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p4vvfiker st the tribune saturday march 28 1998 vol 14 no 13 hie tribune is a member of the ontario press council opinions 905 6402100 fax- 905 6405477 e-mail- thetribistarca editorial charest has his work cut out jean charest giant killer thats the role his country his party and his colleagues have thrust upon the national progressive conservative leader this week charest accepted the nomination for leader of the quebec provincial liberals to do battle with lucien bouchard charest has been seen asthe only person to beat the parti quebecois in an upcoming provincial election polls demon strate that this is certainly the case the latest indicated charest would capture 53 per cent of the vote to bouchards 39 per cent what choice did cliarest have none as far as we can tell had he declined the offer the whatiffactor would have been almost too much to bear and his federal status would have been seriously jeopardized by quebeckers who would have felt abandoned it was really the only move he could have made the real test will not be if charest can win the election that is his for the taking it will be what he does to ensure the demise of the separatist movement and to bring quebec into the constitutional fold we wish him every success naturally canada ignored in happiness survey canadas bird ought to be the grouse anonymous old anon was on to something there has there ever been a nation on the face of the earth that did more complaining we grouse about the gst we moan about the fate of cana dian hockey we yammer and mewl about ottawa potholes then banks big cities the cost of living the seal hunt too many immigrants not enough immigrants we fill the pages of our newspapers with letters to the editor about the price at the gas pump the lineups at the hospital crummy television from the us and the plight of the beluga and of course theres the weather every canadian worth his stanfield trapdoor long johns can deliver a 20- minute peroration on the lousy cana dian weather canadian winters arechallenging the rest of the world doesnt call us frostbacks for nothing no question about it canada is just too imperfect to support life and fos ter happiness so i put it to you where in the world would you move to be happy at first glance the answer seems- obvious somewhere with lots of sun shine and perpetual blue skies a lot of winterweary canucks do go that route at least for short breaks there are trailer parks and beach villas in texas arizona and other southern us states that come december fly more canadian flags than even don cherry could stand but those are tourists not citizens most of those snowbirds fly back north with the geese each spring so i put the question again where on earth would a person move to have the best chance of happiness youre not going to believe the answer iceland i am not suffering from cabin fever and i havent been into grandmas blackberry cordial ruut veenhoven a dutch psychologist wondered where the happiest people on earth call home veenhoven analyzed longevity figures from almost every nation then the professor initiated follow- up public opinion polls that delved into quality of life the findings were used to calculate how many years of happiness an average citizen could expect some of the findings are not eye browlifting the citizens of whats left of russia can expect only 345 years of relative bliss americans came basic black arthur black in with 578 years switzerland took third place with an average happiness expectancy quotient of 598 years and contrary to its sour reputation frigid gloomy old sweden emerged as the second most blissful nation according to veenhoven swedes can expect on average to experience 615 years of good times iceland as i said was first with an average of 62 happy years per lifetime aha you say but where does cana da rate in the delirium sweepstakes good question professor veenhoven didnt produce any statistics for cana da perhaps he unconsciously assumed that canada is just an extension of upper new york state i prefer another explanation i like to think that canada is so far ahead in the happiness category that the professor deliberately left us out so as not to skew the results and make all other countries hopelessly jealous after all the united nations declared canada the best place to live in the world three years in a row we must be doing something right i wish someone would tell professor veenhoven and then i wish theyd tell quebec dementia deserves discretion dear editor as a senior citizen i feel i must respond to your front page headline and article in the tribune of march 24 region dementia cases to triple by year 2021 i cannot contest the facts but it seems we seniors are assumed to be irrelevant to the statements you express or are already victims of the conditions you describe maybe we shouldnt read your publication do we not deserve the care and con sideration given a child when faced with a needle who is reassured that heshe will not get sick an assurance which cant be offered to us im not sure who is being reminded of this situation those of us who are centred out cant worry about it and the rest of us wont be helped by wor rying or is it for our families to be posed with this responsibility please whatever your intention in letters setting down this information i hope it was not to be published in this way some serious discretion is required in dealing with this kind of material ps maybe we expect some posi tive followup which would offer something hopeful for future seniors e skinner make books a priority in library expansion dear editor i was tilled with great joy when i read about the two million dollar library project march 12 library expansion tops 2m i had visions of thousands of new books until i read the fine print of how the money will be spent only three quarters of one per cent 75 percent of the expansion budget is for new books since the most important aspect of a library is books i dont think it would be too extravagant to ask for ten per cent of this budget to be allot ted for books id rather browse through an old barn full of interesting books than a modern new building that is half empty with outdated books p puhi stouffville stouffville tribune weekender a metro ommwut ewspapjp patricia pappas publisher andrew mair editorinchief tracy kibble editor debra weller director of advertising mike rogerson retail advertising manager stacey allen classified manager barry goodyear director of distribution vivian oneil business manager pamela nichols operations manager about us email thetribistarca 6244 main st stouffville ont l4a1e2 fe 11u letters policy the tribune welcomes your letters to the editor please keep letters to no more than 300 words note that letters may be edited for space libel spelling gram mar while we endeavor to print as many letters as pos sible we regret that not all letters may be printed