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VIEWPOINT by John B. McClelland JUST WHAT HE WANTS I see where our good friend Lucien Bouchard has been making the rounds in western Canada. He was on several open line radio talk shows and delivered a speech to the Calgary Chamber of Commerce, where, as one might expect, he was received with less than un-bridaled enthusiasm. Efforts to bait him on the issue of Quebec separation failed completely. Bouchard kept his cool at all times, never raised his voice, never let his emotions get the best of him. Calmly he stated over and over again that the province of Quebec is going to leave Confederation and the rest of the country may as well get used to this fact. One woman told him that many westerners love Quebec and the Quebecois. She was speaking in her "learned in Calgary" French and if that found its way back to la belle province, there must have been a chuckle or two in the east-end Montreal taverns at such tender out- pourings Bouchard"s foray into western Canada was a win/win scenario for himself, the Bloc Quebecois and the fortunes of Quebec inf®pendence No matter what reaction he got it could only further the cause If people begged and pleaded for Quebec to stay, he would shrug and say where were you 26 years ago. If they exploded in anger and said of Quebec separation "it can't come too soon," this just added more grist to the mill of independence. You have to hand it to Lucien He's not lacking in brain power and when it comes to politics, he's pushing all the right buttons not just in Quebec but across the country And he's getting help from all kinds of sources A new book hit the stands recently that predicts nothing short of civil war when Quebec bails out of Canada as the federal government sends in the troops to protect the rights and the property of hundreds of thousands of anglo Quebecois who want to remain in Canada and continue to hive in Quebec. The book, which | have not yet read, is a hot ticket Lucien Bouchard 1s a far more formidable champion for Quebec independence than PQ leader Jacques Parizeau or the late Rene Levesque The latter was too pgssionate, too much of a revolutionary People may follow up to a point, then get cold feet They want change to be sure, but they don't want to tear apart the fabric of society With Levesque, one Parizeau not only has to push for independence. he has Just never knew to mind the fences provincial sr. tics down there Nationa Aagenbly Bc uchar alm ntellectual not much f r rator s the exact opposite gf Levesque in temperment and manner | can see white a lot of luke warm separatists would trust Bouchard when push comes to shove And being leader of the Bloc in the federal Parliament, his only agendas these days is separation He has no other fences to tend Is Canada heading for a break up' Nobody has the answer to that question right now. But frankly, if I were a betting man, I'd put money on Bouchard taking Quebet out. Keep in my mind that when interest rates took their sharp jump upward about a month ago, the reason had as much to do with the volatility of the political scene in Quebec as it did with our falling dollar. Personally, I feel that 30 years after the start of the Quiet Revolution in Quebec, through all the turmoil of the FLQ, the turbulence of the Levesque era, Trudeau, Bourassa, Chretien, the ground has never been riper. When you mix in a growing sentiment in the rest of the country that it's time for Quebec to go, the writing is on the wall. And finally, there is Lucien Bouchard, a politician to be reckoned with. His swing through hostile territory last week proved that. He must have been smiling all the way home, IN CLOSING: It has been an outstanding week for agriculture in Scugog Township as three farms ware. presented with Master Breeder Shie)Jds from the Holstein Assoc. of Canada Congratulations to Rod McKay of Willowtree Farms, Murray and Roger Holtby of Holthyholme Farm, and Les and Robert Smith of High Point Farms As well, another Township farm, Hanover Hill received the Certificate of Superior Accomplishment. This puts Hanover Hills in some very prestigious company as it was just the third such Certificate ever handed out. The other two farms have been Roybrook Holsteins and Romandale Farms, both extremely well known These four farms are all located less than five miles from each other, west of Port Perry, and the awards indicate just how important agriculture is to this community Most non-farm residents of Scugog probably don't know that farm receipts last year in this Township alone pumped over $40 million into the local economy In Durham Region, the receipts came to nearly $200 million The awards presented last week recognize excellence in dairy farming They did not come about without a lot of hard work and expertise Again, our sincere congratulations on this well deserved recognition It's more than slightly ironic that two years ago when a consulting company was scouting around for a giant land fil] site, two of those award winnmy farms (Hanover Hill and Holtbyholme) were on the short hist A Seigog Cllen -- Tuesday May 10, 10000 dn Canadians must learn to change with the times . To the Editor: In response to "Our Country is in Trouble" letter to the editor Scugog Citizen May 3 by Brad Moase, I would like to agree. I fear bad things are occurring in Canada, but I must interpret them differently from Mr. Moase. He speaks of a period between 1867 and the 1960's when "everyone was proud to be a Canadian and cherished their nation." ' Ah, yes, a Canadian Golden Age, when Dad went to work, Mom baked apple pies and everybody knew that their country was the best in the world. A pleasant thought, but is it accurate? During the Second World War, Japanese Canadians were "interned" in prison camps and all of their possessions confiscated. Up until the 1960's, signs on some Canadian beaches still read "No dogs or Jews allowed." In the 1960's when a black Panther visited Nova Scotia, a nervous RCMP spied on the majority of African- Canadians in that province simply because of their race Up until the 1970's, homosexuality was considered a crime against the state. Yet despite all this intolerance, apparently "everybody was proud to be a Canadian." It 1s clear that this Golden Age of Canadian unity never truly existed In the good old days," there was not much for non-white, non Christian, non heterosexual Canadians to be proud of. In the Liberal 1960's with tolerance being preached everywhere, many of the old guards were crying for the "good old days," when the only black people around were the little statues on the front lawn. They want to hang on to the traditions that made Canada so wonderful Mr. Moase in his letter cited the two Sikh veterans who were refused entry into a Canadian Legion Hall, as an example of the downfall country. | agree, but for different, Because Bob Sikh religious law forbids the gentlemen from removing their turbans, they were banned, from a Legion hall. Because wearing turbans would show a lack of respect for the dead, the Sikh gentlemen were not welcome at a Remembrance Day ceremony. Is this not a bit of a contradiction? How can a tradition which disallows ' to show respect for fallen comrades, simply because of their religion, be termed "patriotic?" As well I take offence to Mr. Moase"s comparison of a Legion Hall as a place of Religious worship. There is nothing un-Canadian about freedom of religion. As for the Toronto teacher who chastised his student when she did not stand for our national anthem, I ask how he can be cqnsidered a hero? He criticized his student for following her religion! How can one argue that she was stepping on Canada's traditions and respect? If anyone was displaying a lack of respect or honour, it was her teacher. The young woman was obeying her religion and her teacher was just too hard-headed to realize that not everyone in Canada shares his beliefs. I said above that Canads never had a Golden Age when everyone was proud to call themselves Canadian | believe in my heart that one day we will reach this age However , we will not reach it by blindly following intolerant traditions and calling all who do pe* follow them "unpatriotic." Only toleration for each other and pting each other's diffe will get us thers. The country is changing, and we all have to change with it. Just as our ancestors had to work hard and sacrifice to create a better country, we must do the same. Our country is not perfect, but it can be if we accept change As long as we live in a country which is intolerant of the people who make it up, what is there to be proud of? David Butler, Seagrave e and NDP provide leadership To the Editor May | respond to recent commenta made by a syndicated columnist in a local newspaper The columnist was deriding the lack of leadership by our Prime Minister in particular, and the Government leaders in general indicated by his closing paragraph "Will anyone ever stand up to the special groups and really start 1 lead this country? | would suggest that Bob Rae and the Provincial New Democrats have defied, after consultation, many groups requesting special consideration at a time as has never happened before, provincial revenues were dropping and when, welfare numbers were increasing Bob Rae did not create the depression It was well underway when the McLeod/Peterson government was defeated and exacerbated by the action of the federa) Tories under Mulroney Bob Rae and the provincial New Democrats have continually re-buffed the demands of business, doctors, seniors, trade unionists, his own civil servants and that of his Party That is leadership that puts the welfare of the provines aBove all the special interest groups in iL Yours truly, Roy Grif¥son, Port Perry . Opposed to Bingo hall, Casino » the Editor Federn The front page of the Oshawa Times on May € highlights the con cerns for Bcugog Island that | publicly spoke to nearly two years ago A two thousand seat seven days a week Morte Carlo style casino and bin hall, supported ntly by the Provifitial and any level full Governments several semi retired, self made, unknown millionaires, is not wanted or required on Scugog Island There has consultation with local tax paying residents by the Band or of Government, including our local one This, of course, will be an election issue, at least hare on the laland, this In fighting this "Pie in the and Sky" been no bills and other demanding equal public funds damn the local residents only = issue, we will demand funding from the two senior levels of government, in order to pay legal expenses attached to fighting retrogressive step We are also time for meetings with the Pederal and Provincial Ministers who are supporting thie priject with eur This Mississauges Band has handful or two of bere Yet, they receive hundreds of thousands of dollars every year from the Public Their new heritage seems to be gnmbling in ite many forms, on Scugog Island We strongly oppose and will fight it every step of the way this Respectfully, Jool W. Aldred DFP C feugey [dand Commitiee Te we