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(IAAT SR FE BPE ART Lest We Forget Wednesday, November 11 is Remembrance Day in Canada. It is a day when all of us must stop what we are doing and pay tribute to all those who gave thejr lives fighting for their country and for freedom. It is a day also to remember that three times in this | century Canada and Canadians responded when freedom and justice have been threatened. When the call went out there was no hesitation on the part of those prepared to make the ultimate sacrifice. While remembering the past and paying tribute to the fallen, we might also reflect for a moment on the world we live in today; a world which seems to be drifting once more to conflict as a means of settling differences. Although the areas of open hostility seem at this time far removed from the shores of this land, so it was in 1914 and 1939. Incredible as it may seem after all the 20th century has witnessed, there are those in the world who have not yet had their fill of war, and even seem to be seeking it. Canadians can look with pride on the contributions this country has made to the cause of peace even when that cause meant taking up arms to do battle. But just as we will never forget the sacrifices of the past, we must not forget that the cause of peace, freedom and justice is still in peril in many parts of this world. Call Quebec's Bluff Most Canadians must be relieved at this time that finally, nine of the ten provincial premiers are in agreement with the federal government over the Constitutional package. The agreement reached last Thursday afternoon is a historic one (the fact they reached ANY agreement might be considered historic) and came at a time when this country was really getting weary of the whole issue and the bitterness that went with it. Aside from the fact the agreement finally clears the way for Canada to be a totally autonomous nation, maybe we are going to see a new spirit of co-operation and compromise which has been so dearly lacking in recent years. But amid all the smiles around the conference table, there was one face not smiling, that of Quebec premier Rene Levesque. And it was almost like a broken record when he immediately began whining that this was another example of English speaking Canada ganging up on the people of Quebec and their rights. It is a sad fact of life, but just as the country was getting fed up with the lack of agreement over a constitutional package, the mood of the country right now towards Quebec and its Parti Quebecols govern- "/ OWN 100% or THAT . .-. 257% OF THAT / --- AN NOTHIN' or JHAT ment is not very good. Levesque is saying his government will go to any length not to comply with the terms of the agreement, especially the Charter of Rights. He hinted at a referendum in his province. Well, maybe it is about time the rest of the country called his bluff. Maybe the rest of us should urge him to get on with a referendum, and find out just what the people of that province think. Levesque has already suffered one serious set-back via the referendum process (remember sovereignty associat) and even though the referendum is an - awkward tool that often satisfies nobody, it Is at least' one way of getting some kind of feeling about the wishes of the people. Last Thursday was an important day in the history of this country. As Pierre Trudeau suggested, the action Was the final chapter of the building of a nation which started more than 100 years ago. "With the economy in a tail-spin, many Canadians lost sight of the significance of what Trudeau and the ten premiers have been trying to do over the past couple of years. It is a pity that when a compromise agreement was finally reached at the 11th hour, there was still one odd. man out. " Pierre Trudeau's future now remains unclear. But he has hinted he might venture into Quebec provincial politics if Canadian Confederation was threatened. Maybe now is the time for him to make the jump, to put his obvious powers of persuasion to work for Canada within the province of Quebec, to go toe-to-toe with Levesque on a referendum or even a provincial election. After 13 years as Prime Minister, Trudeau Is assured of more than just a foot-note in the history books of this country. If he were to go into Quebec and -bring the people there back into the new Confedera- tion, his place in history would be further elevated. And besides, somebody has to call Levesque's bluff. STORM WINDOWS For years or more, we got along fine with ordinary storm windows. Oh, I'll admit they caused a certain amount of domestic hassle, chiefly because they were put on too late in the fall, or taken off too early in the spring, according to the old lady, But she's always in a rush to "get things done." I get them done, eventually. Never - once did I fail to find someone who would put them on before Christmas. And they were kind of ugly. And they did bill smiley bucks a year. "It will increase the value of your house," someone else says. Maybe. By a few hundred. ; But it's not the money that bothers me. You can't take it with you. Seems to me you can't take a house with you either. No it's not the money: it's the stress. My wife thinks godliness is second to cleanli-- ness. Those windows have to be washed spring and fall, and maybe a few times between. : According to the brochure, and the dealer, there's. nothing to it. You just tear off the warp. And they did have to be painted. And it was costing more money every year to get someone to 'do the job. But, ah, what a good feeling I had every fall when I'd conned some guy with a strong back to do the job. I wouldn't touch them with a six-foot pole. It's a big house, and there were 14 of the brutes, weighing about 70 pounds each. I don't mind heights, as long as I'm not attached to the ground. I've been up to 32,000 feet, all by myself, in a Spitfire, and higher than that in passenger jets. But it takes all my nerve to climb a step ladder and change a bulb in the kitchen, with my wife holding the ladder. There was no way I was going to climb 30 feet up a ladder, carrying a 70 pound storm window, and punch and hammer 'it into place. I always had a vision of a wind catching the storm broadside, when I was halfway up, and taking me off for a hang-gliding trip. That actually happened to one chap who was doing the job one fall. A gust caught him and he sailed off the ladder, landed on his feet like a cat, still clutching the window, and nothing was damaged. He just grinned. That was Jim Fletcher, a young fellow who was completely unafraid of work. Made his living at cleaning floors, windows, etc. and built up a nice little business, scrubbing out banks and stores and such at nights. You don't see too many merchants or bank managers in there scrubbing their floors after they've closed, do you? Might do them good. Jim used to charge $14 to put on the storms, which included washing them, and washing the outside of the regular windows, storing the screens. It took him a couple of hours. In the spring, he'd take them off, wash everything again, storethem, for $10. The price went up steadily after he went to greener pastures, and the quality of the workmen went steadily downhill. Some of the young guys I hired took twice as long and charged twice as much. Sometimes the window would stick and they'd leave it with a one-inch gap around half of it. One bird put his fist through a storm and bled all over the . ' place. Another dropped one and glassed half my front lawn. Last year, I had a young fellow, newly started in the cleaning-up of properties, raking leaves, that sort of thing. I gave him the job of doing the estate, provided he'd do the storms. He looked pretty dubious, but agreed. Brought his wife around on her day off to hold the ladder. Well, he got them all, but he was pea-green and his legs were rubber, when he'd finished. He swore he'd never do them again. By this time it was costing me almost $100 'a year to get the brutes on and off. Not to mention a great deal of harassment from the distaff side, and a frantic search for a putter-onner. Nobody on unemployment insurance was vaguely interested. . All this, combined with the energy crisis propaganda, made me cave in, and we had aluminum storms put on. I could have paid $100 a year for the next 13 years if I'd stuck with the old wooden ones. "But look what you'll save on fuel," you say. That's what they all say. Probably 50 wooden inside frame, hoist your inside window, push this, pull that, and the storm comes in. You wash it. Then you get out on the ledge, hanging on by one hand and one foot, 30 feet off the ground, and clean the outside. After which, if you get back in, you jus zip, whip, slide, lower your inside window, and hammer back on your now splintered wooden frame. My wife and a girl who comes to help her have wrestled with those things, got them stuck, got them in but not on the rails, and generally found the whole process like roping a steer. I don't blame them. I've always had an aluminum door on my back door, and spring and fall I nearly rupture myself, swear like a sailor, threaten to smash the thing with an axe, and take an hour just to slide the screen up and let the storm down, or vice versa. One of these days I expect to come home and find two women, each clutching an aluminum window, unconscious on my lawn. Or hanging by one foot from an upper window, screaming for help. 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