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Diwayne Weidendort . peborah Crandall Group Sales Director/ . Editor, Ext. 215 Associate Publisher The Waterloo Chronicle is published every Wednesday by the Fairway Group, owned by CityMedia Group Inc., a subsidiary of Torstar Corp. 886â€"2830 Fax: 886â€"9383 editorial@waterloochronicle.ca sales@waterloochronicle.ca composing@waterloochronicle.ca WATERLOO CHRONICLE Regional (lassified (lassified Manager Sales. 623 A6l7 The views of our columnists are their own and do not necessarily represent those of the newspaper Reporter, Ext. 227. Sports Editor, Ext. 229 The Waterleo Chronicle welcomes letrers to the Editor: They should be signed with name address and phone number and will he serified for accuracy. No uinsigned letters will be Circulation Circulation Manager, Ext. 225 Assistant 75 King St. South, Suite 201 Waterloo, Ontario N2J 1P2 International Standard Serial Number ISSN 0832â€"3410 Advertising Sales, Ext. 223 Andrea Bailes published: Submissions may he fited for length. so please be brief (opyright in letters and other atenals sabmitted to the Publshe Composing, Ext 221 Canadian Publications Mail Sales Product Agreement Number Letters Policy 35“ Rob Leuschner Group Publisher *+]| |¢ $« » t -â€"‘i 40050478 Audited rculation 2 Retail Sales Manager. Ext. 230 Advertising Sales. Fxt. 222 Bob Vrbanac att Volkerthweg But day in and day out, | & | our troops work away, quietly doing their duty. Their equipment may be out of date and in short supply, there may be too MIKE few of them to send them CONNOLLY where needed. but they do their job and do it we* in trying conditions and for appallingly little pay Of course, the government will,;not spend money to improve the armed forces. 'I"w reason it won‘t is simple: This is a peaceful country, a counâ€" try that values policemen (our scarletâ€"coated RCMP) more than soldiers. We do not breed Rambos or G.1. Joes. We are not militaristic. The military makes us somewhat uncomfortable. Ironically, we do have a vision of ourselves as Good Guys, as a country that will volunteer the lives of its young men and women to serve in places most of us have never heard of, just because it‘s the right thing to do Seeing those aging veterans reminded me that in a few years time there will hardly be any more surviving veterans from the Second World War. And while they may have comprised the vast majority of Canada‘s veterans, we should not forget the Korean War and the many, many peacekeeping and peacemaking operations our Canadian Armed Forces have performed and still perform since the end of the Second World War. Yet it seems that our veterans are the unsung heroes of today, remembered only for a minute or two at 11 a.m. on Nov. 11, and when the Ottawa |f@@ cenotaph appeared on CEXA pINsN | the loonie in 1994. The only times we hear about “ COLUMNIST | our current armed forces is when there‘s some [ scandal over crashing ‘ 64 ’ helicopters or going into _ | g § action in the wrong [R *¢ 1 colour uniforms. '. t I‘ve judged this event five or six times now, and each time my respect for the veterans grows. They are getting older and a little bit more arthritic, but aren‘t we all? Yet they still take the time and make the effort to come out on hot or cold days and march in the sun or rain to proudly show their colours. I think most Canadians value our role as policeâ€" men and peacekeepers. Mounties were featured on the 1973 25â€"cent coin and on the back of $50 bills a few years ago. Peacekeepers were portrayed on a loome in 1995 and are cutrently seen on the back of the $10 bill. But where are the tributes to veterans of the Korean War? More than 500 Canadians gave their lives in this United Nationsâ€"sponsored "police action" but on July 27. at the ceremony in Brampâ€" ton (there is no monument in Ottawa. just a National Wall of Remembrance in Brampton built by the veterans themselves) to mark the 50th anniversary of the end of the war, the prime minisâ€" ter was in Ottawa. Veterans Affairs Minister Rey Pagtakhan was commemorating the anniversary in South Korea. Presenting a small wreath was MP Ivan Grose. Pagtakhan‘s parliamentary secretary He clearly lost the coin toss (I might add as an aside that Britain also treats its veterans badly. Veterans moving out of Britain still receive a pension, but it is not indexed. Conseâ€" quently. many British veterans living elsewhere exist in or near poverty.) The devaluation of Canada‘s military and its vet â€" erans is not something new. Canada went into the Second World War with next to nothing militarily, but grew quickly to become an effective fighting force on the sea, in the air, and on land. Fighting Hitler was the right thing to do; too often, we remember only the bungled raid of Dieppe which, I must say, didn‘t appear to be bungled in England at the time. On the contrary, Hitler was winning On Saturday July 18, I had the pleasure and honâ€" our to again judge the Veterans Colour March Past at the Cambridge Games, and the Navai Colour Party won yet again. Old soldiers never die i â€" GUEST f ‘ COLUMNIST{ | _E 1.z 0 '.'* i . MIKE CONNOLLY Continued on page 9 VIEWPOINT That was credited to a strong Canadian housing market and a sagging U.S. dollar. And they think an underlying general weakâ€" ness in the U.S. buck is part of a longerâ€" term bias against it. Major Pause: Last week‘s blackout had its tragedies big and little. Among the smallâ€" er ones we‘d put the case of a Kitchener chap: He was stuck on an escalator for three hours omemaangeme The blackout been described as the biggest power failure ever which makes us as partners in an historic event. Say. if you‘re casting about trying to device what to get that‘s appropriate for hydro people at Christmas. You can always get them shorts Well Said, Sir: Let‘s have a huzzah for NY. Gov. George Petaki in his choice of words in a postâ€"blackout talk. He referred to a return to ‘normality, and that‘s a blow for intelligence Most Canadians, pessimists always, have figured the ldonie couldnit hang up there this long. But it‘s still there (and hurting our exports), and it will linger. M As all of us know, there is nothing_duller than having someone tell you how they spent the blackout period I haven‘t heard any that merâ€" its more than a yawn The big thinkers are now striving to find the reason for the massive blackout. and a sound explanation would be welcome That‘d be in contrast to the swift but silly explanation given hy PM Chretien Sounded reasonable, but it just didnit happen. Although, came to think of it. George Dubyah said something similar about it. point The drop in interest rates is supposed to stimulate credit. They‘re trying to get peoâ€" ple to buy things with money they don‘t have. 5 The trouble is that people are afraid they‘re going to have to pay for it with money they‘re not going to get. He blamed it on a lightning strike on the U S. side of the Niagara hydra camplex. Ex marks the end of summer The word has been misused as ‘normal yZe" he Canadian loonie is still hanging up there, touching 72.64 cents (U.S.) at one SANDY Some observers have said Ontario faces a deficit ranging as high as $5 billion, but Finance Minister Janet Ecker has vowed the budget will be balanced The hiring freeze shouldn‘t strap governâ€" ment for personnel. After all. it‘l} have 65.000 members to shift around and that‘ll give ‘em some elbow room Aa Yup, three lanes: a right lane, D a left lane and the lane you‘re in when you spot your exit Openâ€"Handed: Ernie Eves and his PCs are in a bind. He‘s been busy like a midâ€" summer Santa Claus distributing cheques hither and yon, but a confidential memo has the PCs putting an $800â€"millian chop in services and a hiring freeze. That means that most existing services will be frozen at their current levels while the PCs try to balance their budget cy‘ since Warren Harding coined that loser in a H;sidenlial speech. It‘s great how Americans copy their presidents come what may. Muscle Strain: A year from now the Olympics in Athens will be going full bore, and at present all we have to is wonder whether the games will start on time. The Olympics president was on a mornâ€" ing show a few days ago ar'l'q,said that all is well, the deadlines will be met, and security won‘t be a problem. We wish the Greeks well, but after hearâ€" ing him you‘re still left with doubts. You can imagine a 50â€"metre dash {track incompfete) or a shallowâ€"dive competition {six feet as the onlyâ€"completed depth)}. Frdoin indications so far, Canada should do well in the track and the pool. And, oh yes, one chap who‘ll draw a lot of attention is the crossâ€"eved discus thrower. If he doesn‘t set any records, he‘ll sure keep the crowd alert. C e Fair to Middling: Blurbs promoting the Toronto Ex are assailing the ears so you know that summer is winding down Gosh. remember when going to the Ex was really someâ€" thing. Next to Christmas. it had to be the high point of the year. It‘s too bad because the show would be just what we need to explain the threeâ€"lane Xâ€"Wav Those were the days when they ran the car show as part of the Ex, but it was dropped.