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6 THE NEW TANNER THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 30, 2006 EDITORIAL Distributed to every home in Acton and area as well as adjoining communities. 373 Queen Street East, Unit 1 Acton, Ontario L7J 2N2 email: thenewtanner@on.aibn.com Frances Niblock Mike OLeary Angela Tyler Janis Fread Rebecca Ring Publisher Editorial Ted Tyler Hartley Coles Editorial Contributors Advertising and Circulation Composing Marie Shadbolt Bruce Cargill Danielle McIsaac Janine Taylor By Angela Tyler with Hartley Coles (519) 853-0051 Fax: (519) 853-0052 Every effort will be made to see advertising copy, neatly presented, is correctly printed. The publisher assumes no financial responsibility for typographical errors or omissions in advertising, but will gladly reprint without charge that part of an advertisement in which an error may occur provided a claim is made within five days of publication. All articles, advertisements and graphic artwork appearing in The New Tanner is copyrighted. Any usage, reproduction or publication of these items, in whole or in part, without the express written consent of the publisher of The New Tanner is a copyright infringement and subject to legal action. The resignation of Wellington-Halton Hills MP Michael Chong from the federal Conservative cabinet over the controversial resolution to formally recognize the Quebecois as a nation within Canada, should be no surprise to those who know Chong and his personal belief in a Canada without ethnic nationalism. As intergovernmental affairs minister responsible for the unity file, Chong was never consulted about the decision to propose the resolution although Prime Minister Harper did consult leaders in the Liberal and NDP as well as Liberal leadership candidate Stephan Dion, a former intergovernmental affairs minister in the Chretien government. An oversight? Or a suggestion that Chongs input was not important? In any event Michael Chong did the right thing by resigning from cabinet in which he also held the sports portfolio. Hell now sit as an or- dinary Conservative MP. That allowed him to refrain from voting on the resolution which easily passed the Commons by a vote of 266-16. Independent Halton MP Garth Turner was one of the 16 MPs who voted against the resolution. Although there was strong support from all parties for the resolution there is no doubt that the public at large especially here, is doubtful about the wisdom of the resolution which conferred nation status on the Quebecois. Many will side with Michael Chong who declared I believe in one nation, undivided, called Canada, Speculation is that Stephan Harper let Chong go because the price of losing him was preferable to that of losing two more MPS over the resolution. Now the controversy over the resolution swirls to what the term na- tion actually means. It is possible it has different meaning in English and French. At least it has for Bloc Quebecois leader Gilles Duceppe who says that now Quebec has been formally recognized as a nation within Canada it can press its demands for more money and spending powers, Duceppes notion conflicts completely with Michael Chong who recognizes this countrys linguistic duality and a need for the French fact to flourish but feels it is best done through bilingualism. Chong feels the resolution encouraged retreat into the old two solitudes instead of engaging in common civic nationalism. Its a view we share. People in other parts of this enormous country must be asking if theres something in the water in the chunk of Ontario which results in the unusual conduct from its federal politicians. First there was Halton MP Garth turner who was turfed out of the Conservative caucus when he published views on his blog contrary to the partys policies. Now we have our local MP Michael Chong, resign- ing a Cabinet post which included three portfolios, because he couldnt support the motion which recognized the Quebecois as a nation. In Mr. Turners case he had no option but to accept his fate since he continued to let his views be known in the interest of free speech, no matter the consequences. He continued to pursue his own agenda as an independent Member of Parliament. Surprisingly he is getting far more ink and attention than he ever got when he sat as a member of the caucus. Michael Chong, left out of the deliberations on the motion to rec- ognize Quebec as a nation might have been annoyed by the slight, but his belief in one nation, undivided, called Canada, based on a civic not on an ethnic nationalism, settles the issue for him. He couldnt as a member of the cabinet, vote for the motion, crafted by the Prime Minister and his close associates, to counter a motion from Gille Du- ceppe of the Bloc. Mr. Chong then took the step of resigning from cabinet on that prin- ciple, an action which some might deplore but one which also received a lot of respect from the public which has been getting disillusioned by some of the critics in Ottawa. Unlike Mr. Turner he is still the sitting MP for this riding and fully in accord with the governments agenda. With all the commercials on television and ads in newspapers it is a wonder all of us arent hy- pochondriacs. On Saturday evening as I was putting the laundry away and watching the T.V. I think I had finally reached my boiling point. I had had enough of T.V. ads try- ing to convince me that for every ache and pain there is a syndrome and we need a special clinic or medicine. Do you suffer aches and pains in your legs? Do you feel the need to walk around and stretch? Then you must be suffering from rest- less leg syndrome. Well, I must be suffering from it because my legs hurt when I sit at my desk for hours on end. Are you tired of trying to lose weight? Have you been dieting and it seems there is no end in sight? Well, the Gastric Bypass clinic can help you. I feel like yelling out at that commercial so can eating properly!. If you were overweight before you basi- cally were a victim of overeating or maybe a medical condition like a thyroid problem. Now, you need to see a surgeon and get your intestines made smaller with an elastic or whatever they do. What happened to being a bit overweight because you may have been over-indulging too often? Do you find yourself needing to go to the washroom frequently? Maybe you have irritable bowel syndrome. What constitutes go- ing to the washroom frequently? I recently read that the average person passes gas 14 times a day. If you do it 15 times does that mean you have a flatulence prob- lem and need a doctor? When I am about to go to sleep, I find myself frequenting the washroom more times than I did all day. Does that mean I have a syndrome, or is that just me? I just dont understand it. It seems that before there were the regular sicknesses. Basically it boiled down to having a cold, the flu or you were just feeling your age. Now there is syndrome after syndrome and the pending pandemic. If we paid attention to all the experts half of Acton would already be dead with a pandemic. If your legs ached, more than likely you were old and feeling the aches and pains of a high school sports injury or arthritis. Now, any ache and pain means you have a syndrome. If you went to the washroom too much before, you had a flu bug, or maybe ate too much chili. Now, you have an irritable bowel. My name is Angela. I have restless leg syndrome, irritable bowel syndrome, and I sneezed this morning which is a sure sign I am going to die of a pandemic. Or it could all mean that my legs ache because I wear inappropri- ate shoes to work, and I have to go to the washroom a lot at night because thats just me, and the sneeze I had this morning was because of somebodys stinky cologne. Chong is right Something in the water? Common ailments now pass KETTLE CAMPAIGN: The Acton Corps of the Salvation Army kicked off its annual holiday kettle cam- paign to raise money for the needy on Friday. On hand were, from left: Acton Councillor Mike OLeary, Sobeys rep Jon Dobbin, kettle co-chair Reg Marsh, Major Dean Locke and Acton Councillor Jon Hurst. Frances Niblock photo