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COMMENT We have all heard about "Star Wars," and I don't mean the movie or the video game by that name. Star Wars r efers to a missile defence system which the United States wishes to place above the North American Continent to protect themselves against an ICBM attack. This system, which is to the best of our knowledge unproven, will cost billions... perhaps even trillions of dollars to protect against an out- moded threat. There are many unanswered questions, and that it ap- pears, is just the way that Defence Minister Mr Bill Graham likes it. According to a recent report in a national newspa- per, 'a few members of the Liberal Cabinet will make the momentous decision as to whether Canada is in or not." Do you smell a rat or a fix here??? Has anyone told Mr. Gra- ham that the Liberals are a minority government EX- ACTLY because of previous decisions like this; decisions in which the Liberals ran rough shod over Parliament in or- der to process party politics which ran, in my opinion, con- trary to the good of Canadian people in general. The recent Challenger Jet aircraft purchase by the previous Liberal Government is yet another example of our government wasting precious financial resources. This government is not making a decision to permit Wall-Mart to open another 20 stores in Canada. This is not B- (ROWS) -E CA~ NIS (sin rev.) -TER 26 UN- (TREAT) -ED (anag. nude) PLEAT (anag. plate) SHO- (U) -T retOLD FLA - MESsages PUZZLE SOLUTION DOWN FINER RE - VISIONS ATFL- (0) -AT IN-DI- CANT -S NO-SE SPORADIC (anag. picadors) MA-OR-I CAR-ROUSE -L GA -DA - BOUTS RED HA- (NDE) -D SHO- (R) -T T-E-R-M MISS - PENT ACROSS i FORM-A-T-ION 6 SUM-AC NO-V-EL 15 DISHONOUR(anag. hood is run) 16 RESEA- (R )-CH (anag. he cares) 17 W 2 A Nn RW N= Jd w CASINO (anag. coins a) 20 DISPEL (anag.lisped) 13 GO (0) D (dog rev.) 22 OUTDO (anag. duo to) 14 NARC-IS-S-US 24 RATES (anag. a res) 15 Di F-MED-ID 25 OTTO (homo. aught to) TOOL (LOOT rev.) even a decision which will influence our country over the life of this Liberal Government, however long that might be. No, this is a momentous decision covering at least two decades and must be treated as such. To my mind Mr Gra- ham, that does not mean a few hours in Cabinet and a rub- ber stamp of approval. If these words from Mr Graham are correctly reported from a recent CTV question period :- "There is no need for a Commons vote on the issue because cabinet can approve treaties, including defence agree- ments..." then I might suggest that this displays a deep lack of respect for the wishes of Canadians in general. The truth is that the Liberals know only too well that if this issue was put to the Canadian people, AS IT SHOULD BE, then it would be given the great big VETO and thrown out. It would not surprise me in the least if Mr Bush has already been told that Canada will comply with whatever Washing- ton requests. Come clean with us Mr Graham and place the facts of this "treaty" before us. It is too big to be left, even to a ma- jority government decision far less a minority cabinet deci- sion. Breaking NEWS!!! The Defence Minister, Mr Bill Graham appears to think that if Canada doesn't sign on there will be conse- quences in this relationship. with its southern neighbour. He is reported to have said: "Cooperation with them clearly- helps us, given the potential for negative consequences. Vis a vis what we are asked to do in relation to this I think we should do it." What negative consequences? If Canada does not sign on to Star Wars, will the USA do a number on Canada once more in the same way that they attacked our lumber industry and our mid-west cattle farmers? And what about the issue of water being taken from the Great Lakes by the Americans. That issue is also on the table right now. It appears to me that Mr Graham is in effect admit- ting that the Liberal government is caving in to pressure from south of the border and coming forwards to toe the line as a dutiful subject. What way is this to handle our Canadian independence and nationhood? The more often Canada caves in to American pressure the closer we come to becoming the 51st state of the USA with our only distinc- tion being that we are the largest state. It is time that we tried to regain our independence through developing trade initiatives outside of NAFTA, since no good ever came from being totally dependent on one trading partner. Canada, this is a wake up call!! - Bill Yates, Friend of the County. ions wre: --