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Page 6, Whitby Free Press, Wednesday, June 15, 1994 The only Newspaper owned and operated by Whltby residents for Whltby residents! MEMBER 0F: ____ONTAR-1O CANADIAN COMMUNITY __ MUNI1Y N EWSPAPER+QIA NEWSPAPER ~,ASSOCIATION C f ASSOCIATION ~ CANADIAN CIRCULATIONS CNA DIVISION AUDIT*BOARD ISSN#0844-398X 26,500 COPIES DELIVERED WEEKLY Published every Wednesday by 677209 Ontario Ine. Box 206, 131 Brock St. N., Whitby, Ontario Li N 5S1 Phone: 668-6111 Toronto Line: 427-1834 Fax: 668-0594 Doug Anderson - Publisher Maurice Pither - Editor Alexandra Martin - Production Manager Printed on newsprint with minimum 20%/ M recycled content using vegetable based inks.%l 0 Ail written material. illustrations and advertising contained herein is protected by copyright. Any reproduction by any means for commercial purpases without the express permission of the newspaper is prohibited and is a violation of Canadian copyrigh law. Reroduction for non-commercial distribution should bear a credit fine ta the Whitby Free Press. Pari amentary Reporti .We£ pay for al the squabbling By Alex Shepherd Durham rIdlng MP When you strike Up a conversation wth the Bloc Quebecois you will t md they are a pretty ignorant lot. Most are f rom rural Quebec, speak only French and generally are not that weil educat Bd. For most of themr being elected to the House of Gommons is their f irst trip outside of Quebec. In Mont real, they have eîected the odd bloc-head, but by and large Mlontreal has not supported them. The city is too sophisticated to buy into the separatist arguments. Last week in the House MPs got into another 'unity debate' and I rose to speak to the issue. Basîcally the message 1 gave the Bloc was that if you choose to leave the party early you don't get to take the car. In other words, it will b. Canada that imposes an agreement on the separatists, f rom a position of strength flot weakness, if Quebec leaves. Let's take a look at the money taken out of our back pockets as an example of how Canada wiIl bargain from a position of strength. We ail understand what debt is and the strugg le taken on to get out of it. Your government in Ottawa transfers over $40 billion a year to Quebec. How much btter off wouîd Canada be if it wasn't transferring that amount? Look at if another way. How worse off would the average Quebecer be if a separate nation called Quebec had $40 billion less to provide services and pay bills? Why our Canadian brothors and sisters living there would want a lower standard of living is absolutely beyond me. I do respect thé Quebecois and think the average Quebecer is much more sophisticated than Lucien Bouchard or Jacques Parizeau give thom credit for. Quebecers decided in the 1960s they will not b. slaves to philosophical or ideological positions that nurturo ignorance. And the narrow form of nationaîism proached to Quobecers by the Bloc Quebecois, and their cousins, the Parti Quobecois, doos exactly that. It locks Quebecers within their bordors. And as you rostrict language ights and other forms of communication, you deny Quebocers the right of mobility. You make the population servants to those who will b. the elites of a new Quebec. And that wiIl be those now pushing the separatist arguments. We al h ave to pay for this squabbling, whothor you live in Quobec or anywhere else. 1 We pay through higher interest rates such as mortgage rates and payments on the country's national debt. f you stop and figure if out, everytime Bouchard utters the word separatism if costs each taxpayor about $5. l's also sad when you know that preaching separatism contributes to unemployment, especially in the province of Quebec. And worse, it doesn't seemn to bot her Bouchard or bis friends one bit. l'm trying to point out that everyone is suffering because of this squabbîing. We have to work a building this country. There will b. no sweat poured destroying if, that's easy work. A/ex Shepherd is MP for Durham riding which încludes Whîtby, north of Taunton Road. To reach his coflstituteflcy office, cal 721- 7570 (Oshawa). To the Editor: For many days re cently the media has been blasting away at the -Royal Canadian Leglon regarding the controversial headdress. Vet soon atterwards, prior to June 6 and onwards, the press, television and radio commentators have been heaping crocodile tears and pseudo praises on the veterans who took part on D-Day. Now just what drives the media to make these about-faces? There appears to bu only one reason and that is because of the almighty dollar. By jumping on the bandwagon on controvorsial issues, the media is selling more newspapers and ads, and getting more radio and television coverage. Apparently, the media doos not realize that there are two sides to every story and that if should do proper research before blasting away with ifs commentaries. When the Royal Canadian Legion was formed over 68 years ago, it had one primary object ive. That was to assist and serve ifs war veterans. And to honour ifs fallen comrades, the Legion club was dedicated as a sacrod place to remembur tbem. And like al religious institutions, churches, synagogues, mosques or Sikh temples which have their traditions, removal of one's headdress in Leg ion clubs was a sig;n of respect for their comrades who gave their lives for treedom. As it appears that the removal of shoos in a mosque or removai of bats in a church or temple is not racist or violating of human ights, why thon is if a racist act and violation of human rihts when beaddresses are to bu removed when entening a sacred place of the Legion club? Perhaps the genoral public doos not realizo if, but the Legion bas two places of congregation: one is the Logion clubroom which is a pivate and sacred area, and the other is the Logion banquet room which is open t0 the general public where no headdress restrictions apply. If the media had done ifs homework, it would have found out that the turban is not one of Sikhismn's required lfive K'su (religlous symbols) and bistorically the turban is a symbol of power and autbority, as was pointed out by professor John Spelîman, who served as a consultant and expert witness on Sikhism to the Human ights Cômmission ot Canada in 1992. He concluded: "The canteon area of the Legion falîs within the meaning of private not public areau and heîd that the Le gIon acted In good falth regarding tghe headdress restriction. He aiso painted out that partaking in smoking and drinking (in canteens) would bu In serlous violation of the most basic commandments of Sikhism. Lastly, for those who write articles that the government should stop funding the Royal To the Edîtor: Wif h regard to Bill 167, the bill that would have granted same sex couples the rights and responsibilities that hetorosexual couples take for granted in our province, I arn a. relative newcomer to Durham Region. I moved bore four years ago wif h my children. Since thonlNy. niade a home for us bore. 1 have a job I love that puts me in the public oye a lot. lNy worked hard to make a ditterence in this area. 1 pay my taxes and 1 try to be a good, contributing citizen to this count ry. Almost two years ago, I met the person 1 wanted to sharo my Ide witb. My kids love my spouse and want my spouse to b. able to adopt them. The tact thet my spouse us a woman doesn't make tbem feel any ditterent. She loves them more than their natural father ever did and she wants to have tbe saine ights and responsibilities that a spouse in a heterosexuai relationship would have. I want to know that should anything happen to me, 1 don't have to worry about how my 10 and 11-year-old children are going to be taken care of. My kids are beautiful, articulate, intelligent cbildren, wbo - have learned tolerance and understanding because of my Ide. They want and need the stability that a caring, loving home and a Canadian Legion because of the turban issue, thoy should realize that the more than 1,800 Legion branches in Canada are -not governinent subsidized. They are operated independently as a non-profitable and' charitable organization. The Leglon bas made great donations to its communlty, youth g roups, seniors homes and haspitas, to mention a few Donation made by the Legion last year totalied niore than $60 million. LewIs F. Chow World War Il voterais Memnber Whltby Leglon Br.112 supportive society brings them. If hurts and bewilders me that people who don't know us can b. so hateful and hurtful. In the same breath they speak of Christian values and thon say they hale gays and lesbians. We are aIl humnan beings deserving of love and respect and tho basic humnan ights we would expect from this country. We are your sons and daughters; your grandcbildren, your momns and dads? your f riends, yr neigbbours and workmates. 30many of us nover allow you to get close to us even though we livo and work with you because wo are afraid. Af raid of the rejection and hurt and disappointment and fear you show us if wo revoal our true natures. As the bill didn't pass, I f sar we have taken a hugo stop backwards in eliminatingj intolerance and prej udice. When on. class of people deny anotber's rigbts, we are destroying what this country stands for. Look around today and talk to your friends and noighbours, your workmates and your Ioved ones. You wilI bu seiaing the people who's rigts you are denying. Aflow us to be honest with you. You may learn a great lesson in tolerance and love. Louise Anderson Whîtby The other side of the story Defeated bill a step backwards To the editor,,..