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- tism. Quebec still wants it, psycholdgically. have been doing the same for three thousand ZnB Bog A &H TRS S NN 5 XN 4 Ne J ) AN) \ 0 A 7 AN N N MY AEs ua au a RK SRE NANT N\NEAWN FANN NY D 9,34 Ws orl NN i" J Sof nov. SMA "gR oR po? *M) ZM OP 0 Just Good Friends Ronald Reagan and Plerre Trudeau had their private meeting last week in Ottawa as the American president carried out a 27-hour visit to the Canadian capital. They don't seem to have made any concrete headway in settling the two most onorous disputes between the countries - pollution and protection of the fisheries along the Atlantic coast. Nevertheless, Trudeau and Reagan seemed to get along just famously, and in public anyway, were falling over each other to express in glowing terms just how important it is that Canada and the United States remain good friends and neighbours. The only public fireworks surrounding the visit by Reagan came from the boorish demonstrators on Parliament Hill. ' Let us hope for Canada's sake that Reagan was sincere when he said that the outstanding bilateral issues between the countries can bé worked out. Surely, everyone Involved sees the need to control the fishing off the East Coast or there may not be sufficient stocks of fish left for the fishing industry on both sides of the border. The pollution Issue is equally as crucial. Studies have Indicated that the major sources of the acid rain which is slowly strangling the life out of certain lakes in Ontario are the coal-fired generators, steel plants and smelters in states like Ohio, Indiana, New York, and Pennsylvania. ~ The United States, with large quantities of coal 'and diminishing supplies of fossil fuels, has under- taken to convert even more plants from oil to coal. Without tougher emission controls, the acid rain problem will get worse instead of better. However, the overall tone of the meetings appeared to be one of frankness and a genuine desire to work for good relations between two countries which have been the best of friends for many decades. And that is good. In a world filled with hostile countries, it Is imperative at this time that Canada and the United States strengthen the bonds between them for their mutual protection and preservation. riol comments Provincial Election Ontario voters will go to the polls this Thursday, March 19, in an election that has been marked by the absence of any high profile single issue both on a province wide basis and In the local riding of * Durham-York. The Conservatives, in power for the last 38 years, "have campaigned on their record and the promises in the billion dollar BILD problem unveiled shortly before the election was called. An underlying campaign theme on the part of Bill Davis and the Conservatives has been that neither the Liberals or the New Democrats are a credible alternative. But both opposition parties have painted them- selves as the alternative to the Conservatives with NDP -leader Michael Cassidy using those exact words in his television commercials and Liberal leader Stuart Smith telling voters they do have a choice in this election, and that choice is Liberal. At the provincial level, Mr. Davis has been dogged on the campaign trail by vocal groups of individuals who lost money in the collapse of " Re-Mor Investments, and hospital workers who lost "their jobs as a result of an illegal strike last month. At times, the campaign between Dr. Smith and Mr. Davis has deteriorated into name calling. Mr. Cassidy has plugged away at the issues. In the riding of Durham-York, voters are fortun- ate to have three credible candidates who have worked hard for this far-flung riding of some 700 square miles. To our knowledge, they have waged a clean campaign. Ross Stevenson, a university professor turned farmer is attempting to continue the Conservative tradition in this riding. Gary Adamson, who is carrying the Liberal colours is a high school teacher from North York. Marg Wilbur, who #tves in Scu Township has a long history of involvement in : Democratic Party election campaigns at the fedefal and provincial levels. mr If the campaign here has been low-key, it is partly because there is no high profile issue to capture the attention of the voters and also because the three candidates are relatively unknown to the voters. And voters in Scugog, which is the extreme south-east corner of this riding, did not have the chance. fo see and hear the three hopefuls as there was no all-candidates meeting held in the Township. The Star believes that all three of the candidates could do a credible job representing the people of Durham-York at Queens Park. Without a hot local issue here, the choice for voters will depend on how they feel about the specific issues that have been put forward by the provincial leaders, and the remedies they suggest are needed for Ontario in 1981 and Isn't it amazing how little our world really is? How pretty and small and mean' we are underneath our professed liberalism, generosity, compassion? The situation in Poland is very dicy. The Mexican stand-off in the Middle East is a torch, loaded with pitch, just waiting for a match. There are bush fires and brush fires beyond. of wars all over the world: Canada is in a mess, politically, econom- dcally and spiritually. There are noses thumbed at the Queen by would-be head- liners. There is a big flap about the constitution. The West is howling separa- ~{pataver: Even Newfie is threatening a referendum on separating. Shame, after all that federal money poured in to ensure the perpetuation of the Liberal Government. Outside, as I write, the great February storm is raging: snow, high winds, rain, freezing. Tomorrow will be one of those days when the school buses don't run, the smart kids in town will roll over and go to sleep after looking at the snowbanked windows. And a few dumb kids, and a lot of dumb teachers, will stagger through the storm, at risk of life and limb, to keep the stupid school open. And yet, all these storms, international, national, and local, don't bother me half as much as the one in my own household. Here's where the suspense begins. Wife left him? Nabbed by the cops for mope and gawkery? 'Poles and Russians have been clobbering each other with ten-foot poles and vodka for hundreds of years. The Jews and Arabs Africa. oa Bc pc EA Ea Sra Ee Te ------ bill s _years. Likewise the North apd South of Likewise all sorts\of black In Toronto, the oo pun who respond with violence/ In the West, a whole can of worms has the worms all turn out to be from Ontario and Quebec. In parliament, lies are told, fingers pointed, desks thumped, and the government goes right on dazzling us with one hand, and with the other, lifting money from our wallets to help out poor little old Massey-Ferguson, poor little old Chrysler, poor little old Petro-Can. While that bulwark of idealism, the NDP, nods and smiles, and taps its foot to the Liberal tune. Right outside my window, the snow is coming down so hard that the wind has no time for sculpturing. One guy is trying to climb the hill sideways, in his car. Another has just rammed his into a snowbank and walked away. He is the one who boasted that he never used snow tires, because he had radials. Across the country, people are driving under insane conditions, taking their own the other. TORMY WEATHER Viet, Nam, Korea, and U.S. get from nowhere to nowhere. ple all over And yet, as I said, all these storms seem trivial compared to the domestic storm. up the gays, More suspense. Heen opened, and all." fountain of bad language. Er SUNSETS SEN ] lives and those of others in their hands, to To generously, not to say wildly, para- phrase King Lear; 'Blow, storm; lie, politicians; smite, Middle-Easteners; plot Slavs. Go to it, and the best of luck to yiz But your plight brings little symphathy, no tears, from one who is spider-webbed into a binge of decorating. As I am. Most women do their spring decorating in the spring. Mine, just as perverse as the day I asked her to marry me, and she retorted, "Why should 1?" does hers in mid-winter. Don't ask me why. I'm likely to erupt in a Ill swear my eyes are permanently crossed from looking at wall-paper samples. After the first four books, they all begin to look alike. Same with paint. After inspecting . peach, ivory, mushroom, off-white and six others, I wouldn't know a red cow from a purple pig, if I bumped into one or fell over Not that there's a difference of opinion. We did agree on the wall-paper. At least the design. She liked the stuff that was $14.95 a roll. I was swept away by the stuff, identical design, that $4.95 a roll. But the difference is chicken-feed. as you'll agree. Some chicken. But it's not that. It's not the money. After all, you can't take it with you. Though I doubt if I'll be around long enough to take anything anywhere, even the garbage out to the roadside, after the latest decorating orgy. It's the little details. She can't seem to sort out the order of things. She makes a deal with the painter-decorator to start on a certain day. The day before he is to arrive, she rushes out to pick the wall-paper. Wall-paper is like the Canadian mail. It gets there when it gets there. If ever. Next day, she arranges for a cleaning lady to wash the woodwork. The lady, much sought after, can come only between the painting and the papering. This means that the paint goes over dirty wood-work, and thert's nobody to clean up after the plasterer, who makes such a mess that the wall-paper looks like the dunes of the Sahara. And so on. I could write a book about decorating. All I'd have to do is listen to my wife before breakfast, before dinner, after dinner, and before bed. Which I have to do anyway. No wonder colleagues say when I arriveat "harassed," "frightened," "Desperate" or "frantic," and you have the average Canadian male when his wife decides that the homestead is shabby; disgraceful, work: "You look exhausted." Substitute _.Slummy, and so and on and on... ......._