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6 - The Canadien Champion, Friday. May 28, 1999 ~ OPINION Box 249, t9t Main St E, Mitton, Ont L9T 4N9 (905) 878-2341 Editorial Fax: 878-4943 Advertising Fax: 876-2364 Classified: 875-3300 Ian Oliver Publisher Neil Oliver Bih Begin Rob Kelly Karen Crase Teri Ceusa Tias Cales Associate Pubigsher General Manager Editor Circulation Manager Office Manager Production Manager me Canadien Champion, published every Tuesday and Fnday at 191 Main St. E., Milton, Ont., L9T 459 (Bon 245), la ono 0f rite Metroland Printina, Pabtiahing & Diatribatina Ltd. aroup 0f aab- arban companien which malades: Ajan I Pickerlng Newa Adoortiser; Altiston Heraid/Couritr; Barrie Adoance; Brempton Gaardian; Burtingtott Pont; City Parent; Collingwood I Wasaga Connection; tant York Mirror; Etobicoice Gaarttian; Georgetown Independentl Acton Free Preas; Kingston This Week; Lindsay This Week; Mertcham Economint & Sun; Midiand I Penetanguisttettt Mirror; Miasisseaga Nows; Nowmarket I Acrora Era Banner; Nortttambettand News; North Yort Mirror; Cakoilie Beaver; Onhtia Today; Osbawa I Whitby I Cturington I Port Perry This Week; Peterborougli Ttcis Week; Ricftmond Miii I Thornbitt I Vaugitan Liberat; Scarborough Mirror; Unbrtdge I Stouffvttf e Tribune; Tnday'n seniors. Advettising ta accepted on Uts condition that, n tfte osent 0f typographicat error, tftut portion 0f the adverttstng apace occu- pied by the erronenua item. togetfter with a reasonabte attomaitte for signature, witt ont be churged for, but the butante 0f lite advertisement wtff be paid for et tbe applicabte rate. Tita pubtiaher reseivet tite rtgftt f0 categorize adeertinentents or dectine. The Tories, with hesitation It jsn:t often one runs across a political party that moves into power and proceeds to do pretty well exactly what they indicated in their election platform. Yet the Progressive Conservatives have to a large extent done 50. They have attacked the provincial deficit and debt, re-organized government, health care and education, cracked down on system abuses and aggressively tackled many significant aspects of Ontario's previously onerous tax load. For that, they have paid a heavy price among large constituencies, such as health care workers and teachers. One must credit the Tories for sticking to their guns. What they have done shotUd flot really surprise anybody, and much of it needed to be done. When Premier Mike Harris took power, government duplication and waste was rife, and school system management was ineffective. * Ontario needed hard-nosed govemment, and we got it. When one looks at Mr. Harris' rivaIs in this campaign, there can only be promises observed. Neither leader has been tested in the fire of provincial leadership. Neither has shown himself able to chart and maintain a responsible course. As well, each of the opposing leaders must contend with a recent legacy of government that turned out to be less than impressive on a financial management front, to say nothtng of conflnutty. In this campaign, mudslinging by the three main parties has tar- nished the process. Each snipes at the character and credibility of opponents. Each trots out a parade of figures selected somewhat less than objectively to vilify the other contenders. Let us then, set those suspect figures aside. Let us dispense with the character assassination. The question left is, who has shown the abili- ty to lead, like him or hate him? Who told the voters what he would deliver, and then did so. Mr. Harris. That said, Mr. Harris should begin adopting more moderate and rea- sonable leadership. His party bows and crawls before the wealthy, and is fully capable of stinging blows against the less affluent. Also, they manipulate the truth as well as any party when it suits their purpose. Two cases in point: They kowtowed to the landlord class and stuck it to renters with their so-called Tenant Protection Act, the name of which was a blatant lie. Greedy landiords stormed ahead with rentai increases that would have been disallowed previously. Their smog control legisiation was a tax on the poor, who drive older cars that won't pass emission tests. Affluent Tory voters don't usually drive older cars. In a larger sense, the Tories crow about their splendid record on job creation, incessantly, but the truth is the North American economic recovery has more to do with others than them. The reigning Tories can be cruel, bullying, opportunistic and less than candid, but they can also be, under Mr. Harris, on occasion courageous and capable of delivering on promises. Sprinlde in a little human kindness and compassion, and they would be a better govemmetit. Rob Kelly rfyou don 't know who is e runrnng, just stay home If I had to vote for the one thing that makes me the :r~ziest, I'd probably pick elections. Everything about hem, from stasE to finish, is just wacky as far as I'm :oncemed. Lt begins as soon as the election is called. Out corne ;he signs. Blue, red and orange. Eyesores, ail of them, although the Conservatives are using a much funkier blue this time around, showing why they put progres- sive in front of their party name. The NDP ugly orange signs are the same onea they used in their ftrst election. L think. Signs are necessary, however, because it's the only time moat of us know who had been representing us the previous four years or so. They'ii be the ones who put "Re-Elect" by their names. Maybe Clinton does Politicans just don't get it, as far as I'm concemed. WeIl, maybe Bih Clinton does, but that' s another story. Our politicans don't understand that lesa is more. The less they do while in office the more likely we are to vote them back in. The federal Liberals are a good exampie of that. In fact, when they promised to scrap the GST and didn't, we forgave them because doing nothing is something we can understand. The Ontario PC's promised to do ail kinds of thingo before the iast election and then actually went ahead and did them after they won. Bad move. Polîticans make promises during their election cam- paigns, but even if they kept them most of us could care leas. Usually they're aimed at helping spectal interest groupa that we should care about, but don't. Lt's 50 simple. Lf they want to get voted in, ail they have to do is teli us they'll knock 20 cents off a litre ol gas. Do that, and even the NDP would win. Add aunother box While Uic politicans are hlabbing about what they'rt going to do when elected, poils are being taken to fins otet in advance who is going to win. Polis are basicahl~ useleas, unleas they stasE adding an undecided box t Uic election ballots. Plus, they make a big deal of taldng a repreaentativ sample. The problem with that is that votera aren On the loose e I made up of representatsve aannples. A whoie bunch of people mostly vote one way in a certain area, a whole bunch vote a different way in another ares. When listening to the candidates, you rarely corne acroas one with a good sense of humour. As if to aay what they're doing is no laughing matter. Beg to dif- fer. If a candidate did a stand-up comedy routine instead of one of those bonng drawn-out speeches. peopie would vote for them for that reason alone. I know I would. Fun with the media And at some point The Canadian Champion is going to endorse a candidate. I have no idea why it' s neces- sary for every newspaper to do thia, but they do. Lt doesn't even make good business sense. Lt createt the impression that the newspaper is going to bias its cov- erage instead of being objective. On election day we're told from every media outiet that we ahould "get out and vote." I have a pmhlen~ with that. If you don't know what's going on, I think it would better if you didn't vote. If you need prodding, you don't care enough. Stay home. Election day coverage is laughable. Lt used to be interesting to watch the different races in different areas. Kind of fun to sec how things were going. But, then they figured out that they had to 'declare" win- ners, they needed a "decision desk" to do this, and the faster they couid pick their winners, the better. Then, it just got stupid. Sometimes there wilI be one e vote aeparating two candidates and they'll declare a 't *soeKlDonpage7 Il