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PAGE 6 THE CANADIAN STATESMAN, JULY 11,2001 # Editorial&Opinions FIRST CONCERN HAS BEEN OUR COMMUNITY FOR 146 YEARS, OUR Publisher - Tim Whittaker Editor-in-Chief - Joanne Burghardt Managing Editor - Judi Bobbitt Advertising Manager - Brian G. Purdy Advertising - Laveme Morrison, Christian-Ann Goulet Office - Junia Hodge, Nancy Plcasance-Sturman Editorial - Brad Kelly, Jennifer Stone, Jacquie Mclnnes tEfje Canadian Statesman Former Publishers and Partners Rev. John M. Climic and W.R. Climic 1854-1878 M.A. James 1878-1935 • Norman S.B. James 1919-1929 G. Elena James, 1929-1947 • Dr. George W. James 1919-1957 John M. James, 1957-1999 Produced by Metroland Printing, Publishing & Distributing Ltd. Also Publishers of CLARINGTON THIS WEEK P.O. Box 190, 62 King St. W., Bowmanville, Ontario L1C 3K9 TEL: 905-623-3303 FAX: 905-623-6161 HOURS: Monday to Friday 9:00 a.m. until 5:00 p.M. E-mail: newsroom@durhamregion.com Publications Mail Registration No. 07637 EDITORIAL e-mail Idlers to newswom@durhamregion.com Good Day, Stockwell \ Alliance leader can't ignore defections or dissatisfaction ■> Na na nana na na, hey hey hey -- goodbye. That old refrain was whistling through the halls of Parliament Parliament Hill last weekend. Friends and foes of Stockwell Day were serenading the end of his duties as Canadian Alliance leader and very likely likely his political career. Funny thing though; the music stopped Monday and Mr. Day was still the embattled leader of the Alliance -- for how long is the big question. We've had backbenchers in the past complaining about their leader, but not to such an extent as the 'rebel' forces within the Alliance. They want blood and aren't going to stop until the sun sets on Mr. Day. To his credit, he realizes the party might be better off with a new leader--just not right away. Why else would he put so many conditions on his resignation? He offered to resign, but on his own terms. Fair enough, the party supporters voted him the boss and he is still the man in charge. It's been reported he'll quit but not until the next leadership convention in 2002. This would solidify him as a lame duck leader and fail to resolve resolve the current in-fighting or give Canadians the strong voice in opposition they rightly deserve. . Among Mr. Day's reported conditions for leaving were picking his replacement, and thus, providing him with ah opportunity to run the party from an arm's-length until next spring. The pregnant pause obviously doesn't sit well with the MPs looking to pilot the Alliance in another direction. And who can blame them? The Alliance has suspended 13 'Rebel' MPs for their public criticisms of Mr. Day and as the summer wears on, that number will grow. Every time an Alliance MP stood in the house, he had reason to cringe at the possible salvo coming his way. The bigger defection for'Mr. Day, however, is that of the public support. He long ago lost his status as leader of the i opposition in the', eyes of the voters and has no chance of winning it back. The lack of a legitimate voice of opposition in Ottawa has the Liberals laughing all the way to the next set of polls. The momentum the Alliance mustered in the last election is being frittered away. It has to stop. The Conservatives and the Alliance must get on with the realignment of the right and put the Stock- well Day error behind them. Next on the chopping block: Jean Chretien. LOOKING BACK WITH THE STATESMAN 75 YEARS AGO July 8,1926 A larger crowd than usual attended the South Darlington Soccer League game at the High School grounds when Ebenezer defeated Bowmanville 1-0. The second half started started with some fouling, which resulted in much debating with the referee. 50 YEARS AGO July 12,1951 Complaints were received by police that certain Bowmanville Bowmanville youngsters were waiting at the corner of Liberty and King Streets and stealing handfuls of peas from the trucks on the way to the canners. 25 YEARS AGO July 21,1976 "A plane pilot made an emergency landing in Mayor Garnet Rickard's cornfield, flipped over when its pontoons hit and landed on its back. The pilot was able to free himself and was walking around when neighbours who had seen the landing arrived on the scene. * Information taken f'rom the archives of The Canadian Statesman Jennifer Stone Staff Writer jstonc@durhamrcgion.com <kVÿ»\êlw.M»\ LETTERS TO THE EDITOR e-mail letters to newsroom@durlumtreglon.com Schools teach God's message To the editor: I would like to clarify an issue that seems to be quite prolific prolific among certain circles these days. There; seems to tie a common common misconceptioh that chil-' dren who are sent off to privately-funded privately-funded (and now tax-credited) tax-credited) faith-based schools are going to be taught to be bigots and haters of certain segments of society. Nothing could be further from the truth! I would love to send my two children to a faith-based school: alas, I cannot afford the monthly monthly tuition. The tax credits help, but not enough. If I did I would be very confident the school would be teaching them the very same principles and values I am now teaching my children -- that is to be tolerant of oth ers belief systems, but that it's OK not to be in agreement with them. There is a difference. Perhaps this is what certain people find confusing. Just because because we may not agree with certain lifestyles, does not mean we are teaching our children children to hate others based on these differences. Our (Christian private schools'in Durham Re- ' giori teach what God teaches us in Scripture, and hate is not part of His message. Joel Hough Editorial unfair to United States To the editor: RE: July 1 editorial 'Happy 134th Birthday, Canada'. Yes, Canada has a lot going for it. We are one of the top countries polled by the United Nations. However, you're being unfair to the United States with their military spending over other social programs. programs. If they like it or not, the US is one of the last super powers powers which gives it many responsibilities responsibilities and commitments around the world. In most of their history, America has had an isolationist policy "and didn't want to interfere interfere with'anyone else. Çqçum- stances dictated,^otherwise.' So, people of Canada étijdy your land, freedoms and benefits benefits but remember not to feel smug that we are better than them. If we had an unfriendly country, instead of the US, as a neighbour would we be the way we are now? Something else to think about: Big Brother is in Canada, Canada, alive and well. He is nibbling nibbling away at the social programs programs you mention. How long will we enjoy our land, freedom and benefits? Philip Hulaj Liberals don't have election yet It would be suicide for McGuinty to rescind tax cuts These are heady days for Ontario's Ontario's Liberals, but they would be wrong if they felt they already have the next election wrapped up. The opposition party led by Dalton McGuinty has decisively won byelections in two of three ridings which had been held by Premier Mike Harris's Progressive Progressive Conservatives and became vacant through resignation or death in the past year. The Liberals' latest gain was in the suburbs north of Toronto and they earlier won in a similar dormitory area near Hamilton which the Tories had been able to count their own since Harris came up with his Common Sense Revolution slashing taxes and services in the mid-1990s. The Liberals also have been running as high as 53 per cent in polls, enough to win a majority, while Harris has fallen to around 34 per cent. Political science professors and columnists have suggested Harris is in danger of losing the next election due in 2003 and may step down to give his party a better chance under a different leader or even be pushed out by a rebellious caucus. But byclections are no conclusive conclusive guide to general elections. elections. In the early 1970s the Liberals Liberals led by Robert Nixon won three seats from the Tories in by- elections after ministers left. A chief aide to Nixon then introduced introduced himself to reporters as the person designated to facilitate the transfer of power from the Tories to Liberals, but it never happened, because the Liberals not only lost the election in 1975, Eric Dowd At Queen's Park but fell to third party in the legislature. legislature. The Liberals also provide the most dramatic example of polls misleading. Their party led by Lyn McLeod was at 50 per cent or more in polls for three solid years up to the 1995 election. But once the campaign started and voters focussed more on the issues and Harris offered firm policies for cutting taxes, which caught on with many, while the Liberals dithered over unveiling theirs, they were quickly overtaken overtaken by Harris and wound up with only 31 percent. Precedents are no guide to everything, but if you want another another that makes it tougher for the Liberals, there is the tradition their Ontario patty finds it difficult difficult to win general elections when the Liberals are in government government federally. In the past 50 years the Ontario Ontario Liberals won power only in the 1980s when the Tories were governing in Ottawa, and the Liberals are set to be in office in Ottawa in 2003. Among bigger snags for the Liberals, voters have heard concerns daily Harris cut services, particularly those protecting the environment, too much. But in the next election many will see a broader picture and their uppermost thoughts will not be that Harris reduced services but that he cut taxes more than any before him. Business particularly would be reluctant to see Harris go, because because he has done so much for it in reducing its tax burden, making making it easier to impose demands including longer working hours on employees, and weakening unions. If business feels Harris is seriously seriously threatened, it will pour funds into financing his general election that were not in evidence in the byelections and make all past spending seem like penny- pinching. The notion Harris would step down because he is heavily criticized and low in polls does not conform with his history history as a man of definite views who waited patiently and stubbornly a long time to put them in practice and would be unlikely to give up this opportunity lightly. The prospect of a rebellion that would force him out is even more remote. All his MPPs have been supporters of his general thrust and complicit in what he has done and could not claim to be alternatives. Oddly, for McGuinty to succeed succeed he will have to be a bit like Harris, because it would be suicide suicide for him to promise to rescind Harris's tax cuts, and he will have to say he will find other ways of funding improved services. The Liberal leader in fact is taking a swing at this by launching launching Dalton McGuinty's Ontario Golf Tour, a series of tournaments tournaments to raise funds for his party, and his staff say he has long been a golf enthusiast and is not copying, copying, but this is really trespassing on Harris's territory, Maverick trustee might have had a good idea It may sound like Brighton area trustee Chris Nelson is whining, but. some might think he has some good reasons reasons for considering giving up his place on the Kawartha Pine Ridge District School Board. As was reported in Sunday's Clar- ington This Week, the trustee is unhappy unhappy over recent decisions made by the board, including the recently passed 2001-2002 budget, and will spend the summer deciding whether to resign from the board. But perhaps this is more than just whining, especially where the budget is concerned. In passing its balanced, though painful, budget, the school board may have missed a chance to let the Province know just how concerned it is about its ability to pay for the education of students. A good number of KPR trustees indicated indicated they felt the budget for the upcoming upcoming school year - which trimmed everything from maintenance to technology technology to help pay off the board's, $6.3 million 'deficit - wasn't good for kicis. Trustee Nelson proposed to do something something about it, by asking Education Minister Minister Janet Ecker to send an investigator to determine whether the board in fact does have enough money to pay for quality education. The board went along with that idea - at least, briefly. On a Monday, the board sent a letter to Minister Ecker, requesting requesting the investigator. When Ms. Ecker declined to send in the troops, the board, on the Friday of the same week, passed the budget many trustees had opposed opposed all along. It passed in spite of a suggestion by Trustee Nelson that the board could pass a budget with a nominal deficit, something something which would, by law, prompt the minister to do what the board had asked in the first place - send an investigator. "We had no risk," said Trustee Nelson Nelson of the fact that running a deficit budget budget could mean trouble for individual trustees, who can face legal consequences consequences for such a deed. "The actual costs to the board and trustees are if an investigator comes out and tells us what to do and we say, forget it." The board declined this idea, preferring preferring instead to launch its battle after the fact, by continuing to lobby Queen's Park for additional cash. And no doubt, trustees will fight hard, in an effort to come up with funds they feel local students students so richly deserve. But they may have missed a great chance to get the point across a little more vehemently - and maybe Trustee Nelson felt a little bit of vehemence might be in order. THE CANADIAN STATESMAN is one of the Metroland Printing, Publishing Publishing and Distributing group of newspapers. The Statesman is a member of the Bowmanville Claring- ton Board of Trade, the Greater Os- hawa Chamber of Commerce, Ontario Ontario Community Newspaper Assoc., Canadian Community Newspaper Assoc., Canadian Circulations Audit Board and the Ontario Press Council. 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