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THE OAKVILLE BEAVER Friday, M arch 23, 2001 THE OAKVILLE BEAVER IS PROUD OFFICIAL MEDIA SPONSOR FOR: T h e O a k v i l l e B e a v e r Ian Oliver Publisher Neil Oliver, Associate Publisher Norman Alexander, Editor Kelly Montague, Advertising Director Steve Crazier, Circulation Director Ten Casas, OfficeManager Mark Dills, Production Manager Riziero VertoJIi, Photography Director Metroiand Printing, Publishing & Distributing Lid., hdudes: Ajax/Pickering News Advertiser, Alliston Herald/Courier, Arthur Enterprise News, Barrie Advance, Barry's Bay This Week, Bolton Enterprise, Brampton GuarcSan, B urlington Post, B urlington S hopping News. C ity Parent, CoSngwood/Wasaga Connection, East York Mirror, Erin Advocate'Country Routes. E tobicoke Guardian, Fla m borough Post, G eorgetown Independent/Acton Free Press, Hamston Review, Huronia Business Times, Kingston This Week, Lindsay This Week. 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We just have one question to ask Preston Manning: why now? Actually, that question does lead to several others. Why did you announce your resignation from the House of Commons less than six m onths after the federal election? W hy did you bother running in the first place? Why not finish your term? We acknowledge that the former leader o f the Reform Party, is welldeserving of the many plaudits that will be laid upon his feet both by his colleagues and opponents. His leadership of the Reform Party has changed (perhaps forever) the political landscape of Canada, and his party's fiscal policies on tax reform have been copied by the ruling Liberal party. His drive to unite the political right with the Alliance Party has even further changed the political landscape. B ut to m any voters Preston M anning and his Reform Party (now Alliance) was supposed to stand for something different than the long-time Big Three political parties. Instead his announced resignation, a few months after the national election, just represents more of the same old disdain for the electorate. What happened to commitment? What happened to showing loyalty to the voters in your constituency? In the last federal election the Alliance party was highly critical -- and rightly so -- of Prime Minister Jean Chretien calling a premature election ju st three years into a five-year term. They criticized him for wasting taxpayers' money on an unnecessary election. So now the taxpayers will be faced with footing the bill for a by-election in Manning's riding less than a year his election. As the leader of the Reform Party, Manning earned a a reputation as a guardian of taxpayers' money against government waste. How ironic, that his exit will be another example of government waste. M anning rationalizes his departure by saying he found it difficult to -speak out about public policy issues. In an interview with the National PostManning states: "If I start advocating big changes and things like that, there is a danger of that being misconstrued as being competitive or undermining the current leadership. And then if I don't say anything or do anything on things I have been so vocal on before, there is also a danger of that being misconstrued as being unsupportive. So being vocal or being silent has a danger of being misconstrued." It's surprising that it took him six months to figure that out. If that's an exam ple o f M anning's ability to predict future developm ents, w e're grateful he never got the opportunity to lead the country. It doesn't take a genius to realize that a role as an elder statesman in a party is quite different than that of party leader. It also takes some political astuteness to make that role work as a position o f influence. Instead o f being different, M anning's early exist shows he was just another ambitious politician, who had trouble checking his ego at the door in a supportive role. Manning ran in the last federal election to support the Alliance Party. It would have caused a huge rift in the Alliance, if Manning had left after losing the leadership of the party to Stockwell Day. His loyalty to the party and his cause is admirable. But his quick departure is not. It is a slap in the face to his constituents and m any o th e r C a n a d ia n s, w ho b e lie v e d M an n in g and his p arty represented a real political alternative. Pages of the Past S t . P a t r i c k D a y w a lk e r d r o v e t o O a h i l l e 50 Years Ago Charles Priestman, 84, wanted to do it but his right leg said "no." At 9 a.m. last Saturday he started th 25-mile walk to Oakville at the comer of Adelaide St. and University Ave. By the time he reached Spadina Ave. his leg, paralyzed in a stroke last fall, began to fail. Climbing into a car, Mr. Priestman rode the rest of the way to Oakville. At the edge of town he waited for his Morning Glory Club followers and gave a triumphant finish to his 21st annual St. Patrick's Day walk -- the only one he didn't make. Twenty members who pushed on without their leader completed the hike in seven hours time. Out to greet them were Reeve Howard S. Litchfield and drum majorette Valerie Parkin. _»_U Bronte residents may have to do without water for some time to come. Notices, posted in the Bronte post-office Tuesday afternoon, warned that w ater from A .O . F lam m erfelt's w aterw o rk s con tain ed cyanide as w ell as chrom e. Ross Campbell, Halton County Sanitary Inspector, said the cyanide content was not revealed earlier for fear of panic on the part of citizens. Officials have no idea when the w ater will become safe for use. - The Oakville Record-Star, March 22,1951 30 Years Ago The use of drugs by area youth is contributing % Pssssssssssst.. Oakville resident Pamela Appelt was recently among 11 people honoured for their work in human rights and community relations at the Third annual Friends of L. Ron Hubbard Humanitarian Awards in Toronto.Applet was the first female Afro-Canadian Citizenship Court Judge and a founding member of the Women's Mosaic in Oakville. Also on hand for the dinner was Oakville resident Elizabeth Carmichael, a previous award winner. Psssssst... is a compendium o f observations around Oakville and w e're open to contributions from the public at large too. Just fa x us at 337-5567 attention to Pssssssssssst... greatly to the crime rate in Oakville, according to Oakville Police Chief Fred Oliver. He said o rd in ary th eft, b reak and en ter, shoplifting, armed robbery and theft from cars are the most popular criminal activities to which drug users resort to get money for drugs. "I don't think the employment picture is as great a factor in crime as some people think," he said. "In the old days, people who were out of work used to have to steal to eat. Now with the welfare benefits so generous, there is no need to steal to survive." - The Daily Journal, March 23,1971 10 Years Ago The O akville H ydro-E lectric C om m ission earned a record of $4.7 million profit last year. The record profit exceeded the commission's own projected profit by $1.5 million. "This is the best profit in the history o f this community-owned utility, and reflects well on the h ealth o f the b u sin ess," sta ted C o m m ission Chairman Jack Brewer in announcing the profit. For the past three years, Oakville Hydro has enjoyed substantial profits beginning with $ 2 .6 million in 1988 and $3.1-million in 1989. - The Oakville Beaver, March 27,1991 JUU Taken from the archives o f the Oakville Beaver including stories from The Oakville Record-Star, The Oakville- Trafalgar Journal, the Oakville Journal Record and the Oakville Beaver.