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LETTERS 0 EDITOR Seto Cen -- Tuesday, April, 1996 = 9 i All Canadians must share the bounties of tis country - : a VIEWPOINT mw by John B. McClelland | * GONE MISSING? I don't know how you feel, but there is obviously something very, very wrong with Canada's military these days. Last week, Col Geof Haswell accused the present head of the military Gen. Jean Boyle, the former head Gen. John de Chastelain and a former deputy minister of defense of approving a plan to falsify and destroy documents pertaining to Canada's abysmal foray into Somalia. "Gen. Boyle wasn't about to take that kind of accusation lying down. He immediately issued a public statement denying he or anybody else engineered a conspiracy to hide the truth .about the killings of Somalias during the 1993 : keeping" mission by Canadi soldiers. No sooner had he issued that statement, when the General ordered a top to bottom search of very military base in the country to try and find the documents etc. on Somalia that have allegedly gone missing. Sorry, am I missing something here? Can the Canadian military, trusted with the defense of the country, not keep track of documents and other materials related to the most shameful episode "in the modern history of our armed forces? ) Is he trying to say that these Somalia documents just might be gathering dust in some office or store-room at Gagetown, or Cold Lake, rather than in national defense HQ in Ottawa? Yes, I must be missing something here. Of course, I have been missing something about the Canadian military ever since the Somalia affair became public. What a tarnish on the prestige and reputation of the Forces. I can't A. but wonder how those veteran men and women must feel-- .the.ones who served their country a half century ago with such honour and distinction in the face of a cruel enemy who was firing real bullets. Here we have a senior officer saying the Whs a cover-up and the commanding officer saying "nope, no such thing." And just to prove it, he's going to turn every base upsidé down to find the relative documents, Oh, and by the way, our Minister of Defense, David Collenette, the civilian politician who is supposed to be in charge of the military in this country, says he agrees completely with the course of action taken by the top brass. Strange things going on, I know, the actions of a few bad apples should not, beallowed to tarnish the reputation of an entire organization and all the good people who are part of it. But it is hard to have much confidence in our military-these days, especially the folks who are supposed to be running the show. Stay tuned. More to come, I'm sure. NICE LETTER: As careful readers of the Citizen know, we try to publish as many letters to the editor as possible each week. Letters, in my humble view, are the lifeline of any community paper. If people can't have their say here, where can they have their say? Anyway, the letter published this week from 13 year old Shawn van Andel is a good 6ne. He makes some excellent points and gives credit where itis due (Scugog Township council) for waterfront enh To the Editor: For quite some time I have been concerned about our society's tendency to "eat our young". This past week, several things h d which led me to At the least, we will probably find that, when we are elderly and need assistance, it will not be there for us. Indeed, why should the younger people help us, speak out about the future of our young generation. The impetus to finally act came when my daughter became one of the casualties of the Durham Board of Ed cuts, idering what we have done to them? © We may also discover that our precious pension plans, RRSP's, and investments have little value. b: of ph in the economic system. . Remember 1929. said that those who do not Each year, the universities turn out three or four thousand young teachers who have followed the advice of their elders to stay in school, and great bounty would be theirs. What a letdown they must feel when they realize that only a handful of them will have jobs, and that mahy cannot even get on the list of{supply teachers. In contrast, I think back to the 60's when a new university grad received a job offer for virtually each application. A few days later, I red the list of the officials in Durham - the Region, Board of Education, and others - who receive in excess of $100,000 from the public purse - from our tax money - each year: Is the job of a superintendent at the Board of in Port Perry: specifically the Rotary Park north of the public boat "launch. This area really is a treasure for the tranquil enjoyment of everyone. The boardwalk and-observations posts are first rate. Strolling this area on a warm summem evening, it is very hard to believe one is just a stone's throw from the hustle and bustle of Queen and Water Streets. Thanks for the letter, Shawn. Nice to see a teen taking the time to express his thoughts and ask that they be made public. Quite frankly, as the editor and co- publisher of the Citizen, I would like to see more letters for publication from young people in this community. They are, after all, stakeholders in this society as much as any age group. And certainly they have as much right to express an opinion as anyone else, IN CLOSING: A lot of pundits and a few politicians are ready to write off the federal Tories as a political party in this country. Alberta premier Ralph Klein mused on this very topic last week. Not so fast. To be sure, the Tories are in a period of decline right now, but to suggest that without some kind of a union with Reform they are heading for oblivion is a tad premature, in my opinion. The problem with the federal Tories these days is not that the 'Reform or the Liberals have "moved onto their ideological ground." Their major problems stem from one thing by the name of Brian Mulroney. They are going to be a while shaking him from memory, and likewise his thankfully short- lived successor, Kim Campbell. Any political party carrying the yoke of a Brian Mulroney around its neck is going to experience gome difficulty. + But write them off? No, not yet, anyway. Jean Charest has much potential as a national leader in this country, What he needs is some strong and credible people behind the scenes working to re-organize the party from top to bottom and to bring the faithful back into the flock. Ed (there are twelve of them, ten of whom, along with the director, are on the list) really?worth three times as much as that of the young person who teaches your children, or twice that of a more senior classroom teacher? I was shocked when upon the settling of the OPSEU strike, Leah Casgglman was quoted as saying, "We've worl!" | wondef if the younger, less senior civil servants will feel that they have won when they receive layoff notices in the next few weeks. Perhaps | am mistaken, but I was under the impression that Ms. Casselman and her union were supposed to - BR remember their history are condemned to . repeat it. Think back just sixty years to the last time that vast numbers of young people were out of work. Do we really want that part of our history to be, repeated? Those of us who' are parents know that if young people do not have optimism about the future, and worthwhile ways to occupy their time, that they may become involved in destructive activities. I certainly do not want to have tolive in a fenced, controlled-entry fortress (as we see in the U.S.A.) to protect myself from young peaple who feel only bitterness at the inequities of our society. Surely it is to the advantage of us all to share the wealth of this great country. . Think of the possibilities if each of u us was to take just a ten per cént cut. We would have more time to do the things we at present have no"time to enjoy. Our taxes would be lower because we would not have to support-so many people who have no work. Ouf children would have * the resources to live independently. Our policing and prison costs would go down. I could go on, but I am sure you can think of many other - advantages. We live in one of the best countries in the world. Surely we must ghare its these people as well. Did it not occur to her that Serhaps sharing the work and the income, that all of the union members could keep their jobs? Then we have'the promise by our Provincial Government to give us w tax decrease of thirty percent. By "my calculations, those with. no taxable income receive no tax cut. Those with a taxable income of $30,000 would receive a cut of approximately $575. At the $60,000 level, provincial tax would be reduced by almost $1900, while those with taxable incomes over $60,000 would receive a $500 reduction for each $10,000 above that level. The theory is that this money will be spent here in Ontario, but will this be the case? I submit that much of this money will go towards things such as travel outside the country and topping up of the foreign content of investment portfolios. On the Bther hand, tax cuts for the less wealthy (if they are employed) would almost certainly be spent right here in Ontario. The large corporations are certainly not blameless in the situation, either. At a time of record profits, they are cutting anyone - not just the young - in order to award their top executives with, in some cases, multi-million dollar salaries, and their shareholders with increased profits. What, really are their rewards? Can workers, do a good job when they are looking over their shoulders to see if they are next on the chopping block? A young man of my acquaintance has an interesting proposal to decide who will be cut when layoffs are proposed: the lottery system. All names would go into the hat. Everyone from the top executive to the newest worker would have an equal chance of being laid off. That system would certainly cause contracts, whether they be business, public service, or teachers, to reopen, and executives to rethink their plans! What might happen in the future, if those of my generation and the baby boomers who follow us do not do something. about the plight of our young? Woe Canada! if we fail to do so. Linda McLayghlin R.R.1, Nestleton Uniforms sadly lacking To the Edita}: It was great to see your coverage of the Port Perry Juvenile hockey team's All Ontario 'A' Division Championship. As one of the parents who followed our team throughout the season it was nice to see the efforts of all the players and their coaches rewarded with a triumphant ending. While I was proud of the efforts of the team, | was embarrassed with the way our team was allowed to represent our town. Since this was the Juveniles third consecutive trip to the "All Ontario's" and the only Port Perry team to qualify this year, it was humiliating to see our players representing this community wearing "hand me down" sweaters, some torn, some way too small, 'some with * numbers taped on them; complete with two different logos. I think that it is about time that someone other than the coaches and parents show their appreciation for the fine efforts of these players; Port Perry Minor Hockey should budget new sweaters for a well deserving team. Once again, a heartfelt thanks to Jamie Menzies and his assistants Andrew Steele, Scott Menzies, and Dave Menzies "for giving their time and efforts to-a group of young men that grew as a team under their leadership. '. Sincerely, . a Ed Hobbs hi E