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L] - - - - - - - - - TTF/Tri, TO THE CHRONICL] lime to get tttt With governing Canada May is sweeps month for most television programs. but who'd have figured that the biggest soap opera most Canadians would be watching was on Parliament Hill. This collection of "Desperate Politicians" with their backstabhing and political intrigue gave Susan and her castmaies a run for their money on primetime 'W's fictional Political colleagues could take a lesson and that he's got a black widow behind him, Truth be told. Stronach may have another dramatic move or two If I were io make mum sense of Belinda Stronach's comment that the reason for her leaving the Con, servative Party was her router“ about the Bloc and the Conserva- lives Imming a deal that could lead to the separation of Quebec. then we should draw the conclusion that try the Liberals voting together with the NDP. a deal that has been pub- licly recognized by both parties, the Liberals are plotting m lead the country towards communism. Continued from page 10 The" reason why we cannot find any evidence of a Conservative- Everyone should fill out city survey How many municipal politicians does Waterloo need? " he anxwei, accordiug m the indium"; nl citizens who attended a public forum last week. is more than we've got now. As the penal! whn raised the subject of possible ward boundary (hang-s. and increasing the num- hm m wards al u mum“ mceting in H'lsrua1ry. I was delighted with the discussion m last Week's forum. Stronach's defection was immature While the respor1sihility for a recommendation m council rests with the city clerk, it is not too late to influence the outcome. Nearly, Waterloo citircns care about the quality of leadership pro- \ Med at city hall. The city has posted a question- naire on its web at wwwx:itrwater- Ioo.on.ca that will be up for the next few weeks. " seems clear to me that ward boundaries have lo change, regard- less of the number of wards. P0pu- lalinn growth continues in the southwest, northwest and northeast rumors of the city and slowly but surely, the numb" of residents that toch councillor rvpmwnls IN getting The Waterloo Chronic]: Mill welcome a new columnist to our pages on June I. The new columnist will share longtime writer Sandy Baird's column space, with each writer taking. turns every second week. The new writer is ,mti-knoem in Waterloo. and his thoughts can be heard each weekday with a simple tum of the dial Stayluned! CJf',-1'trj' GBIIIIIIIIISI "iTirirGGFrTiTiTirFi- Wisteria Lane. Canada':, awn drama started at 24 Sussex Dr. with a prime minister grabbing at any straw to hold on tO power after shocking allegations came out of the Gomery Inquiry. His chief rival, Stephen Harper, smelling blood in the water, soon awam in for the kill. And in the bushes sat the Bloc‘s Gilles Duceppe _ But I beliéve any decision she makes will be based on her convic- tions for this country and its people. Since Stephen Harper had already expressed the Cl"s natural interest in bringing down the cor- rupt government after revelations about of the sponsorship scandal were starting to come out of the Gomery inquiry, as did the yaw at some point, everything points out to personal greed for Slronach's departure __ a complete sell-out. Let's not miss the clue that this up her sleeve before her political days are thmugh. Bloc deal is that there ism any... just two panics. voting fur their own interests and voting strategically to achieve their goals. out of balance, The current differ- ence between the largest popular tion in a ward and the lowest is mm near 7.300 residet1ts. At present. in midtsi/eOntario cities. the average numher oi citi- ZEUS reprcsetued try Unl‘ cotuttmillor is appmximately [3.500. [n Waterloo, the figure is 110w 31.000. and witl use. it nu changes are made. to 28.000 rw,idvtitr, when Waterloo is fully hulll nut to our tround-aries, To get out "rep h; pop" figures to the Ontario average, we can reason ably add two councillors In the (up rent five. Does any of this malls: to you, busy as you are with work, family, bills and thousands of other head- pounding pressures? Surely we can strive to he aver age. at least! - Yes, likink it does. It's certainly worth five to 10 minutes to com- plete the city's questionnaire. City councillors are our surm- gates in a $90 million annual busi- new. They determine how much money will he raised through taxes and they help shape how it will he Too had some o/her ex-tirothers COMMENT ORIAJ chuckling as he watched Csmadians burn, Luckily, there's always a hero in these dramas. and thankfully the NDP's Jack Layton saw it was time to do something fur the good of the country. Noir it's time for the rest of them to follow suit and get on with good governance. woman had the belief that she could lead the Conservative Party and thus become our prime minis- let without having any political experience. something which may be too fate for her to start acquiring. in what seems like shades of the PC old boys' club from yesteryear can't say the same. 'Polilics is a dog-eat-dog busi- ness. and Belinda Stronach may have set herself up to be top terrier. The bizarre way in which she departed also points towards a more personal immaturity. Ntenr Each cnum‘illur is assigned In some ir, cmnnnllces. in eulditiun In (“until dun-1 Each umnrillur aim sits on ad hut committee that tlrm't appeal!" on the cruutsullors' otririal list of dulivs, Gin-n this workload. five park little rmmrillmx tpltis the mayor! mum“ provide (hr h-udvrship than is rvqum'd of a [Oulu-css, that ready (w iuln tlus lives and wallets n [If every (‘itilrn in Wan-dun Waterloo -- Immune of global successes like RIM and [he Univcrr sity of Waterloo A is a small city known around the world. Surely we can put aside the gen- eral loathing of politicians and increase council to seven from tive. Fire up your computer and answer the city's questionnaire. We can reshape the city if we want to. Steve Lindt Waterloo Bill Flores Oakville Near heart attacks, cancer-stricken individuals. love, power. heartbreak. betrayal, victory and defeat are the trademarks of popular fiction, er. check that, actually the Trademark of the House of Commons for the past six weeks. No need to watch soap "operas or read Tom Clancy novels because truth really is stranger than fiction in our current Par liamem. No one predicted and/or expected Belinda Stronach In cross the floor and join the Liberals, but it sure did make high drama and, in the end, ensured the minority Liberal govern- ment would survive. Her defection has called into question her integrity, which is legitimate; but if one looks a little bit deeper. Ms. Stronach's actions exemplify the problems the Conservatives have in Ontario, as well as the flaws of Stephen Harper's leadership. Weeks age. Ms Stronach indicated her concern about going to the polls early and that she didn't think it was a good idea. especially in Ontario. She also expressed concern that the elet- tion would bolster separatism in Quebec at a time when the Conservatives needed more time to build their base in the belle province. - Instead of embracing 'Ms. Slronach and trying IO tutrwince her of the merits on going In the polls, Mr. Harper chose to isolate her, and V " a , ‘ party staffers went as far as to ridicule i STRILRLA her during a predation planning EA K meeting on "what not do for a photo (l SP INC op". _ Obviously Mr. Harper and his inner circle showed their inexperience and grossly underestimated how their actions would disillusion a powerful. ambitious woman from Ontario. Similarly. the loss of a "progressive" female voice from Ontario further deepens the concern of most Ontari- ans that the current Conservative Party has a long way to go to convince them the party's reflective of their val- ues -- not that of the former Reform In politics, perception is everything If it wasn't bad enough that [He Tories lost an intluential caucus member In the liberals. their napalm, further exempli- fied their red-neck image. At least two Conservative MPs compared Ms. Stronuch's acliuns In prostitution: and when given a chance m apolngizo the next day. they were lmuhlr m do so with any dignity. Former provincial cabinet minister and federal (‘nmerva- live organizer Bub Runriman called Ms Slrnnach a "dipsiirk" and lhen. catching himself. qualified his commeru In my she Pi un "attractive dipstick“. One wonders, what thc ”mum-ms would haw hm-n likr il ir was a man who rmswd the Mor - not nourh .ls imulling, I run irvitlre' YOU. Speaking at perception, Dummy Conservative Loader Prior McKay didn't do himself any; favours by playing up his hrmkup on national televisirm. Fine. must guys can relate ro being heartbroken by a mun» her of Iho opposite wax, but In openly near weep about it on national television is a bit much. Instead of staying quiet and having a period of rcflection. Mr, McKay instead chose to be photographed and "rnterviewed on the family farm in Nova Scotia with such a mnurnful look that my sympathy quickly disappeared. Go htfmej no "p/obkni1, starhome for a couple of days. no problem. But share your "heartbreak" on national TV? Forget it! Federal budget good for Waterloo Region Amidst all the drama. we must not lose sight of the fact the federal budget passed. and this is good news for m1miciparitirc Finally the senior level of government has recognized the valuable and critical role cities play in Canadian society and the economy. [his budget will provide "1an dollars [at housing, roads. and urban Hamil. not In mention the fact the btulgr't also Inn-us in pvnplr' with hismri: finam ing for " nulinna] day mn- program and [now moncvfor wnmrx who rm mu' "1me sup plmm'ms. AFN-v Vt'Hr's of n-xlmint and final [mull-m v. ( .Inmliuns .m- nuu Hurling In rm civr. a lis1.ll1lnulrnd Whlth th good In: t .nmda and wind ior Watvrlrso Hl'gmn l- ”hill \llllI (“H'KllllllSH nmnu'nh In wanm‘srnnslrirk landrnm . Conservatives' were Stronach-ed!