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PAGE 6 ♦ THE CANADIAN STATESMAN ♦ February 8,2006 Tim Whittaker Publisher Joanne Burghardt Editor-in-Chlef Chris Bovie Managing Editor Fred Eismont Director of Advertising Eddie Kolodziejcak Classified Advertising Manager Kirk Bailey Distribution Manager Lillian Hook Office Manager Janice O'Neil, Cheryl Haines Composing Managers Clarington's Award-Winning Newspaper Since 1854 ®jc Canabtmt Statesman Opinion | FEBRUARY 8, 2006 durhamrcgion.com Phone 905-579-4400 Classifieds 905-576-9335 Distribution 905-579-4407 General Fax 905-579-2238* Newsroom Fax 905-579-1809 E-Mail newsroom@durhamregion.com 865 Farewell St., Oshawa ON L1H7L5 Publications Mail Registration No. 07637 infodurhamregion.com EDITORIAL e-mail letters to newsroom@durhamregion.com Durham gets two seats at cabinet table country's largest and wealthiest region. Of the 46 MPs elected in the GTA, just seven were Conservatives, Conservatives, including four from Durham Region alone (the other two are Oshawa's Colin Carrie and Haliburton-Kawartha Lakes- Brock's Barry Devolin). If Mr. Harper wants to break Not since the days of the Mike through from minority to major- Harris-Emie Eves Tories has ity status he will need to pick up Durham Region been so promi- nearly three dozen seats nation- nent at the cabinet table. In those wide. It. follows that he must not-so-long-ago days, Durham make some gains in the GTA and could boast three cabinet minis- his appointment of Mr. Flaherty ters at one time. and Ms. Oda may help him to do But this time, it's different. It's so. , not just the province of Ontario ' For their part, Mr. Flaherty and where we have clout, it's the Ms. Oda must bring that GTA Government of Canada where perspective with them into cabi- we now have not one, but two net. Mr. Flaherty, who now has cabinet ministers. the most important job in gov- The naming of Whitby-Osha- eminent next to Mr. Harper, will wa's Jim Flaherty as finance have to craft a budget that wins minister by new prime minister friends and influences people Stephen Harper is a tremendous in Ontario's major cities, where honour for the Whitby lawyer. Tory candidates, for the most Mr. Flaherty brings with him a part, did not fare well in the last wealth of experience in provin- election, cial government where he was He'll be able to emphasize also finance minister in addition budget measures which benefit to holding a handful of other - Canadian cities and help urban portfolios. A two-time runner-up voters understand a Conservator Conservator leader of Ontario's Conserva- tive government is of benefit, not fives, Mr. Flaherty is respected harm, as a no-nonsense politician who . Mr. Flaherty will also have to tells it like it is. walk a budget tightrope in a v Durham riding's Bev Oda, one minority situation where support of just 14 Conservative women will be needed by opposition elected in January, becomes one parties to get the budget passed, of just five women MPs and six He'll need to find a balance women total in the 28-person between the promise to cut the cabinet (Senator Marjoiy LeB- GST by one percentage point, retton is the Conservative leader to maintain the five-cents-a-litre in the Senate). Ms. Oda, who gas tax pledge and to meet the was heritage critic in the last ses- . needs and concerns of dozens sion of Parliament, takes on that of other departments and causes portfolio as well as the Status of across this great land. Women post. It will take tremendous skill and It was important for Mr. Harper talent. We're glad Mr. Harper has to get solid representation from seen fit to entrust Mr. Flaherty, the Greater Toronto Area, the with this crucial role. . BACKWARD GLANCE CPR bridge, Bowmanville Photo supplied by the Clarington Museum and Archives / The CPR bridge is shown in Bowmanville in this undated photo. Finance for Jim Flaherty; Heritage/Status of Women for Bev Oda ,..so,vou tmj Tt&is & a imm ...TO EA<£ :y-V. , m. ' mw, pu. dofighan.com LETTERS TO THE EDITOR e-mail letters to newsroom@durhamregion.com Museum money should go to roads To the editor: Hockey museum indeed. Please mayor, don't you think the over $1 million proposed for a museum in Bowmanville could be better used to expand Taunton Road or put sidewalks and better lighting in, say, an area such as the old subdivision in Newcastle " Village. The region ; is looking ; for money for the Taunton Road expansion. Well, there it is - SL million found. Please mayor, shake your head and listen to the people. Think of the money that an expanded Taunton Road would bring into the area and local businesses. businesses. Politicians are not generally known for their smarts, well, in this old boy's view anyway. Please prove me wrong and do the right thing for a change. Shelve the museum, give us better better roads. Richard Kealy Newcastle Let's get back in the gold game To the editor: 1 There has been speculation since the federal election outcome, outcome, that the Canadian dollar might now approach 90 cents U.S. Some economists say that the past three-year appreciation of the Canadian dollar has been the result of the "petro-currency effect." Some of us remember the time when the Canadian dollar traded beyond $1 U.S. Not many economists had speculated why the Canadian dollar tanked into the mid-sixties in the first place. Successive Liberal administrations administrations sold massive amounts of gold from Canadian Central Central Bank currency reserves for depreciating U.S. dollars, but to ; be fair, the grand-daddy of all sellers of Canada's family jewels was none other than Brian Mul- roney, and then at rock bottom prices to boot. Canada now has less than 1 per cent gold amongst its foreign foreign currency reserves, about the same as such failed states as Burundi and Liberia. ; While petroleum reserves may : ■ help. a cuirency; appreciate, other ; petro-currencies such : as the Venezuelan Venezuelan Bolivar or Indonesian Rupiah continue to lose relative value and are considered "junk currencies." On the other hand, some nations now increasing the gold content of their foreign currency reserves are seeing the value of their currencies currencies appreciate accordingly. Perhaps it is now time for Canada to quickly replenish its foreign currency reserves, while gold sellers are still willing to accept less than $600 U.S. per ounce. R.H. Posma Oshawa Drive-thrus should never have been allowed To the editor: I guess I don't understand why ■ we have drive-thrus. I believe .this is a big problem with emissions, smog and pollution. pollution. . Drive past a McDonald's, Tim Hortons, Burger King, Wendy's, KFC, etc., especially on cold days. Cars are in line ups and you can't see some of the cars due to the exhaust. These drive- thrus arc open from 6 a.m. till midnight where cars arc idling for five or 10 minutes. They should never have been allowed.. Mari-Anne Mitchell Oshawa New system fine for CEO, not for averagejoe To the editor: Re: Lakeridge CEO Brian Lemon defends LHINS, Feb. 3. For those of us who may only . . require "the kind of thing that "% people need once or twice in. their life" it would be nice to have the support of our families and friends. Travelling 80 kilometres may be acceptable to Lakeridge Health CEO Brian Lemon's family family but there are a lot of us who don't have anything close to his resources and, as such, would be faced with insurmountable problems. problems. On the bright side, for those who believe this is a great idea, the Ontario government provided you with a website (www.mhsio. on.ca). Remember that it is free and confidential. Paul Hartshorn Oshawa. LETTERS We welcome letters that include name, city of residence and phone numbers for verification. Writers are generally limited to 200 words and one submission submission in 30 days. We decline announcements, poetry, open letters, consumer complaints, congratulations and thank you notes. The editor reserves the right to edit copy for length, style and clarity. The newspaper newspaper contacts only those people people whose submissions have been chosen for publication. FAX: 905-579-1809; E-MAIL: Newsroom ©durhamregion. com. CLICK AND SAY Today's question: Should there be higher standards of security required for owners of gun collectors? Yes No Cast your vote online at infodurhamregion.com Last week's question: Do you understand the Province's plan for health care and its new Local Health Integration Network system? No 77.9% Somewhat 11.7% 1 Yes 10.4% Votes cast: 154 HAVE YOUR SAY Are you excited about the upcoming Winter Olympics? Kyle Muizelaar "Yes, I'm looking forward to them, especially the hockey." Rebecca Cooper "No, because the Summer Olympics are more exciting." Johan Murphy "Yes I am, I prefer the Winter Olympics to the Summer ones as I'm a skier." Kristin Robinson "Yes, but I only watch snowboarding, skiing and hockey": Let's not muzzle freedom of press Cartoonists under fire by Muslims for his stance it hit last week like a thunderbolt thunderbolt for those of us who make our living in the media. A group of cartoonists in Denmark Denmark drew satirical cartoons mocking the prophet of Islam, Mohammed. What happened next was something that was certainly not expected by the cartoonists nor by the newspaper that published their work. World-wide outrage, calls for the death (by beheading) of the cartoonists. Boycotts, destruction of Christian churches in Muslim countries, threats to anyone else (vho would dare insult the propli- Tim Kelly et. Talk about power of the press. Maybe we should have seen it after Salman Rushdie faced a fatwa (death sentence) for insulting insulting Mohammed in his 1988 novel, The Satanic Verses. Mr. Rushdie had to hide in fear for his life lor over a decade before (lie fatwa was finally lifted. Those of us who throw out our opinions to the world for readers to digest often wonder if we're working in a vacuum, Rarely does feedback return though it's always nice to get it, positive or negative. It's one thing to receive an angry phone call or cranky e- niail. That's par for the course. It's quite another to receive a death threat. Two things come to mind with this issue, No. I is the Muslim reaction to threaten violence over this perceived insult to Mohammed. Here in Canada, the worst that would happen to somebody accused of prejudice in a column or of slighting a race or religion would he a trip to the Ontario Press Council and perhaps a ruling ruling requiring his newspaper print a judgement against his paper. There might also he some angry mail, hut that would likely he it. We presume we work in an environment' protected by our Charter of Rights and Freedoms which offers clear and strong freedom of the press laws. We're entitled to our opinion - the usual test of this for columnists or cartoonists at most. newspapers newspapers are the boundaries of good community standards, accuracy and fairness. Most columnists are sensible and smart enough to know where to draw the line - if they don't know, their editor-in-chief and/or publisher will let them know. That brings me to the second issue: press freedom. Denmark, a west European country, should not Ice! hound by any rules or laws followed by any Islamic fundamentalist fundamentalist states. It may he a crime to depict Mohammed in say, Iran or Pakistan or Egypt, but it is not in Denmark or Canada. To a Catholic Christian like myself, Mohammed is simply a seventh century Mid-East man who founded Islam and is credited credited with writing the Koran. He is one of the great world figures, figures, but is not above criticism, just as my religious idol, Jesus Christ, is not above criticism, I would no more gratuitously slam Mohammed than I would Christ - except where I believe violence to innocent people is being done in his name. We must stand firm and protect our right to think and act in a free society as we believe and not be cowed by threats. If we allow those who would use violence to silence our voices, we've truly given in and given up. Copy editor Tim Kelly's column appears every oilier Wednesday. E-mail tkellydP durhamregion.com. i no uaiiauiaii oicucol i ldi l lo one of the Metroland Printing Publishing and Distributing group of newspapers. The Statesman is a member of the Bowmanville Clarington Board of Trade, the Greater . Oshawa Chamber of Commerce, Commerce, Ontario Community Newspaper Assoc,, Canadian Canadian Community Newspaper Assoc., Canadian Circulations Circulations Audit Board and the Ontario Press Council. The publisher reserves the right to classify or refuse any advertisement. Credit for advertisement advertisement limited to space price error occupies. Editorial and Advertising content of the Canadian Statesman is copyrighted. Unauthorized re production is prohibited. Aoaia|