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I 2 The Canadian Statesman. Bowmanvillc, December 18,1985 Section Two c Editorial Read Between the Lines If you want to really understand what politicians are thinking concerning concerning the future of the Darlington Generating Station, you'll have to read between the lines of a recent report from the Select Committee on Energy. The report itself is a masterpiece of vagueness. It hints at the prospect of chopping chopping two of Darlington's four units from Hydro plans. But, on the other hand, it never quite gets around to making that sort of tough decision. It's the type of document that anyone anyone can read and (depending on his politicial and ideological beliefs) he will see some support for his point of view. Those who want Darlington scaled down to two units can say that the report backs this idea. Those who want to see the project completed can claim that the report never denies that possibility. And anybody who opts for the outright outright cancellation of Darlington can find solace in a minority report from the two NDP members who served on the committee. They suggest that not even a half-sized Darlington project can be justified. 11 The report of the legislative committee committee is a classic example of a lengthy investigation which reveals only that further lengthy investigations investigations are needed. And so, we are facing another six months of study which will more ac curately pinpoint Ontario's future energy needs and the need for Darlington Darlington itself. In the meantime, it would seem that no new contracts are to be signed for orders pertaining to the final two units at Darlington. The committee has recommended, however, however, that work already in progress should be allowed to continue. From what we see of activity at Darlington, it would appear as though the over 5,000 workers at the site are continuing with business as usual. Thankfully, there are no words yet concerning layoffs. And, keep in mind the fact that 90 per cent of the contracts needed to complete the generating station are already awarded. This means a cancellation of remaining orders can hardly have any major effect on the schedule. This whole Darlington topic is an odd mixture of science, engineering, engineering, economics, and partisan politics. politics. The findings ofthe selectcommit- tee have much to do with issues such as minority government and the fact that the $11 billion generating generating station is almost a fait accompli. We wonder if the strategy is to continually study Darlington right up until the hour of its completion. Perhaps, the government of the day will arrange for a simultaneous release release of the final report on the need for Darlington and ribbon-cutting ceremony. Uncertain Future for Lakes Present generations may reap short-lived benefits from using the Great Lakes as a sink in which to dispose of waste chemicals. But the cost of this practice will be passed on to future generations. This is the verdict of a recent report report on Great Lakes Pollution. The study, sponsored by.U.S. and Canadian research agencies, stated that toxic chemicals are a greater threat to people who live around the Great Lakes than elsewhere in the United States a'nd Canada. It's a sobering thought for those of us who live within sight of Lake Ontario. Ontario. And as we read about toxic "blobs" in our waterways and studies such as the one cited above, we have to wonder a little about our sense of priorities. Some times, in the discussion over toxic chemicals, the argument is raised to the effect that environmental environmental damage is a natural byproduct byproduct of modern technology. Perhaps that argument could have been correctly applied to the days of smog-filled cities which were spawned by the Industrial Revolution. At that time, there was little choice but to accept a certain amount of pollution as the price of progress. Then, the world contained contained ,larger, undeveloped territories territories which could somehow absorb absorb the upset in the ecological balance. balance. But today, the choice is really not between a safe environment or a progressive standard of living. Ifwe put our minds to it, we can have both. Pretty Boring Comet Halley's Comet seems to be another inter-gallactic flop. Most of us were expecting to see a huge, streaming trail of light etched across the sky. But, instead, we'll be lucky to catch a glimpse of the comet at all. A member of the Ontario Legislature has even suggested that city lights be dimmed, dimmed, somehow, in order that the comet can be more clearly viewed. Yes, Halley's Comet is likely to be a major letdown. We seem to recall that about 10 years ago, there was supposed to be a large-scale fireworks display in the heavens as the result of the .comet Kahoutek. You remember Kahoutek, don't you? Some folks handed out religious tracts claiming claiming that the appearance of this new celestial light would mark the end of the world. Well, nothing quite that interesting interesting occurred, as we all know. Nor did the comet shine much more brightly than the end of a cigar smoked by someone a hundred yards distant, in a fog at night. It may just be that these happenings happenings in the heavens are far less interesting interesting today than they were for our ancient star-gazing ancestors. Without electricity, without shopping shopping malls, and without episodes of Dynasty or Dallas on the tube, our forefathers had more time to contemplate contemplate the clear, unpolluted skies. To them, the stars must have been old friends and the appearance of a new pinpoint of light (no matter how obscure) would have been a major occasion. The same might be said for eclipses or other wonders in the sky. Astronomers may have maintained maintained that primitive enthusiasm for new happenings in the sky and that is why they give newspaper interviews interviews in which celestial events are described with a sort of anxious anticipation that is almost contagious. contagious. Such forecasts seldom live up to expectations. Accustomed as we are to technological marvels, we are bound to be disappointed by what we ultimately see. Halley's Comet is likely to be a disappointment for modern man, even if we do turn off all the city lights in order to view it. (Fife Canadian &tateaman 623-3303 Durham County'! Qreat Fsmlly Journal EitabNshed 130 year» ago In 1354. Aleo Incorporating The Bowmemrtlle News The Newcaetl# Independent The Orono Newe Second deaa mall reglalratldn number 1M1 Produced every Wedneedey by THE JAMES PUBLISHING COMPANY LIMITED ea se King SI. W„ Bowmenvllle, Ontario L1C 3KI JOHN M. JAMES RICHARD A. JAMES PETER PARROTT Editor -- Publisher Assistant Publisher Associate Editor GEO.' P. MORRIS BRIAN PURDY DONALD BISHOP . Business Mgr. Advertising Mgr. Plant Mgr. All layouts and composition ol advertisements produced by the employees ol The Canadian Statesmen, The Newcastle Independent and The Jemee Publishing Company Limited are protected by copyright and must not be reproduced without written permlaalen el the pubUehera. 315.00 a year -- 6 monlha 11,00 strictly In advance foreign -- $50,00 «year Although cvmy precaution will bo token lo ovoid error. The Conodion Slolosmon occcpls advertising In Ils columns on the uraleislonding lliol II will nol bo llobln loi any ongi In llio ndvoillsomenl published hereunder unless o prool ol such ndvoillsomenl is roaueslod In willing by the ndvotllsoi and relumed lo Tim Conodiim Slolosmon business olllco duly Signed by Urn ndvmlisei end wilh such error or collodions plainly doled In willing Iheicon, end In Ihnl cose II any mioiV.o unit'd lr, nol collected by Hie Canadian Statesman Ils llnblllly shall nol exceed such a portion ol lira cnllin cnsl nl such odvnilislmenl ns the space occupied by llio noled error boms lo the whole space'occupied by such advoilisemonl Fortress of Louisbourg, Nova Scotia SUGAR and SPICE December Too Soon By Bill Smiley, December is a trying time. For one thing, it's so dang SUDDEN. There you are, tottering along a day at a time, thinking it's still fall and you must get the snow tires and storms on one of these fine Saturdays, and throw some firewood into the cellar, and get some boots and replace the gloves you lost last March. Christmas is away off there. And then -- bang! -- you look out .one morning, and there's December, in all it's unglory: a bitter east wind driving snow, and a cold chill settles in the very bones of your soul. Winter wind as sharp as a witch's tooth sneaks in around uncaulked doors and windows. One's wife complains of the terrible draught from under the basement door. You investigate and find that one of the basement windows has been blown in and has smashed on the woodpile. You clamber up over the wood, knocking pieces off shins and knuckles, and jam some, cardboard in the gap. Creep cautiously outside, and nearly bust your bum. There's ice under that thar snow. Make it to the garage, and find that your car doors are all frozen solid shut. Beat them with your bare fists until the latter are bleeding and your car is full of dents. Finally get them open with a bucket of hot water and a barrel of hotter language. Slither and grease your way to,., • work, arriving in a foul mood and with bare hands crippled into claws;-- 1 bootless feet cold as a witch's other appendage. Come out of work to go home and find a half-inch of frozen rain and snow covering your car, and no sign of your scraper, and another deep dent where some idiot slid into your car door on the parking lot. I could go on and on, but it's only rubbing salt in the wounds of the average Canadian. Get home from work and find that the furnace is on the blink, and the repairman is tied up for the next two days. And your wife is also fit to be tied up over your dilatoriness. Surely there is some way around this suddeness of December. Is there not some far-seeing politician (if that is not a contradiction in terms), who would introduce a bill to provide for an extra month between, let's say, November 25th and December 5th. I wouldn't care what he called it. It could be Lastember, referring to your fast-dying hope that there wouldn't be a winter this year. Or Last Call, or Final Warning, or She's Acomin! Anything that gave us a good jolt. It would be a good thing for merchants. They could have special Lastember sales of gloves and boots and snow tires and ear muffs and caulking guns and weather stripping arid antifreeze and nose warmers, before plunging into their pre- Christmas sales, which are promptly replaced by their January sales. It would be great for the Post Office, which could start warning us in June that all Christmas mail must be posted by the first day of Lastember if we wanted it delivered before the following June. It would make a nice talking point for all those deserters and traitors and rich people who go south every year. Instead of smirking, "Oh, we're not going south until Boxing Day. Hate to miss an old-fashioned Canadian Christmas," they could really shove it to us by leering, "Yes, we thought we'd wait this year until the last day of Lastember, you know. Avoid the pushing and vulgarity of the holiday rush. If nothing else, it would give us a break from the massive nauseating volume of pre-Christmas advertising, which begins toward the end of October and continues, remorselessly, right into Christmas Day. Best of all, perhaps it would give dummies like me a chance to avoid looking like such a dummy. Procrastinators, who flourish during a sunny November, would have no more excuses. All their wives would have to do is point to the calendar and say, "Bill, "do you realize it's only three days until Lastember. Isn't it time you did your Lastember chores?" In fact, if that fearless politician who is going to introduce the Lastember Bill in the house wants some advice, here is a codicil for him. Somewhere in the Bill should be the warning, in bold type: "Procrastinators will be Prosecuted!" Jeez, why not? They prosecute you for everything else. If such a month were added to the calendar -- maybe we could start it with Grey Cup Day -- people like me wouldn't go on thinking that Christmas is weeks away. Instead, on the last day of Lastember, with all their winter chores in hand, they'd know that Christmas was practically on top of them, like a big, old horse blanket, and they'd leap into the proper spirit, lining up a Christmas tree, laying in their booze, tuning up their pipes for the carols. As it is now, we know that Christmas is like a mirage. It's way off their somewhere, and no need to panic. Then, with that startling Suddenness, it's December 22nd, all the Christmas trees have been bought, the only remaining turkeys look like vultures, and the liquor store is bedlam. Who's for a Lastember? By1ine.. By Peter Parrott It was a typical Ontario Ontario snow-spangled winter night. The sort of night when every shed and barn takeson a magical, candy-cottage quality with its icing of snow. And if one listened listened carefully, it would not be hard to imagine the sleighbells of Father Christmas. But driving through the churning tunnel of snow illuminated in the headlights, my thoughts were far from Christmas. Christmas. I had just been interviewing interviewing a refugee family family from a country without without snow or sleighbells and where Christmas had been formally banned. banned. A few years ago, we heard a lot about these homeless ones who were known as "the boat people". A certain amount of help was rendered rendered by Canada and other western nations at that time. But then, by a quirk of world publicity, publicity, the eyes and ears of trained observers turned elsewhere. The boat people became a non-story and, therefore, therefore, in the minds of many members of the public, they cease to be. But they do, in fact, exist. For example, the family I had just inter viewed spent three years in a Hong Kong refugee camp where home for a,family of five consisted of small bunk beds in a barn-like shelter. And I was told that they were among 10 million million world refugees, 60 per cent of whom would never be re-patriated. I also purused a news item from a weekend paper which noted that those killed in wars throughout the world since World War Two amount to about 41,000 individuals per month. Talk of stateless people in refugee camps or news of the huge numbers who perish in the over 350 wars that have been waged since World War Two are not pleasant topics topics for this festive season. season. And yet, I think it's up to those of us in this land of sleighbells and snow to do our part to ease some of that burden. burden. I am not sure what the solution is. But as individuals who live in a country where the greatest sign of government oppression oppression is an increase in property tax or sales tax, we have the wherewithal! wherewithal! to do something about conditions 1 have described. The solutions may not necessarily be immigration immigration or fund-raising, or any other projects that have been tried in the past. But solutions must be found, not only for the sake of the 10 million refugees but also for the sake of our own conscience. In Editor's Mail To the Editor On Sunday night last, I went to the Bowmanville Arena with the youth group from our church to watch the Eagles play hockey with Little Britain. To say the least, I was appalled and disgusted, not because of the several brawls between hockey players, but because of the despicable conduct of some of the adult fans (I presume parents of some of the players). The crude obscene name Calling, directed to the referees was a shame to the good sport of hockey. If these so-called 'fans' think they are so good why don't they have the courage to get out on the ice and referee. ( I dare say some of them can't even skate!) I acknowledge that some referees are the "pits" but it is not up to the spectators to judge in such a crude fashion. As a professional youth worker, I would urge these know-it-all spectators to spend more time teaching their kids how to play hockey on the Ice rather than wrestling on skates. Paul Cornish Newcastle i vi.