HMCS Beaver?
The ramming of a Canadian forces
_ minesweeper by a SeaBus during ‘last

week's fog brings reassuring news for

commuters. ..The: ferry — suffered only
superficial “fender bender” damage. Less
reassuring was the: news for those who
worry ahout the state of Canada's navy.
HCMS Miramichi was HOLED. Maybe
they could use a SeaBus over at Es-
quimalt.

sunday

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_ THIS PAPERS RECYCLABLE

~ in the House of Commons.

OTTAWA.{(SF)- In the
background ofall the hassles . ,
over the flexing of Trudeau ©
majority ‘muscle on things —
like the.” constitution one
energy. policy, there’s been
quite a little scandal running.

7

Back in the days when
James Jerome was speaker of
the House of Commons, .
there was an investigation in-
to-how.-the complex -opera-

tion here on the hill is ad- trol of the speaker, who
ministered — or as provedto operates through more than
be the case, not ad- half-a dozen directors of
ministered. The House of — various segments. The whole
Commons is under the con- -machine is supposed to be
. designed to serve: members
of Parliament effectively.

The members, it seems,
' were quite concerned about
the way they were served,
but not all that interested in
4. how.that service was accom-
-plished.| The. budget for
‘those services.in Parliament
“Hill will hit $100 million for
‘ this fiscal year by the time all
bills are paid. Slightly more
‘than a decade ago, the ser-
“<1. vices were provided for $5

» The House of Commons is
~ yeally a community of its
“own, There are no less than
‘eight restaurants and cafe-
-terlas:. designed to feed
“members, the press gallery,
- and those who work on the
Hill... Prices are subsidized,
so that ‘you can still buy cof-
fee for 20 cents, or a full-
course meal-for less than $2.
: There are several barber
-. shops, shoe sliine stands, a
 gauna, and ai gym for
members. You can get-your
hair cut for $1, or your shoes
shined for 25 cents. [t's
almost like a time-machine

overnment b

If provincial premiers don’t stop opposing
Ottawa’s constitutional plan, says Justice —
Minister Jean Chretien, the government has 4 |:''

trees

mammoth advertising campaign ready to
launch at a moment’s notice. e threat is
conclusive proof of the extent to which the
embattled Grit cabinet and its leader have lost
touch witH reality.

In other words, the million) will come from thee

desperate feds are ready to
hand over leadership of jhe
nation (which they’ve failed
to achieve themfelves) to a
bunch of Toronto hucksters.

They did it last summer
and fall, you'll recall, with a
$6 million ad campaign
showing patriotic Canada
geese flying from east to
west instead of their normal
north-south route.

The net result was that six
provinces dug in their heels
and took Ottawa to court. A
little later the Gallup Poll
revealed that 64% of Cana-
dians rejected Prime
Minister Trudeau’s scheme
for unilateral patriation of
the constitution with a built-
in Charter of Rights to be
passed by the British Parlla-
ment.

LOOMING DANGERS

Tho Grits learned at least
noe aa - nls next time
re not going to skimp.
The hew campaign Mr.
Chretien {s talking about is
rumored to have a price-tag
of $20 million or more. The
message comes exclusively
from Pierre Trudeau and his
Liberal yea-men in Quebec
and Ontario. The money (as

in the case of the cariler $6

and me.

The renewed ad campaign
threat in itself would be
pathetic, were it not linked
with so many looming
dangers. .

All the evidence now in-
dicates that a solid majority
of Canadians want the con-
stitution patriated with the
“Vancouver” amending for-
mula already agreed to by all
the provinces. Period.

What they do not want
(and Mr. Trudeau remains
determined to have) is a
patriated constitution with a

uilt-in Charter of Rights
and other vital changes
rubber-stamped by Britain in
advance. ey want to
amend thelr own con-
stitution themselves once it’s
back here.

The Brits are in complete

_ agreement. They have no

h to be made the fall guys
ina wrangle they regard as
being exclusively Canadian.
But they're still bound by
protocol to heed an official
request from Ottawa.

STANDING FIRM

Meanwhile, opposition in
the Weat both to the
Tradeau constitutional plan
and to related moves by the

by

Noel Wright

1

feds to control provincial
resources grows apace.

An oll-pricing agreement
with Alborta seoma as distant
as over, with tho possibility
that Premier Lougheed
ee even turn off the taps
if Ottawa tried to impose a
unilateral ce, B.C. is
already refusing to hand
over the cash from the new
natural gas tax pending a
court challenge. A separatist
rally in Vancouver draws a
record crowd,

It's uniikely that a further
$20 million squandered on
Canada-geoso commer-
cials will change the mood of
the natives west of Kenora.
So what happens next?

One scenario {s that Mr.
Trudeau crashes on

trip back to the mid-1950,
some concern that th
broom of an administr:
suggested by the Au

end a few of the services

More sinister are:

ministrators, |

The danger is that.
polarization which is occ
ing in the House of Com:
mons staff will result in

the moment.

QUEBEC
FLASHBACK?

An alternative is that Mr.

. Trudeau crashes (on

regardless, patriating the’.

constitution unilaterally and.

attempting to grab provin-

cial resources in face of con- |
tinued Western defiance.

Somewhere down at the
ond of that road ~ if ever it:
were reached — lies the: War. -
Measures Act. Even Cana-,
dian Forces tanks rumbling —
through the streets of Ed--:
monton and Victoria.
your fellow Canadians in
Quebec who were around in ~
1970. a

The third scenario is simp-
ly for Mr, Trudeau to step. -
down and hand over to #0-
meone who understands .
what makes modern Canada ~
tick from coast ta coast,

People who believe in that 7

possi lity havo probably.
on into magic mushrooms
too long, It's a pity, just the |
samo. oe

If the alm is to keep”
Canada in one piece, Mr.
Trudeau's carly . depertuy :
would rate way ahead of
disoriented geese flapping.
across your tube. oe