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Editorial Comments 'Just Bad Luck? Surely it can't all be bad management that has plunged Brian Mulroney and the Conservatives to new lows in the national popularity polls. There must be a little bad luck involved too. : It seems almost incredible that Mr. Mulroney and his Party could find themselves at such a low ebb. After all, it was just a bit more . than two years ago, that the Tories swept the Liberals from power in every corner of the country. ~The country was ready.for that sweep and Mr. Mulroney promis- ed a fresh face, new ideas, dynamic leadership, unity among the war- ring factions in Canada. The voters of the country obviously were ready for a "'return to normalcy" after the roller-coaster ride through the Trudeau era. But in the space of 30 months, Mr. Mulroney and his Party are floundering and wallowing around, lurching from one crisis to another, buffeted by scandals. They are giving the country the impression that there is nobody in charge, and the ones who claim to be in charge - haven't got a.clue what they are doing. Yo The fall from grace has been so sharp and so dramatic that one is forced to concede that a measure of bad luck must be in play. After all, one can't blame Mr. Mulroney or the Conservative Party personally for the problems created by fallen ministers like Sinclair Stevens and Andre Bissonnett. How many Cabinet ministers have resigned or been fired in the 30 months since the Party took power? It doesn't matter. What does matter is that the Canadian public has seen a seem- ingly endless number of scandals and near scandals from tainted tuna ~~ to million dollar land flips. ~ Those kind of things are probably going to happen no matter who is in power. Previous administrations in Ottawa. had their fair share of fallen angels. It has been a stroke of bad luck for Mulroney that he has had so many in just 30 months. Co - : Co On the bad management side of the ledger, Canadians are look- ing at Ottawa and asking themselves this question. 'Just what has Brian Mulroney DONE for Canada?" That is a good question. We know that he has put a lot of faith - in the so-called free trade initiatives with the Americans. Unfortunately, there have been precious few dividends to date. In fact, many believe Canada so far has given far more (far more) than it has received. But to be fair, let's give the free trade talks more time. We have seen Mr. Mulroney get very chummy with the guy in- the White House. They are good friends, enjoy a sing-song together. once in.a while, and 'call each other on the phone. That's fine. Good relations between good neighbours are very important. But Mr. Mulroney keeps talking acid rain to his good bud- dy in Washington, and that good buddy smiles, nods and does nothing about this problem that is killing forests and lakes north of the 49th. On the domestic front, Mr. Mulroney has been successful in alienating many parts of this land. All the premiers are mad at him for one reason or another, and even on the Prairies, where Liberals used to be as scarce as two-legged iack rabbits, the populace is very : ) Roo gag po a roo soaaoteoosol oo NADI 40 get Ante. -An WAS ANY yoin--afd--weeks--have--been-deeclared--"Weedless 2 Sp lease WIT th goings enn Ottawa: = yone-whe wa bod In the Maritimes, they are mad about a lot of things, mostly issues of fish and resources. Even in Ontario, where the economy booms as never before, they are mad over a scheme to give tax breaks to entice international bankers to Montreal and Vancouver. About the only place where they are not mad at Mulroney is Quebec. But that could change in a. moment. " 'The perception held by most Canadians is that Mr. Mulroney has | done nothing in the past 30 months except cozy up to Ronald Reagan, - hand out a fat defense contract to a higher bid Montreal firm, meander into free trade negotiatigns, appoint a lot of old buddies and Party faithful to the Senate and other government posts, and spend a good deal of his time trying to weather the storm created when a scandal ~ breaks. Caltit bad luck, call it bad management, call it whatever you like. The point is that the past 30 months of Brian Mulroney's rule have been a fiasco. He has another 30 months or so before he must call a federal election. Can the country wait that long? Port Perry i Ch} : =p a =) 235 QUEEN STREET - PORT PERRY, ONTARIO Phone 985-7383 P.0.Box90 LOB INO. J. PETER HVIDSTEN Publisher Advertising Manager Member of the v Canadian Community Newspaper Association and Ontaro Community Newspaper Association Published every Tuésday by the Port Perry Star Co Ltd Port Perry Ontarwo J.B. MCCLELLAND Editor , > Authorized as second class mail by the Post Ottice Department Ottawa. and for cash CATHY OLLIFFE payment of postage in cash News & Features Lo Second Class Mail Registration Number 0265 rs Gon . Subscription Rate: in' Canada $15.00 per year 2000s aps0lite Elsewhere $45 00 per year. Single Copy 35° \ Ad " », 4 -- PORT PERRY STAR -- Tuesday, January 2 7, 1987 ihre : Jive Miki wifi Chatterbox by Cathy Olliffe . € Smokers are second class citizens. Have you ever noticed this? If you don't smoke, you probably haven't. If you are prone to inhale a little tar and nicotine on occasion, then you most certainly have. It never used to be this way. Back in the ear- ly part of this century, nay, even up until the mid- seventies, smoking was an extremely glamourous Hollywood realized the impact of sultry eyes squinting through curls of white smoke. Nobody could smoke a cigarette like Mae West, except maybe the macho Marlboro man who was able to ride wild Mustangs, herd cattle through the heat of a blazing desert sun and smoke all at the same time. 4 Those days, alas, are gone and while Mae West lives on in the Hollywood halls of fame, ¢igarettes have gone the way of the bald eagle. The health-conscious eighties have produced a society of North Americans who actively loathe "the weed. People have banded together to form organizations like lung associations. heart funds. and companies that treat smokers like alcoholics. The whole point of these organizations is to convince the minority who still smoke to give up their habit permanently. But organizations aren't the only bodies who are forcing smokers to stop. . ~ Children, indoctrinated at schools, come home to their parents and tell them to stop, I have a' friend whose two children are forever blowing out her matches and crying, in their sad little children's voices, 'Please, mommy, don't smoke." The same friend has nephews, huge brutes of teenagers, who don't know the meaning of the word tact. Every time she sees them, they're grabbing her cigarettes (at $3 a pack) and break- ing them into piles of rubbish. Now, if they were my nephews, I'd turn around and break something ¢f their's in half. - Like their heads (just kidding, okay"). Just because they disagree with smoking, doesn't mean they can destroy an expensive item that belongs to domeone else. But kids aren't the only ones who pester smokers. Non-smoking adults are the worst. It doesn't matter where a smoker goes, he or she is confronted with sneers of disgust or insults about smoking. - SECOND CLASS CITIZENS Insults run the gamut from mild comments such as, "Are you still addicted to that filthy habit?' to more forthright statements such as . Yo x=1&@tiX" a. Smokers are feeling this antagonism everywhere they go. No smoking signs are everywhere. Television, radio and magazines eschew the evils of tobacco. And even special days Wednesdays' or "Non-Smoking Week." Eegads, what's WRONG with smoking anyway? Okay, here's what's wrong: (1) There's a proven link between smoking and health problems such as cancer and heart disease. e : (2) Second-hand smoke causes the same pro- blems for people who don't smoke. (3) Produces awful coughing fits, so disgusting in nature that listeners can't bear to listen. (4)-Gives the smoker foul and smelly breath, hair, clothes, as well as yellow teeth. . (5) Smoking is expensive. At $3 a pack, who can afford it? (6) As my friend points out, smoking can "Make you die before your kids get married." "Yes, yes, yes, but if smokers promise not to smoke in front of anybody who doesn't smoke (thereby saving clean lungs from the horrors of tar and nicotine), and if the smoker is willing to gamble on dying of cancer or heart disease, then shouldn't they be allowed to smoke? Hassle-free? I think they should. Personally, there's nothing that bugs me more than the self- righteousness of some non-smokers who constant- ly harp at smokers. I' agree, that if smoke is bothering nearby people, the cigarette should be butted out. : But upon butting, there should be no more sar- castic comments directed to, or upon, or at the smoker. ; If the Smoker wants to kill him or herself , fine. It's nobody else's business. E And besides, smoking is sometimes good. Where would the music business be without such greats as "Smoke Gets In Your Eyes," *'Smok- ing In The Boy's Room," Smokey Robinson. Smokey and the Bandit, or The Big Smoke? Anyways, the moral of all this is, If You Want To Smoke, Smoke. If You Don't Want To Smoke. Don't. And don't let anyone change your mind, however you make it. A] PR a -- rr TT -- lus a si: Iga Cs a Ana BOR PO _ Em nn ; yA