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a ---- PORT PERRY STAR -- Wednesday, May 22, 199] -- 7 iewpoint Just after we finally stumbled through the long cold winter of our dis-content, a long, hot summer promises more of the same for Canada. Last week, we got an indication of what may be ahead when hundreds of ange truckers used their rigs to bring traffic to a halt on Hohway 401. The truckers created chaos for a couple of days in an expression of frustration and anger. | can't say | agree completely with their tactic of holding thou- sands of 401 motorists hostage for a few hours, but | can certainly sympathize with the way they feel. | am sure that a huge number of Canadians would dearly like to be able to express their anger in the same fashion: by making a dramatic statement that will attract attention. Not that the truckers blockade got much positive reaction from either Queens Park or Ottawa. In typical fashion, both sets of politicians pointed the finger of blame at each other. Ottawa blamed Queens Park for hiking the tax on diesel fuel, and Queens Park blamed Ottawa for de-regulating the trucking industry in the first place. How predictable and how typical of the way politi- cians react these days: do nothing but make sure the Sd back-side is well covered by blaming somebody else. And speaking of do-nothing, how about the Con- servative Throne Speech. They plan to appoint yet another committee on how to deal with unity and the constitutional problems, and if you can believe this, they promi that more than one million new jobs would be created by the end of the decade. I have never seen so much anger in this country. It has not blown wide open yet, but this anger is bub- bling and seething just under the surface of what used to be a fairly. contented and tranquil country. It goes without saying that most Dadpio have lost e confidence in the politicians they elect. term "cri- sis of leadership" is bandied about freely. That's not exactly new in this country. Politicians can always be thrown out of office next election. But more to the point, Canadians seem to have lost confidence in their institutions which for the most part have served the country well over the decades: Our system of education is under fire as critics point to a high drop-out rate and the number of "grad- uates" who are functionally illiterate. Likewise health care; in Ontario the system was once heralded as among the finest on the planet. Even the Supreme Court which has been almost above reproach is getting flak for some of its deci- sions. The one that is causing the most concern cen- tres around the ruling that an accused has a right to a speedy trial. In Ontario, close to 20,000 cases have been stayed since that ruling as judges say the lengthy delays are a denial of the rights of the ac- cused. One could go on at length about the lack of pub- lic confidence in these and other institutions. Person- ally, | feel that some of the criticism is warranted, some of it now. | think the health care system is straining, but if | get seriously ill, | still hope it's in Ontario and not Peru or Arkansas. As for education, there are some problems for sure. But laying the blame for everything that plagues There are some students who simply will néver learn to read, write or do basic math no matter what type of education system. They are either too stupid, too apathetic or both, and when they fail why not blame them rather than the system. All of this dis-content, this anger, this feeling of frustration is taking us down a very un-stable road. Institutions are much tougher to change than pol- iticians, and with most Canadians feeling pretty off at the three so-called "mainstream" parties, watch for a fairly dramatic shift in voter support for what are described now as "splinter parties." Some are making serious in-roads with the vot- ers, cashing in nicely on all the dis-content. Our federal and provincial parliaments are going to be very different places over the next few years. In fact, with the growth in popularity of the new parties, the vote is going to fragment all over the place. And the result is going to be a fragemented as- sembly, perhaps to the point where the party with the most seats has just a fraction of the popular vote and is able to rule only on the whim of one or two small splinter groups. Government by this kind of shaky coalition leads to de-stabilization and a steady stream of elections as the ruling party can easily be toppled. On top of all the other problems that plague Can- ada these days, just about the last thing we need is political de-stabilization and a shaky parliament. But it's coming. There is enough anger out there that when the next election rolls around, there could be six or eight parties sending reps to Ottawa, and none with a clear majority to govern. Will it work? Just ask the French or the Italians. Sure, the way things are going, Canada will be lucky not to lose more than a million jobs in that time frame. society at the school-house door is folly. - ~ Remember When? 46 YEARSAGO Thursday, May 16,1946 The new Baptist Church was dedicated with Rev. William Dynes, Toronto preaching the dedication service. Honeydale Women's Institute celebrated their eleventh anni- Yoreay at the Yellow School. Mrs. Lawson Honey was the presi- ent. Jack Cooney has received his discharge from the Air Force and has secured a position in Woodstock. Mr. Joel Aldred and Mr. J.L. Sweetman are busy building summer cottages at Lakeside Beach. 35YEARSAGO Thursday, May 17,1956 Reach Township mill rateisup 4.1 mills. A snow storm, and on top of that a small tornado and high Finassia considerable damage in some areas. This happened on ay 16. Uxbridge is making arrangements for a celebration where the - town will receive an official Coat of Arms and M.P.P. Matthew Dy- mond will be the speaker. Miss Marilyn Scott, granddaughter of Mr. and Mrs. Roy Scott, obtained the highest marks of the entire music festival in Lindsay, sponsored by the Kiwanis Club. S0YEARSAGO Thursday, May 17,1961 Mr. and Mrs. Les Faux celebrated their 25th wedding anniver- sary at the home of Mr. and Mrs. George Lee. John Howard Griffin, son of Mr. and Mrs. S.N. Griffin will be ordained at Chalmers Church in Kingston on May 31. At the regular meeting of council, it was passed that the Mu- nicipal Office be closed through July and August. Mr. and Mrs. Russell Brown, Blackstock, celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary. Mrs. Ruby Roach and Mrs. Dorothy Nelson attended a camp training course at Doe Lake. 26 YEARSAGO Thursday, May 19, 1966 Special services were held in the Port Perry United Church on Sunday, May 156 to celebrate the 80th anniversary in the church. Rev. Alec Rice was assisted in the service by guest speaker, Rev. Fred Jobin of Port Credit. William Harrison, Port Perry was recently elected president of the Port Perry Chamber of Commerce for 1966. Mr. Harrison is currently editor of the Port Perry Star and has also been editor- manager of the Colborne Chronicle in past years. Over 150 guests attended a two-day show by the "Junior Art- ists of Port Perry" held at the Scout Hall. The teacher of the young art students is Mrs. Douglas Wallace of Port Perry. (Turn to page 10) lea mes AEP ASE WEST REET ames ss mammas sav =~ Letters io the editor "Lucky to live in Port Perry", Maltby To the Editor: The other day I went for a walk through Port Perry. Nice town, or so it seemed to me. Being hungry I stopped atthe little sub shop across from the Pathfinders disgusted with UFO's To the Editor: During the week of May's "Pitch In," we the 3rd Port Perry Pathfinders, were disgusted by the U.F.0.'s in the parking lot behind the Post Office. We filled seven of the extra- large green garbage bags and 3 extra-large white recyclable bags with these U.F.0.'s. Numerous items from you - the public, were found, including - us- ed syringes (which we left to the adults to pick up), 1 poly bag of unused syringes, 2 bundles of Ju- ly 1989 Toronto Sun newspapers (still tied), - many liquor and beer bottles - empty oil cans (from changing your car oil) - old, used disposable diapers and hundreds of popcans, candy wrappers and drink cups. Cleaning other people's gar- bage was not an appealing task. Clean up your act Port Perry. Clean up your Unclean, Filthy, Objects - U.F.0's and make Port Perry a place to show off, - not be ashamed of. Make it safe for young and old. Signed, 3rd Port Perry Pathfinders bowling alley and had a truly ex- cellent submarine sandwich and then, just for the sake of watching normal people doing normal things in a normal way. I spent some time at the local shopping centre. No one seemed to notice that I was dressed rather oddly or look- ed a bit the worse for wear - in fact I even drew a few pleasant nods and a wholly unexpected cheery 'Good Morning' from an obvious grandmother with little ones in tow. I learned a bit about fishing at Canadian Tire (always sink test anew float), and quite a lot about alternative ways to preserve fruit, compliments of several ladies in serious discussion at the supermarket. In short order I rescued a "lost" boy whose mother was at least one aisle and 20 feet distant, gave an opinion on a new soft drink (the one I had at the sub shop was great), and agreed that prices were absolute- ly outlandish. Wandering up toward the cen- tre of town via several residential streets I couldn't help but notice how clean and well kept the yards and houses were, with here and there, a boat or car being energetically groomed by folks who actually looked happy to be doing it. : And children - running, jump- ing, laughing and playing games, quite oblivious (thank God) to the fact that "'out there in big towns and cities' there are real and true Turn to Page 8 J 30% --- A ---- -- a] pp _