Ontario Community Newspapers

Terrace Bay News, 28 Apr 1992, p. 4

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Sos eee? Tel.: 825-3747 The Terrace Bay - Schreiber News is published every Tuesday by Laurentian Publishing Limited, Box 579, 13 Simcoe Plaza, Single copies 50 cents. Subs. rates: $18 per year. Seniors $12 (local); $29 per year (out of 40 Publishet.............. A. Sandy Harbinson Advertising Mgr....Linda R. Harbinson CNA : 10 radius): $38 i EOHOE.....6 Gs Darren MacDonald Terrace Bay, Ont., POT-2W0 Fax: 807-825-9233. Office hours _ mile radius); $38 in U.S. Add oe © Tuesday-Friday, 10-5. Second class mailing permit 0867. GST to yearly subs. Advertising Rep.......... Cheryl Kostecki St Member of the Ontario Community Newspaper Association we Admin. Asst.................. Gayle Fournier and the Canadian Community Newspaper Association. Lanads We [25 _ Co-op Student................ Marvin Fulton b Canadian leaders? I CANNOT TELL A Lie / Just as in life, you get what you pay for Spend your way out of the bad times; pay your debts when things get better. With apologies to John Maynard Keynes, that's a simplifi- cation of the principle behind Keynsian economics, and, theo- retically at least, has been the basic economic policy of most Canadian governments since WWII. But as anyone who remembers what U.S.S.R. stands for can tell you, theories usually fail because they don't take human nature into account. Accordingly, our leaders have used only half of Keynes' theory--the half that involves increasing spending. The bit about cutting back has been rele- gated to mythical budget projections scheduled to take effect two or three years down the road, but never happen. We, as voters, share responsibility for the current state of fiscal affairs, since we get the government we deserve. Some- where between 1945 and today, having vision and a social conscience was confused with promising to spend a lot of money on new programs. Instead of visionaries, Canadians have usually elected spendthrifts. But Canadians are generally more willing than, say, Ameri- cans, to pay taxes. Most of us believe government has a sig- nificant role to play in taking care of us, and are willing to pay for our security blanket. Besides, we couldn't read the lips of any politician who might say 'no new taxes' because we'd be laughing too hard one the one hand and ducking too quickly on the other, waiting for lightening to strike. But as the federal deficit increased and the tax burden--especially on the middle class--became heavier, governments finally went too far and crossed the invisible tax line in the sand. The great Canadian people finally had enough, and decided to take out their frustration whenever and wherever they could. : The fallout has taken many forms. Crossborder shopping, for example, has become a political protest rather than a real attempt to save money. When you consider what it costs to travel all the way to the U.S. and back, and the counter-mea- sures domestic retailers have taken to narrow the price gap, the savings south of the border aren't that great. But many people fed up with taxes are voting with their cars. The Reform Party owes much of its popularity to the same vein of resentment. People tired of the excesses and misuses of the past are attracted to the simplistic answers Reform is offering: balance the budget; reduce taxes; give the provinces control of heath care; a triple 'E' senate. By offering simplis- -tic solutions to intractable problems, and by playing on national prejudices (ie. anti-french and anti-immigration feel- ings), Reform is picking up support among voters tired of the old parties with the old answers. Quebec separatists play on similar sentiments. What this country needs now are politicians willing to speak the awful truth when it needs to be spoken; leaders that serve out of a sense of duty, rather than out of a desire to satis- fy their personal ambitions. But the only way we'll get these new generation politicians is if we demand and then elect them. Instead of punishing leaders who tell us the truth, we have to elect them. \T WAS LEANING BADLY, 60 | WomPED ir /" The average full-grown red fox (Vulpes vulpes) weighs less than 15 pounds and measures a little over four feet from wet black nose to his long fluffy tail. Terror-wise, the fox is distinctly bad news for rabbits, squirrels, partridge, mice, and moles-- plus the odd domestic chicken if he can find one. But the fox is no threat to any human and he's cer- tainly no match for a dog. Any dog. Even a pekingese or a pomeranian. Which makes you wonder why the British feel it's necessary, every year, to unleash 20,000 specially trained hunting dogs and 50,000 mounted horsemen with no other purpose than to scare up foxes, hunt them down and rip them to shreds. The fox hunt. "The unspeakable in pursuit of the uneatable" Oscar Wilde called it. There are more than 300 packs of hunting dogs in Eng- land. They take part in about 200 "hunts" which run down and tear apart about 8,000 to 13,000 foxes each year. Not all Britons approve, naturally. In fact, 80 per cent of them would like to relegate the sport to the same oblivion occupied by bull-baiting, cock-fighting and witch-burning. Back in February, a bill to abolish fox hunting was only narrowly defeated in the British Parliament . When you think about it, what kind of Cro Magnon could possibly argue in favour of such a barbaric pastime? Who would actually choose to spend their weekends (and several thousand pounds) on the back of some huge horse while dressed in drag, crashing through trees and over fences, trying to run a 15-pound animal to death? Well, someone like Maxwell Rumney, certain- ly. He is master of the Trinity Foot Beagles, a group of hunt fanciers who have galumphed over the hills and dales of Cambridgeshire since 1862. "We simply are out here to watch the hounds work, for the thrill of the chase," explains Rum- ney. Codswallop. Unhappily for fox hunters, tech- nolasy has caught un with them. Last fall. an anti- dition hunting activist with a concealed video camera managed to infiltrate the Quorn--the most blue- blooded of England's hunts. As a result we now know what happens when the fox, exhausted, "goes to earth'. : What happens--as the video camera showed--is that two-legged hunters dig the terri- fied animal out of its den and throw it, alive, to the slavering hounds, which rip it to pieces. "Only the huntsmen used to see what went on" said a spokesman. This time all of Britain saw it as the film was run on national television. Within a week, more than 2,000 indignant citizens had joined the swelling ranks of the League Against Cruel Sports. LACS is just one group that's sprung up to try and bury the fox hunt once and for : all. There's also a crew called -- the Hunt Saboteurs Associa- ; tion. They crash the hunts while they're in progress, laying false scents to throw off the hounds and blowing fake 'Tally Ho's' to confuse the hunters. Naturally the "squirearchy" is incensed. They see themselves as beset upon by Philistines and Bolsheviks. "They feel that we should get rid of tradition at the drop of a hat," harrumphs Maxwell Rumney. Which reminds me of the great riposte by Win- ston Churchill. When he was Secretary of the Navy, Churchill made a proposal which offended one of his Admiral advisors. "But sir," said the Admiral, "your proposal goes against naval tradi- tion." "Naval tradition?" growled Churchill, "What is naval tradition? Rum, sodomy and the lash." Maybe the Brits could swing a deal here. The fox hunters give up terrorizing small defenceless animals. In return, the British Parliament enshrines the right of Mr. Rumney and friends to indulge in unlimited booze, buggery and beating each other with whips. sn Arthur Black

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