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i PAGE 6THE CANADIAN STATESMAN, OCTOBER 18,20 60 Editorial & j 'INIONS FOR 146 YEARS. OUR FIRST CONCERN HAS BEEN OUR COMMUNITY Publisher - Tim Whittaker Editor-in-Chief - Joanne Burghardt Managing Editor - Judi Bobbitt Advertising Manager - Brian G. Purdy Advertising - Lavernc Morrison, Christian-An n Goulet Office - Junia Hodge, Nancy Pleasancc-Stuirnian Editorial - Brad Kelly, Jennifer Stone, Jacquic Mclnnes ŒJje Cmtabian â>tategman Former Publishers and Partners Rev. John M. Climic and W.R. Climie 1854-1878 M.A. James 1878-1935 • Norman S.ll. James 1919-1929 G. Elena James, 1929-1947 • Dr. George W. James 1919-1957 John M. James. 1957-1999 Produced by Metro!and Printing, Publishing & Distributing Ltd. Also Publishers of CLARINGTON THIS WEEK P.O. Box 190, 62 King St. W., Bowmanville, Ontario LIC 3K9 TEL: 905-623-3303 FAX: 905-623-6161 HOURS: Monday to Friday 9:00 a.m. until 5:00 pan. E-mail - judi.bobbitl@durhamnews.net Publications Mail Registration No. 07637 EDITORIAL Truckers can't continue this path It's time for government to take action ! • i They've paid at the pump, they've negotiated, they've waited waited and now, like their colleagues in Europe, they're finally taking taking serious action. j Independent truckers, and there aie more than 1,800 of them across Ontario moving millions of pounds of goods a day. have had enough. They've endured a gas price increase of more than 75 per cent since July, 1999. The price for a litre of diesel fuel has jumped from the high 30-cent range to 70 c ents and shows no signs of dropping. The frustration finally boiled over as Bill Wellman, njtild- mannered president of the National Truckers Associat ion, walked away from the bargaining table Tuesday and tendered his resignation. The one man who could keep angiy truckers level-headed could be gone and the public will inevitably feel the pinch. Monday's truck blockcades and slowdowns on Hwy. ',401 east will seem like a minor inconvenience to motorists land suppliers as drivers attempt to put the pedal to the rnetall in putting pressure on Economic Development Minister A1 Palladia!. Palladia!. the provincial Tory point man on this issue. Make no mistake, these truckers have nothing left to lose, except their livelihoods. They can't continue to do their jobs and pay the massive gas prices they've been subjected to for nearly a year-and-a-half. Try to imagine a similar scenario in your own life. How would you cope if your salary was slashed by. say, 25 or 30 per cent? That might not be an exact co m- parison, but it's not far off and it drives home the point tlv ese truckers are hurting badly, through no fault of their own. ' Negotiations with different levels of government halve failed to deliver the goods. Mr. Palladini has pushed for and even threatened action against companies that don't turn ower the fuel surcharge they're passing on to clients. Still, truck d hivers hivers aren't getting the guarantee they want. The fuel surchai ;ge could help make up 25 per cent of the gas increase. Truckers would still struggle but at least some of their pain would be alleviated. alleviated. It's time for our governments to take action. They've boastl- ed of surpluses, have sent taxpayers cheques in the mail, aiid on the federal side, are preparing to hand out billions in preelection preelection goodies. ! They still have the option of cutting gas taxes by sever ill pennies a litre each. We'd all get a break at the pumps arid those who drive for a living, and pay the heaviest price for ga is, would at least have a fighting chance. j We welcome your opinion. Please E-Mail your comments on our opinions to judi.bobbitt@durhamnews.net. Submission ^s which include a first and last name, as well as the commun, ity of residence, will be considered for publication. Do you want ! lots of readers? i Send in your Opinion Shaper submissions now for 2001 Do you have an opinion you'd like to share with thou sands of people? Now's your chance to show what you can do. We're now accepting submissions for our 2001 roster of Opinion Shapers. It's easy to send your entry in. i All that's required is one 400-word (approximately) effort, effort, sent to our Oshawa newsroom (Oshawa This Week!, 865 Farewell St., Oshawa, Ont., L1H 7L5; fax at (905) 579|- 1809 or E-mail at tim.kelly@durhamnews.net) by the deadj- line of Friday, Dec. 1 at 5 p.m. Entries should be marked Opinion Shapers 2001 and addressed Tim Kelly, Copy Ed itor. ! Editors will choose the 13 best submissions received b\|t the deadline date and will inform all those who have beer|t chosen by Dec. 10, 2000. ; Each Opinion Shaper will be required to submit four 400-word columns at 13-week intervals during the coming year.- Each Opinion Shapers column will run in all Metroland' newspapers in Durham Region» i So get your entries in as soon as possible. LOOKING BACK WITH THE STATESMAN 75 YEARS AGO ' Oct. 15, 1925 Mon. Vincent Massey, Liberal Candidate for Durham, who recently entered the government of Right Hon. W.L. ; Mackenzie King, resigned from the Presidency of the Massey-1 larris Company. , 50 YEARS AGO Oct. 19 1950 i A secretarial oversight caused Bowmanvillc's midget baseball baseball club to be disqualified by the Ontario Baseball Association Association and is considered ineligible to appear in the Ontario finals. 25 YEARS AGO Oct. 15, 1925 Ai a Thanksgiving assembly at Knox Christian school, about 450 cans and packages of food were collected for distribution distribution to needy families in the area. During the assembly, | each class brought up their donations, which were later sorted into baskets for delivery. Information taken from the archives of The Canadian 1 Statesman LETTERS TO THE EDITOR Queen's Park for their dismantling of health care in Ontario. To expect seniors and others living on fixed incomes to subsidize the Harris giveaways in tax cuts over the last five years or so for the wealthy, by asking them to give another S15 a month for five years to pay for health care they refuse to fund is obscene. obscene. My thanks go to the local politicians politicians for refusing to be blackmailed with threats of a health care shortfall in Durham. That surely is 'political leadership.' leadership.' Gordon Mills Trudeau did Liberals no favours Federal leader causes provincial counterparts headaches Premier Mike Harris has been criticized for not joining wholeheartedly in the praise for Pierre Trudeau - he could at least have said thanks for all the help the former Liberal prime minister gave his Ontario Ontario Progressive Conservative party. The premier was not among those who formally paid tribute tribute in the legislature, but left this to Liberal leader Dalton McGuinty, who overdid it with a starry-eyed, one-sided appraisal ('what a man, what a leader, what a legacy') and Mr. Harris's house leader Norm Sterling, who was pedestrian. All continued to ignore the one aspect of Trudeau's career that has not been touched on, that while he had successes federally, more than other prime ministers he hurt his various provincial parties and its chances of winning an election. election. Mr. Trudeau obviously was immensely popular at times and his provincial party hoped to benefit, but federal leaders try to be most popular when they face their own elections and not when their provincial parties arc running. The Liberals under Robert Nixon had premier William Davis's Tories on the ropes starting the 1975 election, particularly particularly because they had been caught in fund-raising and land scandals. But Mr. Trudeau increased the lax on gasoline on top of the cost of borrowing including including mortgages and Mr. Davis was able to spend a large pari of Ihe campaign arguing Liberals Liberals were harming Ontario consumers and industry. Mr. Trudeau dropped in on a rally at Mr. Nixon's farm trying to give him a boost, lull lie was as flamboyant as ever Eric Dowd At Queen's Pali coming in by government helicopter. helicopter. That just increased criticism Mr. Trudeau used taxpayers's money to help his party. Then Mr. Trudeau, just before before the Ontario vote, had a row with his finance minister, John Turner, who resigned, and the Liberals became a synonym for disarray. Mr. Davis's Tories hung on but only with a minority government government when given a bit more co-operation from Mr. Trudeau the Liberals might have displaced them. Mr. Trudeau tried to compensate compensate with social niceties. He invited Mr. Nixon to ride with him in an open car through cheering crowds at the height of Trudeaumania and Mr. Nixon said "I felt like Queen of the May, although 1 doubt anyone noticed me they were so concentrated on Trudeau." In another gesture to focus attention on his provincial counterpart, Mr. Trudeau asked Mr. Nixon to escort his new wife Margaret into a party meeting and walked in with Mr. Nixon's wife Dorothy. Mr. Nixon appreciated them, but still found some would not vote for him saying they did not like Mr. Trudeau, but when he pointed out Mr. Trudeau was federal, retorted "bul lie's still a Liberal, isn't lie?" When Stuart Smith succeeded succeeded Mr, Nixon, he formally separated the party's Ontario and federal wings, claiming this would work better administratively administratively but in reality hoping hoping to avoid being associated with and hurt by Mr. Trudeau. But some of his fellow candidates candidates in the 1977 election still felt they had to leave the word Liberal off lawn signs so they would not be linked to Mr. Trudeau on another of his downturns and in the 1981 vote Mr. Smith pulled out of a planned breakfast meeting to dissociate himself from Mr. Trudeau. Mr. Smith had to cope also with Mr. Trudeau praising Mr. Davis as the only head of a provincial government speaking speaking up for Confederation because because Mr. Davis helped him lay the groundwork for patri- ating the Constitution, which was true but hard for Ontario Liberals to stomach. Before Mr. Smith left, he said Mr. Trudeau had been a burden on Ontario Liberals and their prospects would improve improve when he departed. David Peterson, who led the Ontario Liberals in opposition opposition during Mr. Trudeau's last years as prime minister, said people often told him 'When Trudeau says jump, you jump,' and although his brother brother Jim was Mr. Trudeau's parliamentary parliamentary secretary, he still could never figure out what Mr. Trudeau was planning. Mr. Peterson never had to' lead in an election when Mr. Trudeau was prime minister, but when Mr, Trudeau finally stepped down in turn pronounced pronounced he had been 'a millstone' around provincial Liberals' necks. Ontario Liberals, like many, admired Mr. Trudeau's style and talent, but it cannot be left unsaid he hindered them getting elected. Health care isn't local responsibility To the editor: Re: 'Political buck-passing dangerous dangerous to what ails us,' editorial of Oct. 1, 2000. I couldn't disagree more with your editorial's content. Come on now, your last sentence, "And the body count will rise in the fu ture because we have no political leadership leadership at the Region today." What a load of tommyrot that is. 1 Surely the provision of health care in Ontario is the sole responsibility of both the federal and provincial governments. governments. Since when did funding of health care fall on the shoulders of the public to coipe up with yet more tax dollars? The media and Rene Soetens and others in the health care picture would do far more good for the community regarding regarding health care by slamming Mike Harris and his wrecking crew at Tricks on the campaign trail Judi Bobbitt Managing editor Clarington's municipal election, in full campaign swing, has taken on the tones of children squabbling in the schoolyard. It's too bad the actions of a few taint all candidates collectively, because because there are, no doubt, those who are conducting themselves with the utmost utmost decorum as they seek support from the electorate. But the whining, insinuations and complaints that seem an inherent yet unnecessary element of a municipal election do tar everyone with the same unfortunate brush, by association. This local election is no different from any other in that regard, and the mud-slinging isn't likely confined to this municipality. But the retirement of Mayor Diane Hainrc left the door wide open for contenders hoping to win council's top seat, making Clarington's Clarington's mayoralty race the most interesting interesting and uncertain in Durham Region. There are tight battles being fought in the regional and local councillors' rings as well, and it seems the gloves are off in every corner. Candidates are pointedly and defibj erately refraining from levelling accusations accusations against each other publicly and that's just as well. All the same, someone someone out there is damaging campaign signs and someone out there is removing removing campaign signs. Everyone in the election, it seems, has a sign complaint. complaint. Worse, there have been complaints of campaign workers bullying other campaign workers with strong suggestions suggestions they not door-knock on certain streets; stories of residents being questioned questioned as to why particular campaign signs are on them lawns and on it goes. Miile it's difficult to tell how tainted the waters really are when you're forced to take these kinds of stories at face value, there's a good chance the waters are troubled, if you buy into the adage that where there's smoke, there's fire. Again, it bears repeating there are people out there, candidates and campaign campaign workers alike, knocking on doors with manners and integrity, people people who are volunteering their lime* and who believe in what they're doing, i Judge for yourself when answering j your door. s There are two weeks and two days* left on the campaign calendar before* Clarington residents are asked to sign,-! seal and deliver to Canada Post their! municipal election ballots. i| Please, let's see the candidates and ! their teams wage good, clean fights.! from here until election day and drop! any tricks with which they may have Î been planning to treat their opponents. J v ii E-Mail your comments to J judi.bobbitt@durhamnews.net THE CANADIAN STATESMAN is " one of the Metroland Printing, Pub- h lishing and Distributing group of j" newspapers. The Statesman is a > member of the Bowmanville Glaring- J ton Board of Trade, the Greater Os- H hawa Chamber of Commerce, On- t tario Community Newspaper Assoc., f Canadian Community Newspaper C Assoc., Canadian Circulations Audit F Board and the Ontario Press Council, f The publisher reserves the right to h classify or refuse any advertisement. [ Credit for advertisement limited to f space price error occupies. " The Canadian Statesman welcomes j. letters to the editor. All letters should - be typed or neatly hand-written, 150 words. Each letter must include the r name, mailing address and daytime C telephone number of the writer. I he r editor reserves the right to edit copy E for style, length and content. We re- r gret that due to the volume of letters, C; not all will be printed. Fax letters to £ 623-616lor emailed to slalcsmn@durhaiu.net p