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Ah, it feels good to be back in the saddle again. Maple Leafs (or Loafs, as they were being called All this fooferaw on George St. and the proposed near the end) were simply beaten by a better team. senior citizens home has stirred up quite a bit of (I always contended that the only way to beat the comment from residents. Habs is to steal their skates.) They are concerned about their neighborhood, and But why, for the good of the game, can‘t we send that‘s good. It shows they‘ve got guts and aren‘t hoâ€" our best, namely Les Canadiens, to the annual world hummers when it comes to reacting to something championships? that nudges them the wrong way. Surely, there must be a way to ship the boys who And just because they, and this writer hold diâ€" play the game the best, to the shinny championships, ametrically opposed viewpoints on the matter, to meet the remainder of the globe‘s best. doesn‘t mean there can‘t be a continuing dialogue on We simply can‘t afford to be embarrassed year â€" the situation. . after year by sending nearlyâ€"rans to the European But I continue to support the development. ice palaces. True, I don‘t have to live in that particular neigh Somehow, somebody‘s got to figure a way to change borhood, and be a part of the headache and heartache the scheduling. that residents there might be waking up to each mornâ€" Or is it just international politics, that will ensure ing. those top entries in the Canada Cup series again in However, I return to my original argument: No matter where such a humanitarian project is located, somebody is going to object to it, and say fine, locate it anywhere but in my neighborhood. It just never ceases to amaze me how liberalâ€"thinkâ€" ing people can be until it comes down to something that sounds just a might uncomforting. No matter what the eventual decision on this, I‘ve got an inkling that it‘s going to be a long, nasty, drawnâ€"out affair. I‘ve got to take this opportunity to steal a little breath here from Sports Editor Rick Campbell. The majority of us in the Chronicle office are true, blue, Leaf fans. Myself included. I have no excuses to offer, regarding that downâ€" theâ€"drain semiâ€"finals loss to Montreal. The Toronto erpanded sewage treatment plants throughout the Just before last Christmas, Waterloo Regional council killed a proposal to phaseâ€"in over five years a uniform sewage rate scheme which in effect would have the Region as a whole pay for new or council meeting he will come not to bury the long dead plan, but to praise it. Blow plans to make a notice of motion directing council to reconsider the That motion will be made to the chagrin of Kitch ener and Cambridge representatives who in a rare show of unanimity combined forces to do away with the issue last winter. (Ahbh, what a peaceful Region we would have if those two communities could show similar unanimity in their approaches to such questions as major road projects and industrial land. Such a prospect quickens the heart and stirs the imagination). What with Chretien‘s budget and the hockey playâ€" offs, it looks like a long, dull spring ahead. That budget came sailing out with all the buoyancy of a wet sock. I can‘t help agreeing with the braying opposition critics, who labeled it a cynical, preâ€"elecâ€" tion budget. f So the sales tax was cut. Big deal. It means that if I want to go out and buy a $6,000 car, I can save $180. Brother, if I could afford that kind of money for a car, I‘m not going to let $180 worry me, one way or the other. And that $180 is sure going to go a long way in providing jobs for â€"the more than 1 million unemployed, isn‘t it! There wasn‘t a single iterq in the budget that will remotely affect our sickly dollar or our sorry unemâ€" ployment situation. Something that truly amazes me is that the federâ€" al Liberals, despite their horrendous record over the past decade, have a very good chance of being reâ€" elected. They are leading by a fat 11â€"orâ€"soâ€"per cent in mad at the government for inaction, lack of leaderâ€" ship, a monstrous deficit, and a dollar in the dolâ€" drums? It must only mean that we think an alternaâ€" tive would be worse, and this is a depressing thought. The ghosts of Christmas past do indeed seem to How do you figure that, with the whole country * * % made about the issue in the first place. The chairâ€" man and chief cheerleader of Waterloo Region noted last week that sewage rates are paid on a userâ€" basis, not from the tax levy. The impact on the in dividual homeowner would be minimal to the point of not being noticed, he argues. Young made another point last week to the memâ€" bers of the finance advisory committee. The provâ€" ince pays a 15 per cent grant towards sewage treatâ€" ment plant additions in areas, such as Waterloo Consequently, the city of Kitchener received $2.1 million from the cashbox at Queen‘s Park for its recently completed plant addition. That money, world‘s best, without ever winning the "official" world championship. | By late afternoon tomorrow, (Thursday) his eccenâ€" tricity, Pierre the First, will call court and let the assembled press know if his whimsies figure on a federal election this summer. Trudeau‘s weekly press conferences on their own., whereby he shuts out the press, and ultimately the country and the world the rest of the time, because of his own arrogance, hardly speaks goodwill for the tyrant himself But after all this election foreplay, it will indeed be The Kitchener and Cambridge opposition, not surprisingly, found its root in money. The uniform rates plan would cost both cities considerably more than it does now because they would be helping to fin.eeeqflalminothumnuw ;fiuvbgm’tafiodtoanythedinhld-by unfortunate if Canadians aren‘t given the means and How can anything be worse than dreadful? I think perhaps the reason for the Liberal lead in the polls is that a sort of apathy and cynicism has affected the Canadian voter to the point where he just doesn‘t give a diddle any more. ‘The lack of credibility among politicians has deepâ€" ened, rather than the reverse, since the CBC began telecasting House of Commons debates. Nowhere was it more evident than on budget night. On one side of the House, as the finance minister followed cliche with platitude, one group of trained seals flapped their flippers on their desks every time he stopped for a drink of water. On the other side of the House, another group of equally wellâ€" groomed trained seals flapped their flippers on their desks when their man was cutting up the finance minister. Perhaps the name should be changed from the House of Commons to the Common Zoo. What is developing in this country is a deep, fesâ€" tering sore based on a mistrust of Ottawa and evâ€" erything that emanates from it. â€" And somebody had better start paying some atâ€" tention to it, at some other time than election time, or there‘s going to be hell to pay in this country. â€" Surely the Ottawa mandarins, the "expert‘‘ econâ€" omists, and the $50,000â€"aâ€"year civil servants have It still seems like a chintzy way to orchestrate the major governmental reâ€" ao€ *\ Wateridp Chronicls, Wednesday, May, 10. 1978 : Poj Trudeau, the man, and the wouldâ€"be monarch, is crumbling. Canadians are alive to witness his downfall. It‘s just too bad that history, unlike the movies that fictionalize it, leaves the bruises of mistake and indecision, to be lived with. The longer Trudeau, waits, the weaker his chances of winning back the Canadian people. The false start to an election has already turned the electorate sour and cynical, and a further delay will only serve to solidify Trudeau‘s doom. method to turf him out this summer. After all, Trudeau himself initiated this unofficial election campaign at the beginning of the year. But Canada‘s elder statesman, befuddled by a turn of events in both public and private life, may just deprive the country of its anticipated right of a July Why? The aging leader (and he is nearly 60 years old, not the swinger he pretended to be in 1968) has simply lost control. _ _ Margaret, and the slim chance of bringing his marriage back to life, beckons off in the shadows of one side of the stage, and the public opinion polls, which never won an election, sound off on the other. It certainly is not a matter so much that Joe Clark looks good â€" he hasn‘t wielded a hefty bat yet â€" but Trudeau looks bad, awfully bad. The economy isn‘t living up to his predictions and promises, made over the past two or three years when wage and price controls became a reality and inflation became a permanent household fixture. And a million unemployed, to boot, doesn‘t do his credibility any good either. give it back. _ h o t o â€"_Well, it says here in this cormer that that attitude Hmm.'lht’sflnenctmdunsimfimm the Chronicle office. When Editor John sticks us with one of his silly assignments, you‘ve never seen so s s s v""v_â€".' w C Tovicee oves ow much giving away in your life â€" usually back in his must serve their city constituents. But at the same time, that attitude is lamentable if Regional governâ€" ment is ever going to work in the long term. Regionalâ€" ism is a giveâ€"andâ€"take proposition and, while there‘s no shortage of municipalities willing to take, those willing to give is another matter. lhe Surely it‘s time for a leader to emerge who has a gut feeling of what this nation is all about and what its people want. But where is he? Or she? John Dieâ€" fenbaker had it, but his own ego blurred the mirror. Robert Stanfield had it. But in this TV age, he didn‘t have ‘"charisma.‘"‘ He wasn‘t sexy enough. Joe Clark sexy? Ed Broadberit charismatic? It is to laugh. I‘ll bet I‘m sexier on a Sunday morning with a hangover and no shave. Oh well, we can‘t solve the nation‘s problems here every week. Let‘s turn, for comic relief, to the Naâ€" â€"tional Hockey League. It is to laugh again, uproarâ€" iously. It is not national, it is not hockey, and it is not a league, but a conglomerate of big businesses. had their innings. They have made a complete hash of things in the three decades since World War II, when Canada emerged as a vital country with evâ€" erything going for it, and has slid steadily from a strong secondary power to a whining voice in the wilderness. ~ Despite the sports‘ page flacks who keep flogging us with ‘"big" stories about hockey, hockey stars, big salaries, folding franchises, and such garbage (if I read one more story about Derek Sanderson I‘ll puke), the hockey playoffs are becoming a big Young wants the city to got its