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theHERALD Outlook Mulroney in a squeeze OUTLOOK is published each Saturday by the HALTON HILLS HERALD Home Newspaper of Halton Hills A Division of Canadian Newspapers Company Limited at Guelph Street Georgetown Ontario L7G 3Z6 Second Class Mall Registered Number It may not be necessary for Prime Minister Brian Mulroney to fire Secretary of State Luden Bouchard But common sense dic tates that he should move this par ticular minister to another less sensitive portfolio In his present job Mr Bouchard is responsible for federal policy on minority languages Hes also the minister who said Quebec Premier Robert Bourassa was justified in invoking the notwithstanding clause to continue the ban on ex terior English signs He is obviously not the right per son to be looking after minority language interests not when these minorities Include the anglophones of Quebec Since the defeat of several cabinet ministers in the Nov 21 election the prime minister has transferred portfolios to other ministers on an interim basis Mr Bouchard has been given respon sibility for environment and there has been speculation he will con tinue in this post The important thing is to get him replaced as secretary of state a job that was never a natural for him As a longtime Quebec na tionalist and supporter of the yes side In the I960 referendum he was bound to have difficulties in that portfolio MR CLEAN He entered the cabinet last year after serving as Canadas to France a position given him by his dose friend Mr He entered federal politics last year a and was widely billed as Mr Clean Mr Bouchard was expected to help Canadians forget about the various scandals that had touched the cabinet In the last Parliament While be might well do that his political career will not be helped by his handling of the present language dispute He not only an noyed his parliamentary col leagues by disappearing for days after the Quebec governments ac tion but when he did speak It wasnt what the majority of other ministers wanted to hear What he said was at odds with the comments of the prime minister who said Mr response was unsatisfactory And there are some such as Liberal MP Herb Gray who feel this disagreement should force Mr Bouchard out of cabinet entirely SNARI Bruce Ottawa Stewart MacLeod Servics PUBLISHER David A Beattie EDITOR Mike Turner AD MANAGER Dan Taylor Twos a Crowd STAFF WRITERS Brian MacLeod Donn SPORTS WRITER Paul Svoboda ACCOUNTING Tammy CLASSIFIED ADVERTISING JoanMannall By BILL BUTTLE ADVERTISING SALES Jeannine Valols Craig Teeter Sharon Holllngsworth PRODUCTION DEPARTMENT Dave Hastings Annie Wilson CIRCULATION DEPARTMENT Marie PRESSROOM FOREMAN Brian PRESS ASSISTANT Todd We are talking about a public dispute on a very important mat ter said the deputy opposition leader I think the principle is clear that the minister cannot re main in the cabinet No pun intended but we get into a grey area here Its true that ministers traditionally leave cabinet when they disagree with government policy But it could be argued in this case that the disagreement arises In reaction to another governments policy NOT EASY Opinions obviously differ about this but its certainly not as cut- anddried as the resignations of the three anglophone ministers from the Quebec cabinet over Premier Bourassas response to the Supreme Court decision That was a clear case of a disagreement over official govern policy Liberal Robert Kaplan a former solicitor general says it is unac ceptable to have a government speaking out of both sides of its mouth But if we had resignations every time a disagreement arose among ministers there would have to be revolving doors into the cabinet room Anyway we all know that the prime minister who has just won another majority is not going to turf out Lucien Bouchard without great and just cause Also what the minister said Is not going to hurt him in Quebec That being said Mr Bouchard is clearly no longer suitable material for secretary of state Its simply unreasonable for the minister responsible for minority language rights to support another govern ments action in supressing those rights Little wonder the anglophone community in Quebec feels so abandoned at times The prime minister should not wait for his forthcoming cabinet shuffle to send out the message He should replace Mr Bouchard pron to Stop moaning If it werent for bubblepacks youd need some other form of physical exercise Debates go public Have seen the steroids commercial routine with There are those who believe it is no longer possible to have a reasoned debate in this country People are polarized along ideological lines mouthing empty slogans at the expense of the com mon good Think of the mudslinging US presidential election the embar rassing namecalling in the Cana dian federal election the passions that overwhelmed reason in the freetrade debate Thoughtful peo ple are worried that good govern ment has been rendered impossi- Good government is not something we often see But the degree to which public debate has broken down will have real effects on the everyday lives of Cana dians Think of Quebec where some people are resorting to violence over what language other people use on their commercial signs And Ontario where the provin cial government keeps raising taxes while restricting expenses in the two most important areas of a humane civilized society educa tion and health care Where the kneejerk reaction has been the most puzzling is in the area of unemployment The free- trade debate sparked a furor over plant closings and job losses This is tired rhetoric MORE JOBS THAN EVER Hundreds of thousands of people have been laid off in North America over the past decade yet the unemployment rate is the lowest it has been In 14 years The steel industry the auto industry and all of smokestack America have undergone a vast restructur ing The service industry too has bad its share of joblosses par ticularly since the stock market crash All this has happened with no net bad effect on the economy I am not suggesting that its nothing to lose a Job People who are laid off must be given generous severance packages and help in finding other work including effec tive and immediate job retraining Older people and those in economically depressed areas need extra help But to suggest the economy Is go ing to hell in a because a plant la dosing or an industry Is coming un Your Business Diane Matey Newt Strvics nonsense The economy is dynamic creating and destroying both wealth and jobs The danger of this growing tendency to react rather than to sit down and think things over is that affected people will be caught in the crossfire In Toronto for exam ple people are lining up for heart surgery some of them dying while they wait Meanwhile the cial health minister is busy fighting with doctors and hospital administrators trying to shift the blame for postponed operations on them DEBATE NEEDED We cannot leave governing to government it seems Yet we will have to If we cannot discuss things reasonably among ourselves Every time you pick up a newspaper you read that some poor souls are facing the loss of their jobs At least 3500 people in the Canadian furniture industry will lose their jobs because of the freetrade agreement an industry report warns in a Toronto The furniture makers council prepared the report to bolster its case for government help in coping with the removal of the tariff on US furniture- We pay companies to stay in business- nothing new there- Elsewhere we pay workers not to work When it comes to certain govern ment entitlement programs we pay people whether they need the matey or not Pensions and family allowance benefits are universal We believe means tests arc degrading and perhaps they are But while we continue with mil largesse the quality of our educa is not what one would hope from a wealthy democracy The quality of our health care Is diminishing The political process Is breaking down And despite the best efforts of Finance Minister Michael Wilson the nati debt is running oat of j Staff Comment Brian MacLeod Gun issue still rages Guns dont kill people people Id people Its a saying you may have seen on a bumper of a car or heard dur ing debates on gun control laws in Canada and in the United States After watching television reports of the slaughter in a California schoolyard Tuesday its difficult to believe that many people still cl ing to the notion that possession of a gun is a right If Californias gun control laws had a semblance of sanity to them Patrick Purdy wouldnt have been able to purchase a powerful assault rifle for then turn it on a crowded schoolyard killing inno cent children indiscriminately Gun advocates are right people kill people But easy access to guns sure makes it a lot easier for peo ple to kill people I doubt if Patrick Purdy would have wandered onto that schoolyard with a hunting knife with the same purpose in mind There have been complaints about rising crime rates in Canada recently Even articles in a Detroit newspaper about how Toronto the Good is not longer the Good But at least in Canada if someone holds a grudge against a neighbor or someone feels hes gotten the short end of the stick from society or he just doesnt like Mondays you can feel reasonably sure be isnt going to wander down to the nearest gun store buy a weapon and turn it on the public in discriminately All of this highlights the absurdi ty of allowing powerful lobby groups such as National Rifle Association in the US the power to spend million to make sure gun control advocates in this case Michael Dukakis dont get elected If there were ever glaring ex amples of mans inhumanity to man its how free countries allow such slaughters to happen time after time in the name of political expedience Residents who live on Dawson and Irwin Crescents may not find it funny Local councillors may not find it funny But observers at council meetings over the past six or seven months might find the whole issue rather awkwardly hilarious The towns attempts to solve some vandalism problems on the walkway between the two streets by lighting it have turned the walkway Into a supernova or an airport runway at a cost to the tax payers of And the residents are most upset At Mondays council meeting councillors were to lay blame Some said It was the engineering departments fault for not doing It right Some said It was bad advice from consultants but only one councillor Cook stood up and said the Town should have listened to the residents when they said they only wanted one light in stead of the three which now U-