WEDNESDAY, May 13, 1992 6A

OPINION
—

Equality rights puts Mulroney in another tough situation

editorial comment

What is this
place called

end of Columbia Avenue, there

ip of people who

wenkend you cam drop in and take ® course to

oc

Hats off to both groups for a great job.

By Don Addis

WU KLUX KLAN CONE KUO KLAN) KU KLUK Chou

Weekly on
485 Columbia Ave., Castlegar, B.C. VIN 1G8

Decision should be made by Tory caucus, not the courts say gay rights proponents

There was a time, not so long
ago, when the favorite sport of
Canadian Conservatives was play-
ing “the leader.”

John Diefenbaker was dumped
after a nasty fight. Bob Stanficld
jumped before he was pushed, and
Joe Clark left gracefully, but only
after a .

‘To their credit, under Brian Mul-
roney the Conservatives put their
knives away and have played “fol-
low the leader” even when the lead-
er has put the party into the “Valley
of Death” in the polls.

But now there are serious strains
on that hard-won party unity.

The issue: Equality rights for
Canada's gays and lesbians.

A couple of months ago,
Defence Minister Marcel Masse
was all set to announce Canada’s
Armed Forces would now accept
homosexuals.

The press releases were printed,
our allies had been alerted. All that
remained was for Masse to brief the
Tory caucus and then make the
statement in the Commons.

But when Masse met Tory MPs,
they were hostile.

Allowing Sikhs to wear their tur-
bans in the RCMP was bad enough.
Now they wanted to allow gays in
the armed forces?

No way!

The plan was put on indefinite

Now the idea is back, but in a
form.

The government wants to bring
in legislation banning all discrimi-
nation in the workplace. It would
apply to the federal government and

the RCMP and the Armed Forces to
open up to them.

Brian Mulroney and most of his
senior ministers - including Joe
Clark and Barbara McDougall and
“red Tories” - MPs like Toronto's
David MacDonald, John Bosley and
Barbara Greene support it.

But a huge group - some say it
mekes up more than half the caucus
- do not.

fights over abor-
tion and capital punishment.
Some d
When he ran for the PC leader-
ship in 1983, Mulroney promised a
free vote on bringing back the death
. The pro-capital punishment
forces were confident they'd win
the day.

Mul re ch:

all federally lated industries -
like broadcasting.

The proposed bill doesn’t men-
tion homosexuals but the effect
would be to force institutions like

y the vote all
right. But then he showed his “red
Tory” colors. He led the campaign
against the death penalty. And when
the votes were counted, the aboli-

tionists had carried the day.

In the present case, there is no

way the anti-gay rights side can
~-|win. It is only a.matter of time
before a suitable discrimination
case gets to the Supreme Court of
Canada, and the court forces the

t to act.

Proponents of gay rights say
there is no honor in waiting for the
courts.

‘The other side points to the rise
of the Reform Party and say doing
nothing allows MPs to blame any
future change in the law on the
Supreme Court, and Pierre

's of Rights.

The hard-liners are determined
not to give the Reformers another
weapon, and some are talking about

Mulroney needs all of these
incumbents if he’s to have any
chance in the next i

Will he leave it for the courts?
Or will he opt for a free vote, as he
did with capital punishment?

TE PRE MNTER |
N
DOESN'T RESPOND |.

TO POLL RESULTS.

KW

Wednesday, May 13, 1992

The Castlegar Sun

Letters to the Editor

.Page 7A

Steps t

The recent steps taken in
Castlegar to address violence

Violence directed at an identi-
fiable group is covered in a gen-
eral way under the United

against women are most
and come at a time of rising
awareness of this world-wide
abuse.

Nations’ Uni Decl. of
Human Rights but violence
against women is not specifically
defined. Countries which tolerate

institutionalized violence against
women can claim that this is an
internal matter and not a proper
concern for the United Nations.
In 1993 the Universal Declara-
tion of Human Rights will be
reviewed by the United Nations.

aken against violence ver

An international coalition of
women's organizations is circu-
lating a petition urging the UN to
specifically define gender vio-
lence of human rights. This will
allow violence against women to
be raised in Geneva at meetings

ceameniiiaindas

Engagement notice
Hy & Mu. IB. Sosephson

It’s Open season on unnecessary packaging

I well remember the first time I

our manufacturers do, or do not
fe us. At other times I am

ever d Pp
container. I was ina hurry to open a
I

Teady to repeat the mini-fit. On one

container of turpentine b
had spilled paint and it was rapidly
drying. I twisted and pulled and

a mini-ft. You know the type!
Where all reason leaves you, and
you twist and tum the cap in any
direction, without thought or pur-

opened. You had to push down
while turning, etc etc. I was cross,
indignant and sheepish, both
because I had failed to sort out the
problem on my own, and also
because I had lost my cool! I was
also aware that this could be taken
&S just one more instance of proof
that women have difficulties with
spatial relationships. I have con-
soled myself with the knowledge
that I am good with relationships,
mever mind the spatial part, and lan-
guages make a lot more sense to me
than does much of mathematics.
‘Thus, I never became a rocket sci-
entist, though I shall defend the
fight for men and women to chose
their preferred career without gen-
der bias. :

Over the years I have had a long

some years
ago, a fellow university student was
visiting us. I was attempting to open
a simple bar of hand soap and could
not get the paper wrapping to co-
operate. Finally, in desperation, I
threw a mini-fit, whereupon he took
the bar from me and proceeded to
open it. Only, he could not get the
darn thing open either and we both
ended up throwing mini-fits, tearing
at the wrapping which stubbornly
refused to budge one bit. We both
laughed over the incident. This par-
ticular gentlemen did go on to
a rocket scientist!

When I first arrived in Australia

in the early 1980's, I had many a
tussle with both the packaging and
labelling. I had purchased good
quality plastic dinner plates for the
picnic hamper. The price sticker
was affixed smack in the middle of
the face of the place, with some sort
of glue that simply would not
relent. J tugged and pulled, tried to
soak it in how water, eventually
at it with no success and,

finally, went in search of a strong

the glue but, unfortunately, also dis-
solved most of the plate! I was very
upset that I had to buy another
plate. I later learned that most Aus-
tralian homemakers know the many
uses of eucalyptus oil which is
made from the leaves of the euca-
lyptus tree, and is quite benign, but
effective on most glues. If I ever
use up the last of that large bottle of

eucalyptus oil I brought back with
me, I don’t know what I shall do! It
really does work!

disposable needles, if they are such
@ menace? Why not go back to the
basic design that could be sterilized,
or develop a better alternative?
Canadian seniors are concerned
about Canadian packaging and
labelling practices. Some seniors
with language and vision difficul-
ties cannot read labels or the
instructions on how to get into
can also present

After a trip to the supermarket,
you will find your shopping con-
sists of many items the manufactur-
er never intended that you should
use, for there is no way you can
possibly get into the i or
the contents out of it. Those tri-
packs of boxed juices come quickly
to mind. How about the cardboard

cation is

a problem. Other seniors with vary-
ing levels of dexterity are chal-
lenged by jars and bottles, many of
them designed to be “childproof”

are “adultproof” as well.
and more seniors are con-
cerned about the pciaicerem of
products = its impact on the envi-
a Cansdian Soni

milk containers? There were never
designed to pour milk from, were
they? Toilet tissue and paper tow-
elling packs are impossible to break

are many items wrapped in stout
plastic that are in there to stay, for-
ever! Just why do we need all this
plastic wrapping, anyway? In many

Packaging Advisory Council (CAS-
PAC) was formed in August, 1991
to tackle some of these concerns. In
some cased, regulations and
requirements for shipping and stor-
age force manufacturers to adopt
wasteful practices. CASPAC hopes
to strike a balance and educate the
regulators, the manufacturers, the

cases, the items would
be sufficient. In much of the civi-
lized world you can live happily
without plastic and no one seems to
suffer from terrible contagious dis-
eases. In Fiji, bread was handed to
you, hot from the oven! You quick-
ly learned to buy a reed basket at
the market and carry it with you for
all your shopping. We have this
North ‘American obsession with
sterility and hygiene that drives our
supposed needs. Do we really need

I,

¥

igners and other seniors as to
more reasonable and better prac-
tices. For more information, contact
“One Voice - The Canadian
Seniors Network”, Ottawa, or
your Seniors Association or the
local Seniors Action Committee.
Our packaging and labelling has to
be changed. Our local seniors can
do something about it. We can
declare “open season” on unneces-
sary

Continued from 1A

Information Services depart-
ment.

“Out of the budget I have
allocated to print the student
I have to take money

out of the budget to produce it,”
said Lintz. Instead of being a
student summer employment

P P is a

ready to be printed, the work
will have to be done by a profes-
sional.

“The province has reallocated
those funds [$4 million) this
year for job training for older
workers,” said Shawn Robins,
Public Affairs Director with the
| Ministry of Advanced i
and Job Training. The province
iwill continue to provide $1.6
million to continue funding the
tourism portion of the
Students will be hired to work at
B.C. Tourism booths across the
province.

ROBSON
MECHANICAL

HEAVY DUTY AUTOMOTIVE
AUTOMATIC TRANSMISSION

GENE WADDINGTON
365-7006

SOth anniversary

Ray and Muriel Heagy of
Castlegar, B.C. are celebrating
their 50th wedding anniversary.

In 1942, Sunday, May 3 was a
beautiful sunny day in Rockglen,
Saskatchewan when the couple
exchanged vows. Afterwards
they motored to Moose Jaw,
Saskatchewan where Raymond
continued his airforce training.

They have come a long way
since that day. The couple moved
to Castlegar (Kinnaird) in 1947
and along with them came two
children, Murray and Janice
Dennis, Terry, robin, David and
Lori were bom into the family
since then. Ray and Muriel are
also proud of their 14 grandchil-
dren and one great grandson.

After coming to Castlegar,
Raymond worked for Cominco
for 24 years and at that time he
worked as an instructor for the
B.C. Mining School in Rossland.
When the school closed down he
worked for the Department of
Highways until he retired in

Government of
British Columbia

PLEASE STOP SPEEDING
BEFORE SPEEDING
STOPS YOU.

YOUR LOCAL POLICE

1984.

Both Ray and Muriel volunteer
their time to many organizations
in the Kinnaird and Castlegar
area.

The family of Ray and Muriel
Heagy invite their friends and
neighbours-te-a ¢clebration of
thir 50 yéars of marriage on
May 17th at the Legion Hall for
an afternoon reception from 2:00
p.m. - 4:00 p.m.

Best wishes only please!

of the United Nations Human
Rights Commission.
Copies of this petition are
ble for signing at the
Castlegar and District Public
Library. Completed petitions will
be forwarded to the Centre for

Dear Editor:

Save the Union Movement
Society (S.U.M.) presented a
brief and spoke to the committee
on BC’s Labour Laws in Abbots-

use of union time and money on

Women's Global Leadership,

y timely

Douglas College, Rutgers Uni- ;

versity, New Brunswick, New
Jersey, USA.

Sincerely,

Adrressing the misuse 7
of union time and money

union dues are only to be used for
the Collective bargaining process.
We asked for penalties against
union leaders and their supporters
for any misuse of funds.

Stephen Gray
Director

causes and policies to
the workplace.

We stressed that it was stated
in the’ Lavigne decision that “Any
restrictions on how a union might
Spend its dues is a legislative mat-
ter rather than a matter for the
courts.” Labour Law is brought
into being by government statute
and there is nothing written in
any Labour law that gives unions
A Right to use membership's
time and money on non work-
Place issues. We stated that it
should be spelled out in the
Labour Laws that compulsory

| Sel tn the classifieds

Letters Policy

Letters to the Editor are wel-
come on any topic of local or
general interest. Letters should

of brevity or taste if A
All letters must be signed, with
addregs and telephone number,
although names may be witheld
from publication for valid reason
by the approval of the editor.
Send letters to: The Castlegar
Sun, 465 Columbia Ave.,
Castlegar, B.C., VIN 1G8, or

drop them off at the office.

HIPWELL REALTY
357-2141

Dave Road,
West Raspberry
Large, cleared level lot at
the end of a cul-de-sac.
Septic tank and water line
in. All ready for your mobile

or new home.
Phone Jackie at 365-6642

The vehicle roadway across the

Hugh Keenleyside Dam

will be closed to all vehicular traffic on May 13, 14
& 15 between the hours of 8:00 a.m. and
8:00 p.m. B.C. Hydro is sorry for any inconvenience.

BGhydro &

IS THE SPICE OF LIFE

(> It takes all kinds of people to make up this big

world.

And different people have different values-
take that bicycle you never ride. Or that set of
weights you never lift. Chances are, someone
wants them, and you want to make a sale!

Let us be your
salesman. Call
us today.

The
Castlegar Sun