WHITBY FREE PRESS, WEDNESDAY, JUNE 4,1986, PAGE 5 "I have sworn upon the altar of God eternal hostility against every form of tyranny over the min.d of man." - Thomas Jefferson Advise and Dissent THE CROW'S NEST by Michael Knell The Progressive Conservative Party - both national and provincial - is a great source of banality and sheer and utter stupidity. During the course of the last few months Canadians have been subjected to almost continual displays of political opportunism and ineptness. While I'm not saying that the party doesn't have anything to offer in the way of ideas about public policy, or they do not have men and women of talent working diligently to promote those aims and ideas, they surely have both. But they appear to lack the degree of sophistication and depth of vision necessary to be considered a truly mature political party. For example, look at the recent case of the Air Canada flight attendant. Party members on their way to a convention in Montreal, presumably to discuss party policy, asked this unfortunate lady what her opinion was of air line transpor- tation policy under the Mulroney administration. However, they didn't like what they heard and sent a letter of complaint to Transport Minister Don Mazankowski who subsequently refered it to the management of Air Canada. Presumably in a effort to keep their political masters happy, our national airline held a little investigation the result of which was the handing down of a 30-day suspension without pay and a black mark on her record. Aside from the fact that I'm confident this action was unfair, if not downright wrong, the ones I have to question here are the Tories - not just those who sit in Parliament and around the Cabinet table but those who attend party conven- tions in Montreal. They asked her a question to which I presurne they wanted an answer, but it appears that they knew what answer they wanted to hear. Instead of using this lady's comments on transport policy - about which she should have some insight - as a point of reflection and re-examination of that policy at the convention, they became offended and complained. So what they wanted to hear was that the government was doing a great job and that she was satisfied with their policies. But what would these people have done if they had flown on Canadian Pacific, Air Ontario or some other carrier that isn't owned outright by the government? I venture to suggest that they would have fumed in silence - realizing that they had no recourse of action in purnishing this person. Furthermore, what would they have done if the Tories were still sitting in the Opposition Benches expressing righteous indignation at every policy announ- cement of a Liberal government? They probably would have used this lady's in- sight on transportation policy as another tool in their campaign to make the Liberals look foolish and inept (which they often managed to do without any help from the Tories). So, this poor lady was damned if she did and damned if she didn't. But the real question for me remains one of free speech and the Tories apparent inability to come grips with this fundamentally important issue. For example, when Neil Fraser attacked the previous Liberal government's attempt to convert Canada to the metric system of weights and measures, he found several defenders among the ranks of the then Conservative opposition. They were prepared to defend a Crown employee's right to free speech when they were in opposition but appear to have changed their tune since becoming the national government. Do civil servants have the right of free speech? For me, the answer is an unreserved yes. While I believe that civil servants and the employees of Crown corporations should refrain from joining and actively supporting and promoting any particular political party, that does not exclude them from par- ticipating in debate on public issues. Civil servants are also citizens and enjoy the same rights accorded to every Canadian. Another example of Tory inability to come to grips with the issue of free speech and its related issue of freedom of information can be found here in On- tario. When they were in power, the provincial Conservatives kept promising the people of Ontario a Freedom of Information Act. But it appears as though the only way we are going to get one is under the Liberal administration of David Peterson. And, don't forget, it was the Tories who gave us the Ontario Film Censorship Board (now more benignly called the Ontario Film Review Board). It was also the Tories who extended the board's power to arbitrarily decide what we could view in our own homes on our own video cassette players. When it comes to freedom of speech and information issues, the Tories always appear to take a "Mother knows best" attitude while conveniently forgetting that it's our right to know what they are up to and how much it's going to cost us. Another recent provincial example is the Suncor issue, which continues to plague the'Ontario taxpayer. When the Tories purchased a 25 per- cent share of that company for $650 million they told us that it would give On- tario a window into the oil industry while providing a healthy return on the tax- payers' investment. It wasn't until the Grits took over Queen's Park that we discovered that not only did the Tories pay too much for those shares but that they were now worth only $90 million. I suppose I shouldn't be toohard on the Conservatives. Like any political par- ty they either have power or want power. In the constant battle to sway public opinion, they will tend to either release or suppress information depending on whether or not it will hurt them at the ballot box or in the public opinion polIs. But that still is no excuse for ratting on flight attendants who give honest an- swers to what they believed to be honest questions or for refusing to pass freedom of information legislation despiteihaving every opportunity to do so during a 43-year stint as the Government of Ontario. This is also not to say that either the Liberafs or the New Democrats are any SEE PG. 6 The regulars at the Lone Star Beaver Saloon spend a lot of time these days staring into their beer, mumbling. Much has been happening that they neither care for nor understand. After Mayor Johnny Cannuck promised to go eyeball to eyeball with Sam Ewessofeh, the Free Trade Poker Stakes have moved into the back room. Now, nobody knows what's going on. That of course doesn't stop anyone from having an opinion. Take Lucas Letterpress. He's the editor of The Flat Tail. Since the poker game began, he's suppor- ted both sides on alternate weeks. He says it's being fair. "...and what the final result will be is anybody's guess," he is saying now, his voice oiled by the three (Imperial) pints of Maple beer. "He sounds like he works for the CBC," says Bob Whitewink, who works for Sam's Carriage Works, bolting buckets. "Can't make up his mind." Bent Broadaxe, one of the woodcutters who lives on the edge of town, is not so philosophical. "Shiver my shingles," he says. "That poker game has hardly got started and to hear both sides they must be playing with a deck full of aces." Periodically the door to the back room opens. In- side, blue smoke hangs in the air. One overhead light, with a naked bulb, swings to and fro. Voices, loud but indistinct, rumble through the haze. "Last time they come out, they said both sides could trade everything to each other," says Schoolbook Marm, the local school teacher. "Yeah, and while they're at it, create another hundred jobs for people both here in the village of *Beaver and over there in the town of Ewessofeh," adds Sta Tissticks. Wiz Dom, the bartender, presses his belly to the bar and polishes glasses. "If they plan on creating any more hot air in there they'll need a round of pickled pigs tails." But attention shifts as the door opens. The blue smoke billows out, into the non-smoking section of the bar, and the poke players emerge. "Till tomorrow, then," says Mayor Johnny Can- nuck, sticking out his not insubstantial chin. "Tomorrow," replies Sam Ewessofeh, resplen- dent and obvious in his striped and starred multicolored suit, complete with stove pipe hat. But &... ex/ Lq_&EE& under his form-fitting suit, onie can see the bulge of his twin Colt .45s. He waves his way through the batwings. Mayor Johnny dawdles a second too long passing the bar. Bent Broadaxe is on him like a wart on a toad. "You put my shingles on the table," he says, threatening like. "We been through this before, " says Mayor John- ny. "Sam insists, and I agree, everything has to be on the table." "But you didn't have to put my shingling axe on. And you took the edge right off one blade. Now it's so dull it'll never cut again." "I'm willing to bet on that," says the mayor. "Yesterday you said you'd make 'em pay. You said you'd get even. You said..." "But that was yesterday. And after all, I am a politican. Are you really so naive that you'd believe everything that a politician told you?" Broadaxe ponders that one. Mayor Johnny moves toward the door and in one flash of an Irish smile he's gone. Up to now a familiar figure has been sitting quietly at the end of the bar, sipping his beer and trying to follow the complexities of the conver- sation. It is Razor Strop, his blue eyes focused to a single point. "Maybe he had no choice," Strop says. "I know when I was mayor, I had to appoint a whole lot of people to places at the trough. I had to do it. I had no choice." Broadaxe finally figures out the mayor's parting line. "He misled everybody in the house." "Just wait," says Strop, "'til Mayor Johnny puts good ol' Lucas' newspaper on the table. Watch the editorials flow when The Flat Tail is about to get slapped." Lucas gets his nose caught in the draft beer. "To think I backed him when he was running for mayor. If the doc weren't on strike so often these days, I'd have a heart attack." Broadaxe slaps his own cheeks and shakes his head in disbelief. "Can you imagine that? Misleading the whole house like that? Why someday, somebody's gonna kick old Sam Ewessofeh in the keester and break poor old Mayor Johnny Cannuck's nose. They really will." I BOU6//fl4 '~?AZO/?,1 WITH OUR FEET UP Rv Rill.Ç,»Àrin.ri.