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PORT PERRY STAR -- Tuesday, August 21, 1990 -- 7 CANT GET ANY WORSE If Prime Minister Brian Mulroney needs any oof of what people think about his leadership and is Party's performance in governing this nation (or what's left of it) he need look no further than the re- sults of two by-elections held August 6. In Oshawa (Ed Broadbent's former riding) Mike Breaugh, a 17-year NDP veteran of provincial politics was an easy winner to the surprise of nobody. But the big surprise was that the PC candidate Bill Longworth finished a distant third collecting just 1627 votes, or 6.5 per cent of those cast. Granted, Oshawa is not exactly fertile grounds for Conservatives, but those results are nothing short of shocking. Longworth barely managed to stay ahead of the Christian Heritage Party candidate, by only 200 votes. The results suggest to me that even long time Conservatives stayed home from the polis in the Oshawa by-election. And the same day in the Montreal riding of Lauri- er-Ste. Marie, the Tory candidate was a distant fourth in the polling, way behind the separatist Bloc Quebe- cois winner Gilles Duceppe. Nasedy in his right mind expected the Tories to win that riding, but the dismal showing must be taken as a clear message to Mulroney. And no doubt Liber- al leader Jean Chretien wasn't feeling too hot the day after that by-election. His Party's candidate, the only federalist in the race, by the way, was also out of the running before the polis even closed. Speaking of Monsieur Duceppe, won't it be inter- esting to see him put his hand on a Bible and swear allegiance to Queen and country as he takes his seat in the House of Commons. Viewpoint In the Oshawa by-election campaign, Mulroney was the only Party leader who did not make a stop to help garner votes for the candidate. Want to bet he wasn't even invited. | can't help but wonder how long it will be before federal Conservatives in this country start howling openly for Mulroney to take his leave of the political scene, resign and go back to whatever he was doing before he took this country on such a dismal dive. If he doesn't pack it in as leader before the next federal election, the Conservative Party will disinte- grate at the polis. Just as an aside to this, a week or so ago when Provincial Tories for the riding of Durham East held a nomination meeting, federal Conservative MP Ross Stevenson was barely introduced to the crowd, and he was not asked to take a place on the stage, as is usually the custom, to offer his support to Kirk Kemp. An oversight? Perhaps. But my guess is that anti-Mulroney feelings are running so high in Tory ranks, they didn't want Mr. Stevenson anywhere near the provincial hopeful that evening. Mid-term by-elections are never kind to the party in power. Thats a given in Canadian politics. But when the Tory candidates in Oshawa and Laurier- Ste. Marie can poll only about five per cent of the votes cast, that's more than a message. It's a blinking neon sign statement that Brian Mul- Joey is the most dis-liked politician in the country to- ay. For the sake of his Party (never mind the nation) he should pay heed and do the honourable thing: re- sign. His ego won't let him, of course, and for that rea- son, it's going to take a political blood-letting of major proportions for Conservatives to wrestle the leader- ship of their away from this guy. After all, it was ego that took him into politics in the first place. A LUNY SUMMER What with a pending war in the mid-east, an election in Ontario, Mohawks on the barricade in Quebec, and the Jays faltering slightly, it's been quite a summer. Thank goodness for that strange breed of cat in the staid community of Port Colborne, Ont. who has created quite a stir. Seems this guy likes to wander around town wearing only (are you ready for this) a thong. | won't even try to find words delicate enough to describe a thong. Suffice to say it is a piece of gar- ment that barely covers the frontal portion of the hu- man anatomy below the waist. Aside from Port Col- borne, about the only place one might see somebody wearing a thong is the beach at Rio, or in one of those up-scale Ontario beer joints where men and women dance on tables for the paying customers. Anyway, according to press reports (presumed reliable) this guy not only sported his thong while working in the yard, he wore it downtown to do his shopping, much to the consternation of neighbours and strangers alike . They were so upset, they tried to force the town council to pass an anti-thong by-law (to no avail) and then threatened to load their shot-guns with buck- wheat and take dead aim at his exposed back-side, or almost exposed front-side. Well, imagine that. Papers from Toronto sent photogs to stake out the guy's house. Why not? This was ut the only story with a touch of humour to it this hot, dismal summer of 1990. With a bit of luck, maybe he'll move to Port Perry, thong and all. Letters tothe editor Remember When? 45 YEARS AGO Thursday, September 6, 1945 Fred Colbear is home from overseas. Eldest son of Mr. and Mrs. L.D. Colbear, Port Perry, Fred has been overseas for the past five years. Flying Officer Bruce Beare has received his discharge from the Air Force and is now home. Port Perry Fair had the heaviest attendance in many years. Mr. R.D. Woon, the Secretary, reports there were 188 entries in the Black & White Show. Sergeant M. Reekie has arrived home after 5 years service. A reunion was held at his home. Mr. and Mrs. Joel Aldred, Mr. and Mrs. Ira Aldred, Cameron and Douglas were in attendance. 35 YEARS AGO Thursday, September 1, 1955 The Ontario Municipal Board has awarded compensation to DeNure Bus Lines totalling $18,000. The bus company claim their business was "adversely affected' as a result of annexation by the city of Oshawa of a part of East Whitby Township. The final meeting of Port Perry 4-H Dairy Calf Club was held at the Oyler Farm. Mr. Leslie Smith, leader of the club was thanked by Ken Wilson for his untiring efforts in the past year. 30 YEARS AGO Thursday, September 1, 1960 Congratulations to Miss Esther MacDonald for obtaining highest marks in Grade III Pianoforte examinations for Oshawa and surrounding district. Four lady curlers from Port Perry, Vernie Buller, Elma Doyle, Jean Gray and Marie Snooks, entered the summer bonspiel at Tam-O-Shanter Club, Toronto and brought home a prize for one High Win. Two weeks ago Sam Qyler's car was stolen from his garage. The O.P.P. found it hidden in the bush at Honey Harbour. Miss Gladys Joblin and Mrs. Aleta MacFarlane have spent the summer touring Great Britain. 25 YEARS AGO Thursday, September 2, 1965 : Miss Dominion of Canada, Carol Ann Tidey, is 'pulling' at the beard of Harold Martyn, Blackstock, to see if it is 'real.' After convincing herself that the beard was genuine, she pronounced Mr. Martyn as winner of the Blackstock Centennial Beard Grow- ing Contest. The Port Perry Council at their last regular meeting, decided - to accept a proposal from the Port Perry Lawn Bowling Club to take over the ownership of the club's property on Queen Street. Mr. and Mrs. Charles Lown of Major Street, Port Perry are (Turn to page 10) Postal service about to be cut back To the Editor: Canada Post is about to strike again. Remember all those newspaper ads promising "better service for rural Canadians?' Well, 'better service' Canada-Post style, ap- parently, means something far different than we as postmasters are accustomed to providing. Starting in September, hours at many post offices in small On- tario communities will be cut back for the sake of 'standardiza- tion.' In truth, this means some offices will be ordered to open at Gun control & criminals To the Editor: Finally, a sensible approach to the matter of "Gun Control." You have hit the nail on the head, when you wrote the Editorial in the Port Perry Star, Aug. 7. Peo- ple who use guns to commit crimes are not worried about con- trol; they can steal one, and I'm sure they're not losing sleep over whether it's legal or not. What is really needed, as you pointed out, is some teeth in our laws so that the crooks won't laugh at our enforcement. Make I tough on those who break the aw. Perhaps those of us who enjoy hunting and target-shooting would get less harassment from poorly informed politicians and '"do-gooders." We look forward to your paper each week. Sincerely, Matt Webb, Port Perry 8 a.m., and will lock their doors at 5 o'clock. All offices won't be per- mitted to start business on Satur- day until 9 o'clock and close at 12:00 noon. In a few cases, stan- dardization means adding 15 or 30 minutes to a post offices's hours of operation, but for the most part, we're being cut back at crucial times when many customers now do their postal. business. As postmasters and assistants, we are strongly opposed to these cutbacks in hours, just as we op- posed the noon-hour closures which Canada Post imposed on (Turn to page 8) Canadian destroyers? To the Editor: It's unfortunate we have to wait until mid September to send our three destroyers to the middle east...all because they are anti- quated and require modifications... I guess no-one has told the Department of Defense we have THREE CANADIAN DESTROYERS OUTFITTED AND READY TO GO RIGHT NOW...the HMCS Mulroney, HMCS Bourassa and HMCS Peterson. Now these are real Canadian Destroyers! Mrs. Pat Stevenson, Oshawa, Ontario "OUR HOROSCOPES ARE PERFECT...I'M A SAGITTARIUS AND HE'S SINGLE." Ta DI A a