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WHmBm Rl $~&W SP~ PI 1 90 PAGE 7 PAGE SEVEN' ViVA LE LITHUANIA LIBE Meech Lake is dead. Long byve separatismi ...or sovereignty association ... or, well, sometbing no that Quebecers won't have to deal with thos nasty anglophones. Ironicaliy, events in Canada are being played out against the backdrop of Lithuania's attempt to separate from the Soviet Union. The situations are vastiy different but nevertheless the comparisons are inforative. I suspect tliat Gorbachev accepta that ail three Baltic republice, and nmof 0 the 9outhern republie as- well, will eventually secede, but lie wants it on termes and a tirnetable wihich iilf prevent the total collapse of the Soviet Union. In the drive towards freedorn and dernocracy wbich bas swept acroes Eastern Europe, it is onfly natural that a country which wasileay annexed during the Second World War would want ta egi its independence. Particularly wlien the annexation was a secret deal between Stalin and Hfitier, the two arcli-fiends of tlie twentieth century. Lithuama's case for independance is about as strong as il can gel. Not no Quebec's. While offial Sovet policy has been 10 assimilate th. tiny minority ofLtuain into 1h.'u Soviet congiomerale, Quebec in a full partneri i Canadian confederation. What is happening in Quebec is cultural paranoaa - fear of being subrnerged in a sea of anglophones. Up to, about tbirty years ago, such feelings mgi have been legitimat. - Frenchi Cmnadians were seod-cas citizens - but ince the Quiet Re volution of the sites, a generation of Englisli Canadians bas grown ta embrace and celebrate the Frenchi fact in Canada., 1Wbile Engish Canada bas bent dramatically to, accomm£odate Quebec, Quebec has dug in. Whle Prank MeKenna bas strived ta find a compromise,( bec bas gone ouI of its way te reject il. Wlielher Qube ikes it or nol, th. pivotai event in lbe Meecli Lake debat. was English signs in Quebec. lb. Québec4rst, no-mompromisoe position of the Bourassa governnient liansWaed Meecli's fate. Çonfederation is based on compromise and coeration, not on intransigence. The so-ca]Ied'antilirncli bigolryIbat lias popped up in parts of Engliali Canada in tbe last few monfis fs fpned by a senne of betràyal. Engiseh Canada lias become far more taleront in the last thirty.years; Québec lesu se. If they secede frm Canada, il is the naturel extension 0< their current policies ta further restriet the use of Engliali. If they are prepared today to invoke the notwilhstanding clause in the Canadiw& constitution i order ta enforce ail-Frencli igaIlen il seema likely that an independent Quebec would restrict Englih even more - inciuding ochools. Statements by business leaders and bankers over tbe last few monîlis that Qiiebec couid survive and prosper on ils own (Ihere was no such sense of confidence at the lime of tlie sovereignty refeèrendumi only Ion years ago) is a measure of how far Quebec bas corne,,but il aise ignores the ind cof society Quebec would become. Quebec -as an independent nation could not afford, for pragmatic rossons, the level cf intalerance towards Englieli liaI il presently exhibits while part of Canada. Inlolerance in th. dark side of nationaliam. Fundamental piniles of democracy demand that we, like the Rusians n Lithuania, must accept the. rght of Quebec tla socede. Th. terma of separalion are lb. sticky part. Clearly, drastic constitutional change liasta be tb. will cf the peopi., net of gov.rnrnenls ebected on ambiguous plalforma of nationalism. In Ibis regard, 1h. Lithuanian parliament bas a clear mandate that Quebec basn nt. The new Lithuanien govrnrentwas .lecled ta achieve independence. In contrast, nither Québec, tb. federal iovernment, or any of ,lt. provinces bas a clear mandate for any constitutional nertiations whetber it be- Meecli Lake or Quebec eag ajOlb.hepeople bave la b. fully informed of the implications of separation. Tus, of course, is Gorbachev's point, Ibat the iàthuanians voted wilthei;r liearts rather than their pocketbooks. Be Ibat as it may. The. negotiations liat; lead ta separation, wbether in Canada or Lithuania, muet aise be open ta public scruliny and muet b inipeccably fair ta bath sides. Thi earace that the Soviet Union ins lyi* hardbal withLiha ihas caused Western counriesto7do alot of teelli gnasbing and public band-wringing but littie e. - il is, alter al, 111e.internai, affairs of another countiy ... or is it? Canaa anwaysmaintained that th. Soviet anxtOf0 the Baltic states was illegal - now that'a government bas been dfreely elected dmwIb cearm Madate tÉÉA secedeandLba Ni ~ I w rS Iy BE " BAND i N ....F>NT 0F AIL HINTEW ANGLICAN MRURiCH C. 1895 Among the members of the bondare Robert Nichdor4 John Tose enioain Bryan, Wiliam (Baldy) lfldnsoei, Peter Waram, Wiliam Mèeker and two Jaesbroffhers . Notice the picket fonce at left and the woode sidewalk where the band members are standing. waw MrdVS pot 10 TEARS AGO from the W=deeAmErA9, 19W edition cf the *A proposed $1 million regonal budget eut coeld mean lois ofjobs and services. *Durham Region isin g fo, an immediate start on contruction of the iÀquor Contrai Board warehouse and Whitlhy Psychiatrie Hospitai qa~e o ue rmteietn ciosing. *Town Council lia sent a gift ci 5o poumds ta its twin town, WMhy, England, to celebrate the Engliali coenmumty's 1,300 anmverry. *Russel Baird is the new dfrectoe of the County Town Sigers. 25 TEARB AGO hrmn the fliursday, April 8,, 1965 edition of<the *Anne Iled of Whitby liaswSe a provincial semi-final public speaking contest at ýAnderso H-iglihood * ow oucl bas drope itS Proposai to have Warren Mowat act as a fil-time mayor and indusbrial coenmissioner. " Town Qouncil wants\to estalil control over residential development following a boom in apartmpnt cnsruction* " Arthur J. Dick, sof M 1r. and Mrs. Eénry Dick, bas been awarded a $3,0O studentship by the W~ational Researcli Council of Canada to undertake studies in chenustry. 125 'TEARS AGO froen the 'Thursday, April 6,1865 edition of the WMMIBYCHRONICI " The Chronicle criticizes Osbawa's oaver-exuberant oeiebration of the fal of Richmond i the Amèrican Civil War. " R. and J. Campbell are selling gardan and lieid seeds te local farmers as spring approaches.