The following text may have been generated by Optical Character Recognition, with varying degrees of accuracy. Reader beware!

very special museum is openâ€" A-i'ng in Normandy, France on une 6 â€" 59 years to the day, after Canadians landed on Juno Beach on Dâ€"Day. I feel it is important for all Canaâ€" dians to learn about Canada‘s miliâ€" tary heritage. I have been a member of The War Amps Child Amputee (CHAMP) program for 18 years. I am missing both hands and my right leg. Through the association‘s Operaâ€" tion Legacy, I have had the privilege to talk to veterans who took part in the Dâ€"Day landings. I learned about their experiences while they were waiting to leave and how they felt Mayor Lynne Woolstencroft states that Waterioo can take on a lot more debt than Waterioo curâ€" rently has. The underlying reason why the residents of Waterloo are paying just under five per cent more in taxes over the previous year is due to the city‘s current high debt. So, it is only logical to assume then that if the mayor and her politicians undertake to happily mount on a lot more debt, as she says Waterloo could do, the hapless residents of Waterloo would be faced with tax increases greater than has been levied thus far this year Indeed, if "the corporation of Waterloo", with Woolstencroft as the corporate president, and her counâ€" cil as the board members of this corporation. were to take on a lot more debt each year, or in the case of corporations, each quarter. then I have absolutely no doubt that shareholders would very quickly Canadians should honour anniversary of Dâ€"Day Responsible government takes a back seat aterloo‘s actions in the Wr(-ccnl past right on to the present, with the RIM Park fiasco to Stockie‘s payout at taxpay â€" ers‘ expense, makes a mockery of the city‘s oftâ€"touted slogans "we‘re open for business", "the corporaâ€" tion of Waterloo" and "we will be lean and mean" You said it wWOULD YOU USE A NEW LIGHT RAIL TRANSIT SERVICE oUT OF CONESTOGA QUESTION Haubid:h There are many ways in which to learn more about our military herâ€" itage. The War Amps has produced a number of documentaries in its NEVER AGAIN! series, which comâ€" memorates and preserves Canada‘s contributions in past conflicts. There are two documentaries, which focus on the Dâ€"Day landings. Dâ€"Day: The Story of the Canadian Assault Troops tells the story of the landing, while Operation Charnâ€" when they landed on the beaches. I learned about the resistance they faced, but discovered that they overcame it and managed to go furâ€" ther than any of the other forces involved on the first day. dump their stock holdings in order to get off a "sinking ship". Who wants to continue to invest in a corâ€" poration that continues to create more debt for itself, when instead it should be turning a profit? This corâ€" porate president and its board members would very soon find themselves out of a job as this corâ€" poration becomes bankrupt Remember Enron? How can a city be "open for busiâ€" ness" if it sinks deeper into debt, necessitating higher taxes on corâ€" porations and other businesses in an effort to pay down this debt? 1 am sure that the corporate citizens in Waterloo are less than ecstatic when faced with this unhappy sceâ€" nario. Higher taxes forced on business in Waterloo certainly do not make for a friendly business environâ€" ment. I would venture to say that the primary reason for the rapid growth of highâ€"tech industry in Waterloo, particularly along the Columbia Street corridor, has everyâ€" thing to do with intelligent and aggressive entrepreneurship on the part of the business people who have spun these highâ€"tech indusâ€" tries off from the University of Waterloo, Wilfrid Laurier University "Do it up. It‘s like the old streetcars they had in Kitchener durâ€" ing my grandmother‘s day. A lot of kids would be going back and forth from mall to "I walk most of the time, but I would defi nitely use it in the winter." O THE CHR Tyler Parsons COMMENT Eyana Reid wood: The Canadian Battle for Caen documents the days after Dâ€"Day. Canadians in Normandy, which commemorates Canadian efforts through music, also may be of interest. All the documentaries are available at a costâ€"recovery price from The War Amps by calling 1â€"800â€"250â€"3030 or by visiting www.waramps.ca. I hope all people use the anniversary of Dâ€"Day as an opporâ€" tunity to learn more about Canada‘s contributions during the Second World War. and Conestoga College, which have existed here for many years and has absolutely nothing to do with the leadership qualities of Waterlao‘s politicians. In reference to the oft touted term "lean and mean". Waterloo‘s politicians were certainly being mean by forcing the taxpayer to cough up all that additional tax money to help pay for the mess they created with RIM Park. They certainly weren‘t being lean when it came to Tom Stockie‘s $739.000 golden handshake and with other large payâ€"outs that may be waiting in the wings. What Waterloo needs is a gov ernment with a modicum of finanâ€" cial responsibility and an intelligent decisionâ€"making process so that its share holders, the citizens of Waterâ€" loo, do get good value for their investments â€" a vibrant communiâ€" ty with a tax level that is more in line with what other communities are paying out. The politicians‘ loose use of slick catch phrases are a contradiction to the present realities that are being felt in Waterloo and are therefore absolutely meaningless. Courtney Gilmour, Operation Legacy member, Waterloo EBToK O s NT0 T "It‘s all good. What‘s it going to cost? If it costs the same as the bus, I‘ll take it." "I think it would be a good idea, especially if it costs the same as the bus." Klause Biemann, Kitchener Elizabeth Ross Fabio Ruiz As Graham Fraser noted in The e A Toronto Star, until the convention ‘ ANOTT IER "MacKay had been the safe choice, the ‘ VI E“" Canada Savings Bond candidate: low risk, but low interest." Always pegged as | the front runner in a leadership race marked more for its high attrition rates | of candidates than for any real exciteâ€" |@@ § . ment, MacKay was frequently subjected & to attacks from his opponents. Fellow ddest + | o Nova Scotia MP Scott Brison (who | e / ended up supporting Jim Prentice in an _ | C se unsuccessful attempt to stop MacKay) ’ \ 4) argued in one debate that "your probâ€" lem, Peter, is that no one knows what PIA%'(I:(%'I‘TVI‘SIG you stand for." Last weekend‘s events hardly do anything to dispel that critiâ€" cism. MacKay‘s subsequent waffling on what his deal with Orchard meant (was it backpedaling on a key policy plank as Orchard contended, or just an agreement to try to "make free trade work better"?) greatly magnified that image. Peler MacKay should be having a good week. After all, he‘s just secured the leadership of the Progressive Conservative Party of Canada, a position that he‘s coveted for years. And, the party‘s fortunes, while not great, are certainly better than that other right wing federal party. Instead, MacKay is being forced to defend the deal that he made to ensure his leadership victory. Longtime party loyalists are using words like "traitor" to describe him. One unidentified delegate told the Globe and Mail, "It was supposed to be about the leadership, and all 1 know is that the deal is all people are talking about. They‘re not talking about Peter MacKâ€" ay." The deal with David Orchard, who outgoing leader Joe Clark once described as "a tourist in the party" (others are even less charitable}, exacted a price that was almost unthinkable heading into last weekend‘s convention. In return for OrchardԤ support, MacKay promised not to merge with the Canadian Alliance and, more importantly, to create "a blueâ€"ribbon panel" (whatever that is) to review free trade. Orchard will be allowed to name the panel‘s chairperson. The deal is apparently a written one, although no one gets to see it (not even the Tory caucus). "We don‘t need a copy of it. We have to trust each other in this racket. 1 trust my new leader," said Newfoundland MP Loyola Hearn, a MacKay supporter. Writing in The National Post, political author and Liberal strategist John Duffy contends that "Their pact is either a betrayal of everything the modern Tory party stands for or a twoâ€"faced sucker job perpetrated on a hapless amateur. Either way, this loathsome backroom chicanery fundamentally compromises MacKay‘s reputation. Can anyone trust this guy? Is there anyâ€" thing he won‘t sell out to get ahead? More than compromising his own integrity, the rookie leader has seriously damaged the alreadyâ€"weak Tory brand. MacKay‘s wheeling and dealing evoked the worst of Mulroney‘s political style; he is now shredding the best of Mulroney‘s substantive achievements." Where is Peter MacKay taking the Tories? The day of the leadership selection was preceded by a day of speeches, including one from Mulroney himself who, in typical Mulroney fashion, boasted about the effect that free trade had had on the Canadian economy. "I think Canadians are saying, ‘Thank God we have a freeâ€"trade agreement with the United States of America.‘" Support for free trade is even entrenched in the party‘s constitution and MacKay himself referred to it in his remarks as "the crown jewel" among Tory achievements. The last time that David Orchard contested the Progressive Conservative leadership, I argued that only a massive ego and a poor sense of political strategy would convince someone that they should fight policies of globalization by trying to take over the party that authored them (presumably so that he can get the party to apologize). 1 still think that, but it now appears that Peter MacKay has an even worse sense of political strategy. The correct response if you‘re Peter MacKay and you‘re offered a deal by David Orchard is as follows: "You don‘t belong in this party. I don‘t need your support, and I‘m not going to sell out the party‘s prinâ€" ciples to get it." After a similar snub by the Prentice team (with whom Orchard had reportedly tried and failed to reach the same agreement), the Orchard delegates would surely have walked out or spoiled their ballots. MacKay was going to win the leadership anyway. so his deal with Orchard was just plain stupid. Defending the deal. MacKay said "I‘m not ashamed of anyâ€" thing I‘ve done â€" never." Noting that some had described the deal between him and Orchard as "a deal with the devil", MacKay argued that "describing (Orchard) as a devil is very inflammatory and negative and unhelpful and I don‘t see it that way." Perhaps MacKay should pause to reconsider who people are referring to as "the devil" in this deal. scott piatkowski@rogers.com ANOTHER e t