WHITBY FREE PRESS e WEDNESDAY, JULY 9,1986 PAGE 5 "I have sworn upon the altar of God eternal hostility againat every form of tyranny over the miînd of man." - Thomas Jefferson Advise and Dissent THE CROW'S NEST by Michael Knell This week, I offer a few assorted subjects for your digestion and con- sideration. They may have very littie in common, other than perhaps our mutual interest. BIGOTRY REARS ITS UGLY HEAD, AGAIN I note with great sadness tbat yet another Witby suburb is suffering from an acute case of bigotry. This time it's a group of property owners in Blue Grass Meadows who seem to tbink that their middle class status is some sort of passport to dictate publiecpolicy. Weal1 read the news accounts of their petition to Whitby Town Council in op- position to a proposed low income, subsidized bousing project for their area, I was saddened, even sickened. And the flimsy excuse they gave was that the project would cause overcrowding in the neighbourhood public school. Now anyone who knows anytbing about the way the local board of education is run would know this excuse is meaningless. If the school became overcrowded - the board would Instail portables, transport the surplus to other schools and eventually apply to the provincial government for a capital grant to expand the faciity. You know what the real reason for their opposition is? It's simple. Money. You know, tbat stuff witb tbe Queen's picture on it. Money in the form of proper- ty value, or rather their misguiden, even insipid and stupid, conceptions of property value. Every time a proposai to develop much needed low cost housing cornes before council, some group of self-righteous citizens demands it be tur- ned la ail out effort to protect their property values. No commnunity is the property of the affluent, the middle class, the established or the powerful. A community exists to also accommodate the needs of the single mother, the pensioner, the working class family, the han- dicapped.. .in other words, the average, ordinary man. I'm not a socialist, not by any measure. But one tbing I do believe is that the needs of people are more important and valuable than any piece of property. The instant that council bows to those more interested in property value than the needs of people, that council no longer refiects tbe democratic values that we ail treasure. If the Blue Grass Meadows plan is a good one, council must approve it. A good housing plan is too valuable a thing to waste. A BLOW FOR LIBERTY Moaday's Ontario Supreme Court ruling that trade unions can not use a member's dues for political purposes it probably one of the positive things to bappen to the union movement in this country since ins inception 100 years ago. For if the Supreme Court of Canada upholds the ruling, and I pray it will, the union movement can then stop lis pre-occupation with politics and power and get on with its real job - fighting for the rights of the ordinary working man in uins country. The union movement has become far too pre-occupied with politics in recent years and forgetting that it's tbe lot of the working man they are supposed to be improving. Besides which, a union member pays is dues to support the union in its most important function - defend and protect his collective bargaining rights. Those dues are flot paid in an effort to get Ed Broadbent a four-year lease on the Prime Mlnister's Office. Furthermore, every union member should have the rigbt to direct tbese political contributions to the party of bis or ber choice - if tbe union insista on keeping up the practise. I don't support tbe NDP at the ballot box. If I went to work in a closed shop, I don't see wby 1should be forced to support the NDP through my union dues. It is that simple. I would support by union - but that is a separate issue and in no way related to my lack of support for the NDP. I'm glad the court recognized this important right. WHO ARE THEY KIDDING? PROFESSION FREEDOM, PFUI! The Ontario Medical Association bas once again put its foot in its mouth while continuing to demonstrate tbat they really are one of the most militant trade unions in tbis country. I was interested in tbe OMA leadership's recent attack on Bill 94 that claimed it eroded their professional freedoms. I would like to know exactly what professional freedoms are being eroded. The doctors, s0 it appears, stil have tbe freedom to: a) enter the medical scbool of their choice once they decide to enter the profession (if tbey can meet tbe entrance requirements); b) once qualified, they can remain in family practise, or enter any specialty they choose; c) tbey can practise anywbere in Ontario, Canada or the world for that mat- ter; and, d) they remain totally self-employed, completely in cbarge of their own workload (there is no 'capping' under Bih 94), their destiny and the ad- ministration and management of their own practise. There is literally no professional freedomn that they do not enjoy except one. They cannot charge wbatever tbey want for their services. Like aul members of a union, they enter into a colective agreement that specifies rates of compen- sation. The government bas traditionally (and I don't see any reason why it would be discontinued) negotiated a fee structure with the OMA, probably la much the same manner as it negotiates with OPSEU. While the doctors bave the major benefits of the trade union accorded tbemn by the OMA, they are also smail businessman wbo enjoy one little perk not guaranteed to other smail businessman anywbere in the western world. They wil always get paid. Tbe government guarantees their income. Tbey SEE PG. 22 WITH OUR FEET UP By Bill Swan This la the story of Canada Day la Beaver, Ont. and bow the townfolk burned down the Beaver Lone Star Saloon, and how Mayor Johnny Cannuck got a frog caugbt la his throat, and bow your friendiy columnist almost gets his, but good. The big event took place over at Softbal Memorial Park. During the afternooa Mayor John- ny Cannuck spent loin of town money provicllng free bot dogs for everyone. Then he gave some speeches and promtaed everyone fireworks. Sbortly after, he was politicking a bot dog when bis adopted nephew Eric, wbo just this week finaily left home -be says for good this time - came by with bis pet frog. Eric snuck the frog into the relisb dish. Mayor Johnay didn't see it, and slathered it on bis bot dog and slurped it down la one gulp. He couldn't speak for the rest of the day. Strangely eaougb, Bent Broadaxe also got lost la the tent put up by the Beaver Axalgamated Wood- cutters - or BAW, as it always appears la the headlines inaThe Flat Tail. And Razor Strop, whose two blue eyes are always focused on a single. point 50 feet away, as though he were just starting the mun-up for a pole vault - he got lost, too. Now without politicians to tell Beaver residents what to thlak, dangerous thinga began to happen. "What this towa really needs," said Gertie Gar- ter, 'lis less goverament interference. " "Wbat gaîls me," said 'Fingers' Tom, who weeknigbts plays piano la the Lone Star, "lis these Free Trade Pokers Stakes. " "Wbat I can't figure," piped la Sta Tissticks, wbo counts match sticks over at the general store, 'lis that Lone Star Saloon. " "Not only that," added Wiz Dom, who subs as barteader at the Lone Star, "it's the inconsistency. Now I shouldn't say anythlag because I work there. But bave you ever thought how unfitting ail this saloon business ta heme in good old Beaver, On- tario.?" Everybody kaew tbat Wiz Dom bad bis doctorate in philosophy, and read a lot. But you aeed to do that these days to bean articulate barteader. "Wbat I mean la," he clarified, "'that whoever heard of saloon in Ontario, wth batwing doors? " "Weh," said the Old Geezer, grizzly from years of prospecting, bis unshaken cheeks sbaking for a drink. "lSec what I mean?"I said Wiz Dom. "Even Geezer there is an image tbat doesn't fit."- "He doesn't fit," tbe crowd rumbled. "Let's get rid ofbim1l" "lNow just old on a minute," shouted Dom. "No vigilante stuff. Tbat's as bad as tbe Old Geezer and the Saloon. They're ail cliches from tbe land of Ewessofeb. They don't belong la any Canadian cliche." "lLet's burn down the salooni Tbea maybe somebody will corne along and build a good old Canadian Beverage Room and Bar." « Down wth theSaloon1l "No violent vigilante stuff 1" sbouted Dom. "lTbat's not Canadian." "This mob violence," shouted Dangling Dan, the fuil-tinie bartender at the Lone Star, 'lis based on a hockey mob In Montreal. How Canadian can you get"' "lWbat does the Mayor say?" someone shouted from the depths of bis political ancestry. "Get the mayor." But the mayor, alasi1 could not speak. "He bas a frog in his tbroat," said little Eric, the departed. Witb that, the picnickers from the Softball Memorial Park rampaged through tbe town of Beaver, Ont. They ran Old Geezer out on a rail. 'Fingers' Tom bad bis fingers broken and wiil play no more ragtime tunes. Gertie the Garter came face to face with Pastor Eyes and was saved and nevermore wiil make money from ber sins. And the Beaver Lone Star Saloon? Beautiful it was, in the early nigbt sky, sending fingers of flame four, five stores la the air, bigb above everytbing else in town. The closest the mob came to a lynchiag tran- spired wbea Wiz Dom, la innocence, cursed the scribe wbo bad first penned the scenes with the Lone Star Saloon. "lGet the columnistl1 Hang the Loutl" But the colunit, la Canadian tradition, had igaored Canada Day completely. He was not available for lynching. d~~1 y~rv osehd/f i