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6 economist sunsuntribune saturday march 29 2003 s suntribune a metroland community newspaper 34 civic ave stoufmlie on l4a 7z5 publisher ian proudfoot opinion editor in chief debora kelly business manager robert lazurko director marketing new product development brenda larson advertising director retail flyer sales nicole fletcher advertising director classified real estate events management gordpaolucci letters to the editor thanks for helping badger nfld we wish to thank all those who helped in our fundraising efforts for the town of badger nfld which was devastated by flooding feb 15 your participation at our st patricks in the bay fundraising dance at the cedar beach pavilion in whitchurchstouffville along with personal contributions enabled us to raise 1500 for the red cross town of badger flood relief fund special thanks to the performers the murphy brothers uncle al and gals and the volunteers who donated their services statistics canada reports of all canadians newfoundlanders are the most generous donors to charities and we are delighted so many friends of newfoundland responded to our appeal and reciprocated so generously johnhawco fona friends of newfoundland assoc markham tory budget ignores constitution on thursday a provincial budget was pre sented by a finance minister appointed by a premier with no mandate from the people while this is not extraordinary the fact it was not presented in the legislature is this amounts to nothing less than a unilateral change to our constitution j the constitution consists not just of the constitution act but a series of unwritten rules and precedents dating back hundreds of years this represents a clear breach of this unwritten but most important part of our constitution this is a threat to democracy the present evesharris government seems to believe democracy like the 01yrripics is an event that happens every four years democracy is a process that should be a continuing part of the political process part of this process involves the working of the leg islature arguably the most important busi ness of the legislature is the presentation and approval of the annual budget instead of a such a budget we had a pre sentation to a select audience ot people favoured by the eyesharris government in a building owned not by the people of ontario but by auto parts manufacturer magna ind i listened to finance minister janet ecker explain her reasons for this last week on tvo and was so disgusted i had to turn off the tv her supercilious smirk said it doesnt mat ter what anyone says this is what we are going to do i mr eves himself seems to think because we are in a new century old democratic rules should not prevail over the last eight years his party has shown it shares his belief there is little democracy left in ontario my biggest concern in all of this is our letters policy the stouffville tribune welcomes your letters all submissions must be less than 400 words and must include a daytime telephone number name and address the tribune reserves the right to publish or not i publish and to edit for clarity and space letters to the editor the tribune 9 heritage rd markham on l3p1m3 email ietters0econ5uncom for reliable intelligent opinion on the war in iraq we turn to the lf-ct- x 04 staf tuned fbr corner ifttrt mm w ml m ml 8ami wm m strong voice for markham remember the 1999 campaign slogan dave tsubouchi where was he when education and health care were decimated people were killed in walkerton and hydro was ruined mn tsubouchi is not a strong voice he is not even a weak voice he is no voice markham has to wake up are we a sleepy lazy suburb content to have a nonvoice rep resenting us if i lived in oakville represent ed by speaker gary carr also a tory i would at least know i was represented by a person who cared for and understood democracy ernie eves action on the budget disgusts me mr tsubouchis inaction does not sur prise me wayne black markham too much spent on minorities re minorities not getting help march 22 when will tony wong and others under stand that markham and york region are an englishspeaking community why do they think departments or posi tions should be set up on the backs of the tax payers to help people who do not speak the language yes some of them are taxpayers too but they are taxpayers in canada where english and frenchare the operating languages i believe the chinese community should be responsible to help its own people who have language or cultural problems the towns budget for translation has increased dramatically and i think this is a disgrace why should i in my englishspeak ing community pay for translation services for immigrants who want to live here know ing full well what language was spoken no i am not racist i have many friends who are chinese and they speak anywhere from very little english to good english and very often they dont frequent our small busi nesses either if i were markham council id worry about losing all our englishspeaking businesses if i were the region i would worry about being forced to provide translation for all immigrants if you do it for the asian commu nity you must do it for the rest that applies to markham too jan rogers unionville why dont we just switch sides whats- the difference between exercising freedom of speech and airing dirty laundry in public if you watched the academy awards on tv earlier this week you too might be asking yourself that question if i didnt know better i would say theres not one american standing behind us president george bushs decision to wage war against iraq was that public outcry the sweetness of liberty or just democracy gone sour funny thing is while prominent americans were rebelling against their lead ership canadians have been slamming our prime minister for not going to war why dont we just switch sides sandra reed markham iraq war is immoral illegal the federal governments decision to stay out of the war in iraq is correct because the war is illegal and immoral the decision not only shows prime minister jean chretiens out standing statesmanship but more importantly it signifies a milestone in our history with glowing hearts we see thee rise the true north strong and free nothing could be more exciting and gratifying than to realize we have grown up and matured as a nation never mind the worthless outcries of the progressive conservative and alliance par ties nothing short of a complete union with the united states will shut them up because these are the people who still find comfort under the skirt of the americans these are the people who do not have spines whenever there is criticism of the united states by members of the liberal party they would jump up and attack them however when there is criticism of canada from south of the border they do not have the guts to stand up to defend the land that has nurtured them it must have been a difficult decision for the federal government because of our dependence on the us market that depen dence will also hurt our political unity a case in point is the recent motion in albertas legis lature to support the war against iraq it seems that in some provinces at least decisions made in washington have much more bearing than those made in ottawa therefore ottawa should take the bizarre motion in alberta seriously and reexamine our trade policy we should diversify and seek new trading partners as a counterweight to the us mar ket the stick the american ambassador has threatened us with should serve as a warning we should not allow ourselves to repeat what happened to hawaii its dependence on the american market for sugar exports result ed in its annexation by the us we need to realize the expansion of the us is quite different from earlier european colonizers in that direct political control has been substituted with trade and commerce us secretary of state james blaine 1830- 93 once said canada is like an apple on a tree just beyond reach let it alone and in due time it will fall into our hands as a nation among nations rather than of a nation we should stand on guard yiyang unionville editorial editor jim mason neivsroomeconsuncom advertising retail sales manager steve kane skaneymgcom sales manager new business development distribution dawna andrews dandrewsymgcom classified manager ann campbell acampbellymgcom real estate manager mikerogerson mrogersonyrngcom production electronic communications manager john futhey jfutheyymgcom distribution distribution manager barry black bblackymgcom administration office manager vivian oneil vonetlymgcom york region events managing director debra weller dtvellerymgcom shows manager staceyallen sallenymgcom york region printing general manager bob dean bdeanymgcom editorial 9052942200 fax 2941538 advertising 2942200 classified 1-800- 7433353 fax 8534626 distribution 9051948244 ebeiaillpb canadian ontario press circulations audit council board member suntnbune a york region newspaper group community newspaper the stoufmlie tribune published every thursday and saturday is a member of the metroland printing publishing and distributing ltd a whollyowned subsidiary of tbrstar corporation metroland is comprised of 70 community publications across ontario the york region newspaper group includes the liberal serving richmond hill and thomhillvaughan citizen markham economist sun stoufmlie tribune stouffville sun georgina advocate york rcgkm business times at home good life yorkregkmcom and york regton printing uu j if hllti i t fj f 4 v- l t 4 i m mmjl i