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t ) Tea is Served Alice's adventures in Wonderland were presented by The Pines Players last Thursday, May 14th. In this scene, Lindsay Hawkshaw, as Alice, gets acquainted with Julie Vincent, the dormouse; Crystal Dickenson, the March Hare and Joe Castellano, the Mad Hatter. May 26th in Newcastle Education Minister Will be Guest Speaker At Durham East Dinner The Claringlon/Courticc Independent. Bowmanvillc, Saturday. May 23. 1998 Page 15 Americans Seek Allies in War on Drugs Parliamentary Report by Alex Shepherd Pat Pinglc, President of the Durham Provincial Progressive Conservative Riding Association (the riding is currently known as Durham East, but when the next provincial election election is called, it will be called Durham) announced recently that the Honourable David Johnson, Minister of Education, will be the guest speaker at the Association's annual fundraiser. fundraiser. The scheduled speaker was to have been Finance Minister Ernie Eves, but an unexpected occurrence forced him to cancel. John O'Toole, MPP for Durham East, invited Education Minister Johnson to attend in place of the finance minister, Pinglc announced. She added: "Our association association would like all those who had received notification notification and who were planning planning to attend this event to be informed of the change of featured speaker. We know that Minister Johnson will deliver an informative address. The dinner will take place at the Newcastle Town Hall on Tuesday, May 26, 1998. Social hour begins at 6:30 p.m., followed followed by dinner at 7:30 p.m. To obtain tickets please telephone (905) 623-2947 or (905) 985-3940. On Monday, I flew back from Massachusetts having concluded the weckcnd-long-or is that long weekend - 39th annual annual meeting of the Canada- U.S. Inter-parliamentary Group. As I said in an earlier column, we share a four thousand mile-long undefended undefended border with the U.S. who also happen to be the most economically powerful country in the world as well as our greatest greatest trading partner. One of my functions was to support our Minister of Finance, who is sponsoring a drive to establish an international secretariat to act as a watch dog over international international financial institutions. institutions. The turmoil in Indonesia is only one example of conflict that could have been avoided had a secretarial been in place. I'm happy to report that the Americans support our initiative in this area. Almost two hundred issues were discussed including imports of softwood softwood lumber into the U.S., Cuba and of course the West Coast fishing dispute, dispute, immigration and the use of illegal drugs. The Americans have amended their immigration immigration code. One negative result will be the long delays this will cause for Canadians proceeding southward. Even though they have delayed implementation of the amendment for a year it is still law and a significant significant hindrance to Canadians. The law was really designed with the Mexican border in mind because illegal Mexican immigrants immigrants are a significant problem as well as the growing drug trade. Most congressional representatives agreed the amendment was not intended to give Canadians problems when they entered the U.S. We told them how to amend the law in such a way that the Canadian and Mexican borders could be treated differently. They arc going to take our ideas back to Washington. Dealing with the human suffering and crime that is a result of the illegal drug trade is another big problem problem for American parlia- mentarians. Representatives from Florida and New York arc especially concerned. They claim the ruin of American cities and their nation's youth is a direct result of using illegal drugs. Yes we have a drug problem here in Canada as well, mainly in our urban areas. But it is nowhere near the problem the Americans arc experiencing. experiencing. The Americans told me that it would be just a matter matter of time before Canada fully experienced the lawlessness lawlessness and death toll associated with the drug trade. Indeed, as we were talking a whole block of apartments in Washington has been gutted in drug related incidents. The Americans told us their ability to control the supply and demand for drugs was limited and they needed international help. Some of the laws they currently currently have with the countries countries that export illegal drugs into the U.S. are ineffectual and counter productive. The Americans sec that they need a way to change this but they can't see how they can do it alone. I told them I would research this and sec how Canada could, put forward a more com-; prehensive strategy for drug laws in the .western hemisphere. We have good relations with the United States and hopefully they will conlin-; uc well into the future. It is a lot easier to meet and talk rather than call each other names from within our own borders. Ontario Twins With Nova Scotia in W.l. Project During the current Federated Women's Institutes of Canada trienniurn, Women's Institute (WI) branches across Ontario arc "twinned" with branches in Nova Scotia. Twinning gives members members the opportunity to learn first hand the culture, the customs and the geography of another province and to learn about the challenges fading residents in other parts of the country. In the 1994-1997 trienniurn, Ontario twinned with Alberta. Branches exchanged programs and videos; they sent each other letters, photos and newsletters. Some Ontario members took the opportunity to visit WI members in Alberta and attend their meetings. Alberta members were able to take advantage of WI Hospitality Homes while travelling in Ontario. For more information about the WI twinning program, please contact FWIO at 519-836-3078. Ontario Street Intermediate Choir Goes to Kiwanis Ontario Street Public School Intermediate Choir, pictured with choir director Myra Douglas (centre) performed at the Kiwanis Music Festival in Oshawa on April 20. They came away with a first place win in their two-part class for their version of "The Water is Wide." Judges gave them a mark of 85. i'JkoljM:., Bowman ville is a AY 'A-T' 1 ' :)>'■'■ -'/.AT". 4 E Sennits to - : ■jssM The Kaillin Group' ."-AY /V../ v' ; - ^vY;; ■ V,' ' vTTY'.Yt WÈ _ Building Excellence" 7 ' :SMWidiMtgwtl2.Q.g^s.atft, homes on 200'tdiep lots v Wm, , L ,„„ t 1, ..x v Sfàrtiiï km up to $ vmMm for 2,006 sq ft . ' HF ' vyv ' >■*' . .5 X: ,V _V-S/ ■■Nj-'.l'.'-i 1™T1 fireplace •5 FREE appliances i 1 ■/ 2 ,'SMhanfbi • •" - " ' Kf V, . ' Oihaisj ASPEN SPRINGS SALES OFFICE COpincTsccfoiî^ ^VspcîïïSmTnüsT Phase v ■ i| .dm m » •; ' iV**.'*» Si Mm f ini R ii¥=W% 1 1 Ml I i TO.,J,g'> mjÈ'y • f *■■■■■ *aae*ei u ism.- ;«.*! 1**1 l-IAftA.» .1 1 HOiaaattzl