. THE way we spent the
cammer is any guide,
Canada is in for the most
vapid and silly election
campaign in history.

Prime Minister Kim Campbell
ran back and forth across the land
desperately trying to find some-
thing popular to say that the
voters could keep in their heads
until election day.

She got that idea from Jean
Chretien and thought it must be a
good one because Liberals so
often win elections.

The mechanics of politics inter-
est the prime minister to the point
of forgetting what politics are
supposed to be for.

. Mr. Chretien was busy saying as
little as possible. He said he
wanted to be prime minister,
thank you very much. After that,
he would explain how to cut out
the GST without losing tax in-
come. :

The NDP’s Audrey
McLaughlin, who once suggested
the Canadian Army give up all its
weapons and devote itself entir ely
to charitable works, kept cheeping
like a sparrow about a brighter,
sunnier, happier Canada with lots
and lots of horse turds for
everybody.

No wonder if even people who
' don’t hate the Quebecers are fin-
ding it hard to ignore Preston

“ Manning and his Reform party.

‘At least they seem to recognize
“that the country is hurt and needs
* something more than. Band- Aids
and horse turds. .

- The voter, who is-pretty damn

“angry with everybody, senses that

most of the politicians are
overlooking a few essential ele.’
ments, such as realities. .
.. Reality No.1 — Canada is almost.
hopelessly deep in debt which in-

” < creases’ by 33.5 million an hour.

* We owe more of our nationai debt
- to’ foreigners than any other na-
tion.”

- When international confi dence
evaporates, which it can do with
“surprising suddenness, and Cana-
. dian dollars drop to 55 cents
_ against American, foreign bond |
“holders ‘may call us.

--We will call on the Internationai.
“Monetary Fund and IMF will then

“do the job on Canadian budgets
which our politicians couldn't.

‘Reality No.2 — There is at least a
50-50 chance that this election will
cause an international crisis”
because Quebcc votes to
dismember the country.

” A majority vote for separation
will have devastating effects. Even
more, of course, will separation

"itself:

Reality No.3 — Canada has lost
more than a quarter of a million

_ manufacturing jobs. Blaming this

on free trade with the United
States, which accompanied the

' loss, or free trade with both Mex-

ico and the United States, which
may be next, is a refusal to face
the facts.

CORRECTION
NOTICE

Sept. 15 Fiyer

.Page 2A. Perfection panty-
_ hose and tights, Reg. 3.29-
4.00 - Sale 2/$5.00 should
have read: Save 79¢-
$1.50. Page 4A. Infants
“Overalls, Reg. 10.93 - Sale
7.93 should have read:
- Save $3.00. Page 5A.
Hand bags. Those pic-
tured are $19.93. Solids
‘(not shown) are $14.93.
Page 9A. Assorted tables
reads $39.97 a set, but
should have read $39.97
each.

We apologize for any
inconvenierice this may .
have caused our Woolco
customers.

PAULITICS & PERSPECTIVES

The facts are that much pro-
duction-line manufacturing is go-
ing to leave Canada and establish
in poorer countries whether or not
NAFTA is signed.

It is also happening to the
United States, Japan and other
industrialized states.

Workers abroad are going to do
the repetitive production-line
work because they will do it -
cheaper and because capital,
which is no more capable of pa-

‘triotism than a turnip, is going to

go to where the profits are largest.
The misinformation about this
worldwide trend arises partly from
another reality:
Reality No.4 — Canada and the
United States came out of the
Second World War with fewer
losses and higher gains than any

other nations. We were ina
- unique position to attain the

world’s highest standard of living.
Those good old days are gone

_beyond recall.

Reality No.5 — Canadians have a
feeling that their country has

abandoned common sense.

Having handed over some of —

ities

Parliament's political powers to
the courts, we have proceeded 10
appoint the trendiest, silliest
Supreme Court of Canada in his-
tory.

Probably no other country in
the developed world has a high
court which issues decisions
(which are supposed, always and
forever, to speak for themselves)
and then later explains what it
really meant to say,

In one of the oddest public acts
since Emperor Caligula married
his favorite horse ina Roman
Senate ceremony, our judges
recently toddled off to watch a
display of public masturbation
and solemnly pronounced that it
was not obscene (3) and that it
was obscene (2).

‘Reality No.@ —- The people who
are elected Oct. 25 are not going
to be in power anyway. The
primary power is held by faceless,
nameless and immensely powerful
and secure bureaucrats, Sharing
power with the bureaucrats are the
lobbies, industrial, union, ethnic,
religious and lunatic, all of whom
take tax money from the gov-
erning institutions they despise.
Reality No.7 — The seventh real-
ity is that there are abeut 10 more
awful realities that are not going.
to be squarely addressed.

Although he may be con-
tributing to the departure of
Quebec from Canada, Mr. Man-
ning, who has candidates in all of
the English speaking provinces,
will do one service if he keeps
repeating what he said the day the
election was called: Let the major
parties spell out, in full detail,
with figures, what they are going
to do in this time when the ground
has shifted bencath our feet.

A welcome alternative would be
a Churchill who told us he had
nothing to offer but blood, sweat
and tears but made us sce ultimate
victory.

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