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editoriol comments Dr. Dymond right Dr. Matthew Dymond is right. The man who retired from active politics six yedrs ago after some two decades as a provincial Cabinet minister and M.P.P. from this area proved last week that he still has much respect and admiration among Conservatives in Durham-York. ~ Asked to say a few words at the P.C. nomination meeting in Uxbridge, he took the opportunity to blast some of the provincial premiers for 'behaving like a' group of spoiled school children" in the constitution- al squabble with Ottawa. He said their actions "would turn Canada into ten banana republics, and that would be a great tragedy for this country." He called Newfoundland premier Brian Peck- ford 'a supposed Conservative, and | say that advisedly." And he wondered aloud just what Canada's first prime minister would think of the goings-on in this country in 1981. Answering his own question, Dr. Dymond replied that Sir John A. would tell Cana- dians to "'get on with the writing of our own constitution her in Canada." . During his long political career, Dr. Dymond was never one to mince words on just about any subject, and obviously he hasn't lost his touch just because he's now out of the active political arena. The applause that followed his snappy address to some 500 Tories was more than just polite recogni- tion for a man who had a remarkably successful career as a politician. What Dr. Dymond said in a nutshell is precisely what the prime minister of this country has been trying to tell Canadians over the past year or so without very much success. Namely, that Canada is indeed a great country with unlimited potential; a country that each and every one of us should have an immense amount of pride for; a country that gets its greatness partly through the richness of diversity and mainly through its people who have come here from the four corners of the earth and believe deep in their hearts that unity of purpose and direction in the long run is going to be the saving grace to assure continued greatness of this nation. But despite the wealth that has given Canadians an unprecendented standard of living, there will always be a void in the greatness of this nation until we are truly masters of our own destiny. And to this end, nothing is more fundamental than a constitution made in Canada by Canadians. Unless we put an end to the petty bickering; the partisan politics based on greed and self-interest, and the blinkered approach to this darn constitution, we may very well end up as ten banana republics, as Dr. Dymond says. wg vd free NH NNN w 3 a 'BNA 7 YES, | HAD A FEELING THIS WASN'T UNITED APPEAL ! -------- ET EEE © It is ironic, but one can't help but feel that if ° Pierre Trudeau had been on that stage at Uxbridge High School last week, saying the exact same words as those spoken by Dr. Dymond, the applause would have been less enthusiastic, and more than likely -would have been drowned out by a chorus of boos. A necessary evil The 4000 officers of the Ontario Provincial Police force will be fitted with bulletproof vests, or body armour as they are called. Already, some 500 police officers in Metro Toronto wear the protective vests, and the Ontario government has announced it is prepared to pay half the costs of similar equipment for municipal police forces throughout the province. In recent months, there have been a couple of incidents where police officers have lost their lives in the line of duty. The first involved a Metro officer who bled to death after being shot in a tavern while trying to stop a hold-up. His murderer recently was handed a life sentence by the courts. Four weeks ago, an OPP officer was shot near Orillia and another seriously wounded in the course of an investigation into the shooting of a gas station attendant. Two suspects have been charged and are now waiting trial. While there does not seem to be much dispute that vests for all police forces will soon be as much a part of the equipment as the badge or cap, one can't help but feel that the need for such vests by the men and women who enforce the laws of the land is a further indication that society is slipping down a very unpleasant road where violence is becoming common place. Have we reached the point where police officers cannot do their jobs without body armour? Apparent- y so. We may not be quite back in the jungle yet. But there are lots of indications that we've got one foot there. For some reason, and I've no idea what it is, this column is going to be about girls' names. There are several possible reasons, any of which might be the right one. First, it might be just an unconscious reaction to the worst cold spell I can remember. The names of girls, exotic or. otherwise, seem to help fight those Jan.- Feb. winter blues or blahs. Secondly, I might simply be getting senile. This was my wife's suggestion when I told her my subject. Who knows? A couple of years from now I might be turning up at playgrounds with nothing on but a raincoat. And thirdly, the more I thought about it, the more I thought about it. I don't know whether this happens to you, but every so often I get some silly old song in my head, and 1 whistle and sing it, inaudibly, of course, because I don't want to be put away, for perhaps fifteen hours. It could be Colonel Bogey and I play it, with variations, through my head all day. No other tune interferes. Just a few days ago, I got one into my skull that must date back to the Twenties, and it went on all day, ill smiley GALS' NAMES through teaching, conservation, eating, shaving. It was: You can bring Rose, with the turned-up nose, But don't bring Lula. You can bring Kate with the partial plate, But don't bring Lula. Some old-timers might remember it. I'm sure it goes back to the days of vaudeville, or the gramophone, as we used to call it. But I've no idea where it came from, where I heard it, why I remembered the tune, or what was wrong with Lula. Anyway, I began to contemplate the names of girls, and whence they derived. We chose the name Kim for our daughter, because we didn't know whether she was going to be a daughter or another son, and the name fitted either sex. There wasn't a Kim on the horizon then. Now you can find one on every street corner. In my home form, I have two Kims, two Karens, and a Carol, and until I knew which was which, I'd ask a question and start sounding like the old song, "'K-k-k-Katie." TE EIR Ge Girls' names seem to go in cycles. One year I had five Debbies in one class. Hardly ever hear a Debbie anymore. Aside from the fads, when every third gal has the same name, there seem to be some basic roots from which beleaguered mothers and fathers label their offspring. (I've known a Robin Bird and a Pete Moss, but those were exceptions.) Some girls are named after jewels, but there aren't many Pearls, Rubies, Opals, Sapphires and such around these days. They're as old-fashioned as Elmer and Gordon for boys. Strangely, I've never heard a girl called Diamond though I've met a few hard enough to live up to such a sobriquet. Girls are named after some months, but not others. We can label a girl May, April or June, but you don't hear too many Februar- ies or Novembers floating around. I think Febbie would be kinda cute for a short girl born in that short month. Then there is the practice of naming girls after flowers. We have Iris and Ivy and Pansy and Daisy and Marigold and Rose, and even, on the occasional farout encoun- ter, Tulip or Virginia (if her last name happens to be Creeper). But they, too, have pretty well gone by the board. I don't know why. A girl is just as pretty as a flower and often smells even nicer. Why don't we go back to that and call girls Petunia, Begonia, Phlox, Crocus, Daffodil? Think of the sweet little abbreviations they's acquire. Pet, Beggie, Flocky, Crokey and Daffy. Once in a while there is a flare-up of old-fashioned or foreign names. Then we have a rash of Samanthas, Marthas, In- grids, Fleurs, Leslies. The trouble is with our fondness for nicknames, even these august names become Sam, Marty, Ingy the dingy, Flour and Les. Thank goodness there is a solid element of parents in our society who stick with the good old Biblical and fundamentally Anglo- Saxontags: Ruth, Mary, Rebetca, Margar- et, Elizabeth, Jennifer, Susan, Jane, Sophia, and such. Not for them the exotic and subtly suggestive stuff like Sylvia, Sonya, Roberta, Giselle, Jaunita. Those are the sort of names that can get a girl into trouble. How about Carlotta? - Or Vivien? Trouble, trouble. Personally, if I had six daughters, Lord forbid, I'd try to get one into each category. Emeralda for jewelly. September for a month. How does September Smiley sound? Sweet-pea for flowers. Sweet-pea Smiley? Ursula for an old-timer. Once had a slight fling with a girl by that name. Mary for the solid virtues and the religious connotations. And Diana, goddess of love, for the danger- ous group. If I suddenly and unexpectedly had a seventh, I'd name her for one of the great women in myth or literature. Perhaps Circe, or Cordelia. Everybody happy with those? Thank goodness my daughter has two boys, one Nikov, after a character in a Russian novel, the other Balind, a name she made up. She'd drive us crazy if she had a batch of girls. Re?