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Page WEEKEND OUTLOOK Friday March 81991 Editorial Who to believe Is it too much to ask that the powersthatbe those sup posedly in the know tell the truth to Canadians for a change We are mired In a recession the likes of which has not been ex perienced since the early 1980s and all signs point to things get ting much worse before there is even a hint of better times But the man responsible for the made in Canada recession federal Finance Minister Michael Wilson still insists he sees a light at the end of the tunnel J beg to differ Mr Wilson The light you see isnt a glimmer of hope rather the light of a runaway locomotive and it is doubtful it can be derailed before it runs over what is left of the Canadian economy At a speech to a joint meeting of the Empire Club and the Cana dian Club last Tuesday in Toron to Mr Wilson claimed that Cana dian workers demanding big pay increases are holding back the Canadian economy Mr Wilson was quoted as say ing to those in attendance The competitive position of Canadian manufacturers has been slipping because weve seen an increase In unit labor costs in Canada driven by higher inflation here than in the United States Mr Wilson was also quoted as saying in justifying his recent austerity budget What were trying to do with this budget is break a cycle of wage and salary settlements that are two three per cent sometimes more higher than inflation We simply cant afford that as governments or as a country Mr Wilson dismissed the January inflation rate of 68 per cent as a temporary blip and maintained his goal of three per cent inflation by next year and two per cent by could still realistically be reached Mr Wilson would be well- advised to check with other federal government departments before attempting to blame Canadas economic woes on the working man In reference to the January in flation rate Mr Wilson was quoted as saying The underly ing rate up to that time had been between four and per cent According to Statistics Canada a branch of the federal govern ment workers in Ontario receiv- As I See It by Colin Gibson pay hikes of 55 per cent in 1990 Now Im no financial genius but the difference between Mr Wilsons admitted inflation rate of between four and per cent and the 55 per cent wage hike On tario workers received last year certainly doesnt back up his claim of wage and salary set tlements that are two three per cent sometimes more higher than inflation as a cause for our economic problems Statistics Canada also reported that employment in the province fell five per cent last year with the total number of people work ing in Ontario down to 398 million from million of a year Another report from Statistics Canada warns that the worst of the recession is still to come again contrary to what Mr Wilson predicts The leading economic in dicator a compilation of 10 key statistics from retail sales to stock market prices fell by per cent in December the 11th straight monthly drop Theres no sign of a tur naround agency analyst Phillip Cross is quoted as saying So who do we believe Mr Wilson who refused to even admit we were in a reces sion long after it became self- evident or Statistics Canada whose job it is to study and report on such issues on the basis of pro viding a service to Canadians The point is Canadians shouldnt have to decide who to believe when information is for thcoming from the federal government The least these guys could do is get their acts together Aslsee it anyway Poets LOVERS WALK continuity Winter evening love Snow only frilly lingerie In Glistening under the frail display cases Glow of the moon The only function they can be Dim street lights guaranteed cast silver to fulfil with absolute efficiency Two lovers walk Is bursting bubbles in the lightly falling snow By Acton hands linked Then Silently LADIES BEWARE looking into each others eyes There once was a married lingering man Stan In a doorway Whose wife bitched as only they steal wives can A You dont treat me right Kiss Get out or my sight Jason Piper Acton Or Ill hit you with this frying pan Poor Stanly a mouse not PINPRICKS a man Straight steel pins hold Jumped upoff the couch things together and ran quite well He wife was on a temporary basis He wasnt that bad But they lack a safely catch So getting him back was They are liable to slip her plan at any given moment and to fail in their function of But much to her dismay unification she found They are incapable of resisting Of Stanly not any sight magnetism or sound Theyre not strong enough So ladies beware to be used to hang heavy You must show you care objects There arent many good responsibility men around commitment By Acton The Hills HERALD Home Newspaper of Halton Hills Established A Division Canadian Newspaper Company Limited Guelph Street Georgetown Ontario 3Z6 ROBERT MALCOLMSON Publisher and General Manager 8772201 CLASSIFIED Joan Minn II Jump CIRCULATION Kir I ShadtxHt ACCOUNTING Account SUBSCRIPTION RATES Cop In Hallon Canada Hum pubuiiwd in in Oman t Toronto Ontario M or Caincarl St Montraal nt paid for apaca actual occvplM by Ihit portion In Men auch dua to In or and Hurt hall no lit bill tor non K Medical studies questioned Do you ever read the results of a medical or psychological study and ask yourself Why on earth did some nitwit conduct this study in the first place had such an experience the other day when I picked up the paper and read that a study con ducted by- Mens Health magazine has determined that men who do housework are healthier than men who dont Naturally I hurried straight to share this with The Love of My Life Listen to this I chortled Some magazine actually thinks men need to do housework to stay healthy She gave me That Certain Look Exactly she said dark ly Go clean the bathroom I took her point of course In deed I quickly realized that this magazine study was precisely the sort of subject I should avoid discussing let alone writing a column about When you broach such a sub ject you run the terrible risk of making a remark some off hand wellintentioned little wit ticism that smacks of sexism And a man of the 1990s does not want to do this This is partly because he is enlightened liberal and sen sitive And mainly because the experiences of the past 20 years have Intimidated the daylights out of him Still how can you possibly ig nore a study that links health to housework Unfortunately the article in the paper didnt specify just how housework contributes to better health and longer life Perhaps it has something to do with the aerobic value of vacuuming in which case well soon be seeing ads for Jane Fondas CleanUp Video Weirs World by Ian Weir News Service On the other hand its possible the study found a high incidence of illhealth and shortened life spans among bachelors who live alone and who thus take the customary single males ap proach to housecleaning If so we may be dealing with the phenomenon of hithertounknown health hazards says perhaps the possibility that undisturbed dust- bunnies eventually become toxic But all of this of course mere ly points to the much deeper issue We live in an era in which most men agree they should share the housework 5050 So the question remains why dont they Personally Ive always wondered whether some deep dark genetic trait might be responsible for frustrating men in their earnest endeavors to do more housework Something like bonelaziness perhaps Its also possible that this theory of equality of housework like so many other fine theories begins to lose a bit of its lustre when the time comes for prac tical application After all the history of science is full of glorious ideas that didnt quite make it off the drawing board Or as it happens the iron ing board Its also possible that men shirk housework out of sheer chivalry According to this theory males have always known sub consciously that housework is the key to health and long life As such leaving it to women is an act of pure selfsacrifice Which like so many such acts is so seldom properly understood But my personal suspicion is that men are incapable of equal housework because were the helpless victims of our evolu tionary background Men are descended from prehistoric forebears who chose to go out hunting sabretoothed tigers while their wives stayed safely at home This of course raises the troubling question why would any man with an ounce of sense choose to hunt sabretoothed tigers when he could choose to stay inside and sweep the cave In stead But when you think about this explains the host of psychological problems that af flict men In the modern era and surely excuses all of our inade quacies Unfortunately were descend ed from a bunch of geeks Write us a letter The Herald wants to hear from you If you have an opinion you want to express or a comment to make send us a letter or drop by the office Our address is Street Georgetown Ontario I JO All letters must be signed Please Include your address and telephone number for verification The Herald reserves the right to edit letter due to space limitations