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One can often tell a lot about the underside of a city's nature from its underground subways. But there are other reflectors too. In New York it's graf- fiti. In Montreal it's beauty, albeit a new experience for both Francophone and Anglophone. In Toronto it's sometimes a meanness of spirit we wish we could hide. An illustration. " happened on a subway car. He looked like a poor specimen of humanity at best. Perhaps he had too much to drink. He sat reading his paper. Opposite him sat a couple in conversa- Take the rec t court case of Winnipeg-born melt star Burton Cu ings. It seems Cummings ran afoul of the law last ptember when Winnipeg police found two joints of rijuana in his car. But his troubles ) didn't end there. _ A few hours later, a search of his hotel room turned up 'one gram of hashish, 18 grams of marijuana and remnants of two more marijuana joints. He was charged with possession and released on $2,000, bail after spending nearly five hours in jail. The whole thing is very reminiscent of last year's Keith Richards mn-in with the law over heroin pos- session when he and the Rolling Stones were in Toron- ’to for a concert. The "two law policy" applied here _ too...he and the Stones were ordered to perform a benefit concert for the Canadian National Institute for Normally, anyone else who is a first offender in a case like this is given an absolute discharge when they face this charge in Winnipeg's provincial courts. But it seems that Cummings, now a resident of Sherman Oaks, Calif ., could be deported from the United States if his case was tried and disposed of in the normal \fashion. It seems that lawyers for the Crown and Cummings put their heads together and agreed to stay the charge in lieu ofCumming's $1,000 donation to a Winnipeg drop-in centre. There is no indication that further action will be taken by Manitoba's courts. . It seems there really is a law for the rich and a law for the poor. - -- _ . There has been a tremendous change in the man- ners and mores of Canada in the past three decades. This brilliant thought came to me as I drove home from work today and saw a Sign. in a typical Canadian small town “Steakhouse and Tavern _. Now this didn't exactly knock me out, alarm me, or discombobulate me in any way, I am a part of all that IS m this country. at this time But it did give me a tiny twinge Hence my opening remarks I am no Carrie Nation. who stormed into saloons With her lady friends. armed with hatche'ts. and smashed open twhat a waste) the barrels of beer and kegs of whiskey I am no Joan of Arc I don't revile blasphemers or hear vonces lam no Pope John Paul H, who tells people what to do about their sex lives, lam not even a Joe Clark. who rushes up to a barricade prepared to jump for some votes. then decides to go back to the starting-line and send In a real athlete. Robert Starr field, an older and wiser athlete. to attempt what he knew he couldn‘t do And the "he” is Joe I am merely an observer of the human scene, in a country that used to be one thing. and has become another But that doesn‘t mean I don't have opinions I have nothing but scorn for the modern "objective" journalists who tell it as it is They are hyenas and jackals, who fatten on the leavings of the "lions" of our society. for the most part I admire a tew columnists Richard Needham of the Toronto Globe. Allan Fotheringham of Maclean's. not because they are great writers, but because they hew the wood for which this country is famous. and let the chips fall where they may That's the way it should Let's get back on mplc. as I tell my students The Canadian society has roughened and coarsened to an astonishing degree in the last thirty years "Towards a divided Canada? Stewart Sutherland tion. She. an elderly life-worn person. and he. an attractive young man with expressive eyes. They were speaking French. " took a moment and then the abuse began. "Cut that bull ... you two. None of that damn French here in Ontario We won't have it Go back to Quebec What's Quebec anyway Who cans if you go Shut up. hear me " They heard add they wove hurt. Another pas- senger, himself from La Belle Province, but 20 jail. I It's unfortunate but the law seems to be just a wee bit discriminatory. There’s just no way the average person could make a donation to a charitable cause in lieu of going to the summer. the Blind in Oshawa instead of sending Richards to WherE would I be if the local constables found se- veral joints in my car? Pierre Trudeau's announcement last week that he was stepping down as leader of the Liberal party next year just about buried, any other politieal _news._ _ If you did enough digging, you might have heard that shortly after his announcement he suggested that we reorganize our present system for electing our representatives to Ottawa. He suggested electing federal parliamentarians by proportional representation instead of the current "first-past-the-post" sistern. _ _ - .. The -ide$isn:t just trudeau's. It came out of the Pepin-Rob rts report last year. _ A It's ludicrous for Clark to ‘speak for the people of Canada on, say. Quebec's separation when his party has no power base in that very province. And, prior to that, it was Trudeau attempting to foist an energy policy on Alberta when his party had no members in the House from there. The main weakness in our current system is that we end up with a Government in power with virtually no representation in Quebec and prior to this, it was a government with little representation from the West. First. the Steakhouse and Tavern As a kid working on the boats on the Upper Lakes, I was excited and a little scared when I saw that sign in American ports: Duluth. Detroit, Chicago I came from the genteel poverty of Ontario in the Thirties, and I was slightly appalled, and deeply at- tracted by these signs: the very thought that drink could be publicly advertised. Like any normal. curious kid. I went into a couple, ordered a two-bit whiskey, and found nobody eating steaks. but a great many people getting sleazily drunk on the same Not the steaks. In those days, in Canada. there was no such crea- ture, The very use of the word “tavern" indicated iniquity. It was an evil place, We did have beer "par- lours". later exchanged for the euphemism "be- verage rooms“. But that was all right. Only the lower element went there. and they closed from 6 pm. to 7:30. or some such. so that a family man could get home to his dinner. Not a bad idea. In their homes. of course, the middle and upper class drank liquor Beer was the working-man‘s drink. and to be shunned It was around then that some wit reversed the old saying. and came out with: "Work is the curse of the drinking class", a neat version of If you called on someone in those misty days, you were offered a cuppa and something to eat. Today, the host would be humiliated if he didn't have something harder to offer you Now. every hamlet seems to have its steakhouse, complete with tavern It's rather ridiculous Nobody today can afford a steak But how in the living world can these same people afford drinks, at current prices" These steakhouses and taverns are usually pretty "Drink is mi/ curse of the working clas- Bill Smiley Waterloo Clyonicb. “and". "Omar 28. 1979 . Pop ' years ago. tried to measure them with a smile and gesture. The couple "tpr-tted a culture. a peo- ple. and e language that he valued too. He wanted them to feel welcome in Toronto his adopted city. His concern was for the future of the country. "Keep it up. and Quebec will act on the message: We don't want you in Canada. We want you to leave.‘While we. the silent majority. remain silent. the vigorous. ignorant minority will hold away and the vote of indifference will be cast in favor of a divided Canada." _ Why did Trudeau wait until he was virtually out the door in Ottawa before making his suggestion? Was he afraid that Canadians would suspect himof trying to dump the Queen? . . . Wben you look at the electoral maps used by the television networks on election night you always see a mass of Tory blue west of Ontario and Quebec is always shrouded in Grit red. A very graphic demon- stration of the present imbalance in our electoral sys- The presidential system in France just may be the 'answer. The Syd Brown affair has cost the people in the Region of Waterloo an estimated $280,000. The whole thing should be laid to rest once and for all so that the police can get on with their duties and not have to worry about who's going to be at the helm the day after tomorrow. . How can we expect Harold$atae to perform com- petently and move on with new proposals if he has to continually look over his shoulder to see which barrel Brown is firing from now. ' pm not saying that Basse Js falling down on the job. I'm sure he's very competent and experienced, but he must wonder some days if any of his new proposals for revamping the force will ever see the light of day. If Brown was to return to his position as Chief could we really expect him to have a good working rela- tionship with the force? I doubt it very much, what with all that's gone on over the past year. sleazy Joints, on a par with the old beverage room, which was the opitnme of sleaze. It's not all the fault of the owners. thOugh they make nothing on the steak and 100 per cent on the drinks (minimuml. It's just that Canadians tend to be noisy and crude and profane drinkers. And the crudity ign't only in the pubs, It has crept into Parliament. that august institution, with a prime minister who used street language when his impec- cable English failed, or he wanted to show how tough he was. It has crept into our educational system, where teachers drink and swear and tell dirty Jokes and use language in front of women that l, a product of a more well-mannered, or inhibited. your choice, era. could not bring myself to use. A graduate of the depression. when people had some reason to use bad language. in sheer frustration and anger. and of a war in which the most common four- letter word was used as frequently, and absent-min- dedly, as salt and pepper. have not inured me to what our kids today consider normal. And the language of today's students, from Grade one to Grade whatever, would curl the hair of a sailor, and make your maiden aunt grab for the smelling salts, Words from the lowest slums and slummiest bamyards create rarely a blush on the cheek of your teenage daughter, Girls wear T-shirts that are not even funny, merely obscene, As do boys, Saw one the other day on an otherwise nice lad, Message' “Thanks. all you virgins -- for nothing, qe The Queenhs a trump. God is a joke. The country's problems are somebody else's problem, as long as I get mine _ _ _ _ v I don't deplore I don't abhor Idon't implore I merely observe Sadly We are turning into a nation of slabs Let's let Chiéf Basse get on with the job.