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economist sunsuntribune saturday march 11 2006 tstouflville mmm suntnbune a metroland communis newspaper 34 civic ave 3rd floor stouffville on l4a 7z5 publisher ian proudfoot editor in chief debora kelly director interactive media and technology john futhey director advertising and distribution barry black business manager robert lazurko director circulation systems lynn pashko marketingpartnerships director debra wetter york region printing general manager bob dean letters to the editor students get green message conference helps students get behind envi ronment feb 16 in the last year the childhood veil over my eyes has completely come off and the problem that has hit me the hardest is the damaged environment when people say its never been this hot before or why isnt there any snow there usually is at this time of year i am heartbro ken knowing this is a reality and humans did this around me i see wasted water pointless uses of cars and careless destructive acts that could have been prevented i believe these presentations raise aware ness in a fun nonaggressive way who would you pay attention to more your nagging par ent or a fun public speaker i know that teenagers being one myself would rather laugh or feel welcome than get yelled at by having presentations come to the schools with tun and interesting people the message will reach more people quicker if theirmessage which is saving and preserving the environment is listened to and thought about students will realize how much they are taking advantage of the nonrenewable earth the most important concern is the preser vation of our planet humanity has been self ish in the past using fossil fuels hunting and wasting water but i think we should learn from our mistakes in the past and undo the wrong we did to earth i think sometimes we choose luxury and privileges over wellbeing and health i think everybody must make sacrifices even if it means turning off the tap jessica carroll markham good news budget for town i applaud markham councils 2006 budget as it will continue to provide us with sustainable growth this budget will raise taxes but at least pro vide us with more services it should be stressed the additional money will go toward strength ening our community im also pleased this budget will continue to keep our town fiscally stable for many years to come i agree with the additional services this bud get has to offer we will receive more money for maintenance ofparks as well as the building of new ones it also pays for our much needed expansion at markham village library we will also get some money to maintain our roads and to build bicycle routes i believe that is a good step towards encouraging biking instead of taking our cars around as a student i believe the tax hike is fair since our taxes are based on property values all taxes benefit everybody one way or another for example this budget will be encouraging chil dren and their parents to play in our parks or visit the library instead of staying home calvin tan markham vfca lvnsiek see m ernes c0mkm9s0nefc now journal fracas makes everyone look had depending on your point of view whats been going on at the canadian med ical association journal cmaj is either a strange squabble between the academic elite and their bosses or a tense drama about freedom of the press and the role science plays in the media sign me up for the latter it started last month when two editors of cmaj canadas leading medical journal were abruptly fired by the publisher the journals editorial board promptly wrote a letter to the pub lisher requesting they be reinstat- ed in the meantime an acting edi tor was hired he agreed to take the position but only if the publisher accepted a governance plan that would ensure he and his staff would maintain their editorial freedom a week later he quit one can only guess why it turns out the original editor john hoey and the publisher cma holdings have been engaged in an increasingly public battle over edi torial independence in a jan 3 editorial dr hoey wrote while the dec 6 2005 issue was in preparation the edito rial independence of the journal was compromised when a cma executive objected strenuously to a news article we were preparing on behindthecounter access to emergency levonorgestrel plan b the objection was made in response to a complaint from the canadian pharmacists associa tion which had learned about the article when it was interviewed by our reporters the cmas objection was conveyed to cmajs editors and to our publisher who subse quently instructed us to withhold the article the publisher denies firing dr hoey because of his actions and instead wrote in a letter posted on the cmaj website stating it was merely looking for a fresh approach others say that the recent resig- david suzuki nation of the acting editor is proof dr hoey was fired for his insistence on editorial freedom it gets stranger in response to the firings an adhoc committee of the editorial board published a commentary piece entitled editor ial autonomy of cmaj again on the journals website in it the committee reviewed the events leading up to dr hoeys firing and concluded we view the episodes as raising serious concern about the integrity of the journal its reputation and its viability in the community of top medical jour nals this is on the journals own website talk about dirty laundry on one hand such a public air ing of grievances could be said to be beneficial to maintaining public trust in important institutions such as the cmaj because it lays all the cards on the table on the other hand it could be said to be making matters worse by making internal squabbles public and decreasing public trust in jour nals research and science in gener al one can only hope that some thing good comes out of this mess it would be naive to think that the cmajs tension between manage ment and editorial staff is an isolat ed incident indeed with so much research being funded by corporations with a profit motive and journals rely ing increasing on advertising the issue of editorial independence is becoming more and more press ing editorial freedom in a science journal as inthe media in general is essential with science journals this free dom must be especially transpar ent as editorial interference could have profound repercussions based on information from the cmaj website the publisher of the journal appears to have crossed the line on more than one occasion lets hope this is sorted out before the cmaj is relegated to the backwaters of journal rankings it deserves better a warning published on the journal website by the editorial committee says as much although it is overly optimistic in our view any attempt by the cma to impose its influence on the editors would be catastrophic for the cmajs rep utation as well as damaging to the reputation of the cma its a little late for that me the nature challenge and learn more at wwwdavidsuzukiorg letters policy the suntribune welcomes 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