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PAGE 8 THE CANADIAN STATESMAN, June 12,2002 Editorial&Opinions FOR 146 YEARS, OUR FIRST CONCERN HAS BEEN OUR COMMUNITY •j Publisher - Tim Whittaker Editor-in-Chicf --Joanne Burghardt !- Managing Editor - Chris Bovic Regional Editor-Judi Bobbitt It Advertising Manager - Fred Eismont ;! Circulation Manager - Kirk Bailey , Composing Manager - Barb Harrison J Office Manager - Lillian Hook 3 EDITORIAL ! e-mail letters to iwwsroom@tlurltamretiion.com rl l Time to deliver 1 on child poverty J Prime Minister has a chance : to leave legacy to be proud of 2 It's been tough for Prime Minister Jean Chretien lately. But not nearly as tough as for the millions of • children living in poverty in this country. With Mr. Chretien surely thinking about his own exit strategy - whether before or after one more election election - there is a tremendous legacy he can leave to Canadians, should he have the courage and determina- . « lion to do so. That gift to Canadians would involve a comprehen- : sive and generous federal plan to eradicate child poverty in this wealthy nation. Shamefully little has been done to help millions of : poor children who suffer each day from malnutrition; who worry about having a roof over their heads; who : must deal with the trauma of a parent of parents stretched to the financial and emotional breaking ! point. ; Parliamentarians talked a very good game in November November 1989 when then Oshawa MP and NDP leader i Ed Broadbent moved a private member's bill support- ;; ed unanimously in the House of Commons to elimi- ■ nate child poverty by the year 2000. All agreed the problem was a travesty in a country Ü with the abundance of Canada. That our youngest and most innocent- citizens were stuck in misery, forced into great disadvantage so early in life, was considered ■; a critical problem. But since 1989, there has been precious little talk ! and virtually no action on the problem. Governments battled through tough economic times and sought tax cuts and deficit reduction/elimination as prominent goals. That may have been acceptable in the early and mid-1990s but there is no excuse for government inac- : tion over the past two or three years when governments governments have raked in multi-billion dollar surpluses. It's high time to use some of that surplus money to : help our most needy. '■ That's where the Prime Minister, who has shown of ■ late that he is absolutely in charge of the government, can do some good for our youngest citizens. There will be at least $6 billion or $7 billion in extra funds to put towards debt reduction and into social social programs. To make a serious dent in the child poverty problem, a large percentage of that money would have to be directed to ongoing and sustaining programs which would directly affect our children. Should the Prime Minister, who spoke in 2001 of dedicating his government to an attack on child pover- ! ty, live up to his pledge, the future of many iii this ! country will be much brighter. There arc hints the gov- ; ernment will get moving in the fall with a program at : -- tacking child poverty. But, as in 1989, we're still waiting for action. CLÀRINGTON i COMMENTS i f Father's Day is Sunday, June 16. Question: What docs • 2 your father mean to you? r Alexandra Marino Jim Fletcher ' "My father is my hero. He's the man 1 can count on and trust with anything. t He's the best man 1 know." James McLaughlin "lie's loving, caring, someone to look up to. He's someone to talk to when you have no one else to talk to and someone to keep you in line." "He means the world to me. He has pul up with all my stuff and always been there for me." John Wellman "He's a role model to show you've got to work hard for your money and learn to respect and cure about others or else he'll toss me in the army, We always always have a good time whenever we go out." Efie Canadian Statesman Former Publishers and Partners Rev. John M. Climie and W.R. Climic 1854-1878 M.A. James 1878-1935 • Norman S.B. James 1919-1929 G. Elena James, 1929-1947 • Dr. George W. James 1919-1957 John M. James, 1957-1999 Produced by Metroland Printing, Publishing & Distributing Ltd. Also Publishers of CLARINGTON THIS WEEK P.O. Box 481, 865 Farewell St„ Oshawa, Ontario L1H 7L5 TEL: 905-579-4400 FAX: 905-579-2238 E-mail: newsroom@durhamregion.com Publications Mail Registration No. 07637 DROP OFFICE: James Publishing, 66 King St. W., Bowmanville, 8:30 p.m. - 5 p.m. weekdays LETTERS TO THE EDITOR c-mciil Idlers to ncwsroom@iliirhamregion.com Dad a treasure for daughter To the editor: In 1953 I was working the night shift in the Halifax Dockyard Dockyard one October evening when I realized it was my father's birthday. birthday. So I phoned the telegraph office office to send him my love and greetings in time for his birthday. It was several days later I received received a letter from my beloved dad, Fred Harding in North Sydney. Sydney. He always began his letters to me with 'My Dear Grace,' then wrote in his unique and graceful style he had received the telegram. He said he opened it with shaking hands because he just knew he had won the 'Irish Sweepstakes.' But he continued, 'it was a much bigger prize, birthday wishes from my daughter, Grace.' What a treasure this dear father was to his six children! Grace Sweet Bowmanville Child porn must be fought To the editor: Child pornography is growing around the world and in Canada with devastating results for the child victims. In January 2002 alone, over one million pornographic pornographic images involving children children were seized by police in Ontario. Ontario. These images contained real children, not animation, and all depicted children and even infants infants being abused in brutal and perverse ways. What kinds of factors are causing such an increase in child pornography? For two years ending ending in January 2001, Canada's child pornography law was in limbo, having been declared unconstitutional unconstitutional because it restrict ed freedom of expression. The growth of the Internet and the uncertainty uncertainty of the law allowed people people to produce and distribute this material without being arrested. Since 2001 the law has been upheld upheld as constitutional, but the market for child pornography continues to grow: many people who had taken one look out of curiosity have become addicted. Last March, John Robin Sharpe, the B.C. man who wrote stories describing sexual acts and torture between adults and young boys was acquitted of possessing written written child pornography because the stories had "artistic merit." This is an outrage. Any glorification glorification of pedophilia is wrong and should be outlawed. Child pornography will continue to grow unless legislators and enforcement enforcement bodies get more support support from the public to fight against it. Our children and communities communities are at stake. Harriette Mostert Bowmanville Federal party looks after itself Ontario Liberals know all about 'friendly fire' - they have been damaged by their federal party before and there are indications indications it will happen again in an election next year. The federal Liberals have launched into a no-holds-barred brawl for leader between Prime Minister Jean Chretien and former former finance minister Paul Marlin, Marlin, with reverberations which will continue at least a year and probably more. Ontario is due for an election in 2003. New Progressive Conservative Conservative Premier Ernie Eves could hold it off for a year, but presumably will welcome the chance to call one when Liberals Liberals across the country arc calling calling each other nasty names and Liberal will mean mean-spirited and divisive. Ontario Liberal leader Dalton Dalton McGuinly is trying to mitigate mitigate damage to his party by asking asking his MPPs to avoid getting deeply involved in the federal squabbling, because this could create animosities that would make it difficult for Liberals to work together in his campaign. But this boll from above should not be a surprise to Ontario Ontario Liberals - they should be accustomed to their federal parly making elections more difficult for them. In the 1999 Ontario election won by then Progressive Conservative Conservative premier Mike Harris, Liberal backbench Ml's almost lined up to praise Mr. Harris's right-wing policies, One said he would not rush out to help the provincial Liberals because he liad many views on taxes similar similar to Mr. Harris's, Another said, "I like parts of what Mr. Harris is doing" and a third asked with dubious reasoning, reasoning, "Why should I help Mr. McGuinly? His chances are not loo good." Just before the same election the federal Liberals also increased increased transfer payments to provinces and it could not be argued argued they should have delayed such public policy io help a provincial opposition party. But did federal Treasury Board president Marcel Masse need to declare publicly this was a coup for Mr. Harris? The best-remembered impact impact by federal Liberals on an Ontario election was in 1975, when John Turner resigned as finance minister only a few days before the vole, charging prime minister Pierre Trudeau was not doing enough to fight inflation. This showed Liberals divided divided and gave Tory premier William Davis, who for want of provincial issues also had argued argued the federal Liberals were lax in lighting inflation, an opportunity opportunity to say the federal finance finance minister agreed with him, Ontario Liberal leader Boh Nixon maintained Mr. Turner could have hung in comfortably enough a lew more days and his Liberals would have won the election, The federal Libérais helped Mr, Davis win another election in 1981 when they could not resist resist praising him for the work he put in helping to secure a new Constitution. Just before another election in the 1980s the federal Liberals, Liberals, who are in government more and able to offer better career career advancement, lured four of their Ontario party's most promising younger MPPs including including Sheila Copps and Don Boudria to run for them. This left the Ontario Liberals to fight an election without a single sitting woman or francophone francophone MPP and looking unrepresentative unrepresentative of the community. community. Jim Bradley, then Ontario Liberal deputy house leader, complained to the federal party such raiding was a major reason provincial Liberal parties could not win government. There was an Ontario election election in which the federal Liberal Liberal government raised gasoline taxes 10 cents a gallon, which helped bring the provincial Liberals' Liberals' campaign to a quick slop, There also was the Ontario election when Mr, Trudeau tried genuinely to help, descending on a rally at Mr. Nixon's farm in a helicopter, like a messiah, but reporters found federal taxpayers taxpayers paid for the partisan Bight and that Liberal campaign stayed firmly on the ground, Ontario Liberal leaders have spoken out. David Peterson, before before he became premier, called Mr. Trudeau a "millstone" and a predecessor, Stuart Smith, refused refused to use the word Liberal on signs and letterheads, saying federal Liberals had made it "a very negative word." But the Ontario Liberals also made mistakes of their own and they have to accept their federal party lias a different agenda and always looks after itself first. Crystal Crimi Staff writer 'caimi@durhamregion.com A country surprise No matter how many years lived in a town with more animals than people there will always be a surprise lurking around in the bush. When I was eight my family traded the congestion of Scarborough for a town many are still unaware exists: Orono. Growing up in the sticks wasn't so bad. Falling asleep to howling coyotes instead of roaring roadsters and with moonlight rather than streetlight shining shining through my window was something something I got used to pretty fast. I didn't walk to the park to play on the swings. Armed with an ice-cream bucket I rode my banana-seat bike called 'The Blue Angel' to Wilmot Creek to catch minnows. Over time the 'Blue Angel' was replaced replaced with a 12-speed, on which I racked up more kilometres than on my car. I learned every shortcut in town. Life, believe it or not, was pretty adventurous. adventurous. Snowstorms, dirt roads, manure -1 thought there was nothing the country could offer which couldn't be handled. handled. What a misconception. More than a year ago, we moved deeper into the burbs and into the outskirts outskirts of Newcastle. Here, I recently encountered an animal that stopped my heart: the skunk. The little stinker sprayed my dog for a third time recently. The two previous previous times, I was lucky enough not to be around but I was right there that third time. While I was walking around outside outside with my .dog, I noticed the white- striped creature happily hop into the backyard. My dog was busy sniffing a bone until I hissed her name. Instead of following me, she noticed the skunk. Maybe she was trying to get revenge revenge or maybe forgot this same animal animal had already sprayed her twice before, before, but my dog couldn't resist running running at the fearsome beast. I swear I heard it release its stink bomb and perhaps perhaps even saw the mist hit my dog's face. Luckily I was far enough away from the battle to avoid the direct hit, but as the saying goes, misery loves company and my dog instantly ran to me to get the spray off by rubbing her face on my clothes. Fresh out of tomato sauce, I bathe her in tomato paste, which my dog both dreads and enjoys, stopping her whimpering every - now and then to lick the tomato taste from my cloth. Once doused, my next task was to carry her into the tub, and climb into it, to keep her calm enough not to jump out. So rural folks, next time you say you can endure everything the bush can offer, think again because there are always surprises. And if you haven't been sprayed, cross your fingers fingers and hope your luck lasts. THE CANADIAN STATESMAN is one of the Metroland Printing, Publishing Publishing and Distributing group of newspapers, The Statesman is a member of the Bowmanville Glaring- ton Board of Trade, the Greater Oshawa Oshawa Chamber of Commerce, Ontario Ontario Community Newspaper Assoc., Canadian Community Newspaper Assoc., Canadian Circulations Audit Board and the Ontario Press Council, 'flic publisher reserves the right to classify or refuse any advertisement. Credit for advertisement limited to space price error occupies, Editorial and Advertising content of the Canadian Canadian Statesman is copyrighted. Unauthorized reproduction is prohibited. prohibited. The Canadian Statesman welcomes letters to the editor, All letters should be typed or neatly hand-written, 150 words. Each letter must include the name, mailing address and daytime telephone number of the writer. The editor reserves the right to edit copy for style, length and content. We regret regret that due to the volume of letters, not all will he printed. Pax letters to 905-579-1809 or emailed to news- room(iri!durliamregion,eom <*S NA one ggj j^ociia ■1 cca