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and running their ce over where did the conâ€" on pursuing loony made of appointâ€" tario‘s community leader Mike Harâ€" over the prospect 1 be organized in ghting back. Bob to be a politician. stopped following ponsored the Satâ€" Three Star gasoâ€" Say, I remember How that pigeon Reformers don‘t it‘s a matter of ers have been a ns. It seems to take courses in would consider so superb in its osed to swallow guts Baird would get * McLaughlin made a difference National Congress begins to show once the party takes power should be irrelevant, but we‘ll be hearing about it if it does. * In much of the world, communist governments are the ones that actually feel responsible for the welfare of their people, not their corporations. Good thing those crazy reds don‘t run Canada, right? The voters know what the ANC stands for, so we should let them decide how much of our cold, bottomâ€" lineâ€"driven "free enterprise" system they want to If South Africa‘s whiteâ€"supremacist ies start udngmmhfl(htfirthfitwbih'vm',dn "threat" of communism will surely be their excuse, because that‘s something we enlightened Westerners will understand. It‘s fighting the good fight, many will Bay. But it‘s all a ruse. They simply don‘t want "kaffirs" likely, I would have said you were out of your mind." Well, it‘s happening right now, but the transformaâ€" tion and unification of this nation built on hatred, fear and division that will begin after the election will be a miracle â€"â€" if (and that‘s a big "if") it happens at all. Canada and other Western nations must show unflinching support for Nelson Mandela and the will of the majority of South Africans. _ Today‘s just another normal day in Waterloo, but 7,000 miles away 22.7 million South Africans go to the polls starting today in what may go down as the most important election of this century. A Johannesburg scholar recently told a reporter, "If you had asked me in 1988 if something like this was Federal NDP Leader Audrey McLaughlin mmduwnkfludnmldmbh-% the party into the next federal election. While she be staying on in a caretaker role for up to two years, the announcement effectively ends a chapter in the party‘s history. Media commentators have reached a quick consensus that she was a failure as leader. She was too nice, they argue, to. be effective; she didn‘t "have what it takes". As with most conventional wisâ€" dom, this judgement doesn‘t stand up to much Audrey McLaughlin never sat on a corporate board never sat on a of directors or shut down a town. Nor did she spend nearly thirty years warming the benches of parliaâ€" ment as she waited for her moment. Instead, her road to politics included periods as a farmer, small busiâ€" ness owner, teacher in Africa and head of a social agency. She was so much of an outsider that she was never expected to receive her party‘s nomination, let alone win the 1987 byâ€"election which brought her to After Ed Broadbent resigned in 1989, I was one of the people who encouraged Audrey to seek the leaderâ€" ship (I later worked on her campaign as Youth Orgaâ€" nizer and Production Manager). I saw her â€" and still do â€" as the type of leader for whom Canadians said they were looking â€" someone who was prepared to lisâ€" ten and who was willing to admit that she didn‘t have all the answers. While not an electrifying speaker, she shone whenever she was able to work with smaller groups of people. ; After becoming leader (again in the face of the punâ€" dm’pmdmms).l(d‘ughhnqufllydmfiaud her new style of leadership â€"â€" consulting, attempting to heal wounds, and allowing caucus members to carry the ball on important issues. She was also willing to take chances, including risky stands such as opposing the Gulf War and speaking out against MPs pensions (the first federal party leader to do so). Red or not, the west must support the ANC Whether the communist side of the African multiâ€"racial election seem so incredible? hitjmtmo,:uhsnd:hrthm&hn slipped out of orbit and begun to spin off into uncharted space? (read niggers, gorillas, etc.) telling them what to do. Nevertheless, the redistribution of wealth central to communism means, in South Africa, giving white money to blacks. Well it serves them right â€" a modicum of belated justice. It seems to me the South African elections are just another example of how nothing can be taken for granted in the ‘90s â€"â€" nothing is certain, nothing is perâ€" manent. Compare the world of the late ‘80s to 1994 for a moment: economic boom has been replaced by bust, Germany has been reunified, the Soviet Union, Czechoslovakia and Yugoslavia have been divided, the Italian government has changed from a parliaâ€" mentary pizza to a stable majority, socialist strongâ€" hold Sweden has gone conservative, Israel is dealing land for peace, etc., etc. In this context, why should South Africa‘s first McLaughlin achieved much as leader. She easily beat Preston Manning in a debate during the referenâ€" dum campaign; she published an excellent book; she travelled the country. Ultimately, however, her ups and downs in the polis were caused more by factors out of her control (the media‘s indifference, the unpopâ€" ularity of provincial NDP governments, the public‘s desire to unseat the Tories at any cost) than by anyâ€" thing that she did. By the time that the 1993 election rolled around, it didn‘t matter that she had ran a flawless campaign based on a substantial platform. It is wrong to measure success by "results" alone, while ignoring broader issues. The media have been guilty of this sin in Audrey McLaughlin‘s case. They were so busy waiting for her to act like "a leader" (pounding the podium, slinging mud at opponents, etc.), that they missed the very real impact that she had on the tone and substance of political debate in this country. A passage in McLaughlin‘s book contains the followâ€" ing definition of leadership: "I often hear Canadians say that the country has no leadership", she writes. "The real problem is that we‘ve got the wrong kind of leadership, a bullying leadership that doesn‘t listen to anyone beyond the core of traditional power holders who serve no one‘s interests but their own. I want to lead in a different way: by listening carefully and hel;iummllqamhdoathqpom.'.)udpdby that standard, Audrey McLaughlin was anything but Augles Tom Brockelbank 50 Westmount Rd. N. _ 238 Weber St. N. _ King St. South (Westmount Place) _ (at University Ave.) _ (at John St.) 747â€"2424 746â€"7868 742â€"6673 * Petals & POLS Inc. _ Rower & 6t Sh0p° A CAMKE TO WATERLOO CHRONIOLE, WEDNESDAY, APRILâ€"27 , 1094 â€" PAGE 7 â€" 89¢ 2 Gal. 1.69 3 Gal. 3.29