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WHITBY FREE PRESS.;WEDNESDAY, JULY 1, 1987. PAGE 7 PAGE SEVEN CENTENNIAL PLUS TWENT.Y It doesn't seem that long but it was twenty years ago today that Canada celebrated its Centennial. The outpouring of nationalism which began in the years leading up to 1967 changed this country forever. The legacy of that year changed the way people think of their country and themselves. I was a part of that phenomenon and 1967 is ont year that I will never forget. It was the year I graduated from university and I had decided I was going to see Canada - not just part of it, but everything that could be reached by road. I failed, the summer just wasn't long enough. Canada is just too big and there was too much going on that year. I spent about three weeks at Expo 67, 1 took in the Pan-Afnerican Games in Winnipeg, and the Calgary Stampede. I followed parts of the cross-Canada voyageur canoe race and also the Royal Tour. But I also visited the little places along the backroads. I set off in a 1960 Ford Fairlane hardtop with both doors bashed in. When I started, the mileage was already over 90,000 and when I finally decided summer was over (in mid-November) it was past 120,000. Along the way, I had crossed the country at least three times. The most enduring memory of the summer was the nmountains. From my first signt of the foothills looming out of the flat prairies as I drove west froni Calgary, I fell in love with that part of the eountry. I don't remember just how long I spent there, but I know that as I criss-crossedin and out of them, I stayed a few days every time. I hiked-the extensive trails and I thrilled at the views as I climbed above the treeline to where snow still lay in the alpine meadows with the mountain heathers in bloom nearby. But the best memory of the mountains was climbing Mt. Temple. I had been staying at one of the youth hostels near Lake Louise and another fellow and myself decided to climb a mountain - not one of the little mountains with a marked trail to the top, we wanted to climb something with a view. Mt. Temple is an easy climb from a mountaineering point of view but it's a long way up - the third highest mountain in the Canadian Rockies - and we were rank amateurs. We started climbing far too late and we had no equip- ment - nevertheless we reached the top about 4:30 in the afternoon. Entranced by the incredible vistas looking across the peaks of range after range of mountains with tiny lakes in the distant valleys ten thousand feet below us, and tired as we were from the long climb, we relaxed at the peak for close to an hour - far longer than we should have. The sun sets quickly in the mountains and dusk enshrouded us when we were only part way down. We scram- bled down the bottom third in pitch darkness - in retrospect we are lucky to be alive. It was near midnight when we got back to the hostel - totally exhausted but elated at what we had done. I spent some of that Centennial summer exploring my prairie roots. My mother grew up in rural Manitoba in the early part of this century when the pioneering spirit was still alive. I visited the vacant and abandoned home my grandfather had built. The door was not locked and I wandered through the empty rooms looking out the silted windows at the views of the Minnedosa valley that my mother had grown up with. I visited the one-room school (also abandoned) where she got her early education. I visited Clear Lake which they sometimes visited during the summer (long before it. became a popular resort area) and Brandon College where she went to university. And in between I visisted the dncles and aunts and cousins that are scattered over the Manitoba landscape. At noon on July 1 itself, I was in Quebec City on the Plains of Abraham - a hundred-gun salute which rang in my ears (literally) for several weeks - I got far too close. From there I headed to Ottawa. I got there about dusk-people were still milling around the giant birthday cake at the foot of the Peach Tower soaking up some of the nationalistic fervor that the day had generated. By eleven the crowds began to grow again as people sought the best vantage points for the fireworks - and what fireworks they were. On the stroke of midnight, the dark sky was filled with burst after burst of the biggest and brightest fireworks I had ever seen or expect to see. Not just one burst at a time, but five or six at once without a break for half an hour - a fitting climax for an historic day. The next day I was back on the road again. But the summer was just too short. It was another two years before I could finish my centennial odyssey. In the summer of 1969, I took up where I had left off - this time with a Land Rover and by the time the snows caught up to me again on a November morning in Newfoundland, I had accomplished my mission. I had seen the farthest reaches of Canada - the most westerly point (the Yukon- Alaska border ) and the most easterly point (Cape Spear, Newfoun- dland). I had seen the sun rise on the Atlantic and the sun set on the Pacific (Long Beach, Vancouver Island - now a national park but a hippie colony at the time). I had been as far north as the roads would take me in both the Yukon and the Northwest Territories and I had visitied Point Pelee, the most southerly point. I had seen Canada in ail its extremes and in ail its moods. I felt that I under- stood my country. My Centenniai project was finished. Housing bureaucracy is increasing By GEORGE ASHE MPP Durham West The Liberal Government over the past two years has given the im- pression that correcting the shor- tage of rental accommodation is a high priority. What has been the record? - The bureaucracy within the Ministry of Housing has grown some 20 per cent, about 200 people. - Ministry of Housing ad- ministrative costs have grown by $12 million. - Vacancy rates in and around Metro Toronto have fallen from a low 0.6 per cent to a lower 0.1 per cent. - Capital spending by the ministry is reduced by 15 per cent in the current fiscal year. And last, but not least, is the total rental units completed: First quar- ter 1987, 2,335 - Liberal Gover- nment; 1986, 11,024 - Liberal Government; 1985, 8,895 - Haîf and haf; 1984, 15,542 - P.C. Gover- nment; 1983, 16,060 - P.C. Gover- nment. That sure is a great result for a high priority item., You will recall that part of Governments' answer to apar- tment shortages was going to be new landlord-tenant legislation; now the infamous, unworkable, Bill 51. Already there is a backlog of 21,000 rent review applications. What an answer! There is no easy, short terni an- swer. I acknowledge that. However, building up an expensive bureaucracy wil not put one new unit on the ground. Column is outstanding journalism: reader To the editor: The letter from G. Tauchman in - The Free Press on June 10 to Doug Anderson and Scott Fennell is one that I hope everyone read and takes action on. I concur with his assessment of your column as an outstanding example of journalism - easily read and clearly defining the things we as Canadians should be aware of in the constitutional accord. And you do not stand alone in your opinion of this document - Stewart Macleod writing in the Oshawa Times (fron Ottawa June 8) says "Parts of signing 'downright embarrassing" and a June il column from Queen's Park by Derek Nelson entitled "Key elements missing," and an editorial in the same issue adds another dimension to the issue. These are examples from our local papers and I'm sure there must be many more negative opinions in other newspapers throughout the country. I can't help but wonder sometimes why politicians of all stripes and levels can't forget the ego trip they are on and listen to the other side once in a while. I am sending the aforementioned columns, along with yours, to Mr. Fennel in Ottawa. While we are on the subject of 'columns', I would like to - belatedly - say how much I enjoyed Doug Anderson's series on the redevelopment of downtown Whit- by. We need someoe with an in- terest in the community and a venue to express opinions to try to make our local politicians think a little before agreeing to every development that is proposed. Our downtown is beginning to look like a "people place" again, thanks to the DBIA group and the dowjitnwn merchants. "The Other Side of the Fence" is the best column The Free Press has ever had consistently. I hope you continue the excellence. Yours truly, Albert Knibb Whitby MP Fennell votes'Yes' after receiving input SCOTT FENNELL MP Ontario riding As the summer recess draws near, the House of Commons working fast and furiously, sitting 12 hours a day, I would like to report on what is happening Ã"n the capital punishment debate. Recen- tly, my spring report householder was devoted solely to the issue of capital punishment, in which I in- cluded a questionnaire. As many people sent in their questionnaires before the rotating strikes at Canada Post hit, the response has been tremendous 4,073. Many people have also included their thoughts and ideas in the comment section of the questionnaire; those who gave their names and ad- dresses I have been responding to on a one-to-one priority basis. Some of the comments against capital punishment have stated that they could not find anyone in the riding who is for it. I find this extremely hard to believe as from the most recent results tabulated, 79.96 per cent are in favor of capital punishment. The purpose of the questionnaire was to get input. Many people have thanked me for giving them the op- portunity to express their views, while others have said that I should just make my decision and not worry how you feel. However, knowing that the majority of my constituents support my stance for the restoration of capital punish- ment, I will vote accordingly. The House will have debated this issue for in excess of 40 hours by the time the "free vote" is held at which time I will vote in favor of its return. ým