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- v Zi & \ 4 aa on AN er , "on LW "al Ne Te SA TER oy A AG sit \ MARCH AK 3 A 4 PAL Saal un A FR Sg EACLE IY Uh Sir 7 JEM HAE ARERR ES RRA A RABE AEA SB X a NSIT SET OL - Rail Service Should Be Kept Where Is this country going when it comes to passenger service on the nation's rail lines? Apparently nowhere, if one considers the announ- cement last week from federal transport minister Jean-Luc Pepin which in effect will phase out 17 lines now in operation in several Canadian provinces. Most crucial for people living in this area is the cut in the Havelock-Toronto daily service, whic is used by commuters who have vowed they will fight to maintain the service. In all, across Canada, the cuts to CN's VIA service will effect about 1.2 million of the eight million passengers the railway carries each year, and VIA expects to save about $100 million in operating costs because of them. The crucial question of course is whether Canada is giving up completely any determined efforts it may have had to make passenger service profitable or at least break-even by improving equipment, schedules and so on. Obviously, to avoid heavy financial loss on passenger service, the name of the game is to attract more and more passengers, and to make a long term commitment to this kind of service for Canadians. Has this been done? Apparently not. The cuts In service, by the way, will be authorized by Cabinet order, rather than through applications to the Transport Commission, a process which may circumvent full public scrutiny of the reasons surrounding the decision. 3 It is more than just cruel irony that the govern- ment is cutting passenger service on the rails at a time when it is also urging people to leave their cars home. If anything, .the government should be promoting the heck out of passenger service to entice more people to use it. Also, more than ironic is the fact that a country | which owes so much to rail service over the past 100 years or so, seems to be giving up just because the going is a little tough. Some of the cuts announced last week will go into effect late this fall. Others like the Toronto-Havelock run apparently will not be shut down until next summer. In all areas of the country, including here, where passengers are being affected by these cuts, there are movements underway to protest the decisions and force the government to reconsider. We hope they are successful. In light of the recent decisions, what kind of confidence can the Canadian people have in the passenger rail service that remains in this country. How long will it be before the government decides that more cuts in service are necessary? How long will it be before the last passenger train in Canada goes the way of the steam engine? ' _- ra er & "IF YOU HAVE RODIN, COULD YOU PICK UP A FEW SANDBAGS 7 'editorial comments 'A Touch Of Madness There is more than just a touch of madness in the air when 730 million people around the world turn to their TV sets and sublimely watch what had to be the most extravagant, costly wedding in history at a time when the economies of major countries are teetering on the brink of ruin. Nobody, not even the staunchest republican could begrudge Prince Charles and his bride a wedding in 'keeping with the trappings of Royalty, but the excesses reached the point of the ridiculous. The couple is now honeymooning aboard the Royal yacht Brittania for the next two weeks; just the two of them and a crew of 276, including a 26 member Royal Marine Band, in case they want a little music. 'At a time when there are horrendous gaps appearing in the world's economy, not to mention that of Great Britain, and the ordinary citizen everywhere is being called on by governments to show restraint, the Royal Wedding went in exactly the opposite direction, fanned by press and television who went over-board to lap it up. } 'There is something frightening about the mentality prevailing these days which not only accepts lack of restraint and: over-indulgence, but is more than 'willing to wallow and revel in it as well. _ With interest rates climbing and currencies falling in value, there are no clearer signals that the bubble is soon to burst. A fool's paradise cannot last forever. The folly of it is that nobody seems to be overly concerned: not the masses who devoured the Wedding like, an opiate; not the governments who ~ persist in policies which havent worked in the past in case chqse not to set an example of restraint; and certainly not the major media of the world who gleefully are becoming the conveyors of the opiates for the masses. : inghis case working now; not the Royal Family who TRAVEL PLANS When you are going on a trip, your first hope is that you will get there in one piece, preferably the fairly large piece in which you began the trip. Not a lot of little ones. Your second hope is that you will not be hijacked. Or, at least if you are, that the hijackers will insist on landing on the island of Bali, where the terrified hostages will be comforted by nubile, young bra-less, top- played hockey in Holland last winter. Wait a minute, now. Have to call the cops and listen to their amused snorts when I newspapers - sure sign you are not home when there are forty-two of them on the ® of ask them to keep an eye on the house ; : while we're away. Leave the house key ; under the eleventh stone on the patio, we'll never find it when we get home. Cut off the less ladies, waving fans and things around to keep them (the hostages) cool. Another vague hope is. that the airplane gets off the ground. It didn't help our frame of mind when one didn't recently at Toronto airport, and instead wound up in a ravine. Then, of course, it is to be hoped that once the thing gets into the air, it returns to terra firma. This is fairly important, they tell me. Next, it's rather essential that you have a place to lay your jet-lagged head when you get there. Marriages are made in Heaven, it says somewhere. Divorces are made when the room clerk says, "Sorty, sir. Your reservation definitely states August 15th, and this is July 15th. We haven't a thing for the next two weeks." This experience is far, far worse than being left at the alter. It's basic that you should leave behind instructions for the disposal of your property, in case you are kidnapped in the red light district of Hamburg, or, in the case of wives, decide to run off with the one-eyed Afghanistan pilot you met in the discotheque in Rome. We've drawn up a list for just that purpose. Kim gets the grand piano. Hugh gets the lawnmower and the colour TV (they have some great programs in the jungles of Paraguay). Kim gets the lawn sprinkler for The Boys to run through, their favourite sport. My sisters get the old beds we outfumbled them for when my mother's - estate was being divided. My wife's sister gets the huge linen tablecloth with the wine-stains that won't come out. And so on. Another thing you should look after before you commence a trip is to get well rested. Maybe that's why I'm taking off this afternoon in a bus of hooligans to drive, round-trip, 200 miles and watch a double header baseball game featuring the worst major league team in the world, Toronto, and arriving home at 2 a.m. Four hours on the bus. Four hours in the grandstand. After a day's work. "You're crazy' my wife said, unequivocally. She's right. It's extremely important when you are packing, not to leave out anything vital to your well-being. Make a check-list: laxative pills, tranquillizers, stuff for athlete's foot, piles ointment, dandruff killer, a travel iron to press out the furrows on your forehead. An so on. : Naturally, you heed six dictionaries: Canadian-cockney; English-French; French-German; Schweitzer-Deutsch; Toronto-Italian; Joual-French. And so on. Let's see. Oh, yes, you need money. When the Europeans came to Canada first, they brought lots of coloured beads, and received in return for them prime furs, good as gold. When Canadians visit Europe, they take choking great rolls of banknotes, and receive in return for them - you guessed it - coloured beads. Seems fair enough. Let's have another look at that list. Uh. Yup. Electric toothbrush, Extra dentures in base of breakage. Hair dye. Three quarts of underarm deodorant. Toilet paper, twelve. rolls. Adhesive tape for blistered heels. Seven-iron to practise golf swings while waiting for audience with Pope. . Hey, where's the booze? Heard a guy had to pay $45 for a quart of rye when the Old-Timers . porch, Put out some ant traps to make sure they haven't demolished entire house while we're away. And so on. - You know something? My wife may be crazy, as I suggested here recently, but she's not dumb. She never wanted to go on this trip in the first place. All she wanted to do was have a normal summer, swimming, playing golf, picking berries, enjoying the grandboys, nagging me about the weeds. Well, by George, we're going anyway, an she can lump .it. You're nobody unless you've been to Europe. That is, of course, unless you've been to Newfie. Then you're OK. : My greatest consolation is a line from a letter my 'son wrote on my birthday, "Tribulations, frustrations, rotten kids and neurotic spouse. All these things shall pass away." k Thanks Hugh, I needed that. Due to the mail strike, the regular Bill Smiley column is not available this week. The following is a reprint from the July 26, 1978 edition of the Star - Editor, | | |