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rt u opinion send your letters to the editor to 9 heritage ra markham 13p 1m3 or tax them to 2941538 unity debate built on ignorance mistrust the constitution just wont go away nor for that matter will lucien bouchard he continues to push the sepa ratist dogma in the four corners of the country and abroad and canadians are quickly becoming fed up with footing the bill the revelation this week that bouchard has had his rcmp security beefed up may just have been the last straw even rea sonable canadians are wonder ing why we are paying for the protection of a man who would see the country torn apart but there is more to it than the costs put forth by the official opposition durham mp alex shepherd hit the nail on the head last week when he rose in the house to challenge the bloc quebecois andrew mair and raise the concerns of many canadians shepherd accused the bloc mps of being perfectly willing to draw on the bank accounts of canadians via their expenses and pensions he said after talking with many of the bloc that he found them to be for the most part une ducated spoke only french and had little or no concern for their constituents but rather were in ottawa to see quebecs separa tion was assured in fact he said many of the mps from the bloc had never been outside of their hometown and few had been outside quebec for many he added their trip to ottawa last fall was their first anywhere they had no knowledge or awareness of the issues facing the rest of the country shepherd then stated that the city of montreal had elected just two bloc mps a fact he attribut es to montrealers being sophisti cated and educated enough to know that sovereignty for quebec was a bad idea of course the reverse may be said for many of the reform mps they have the idea that canada would be better off if quebec left it is the same senti ment and mentality expressed by the bloc members but in reverse what all this does is fuel the fires for another round of heat ed debate on unity built on ignorance and mistrust this is what lucien bouchard is play ing up on his trips across the country his increased security is a charade designed to height en quebecs antianglo senti ments he would have quebeckers believe he is in grave danger of assassination when travelling outside la belle province fighting for his cause behind the lines in enemy terri tory as it were of course what he doesnt realize is that he is in no dan ger few in this country would want to waste the bullet markham economist and sun stouffville tribune uxbrjdge tribune weekender edition a metround community newspaper patricia pappas publisher jo ann stevenson editorinchief paula cr0well editor andrew mair editor debraweller director of advertising barry goodyear director of distribution vivian oneil business manager pamela nichols operations manager markham 2942200 sales 7987624 classi fied 2944331 stouffviue 6402100 uxbridge 8529741 2948244 distribution and administration 9 heritage rd markham l3p 1m2 fax markham 2941538 stouflvillo 640- 5477 uxbridge 8524355 the markham economist and sun stouuville tri bune and uxbridge tribune published every wednesday and saturday is one of the mctrohmd printing publishing and distributing group of subur ban newspapers which includes ajax pickering news advertiser barrie advance brampton guardian burlington post collingwocd connection etobicoke guardian the liberal georgetown inde pendentacton free press kingston this week lindsay this week milton canadian champion mississauga news north york mirror oakvillc beaver orillia today oshawawhitby this week i peterborough this week scarborough mirror the i era banner j contents not to be reproduced without written permission from the publisher happy lathers day mom we love you to the editor it was 634 am when her alarm clock broke the silence of yet another day the house was still dead quiet her mom had already left for work and her brother and sister were sound asleep although still groggy from a restless sleep she got up immediately she knew as always that the next hour and a half would require perfect time management to get every one ready and out the door she hated mornings now always having to be responsi ble for getting her brother and sister up dressed fed and off to school in time she knew it wasnt her moms fault that she had all this added pressure because she was out working as much as she could to try and make ends meet she quickly dressed and went downstairs for breakfast as it was only tuesday and mom didnt get paid until wednesday she already knew there would be next to nothing to eat even after mom did get paid after she paid the bills there would still be almost no money left over why was life like this why did they always have to be so broke but before the thought even finished for mulating in her mind she knew the answer it was because of her father he had left two years ago and was still not paying mom any support mixed feelings of hurt and anger surged inside her how could he do this how could he not care about his own three children enough to help mom pay the bills why did he expect her to carry the load alone even though they knew he could afford to help big time after all he had his own business still had their huge boat went on trips and still had money to hangout in the local bar all the time the few times they were forced to see their father he was always dressed in new clothes this made them all even more angry with him at 13 she already knew that life was not going to be easy or fair but this was ridiculous when she would watch the commercials on tv about dead beat dads and how they were being forced to pay support she would wonder how come her father didnt have to was it any wonder that even her brother who was only seven didnt want any thing to do with this dad she was very clear on how she felt with everything he had done in the past two years to them she never wanted to even talk to him again friends and people from their church had rallied around their family of four and had often provided food and clothes for them but it never seemed to be enough to keep them out of the money pit she often felt guilty when she would watch her mom sort out the bills hoping to find a way to come up with an extra 20 to buy a mcdonalds or a birthday pre sent for one of them to take to a party often at these times she would go to her room and just pray that god would somehow lift the burdens off her mom it was true the trials the four of them had faced over the past two years had brought them closer together than she would have even thought possible she knew in her heart that god was really watching over them seeing their mom rise above so much pain had made them so proud she wasnt just a mom she was everything to them a friend adviser teacher and now even a dad as busy as life got we still had family nights and long walks and baseball games and endless conversations about anything and everything she also knew that they meant everything to her mom she often told them that they were her reason to keep going when it would have been so easy just to give up but even though there are many happy times often her sleep is interrupted by her moms desperate cries in the night pleading to god to help her find a way to provide for her kids as fathers day approaches she already knows that it will be a terrible day a day not spent as a family of five as her mom had hoped but only four four people still trying to heal the scars of a broken fam ily of the still very real memory of wife assault of the constant feeling of abandon ment still so many unan swered questions and broken dreams but she knows how far they have already come and with gods faithful love they will survive the heartache of this day but not without a few more scars and not without all three of them wondering where have all the good dads gone happy fathers day to you mom we love you name witheld editors note there are plenty of terrific dads in our community and we wish them and their fami lies a wonderful fathers day it is our hope that this letter which came to us from a 13yearold girl will help increase awareness of those without traditional families adam adam by brian basset ww ummmmmamwnbe 31sta0aipl6fae mll axd las as1w 1