The following text may have been generated by Optical Character Recognition, with varying degrees of accuracy. Reader beware!

Waterloo should support ESL policy I gwen the opportunity to pre- Iserve a historically significant building for generations IO came, most people would jump at the chance. Well, the Region of Waterloo is trying to preserve our local heritage with a new Environmentally Semi tive landscape policy for the Laurel Creek Headwaters which will encompass the northwest corner of the City of Waterloo. as well as parts of the townships of Wellesley, Wilmot and Woolwich. U-pass system brings many benefits So why doesn't our natural her, “age get the same consideration? The goal is to leave these lands unchanged from their current der ignalion as agricultural land etc. to make sure that some of this natural greenspace is preserved for genera- tions to come. There was hope that the province's new greenbelt legislation would have done the work for us, but it mostly concentrated on area in the Greater Toronto Area and left the local municipality to fend for itself in protecting this I'm writing in response to your article "WLU students to get uni- versal transit access" (Chronicle May 5. 2005). The current parking situation on campus would ccriainly disputc this claim. as would a map of the housing locations of Laurivr slu- dents, A comment was made concern- ing the adequate housing sur- rounding our campus. therefore making this U~Pass unnecessary. As well. less cxponsiw housing further from WU] may now be Putting puhlic's eggs in one basket I'm guessing that this corpora- tion (controlling Loblaws. Zehrs. Vahrmart and many other food related businesses) handles any- where from 40 pt‘r cent to 60 per cent of southern (lmario's food supply and I’m (minus to find out what the m lunl number is, Media pvoplc an- In " hl'llt'f position In um uu'r that numhrr lhnn I am aving heard on TN about the HMblaws group of food busi- nesses consolidating and centralizing their warehouse from 14 to just two -- one in Cambridge now and one in Ajax later - I can not help but think that this is putting most of the public's eggs in one basket. mtheMay4.2ooorttti-rtttuhrxmiistmkntemuetttettt_taph_ort pageitti.The mtlimshouldhaven-tfiradeilmevflewfluynmhsflummmmmmpaedwkh tr-herstudtmtoit-ithttoprstotoatiq-atdenisMtmie-lortAddt27at Mountzionusthemrtoi-stniifiiheormtider-ttteemtr. , ' .".7, .. . LETTER CHROI his commendable that the region has decided to pick up the ball and run with it, with our city council's support Monday night. considering the development pressure the west side of Waterloo is feeling and the area around the Wilmot Line is now under. natural resource The policy would have lantiown- ers keep the current designation on their land and keep land specular tors out of the market as they look to flip properties for future subdivi- sion development in the area. The program also allows for 8,000 new hours of service added to routes surrounding WLU and fre- quent destinations such as shop- ping. bars and restaurants. more appealing to students who now have an easy way to get on campus. Late night service will ahso increase on many mums, increasing safety and reducing the reliance on cars and designated drivers. These service increases are all being developed with great student input - input which would not be The attraction to the area is the natural settings and environmen- tally sensitive properties that dot the countryside: but they wouldn't last long with the current pressure to build out the west side of Water- loo. Waterloo has to learn how to live within its means. or within its bor- ders in this case. and council showed some foresight by support- ing this policy. Af thirre is constant movement away from the core of Waterloo, Please do. While it probably makes sound financial sense to centralize their operations, it seems to me that the public good should take prece- dence over the profits of a C0rpora- tion and that there should be a law (perhaps under the federal anti- combines legislation) which limits the amount of the food supply any one group may control (like stock shares). It has occurred to me that if a psychopath, terrorist. disgruntled employee or something occurring through nature managed to let loose anthrax or some other pathogen or a luxir substance in one or both of these giant wart- hnuws, we would then low a large Jstae COMMENT FORM] there will never be the impetus to reclaim some of the brownfield sites and infill projects that the city will have to do as it runs out of room to grow. And while this does not address the unhealthful nature of many of the obesity causing processed foods distributed by this corporation. the corporation is putting a vital supply “a very vulnerable position by centralizing it all. or course, the city's support isn't popular with some of the landown- ers involved who are afraid of how these restrictions would affect the future price of their land. But this policy doesn't devalue their property: it just keeps some people from cashing in when they should be conserving. possible without the U-Pass. With almost 70 per cent of stu- dents in favour. I am fully confident all Laurier students will benefit from fewer cars in our parking lots and on the roads. cleaner air and no-hassle increased access to tran- sit and the region of Waterloo. And the environmentalists. while happy with the thrust of the policy, are also disappointed that part of the Owen/McNally property wasn't included in the proposal. despite being part of the recharge area for the Waterloo moraine, This area once supplied the area with 100 per cent of its drinking water. but now has been reduced to 75 per cent because of growth and other factors. Waterloo is starting to realizé that growth has to be sustainable; but it still has a lot more work to do., percentage (1(qu food supply This would be especially bad. not only for all of our children, but for me. you, the corporation. the public, the government. and just about everyone. including pets. would suffer the consequences, Jen Mitchell Wre President: UniversityMairs Wilfrid Laurier University Studen ts' Union Steve Siute Waterloo l wasn't supposed to be this way Canadians reduced the ILiberal majority in the last election hoping a minority gov- eminent would deliver the kind of multiparty collaboration that was indicative of minorities in the past. Unfortunately this is not the case. In fact the conduct of the leaders and the members have sunk to depths so low that Ed Broadbent has suggested that he would advise civic teachers to stop taking tours during daily question period. Accusations of racism, corruption. criminal activity. oppor- tunism. and insensitivity are so rife with acrimony and venom that it appears that many MPs have developed an unhealthy personal dislike for one another. . h should not be this way. Politics is about different views of how our society should be run. It is not. nor should it ever be. about personalities. rm" afraid that the current Parliament is dysfunctional in the extreme, and all parties need to take some responsibility for bringing the political discourse to new lows. While iiephien Harper and Gilles Duceppe relentlessly attack, and Prime Minister Paul Martin vigorously defends, Jack laylon has found a way to maximize his influence. He deserves credit for his deft handling of combining forces with the Liberals in exchange for changes to the budget. Mr. Layton was also right on with his comments about all of the leaders bein a day late for the V-E Da . cekr v - ) I - v C,'2',1 in the Netherlands, (in you l, , I 'MI" ( imagine a day late? i SPEAKING Well, I suppose it is better than not being there at all. but Jack was right in saying that partisan politics needed to be put aside and that Canada should have been properly represented the day before when Canada was officially recognized by the Dutch government and people. Say Tes to Qurhec but No to 1epartistt I love Quebec. Let me say it again. I SEAN love Quebec. Our family vacations STRICKLAND there; my children are learning to speak French: and. if pressed, I can even manage to speak a little French. My Canada includes Quebec and I dorit agree with any notion of political ideology that would break up our country. That's why I love Quebec. but vehemently disagree with the separatist movement, "-'e'-ee-"e".' 7w“ - _ i " makes my blood boil to see and hear Bloc Quebecois leader Gilles Duceppe rambling on about parliamentary tradi- tion and his incessant demands that the government must resign. This is particularly galling when one considers his only interest in the dissolution of the current Parliament will rein- vigorate the I1ames of sovereignty in his home province. Canadians are known as a tolerant people, but tolerance to the point of giving prime media coverage, air time and even a passing consideration of the views of a leader and a party that wants to dissolve Canada is too much for me. And don't forget, we pay the Bloc MPs a nice salary to try and break up the mum ty, Only in Canada, you say? Pity? This past week brought more news that we can expect increased truck trattic on our highways. Excuse me, increased truck traffic? Where are going to put them all? Might as well close down the 401 and make it a truck-only highway. Serious- ly, trucks are vital to our economy and truck drivers often get unfairly treated; but if increased truck traMc is a reality. surely someone at the Ministry of Transportation is thinking of legs lating some restrictions In many states, the car speed limit is tin mph. but trucks must travel at a reduced speed of 55 mph and trucks are often restricted to certain lanes. Why not have license permits for day and night travel which would encour- age more truckers to travel between 6 pm. and ti a.m. when there are less commuters on the road? Keep the economy rolling. no problem; but give our trucks more guidelines to make our highways safer for everyone, Keep on truckin’? Education budget l'ho provincial gnvvrnnwm limb like ll Is hitting us slridv and delivercd it budget Ihal opposition loath-rs had a (hm: llll nmv poking a \Iit‘L m. h was "bio nit r In NCt' in! n I lumpy Ihm "duration drmtinatvd thc hlldgrl lhrs p, good itch", tor thr Prov1ruu' and good mum int our In: al 'H hunk and autumn H's Hnwrrsnv ol Wan-1km, Wlllnd Hum-r and ( 'uu"uorr,a i ullvgv will now have mun- n-snun m to am." I and suitu .m' [hr Iva-xi .llld Ilw hnghIl-q trout mrosst mt,uln and thc \unld li-mail your questiomi/rommr'nts In seantrsseanstrirk landrnm . The House of 'Commoners'