4 ~ Wednesday, December 7, 1988 —- North Shore News “ strictly personal © NEW DEMOCRATS are a surly, brooding lot in the wake of the federal election that was supposed to catapult them into the position of official Opposition, with all the perks entailed, including residency zt Stornoway for Ed Broad- bent and his wife, where he could stink up the place with his The cast and crew of ‘‘Immediate Family” would like to extend their warmest thanks to the residents of Caulfield Cove and South Piccadilly for their kind support and en- thusiastic co-operation during our shoot in their neighbourhood. & SCREEN GEMS (CANADA) LIMITED all, supposed to be the party’s mouthpiece, not its Messiah. it is just that now, in the wake of an election in which the party blew its best opportunity ever, barely gaining a single percentage SOFAS, LOVESEATS & CHAIRS cigars. I’m not 4 Broadbent fan, as you might gather. Haven’t been for years, ever since he double-crossed me on the sealing issue when | was with Greenpeace. I was particularly gratified to see the NDP lose their one seat in Atlantic Canada this time around, since they had been willing to sell out the environment in order to make political inroads there. Ed Broadbent’s riding is smack in the middle of the automobile manufacturing belt. If the free trade deal had been defeated, the Americans, already impatient with abuses of the Auto Pact agreement by Canada — i.e. Ontario — would have taken a very hard look indeed at the pact when it comes up for renewal next year. I: doesn’t seem to faze New Democrats that, everywhere, those societies with strong central economic planning systems are bankrupt and falling apart at the seams.’”’ But apart from that, it seems to me Broadbent’s brand of politics has had another, probably more serious flaw in it, apart from him being untrustworthy. One of the reasons the NDP didn’t push as hard behind the an- ti-free trade bandwagon, even though they got it going in the first place, was because Broadbent real- ly didn’t want to. He threw the match. I believe he understood perfectly that if the free trade deal feli apart, the Auto Pact was in deep trouble. And if the Auto Pact got into deep trouble, Ed Broadbent was dead meat in his comfortable working-class Ontario riding of Oshawa. Something like four out of seven jobs in the economic hothouse of southern Ontario are directly at- tributable to the Auto Pact. It is what makes the region such an in- dustrial power in its own right. It is the reason you can buy a car in Toronto for roughly $1,000 Jess than you pay in Vancouver. y | PARK ROYAL NORTH \\ 929-1899 Broadbent knew he was subject to the charge that it was easy for him to be against free trade because his riding already enjoyed its benefits, via Auto Pact. Faced as he was with so many other contradictions and dubious positions, I believe he realized he needed this other one like a hole in the head. Hence his devious soft- ness on free trade. All along, of course, he had been a raving centralist. This is part and parcel of classical socialist doctrine — that there has to be a strong central planning instrument in order for government to control society. It doesn’t seem to faze New Democrats that, everywhere, those societies with strong central economic planning systems are bankrupt and falling apart at the seams, Certainly, it doesn't faze Ed. He mouths the old platitudes as though nothing in the world has changed. Well, fair encugh. He is, after A FABULOUS GIFT FROM ETHOS * METROTOWN 438-4244 BUY ONE ITEM AT REGULAR PRICE AND SELECT A SECOND ITEM UP TO EQUAL VALUE FOR ONLY $40. point of the popular vote more than it had four years ago, the writing should be on the wall for Ed Broadbent. He screwed up royally. He threw something like a third of all the NDP’s financial resources into the bottomless xenophobic pit of Quebec during the election, and came up with ab- solutely zip for his efforts, except to have his francophone candidates come out and stab him in the back halfway through the campaign by urinating all over minority rights for English-speakers in the pro- vince. By equivocating on NATO, backing Meech Lake to appease | Quebec, thereby throwing Native people, the Yukon and Nosthwest Territories to the dogs, describing disarmament as ‘‘not being a woman's issue,’’ and fudging when asked by a reporter about his own assets, Broadbent turned off siz- able chunks of his natural consti- tuency, driving potential NDP veters back into the Liberal fold. The results were losses in On- tario and Manitoba, with a resurgence only in B.C. and Saskatchewan, where there are strong provincial organizations. The party’s woes have much to do with the fact that the NDP is essentially a Western rump group with an Eastern leader who acts as though he were leading a national party. After 13 years and four elec- tions, it’s time Ed lit up his stogey and rode off in his Buick into the industrial smog of Oshawa. He's had his chance. Say g’bye, Ed. It’s time to go back to being one of those ‘‘erdinary Canadians’’ you 2 pc. Set modern Hostess Chair from $499 | 2 pc. Italian Ferara $3900 Love Seats from JUST IN TIME FOR CHRISTMAS Yes, we have lots of leather UPHOLSTERY SPECIAL LEATHER SPECIALS $999 3 pc. Seale, reg. $5340 53900 .2 pc. Italian Bianco 52900 SEE NEW LAMP SECTION | 2 pc. Italian Bussano®°3000 We welcome trade-ins FREE DELIVERY WEST VAN. FURNITURE INTERIORS, 1469° MARI ‘DR. WEST: VAN. ; = 922. 1207... NA ONAL TIRE Sone Mech the trichon eRallenges af waren driving saat a iy ete, “SY YOKOHAMA formance Radials Dealer betare cnt go lan ar spit TIRES THAT GO WHERE OTHERS FEAR TO TREAD! 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