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Your new: story of Wednesday, March 11 I'NDP Workers Wear Two Hats'b contains humane: which mute mt the K-W Status oi Women, ind mas de- serves 1 "ply. You claim that the Chairperson of the K-W Status of Women. Alida Barrett. and I failed to identify ourselves as workers of a particular campaign. The day be- fore we visited the Chronicle office with our press release I ack- nowledged to you per- aonally by telephone my an involvement with. In this instance, Mr. Needharn's campaign. So too did Alida Bur- nett on March IO, during which conversation you yourself again referred to my personal affilia- tion. This is obviously identification. It was forthcoming without he- sitation on our part, However, you are in- correct in implying that because the K-W Status of Women has two ex- ecutive members com- mitted to a particular candidate, the group must therefore be ac- countable to one party. It is not. It is a multi- party organization which encompasses im dividuals who support various parties but who have a common concern for improved laws with regard to women. To suggest that the K- W Status of women acts as a single party voice is in fact offensive to those Hello, out dere! Are you as sick as I am of the whole foofaraw concerning our unpa- triated constitution. -- Are you fed up with the daily battle in Par- liament: the finger-pointing, the jowls-shak- ing, the threats of coercion by the Liberals. the howls of defiance of the Tories. the yelps of frustration of the NDP? old V -Auidn over a piece of paper that has been residing quietly in Westminster, London. England; for more years than most of us are If all my readers are as angry as I am, or even half as angry, with this raucous shout- ing. all these cries of "Gimme." or "Me, too," there must be a long. slow burn, like a dynamite fuse, creeping across this country. My kid brother, who spent thirty-five years in the uniform of his country, and not at any desk job, retired recently, with the Distin- guished Flying Cross, among many other de- corations. He was a full colonel in our armed forces. He has a pretty good pension, od , young enough to undertake a secon l career. One would think he'd settle down to write his memoirs, or perhaps run for parliament, BILL SMILEY Woman objects to news article active members who are affiliated with other po- litical parties. __-- The Status of Women encourages women to work toward improving the legislation as it " lects women and to be come actively involved in election processes, as earemplified by Alida and myself. We also en- courage the recruitment of good women candida- tes for all parties. It is essential, in our View. to get more women in- volved and elected, thereby ensuring greater participation in decision-making at all levels of government. It may seem strange to you that a multiparty political group can ae- commodate differing po- litical affiliations and work towards a united goal, yet such is the case. The urgent needs of the female elderly and single parents, for example, render the ac- tive involvement of in- dividuals within each party an important priority for our group. Thus we do not apolo- gize for our efforts for whichever party: and we do not hesitate to praise or blame any party, especially where it fails to address the most pressing needs and concerns of women. Whatever individual members choose to do to support the candidate of their choice, the K-W Status of Women func- tions without direction from a particular party and remains, as, always, or at least resign himself to writing caustic letters-to-the-editor, signed "Col. Ret'd.," from his comfortable home somewhere in Canada. One would be wrong. He picked up stakes, turned his back on his own country, and re- tired to Florida. He had "had" Canada up to the ears. And I don't blame him. Let's go back to the constitution. What a lot of poppycock! If the government had quietly asked the opposition parties to agree to requesting the British government to send the silly thing to Canada, there would have been no problem. The Brits are used to it. Nobody is against motherhood or a constitw tion coming home. But now that we don't build statues of pub- lic figures. Pierre Trudeau wants one built’of paper, that will find its place in the history books. As a result, he and his centurions are bull- dozing their way through Parliament alien- ating the provinces, and radiating an ar- rogance that hasn't been seen since the days of CD. Howe. and his demand 'iar closure. because Parliament was getting in his way. Smiley taken to task committed to involving women of all party atti- Jiations to assist in our myth; stabs, Vice-Oahu!”- " sum of Women (Edit-('1 note: tee co- IIIII 'Huving onc'l enhe ..." a this me.) Following is a letter to Chronicle columnist Bill Smiley? _ I read your column on school vacations today and l was disgusted at your ignorance towards the pros of a summer va- cation. A winter vacation would be fine and dandy if you could go to Fori- da or California for two months, but if you‘re like me and 90 per cent of my friends you just can't afford to have a good time on your vaca- turns even in the plea- sant, relaxing weather of summer. - I really can't believe that you would honestly spend your vacation in bed with the flu rather than relaxing on a beach or taking a beautiful walk in the radiance of an exclusive Canadian summer evening. Personally, I thunk that it IS "efficiency nuts" “k?! yourself that make.,sc ool a boring pain in the neck and not the blizzards. colds and cafetefta food. The constitutional foofa wraw Paul Maelatehy WCI student Runway Place Waterloo [' Mayltng Stuhbs. vice-chairperson of the K-W Status of Women Group, appears to have her dander up about a news article that appeared in the last edition of the Chronicle. Stubbs’ and her colleague from the KM Status of Women Group, chairperson Alida Burnett. vi- sited the Chronicle office last week with a press release from the women's group. The release complained about how the Conser- vative candidates in this area seem to be avoiding discussion of important social and mrmen's The women seemed set to none the supposedly dubious Tories in the name of the Status of Women group. A -- _ . _ -- . But an unusual twist was added to the affair when it soon became clear that Burrett and Stubbs are also actively involved in the campaign of NDP candidate Bob Needham in Waterloo North riding. Following publication of a story in last week's edition of the Chronicle about the women‘s ae- tivity, Stubbs reacted promptly with an indignant letter to the editor. In it, she states "l acknowledged to you per- sonally by telephone my own involvement with, in this instance, Mr. Needham's campaign" prior to the visit to the Chronicle office. The wording makes it sound as though Stubbs had delivered a confession of allegiance or some such thing when, in fact, she had simply been one of many callers on a particular day who gave their name and then relayed some information from the campaign headquarters of a local can- didate Many names and phone calls come to an edi- tor's attention in the course of this job and. unless there is something particularly noteworthy. he's not likely to instantly remember every single one and its connection But for some reason. the name Stubbs rang a bell when the lady visited the Chronicle office on behalf of the Status of Women group. 1,t especially stood out in my memory as the name on a memo to call the NDP office If it was also mentioned by the caller who told me a press release from the women's group was to be deli- vered to this office. I honestly can't recall. Having one's cake... back in the Fifties And the Tories. stung bitterly by being turfed out oi, office after only a few months wandering the corridors of power, are equal- ly intransigent in their opposition. They won't give an inch, even should the Liberals offer one. On the sidelines. the NDP runs around in circles, trying to attract some attention. They supported the Liberals on the Constitu- tion only because they hate them less than they do the Tories. tt How about those tax dollars used. without so much as a by-your-leave, to prop up near- defunct manufacturers? Sure. some would go bankrupt. Some jobs would be lost. But couldn't more jobs be created by using those hundreds of millions positively, than by handing crutches to foreign-owned corpora- tions? What in the world - accomplished by using Haney out of our t act pocket to buy Petrrrrina at ir ridiculous price? Tun. we have "Dre Canadian-ownl-o as Ms. But this co npmy will not put one nun litre of wanmoo enmcu, “gun“. I” te, m1 JALSEVAC Whatever the case, the connection of Stubbs to both ttttTP campaign and the women‘s group wasn't made clear in my mind until I questioned her about it when the news release was delivered And, of course, there was no inkling that the other party who came to ostensibly issue the con- cerns of the women's group, Alida Burrett, was an NDP campaign worker " well, Granted. all this unfolded honestly enough after questioning. but it wasn’t voluntarily forthcom- ing - at least not at the outset of the particular meeting. This is not to say that the women were purpose- ly trying to hide anything, but that they were being rather naive, and this is really the main It's a bit silly for them to think that their posi- tion with the NDP campaign isn‘t relevant to their criticism of the Conservatives, even ifmade in the name of another group and particularly when the grounds for that proved a bit shaky. What the women's group and its executive should have done, at least, is either send around a politically unaffiliated member to speak to the press, or one who is not actively working in a par- ticular party's campaign. But to send executive members who just hap- pen to be campaigners for a particular candidate is stretching the limits of a newspaper's credulity about their claims to awesome limits, I think it's commendable that some women are politically involved, but Stubbs and Burrett should realize they can't have their cake and eat it too. During a campaign, they should speak to the media as either representatives of the women's group or political campaign. but not both - at least not when one is seemingly used to further the aims of the other. As for any so-called innuendo that the women's group is "accountable to one party," this is neither real or intended on our part But the ladies' own actions. ardi the reporting of that may have caused some to draw that ap- parently unfortunate inferrnce. - . If soiit is primarily their actions and not this paper's reporting which may have tarnished the image of the K-W Status of Women Group. gas into our energy programme. And if the new acquisition is as well-run as the Post Of- fice. Lord help us an. - _ And, as I have always said, if anybody wants to separate, let them go to it. I, for one, would not fight to hold Canada together to force an erring son or daughter to stay home against his/her will. If Newfoundland wants to go, let her tit?) go. With all that oil, and all that fish, along with some spuds from P.E.i., the natives could live like kings on fish 'n chips forever. The country would be bigger than Iceland, and a lot better off financially. But if she goes, let the government stop reaching into my wallet for welfare and baby bonuses and coastguard protection, and new air-strips for Newfie. Uve run out of space, and haven't even begun, If you are as sore as I am about the way this country is falling apart, under an onslaught of sheer. unadulterated crap, sound off. Let's hear you. Shout it from the housetops. If you are as sore as I am, wel- come, Sorehead. Let's be Soreheads to- gather. -PAGE ,