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PAGE 4THE CANADIAN STATESMAN, DECEMBER 11,2002 www.durhamreglon.com Tim Whittaker Publisher Joanne Burghardt Editor-in-Chief Chris Bovie Managing Editor Judi Bobbitt Regional Editor Fred Eismont Director of Advertising Eddie Kolodziejcak Classified Advertising Manager Kirk Bailey Distribution Manager Lillian Hook Office Manager Barb Harrison Composing Manager Clarington's Award-Winning Newspaper Since 1854 Œïjc Canadian Statesman ■ f Dec. 11,2002 Metroland Printing, Publishing & Distributing Ltd. Phone 905-579-440C Classifieds 905-576-9335 Distribution 905-579-440/ General Fax 905-579-2238 Newsroom Fax 905-579-1808 E-Mail newsroom@durhamregion.com 865 Farewell St., Oshawa ON L1 H 7L5 Publications Mail Registration No. 07637 infodurhamregion.com EDITORIAL e-mail Idlers to newsroom® 1 (lurhumrcnion.com Passage of Kyoto Accord is the right thing to do T he imminent passage in Parliament of the Kyoto Accord is, despite despite some noted handwringing handwringing in western Canada, a real plus for this nation. The accord, which has the goal of reducing greenhouse gas emissions to 1990 levels by the year 2010, is at least a small attempt to do battle with the horrendous problem of global warming. Kyoto will put us on a fixed schedule to meet real targets. It will require political political will to pass legislation lowering emissions from automobiles, automobiles, factories and businesses. businesses. But, in the end, Canada Canada will at least be in a position position of leadership when it comes to discussion of global environmental issues. More importantly, should we meet all the targets of the accord, we'll have cleaner air in 2010 than we have today. Those who argue more discussion discussion is needed and that there are other solutions besides besides Kyoto which we must discuss, are merely delaying the inevitable. To argue for voluntary reductions in emissions, emissions, as President George W, Bush has called for, is pure ■-ifolly. Unless legislation backed up by enforcement aiid fines is central to action, nothing will change and we will keep on polluting at more dangerous levels. Alberta's concerns about economic hardships realized through Kyoto don't have much validity. Federal Environment Environment Minister David Anderson Anderson ' has repeatedly stressed tar sands production is expected to triple - even under Kyoto - over the next .decade. Kyoto is really all about a fundamental change in the way we connect with our environment. environment. It's understanding we can't no longer take for granted that we can burn off emissions at greater and greater levels with no impact on our planet. Consider this: if we can't even agree to start the process of cutting back emissions, where will we go in future? And, Kyoto is just a start. By no means is it the answer in the long-term. Before Before the accord even runs its course, scientists and officials from around the world will need to sit down and set even more ambitious targets for a sustainable future. It's unfortunate such superpower superpower polluters like the United States, China and India are turning their backs on Kyoto. Some would argue a relatively relatively small country like Canada should follow the big nations rather than take the lead. But" Canada, much like - we" did with the then-unknown then-unknown idea of peacekeeping in the 1950s, can be innovative. innovative. We can lead by example and, when it's realized Kyoto is the only way, be ready to welcome the big nations into the cleaner-air fold. Powi www.dolighan.com LETTERS TO THE EDITOR OPINION e-mail letters lo ncwsroom@durliamrcHion.com My grandmother can outwork me any time, any day Chamber reiterates position in HQ debate To the editor: Re: 'We need more detail on plan,' editorial of Nov. 15, 2002, This Week. ■y. It has beei^ the position bf.the j _ Greater, psluiwa" .CjuimlDeùZof" ■ Commerce from the outset the financial financial business case approved by Regional council in June 2002 provided no economic justification justification for construction of a Regional Regional headquarters building. The effort in the recent letter campaign was to ensure all taxpayers taxpayers and residents in Durham Region have a say in this most important issue. A proposed expenditure expenditure of this magnitude must be fully justified lo the taxpayers and their approval obtained. There has been overwhelming support from the residents of the communities of Uxbridge, Beaverton, Cannington, Sunderland, Sunderland, Goodwood, Greenbank and Port Perry lo the letter calling on Regional government to postpone postpone any decision for a new Regional Regional Headquarters building e-mail letters to ncwsroom@durhamvcHimi.com Judi Bobbitt Regional editor I 've long suspected my 92- year-old grandmother has more energy than I have, though it's not a concept I've allowed allowed to float to the forefront of my consciousness too often. The notion first struck about a year ago, during a phone call to her in Nova Scotia, when I asked what she'd done that day. She'd gone "over town" to have her hair "done", picked up a few-groceries and met my sister for lunch. Afterward, she and another relative had driven farther afield to do some shopping and have dinner. "You must be tired," 1 offered. "No, that's not doing anything," she replied. "It was yesterday I did all my housework." Of course, she was a mere 91 then. My grandmother lives alone in a big, four-bedroom house with a centre-hall plan, the kind of house that would take me a month to clean. She still works (selling Avon for more than 50 years) though she's scaled back lo part-time these days. Just last weekend, 1 called lo see how she's doing with her Christmas preparations. She's busy cleaning cleaning and baking since she's expecting expecting overnight guests for the holidays. Bill this year, she's complaining complaining she lias lo slop and take an occasional break as she cleans. "I hate working that way." I have always worked that way. The niggling thought that I might have the stamina of a 92- year-old, or worse, began to gnaw at me again. So the next day, I decided to pit myself against my grandmother grandmother and put my mind at rest. At less than half her age, I figured figured I should be able to carry off a seven-hour marathon of housework, no problem. problem. Just because I hadn't done that in a long time didn't mean 1 couldn't do it, 1 reasoned. reasoned. First thing Saturday, I dug in, thinking a coffee break every 90 minutes or so wouldn't be unreasonable. After the first hour, 1 decided I could break whenever 1 wanted. And after loading and ' unloading the dishwasher, dishwasher, washing cupboards and appliances and trucking four loads of laundry up and down two flights of stairs, I began lo think longingly of my book and an afghan. 1 remembered my grandmother and pushed on. By the time 1 was cleaning the glass in the french doors, my lower hack was singing and my arms were aching in the places where many other people, like my grandmother I suppose, have triceps and biceps. Alter four hours (OK, maybe it was closer to three) I threw in the dish towel. "Nan would understand," I lied lo Clyde the dog, as he and I curled up with the hook and the afghan, My grandmother might he super-human, hut I must he psychic psychic - something tells me there's a gym in my future. until after the 2003 municipal election, thereby allowing all taxpayers taxpayers in Durham Region the opportunity opportunity to express their opinion at the ballot box.. Residents and taxpayers of Durham Region are faced with enormous demands on tlreir tax dollars. Homes for seniors, safe water supply, health care, roads and emergency services are among the real priorities of the residents of Durham Region, not abiding. Y \ ;. t V .In Vending, your .(editorial,. r tb have public officials suggest "it is' premature" or "as yet, there is no firm commitment" contradicts the Region's own reports including including the financial business case approved approved by Regional council in June and the Design-Build RFP issued this past September. The financial business case approved by Regional council on June 19 set a schedule for the next stage to be the Design-Build RFP period from Sept. 12 to Dec. 5, 2002 with tender award approval approval at council in January - March 2003. Further, the Region's Design- Build Request for Proposal, RFP 694-2002, dated Sept. 10, 2002 set out on page 6 the Region's schedule. In this schedule the closing date was Nov. 7, 2002 with approval by Regional coun- OPINION e-mail letters to ne\vsroom@(lurliamreHioii.eom cil in December 2002 and the awarding of the contract in January January 2003. We have been informed the closing date for the Region's Design-Build Design-Build Request for Proposal, RFP 694-2002, was extended from Nov. 7 to Nov. 18, 2002 with apparent approval by Regional Regional council in January 2003 and the awarding of the contract in late January or early February „ 2003. We respectfully suggest 'decisions arc"now imminent! '..Whin arc the taxpayers going lo become part of the process? This is such a huge project; it should not be fast-tracked. With the responses received by the Greater Oshawa Chamber of Commerce, the taxpayers need to be heavily engaged in the process and be aware of all the facts. We agree with you. Falling as it does within a municipal election year, it needs to be part of all-candidates' all-candidates' forums and a regionwide referendum. If taxpayers would like more information or a detailed detailed list on how their councillor voted on the issue they can visit www.oshawachamber.com and click on the story 'Ratepayers Get Hammered Again.' Ian A. Jolmcox, President Bob Malcolmson, CEO Greater Oshawa Chamber of Commerce Fellow passengers make flight a nightmare L ast week 1 took my first airline trip since 9/11 and, if there is a God in heaven, it will be my last. Security measures, as you may be aware, have been beefed up substantially at airports. Not only has this resulted in lineups lineups that rival the Cherokee Trail of Tears, but the invasiveness invasiveness of the searches is something that really should be reserved for the hack scat of a car. As a rule of thumb, I don't generally submit to that kind of degrading degrading treatment without at least dinner and drinks and maybe a movie. Anyway, after a perfectly humiliating shake- down, the immigration officer coldly handed me my belongings belongings back. We exchanged phone numbers and I moved on to my flight. I now had over live hours to kill before touching down in Los Angelos. Naively and perhaps perhaps somewhat snobbishly, I thought my business class seat would afford me a measure of immunity from the more commonplace commonplace hazards of air travel i.c„ silting beside a jerk. No Neil Crone Enter Laughing such luck. There arc just as many jerks in first class as there arc in the rear. Maybe more. Only the ones up front come with attitude. The clown 1 was shackled to happened to be a gum clicwcr. 1 mean a world class, lipsmacking, lipsmacking, saliva-gurgling, saliva-gurgling, noisy masticator. masticator. Stick after stick of minty smelling something or other disappeared into his wcll-dcntured maw where he worked it lo death. And with every moist click and liquid gush the hair on the back of my neck prickled with revulsion. revulsion. I slammed a pair of headphones on and goosed the volume up to max, hut still I heard it, annoyingly punctuating punctuating Beethoven's Fifth like somebody walking through tally. But this was only the beginning. beginning. Our dinners had no sooner sooner arrived when this Armani- clad Snuffleiippagus inhaled his with a force that dropped the cabin pressure. Oxygen masks began popping out of the ceiling. Ami the noise! It was like running an outboard CLICK AND SAj^ Today's question: Do you think Durham businesses will be hurt by the Region's new smoking bylaw? □ Yes □ No □ Not sure Cast your vote online at infodurhamregicyi.com Last week's question: Is the Romanow report on health care the right prescription for Canada's medicare system? □ Yes 48.3% □ Good start 40.0% □ No 11.7% Votes cast: 60 HAVE YOUR SAY Question How do you feel about the regional bylaw that will take effect June 2004 banning banning smoking in restaurants, bars and other public and workplaces? workplaces? Bonnie Boucher "I think it is good. I'm a non- smoker. It will be a lot better taking a bite of food without a bite of smoke." Emily Elston-MacNab "I think it's good. I don't like to breathe in smoke when I'm trying to eat my meal." Shaun Baillie "It's good. You have to breathe in smoke of smokers and you're not the one smoking yet you get the effect of it." Bill Bradley "It might hurt the (hospitality) industry a bit but it will make a safer, healthier environment." environment." through a tub of oatmeal. I have encountered only one other individual individual on an airplane who was more sickening. Once, on a flight to Montreal the sweet little little old lady across the aisle from me decided to lake her shoes off once we'd reached altitude. altitude. As she sat there blissfully blissfully massaging her walnut-sized bunions the slink of tainted meal slowly filled the cabin. It was like I was sitting across from a l()-day-okl cadaver. Midway through our journey journey to L.A. we were offered steaming hot facecloths to remove remove some of the journey's grime and refresh the spirit. As 1 pressed mine gratefully to my closed eyes, I heard Jo-Jo the Ape hoy unload the contents of his nose into his. I closed my eyes harder and a flurry of wonderfully joyful vignettes played quickly across my mind. Me kicking his hull out the emergency door, me jamming a 'laser into his ribs, the flight steward and I flirting coyly as we held a pillow over his mouth, his shiny black-tassel black-tassel led brogues jerking spasmodically. spasmodically. My reverie, however, was shattered by a click, gush, click, gusli, lie had started a new stick of gum. (Elic Cmmbimi &>tatetimnn is one of the Metroland Printing, Publishing Publishing and Distributing group of newspapers. 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