertible furnace. i tried to phone the power com- pany. Of course, the line was busy. Whcn i finally did get through, the answer was n4►l en- couraging: "We don't know • what the problem is, but we should find out within an hour or so." "When will it be fixed?" "We -don't know yet". "Is it widespread?" 'It seems to be". I don't know why 1 always .l..444 !,'inestion. Perhaps I find - comfort in the thought thi ` ", have a lot of co -sufferers and co -freezers. That we're not the only ones to be cut off from the life -preserving source of ener- gy PETER'S POINT • by Peter Hesscl Elizabeth and I issued warm socks and sweaters to the kids. Then we prepared an emergency Supper: /crackers and cheese, with milk. Not fancy, but not too hard to take. Especially -with• candlelight: We gave the usual commands: don't leave a room where a dandle is burning, don't play with matches, don't waste thc flashlight batteries, and don't flush any toilets. "But I hay to..." "Don't flush the toilet. "What- if i have to...?" "Don't flush the toilet." We managed th get -through supper Without a major crisis. I made another call to the power company. They now knew what the problem was, but it would be several hours before they could fix it.- It t.It was time for a tactical deci- sion. Without elc.tricity, there's no place like bed 1'i keep you from freezing. INerybody please get their pajamas and housecoats on - 'we're all going to bed "This early? It's not even eight o'clock yet," protest- ed Alexander. We- gave him the choice of p.ris 'Yi"# 4 rk .`���►c'�'.s"`.+k to some consideration, he de- cided he would read in bed with a flashlight. A compromise w.as reached - a'15 -minute time limit. Duncan said he. had heard . about people frccing to death, and he. was taking no chances. He put on his long johns, paja- mas `,track suit, housecoat, two • pairs of socks, woolen scarf and mittens, toque and goggles. Then he crept into his sleeping bag and covered himself with his • flannelette sheet, comforter. and an extra blanket. Stephanie saw what Duncan . had done and agreed that it was a wise precaution. She looked like an aviatrix from an old French movie. Suddenly Alexander found reading too tiresome. Soon he was dressed like an' Arctic explorer. . When Elizabeth and i went to bed, in only slightly less exotic attire, wc realized that it was only 8:30. "I don't think I've gone to bed this carry since I had the chickenpox," i said. "Do you remember what happened in New York when they had their massive power failure some years ago?" "Yes," 1 said, "nine months later, their maternity wards couldn't handle the vol- ume. They had to fly in obstctri- cians from every state in the Un- ion." Justat that moment, the lights came hack on, and i had to go to the , to re -start the furnace.