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THE WEEKEND OUTLOOK Friday May 17 1991 Editorial We get the shaft In recent weeks I have been reflecting somewhat on the per of our respective pro vincial and federal governments and their action or inaction on a number of issues To be honest I have come to the conclusion that both levels of government can be tarred with the same brush and identified by the pseudonyms Tweedle Dumb and Dumber with the roles interchangeable If a major requirement in the art of governing is to get across to the people the perception they are being well governed then it is suggested here that members of both levels of government go back to school because this is one course they have failed miserably And Canadians are increasing ly getting fed up It seems the politicians get the gold mine while we get the shaft Take the case for example of legislation recently rushed through in Ottawa that could pro tect MPs from police mvestiga tion According to published reports the legislation known as Bill C was proclaimed just four days after Conservative MP Maurice from Quebec had his offices raided by the RCMP Mr in turn telephoned the office of House of Commons Speaker John to find out when Bill C 79 would be proclaimed Mr Tremblay also telephoned government House Leader vie Andre who in turn it is reported asked his staff to en sure the Bill was proclaimed in short order The legislation was approved last month by Parliament and given royal assent at the time but the manner in which it was proclaimed reeks of improprie ty The federal government has also refused to name the four ministers who signed the order in council A day after the proclamation of the Act another Conservative MP Gabriel Fontaine of Quebec used it to gain a delay in his heanng where he is facing charges of fraud breach of trust and conspiracy Next month according to reports a Quebec judge will hear legal arguments on whether the Act will apply in Mr Fontaine s legal proceedings Under the Act the House of Commons board of internal economy will have exclusive authority to decide whether an MP has misused any office funds obviously sidetracking possible police investigations All together now On the good ship Lollipop NATIVE Are Ontario Native Indians be As I See It by Colin Gibson ing given a carte blanche by On tario Minister of Natural Resources Bud to plunder fish and wildlife in the province According to the On Federation of Anglers and Hunters this is most definitely the case John Power a freelance writer and a member of the association reports that through an anonymous tjp he uncovered what might best be termed travesty of justice A 15 month undercover in vestigation by conservation of ficers revealed that illegal net ting was being done by the Cape Croker Band in Georgian Bay and that the Indians had exceed ed their quota by 500 pounds of fish mostly trout It was reported the conservation officers had hard evidence to prove who was poaching where when how they were selling the fish and to whom In a clear neglect of the duties of his ministry ordered that no charges be laid The investigation by the way cost Ontano taxpayers Wildman also ordered that moose hunting charges laid against the Algonquins of Golden Lake be withdrawn His rationale according to reports was that the laying of charges would create an un favorable climate for govern mental negotiations with the In Rick Morgan vicepresident of the OFAH is quoted as he was appalled at deci sion and that just two months previously Wildman had assured the association Indians would not be allowed to engage in commer cialization of fish and game Insiders report that conserve officers have been told to turn a blind eye to Native spear and netting of fish on spawn ing grounds near James Bay In the same area charges for night hunting and shooting deer with a 22 calibre rifle have been dropped The Minister of Natural Resources at the very least can be accused of dereliction of duty by using Ontario resources as a bargaining tool in negotiations with Natives As I see it anyway Poets Corner BALLAD The cuckoo broke out of her shell Aware that she out of place Her instincts served her well She knew that she needed her space She edged and pushed at the others Until one by one they fell Joined their sisters and brothers In a pile of bodies and shell Mother bird blind to deception Mourned the loss of her chicks Lavished her maternal attention On the one full of natures cruel tricks Mother brought food In profusion Eager to serve Cuckoos need Cuckoo suffered no moral confusion At her selfish act of greed Cuckoo was satisfied easy at rest Mother slaved on fulfilled When Cuckoo was ready she left the nest No regrets for the siblings she killed There s no moral to this story No matter how hard one looks The fact b despite all earth glory The law of nature sticks By J B Acton TALE END OF A CITY Goodbye goodbye old Montreal lost your fascination after all That cloak of charm you once wore Can never be as it was before So now we re gone you are alone We left you with the Francophone Lois Richardson Georgetown The Halton Hills HERALD Home Newspaper of Halton Hills Established A Division of Canadian Newspaper Company Limited Street Georgetown Ontario L7G 3Z6 K ROBERT Publisher and Genera Manager 8772201 Eon on COUH Q ROB Stall W PPIP ADvEHTISINa JaannlnaV DAN TAYLOR MANAGER loft Robarti alg My MANAOER CLASS M ommii ACCOUNT j p J SUBSCRIPTION RATES clalma cop Ighl on all nwa and malarial by It am ploy and pub lihad In National Adiarilatng Totonlo loMJH 1MB It labia lor a lilng on I or In In paid or apaca actually occupied try portion In email In cow office Diving into deep waters Occasionally every columnist likes to deal grave and weighty matters So let s dive straight into truly Deep Waters Let ponder the question what would it be like to wake up tomorrow morning and discover you were Dan I pause briefly to let you recover your bearings Admittedly this is an ing question For starters may feel the mention of the word deep necessarily bring the name leaping in to mind Besides there must be many worse things than waking up and discovering you were vice president of the US in you could wake up and discover that you were a Reform Party candidate in Quebec Or that you were married to Don Cherry Still being Dan can be easy these days Now I realize I on awfully thin ice here I on the very verge of sounding sympathetic toward a politician But try to imagine how it would feel to realize you officially replaced Oscar Meyer as the world s most famous weenie This was brought home last week when the Western World flew into a panic over the possibility that might have to serve as president for an hour while George Bush was under anesthetic I must confess I shared in this general reaction Part of me the logical part realized there must be a limit to the amount of damage any vice president could do in 50 or 60 minutes at the helm By the time experimented with the presidential dictaphone Weirs World by Ian Weir Thomson News Service and tried out the presidential washroom George would have been conscious again Stiil I could never banish the ghastly mental image of Dan sitting in the Oval Office with a look of boyish wonder on his face exclaiming I wonder what THIS little red button does Now granted has brought many of his problems on himself If he wanted to be taken seriously as a national leader he should have avoided growing up to look like a blurred photocopy of Robert Redford He should certainly have avoid saying on the eve of an official tour of Latin America that he was anticipating ions difficulties on account of his inability to speak Latin Except that it s highly unlikely of course that he said any such thing in the first place This sounds very much like a the geek joke that somehow managed to get taken seriously In all likelihood Dan merely said that Latin American politics were Greek to him or something along those lines Its also true of course that Dan is hardly the only politician in the world with image problems Indeed a recent poll showed that 19 per cent of Americans believe that actually IS qualified to serve as president which means that his approval rating is higher than Brian s But there are differences For starters isn t actually scorned Besides just think how well he d score in a poll asking Canadians if he was qualified to S As a rough guess you get per cent exclaiming Yes and offering to ship him down first thing tomorrow morning Ah well As I say it to sound pathetic about politicians After all they re the ones who got themselves into public life in the first place Indeed you have to wonder if poor Dan sits alone sometimes and reflects on the crucial mistake that landed him in this whole mess I refer of course to his failure to remember in that time that there are two possible responses to a presidential nominee who asks you to be his runmngmate One response is Thank you sir I am honored and I accept And the other is Barbara Come quick Georget must be drunk Oh those roads not taken Write us a letter The Herald wants to hear from you If you have an opinion you want express or a comment make send us a letter or drop by the office Our address Is Guelph Street Georgetown Ontario All letters must be signed Please Include your address and telephone number for verification The Herald reserves the light to edit let ten due to space Mm Hal ions