6 Oakville Beaver Weekend Sunday October 1,2000 T h e O a k v il l e B e a v e r Ian Oliver, Publisher Neil Oliver, Associate Publisher Norman A lexander , Editor Kelly Montague, Advertising Director Steve Crozier, G radation Director Teri C a s a s , Office Manager M ark Dills, Production Manager . ., . ... n . i i R i z i e r o V e r t o J I l , Photography Director Metiotand Printing. Pubfchng & Ostributing Ltd., ndudes Ajax/PicJ«mg News Advertiser, Alston HerafctGouner, Bame Advance, Barry's Bay This Week. Bolton Enterprise. Brampton Guartfen. Burtngton Post. Burtngton Shopping News. City Parent. CoingwoocWVasaga Comecticn, East 'ibrk Mrror, Erin AdvocalaCountry Routes. EtotteoRB GuanSan. Ftamborough Rxt. Georgetown Indapendent/Acton Free Press. Huronia Business Times. Kingston This Week. Lindsay This Week. Markham Ecnomet & Sun. Midland/Penetanguishrne Minor. Milton Canadian Champion, Milton Shopping News. Mississauga Business Times. Mississauga News. Napanee Gude, Newmarket/Aurora Era-Banner. Northumberland News. North Mark Mirror. Qakvile Beaver. Oakville Shoppng News. Ototmers Hoctey News. Onlia Today. Oshava/Whrtby/Clanngton Port Perry The Week, Owen Sound Tribune. Peterborough The Waek, Pcton County Guide. Richmond Hill/Thomhill/Vaughan Liberal. Scarborough Mirror. StoufMaaAJxbndgeTritxre. Forever Ybung. Otyof \trkGuardan RECOGNIZED FOR EXCELLENCE BY: THE OAKVILLE BEAVER IS PROUD OFFICIAL MEDIA SPONSOR FOR; 4 6 7 S p e e rs R d ,, Oakville O n t L 6 K 3 S 4 (905) 8 4 5 - 3 8 2 4 Fax; 3 3 7 -5 5 6 7 Editorials F in a l c h a p t e r By any definition, Pierre Elliott Trudeau was a great man. He influenced Canadian history as few prime ministers had done before and the country still bears the results of his efforts. Like all people of greatness, Trudeau didn't readily seek it out...people were drawn to his charismatic demeanour and most o f all his vision for a united Canada. That was his fundamental passion. Many traditional Liberals feared the young, intellectual Montreal lawyer and were not pleased when Quebec labour leader Jean Marchand said he would only run for the Grits if Trudeau also came with him. Trudeau made his mark first as parliamentary secretary to prime minister Lester Pearson in 1966 and then moved on to become justice minister one year later. Although he was the son of a multi-millionaire, Trudeau made his mark as a labour lawyer and constitutional expert. He was a foundihg member of the Montreal Civil Liberties Union and taught civil liberties at the University of Montreal. How ironic it was that in 1970, this same man became the only prime minister in peace time to invoke the War Measures Act which quashed civil rights during the FLQ crisis in Quebec. H is era m arked a tim e o f political aw areness, especially in the young when Trudeaumania became a household word. An ardent federalist, Trudeau believed in a strong central government and feared the implications o f a devolvement o f power to the provinces. He will be remembered for bringing home the constitution, leading at a time of high inflation and unemployment and introducing wage and price controls when he ran his winning campaign on the platform that this wouldn't happen in his government. He combined athleticism and a strong intellect and a love for beautiful women. Margaret, his only wife and mother of his three sons was at his side when he died-she a flower child drawn to Trudeau's magnetism, despite their 30-year age difference. But through good times and bad, Pierre Trudeau was his own man who knew his own mind. But most o f all he had a deep love of Canada and fought to make it stronger. Not a bad epi taph for any political leader. P IE R R E E L L I O T T T R U D E A U · 1 9 19 -200 0 V An arm chair athlete takes a gander a t The Games O lympic observations and gold m edal m usings from an arm chair aficionado. A s the 2000 O lympic Games in Sydney draw to a close, I look for w ard to taking a little tim e aw ay from my overtaxed television, and to getting a little sleep. O ver the past two weeks, I've watched more hours o f more sports than I care to admit. But it has been com pelling view ing, and, frankly, I co u ld n 't get enough. For a while there I started living on Sydney tim e. G 'day m ate. Up late at night catching the assorted highlight packages, and back up at five-som ething a.m . to w atch the live com petition. A nd in between, reading reams o f `G am es' coverage in th e n e w s p a p e r s , a c c e s s in g updates on the Internet, and flick ing on the tube any tim e I was in th e n e ig h b o u rh o o d to c a tc h an inning or two o f superb softball, to get a hit o f beach volleyball, or to ju st steal a few m oments o f plea su re , b e c o m in g a b s o rb e d in an event I would not ordinarily have an opportunity to see, and whose rules I would never com e to fully com prehend (field hockey com es to mind...). M ake no m istake, the G am es were good. Certainly they had their d a rk side. D o p in g sc an d a ls an d dopey scandals continue to plague the five famous rings. The doping Wait for sunshine and watch those guys jum p over the moon. F or C anadians, the other dark clo u d th at hung o v er the G am es w as o u r n a tio n 's m e ag re m ed al count. It never ceases to amaze me that Canadians totally ignore am a teu r sp o rt in n o n -O lym pic years an d th e n e x p e c t g o ld co m e th e G am es. Countries that do well at the Olympics are passionate about amateur athletics year-round, every year. They have their children par tic ip a tin g in th e sp o rts --w isely, th e y ;'re n o t r e m o v in g p h y s -e d from the curriculum , and th ey 're not truncating after-school sports p ro g ra m s lik e th e y are in som e backward places these days!-- they have fabulous feeder system s and fab u lo u s fu n d in g in place. T im e after tim e, I w itnessed C an ad ian ath letes being lab elled `c h o k e rs' when they had in fact gone out and posted personal bests. If we w ant those personal bests to rank am ong the w orld's elite, then w e have a lot o f work to do. On the bright side for Canucks, there were the m emorable true-grit performances by the likes o f Sim on W hitfield (w ho turned the end o f the gruelling triathlon into a sprint fo r g o ld), th e m a g n ifice n t m iler K evin Sullivan, the tennis rack e teers, D aniel N ester and Sebasien Lareau, diver A nn M ontm iny and b a s k e tb a ll c o u r t g e n e r a l S te v e Nash. N a tu ra lly e v e ry o n e has th e ir own favourite O lym pic m om ents. F or m e-- the aforem entioned N ash dissecting the Yugoslavian defence; th e b r illi a n t A m e ric a n M a rio n Jones telling the m edia (prior to her h u b b y 's drug w oes) that she w as feeling no p ressu re, that she w as only having fun (a novel concept fo r a th letes th e se d ay s); an d , o f c o u r s e , th e re w a s th e m o m e n t when Toronto Raptor Vince Carter, p la y in g hoo p s fo r th e A m eric an D ream Team , drove to the basket for a spectacular dunk. Right over a d efender w ho w as 7 ft. tall. VinSanity! Goodnight, Sydney. problems are difficult to fix as the science o f drug testing struggles to keep up with the science o f drug m asking. T he dopey scandals are m ore easily rem ed ied : d o n 't for instance, ground an entire field of world-class high jum pers, includ ing C an ad ian M ark B osw ell, by holding the ev en t in a m onsoon. B y S te v e N e a s e WHY V o You ALWAYS HAVETO RNCWW H ER E? I ' m not a little hid ANYMORE. CANT YOU JUST -=^ T R U STM EID KNOW W H E R E I 'M 601N & A ND W H A TI'M y P O IN O ^ ^ . -----! ' . " ; i ' i i i i . ----- UH.,, CAN I GET A RIDE?