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Another statement of yours, dear Joel Corbeil, was: "But it is our sexuâ€" al difference that allows humans to give and receive each other‘s love fully and completety." Wrong! There is a definition of martiage on grounds of religion and a legal definition the state has to adhere to. The fact that finally the religious component in the definiâ€" tion of marriage will be removed from the Federal legislation is a long overdue step in the right direcâ€" tion. You can think of marriage as a union of man and woman blessed by (your) God, and in terms of reliâ€" gious freedom, this is your perfect right to do so. But the state who has to cover much wider ground cannot do this, and you as a citizen of this country have to respect the fact that other people might not think of marriage the same way as you do. We call this very important aspect "tolerance". Don‘t project your standards on others egarding the letters by Joel Rforbeil and A. Mahoney in esponse to Helen Conlon‘s article on gay marriage in the July 30 issue of Waterloo Chronicle: I am deeply disturbed how some people with Christian background project their religiously motivated perception of marriage into the public and claim this to be the one and only truth. Dear Joel Corbeil, dear Mr. or Mrs. A. Mahoney, has it ever occurred to you that the state has the obligation to represent the interests of all its people? Canada is a melting pot of different cultures and religions, and gays are part of our population with all the resulting rights and responsibilities. Alas, the state has to guarantee that they meet all their responsibilites and obligations as citizens/residents as well as to grant them the rights they are entitled to. One of these rights is the right of receiving an officially sanctioned union with their loved one. Dear Joel Corbeil, you write that "the definition of marriage is misâ€" understood in this day. .." You said it ARE YOU CONCERNED ABOUT THE NUMBER OF DOCTORS LEAVING GRAND RIVER HOSPITAL ? QUESTION Hanea When reading my last edition of The Chronicle I found it interâ€" esting that the Waterloo Minor Hockey Association is holding their summer golf tournament not at RIM Park. I found that somewhat interesting given that they were one of the interest groups lobbying Mr. or Mrs. Mahoney, you state: "We are living in a society where some people are still clueless as to the moral standards by which to live by." This is an outrageously arroâ€" gant sentence. Just because other A loving God will not condemn a ‘soul‘ for being inclusive Wrong again! A simple suggesâ€" tion: Go out there, contact gay couâ€" ples, and they will tell you that they feel as much love for their partners as you probably feel for your wife. It might also be a good way in getting to know people who do not share your religious views or even worâ€" ship other Gods. Practise a bit of tolerance, please! _ R;garding the attitude of the ope, Catholic bishops and other supposed Christians to same se marriage. According to the Creed there is one God who created and loves us all. I cannot believe how unâ€"Godly these supposedly Christian people are. Upon reflection, this sexist, homophobic attitude is why I left the Catholic church years ago. Hopefully, our politicians will not Minor Hockey sends odd message Guest columnists welcome The Waterioo Chronicle welcomes readers‘ opinions in the form of guest columns. Articles should be approximately 600 words in length and should be accompanied by a photo of the author. Please submit guest columns by eâ€"mail at editorial@waterloochronicle.ca, by fax at 886â€"9383, or by post at 75 King St. S., Suite 201, Waterloo, ON., N2J 1P2. "It‘s too bad. And the sad part is it‘s all about money. It‘s not about caring for people." "Health care is one of the most imporâ€" tant things in life. It‘s too bad there are a number of doctors leaving." THE CHRON John Wagner Jerry Anglin COMMENT NICL] heavily for the building of the park in the first place. fundraising for the park but this still sends an interesting message to the casual observer. succumb to this pressure to disâ€" criminate... a loving God will not condemn a "soul" for being incluâ€" sive. I am a heterosexual, practising Christian and I fully endorse marâ€" riage between two people who love each other. I totally agree with Scott Piatkowski in his column a few weeks ago and perhaps it‘s time more of us spoke up. Please don‘t project your stanâ€" dards onto other people. Leave them the right to be different, and don‘t block the way towards a legisâ€" lation which will treat everybody genuinely equal. > people might live by other stanâ€" dards which are not defined by the Bible does not make them "clueâ€" less". This is the same arrogance with which the Europeans once wanted to "civilize" the "wild" peoâ€" ples of Africa and the Americas. The result is known. I realize that they have done "It‘s sort of a worry. But I‘ve established contact with my doctors and dentists, so I‘m not that concerned." "It‘s a big concern. When a doctor leaves or goes out of practice, it‘s virtually impossible to get medical care â€" other than at a clinic." HRONICLE | Frank Eisenhuth, Brenda Higgins Alvin M. Taylor M. Knechtel, The 407 privatization is so synonymous with botched privatiâ€" zations, that the British Columbia Liberals determined that it would be political suicide to go ahead with its plans to privatize the Coquihalla highway (even after spending more than $3 milâ€" lion on the project). Despite their ideological similarities, the Campbell government has realized that the cutâ€"rate sale of assets favoured by the Harrisâ€"Eves government is no way to balâ€" ance the budget of their household â€" or a province. scott. piatkowski@rogers.com The best example of how not to sell a public asset came, not coincidentally, immediately prior to the 1999 provincial elecâ€" tion. The government sold Highway 407 for a paltry $3.1 billion in order to finance its tax cut of the week. In 2002, the buyers estimated that the highway was worth four times what they had paid for it. Meanwhile, tolls on the highway have more than doubled, bargain tolls for offâ€"peak hours have disappeared, and exorbitant fines for failing to pay have been applied on balances of less than 10 cents. The province refuses to renew the drivers license of anyone who has unpaid tolls (or who are among the 100,000 drivers who were reported added to the 407â€"ETR outâ€" standing account database in error) and includes unpaid adverâ€" tising for the highway in every automobile registration package, meaning that the owners assumed zero risk when they bought Last week, the members of the Ontario household got their first hint of exactly what might be for sale. Finance Minister Janet Ecker announced that the government is considering sellâ€" ing the 24 serviceâ€"station rest stops along two of its 400 series of highways. The rest stops currently bring in $8.5 million per year in lease payments from the major oil companies â€" money that would be lost forever if they were sold. If past experience is any indication, the sale will likely be for far less than the actual value of the asset. When the Tories were prepared to sell Hydro One, for example, their $8.5 billion price tag was well short of what electricity experts thought it was worth. Moreover, without any mandate to act in the public interest, the electricity distributor would likely have cost consumers untold billions of dollars in increased rates if privatized. It‘s not that the Harrisâ€"Eves governâ€" __j ment has been practicing a great deal of restraint in the sale of assets since SCOTT coming to power in 1995. According to PIATKOWSKI government numbers, they raised $321 million from asset sales and rentals last fiscal year. Of course, that‘s a far cry from the $2.1 billion that they forecast for that year. Having backed down on their plan to sell off Hydro One, there simply isn‘t that much to sell â€" espeâ€" cially if they continue to insist that TV Ontario and the Liquor Control Board of Ontario are not for sale. Unless the governâ€" ment is hiding some assets (an unlikely scenario), the numbers don‘t add up. In other words, Ernie Eves and Janet Ecker think that it‘s a good idea to sell 17 per cent of everyâ€" thing that the province owns in order on to make their books look balanced in | ANOTHER an election year. If they really were runâ€" . Mfi r n ning a household, their proposal | UIaL ‘ would amount to the equivalent of lopâ€" _ | P ping off the rdof in order to pay the | bills in the rest of the house. The probâ€" P | lem with this is twofold; first of all, ‘ | houses need roofs; and, secondly, this | |R i .. PP ‘ kind of accounting will only work for a â€" tm | short period before the homeowner ‘ h | has nothing left to sell. I d What lends an air of fantasy to the government‘s household budget is the Tories‘ reliance on the $2.2â€"billion sale worth of unspecified assets during the year. Buried deeper in the budget documents is an estimate that the total tangible capital assets of the government total a mere $13.2 billion. Still, for the purposes of this week‘s column, I‘m prepared to grant that the Ontario government is exactly like a household. In this case, the Ontario household is particularly proud of the fact that it hasn‘t run a deficit in the past four fiscal years and would like us to believe that it will be doing so for this year as well. Even without taking into account that these projections were made prior to the negative impact that SARS and Mad Cow disâ€" ease have had on the economy and goyernment revenues, most observers considered them to be opti?mgfic when they were first announced at an auto parts plant. ( :onservau'ves are quite fond of using the tired old "your government is like a household" analogy to make their point. Governments can‘t run deficits (even in bad ecoâ€" nomic times), they argue, because "if people ran their houseâ€" hold that way, they‘d soon be bankrupt" and unable to continue functioning. Of course, the analogy is more than a little simplisâ€" tic: many households seem to manage just fine with varying amounts of debt â€" from mortgages to car loans to consumer debt consolidations. Selling assets to pay the bills | ANOTHER } YIALY Ake) . B o _ | | PIATKOWSKI |