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PAGE 8 THE CANADIAN STATESMAN, May 29,2002 * Editorial FOR 146 YEARS, OUR FIRST CONGER N H AS BEEN OUR COMMUNITY Publisher - Tim Whittaker Editor-in-chief - Joanne Burghardt Managing Editor - Chris Bovic Regional Editor - Judi Bobbitt Advertising Manager - Fred Eismont Circulation Manager - Kirk Bailey Composing Manager - Barb Harrison Office Manager - Lillian Hook Eije Canadian Statesman Former Publishers and Partners Rev. John M. Climie 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 CLAR1NGTON THIS WEEK P.O. Box 481, 865 Farewell St., Osliawa, Ontario LIH 7L5 TEL: 905-579-4400 FAX: 905-579-2238 ' E-mail: newsroom@clurhamregion.com Publications Mail Registration No. 07637 DROP OFFICE: James Publishing, 66 King St. W., Bowmanvillc, 8:30 p.m. - 5 p.m. weekdays ËI ITORJAL e-mail letters to newsivtm@thtrhanirejiion.com Time to establish UOIT is now Passage of charter needed to open university in 2003 It's a pity the many years put into the creation of the University of Ontario Institute of Technology could be spoiled by political dithering. But time is truly the enemy now in the race to pass legislation legislation to allow UOIT to take applications for the critical September 2003 class. If the charter is not granted by the Ontario legislature before the end of the current sitting - expected to conclude by July 1 - it's a certainty UOIT's opening will be put off for at least a year. The real tragedy would be the lack of opportunity for graduating Durham high school students who will be going to university in 2003. Instead of having a golden opportunity opportunity to attend university close to home with the chance to save thousands of dollars per year, they'll have to pack up and leave town. September 2003 is crucial for another vital reason. That's the year of the vaunted double cohort, the first year of graduation for Grade 12 students combined'with the last class of OAC students. A flood of secondary school grads in Durham will need a vast number of increased post-secondary post-secondary spaces across the province. What could be more sensible than having up to another thousand first-year spots at a brand new university? Even though funding for UOIT was announced more than a year ago by then Minister of Finance Jim Flaherty, the actual introduction of legislation to create the school didn't come until Nov. 27, 2001. With Premier Mike Harris Harris deciding to retire, legislative plans were thrown out of whack and the session closed down a few weeks later before before debate on the UOIT.bill could commence. The subsequent subsequent Tory leadership race delayed the opening of the spring session and kept MPPs away from Queen's Park until only a few weeks ago. So, while it's convenient politically to blame opposition parties for delays in passing the UOIT bill, the opportunity opportunity to debate the school's creation on second and third reading reading just hasn't been there because the government has had other priorities. It's up to Minister of Colleges and Universities Dianne' Cunningham to move on this bill in concert with Tory house leader Chris Stockwell. It must go through the committee committee process and be voted on in the legislature before the end of the current session. There's no doubt UOIT will be chartered, it's simply a matter of when. UOIT is currently under construction and key staff have been, or soon will be hired. Ontario's newest university will open its doors in the near future. To make sure the university can have the maximum impact for Durham Region and for Ontario it is very important our provincial politicians get moving and allow UOIT president president Gary Polonsky and his staff to get on with the job of welcoming students in September 2003. CLARINGTON COMMENTS Question: Durham municipalities arc considering regulating regulating pesticides for cosmetic use on lawns and gardens. Would you welcome a ban? pff Ilf cC ®| ft i:\ti /<sr • Andrew McKecvcr "Yes I would, generally speaking, because the longterm longterm effects of many common common pesticides arc unknown. unknown. They can take care of their lawn the okl-lash- ioncd way," Hugh Walters "That's interesting. It affects affects the environment. People People who have young kids, and animals, it poses a great problem. What other option is there going to he for lawns, because I like the idea of a green lawn." Nylc Stacey "No. It's someone vise's grass, It's their lawn; they can do anything they want. It's their properly," Cory Brock "Yes, on home properties properties lor animal safety and kids, Being pesticides they probably can't be safe, but I don't know for sure though." www.oblighan com LETTERS TO THE EDITOR '-mail letters to iifH'simim&ilitrluiiiiivj'inn.rmii Discrimination by church must be stopped To the editor: Now that the circus is over regarding regarding Marc Hall and the prom, 1 believe that we must now look at the cause of this incident. At the root of this issue is systemic systemic discrimination in the area ' of sexual orientation within the Roman Catholic Church and its doctrines. Only a court order will force the changes necessary to bring this institution into compliance compliance with the law of our land. We must have religious freedom, not religious domination. Only through this change will two in 20 of our citizens be allowed allowed to live their lives as they choose within this institution. Only through this change can we rid ourselves of a class within our society. It is my hope this case be taken up by the Ontario Human Rights Commission if it is not brought before the Ontario judicial judicial system. Rick Cleveland Osliawa God clear on To the editor; : ; u 3 : I'm writing in response to Linda Taberner's letter in the May 15 edition. She incorrectly claims homosexuality is only forbidden forbidden in the Old Testament, and compares it with such Old Testament Testament laws as the one forbidding the eating of pork. She states tolerance tolerance is preached in the New Testament. This is far from the truth. Although the New Testament offers forgiveness for sins and instructs instructs us to love sinners, nowhere does it say God is tolerant tolerant of sin or that we should be. In John 8, verse II, to a woman caught in the act of adultery, did Jesus say, "Neither do I condemn you. Go and continue living any way you please"? No. He said " Neither do I condemn you. Go and sin no more." The New Testament docs address address the issue of homosexuality. •41 Cprinthians : :6/,verscs,9..and 10 ;;NMstatè^;H96jrtol be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor male prostitutes nor homosexual offenders offenders nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God." Romans I, verses 26 and 27 refer to lesbian and homosexual relationships as shameful lusts, unnatural, a perversion perversion and indecent acts. Could God's word be any clearer? Sharon Thompson Courtice Old-time MPP had a big heart They talked a lot about Harry Worton in the legislature the other day, but missed the real point they probably will never see his like again. Harry (it is difficult to call the tall, genial, courtly MRP by his surname, because nobody did) was Liberal member for Wellington South for 30 years until he retired in 1985, undefeated undefeated in eight elections. Harry was famous for making making few speeches. An MPP who served with him recalled he once said "more people have talked their way out of this place than ever talked themselves into it," and today's MPPs nodded their heads in agreement. Harry survived by looking after his constituents. Most politicians make a lot of promises, but Harry, who owned a bakery, was said to have made only one and that was to "pul more raisins in the buns." The story also was told that Progressive Conservative premier premier Leslie Frost in the 1960s wanted to send some confidential confidential cabinet papers safely to one of his ministers who was in hospital hospital in Harry's riding and fell nothing was more natural than to ask Harry to drop them in on his way home. Harry delivered them without without sneaking a glance. A premier premier would swallow his cabinet papers rather than allow them to lie touched by a political opponent opponent in the bitterly fought atmosphere atmosphere of today. None of this should be taken as'indicating Harry was a harmless harmless old duffer. I le got in the legislature legislature in the first place by knocking off a silting Tory minister minister in an election in which only a lew Liberals were able to get in and the dominating Tories Eric Dowd Al Oitccii s Park won 84 of the 98 seats. But the real story about Harry Worton, who died in March, is he was probably the last of a vanishing breed who spent most of their working lives elected to the legislature. He served when it was not uncommon for MPPs to stay 30 years and more. His contemporaries contemporaries included Wally Downer, who served 38 years, Farquhar Oliver, who served 41 years and Harry Nixon, briefly premier, who served 42 years, and his son, Bob, who lacked another 29 years on the family record. The only current MPP who has served anywhere near as long is Sean Conway, a member 27 years, who has been several times on the verge of seeking fresh fields hut persuaded to stay to keep the Liberals a much-needed seal. One reason MPPs have shorter political lives is greater volatility among voters. Massive sweeps by the Liberals in 1987, New Democrats in 1990 ami Tories Tories in 1995 pushed out many longer-serving MPPs. The area Mr. Worton held for the I .iberals for 30 years has since been won by all three major parties, The job also is more time- consuming. When Mr. Worton started, MPPs ami particularly lawyers and others who were self-employed were able to keep up their other careers part-time. The role of backbencher has grown less appealing with almost almost all key decisions marie by premiers and their small cliques, including unelected advisers. This applied particularly under Tory premiers William Davis and Mike Harris, but to a lesser degree under Liberal David Peterson Peterson and New Democrat Bob Rae. Being a member of the legislature legislature has declined in prestige also because fewer policies are announced there. A couple of decades ago governments announced announced programs outside the legislature only rarely and when they did it provoked uproar. But now most are unveiled at schools, hospitals, building sites and highways to provide pictures pictures more suited to TV - one day an unwary transportation minister is going to become a traffic statistic. MPPs' working conditions are less attractive because, although although they have swankier offices, offices, the atmosphere in the legislature legislature has become meaner and friendships outside party lines are rare. A premier could not he envisaged asking an opponent to pass on confidential papers as a Tory once asked Liberal Harry Worton. Mr. Harris did a lot to downgrade downgrade MPPs by reducing their numbers in a law he gleefully called the Fewer Politicians Aci, implying the fewer politicians the better, and parking a flatbed truck outside the legislature with 27 chairs on it representing the MPPs tu be removed, like a tumbril off to a public execution. execution. Mr. Harris and those around him also kept insisting they were not government, hut the guys who came to fix government, government, as if governing was undesirable undesirable - there are a lot of ways MPPs are deterred from doing the job for life, I Judi F Bobbitt. Regional Editor )bi)bbUt(â (lurlianircgioii. com We're not immune to accidents Saturday morning in a busy commercial commercial area, we had just pulled out of a parking spot on the street and were driving away when an accident almost happened. A kid on a bike, old enough to know better, suddenly swooped down off the sidewalk and shot out in front of us as he crossed the road. He didn't glance once toward us. I forgot about the incident until earlier this week, when two separate press releases crossed my desk on the same day. One was safety tips for cyclists, cyclists, the other a.reminder June is brain injury awareness month. And then, I thought of Kevin. 1 met Kevin more than 10 years ago, when I was working as a reporter. He was 19 then, finishing up high school with great marks, looking forward forward to a career as a veterinarian. It was difficult to imagine that, a few years earlier, doctors had suggested he would be a vegetable due to a cycling accident. One thing more than any other stuck in my mind about Kevin's story: the human skull can be shattered at an impact of just seven kilometres per hour. And Kevin, having fallen from his bicycle on a day he didn't wear a helmet, hit his head at an angle that cracked his skull like an egg. ' He wasn't a careless kid darting out in front of a car; he was merely cycling cycling sedately with his mother when she spotted a friend and slopped her bike to chat. Kevin, riding behind her, collided with his mother's bike. There followed a long, difficult period period for the family, during which doctors doctors predicted Kevin would never again live a normal life. Indeed, he had to learn to Walk again, had to learn simple things such as what a knife and fork are used for. Along the way, his mom said, he wasn't the same person, filled with rage and anger instead of consideration and friendliness. But with the help and perseverance of his family, Kevin recovered recovered fully and went on to finish high school as an Ontario scholar; everything his doctors said he couldn't couldn't do, he did. He played his flute again, finishing studies at the Royal Conservatory of Music. He rode his bike again (always wearing a helmet). Kevin's story had a happy ending, but that chapter will be written differently differently for other brain-injury victims. You can still spot people of all ages without helmets on bikes, roller blades, skis and snowboards. The possibility possibility of tragedy seems so remote it doesn't even cross our minds. Deep down, we believe if we arc careful, if we obey safety laws and if we aren't hot-dogging like a carefree kid, we are somehow immune to accidents. People like Kevin know differently. THE CANADIAN STATESMAN is one of the Metroland Printing, Publishing Publishing and Distributing group of newspapers. 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