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-V PAGE A4 The Canadian Statesman December 6,2006 Opinion COMPETTPOH durhamrcgion.com WHO WE ARE Tim Whittaker Publisher Joanne Burghardt Editor-In-Chief 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 Todd Blayone Interactive Media Manager EDITORIAL e mail letters to newsroom « durhamreqion.com Day a reminder more must be done It was exactly 17 years ago today that citizens across ■ Canada and around the world were shocked and horrified by a ' single event in Montreal. On that day, a frustrated, heavily-armed, woman-hating young man walked into Ecole Polytechnique in Quebec's largest largest city, entered an engineering classroom, ordered all the males to leave and then murdered 14 young females before turning his gun on himself. The event, dubbed the Montreal Montreal Massacre, became international international news and left a nation wondering what could possibly have possessed somebody to commit such a cold-blooded mass murder. Some brushed aside the killings killings as the work of an insane loner. But most people, especially women, were able to see it as the inevitable horrifying conclusion conclusion of extreme misogyny taken to its logical last step. That chilling thought was confirmed in the journals and letters of the killer that were discovered discovered in the days and weeks after the tragedy. And the whole miserable experience shined the spotlight, on what had been happening mostly behind closed doors ' 1 in Canadian homes for many, many decades. The problem of violence 1 against women and children is one that has led many communities communities to build shelters for battered women and children to turn to when home becomes a frightening domicile of screaming, screaming, kicking and punching. Violence against women is borne out of factors that go far beypnd physical inequality. There are also the issues of financial, social and political inequities that must be struggled struggled against. , Women need to be able to choose between brutality and poverty. They need to make the same amount as men for doing jobs of equal value. That's not the case today. More women need to be in leadership roles in business, labour and politics. Only then will the necessary changes be made that allow women to have control over situations that can result in violence. violence. Those women who died at Ecole Polytechnique were trying to forge careers in engineering, engineering, typically a male-dominated field. Since that time, females have made progress in earning positions positions in a variety of fields like medicine, law, politics, and yes, engineering. But much more needs to be done, and all Canadians, especially especially men, must take a role in making change. Canada will be a much better place as long as we all learn the lessons of Dec. 6 and take action to improve our society. CLICK AND SAY x Today's question: Cast your vote online at infodurhamregion.com Last week's question: Do you think new Liberal leader Stéphane Dion will beat Conservative leader Stephen Harper in the next election? Yes No Results in next week's newspaper Do you think the motion made by the Prime Minister to declare the Québécois a nation within a united Canada was good or bad? Bad 79% Good 21% Votes cast: 267 HAVE YOUR SAY " ' What should be the top priority of the new Clarington council in this four-year term of office? Pamela Ecklund "Reassess crosswalks, particularly at the plaza across from the seniors home; Pamela Ecklund." Julie Foden "Lower property taxes for low and middle income families." Steven Haley "Make sure the downtown core is not adversley affected by any future commercial growth and to keep things balanced." Phil Tielemans "Keeping spending in line and not raising taxes." : 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 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 contacts only those people whose submissions have been chosen for ; publication. Fax: 905-579-1809; e-mail: newsroom@durhamregion.com : ABOUT US The Canadian Statesman is one of the Melroland Printing, Publishing and Distributing group ol newspapers, The Statesman is a member of the. Bowmanville Clarington Board of Trade, the Greater Osliawa Chamber of Commerce, Ontario Community Newspaper Assoc., Canadian Community Newspaper Assoc,, Canadian Circulations Audit Board and tire Ontario Press Council. The publisher reserves lire right to classify or refuse any advertisement. Credit for ■ advertisement limited to space price error occupies. Editorial and Advertising content of the Canadian Statesman is copyrighted, Unauthorized reproduction is prohibited, Publications Mail Registration No. 07637 LETTERS TO THE EDITOR Some more help needed for seniors To the editor: I would like to bring to light a forgotten group put in peril by Jim Flaherty and Stephen Harper. Retirees living on money from former pension plans or RRSP savings savings who have converted them to LRIF accounts (Locked Retirement Income Fund) which come under pension rules can't add money in or take money out. That's as prescribed by the pension pension rules which means money lost can't be replaced and it also means an automatic decrease in the amount of income we can take out to live on. It is just Mr. Flaherty's way of reducing our taxes. . Of course. Richard Nicholson . Whitby Senate doesn't represent democracy To the editor: NDP MP Pat Martin has been rightly critical when he claims "the Senate isn't supposed to undermine and sabotage the will of the House. e-mail letters to newsroom@durhamregion.com PHOTO OF THE WEEK " Ken Cranney/Citizens'Eye Here's Santa waving from his float at the end of the Bowmanville Santa Claus parade. For more of your favourite pictures, visit www. citizenseye.com. If you have some photos to share, we'd love to have them. It's a declaration of war by the Senate." Senate." This was in reference to the unelected Libéral Senate majority stonewalling attempts to pass Bill C-2.This bill received wide support in the lower chamber, and is an attempt to bring about transparency to many government institutions, including the Wheat Board, and Liberal set-up foundations, contain- COLUMN Council has to , ing billions of taxpayer dollars. These are only two of the items that the Liberal majority in the Senate Senate is attempting to prevent from becoming law. Where is the democracy we hear about and soldiers die to defend, when unelected fat cat partisans can thwart the will of the people? Russ Horner Oshawa e-mail: jstone@durhamregion.com It's generally not a good idea to make your neighbours angry, especially especially when you've only just moved m. Jitpcna (*cna BT? But, that's exactly what Glaring- ton's new council may find itself having to do, as it finds out just how bound by Provincial Policy it is when it comes to determining what kind of growth to allow. There was a lot of talk during the election about "growth management." management." A lot of people, it would seem, took that to mean growth would stop in Clarington. But, that's not realistic, I'm afraid. Here's the reality of the situation: within 25 years, the Ministry of Infrastructure Renewal says there will be almost four million more people in the Greater Golden Horseshoe. Clarington alone, in that period, is anticipated to almost double in size, to 140,000. Not only is significant growth projected, but the Province is setting setting out how that growth should occur. To curb sprawl - a concept almost no one argues against - the Province has set out a plan expected to end "that endless sea of subdivision," subdivision," said Brad Graham, assistant deputy minister to Ontario's growth secretariat. Now being established are very Jennifer Stone specific guidelines for where not to grow - the Grcenbelt Plan - and where the growth should occur, Places to Grow. Those documents make it clear intensification is a major part of the aim. That means more people living in smaller spaces. And if the final days of Claringlon's last council arc any indication, residents aren't going to like that. Take, for example, residents of the Remi Court area of Newcastle, who spoke out against a change to a plan of a subdivision abutting their neighbourhood. They were concerned about all the typical things people get worked up about when new subdivisions are built: increased traffic and related issues, a change to the fabric of the neighbourhood neighbourhood and what one resident called a "bait and switch" tactic by the developer to have more houses built on smaller lots than originally proposed. In other words, the developer developer was proposing almost exactly what the Province is now demanding. demanding. Such NIMBYism-- and who can blame the residents for caring about what impacts the new subdivision will have on their lives -- simply can't be pandered to by the new council. The Province is legislating legislating the increased densities and that means ruling against them will send the developer into the appeal process with the Ontario Municipal Board; That will be costly, when one considers considers staff time and legal bills. And the money and time will be spent lor naught, since the developer will win. After all, he will have provincial policy on his side. The growth is coming. That is for certain. And there's no way to curb urban sprawl without increasing densities. That's the new reality, and residents aren't going to like it. You can't have your space and cat it too. Ite/iorler Jennifer Slone's column al>imrs every oilier Wednesday. iu(iHJslone@durluunrey,ion.com.