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the HERALD THE WEEKEND OUTLOOK Friday June 1S91 News Feature Random selection could decideParliamentaryrepresentatives We have by now been blessed and mare to come with half a score of reports on the new Con stitution of Canada the Campeau and the Allere ones from Quebec the interim one of Silipo from On tario the BeaudoinEdwards one from Ottawa the one from the Committee of are interesting and ex pensive endeavors they offer all kinds of useful suggestions and they overlook one obvious point They basically suggest dif ferent ways of distributing power between the provinces and Ot tawa but none seems to be will ing to consider that maybe we could also do well without some of the provinces Actually one unofficial report prepared by a feminist move ment and titled Equality Eve has suggested that maybe we could do quite well without the provinces But the report has been ignored by the media Let us step for a moment into another arena Some weeks ago the cabinets of Prince Edward Island New Brunswick and Nova Scotia held a joint meeting to discuss the elimination of trade barriers bet ween the provinces in we still have trade barriers within Canada Forty seven ministers lowered their brows on the issue They made some headway but they refused to recognize the obvious who can afford THREE provin cial governments to run the business of some two million peo ple half the population of Metro Toronto To solve the tragic economic plight of the Atlantic Provinces the first logical step is to streamline the government struc ture eg to merge the three four if we include New foundland provinces into one There simply is no justifica tion except for a dubious historical one for threefour structures to run the life of such a small number of people Our constitutional experts while they contribute to the well- being of the only growthindustry of Canada the Constitution are avoiding the fact that Canadians are overgoverned and that from Another View by Carlo Testa an economic point of view we cannot afford to have onetenth of the population involved in well- meaning but unproductive activi ty It is obviously difficult for any group of people to realize that they themselves are a critical part of the problem or even the problem itself So politicians look all over the scenery and fail to see that their own existence and that of the civil servants who complement them should be the first item on the reform agenda Talking about the Constitution another issue comes to mind the selection process we use for choosing our leaders The Cana dian election system produces some strange results Bob Rae who has recently complained about the opposition of the business sector to his democratically elected govern ment conveniently forgets that his Party received a scant 33 per cent of the votes of Ontarians and effectively considering those who did not vote represents some per cent of the people eligible to vote What a mandate what a represen tative government In Ottawa the Conservatives run the country with less than per cent of the votes of Cana dians At the riding level the situation is not much different we can count on the fingers of one hand the number of MPs MPPs or councillors who represent the majority of the electorate But there is another line of thought The political system has evolved from assigning power by divine right kings to by birth aristocrat to those who have money to those elected by the citizens Another idea should be considered actually an old one Most politicians like to tell us they are fulfilling a duty in some case it may even be true But all Canadians can be called to fulfil a public duty that is on juries Why then not extend the jury concept to political life Nowadays citizens are mostly as knowledgeable as the politi cians and often more so Why not make serving in Ottawa Queens Park or the local council a matter of random selection Pay the per son selected a generous salary and severance pay and get rid of the whole business of elections which anyhow result in skewed representation It would be cheaper and more fair At least we would not have somebody elected in some fun ny convention by some peo ple claiming the top job of- the country There is more to Constitution than reallocating power and ministerial chairs Community Focus Heralds Zaire correspondent files his first story To the Editor Colin Gibson Greetings from Aba Zaire My name is Andrew Isaak and Im working in Zaire Africa on a 3- month assignment with a Chris tian Mission Agency called African Inland Mission I talked to one of your reproters Lisa before I left about a month ago I had hoped to send you a mon thly report on how I was doing and to keep you posted on my work project It looks like this let ter will arrive near the end of June the plane only comes once a week I can perhaps get another article off for July and then when 1 return in late August I can have a wrapup interview I will hopefully have some good photographs to publish too Although I guess its your deci sion it would be kind of neat if I could be put down as the Heralds Zaire Foreign Correspondent Anyhow heres my thoughts after being in Africa for a month By ANDREW ISAAK Herald Zaire Correspondent Its rather humid as I spend Fathers Day across the world in Central Africa Ive been in Aba Zaire for the past three weeks working for the Christian Mis sionary Agency African Inland Mission To get on the same wavelength and to teach everybody a little geography lets have everybody take down their globes atlas or encyclopedia and look up Zaire its okay Ill wait The village of Aba is in the northeast corner right on the Sudan border In fact if I look out my bedroom window I can see the hills of Sudan and from my front porch are the plains of Zaire Most of the country is rain forest and since it is the rainy season it is very lush and green right now Last night I watched one of the most amazing thunderstorms Ive ever seen No theres no Star Trek The Next Generation over here to amuse people in the evening Since there are no lights in the evening except for my flashlight the stars are incredi ble to watch too There are two languages spoken in this part of Zaire French and Bengala Now my French schooling only goes as far as Grade 8 a big mistake to not have taken more which I plant to fix this fall at university and my was nonexistent before coming here Its a slow process but Im slowly picking up words here and there Only the missionaries here speak English so they do a lot of translating for me The people are extremely friendly Andrew Isaak and usually when they realize I dont speak their language they help me with the Bengala greetings For instance one greeting when you meet someone goes tike this first you shake hands then you say Mbote which literally means Greetings Then they might respond Mbote Mingi which means Greetings Many If you want the official phonetics of the word youll have to talk to mewhenlgetback Anyhow Ill now try and describe the work Im doing here African Inland Mission is in volved with the planting of Chris tian churches in African coun tries They are also involved with various forms of development work Zaire is one of the poorest countrys in the world with most people only making a couple of dollars a day This month is the hardest for people here because it is between the growing seasons and there is very little to eat Im expecting my biggest culture shock to hap pen when I arrive back in Canada and find supermarkets filled with food Another problem here is the need to find clean drinking water The hospital on the mission sta tion now gets all its water from either rain water buckets or it is carried from a small river about a kilometre away I am here to help complete the Aba Hospital Water Project The Aba Hospital Water Pro ject is sponsored in part by CIDA Canadian International Development Agency This pro- ject will bring clean groundwater pumped from a well to the hospital The pump will be powered by 28 solar panels Theres no lack of sun down here These panels will produce electricity from the suns rays and run an electric pump The water will go to a metre diameter by 3 m high brick water tank on top of a large hill which is half completed by yesterday From here the water is piped to the various hospital buildings maternity pharmacy operating room and also to some outside water dispensers Im getting a real test of my engineering abilities here as I find some of the parts not fitting or working as they should Theres no Canadian Tire I can run off to for extra parts One has to learn to work with what you have and what you can find Yeah just like McGyver Its a very different culture over here and it is hard to get us ed to it I certainly miss home and my attempts at picking up Radio International have failed so I still dont know who won the Stanley Cup Mail is very slow in coming here because the plane only ar rives once a week perhaps twice if there is a passenger to deliver We travel around the area in a drive Land Rover Now I thought the roads in Kenya were bad but the roads here are an adventure in themselves If theyre not washed out or overgrown they are riddled with potholes Driving around here is not for the people with weak stomachs Well there you have it ex amples of what living in Zaire is like There is much more to learn and many more photographs to take I hope to send another arti cle in a month and update you on the water project and perhaps teach you more Canada Day in the Glen CANADA DAY MONDAY JULY UNITY ONSTAGE Parade 1245100 Opening Ceremonies 00l Acton Citizens Band 1 Pine Valley Squares Gymnastics 220-250- Dance Music Games 350400 Pet Show Awards Don Ablett Teen DJ 800930 Glen Band Bonfire OFFSTAGE 1 00 Seniors Tea Room Glen Williams Town Hall 00 Childrens Play Area Sandbox Fishpond Clay Table Paint Table 300 Pet Show Adult Bingo Glen Williams Town Hall Magician SPECIAL ACTIVITIES Breakfast in the Ball Park Mini Golf Pizza Eating Ball Game Falcon Crafts Historical Society Tour Food Booths Sub Eating Fun for youngsters of all ages