Times Advocate, 1997-06-25, Page 4:. ld✓urate. Jury' 25, 199'7
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EDITORI
Li
Only in Canada you say? Pity
i l _
.atriotism is something Cana-
dian` handle.with caution: We are a bit
siivictous of emotional outbursts and
Elms ‘s:aving at the hest of times and
tend to -grit our teeth when Americans
stand up. hands over their hearts, and.try H) hit -the high notes of The Star •
Spangled Banner. -
We tike pride in our heritage of law
and order - atter all, Canadian settle-
ment took place from .east t� west with
tile Royal Canadian Mounted Police
leading -the way. The land -south of the
Great Lakes.was settled in a hodge-
•pod :e fashion with the rebels and n'er-
do-wells leading the way. We have
Dudley Do -right. they have Billy the
Kid. -
We take pride in our unique identity
as Canadians.. in our linguistic quirks
i You d on't find accents up herein the
Great White North. eh''), in our hockey.
in our Neer.
We have our national heroes - Laura
Second is a good e-xample. En the States.
they would have made several movies
about her but all we have is a 60-
-second historical sketch on television
sometimes... oh. yes, and a candy com-
pany named -atter her. Only in Canada.
you say?
We have had more than our share of
political unrest; up to and including.re-
hellion. We have had a prime minister'
who often consulted his long -deceased
mother-before—making-important deci-
sions.
otherbefore—making=important_deci-
;ions. We have - had sports ;tars. •.
In wartime. Canadians earned them- .
selves the reputation of being tough...
scrappy soldiers. ready 10 bravely de-
fend the underdog but always hesitant
to push our way of life down anyone's
throat.
We may not be able to define what
makesus Canadian. and we may .not be
able to list the differences between us
and Americans for for that-maitter. be=
tweet us and the English and French).
hut we know we.are Canadians. and we
air different.
. As Canadians. we know we invented
hasketball..Hockey is our sport. And as
for hasehall, we take pleasure in politely
explaining to Americans that the first re-
corded baseball game took plaice in -
Beachville, Ontario. . - -
.But we just don't go in for -the rah -rah -
rah, heat the drum. wave the flag sort of
" patriotism.
It's not that we aren't patriotic. If you
believe that. you can test the theory by
saying there is no difference between
Canadians and Americans and we may
• as well become the 51st state. Then put
on your flak jacket, hard hat and running
shoes. -
Make no mistake. being Canadian is
. very important to us. We may not he as '
demonstrative about it as .other nationali�
ties, but we keen strongly about "the true
north strong and free Whyelse Would
.we put up with eight months of winter
En recent -years, there have been efforts
to Make us more openly patriotic in the
American style - large red and white
Canada Day cakes. tlags everywhere.
and little kids with hugles playing the .
National Anthem. The governmeni `gas
tried to legislate Canada Day festivities
and switch us from celebrating.Victoria
Day. And .they've tried to legislate flag
-.waving, with a certain. success.
Our_ge' erzt�j eaction.has been t(1 cele-
brate bli h daTadli.Day and the Victoria
Day weekend. We Canadians may he
modest souls, but we enjov.a good party.
Why accept only,one weekend_.of fire
works -and fun when you can have two''
As forthe flags... our heritage minister
still has a ti�"ht on her hands. .
' This Canada Day. enjoya game of
baseball, shoot ia few hoops 'and draw a
red maple leaf on your forehead if you :
want.
But please draw the line at that hand
over the heart bit. There's something
about it that is... well. it just isn't Ca ra-
dian.
SarIVeen ( i1• V%'ft s
do
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A A View From Queen's Park
By Eric Dowd
TORONTO -- Premier Mike Harris is com-
plaining that his provincial opponents keep re-
hashing the federal election, but he will have to
live with it for a long time.
The Progressive Conservative premier faces •
several problems as a result of the federal cam- .
paign. New Democrat leader Howard Hampton
reminded him of one when he asked Harris
what his stand is on accommodating Quebec.
Hampton wanted to know more` precisely
whether Harris supports Jean Charest, the fed-
eral Tory leader he refused to endorse in the
election, in trying to accommodate Quebec. or
Reform leader Preston Manning, who he said
tried to win seats by attacking Quebec.
Charest's accommodation would include rec-
ognizing Quebec as a distinct society, which
Harris said several times in the election.he is
against, as did Manning, who als..:eft a prime
minister fronrQuebec could be not fair. • .
Harris remanded that he is on the side of On -
tartans and will work with Liberal Prime Minis-
ter Jean Chretien for the good of the country.
But Chretien also,supports distinct society. as -
Harris and his party did. with the reservation it
still had never ben been explained fully. in op
position before 1995.
Harris now says distinct society is'obsolete
and few even in Quebec want it, which is inac-
curate because polls show a majority in Quebec
and such leaders as Chretien, Charest_and Que-
bec Liberal leader Daniel Johnson support it:
although naturally it has no appeal to separat-
ists.
Harris will now be pressed by opposition
parties and media to come up with his solution
and they will remind him, as Hampton did, that
former premiers from all parties in the legisla-
ture. John Robarts, William Davis, David Pe-
terson and Bob Rae, gained reputations for
building bridges to Quebec.
• The federal vote also will intensify charges
that Harris is on the wrong track in cutting tax-
es a this time. Premiers normally are not called
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Student Empl�yment
Boy Carrie McCone
Managing your references
Whether or not you ,et a lob
will often be. defer-ntned. by
who .itr ,Iva as ('k-r-ences and
what thev say about volt How
much thought have 'slut pint into
your rcterenc s
WHO THEY \RE:
- References :are pellote .vho
have seen you pet -tin -ming the
tunes related to !.he uh 01 arc
mnfytnh tor. Ili .yltu !lave sect]
, 11 in enough Itih . )1. non -tiff)
auatlons to comment knowl-
edgeabiytupon your `ti.u-acter.•
- These ;dude: former ctn-
plovers. people \ ou ha ye yiil-
inteered for. teachers. ,:ounscl-
lors. \•lfuth _roup leaders and
coaches. '
HOW FO l S1- fHE�I:
Reference inns' know that
ytnl.l are Iii(klnt lin- work. arid.
nurse given their permission eo
he :i titacted.
• .References must sav good
things about you.
- References must he .able to
speak from their own direct- ex-
perience of you.
- References must he .[hie 10
rnake. statements directly .tppli-
.2able t� ithe lob you arc a{Jph,
' ink fora
' Either list your references
on your resume or write "Ava,I-`
able von request.-
'
(-onta]}1 '.our references
priori() every soh interview.
- Vlake ;tiro your references
can he contacted lastly. •
Do not use relatives ,as reter-
ences.•
References are a good way fo
help -you with your empkiyment
..search. Make 'tire that when
ou decide who you would Iikc
to rise for .t t'elerence that you
.are comfortable with the person.
ilial you ,:huo'e:. By becoming
a reference. they .an say what-
ever they feel is actable when
referring you to a position.
i would Iike'all potential em-
filoi•ers to i;emernber that refer-
ences are :i good way to decide •
\\ nether or not our potential
.applicant would be ;suitable for
the pasted position: , it is worth
the time 19 contact the reterenc=
es evert if -you are fairly conn=
dent in the potential applicant
especially . in eases involving
child 'care.. By having prepared
references, when applying `for a
lob. volt ::an avoid having to
prepare rhetn and on
-hort.notice 11 .in employer asks
tor thein aircctly. References
do not Lake ;t long time to pre-.
pare;. tf ,you arc willing to take
the lime to all the people you.
have chosen for a reference,
then the longest part is finished.
They are worth having prepared
and .ur a gsood ideato use when
.rpplving for sutitmer employ-
ment.
Vest ,vicek i Will he talking
.about lett Interviews. .Until
. then..nuod tuck and if you have
.any LitiestionS regarding this. ar-
ticle or any interest in student
employment. please feel free to
contact me at 235-111 l
Harris faces several problems as a result of election
on to.defend themselves for cutting taxes -- the
cheering is too loud.
But Liberal leader Dalton McGuinty has
argued that Harris should riot be cutting servic-
es to the hone to provide tax cuts, and he now
claims federal voters have sent a similar mes-
sage.
Therfederal Liberals won overwhelmingly in
Ontario and their platform included balancing
the budget. before cutting taxes, on the ground
paying down debt helps the. economy more. •
This argument that the budget should be bal-
anced first has been bolstered also by an agen-
cy which helps set provinces' credit ratings and
refused Ontario a higher rating because it uses
some savings from reducing services to cut tax-
es instead of debt.
The agency has rated the 'lories no better
than the tanner NDP government. which they
used to scoff spent like a drunken sailor, so
they have to shell out millions of dollars a year
more in interest; ensuring the criticism of Har-
. ris's tax cuts will mount. '
Harris also has left many in his own party up-
set because. he recused to endorse its federal
leader as repayment for Reform's not running
against him in 1995.
These particularly are the more moderate Red
Tories who had worked for Davis and buried
theirdifferences with Harris because he was
nominallya Tory like them and successful.
Davis came out of retirement and asked Har-
ris to support theirfederal party. but was ig-
nored. His former communications adviser,
Sally Barnes. who expresses the views of many
around him, warned that the election, in which
Reform did poorly in Ontario, showed this is a
province of moderates and Harris's Tones risk
being thrown out if they fail to recognize it.
Some longtime Tories in letters to newspa-
pers say also Harris let them down by refusing
to :support his federal party and embarrassed
them by holding hands with Reform. so Harris
now has a unity problem in his own party to
worry about.