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n his letter published recently in the IWaIerlm) Chronicle, Dr. Reid is clear that he feels the Canadian legal sysâ€" tem does not recognize homosexual mamages. While this is indeed a hotly debated issue at this time, [ considered it to be of secondary importance by the time I had finished reading the letter Of greater consequence is Dr. Reid‘s attitude towards this issue. Heas of the opinien that the law is right to prevent such unions He states that history has demanstrated that marmage hetween a woman and a man is a fundamental It is common in today‘s society that many people have made the decision not to stop and help drivers when vehicles break down on the side of the road. Many have instead made use of their cell phones to call a local radio station and report that help is needed. Safety is a necessary Biased tradition is not an excuse for judicial stagnation It was around noon and 1 was crossing the parking lot at a local plaza when I slipped on the ice and went down. I badly twisted my knee and was unable to get up off the cold wet cement by myself for several minutes. While there trying to regain my comâ€" posure and footing, four vehicles drove right past me and did not stop. I was shocked that so many people could just pass right by and not stop, or possibly not even notice that a woman was on the ground hurt, cryâ€" ing and in need of assistance. aterloo prides itself with Wbeing a community full of helpful and friendly neighâ€" bours. Whenever people have been in need, the residents have respondâ€" ed overwhelmingly with donations of both money and needed items. Having been a resident for over 10 years now, 1 have become a proud member of the community. Which is why I was so surprised and greatly disappointed last Sunday when I was in obvious need and no one stopped to help. Calling all Good Samaritans of Waterloo You said it WHAT ARE YOU DOING TO CELEBRATE VALENTINE‘S DAY? QUESTION t 8). I am quite certain that his views are not shared by the majority of longtime residents in the city. Most people have chosen to live in Waterloo precisely because it has a small town feeling. If we continue to Many chose to live in Waterloo because of its smallâ€"town feeling ne wonders who is running OWaterloo, the elected city council or the nonâ€"elected city staff. Mr. Greg Romanick, the city‘s head of development services, is reported to have no problem with a growth rate of more than 1,000 new homes annually (Record, Feb. disagree with this position, 1 question the accuracy of these assertions. They clearly demonstrate a lack of historical and crossâ€"cultural knowledge on Dr Reid‘s part The original inhabitants of North America saw no threat in homosexualâ€" ity or gender vaniance. Before coloniza tion, same sex. marmages: flourished and no inbe was the worse for it Many other cultures share this accepung att1 tude towards same sex â€" marnage Among them jre the [gho of Nigeria and the Suerot the Seuthern Sudan issue that we all must deal with while interacting with strangers and that is completely understandable. I fail to see, however, the immediate danger or risk 1 posed while lying injured in the parking lot. No one knew that both my husband and daughter were sitting in the coffee shop just a few hundred yards away. Had someone been willing to go in and announce that a woman had just fallen my husband would have come right out to help (me or anyâ€" one else who had been in need). The next time you are driving around this wonderful community "Me and a group of my friends don‘t really believe in Valentine‘s Day, so we‘re just going to do someâ€" thing together like have some wine and eat some pizza." "Nothing really. I‘ve got an exam on Valentine‘s Day, and another one the day after, so I‘ll just be studying. My girlâ€" friend‘s got exams O THE CHRONICL! Becky Pearson Brian Pistor COMMENT We are already witnessing severe global degradation as a result of massive human population growth. Why do we continue to buy into an anachronistic philosophy which asserts that bigger is better? grow at the present rate, then Waterloo will become just another Mississauga engulfed by acres of unimaginative subdivisions, ugly commercial sprawl and overcrowdâ€" ed streets. legalization of sameâ€"sex marriage would only be a "reâ€"definition" of the institution in North America for the limited time that Europeans have been the dominant culture. Dr. Reid says that 19th century legislators didn‘t find it necessary to define the "obvious‘ which is that marriage is the union between one man and one woman He neglects to consider this is only ‘nbwious" to heterosexuals of select cultures It was not just Dr. Reids ethnoven tmacatutede that concerned me wher of ours and you see someone who might need assistance, think about stopping and asking. You don‘t need to get out of your vehicle or put yourself or your passengers in any danger. The person may just need a friendly voice to help them gather the strength to get back up off the ground after falling and injuring their pride. But if, like me, someone really could use a hand getting back up, you would be one of the "Good Samaritans" that I know live in Waterloo. "I‘m not doing anyâ€" thing at all. I‘m not a Valentine‘s Day kind of girl." "My girlfriend‘s going back to Mount Forest, but [ thought 1 might send her a singing telegram or rent a limo and go see her." intunued on page Peter Wehrspann Andrea Rooney David A. Crow, Waterloo Sheri Fielder, Waterloo * Halton Region: "Almost half (46 per cent} of renter houseâ€" holds surveyed are paying more than 30 per cent of their income on rent while 37.6 per cent of renters both pay more than 30 per cent of income on rent and carn less than $30.000 a vear * Durham Region (home of Mr. Elaherty) "The official vacan cy rate is zero," says Pickering Coun. Maurice Brenner. "Durham does have 5,554 subsidized housing units of one kind and another but we also have over 5000 people on the waring list They could be warting seven years lim Haherty and his coileagues may beleeve that pretending a problem caes notumgest sodl enakoe ot so es | know fora faet There is a tendency on the part of those who advocate doing nothing about homelessness to assume that it is just a downâ€" town Toronto problem â€" one that doesn‘t affect the affluent areas of Tory support. To its credit, the City of Waterloo realizes the fallacy of that argument, having just appointed a task force on affordable housing. Municipalities in the 905 area have already come out with reports that condemn the Tories‘ approach on the issue. Consider the following excerpts of those reports, as quoted in a Feb. 8 column by David Lewis Stein of the Toronto Star: * Peel Region: "The government of Ontario insists that the private sector always has been and will continue to be the leader in the creation and maintenance of rental supply in Ontario. However, in the past 20 or more years, the private sector has produced virtually no rental housing..." * York Region: "Declining vacancy rates are not the only conâ€" cern with respect to rental accommodation. Analysis shows the rental stock that is available is becoming increasingly expensive, primarily due to the elimination of rent controls." In an analysis of the poll results, p‘ wat i former Harris pollster Allan Gregg i writes that, "The past five years have 4 witnessed a profound change in the priorities and publicâ€"opinion agenda SCOTT of Canada. Throughout the 1980s and PIATKOWSKI well into the midâ€"1990s, Canadians‘ concerns revolved essentially around economic issues... Indeed, over this period of time so few Canadians cited social issues as "the most important problem facing the country" that those issues did not even register in the first 11 years of the Maclean‘s survey. All that started to change in 1996, when we found 11 per cent of respondents mentioning social issues as their dominant, topâ€"ofâ€"mind concern. Today, that number has grown to almost half the population, as social issues eclipse any other category by a ratio of more than 4:1... Both elites and the population, for the first time in three decades, will be forced to turn their collective attention to social issues." The good news is that, despite the Harrisites and others‘ conâ€" tinuing attempts to ignore and downplay Ontario‘s housing and homelessness situation, more and more people agree that it is a crisis and that urgent action is needed to combat it. A yearâ€"end poll published in Maclean‘s found that 85 per cent of Canadians (including 84 per cent of Ontario resiâ€" . _ dents) "strongly agree" or "somewhat |f Ee e agree" with the statement: "Increase | ANOTHER | spending to eliminate homelessness" } VIEW | {while only nine per cent ‘strongly disâ€" . | * agree" or "somewhat disagree" with | w \”’-!&;;; S the statement; and five per cent say :“ n § | they are "neutral" on the issue). This f o was the second highest level of agreeâ€" § w * & _| ment registered in the survey (after |[** i\ e }"' increased spending on health care). ? "b a J He went on to talk about changes in mental health and jusâ€" tice policy that would eliminate or reduce the number of people on the streets. In other words, the homeless crisis will be dealt with by attacking the victims, and locking them up if at all posâ€" sible. Of course, homelessness is first and foremost a housing problem, and any provincial cabinet minister has to be very dumb or completely heartless to see it as anything but that (thereby ignoring the obvious solution: housing). Flaherty is certainly not dumb. im Flaherty, Ontario‘s new minister of finance, wasted little time after his appointment in living up to his image as an extreme right wing zealot. During a Feb. 12 interview on CBC adio One‘s Metro Morning, host Andy Barrie asked Flaherty about the "widely held perception" that the Harris government doesn‘t care about the disadvantaged and powerless of our sociâ€" ety, most specifically the homeless. Flaherty responded by downplaying what he dubbed "the soâ€"called homelessness problem®". The soâ€"called homelessness problem | ANOTHER t (al |§sw w:‘*Ԥ| A NT