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é -- PORT PERRY STAR -- Tuesday, June 12, 1990 EDITORIAL The Port Perry Star ett A ------------ tl -------- -- Elsewhere $60.00 per year. Single Copy 50¢ Publisher - J. Peter Hvidsten Editor - John B. McClelland BUSINESS OFFICE Office Manager - Gayle Stapley Accounting - Judy Ashby Member of the Canadian Community Newspaper Association Ontario Community Newspaper Association Published every Tuesday by the Port Perry Star Co. Ltd. Port Perry, Ontario 235 QUEEN STREET - PORT PERRY, ONTARIO News/Features - Julia Ashton Billing Department - Louise Hope PHONE 985-7383 TRS 985-3708 News/Features - Kelly Storry Reta Sales - Kathy Dudley, Linda Ruhl, Tracy O'Neil | The Port Perry Star is authorized as second class mail by the Post Office Department, Ottawa, for cash payment of postage. PRODUCTION ADVERTISING Second Class Mail Registration Number 0265 Annabell Harrison Advertising Co-ordinator - Valerie Ellis Subscription Rate: In Canada $20.00 per year Drudy Empringham Advertising Sales Representative - Anna Gouldbum an Editorial Comment SEVEN DAYS It was by all accounts an extraordinary week; perhaps as some learned observers are saying, the most significant seven days in the history of the nation. They came to Ottawa on Sunday, June 3, the premiers of the ten provinces to sit down to dinner with the Prime Minister, and then pound out an agreement on the Meech Accord. The plan was to meet privately, reach a concensus, then move to the National Convention Centre, just down the street from the House of Parliament for a public get-together, where under the glare of TV lights and presumably with much fan- fare, back-slapping and hand-shakes, the documents would be signed well-in advance of the June 23 deadline. it didn't quite work out that way. The closed door session dragged on and on. The Canadian people, a lot of whom were (| preplexed and confused over Meech right from the outset were Iolegaied to bleacher seats as 11 men struggled to forge a nation. ee a A -------- From time to time, usually late at night, these 11 men | would emerge from the locked room to stand in front of a bat- | ; tery of cranes and report to the nation on the progress of the talks. As the hours turned to days, and still no agreement was reached, Canadians began to see their first ministers in a dif- . ferent light: fatigued, angry, frustrated, battle wearied, optimis- tic, pessimistic. - The two national TV networks pre-empted regular pro- gramming, and their national commentators struggled without much success to fill in the information gaps. By mid-week, all of Canada began to sense that some- thing of crucial national importance was underway in Ottawa. Ii 8 Premier Don Getty emerged from one of the sessions and i 8 stared flatly into the TV cameras as he told Canadians to for- get about Meech as the stakes were much, much higher. The it future of the nation was on the table, he declared. "Quebec's Robert Bourassa, obviously mindful of senti- ment in his home province, issued a one-line "communique" il that said the distinct society clause in the Accord was not ne- gotiable. And further, he would not even discuss this clause. By Saturday, six full days after that first dinner with the Prime Minister, agreement was reached. Well, sort of reached. The 11 men finally went in front of the TV cameras to put their signatures to an agreement. They all spoke, praising each other in the most glowing of terms for their dedication, their civility, their strength of conviction, and so on. They even stood and sang O Canada, though stronger renditions have been heard. But wait a minute. Though the deal is signed, one of the 11 served notice that he wants the people of his province to have the final word. : Newfoundland's Clyde Wells will take the agreement and put it to a vote, either through the provincial Assembly or via referendum. Throughout the long week, Wells was most criticial of the process, and he was most concerned about the distinct socie- ty clause, wondering how it would be interpreted inside Que- bec, and more fundamentally whether it would somehow over- ride provisions of the Charter of Rights. One can only guess at how severely Wells' arms were twisted behind those closed doors to force him to sign an agreement he clearly was not comfortable with. By week's end, Wells was not a happy man. He did not share the elation of Bourassa, for example, who proclaimed "this is a great day for Canada." Despite the many hours of air time by the TV networks, the miles of copy carried in the daily papers, many Canadians no doubt this week are still asking themselves, just what did happen in Ottawa last week. Certainly, one has to be sympathetic to Clyde Wells (and others) who railed at the process. How can 11 men go behind closed doors for more than 70 hours and be expected to reach agreement under such pressure cooker conditions. (Turn to page 10) A PUZZLE What's red, yellow, blue, green, black and "burgundy; has approximately 240 legs; comes in a variety of shapes and sizes; and can be found running and bumping into each other in a large, open field. Until the past few weeks, | would have nev- er known such a species existed, but this year | became a full fledged, exuberant, frustrated, ex- cited and perplexed parent of a first year soccer player. And my son, Matt, is just one of about 120 first year tyke players who are trying out their soccer skills for the first time. : Now here's a bunch of kids, dressed to the hilt in bright new uniforms, ready to do anything to please their coach and impress their parents. But even more than that, they want to kick that ball past the goalie and into a net. Midget in size, kicking a ball is not an easy chore. That black and white ball inevitably gets tangled between their legs, doesn't go in the di- rection they intend, and quite often is the culprit that sends them sprawling onto the dandelion in- fested playing field only to be eaten alive by a swarm of very hungry mosquitoes. But the kids don't really care about mosqui- to bites and scratches as they are there to have some fun with their team-mates, and in the pro- cess, hopefully, learn some of the skills of one of the best and most popular sports in the world... soccer! Matt's team, one of many sponsored by lo- cal business, is Lake Scugog Lumber, and the bright yellow uniforms can be. seen for miles. They have shirts, which sport their favourite number; socks that reach their crotch if not rolled down, and a pair of baggy shorts that should last him until he's twelve years old. But it's great to see these kids, both girls and boys, out there running and trying to work as a team. An important step in learning how to get along with other kids. Observing from the sidelines, it's obvious many of the youngsters have concentration lev- els shorter than their height. They are forever being side-tracked to kara- te chop dandelions, swat at mosquitoes, have a chat with the opposing goalie or watch airplanes Random Jott Rts & ngs Fa fly overhead, etc., etc., etc. As parents and " fans, we can only be thankful some of their team-mates take the game a little more seriously while the others are day-dreaming. But it's their first year, and as the coach said from the beginning, "this year they will be.learn- ing which direction to go, and how to have some fun". So far they're doing both of those ings. and as one of the many parents attending the games, we're enjoying watching them have fun. So I've promised myself | won't get frustrat- ed next week when my young lad walks off the field and leaves his team-mates short handed because "he's tired", or when he squats down to see if he can cover his knees with his sweater while the opposition is streaking down the field with a breakaway. Naw! : I'm not going to get upset if he runs off the field in the middle of a rush because he has to 0 pee, or because we have to run across the fold to- hide in the brush and get eaten alive by mosquitoes while he relieves himself. (the clos- est outhouse is about quarter of a mile away). No, I'm going to sit in my lawn chair, calmly watch the game and keep my mouth shut. At least I'll try! WASHROOMS I've known for some time that the soccer as- sociation has been trying to raise money to build washroom facilities at the fields, for the hun- dreds of kids, coaches and parents who spend countless hours at games and practices. What | didn't realize, the cost of the pro- posed washrooms is pegged at about $75,000, and they won't be built until the soccer associa- tion can raise about one third of the cost. It's a crime some 500 people have no ade- quate facilities, and are going to have to wait at least another year for funding. The only facilities available now are portable outhouses located at the north end of the fields. A long way for a five year old to run, when they have to go, NOW! Something really should be done immedi- ately. Let's forget about a second pad at the are- na, new baseball diamonds, an indoor swimming pool and a banquet facility until we can at least provide proper washroom facilties at one of our most heavily used recreation facilities. Florio Uo BE ELE ll A ral