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A6 THE OAKVILLE BEAVER Wednesday May 3,2000 T h e Oa k v ille B eaver Ia n O liv e r Publisher N e il O liv e r Associate Publisher N o rm a n A le x a n d e r Editor K e lly Montague, Advertising Director S te v e C ra z ie r Circulation Director T eri C a s a s Office Manager M a r k D ills Production Manager R iziero Vertolli Director o f Photography Metroland Printing, Publishing & Distributing Ltd.. includes: Ajax/Pickehng News Advertiser. Alliston HerakVCourier. Barrie Advance. Barry's Bay This Week. Bolton Enterprise. Brampton Guardian. Burlington Post. Burlington Shopping News. City Parent. CoUngwoocWVasaga Connection, East York Mirror, Erin Advocate/Country Routes, Etobicoke Guardian. Ramborough Post, Georgetown Independent/Acton Free Press, Huronta Busness Times. Kingston This Week, Lindsay This Week. Markham Ecnomist & Sun. M idland/Penetanguishine Mirror. Milton Canadian Champion. Milton Shopping News. Mississauga Business Tmes. Mississauga News, Napanee Guide. 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CNA JiNCjU B eII Furvd "~lyhe 467 Speers Rd., Oakville O n t L6K 3S4 (905) 845-3824 Fax: 337-5567 Classified Advertising: 845-2809 Circulation: 845-9742 SK * * BR O N tt ^OTTtP B U T T E R FLY TV AUCTION -- United Way ol Oakville ^ JA m a rd (O a k v ille FOR business excellence THE oakville galleries | Editorials Relieve the pain Sometimes, make that frequently, the federal government operates in strange ways. Case in point is that of Alison Myrden, a Burlington woman who has been given approval by Ottawa to smoke marijuana to help ease pain caused by her Multiple Sclerosis. One MS victim finds Ah, but here's where things get sticky. A lthough H ealth C anada has given her smoking marijuana approval to possess and smoke marijuana, it can gives her pain relief and not guarantee her a safe or controlled source for has allowed her to end her `drug'. her morphine Facing this untenable situation, the federal dependence. government may begin a test program to look into the feasibility of sourcing marijuana for those Canadians who find relief from smoking a joint. There's also the issue of paying for the `banned' substance. It costs Myrden about $320 an ounce for her marijuana but again, her concern is that the sup ply is uncontrolled as to toxicity or potency. Reports that smoking marijuana also help cancer victims deal with the rav ages of chemo-therapy, is another reason why Myrden wants to spread the word about what Canadians have to go through to get some pain relief. For Myrden's mother, the choice is to help out her daughter's $500-amonth requirement or see her regress to her previous state before getting some kind of quality-of-life through marijuana. The government's half-hearted effort in providing supply is to permit users to grow some marijuana plants themselves. But here again is the twofold problem of having to care for the plants and also be at risk from those who would steal them for their own ends. For her part, Myrden has become a kind of reluctant poster girl for medici nal marijuana use. Myrden's lobbying efforts come after smoking marijuana helped rid her of her morphine dependence and the MS Society is behind her actions. It's about time Health Canada acted on the situation for all those who face needless pain on a daily basis. JPLEDGE tothe QUEEN# C A N Ywe JUST R E C IT E T H E"I A MC A N A D IA N " BEER C O M M E R C IA L flSBGE INSTEAD? .U , cn> L etters to th e Editor The Oakville Beaver welcomes your comments. All letters must be typed, signed and include the writer's address and phone number. Send to: Letters to the Editor, The Oakville Beaver 467 Speers Rd., Oakville, Ont. L6K 3S4 Compulsory patriotism an ugly concept If there were any lingering doubts that the Harris government is essentially government by the hicks, for the hicks, such doubts must surely now be laid to rest. The latest decision to force school children to take an oath of alle giance and sing a patriotic song every morning reflects the very depths of their hick nature. The essence of all hicks is their overwhelming confidence that their own smug, limited world view is the only one that matters and, there fore, they have the right to cram their values down the throats of everyone else. They cannot see -- they do not wish to see -- that it is sim ply wrong to force other people to take oaths they do not wish to take, or to sing songs they do not wish to sing. What makes Canada a wonderful society to live in -- despite the third rate quality of our politicians -- is our tolerance, our freedom of conscience, our sense of community, and our civility. This latest initiative -- at once a reflection of, and a distraction from the vacuity of the Harris agenda -- strikes at the heart of such values. Compulsory patriotism is always an ugly thing. Those who wish to take oaths of fealty to Elizabeth Windsor and her dubious brood may do so -- three times a day if they wish -- but they have no right to compel other free consciences to do likewise. Supporters of this initiative, cite the Americans and their pledge o f allegiance as an exam ple to em ulate, although why anyone would want to echo the American yahoo mentality escapes me. In any case, Americans do not pledge allegiance to the person of Bill Clinton. The oath of allegiance to Elizabeth Windsor more closely resembles the oath that all German soldiers once took to the person of Adolf Hitler. Some, of course, will argue that Elizabeth is only a symbol. But of what? I see her as a symbol of an antiquated class snobbery that continues to corrode British society from top to bottom. She has nothing to do with modem Canadian values. As for `O Canada,' anyone who wishes to sing this song should be free to do so, but it is plain wrong to compel others to do so, just as it would be wrong to force them to dance a jig, or to get an Ernie Eves haircut. Once again, we get a glimpse of Mikey Harris, schoolyard bully, twisting arms and forcing others to say and do what he wants. Even com pared with other national anthems, `O Canada' is a dreary tune with sin gularly inane words. For m illions of us, Canada is NOT our native land. To compel young people to sing such nonsensical drivel is offensive; to force them to sing it approximate ly 2,000 times in their school career must sure ly be cruel and unusual punishment for some unspecified crimes. It seems -- as so often the case -- that life is imitating art. Some 30 years ago, Monty Python spoofed Canadians as out-to-lunch backwoods hicks in plaid shirts and mounties' uniforms. Now we seem to be locked into just such a bizarre Python sketch. Perhaps, when the kids return to school in September, instead of singing `O Canada,' they should give a rous ing chorus of 'I'm a lumberjack and I 'm OK. ' G e o r g e P a tr ic k Letter of th e W eek Hunting guide issue about censorship , Re: Motion to ban in school libraries, the H unter' s Guide as distributed by Ontario Federation of Anglers t and Hunters I am not about to defend the distribution of the H u n te r' s Guide or the book itself. They need no defence. The full contents of the book and the reason ing behind its distribution to all secondary schools in Ontario have been more than adequately reported in this newspaper and other assorted media throughout the province. The issues go far beyond what appears on the surface. Good modern pedagogy, value systems, and cen sorship are the concerns here. As any educator will tell you, teaching is more than imparting knowledge. Every day, teachers present information so that their students are taught how to make choices, how to make conscious decisions that will affect their lives in the future. M aking this book unavailable to students deprives the students o f m aking that choice. The Hunter' s Guide offers innumerable opportunities for open discussion and honest debate on to pics that many people find difficult, if not impossible to talk about because of their own value systems. Value systems are personal and often difficult for those with conflicting values to understand. No value system is wrong. Indeed, they are all right provided, of course, they are within the laws that govern us. I am a hunter. I use guns. I can understand why others do not hunt or use guns. I do not try and force this value on others. It would be wrong for me to do so. It is equally wrong when people try to force their own value systems on any other individual or group, and that is what is happening here. The infliction of these values on others is manifesting itself in censorship. The Halton Board o f Education has had to deal with attempted censorship in its libraries before. Now. it seems, it could be guilty of the same moral crime. I would hope not. Instead of trying to be "correct," the Halton Board should do what is right. Rescind the motion to return the H unter' s Guide. Failing that, the motion must be defeated or our school libraries will become empty, because every book will have some material in it that will offend someone's value system. J im E t h e r i n g t o n Speak out about sustaining our northern environment I would like to thank Liz Behrens for her letter discussing the north Oakville expansion. She clearly explained the process and attempted to answer some burning questions. However, I think it's important to share some additional information with you. In 1976, the Region of Halton established the Ecological and E nvironm ental A dvisory Com m ittee (EEAC) to provide technical advice on matters and issues affecting Halton's natural environment. EEAC does not have decision-making powers, but com ments provided by EEAC are con sidered by Regional Council and staff when making decisions and formulating Regional positions on various issues. The Town o f O akville has requested that EEAC comment on the North Oakville Strategic Land Use Options Study, aka the north Oakville expansion. I'd like to share some of EEAC's comments and recommendations with you here. 1. EEAC is concerned about the ability of the land to sustain a pop ulation of 50,000 additional resi dents and 900 hectares of employ ment land. (These figures suggest ed in the Halton urban Structure Plan, OPA #8.) EEAC believes that the Town needs to consider the environmental information learned from the environmental study in determ ining the "quantity" of development to take place in the area. "When HUSP determined the development "quantities" for this area, they did not have the benefit of the natural heritage information, nor did they have the stated objec tive of protection of Category 1-4 lands. Now that we have this infor mation and the protection objec tives, the land use needs to reflect these facts. The "quantity" num bers should not be used as justifica tion for relaxing the objectives of protection for Category 1-4 lands. 2. EEAC is "concerned about the tight schedule that Oakville has set. This is the last opportunity for Oakville to control what kind of land uses go where in its remaining lands. Oakville should not submit to the pressures it may be feeling from the development community. Oakville's first priority should be to address the needs of Oakville, not the needs of developers." 3. EEAC is questioning the Town's intention to build a Bumhamthorpe bridge. `Though it has been stated that protection of Categories 1-4 is important to the Town, the stated intention that a Bumhamthorpe bridge across 16Mile Creek will be built in the future contradicts this objective. Given the tremendous cost and potential mass ecological destruc tion of a Bumhamthorpe bridge (one needs only look at the current 407 construction project in the same area to view the potential), the current planning exercise should work towards a broad com munity design which reduces or eliminates the need for this bridge. Planning the layout of the commu nity now without this considera tion, eliminates the options in the future. The multi-million dollar savings from eliminating the need for the bridge, could be used for acquisition of environmentally sig nificant lands now." The entire EEAC report is a great read (and it's short!) You can obtain a copy by calling the Region at 825-6161 ext. 7200. If you care about leaving a "living legacy" to your children, please share your concerns with Council and the Mayor. There will be a public information meeting on May 18th at 7:30 p.m. at Town Hall. Please come and speak up. Any ques tions? Contact <oakvillegreen@hotmail.com>, check the website at <http://members.theglobe.com/oakville>, or call 847-9990. R e n e e S a n d e lo w s k y Pud P U D / R oB E K T s School libraries different It is really simple -- not bizarre. I am a school librarian and would like to respond to your editorial published on Fri., April 21st, 2000. I am not in support of censorship (few librarians are) nor do I believe that a book about hunting and gun-handling will precipitate acts of violence in our hall ways. Simply put, school libraries are not public libraries. Unlike public libraries, which serve a wide range of patrons and reading tastes, school libraries exist to support the cur riculum. Hunting and gun-handling are not part of our cur riculum, and I have never had a student or a teacher ask me for books on the subject -- there is no need for me to have the book in the library. The OFAH could have saved themselves a lot of time and trouble and simply asked us if we needed the books. Were I a librarian in a public library, I would have catalogued the book and put it on the shelf. C y n t h ia W illia m s o n by Steve Nease M A I E V E R G LAD fm L ,- m A T W / 6 ,, Y O U 'R E . H O M E /, v q u it e ' Home fro m u n iv e r s it y THE. GREETING, > ---------- / 'liiV "TUE£ES ALOTOF PRESSU RE co OLPESTKID INTHE HOUSE1 T