PAULITORIAL - #1

PAUL:	I've been thinking about Canada ... and Newfoundland ... and today.  
Canada Day.  When we celebrate this country of ours.  Here we are, 
stretched across ten or so provinces; cultures like you wouldn't 
believe ... with languages and traditions and sensibilities all their own, 
imprisoned in the amber of a federally mandated multiculturalism ... 
the monetary wealth of the nation concentrated in the hands of a few 
... the human wealth distributed in an equally unequal manner ... the 
infighting; the inbreeding; the inescapable; the inability to agree on 
even the most obvious; to me, it is all so achingly familiar.  The 
comparisons and contradictions are quite conclusive - Canada is so 
much like Nfld.

If Canada can learn anything from our nearly five centuries of 
habitation on this barren desolate rock, it should be that all lessons 
are hard ones.  And they have to be learned over and over again.  No 
matter what choice you make, it ends up being the wrong one.  
Develop or perish are the choices.  We always choose to perish.

Why do we think the Voisey Bay extravaganza will be any different 
than the fishery ?

What happens when Hibernia is a dry hole ?  Where have all the 
cucumbers gone ?  Did any one ever wear a rubber boot ?  What do 
they do after clear-cutting Clayquot ?  What's the half-life of 
Saskatchewan after the uranium's gone ?  Are we meant to laugh at 
comedy Museums in Quebec ?  Flinks to PEI ?  Airports in Toronto? 
 Ah, country - one word of advice ... Be careful.

Those are just a few thoughts, about another day in the life, of 
Canada.


The Great Eastern is broadcast live from the studios of the 
Broadcasting Corporation of Nfld.  Our engineer is Hollis Duffett.  
Director of Radio at the BCN is Ish Lundrigan.  You can write us here 
at the Great Eastern ... as a matter of fact, we love hearing from you. 
 So get your pencils and paper now, I'm going to give you a whole 
bunch of addresses and things ... you can choose how you reach, I 
can only give you the alternatives.  Got something to write with on 
something ?  Okay, here goes.  Our mailing address is The Great 
Eastern, care of the Broadcasting Corporation of Nfld, 342 
Duckworth St., St. John's Nfld, A1C 1H5.  342 Duckworth St., St. 
John's, A1C  1H5.

Or, you can leave a message on our answering machine, at area 
code 709-576-5389, 576-5389.  If you're phoning from outside the St. 
John's calling area, we do not accept collect calls.  If you want to get 
at us through the CBC, they've lent us an e-mail account for the 
summer.  You try it at greateastern@stjohns.cbc.ca.  No punctuation, 
please, greateastern@stjohns.cbc.ca.  And if you'd like to FAX us 
your questions or answers, the number is 709-576-5524.  That's a lot 
of ways to be in touch ... so there's no excuse.

My name is Paul Moth.  Don't forget to come back next week for The 
Great Eastern, Nfld's Cultural Magazine.