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10a Ah A COD TART Pb TE LHR SETAE Sd St ST SE SrA A SE I A EES I 10 AL STIR Ti Se OAR FEET 0S ted AE FARR PAO Aa hadi AR IL a fi 0 al % OSA Ca | 4 SURG Da a TER Prd RR AT RASI Wd SE STR t dl INA TTA ESE IS LE I 0 A STOR 0 SHOR FYE £40 SOUR : LANAI TY eh A iy AY {J Y haa HH ASIEN SHEAR Oh: KEAN SRN SEER ERO A ACTER: REP f Wi! Len RESTART a Fak 9H IND 45 oi ne ECHR SR CASA FS ihn an ait FETE ths Heng SAE Ls A editorial comments "Community Spirit I LET a tet At J i i KEE an he Tse ESR - Providing decent recreation facilities for the community can sometimes be a- costly and time- consuming undertaking. This is not the case, however, with the recent installation of lights at the '"old" baseball diamond on Water Street in Port Perry. Vin Walker, an executive with Port Perry Minor Softball tells us the lights were installed at a cost of about $4000, and the reason for this was because a lot of different people donated their time, talents, and expertise to buy the poles and hardware at the best possible price, transport them to Port Perry and finally install them and get them working for this baseball season. Putting up a set of lights at a public baseball park may not be "big news," but the efforts are an indication of the kind of community spirit that's alive and well in this municipality. We believe this is just one further example that there Is a great number of people who care deeply about their community, are willing to get involved, use their initiative and skills to help make Scugog a better place to live. - Too often, it seems, efforts like this are taken pretty much for granted and go virtually unnoticed. But one doesn't have to look very far to find similar examples of community-minded spirits. All of the people, the groups and the organizations who volunteer their efforts to. improve the quality of life in this community more than deserve a tip of the hat once in a while. The Noose, Again After months of haggling over the Constitution, interest rates, inflation and the price of Alberta crude, members of Parliament this week will have their chance to sound off on another contentious issue: capital punishment. : The federal Conservatives will use Thursday of this week to introduce a motion to set up a Parliamentary committee to study the capital punishment issue, come up with a report for Parliament which eventually could lead to a free vote in. the Commons on whether to bring the noose been walking on less than solid ground since the' convention last February, and he must be disappointed that his party members would wish to bring the debate into the open again. It is fair to say the country is in a mean mood these days as the average citizen watches inflation enrode the buying power of a pay cheque, interest rates force people to walk away from their homes, eand the nation is deeply divided over the Constitution and all its ramifications. ) Add to this an apparent increase in violent crime, On the other hand, the last time Parliament dealt with the issue was five years ago in 1976. It was not a free vote in the Commons as Liberal members were tied to the Party. Whether capital punishment serves as a deterrent to murder is topic for endless debate. The rate of murder in Canada has declined since 1976 when the noose was abolished. Nevertheléss, wide-spread publicity surrounding murders and murder trials have put the public on edge, especially it seems, : p when a police officer is involved. There is a Jip back on the wp < res Bariiae. Inline Commons™Y the Kivu Klux Klan, neo-Nazi and other groups of perception that abolition of the noose has led to more § ® ea hry " Por capital punishment. S"aZles openly seeking new recruits in the streets of capital crime. ] Ra are all opposed personally P p ) Toronto, it is little wonder that people are confused There are times when events around the world wh Since the Conservative announcement last week, d frigh : wa 1 A which was made, by the way, by Durham-Northum- and frightened. seem to indicate that civilization is on a roller- 2 berland M.P Allan Lawrence, much has been said With this kind of climate of fear, a debate on coaster of self destruction. Fortunately, Canada for 5 about the issue being raised at this time represents capital ' punishment is going to attract a lot of the most part has not experienced the kind of 8 attention and support across Canada. violence which has turned some countries into armed NY TT UNE SERRA TR Sp he 5 Yel SL PO te something of a victory for the so-called right wingers in the Tory caucus. There has even been speculation the real reason for raising the issue at this time is to further undermine the party leadership of Joe Clark. He has Leaving aside the notion that the issue at this time is really just part of the internal Tory party struggle, the proponents of the capital punishment could not have picked a better time to drag it back in front of the public. camps where life is cheap. The state has a duty to protect the safety of its citizens. But capital punishment is not the way for a civilized society to accomplish this. o "Vicious circle" Canada's Minister of Finance has the accoutrements of the ideal man for the job. He's a thick-set, sturdy chap who doesn't seem to panic easily. He has had years of experience in Parliament. He is extremely able in debate, especially on the defense. And then there's that good, solid thrifty, Scottish name, Allan MacEachen. On the surface, a canny Scot, who's been Minister of practically everything, except 4 like a snake looking at a fat rabbit, and as a potential instrument for interfering with the manufacturing sector of this country, as it has interfered with the oil and gas industry Strong, ex-Liberal candidate, international financier, as chairman of the CDC. 2 B ® - to the benefit of none of us. 5 : The government began to lobby the BR > corporation directors in an attempt to have : them elect its own man, a certain Maurice Mr. Strong has an interesting connection Primé, and he had a shot at that. But behind that exterior lurks a Machia- vellian mind, and a Liberal arrogance that make him aot only the opposite of what he appears, but also a dangerous man. And a dangerous man close to the seat of power is a threat to the entire country. In his budget speech, MacEachen hinted broadly that he would consider removing the indexing of income taxes in relation to inflation. That would be a savage blow to _ the average citizen of this country, except, as usual, to the very poor and the very rich. You and I would pay more taxes each year, as inflation rose and our claims for depen- dents and other things remained static. Fine for the government. A source of income that would bring in hundred of » millions of new taxes each year, and help to ease the massive, growing, and embarras- sing national deficit. But for the average Canadian, such a step would be extremely painful, in some cases disastrous. More inflation every year; higher taxes every year. What a nice little merry-go-round. For the . Personally, I wouldn't trust Mr. MacEachen as far as I 'could throw a bulldozer into a swamp. And when it comes to money, I wouldn't trust the Liberal government that far. The poor sods are desperate for every nickel they haven't already squeezed out of us. The only thing liberal about our govern- ment is the way it hands out our money to bail out large companies headed for bank- ruptcy, and- buys, with our money, oil companies at inflated prices in the name of Producing not one single, extra gallon of oil. ut it's good politics. It garners votes. - When it comes to the rest of us, the government is about as liberal as Scrooge. If you or I have a small business, and are going bankrupt because of vicious inflation and merciless interest rates, are we bailed out? Fat chance. Tough luck, old boy, but you have only one vote. If you or I are on pension, barely able to provide food and shelter, are we assisted? - Sure we are. We'll raise your pension by two dollars a month or some such, says our liberal government. Five cans of soup. A recent development has alarmed me, and confirmed my suspicion that letting the government into your business is the equiva- - lent of asking a safecracker to look after the store while you go out for a coffee. : The government, with the sweet smell of money in it's nose, is trying to move in and control one of the best examples of Canadian knowhow and resourcefulness - the Canada Development-Corporation. This outfit was established by the government to enable Canadians to invest in their own country. The government promised, tacitly, not to interfere in the, company. Thousands of Canadians invested (no foreigners allowed.) A noble concept. . Unfortunately, the Corporation was successful, In ten years, with astute with a Swiss firm that picked up about three- quarters of a million in commission for negotiating the purchase of Petro Fina for Canada. Nice day's work. It's a nasty piece of business, and nobody knows it better than the business world. When the first reports about possible government interference in CDC appeared, - the shares fell sharply in price, reflecting the market's and the public's distrust of government intervention in business. Oh, it's a nasty, slippery business, all around. The government promised to stay out of CDC's business. Now, with some gold on the horizon, it wants in. And so would I, probably, if I had run the country so far into management and a good deal of skill and _ debt daring, it built up its assets in ten years to' $3.4 billion dollars. The investors were happy, the corporation confident. But there's that smell of money. Ridicu- lous. A government-sponsored or controlled corporation is supposed to lose money, like the Post Office or the CNR or any dozen others you can think of. Now, the government, google-eyed, is looking at that highly successful corporation Financial analyst Ronald Anderson says: "A policy of subverting the profit-based, growth-oriented development strategy of the CDC would amount to a betrayal of the corporations 30,000 shareholders. Many of the investors have never bought shares before; they invested in the CDC for the same reason they buy Canada Savings Bonds - because they trusted the Govern- ment to keep its word." Silly devils.