pent the the. horizon I T thought the. government .
was ignoring me. I expected at. some tim
consulted as to whether:I wanted. to

switch from pounds, inches. ‘and feet. over to. the
language of. metres and centimetres and kilos.
But as. the’ years went by . my expectations
remained unfilled. No one ever asked: me if I
wanted to make the conversion. But I-had faith
in good grey Canadian bureaucracy. It must be .
an oversight, I thought. Surely the government.

will solicit my opinion on such an ‘important -

matter; particularly as they. ‘spent a good part. of
my parent’s tax: money making ~ sure I ‘knew
about yards and ‘miles and ounces.

As . time. went by the
visibility of the ‘metric
bureaucracy swelled and’
swelled. My faith faltered a
bit when we began receiving _

But, in a year | or two of

" seeking such persons I have

yet to.find any individual in
my bailiwick who was asked~

a monthly newspaper ~-

(published apparently by and
for the bureaucracy) called
the “Metric Monitor.” Well,
I thought, be patient. With
any luck they'll be talking to
you any day now. In the
meantime, I'll ask my friends
and neighbours if they have
‘veen asked. Perhaps the

government is just talking to
a sampling of the populace, I
reckoned.

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North Shore News, founded in
1969 as an independent
community newspaper and

uaitied under Schedule 111.

art 111, Paragraph 111 of the
Excite Tax Act, ia published each
Wednesday and day by the
North Shore Free Prass Lid and
distributed to avery door on the
North Shore Second Class Mail
Registration Number 3886

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Entire contents) 1878 North Shore
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THIS PAPER IS
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at any time whether _or-not—-abroad—until—they -are~ the

‘he or she wanted to ‘go

metric.’

Well, I thought, not to
worry. There must be a
plebiscite planned for this
matter. It is so important
and affects so many things
that no government would
impose it holus-bolus on the
electorate. But even in my
good grey unquestioning
Canadian way, I am having
my doubts as to whether
anyone was asked — other
than the bureaucrats.

THE ALBATROSS

I perceive that the size of
the federal bureaucracy built
to administer this albatross is
indeed great. Not to mention
plummy. There are a great
many tax-supported
bureaucrats clutching to the
metric standard; but the
dead weight of supporting
these individuals pales in
comparison to the expense
and inconvenience of

im-
plementing the metric
system across Canada,
causing no end of pain and
expense to almost every
Canadian enterprise.
Retooling, relabeling,

converting and repackaging
all cost a lot of money and
time, and I can’t really see
any advantage to Canadians,
especially in these times, of
this kind of needless expense
and exasperation.

And how about the
houscholder, the buyer of
these repackaged goods and
relabelled cans? What
advantage is it to her or him?
Not only must the
householder eventually pay
for this needless expense,
but also he or she must daily
make the mental = con-
versions from old, familiar
and reliable measurements
into cubic centimetres and

all the other grooviness
foisted on us. “Add one
ounce — let me see, that’s .

28.413 millilitres, tow if I

only had a teaspoon like the
old days....”

We are all familiar with
pounds, feet and inches.
They are part of our life,
culture and habits. The good
old standards came _ into
being as a result of very
practical considerations — a
yard is a long stride, a foot is
a man's foot, etc.

oe we are. in. danger of" being:
ton ‘metric. They: say that

‘difficult for us if'we do not |!
. convert. This. sounds fine: in’

_manufactured products out!

‘the market, and that has not

‘left out’ if-we don’t convert.

‘access to- foreign markets is ©

theory, but in fact I don’t see. “-
it making much difference to .
our shipments. ‘of logs, and
-lumber,...and- cauiphuss. and Phe
“phosphates, and. oul.

We. few

- Ship. ‘very.
of the country. To-inflict this. .
mesure. On us on the grounds i » | ee ES ; oe
that it will somehow make it - a . eee | ere
bette." for us in other. eee | eet s bos meee 8 ie
matkets' simply does not : : °

stand up. We aren't going to |
do any better selling things

best value and products on .

very much to do with
whether or not they are
measured in centimetres or
inches.

Remember!
‘Deluxe Burgers— l/2 Price! —
. Every Tuesday night - 5 pm ‘til closing!

404 Lonsdale 987-4131 - it

It does, however, make it
easier for foreign
manufacturers to sell in the
Canadian market. With our
balance of payments the way
it is, that’s the last thing we
need these days. -.

In the background of all
this are feelings. Mine, at
least. The government says
it’s good for the country and
good for me, but I find it an
irritating, ever present
reminder of the State to tell
me what is good for me and
rani it down my throat if I
don't like it. Personally, I
feel that part of my up-
bringing and culture is being
stripped away without my
cooperation, and I don’t like
it.

tt’ s denim time at
Stephanie's.

Your cow-poke will look
terrific in this fleece lined
denim vest and slim fitting
jeans by “Billy The Kid”.

THE LAST STRAW

The crowning insult was
when | went to my marine
chart dealer and found that
the federal metric madness
has penetrated right into the
last and most sacred bastion
— the chart room. Lo and
behold the new charts do not
have fathom markings —
they look like fathom
markings, but someone in
the bureaucracy has spent
taxpayers money to change
every one of literally
thousands and thousands of
depth-soundings from
fathoms, in use for five
hundred years or more and
known to sailors all over the
world, to those dammed
metrics. It’s dangerous, too:
as the vast majority of charts
now in service are — and
will be for many years —
marked out in the old six-
foor fathoms. Now another
uncertainty has been added
to marine navigations and
the possibility for accidents
increased — and to what
end?

sizes 2-7

Vests

*13.99 - $16.99

Jeans
413.99 -

416.99

The bureaucrats say ‘it's
too late now — we have such
an investment in the metric
changeover that we can’t go
back to feet and inches.’
Well, I don’t know about
that. Maybe we need less
bureaucrats telling us what's
good for us. That kind of an
investment I can argue with.

9
GU 2
FASHION CENTRE FOR CHILDREN

Park Royal South — Upper Mall .
926-5616

4a