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IMS the HERALD Outlook OUTLOOK is published each Saturday by the HALTON HILLS HERALD Home Newspaper of Halton Hills A Division of Canadian Newspapers Company Limited at Guelph Street Georgetown Ontario L7G 3Z6 Second Class Mall Registered Number 0943 PUBLISHER David A EDITOR Mike Turner AD MANAGER Dan Taylor STAFF WRITERS Brian MacLeod Donna Kell SPORTS WRITER PauISvoboda ACCOUNTING June Glendenning Tammy CLASSIFIED ADVERTISING Joan Manna ADVERTISING SALES Jeannlne Valois Craig Sharon Holllngsworth PRODUCTION DEPARTMENT Dave Hastings Annie Olsen Gilson Susanne Wilson CIRCULATION DEPARTMENT Marie PRESSROOM FOREMAN Brian PRESS ASSISTANT Leaving them speechless Twos a Crowd Ottawa Stewart MacLeod Thomson Mows Service Pardon the pun but there seems to be something about the Quebec language issue that renders people speechless In fact few of our ma jor political leaders are saying anything in either official In the week following the arson- fire at the headquarters of Alliance Quebec about the only influential voice to condemn the attack came ironically from the SaintJean Baptists Society Imagine that Not a word from Quebec Premier Robert Bourassa not a word from Prime Minister Brian And scarcely a word from any members of their govern ments If the prime minister can ar range to send out birthday cards to the set during his holidays surely a little condemnation of a fire would not be beyond bis reach Same goes for Mr Bourassa It would be more understandable if Alliance Quebec were a radical troublemaking organization But its not As a voice of anglophone the Alliance has fre quently been criticized from within for being too moderate and too ac cepting An Englishlanguage Montreal columnist recently complained that the provinces were effectively without a voice because the Alliance thought the best approach to the language issue was being nice NO VOICE Yet when vandals torched the headquarters of this entirely moderate organization causing some damage the official silence was almost deafening Not even the usual deplore comment in the first week Its true the Alliance didnt think much of Premier Bourassas response to the Supreme Court judgement that Quebecs language laws violated the Charter of Rights and Freedoms The organization was very critical of the govern ment for invoking the not withstanding caluse to continue banning the use of English on out side signs But the statements from Alliance President Royal On- could not have been more conciliatory To the premier he said You see Mr Bourassa we have a convic tion which you evidently do not share that the vast majority of Quebecers have confidence in the future of the French language and culture and are convinced that the protection of that language and culture can be assured without wiping other languages and specifically English off the linguistic face of this province NOT WARRANTED Its difficult to see why anyone even extremists would be offend ed by the Alliance except that it represents anglophooeQuebecers Yet Mr Orr says his organiza tion has received hundreds of threats since the Supreme Court handed down its decision After the fire the police arson squad wasnt called in for three days Its official policy not to pay overtime to the squad on holiday weekends unless injuries are in volved But considering the sensitive nature of this case one would think exceptions should have been made Anyway the controversy over the investigation made it even more imperative that there be some reassurances or condemnations from government leaders Mr Orr virtually begged for it You cannot remain silent when Alliance Quebecs efforts to ad vocate a solution based on the Quebec Charter of Rights and Freedoms are described in newspaper advertisements and elsewhere as making war with words of peace You cannot remain silent because silence is acquiescence Yes we understand the extreme sensitivity of the language issue and the reluctance of political leaders to say anything that might mildly annoy anyone But what were dealing with here is arson a criminal offence And surely a head of government doesnt require a week to ponder over this before declaring that such an act is simply shall we say not nice SNAFU by Bruce Beattie By BILL BUTTLE HaUIlted Staff Comment Brian MacLeod He may be gone but the ghost of Rene still haunts Quebec politics The dauntless French rights ac tivist philosopher outspoken an tagonist and angry political leader still has a firm grip on the reins of the Quebec political scene And the irony of it all is that its Quebec Liberal Premier Robert Bourassa who is haunted by the separatist former Parti It will not upset the fragile ecological balance No mind for business Your Business Diane Malay Thomson Ntwi Smlct The only heartattack risk is asking some much hed charge to do this A whole series of recent surveys have left educators parents and potential employers wringing then- hands over the hopeless Ignorance oftodaysstudents There was the survey in which far too many young people could not point out Canada or the United States on a map Then there was the one that showed most students could not read or write well enough to understand the back of a cereal box But the one that has business up in arms now is the survey that shows most US students dont know what profit Is Imagine that This is worrisome indeed for how can we keep the capitalist economy rolling when up-and- coming capitalists dont know what profit is But the solution some are proposing may be pro blematic educators want to teach economics in elementary school As we all know economics is not a science it can scarcely be called an art although artfulness is need ed in economic forecasting Given its imperfections what can teachers teach children about economics that will be supported by the way things work in the real world NOT SIMPLE Take profit for example Only a third of American students surveyed knew profit was revenue minus costs But things are not so simple A clever accountant with a sharp pencil can turn a profit into a loss and a loss into a profit What are children to make of that The survey sponsored by the Joint Council on Economic Educa tion covered 8206 US students in Grades and 12 While one of the tests designers urged school districts to introduce economics in elementary schools this seems to me to be a bit of an Surely high school is soon enough for students to find out how precarious the world order is Why cause younger children un necessary anxiety The revelation about the state of economic knowledge in US high schools follows earlier ones about the dismal state of American students knowledge of writing geography foreign languages science and math all basic elements of a liberal education Other bits of economic wisdom on which the students did not score well Less than per cent knew gross national product is the market value of the nations output of final goods and services WHATS A DEFICIT A really scary finding Only per cent realized government deficits are caused by the govern ments spending more than it takes in taxes No wonder North America is drowning in deficits Finally less than half of the students polled knew that economic demand for a product is bow much of the product people are willing and able to buy at a cer tain price In response to the survey Paul Volcker former US central banker uttered dark warnings about its implications for the coun trys economic wellbeing A basic understanding of economics is necessary for a country to be effec tivein the increasingly com petitive global economy he said He then confessed that he did not study economics in high school A basic understanding of profit and loss revenue and expenses surplus and deficit would benefit high school students and perhaps even those in lower grades as well It would be useful for students to know what the money supply is how interest rates are set and when the government should rein in fiscal policy But economic theory is a less useful thing Monetarists Keyne- and supplysiders should be left with Adam Smith and Karl Marx for later years when students are better equipped for the potentially devastating knowledge that no one really knows what is going on And Bourassa is responding in kind Premier Bourassa admits there is some social tension over the language issue in the province but adds that Quebec is not in a state of crisis Perhaps not But Premier Bourassa himself surely it in a state of crisis Only a man with the driven almost obsessional goal of advanc ing the rights of Frenchspeaking Quebecers could possibly justify in his own mind overriding a Supreme Court of Canada ruling in order to prohibit English- speaking business owners to place their native tongue on their signs outside their stores Only someone with a lifelong passion someone whose entire life has been devoted to the motherhood issue of the rights of the French people in Quebec could really come to grips with the idea that the government has the right to tell you what language you must speak and write Rene fit that descrip tion perfectly I have yet to see a single shred of evidence that Premier Bourassa has the same genuine commitment that kind of ideology No the decision to override the courts ruling was not that of Robert Bourassa but rather a decree from the image of Rene Levesque During his years in office the French people had grown com fortable and confident that their leader would keep an eye on their lifestyle to make sure French was first and always the language and culture of dominance in Quebec They knew how to keep his separatist leanings in check yet they wanted him as the patriarch of their French society In his unenviable position as leader of a party not committed to take Quebec out of Confederation Mr is being watched out of the corner of every French- speaking Quebecers eye Sanity would dictate that Mr Bourassa bow to the courts deci sion that it is utterly obscene to ban someone from placing a sign in his or her chosen language any language outside a place of business But the watchful eyes of Frenchspeaking are forcing him to act in a nature that really is foreign to him though very much in the philosophy that was held by Rene As premier in the early 1970s Mr Bourassa presided over the end of Quebecs socalled quiet revolu tion I do not recall him ever taking such a passionate stance to ad vance the French cause in Quebec It may take some time even a generation but slowly the grip that Rene Levesque holds over Quebec will ease