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ee _------ 4 -- PORT PERRY STAR -- Wed. March 3, 1982 Sgisial comments "Stick that in your boutonniere! chatterbox by John B. McClelland THE TORONTO SUN Who says a little sex and a lot of cheek can't make money these days? Last week, the Toronto Sun, a racy tabloid which sells a lot of copies via a photo on page three each day, was taken over by the Maclean-Hunter conglomerate for a sexy little sum of $54 million. That's not too bad, considering the paper began about ten years ago on a shoestring budget of $500,000 or so, and had to go in direct competition with two established and wealthy dailies in Toronto, the Globe and the Star. The Sun did it with blaring headlines, saucy pix of young ladies in various stages of (un)dress, racy stories of sex, violence and scandals from around the globe, and a blatantly anti-Liberal, anti-Trudeau editorial policy which at times borders on a sense of Divine mission. This rather unique combination proved several things: Torontonians have an appetite for the stuff, and a lot of major advertisers are only too happy to hop on board no matter what image the vehicle projects. The Sun has been making a lot of money recently, and the sale last week made millionaires out of a few directors, including the editor-in-chief Peter Worthington, who, by the way, was the only member of the Board to vote against' the sale to Maclean-Hunter. He almost seemed sheepish about it all, and in one TV interview after the sale, indicated that he may not be too comfortable working for the new owners. When details of the sale were announced last week ($54 million is a lot of money) the editor and publisher of the Port Perry Star held an emergency meeting to discuss changes in our editorial policies. After much argument, we decided not to change a thing. We don't want Maclean-Hunter to make an offer that can't be refused. So all the young ladies of Scugog who are just dying to pose for our page three Starshine pix each week will just have to show off your teeny bikinis and short-shorts on the beach this summer. Sorry, guys and girls. But a decision is a decision. Drats. However, if our loyal readers begin to demand that Starshine girls (and guys) grace the pages of this small-town paper, we will re-consider and shoulder the 'consequences, whatever they may be. The phone lines are always open if you'd care to express an opinion. THE OPEN AIR RINK Brian Callery has responded in this week's paper to a letter last week that was rather critical of the open air rink project on Water Street in Port Perry. 1 get the impression that there has been more than one' difference of opinion between Mr. Callery and David Irvine (the writer of the letter to the editor last week) about the open air rink over the past year or so. That's fine. Differences of opinion can be healthy and constructive, even when they are aired publicly in the pages of the local newspaper. Now that David and Brian have both had their say in public and a few beefs out of the way, maybe they should quietly sit down together and make plans for the operation of the rink for next winter. Whatever happened this winter is water under the bridge as far as the rink is concerned. But let's not forget that the open air rink has been a very popular facility for Township residents, and it would be a pity to see the project go down the tubes completely. Come on guys. Now is the time to put the past behind you, throw down the hatchets and pick up a couple of snow shovels instead. There are a lot of people who would thank you for the efforts. This community needs public facilities like an open air rink in a very convenient downtown location. If the Kinsman Club wants to carry on with the project next winter, maybe a few people who read this column would agree to volunteer some time to assist with the flooding or snow removal. If so, give me a call at the Star office and I'd be happy to pass your names on to Brian, David or whoever takes on the project. ONE SPORTS JACKET -A Quebec Cabinet Minister gets caught walking out of a store without paying for a sports jacket. He resigns from the Cabinet, pleads guilty in court and pays a $300 fine. Sounds simple enough, right? Not in the. topsy-turvy world of Quebec nationalism. It seems that good old English Canada is now getting the blame for Charron's little problem. The nationalists in Quebec are blaming Eatons head office in Toronto for pressing a charge against this guy. Eatons says this is a lot of baloney, but somebody in Quebec is making political hay and again taking the opportunity to slam English Canada Small minds will go to any 1 to keep the pot stirred. Ontario is getting it in the ear West, from Quebec, jo Newfoundland and just about anybody else with a Problem is Ontario takes all the barbs without a fight. If this province ever wakes up and decides to flex its considerable muscle in a nasty way the rest of Canada better watch it. I hope it happens soon, for I'm one guy from Ontario getting damn tired of being a whipping boy for all the petty little complainers in the rest of this country. Are you getting the message, Mr. Davis? Federal Folly On the very day last week the Federal government was unveiling its record spending requirements of $76.3 billion for the coming year, a junior civil servant in Belleville was sacked from his job for daring to speak out against his masters' plans to turn this country metric. Make no mistake, there is a relationship between what the government will spend this year and the firing of the civil servant. Both, in their own way, are further indications that the present Liberal govern- ment in Ottawa is completely inept at guiding this country and making decisions which are the right ones. First, the spending estimates. Never mind that it will cost the government some $17 billion this year just to pay the interest on the national debt. Never mind that spending for foreign aid will jump by 19.9 per cent while spending on job creation programs and re-training for Canadians will go up by just 6.6 per cent. Never mind that money for the critically Ill housing industry in Canada will go down by 14 per cent. Never mind that total government spending will jump by 11.7 per cent (just about the inflation rate). It is obvious from the spending estimates that the Government has determined just where the pri- orities lie. And since officials estimate that federal spending will soar above the $100 billion mark just three short years from now, the Government is not even paying lip service to the notion of starting to put its own financial house in order. How can Mr. Trudeau and Mr. MacEachen expect to be taken seriously by Canadians when they call for restraint? They are telling the little guy on the street to tuck in his belt (if he still has a belt) and at the same time are ordering the printing presses in Ottawa full steam ahead to spew out more and more of the green stuff. It is folly. And now to the plight of a little Canadian by the name of Neil Fraser, an auditor with the federal Revenue department who had the audacity to be critical of the conversion to the metric system. All right, the federal government like any employer, has the right to fire any employee who speaks out against company policy or actions. That's a fact. But In this case, the Government again proved its ineptitude in handling even the simplest of problems. Leaving aside the merits of metrification for a moment, what the firing has done has made a martyr out of Mr. Fraser in the eyes of the growing number of Canadians who are opposed to metrification. This firing has ensured a tremendous store of ammunition for the metric critics, generated newspaper head- lines across the country and virtually guaranfeed that a lot of Canadians are going to jump on the anti-metric bandwagon. The federal government employs an army of civil servants working on the metric conversion. Rather than fire one critic could they not have dusted off a " couple of metric commissioners to counter Mr. Fraser's criticism? Is the federal government so afraid that Mr. Fraser is right that they felt the only way to silence him was to hand him his pink slip? We suspect that in the next few weeks, Mr. Fraser, the one time civil servant, may be a most sought- after guest for radio and TV talk shows, newspaper interviews and so on. , The government's handling of this case was totally inept. No wonder Canadians are fed up with Ottawa. No wonder there is a lack of confidence in the federal government. No wonder Canadians are saying that if the feds can't handle the small, routine problems, how In heck can they handle a major problem, like "the full-blown nationwide recession? Meanwhile, that western separatist who got him- self elected to the Alberta legislature two weeks ago is having a hard time keeping up with the requests to _loin his party. "The federal government is proving dally it hasn't a clue how to run the country, and when it fired poor Mr. Fraser last week it proved an almost perfect vold in common sense as well. Canadians do have something to look forward to, however. Mr. Trudeau's precious Constitution appears to be on its way home from Westminister, and what a glorious day in our history that will be. Mr. Trudeau has sajd he will probably get out of politics once the Constitution Is safely back In Canada. A lot of people are "or he keeps his word. I ------