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Page 8 ial keaad 3 34 THE NEWS AND NEXT by Ray Argyle The Union Of Canadians The task facing Canada is to weld a variety of distinct ethnic groups and regional blocs into a united nation. To achieve this. Canada needs inspired leadership able to gen- erate among Canadians a sense of national purpose which will outweigh -- but not obliterate -- ethnic and regional loyalties. The realization of this goal would ensure Canada's status as a unique and wonderful country with an identity «nd culture separate from the United States despite the inroads of American economic influence. But the glittering prospect of a country rich in diversity but secure in national purpose will remain but a tarnished hope un- less Canadians find a way of coping with the expansive pro- vincialism of the past decade. Because Canada has lived in crisis most of this century, it is only in recent years that the underlying sores of disunity have erupted into common view. The 1914-18 "war to end wars," the brief honeymoon of the now distant 20s, the great depression and the second world war with its aftermath of cold war all combined to supress divisions in our unity. Suddenly, in the mid-50s, the Canadian political and social status quo began to crumble. In a revolution which has affected every phase of Canadian life from political parties to schools, churches and _ trade unions, hardly a voice has been heard calling for the strengthening of Canada as a national entity. ¥rench Canadian discontext which led to the Royal Commis- sion on bilingualism and bicul- turalism was matched by claims of other ethnic blocs that they were the significant second lan- guage groups in their own re- gions. The fact that English and French were the co-founders of the "union of Canadians" has never meant that every citizen should be bilingual. It does mean, however, that every Canadian should have the op- portunity of a full life in either of the two cultures. While other ethnic groups do not have the legalistic language rights of English and French, they have rejected the Ameri- can melting pot policy of com- plete assimilation. The Canada which has emerged 100'years af ter Confederation is a pseudo- nation inhabited by a mulfiplici- ty of national groups. The pseudo-nations which now make up Canada are found- ed in language, religious and re- ligional differences. The French Catholic of Quebec sees the world through eyes different from the British Protestant of the prairies or B.C. His outlook is as different from these groups as is the outlook of the affluent, urbanized Toronto bus- inessman from that of the tough, fatalistic Cape Breton coal miner. The process by which the pro- vincial governments have re- claimed authority vested so long in Ottawa is a reflection not only of these conditions but also of the lack of strong lead- ership at the federal level. It has been complicated by the present government's policy to extend to all provinces privi- leges which have been granted Quebec so as to blunt charges of favoritism toward French Cana- da. But the English "separatist" backlash sweeps on. The Pear- son government's decision to limit top civil service jobs to those who are bilingual may be correct in principle but the re- sult will be a civil service of French Canadians because one cannot master French while liv- ing in an English environment. } Federalism -- even "co-opera- tive federalism" -- is essential to Canada. The ambitious pro- grams of the welfare state era and the need to reduce econom- ic inequality between the prov- inces demands more, not less, national unity. The place to start may be in abolition of the British North America Act. It commits the provinces to _ responsibilities such as education and welfare which they are today incapable of financing. As an act of a British parliament over which Canada has no jurisdiction, it will wear on the national fabric until it is replaced by a consti- tution of purely Canadian orig- in. Ethnic and regional individu- alism can still make Canada a unique union if we also share a national purpose of well-defined social goals. Toronto Telegram News Service They say that even back in the Stone Age when women wrote down their ages, they were chiseling. Psychiatrists say it's not good for a man to keep tog much to himself. The department of Internal Revenue says the same thing! May 26, 1966 CYCLE REPAIR SHOP WE HAVE JUST RECENTLY SET UP A COMPLETE SERVICE AND, REPAIR SHOP FOR BICYCLES - - TRICYCLES AND MOTOR BIKES, IN CONJUNC- TION WITH OUR HONDA DISPLAY CENTRE - - LOCATION - - NEXT TO BANK OF MON- TREAL, SCHREIBER. BICYCLE PARTS - TIRES - ACCESSORIES - ARE NOW IN STOCK. AND - - QUALIFIED & EXPERIENCED REPAIRMEN SCHREIBER SPORT §& CIFT SHOP SCHREIBER - ONTARIO Phone 581 SALE PRICES (S IF A RETAIL MERCHANT were absent-mindedly to adver- tise an article at $10, readers probably would spot it as a mistake. It would be, of course. It is well known that nobody would pay $10, or $5, or $20, for anything; it must be offered at $9.98, $4.99 or $19.95. If merchants did not believe this, they would not go to such trouble working out odd amounts. It does not reflect credit upon the intelligence of vendor or buyer where a retail sales tax brings the price over the dollar mark anyway, but there you are. In the infancy of retail advertising, it was considered bad taste to mention prices at all. Thus in a Toronto publication in 1802 A.D.: "Messrs. Quetton & St. George acquaint the public that they have lately arrived' from New York with a general assortment of dry goods and groceries. Will also be found at the same store a general assortment of tools for all mechanics." Search of newspaper files disclosed that as recently as rgo1 blankets were offered at $1, men's hose at 50 cents and "fur ruffs" at $3. (The Prairie West scorned coppers.) An old-timer in the retailing of women's wear says it was department stores, in competition with each other, that started this abhorrence of round numbers, "and we had to follow." One never knows, of course, whether $1.98 is reduced from $2 or marked up from $1.90. Recently a 10-page section of a daily newspaper, advertising one firm's goods, listed hundreds of articles, from cotton dusters at $1.99 to batteries at $7.99, not one at an even amount. Yes, one: women's shoes at $5. It must have been a misprint. Just as a passing thought: do hardheaded, practical country folk see through this gimmick? Evidently not; it was a farmers' co-op that advertised a dishwasher at $229.99.