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p8 wfiekendeiunovember 271993 afrfjrcf t-f- since when is it wrong to exercise religious traditions the voice on the other end of my telephone wednesday morning was that of an out raged senior citizen im disgusted roared my good friend ed raymer an unusually lucid and normally relaxed 88yearold man of god liness and good will have you seen the front page of the toronto star ed bel lowed his anger building theyve banned christmas at queens park theyre not going to allow any nativity scenes or anything related to jesus christ this christmas theyre only allowing things with a seasonable theme i cant believe it here we go again i replied the misguided ndp politically correct police smashing down time honored traditions in the name of trying to please all of the people all of the time ed still bristling said he had tried to phone mpp larry oconnor but had been forced to leave a message in the meantime he was trying to fig ure out how he could get through to provincial tory lead er mike harris he wanted to congratulate him for jumping all over the queens park decree censuring a tradition that has been with us ever since the first load of immi grants settled here some 400 or lazy maple sliced bacon 500 g 1 99 save 30 assorted varieties mixed vegetables 2 kg bag 1 99 i jos louis 1 99 p i i p 8409983 ii 6 pk with this coupon mammwmmmmm mm mm i pure pork sausage rolls j10pk 2 99 maxwell house ground coffee 300 g 1 69 tennenberrys cheese cakes 560 g 3 99 maple leaf vienna sausage 113g 79 chapmans ice cream 2 litre i 79 scarborough 830 passmore ave at markham below steeles e steele passmore store hours monwed 930 600 thufri 930 800 sat 930- 600 sun 10 600 from where i live bruce stapley i f c f v tf so years ago eds contention that canada is still essentially a christian country while constantly being challenged by the liberal estab lishment is essentially true the april 12 issue of macleans magazine cited results of a nationwide study conducted by the angus reid group the poll concluded that a full 78 per cent of the adult population of canada described themselves as christians the ndp itself won an electoral victory in 1990 that was a resounding majority despite the fact they garnered only 40 some odd per cent of the popular vote sure ly 78 per cent support for one particular religion shouldnt result in the dismantling of the icons which have always been associated with it and while ed acknowledged the rights to religious freedom of the other 22 per cent of canadians are inviolate he said it is surely a slap in the face to both serious and nomi nal christians alike to attempt to abolish the origin of christ mas at queens park ed insisted such a practice would never be tolerated in any other country in the world with such a pronounced national tradi tion he suggested the ndp gov ernment is applying the same code of discrimination to christmas as it did to its recent hiring campaign both were done in the interests of recog nizing the multicultural mix which has come to represent this country he offered but both were ultimately unfair and inflammatory the rage expressed by ed raymer an exemplary chris tian and a fair minded dedicat ed canadian should be duly noted by those who would out law christmas in the name of ethnic equality i have yet to have a member of any ethnic community in markham stouffville or uxbridge express to me a feeling that he or she is being discriminated against by the canadian tradition of acknowledging the origins of christmas to display a nativity scene or any other symbol of christmas is not to poke a stick in the eye of other faiths adhered to by the various minorities residing among us an internationally accepted symbol of peace and love is not an imposition even atheists and agnostics accept the symbols of the tradition of christmas along with the singing of carols its only proper to show such respect for a custom adhered to by the majority of canadians of all ethnic backgrounds but by trying to obliterate such a nonprovocative tradi tion the politically correct police are succeeding in inflict ing painful blows against peo ple like ed raymer people wanting nothing more than a once a year recognition of the origins of what is still the majority religious faith in canada