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PAGE 4, WEDNESDAY, MARCH 31,1982, WHITBY FREE PRESS whitby Voice of the County Town> The onlv Whith news aer indn d tl Pub Michael Ian Burgess, Publisher - Managing Editor y------- plau Ip F8epenuen y owneds and operatea oy wnity residents for Whitby residents. blished every Wednesday by M.B.M. Publishing and Photography Inc. Phone 668-6111 The Free Press Building, 131 Brock Street North, P.O. Box 206, Whitby, Ont. PO. Box 206, Whitby, Ont. Registration No. 5351 MICHAEL J. KNELL Community Editor MARJORIE A. BURGESS Advertising Manager Second Class Mail Registration No. 5351 In favor of political expediency.... Region has thrown "rep-by-pop"out the windo It seems that Durham Regional Council has thrown the principle of "representation-by- population" literally out qf the window in favor of maintalning the political status quo. Two weekà ago, regional -council, it its wisdom, rejected a motion by Ajax Mayor Bill McLean and Councillor Jim Witty (aiso of Ajax) that would have increased the membership of both the Town of Ajax and the Town of Whitby by one person. In fact, the credit for quashing this vital motion must be given to Oshawa Mayor Alan Pilkey. Pilkey amended the motion of McLean and Wit- ty to include an extra voice for the City of Oshawa which was subsequently defeated. The Oshawa mayor told regional council that his municipality would only consider three new members or none. What is interesting to note ls that Pilkey asked for a new Oshawa member in order to bring It into line with the representation-by-population prin- ciple (which ls fair enough), but declined to state -w If Newfoundland MP John Crosbie is right, and the east coast seai hunt really is finished because of international outrage, I won't know whether to laugh or cry. On the plus side of it, I suppose that Canadians will now begin to be known abroad for something other than the RCMP, and biudgeoning seal pups to death with whacking great clubs. Still on the plus side, I will run less risk of being offered flipper pie. So our public relations will improve and so, marginally, will my diet. But beyond that, what has actual- ly been accomplished? The violent killing of animals will continue to be a hallmark of our society, and some hard pressed Newfoundiand fisherman will be three or four thousand dolilars poorer as a resuit. The seai hunt has been ended because seal pups, at least on film and at a safe dis- tance, are very attractive creatures. But we'Il continue to pole-axe steers to put meat on the table. We'll continue to wring the necks of chickens for the sake of human bellies. We will continue to kill animais for a variety of reasons, and who among us can say with any certainty that the death we hand out everyday as a matter of course isn't painful? I am violently opposed to cruelty, to both animals and human beings. I just wish that sorne of the outrage focussed on seal pups co'uld be redirected. Against people who would leave a cat out ail night, unfed, in the dead of a Canadian winter. Against people who feed their dogs so much and exercise them so little that they can hardly wad- die. Why can't some of that outrage be focussed-on the people who allow children to starve to death, ail over the world? Why can't the outrage be focussed on politicians who play fast and loose with our lives, by pretending that war can still be an answer to anything? Why can't it be focussed on the mindless drivel that constitutes the bulk of North American television? There's cruelty for you, delib- erate debasement of human beings that makes the club- bing of seai pups fade into insignificance. If the seaI hunt is really over, I'm glad about it, make no mistake about that. But to expect that the emotional, half-informed pro- testors who may finally have ended it would be consistent about cruelty in ail its forms is to misundesstand the nature of a mob. That's not news, but that too is reality. that Oshawa's share of the region's population will decline before the turn of the century. But this ls not our main criticism of council's action. What this publication must firmly chastise the members of regional council for (except McLean) is that not one of them addressed the principle of representation-by-populatIon as a right of the in- dividual citizen. Most of them squabbled about the cost of these extra members which Is a mere $70,000 to $80,000 a year. We say mere because of the $103 million that the region will spend this year. Pilkey's brilliant political manoveuring effec- tively denied the taxpayers of both Ajax and Whit- by to the right of an equal and fair voice in gover- nment.. At the same time, it should be pointed out that Pilkey was simply doing what he thought best to protect the taxpayers of the .City of Oshawa to whom he is responsible. While the Whitby Free Press can understand and sympathize with the position of Whitby Mayor Bob Attersley - who voted against the motion - we muet oppose if. Attersley, quite rightly, pointed out that it is not the quantity of members on council that will make it work, but the quality of its members. His Worship also maintained, again quite rightly, that othe taxpayers are already overbur- dened and an additional $80,000 or so in expen- ditures would create a strain. "My mind leads me one way, my heart leads me another," he told his fellow members of council. As we said in our editorial last week, these are not the central issues in this question. The central issue here is the right of each and every citizen to an equal and fair voice in gover- nment. The evidence submitted to date clearly shows that the residents of Whitby and Ajax do not enjoy this right. Attersley suggested that one means of at- taining equal and fair representation, without in- creasing the size of regional council, would be to re-apportion the seats. Underthis proposai, the over-represented municipalities (naI.ely Brock, Scugog, Uxbridge and Newcastle) would lose a member on coucil with their seats going to Ajax, Whitby, and Oshawa. If this were done, Attersley said that this would be as close to the principle of representation-by- population as one could get. Obviously, the affected municipalities would not be too happy at this prospect and the provin- cial government has indicated that this would not be acceptable to them elther. So, therefore, the only way to go Is to add an additional seat for Whitby and Ajax. It Is interesting to note that one regional politician said privately after the meeting that Whitby and Ajax would have gotten their extra member had Pilkey not stood up and made his amendment. This politician also said that if Pilkey's amen- dment had been accepted (which is was not) then Whitby and Ajax would have gotten their extra member. Ail of these issues and staternents aside, what was really important, the right to equaI and fair representation in government was either con- veniently ignored by the members of regional council or was brushed aside In the name of political expendiency. After ail, it is the responsibility of all levels of government - local, regional, provincial or federal - to ensure that the rights of its citizens are protec- ted and put into effect. It is not their respon- siblility to judge whether or not these rights. should be put into effect on the grounds of cost.