2 - Orono Weekly Times, Wednesday, September 18,2002 ) A 00 » (*C^A Subscriptions $29.91 + $2.09 G.S.T. = $32.00 per year. Publications Mail Registration No. 09301 • Agreement No. 40012366 Publishing 48 Issues Annually at the Office of Publication We acknowledge the financial support of the Government of Canada through the Publications Assistance Program (PAP)-toward our mailing costs. " ,SV/i :/h) l a til CLvnnjU'h .inj /-tT.'.-U Orono Weekly Times 5310 Main Street, P.O. Box 209, Orono, Ontario LOB 1M0 E-mail: oronotimes@speedline.ca • Phone/Fax 905-983-5301 Publisher/Editor Margaret Zwart The Orono Weekly Times welcomes letters to the editor on subjects of interest to our readers. Opinions expressed to the editor and articles are those of the writers and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the Orono Weekly Times. Letters must be signed and contain the address and phone number of the writer. Any letter considered unsuitable will not be acknowledged or returned. We reserve the right to edit for length, libel and slander. If your retail or classified ad appears for the first time, please check carefully. Notice of an error must be given before the next issue goes to print. The Orono Weekly Times will not be responsible for the loss or damage of such items. Business set-back Thanks Canada Post Most of us know, or at least have heard, how hard it is to own your own business. It sounds like a wonderful job to people who are working under a tyrant, but when the tyrant you work for is yourself, it can be horrendous (you can't get away from yourself at the end of the day). It's long hours and low pay for years, then hopefully, if you don't go bankrupt you end up making a nice living. But the statistics of businesses that fail are staggering. staggering. That's why it is so upsetting for a business owner like Miae Oh to be hit with a big blow right when she started started her business. When she bought PVR Variety in Kendal she factored in the business and compensation from the postal outlet which existed there. But whem she opened for business on September 5, Canada Post had , decided to take the postal outlet away. That's a hard 1 blow for a small business. When the townspeople used to come in every morning morning and get their mail, many inevitably picked up a paper, milk or snack at the same time. It was a social time for the people and a business booster for the store. Now the people pick up their mail from group boxes near their homes, or from mailboxes if they live in the rural areas. What does that do for the newly named Kendal Variety? Surprise, surprise, what used to be the busiest time is now very slow. Most businesses start off slow, but trying to get up from under a hit before you even start the fight puts you in a bad position right from the bell. Now many people have no reason to go to the small variety store, they can pick up what they need on their way to work, especially if the variety store was a little out of their way. The hub bub of neighbours sharing their news in the morning is gone, the store is quiet. In small communities it is the small businesses that give us that welcoming, homey feeling. When you walk into any business in town, you are always greeted with a smile and conversation is generally buzzing between everyone who walks through the door. You don't need to shop with a friend, because friends surround you. You don't have to wait in line, because hey, this ain't Oshawa. Local businesses are always giving to the community and making life fun and interesting for us all, like the scarecrow competition this week, and the chili cook off downtown Orono this Saturday. I'm looking forward to getting that small town feeling when I wander through main street eating chili that my friends and neighbours have cooked, and judging which is the best. It's just the greatest thing to be so connected to your community. But in order to keep that, we have to support the local businesses that give so much to us. And to Miae Oh, God bless you and make your business prosper, despite the set back. VIEWPOINT KyOtO PrOtOCOl by Alex Shepherd Canada should ratify the Kyoto Protocol even though it is unlikely Canada can meet its obligations under the agreement. People will think this is a rather strange position for the government to take. But ratification ratification will be an opportunity to get all levels of government focused on the reduction of greenhouse gases. There is no question that the world is warming due to industrial and commercial emissions. The signs are all too clear. Whether it is caribou moving further into Canada's north and starting their migration migration earlier, risking the lives of their babies, Western Canada's droughts, the world's temperatures temperatures are rising. Almost 1,000 Canadians die each year from respiratory illness brought on by air pollution. pollution. For those of us living so close to the smog coming from Toronto, our health is at risk. The debate regarding the reduction of admissions has gone on far too long. And really, really, this is part of the problem. As we debate the necessity to reduce admissions, we are, in fact, increasing them. But we must strive to leave a clean and healthy environment environment for the next generation with the intensity we had to ensure our fiscal environment was cleaned up. While many people support the initiative to get going with some form of government policy policy few see how they would be personally impacted. Our industrial sector is arguing they would have a terrific terrific cost to bear to implement Kyoto. At the same time no one has taken the time to estimate estimate what the cost would be if we failed to implement Kyoto. Failure to implement means incurring huge health costs, as well as, tremendous opportunities lost in the development development of new technologies. An emerging industry in environmental technology can create thousands of jobs and opportunities which we will miss out on if we do not assume a leadership role. Untimely Kyoto, or whatever whatever environmental policy is undertaken, means changing our lifestyle to some extent. For instance it isn't good enough to reduce vehicle admissions and create better alternative fuels, if individually individually we have more cars which consume higher volumes of fuel. Policies which impinge on people's ultimate freedom, which is the freedom of the individual to travel, are often met with negative responses by legislators. Perhaps an option would be to implement tax legislation that would reward those Continued paff 3