Metric nazism

voluniary.
- That-second item, it turns
out, was wishful thinking.

There is a furious
backroom duel going on

-among the Tories, with peo- -

ple leaking stories and others
trying to plug the leaks. Thus
when the news was broadcast
from Ottawa via CTV News
Dec. 12 vhat metrification
was going (o be made at least

as voluntary as bilingualism |

is supposed to be, | practical-
ly stood up and saluted.

My wife had to endure a

_ Passionate, ridiculous speech

about democracy, the demise

of the Liberals, the will of the

people,- with Canada being

pas a’ pretty*good

a country. The same

rps,Rumors ofa: split in

ulroney: ‘cabinet were _

growing. ‘and -well-
overed chorus. of teachers,

‘food editors was howling for. -

“othe! Tories’ to follow .. the

etric. path charted” by the . j

. Grits: ‘Finish : ‘the .job!. The

el { industry. |
Whimpered that it was 80 per .

cent converted: Kids, said the

teachers, are totally synched -

Government

HAD A FIT of patriotism upon learning that
Japanese-Canadians would: get a formal
apclogy and that metric was going to be made.

|

"into metric. °

So bloody what? sez I.
The Tories have obviously
panicked. Headlines in The
Globe claim’ ‘Dropping
metric could cost in the hun-
dreds of millions.” The stant
of the'story is,that ‘‘the vocal
anti-metric lobby.. + could
weaken the ‘resolve of the

End? What end? Resolve?
You .mean. fascism. Just
because the bureaucrats have

| stuck to their fantasy of a
timetable doesn’t meéan for a
second that Canadians have
‘smartly goosestepped en
masse down the metric trail,
A recent poll in Vancouver
showed thai three to one we
don’t want metric,

The truth is, except in

“ those areas like construction,

merchandising,. education
and of course within its own

meri el
“Just because the bureaucrats have |
stuck to their fantasy of a timetable
doesn’t mean for a second that

en masse down the
GER

sto isée! th
|2-year-old metric. ~. conve
ion. ‘program ‘through to its’:

vend ext spring.””

" SWIM LESSONS. -

Canadians have smartly goosestepped

metric trail.’

i Le
vast: empire of servile ser-
/ .vants where the government
‘could absolutely, force its |

will, metric has been massive-

.For all’ages, levels of ability and.

.. Tots..
FITN ESS PROGRAMS «

interests and specializing in lessons far

ly rejected by Canadians.
I have never understood

why anyone thought for a-

minute that the calculation

* preferences of a minority of

pro-metric types should be
inflicted on the rest of us.
What’s that got to do with
freedom, truth and beauty?

It has not been surprising,
to me, that most of the media
(although not this paper)
seem to have gone along as
meekly as they did with the
government’s edicts on
mettic, ~.

Gexerally speaking, the
media in Canada is apathetic
about such quaint notions as
freedom, liberty or the rights
of the majority. Just as CSIS

was accepted with a shrug, —

the Constitution with a yawn,
the gag laws on the nuclear
cartel.with quienscence, and

the banning of the press from *

the seal hunt with relief, the
flag of forced metrification
was calmly saluted by editors
as a herd.

i The power of Members of .

Parliament, by the’ way, -is
much overestimated: It is the

Fourth Estate that wags the a

dogs. :
’ | hope the Tories haven't

chickened out. If they do, it’s *
the beginning of the end for -
them. Compulsory metric has i
“to go! Don’t waffle, : Tories.

Do what you must.do!- :

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