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economist sunsuntribune saturday sept 27 2003 suntribune a metroland community newspaper 34 cmc ave stoufmlle on l4a 7z5 publisher ianproudfoot editor in chief debora kelly business manager robert lazurko director of production john futhey advertising director retail fixer sales nicole fletcher advertising director classified real estate events management gord paolucci letters to the editor abandoning high school debates black mark for tsubouchi a strong voice for markham this is markham mpp david tsubouchis election campaign slogan but where is that voice when we need it when asked to participate in a series of all candidates meetings at local high schools to discuss education issues he refused and would not send a representative even worse he wouldnt sign a release to allow the debates to go ahead without him predictably the true blue york region district schoolboard then decreed without him there would be no debates at a time when people across the political spectrum are expressing concern over the dirnimswng participation of young voters in the electoral process it is discouraging to put it politely that mr tsubouchi would undermine this admirable plan to bring candidates to the schools to interact with students it seems the tories education policy of putting kids first is limited to vilifying their teachers the only time mr tsubouchis strong voice can be heard is when he is telling welfare recip ients to buy discounted tuna gordbellmore unionville elect leaders who support keeping families strong in canada there has been alarming neg ative changes in the fundamental- building block of the canadian society the family unit is under attack and we need to open me eyes of the youth adults and more importantly citizens who maybe confused by a biased media citizens should look for leaders who care about the future we only have future through bur children and the children of our children why is a basic ancient and natural prin ciple of human life on earth is being distort ed by a small group of homosexuals homosexuals cannot form families on the contrary they threaten the con tinuation of the human species without the preservation of the family as a building block of our society weare simply lost citizens take action based on principles and saveyour country support the family unit and the natural definition of marriage carlos manjarres newmarket wasteful governor generals trip insult to canadian taxpayers gov gen adriehne clarkson and her husband john ralston saul are leading a procession of leftist ideologues on a three- week diplomatic mission to finland iceland andrussia taxpayers are paying for this opulent affluent yet superfluous trip coined the modem north fiftynine outstanding and exceptional canadians accompanied our de facto head of state including neosbcialist maurice strong former ndp premier bob rae and mark starowicz from the cbc in actuality before clarkson became the monarchys representative she was a mediocre writer and a rather unexceptional television host and producer for the cbc it seems most of her chosen careers have been financed by canadian taxpayers this european vacation epitomizes patronage and influence in the mosr grotesque fashion this is yet another example of the mis employed existence of this appointed offi cial the position of governor general was cre ated to not to be persuasive or alluring it must adhere itself firmly to neutrality such a trip demonstrates how but of touch the governor general is with canadians s what is the motivation behind this trip what do canadians really have in common with finland iceland and russia except for climate canada is geographically northern yet philosophically and economically western could it be coincidence ms clarkson and her elitist group are visiting counties inun dated with strong socialist histories the role of the governor general is to encourage national unity and moral leader ship the institutions responsibility is to repre sent the crown while celebrating the excel lence of all canadians ms clarkson and mr saul have used the office for propaganda and promotion canadians must question if the position has become nothing more than a burden on tax payers dysfunctional by nafure and symbol ically obsolete if ms clarkson had been elected her actions would have clearly been held accountable such an unavailing valueless and inef fectual expedition would not have been undertaken kirk sutherland markham david suzuki mixed messages obscure action atching the news it seems theres a new environmen tal crisis occurring almost daily global warming pol- lution habitat destruction species deple tion and extinction and much more the bad news is plentim and painful but then on a feirly regular basis a nice- looking man pops up and says eveiything you are seeing is an exaggeration the envi ronment is fine everythings fine go buy a new suv its ok such a nicelooking man to the average person it must be quite confusing are the stories on environmerital calamity really an exaggeration the quick answer is no on a global basis the environment we depend on for our lives is in trouble natural services that provide us with essentials like a stable climate clean water fertile soils and others are being depleted we are heading in the wrong directibri if we want to leavejthe next generation with the quality of life and opportunities my gen eration took for granted so why the mixed messages well part of the problem liesin the way the media present news stories first they are present- ed as episodic focusing on single events rather man issues and analysis second media stories are driven by conflict so reporters are always encouraged to find someone to contradict prevailing opinion ftirrring complex problems into a simpli fied false he says she says dichotomy and third there are wellfinanced inter- ests at work who have a vested interest in mamtaining the status quo scientists have a duty to warn society of any potential environmental problems but because of the incremental nature of science not all predictions made come to pass when that happens it enables critics to say there never really was a problem in the first place and environmental scientists are merely chicken littles it would be easy to listen to the nice lob byists who tell us everything is fine but waiting to take action will only make the good news less frequent and the bad news much worse take the nature challenge and learn more at wwwdavidsuzukiorg 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 hot publish arid to edit for clarity and space utters to the editor the tribune 9 heritage rd markham on l3p 1m3 email lettersdeconsuncom editorial editor jim mason newsroomeconsuncom advertising retail sales manager steve kane skaneyrngcom sales manager new business development 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