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C-- C80 £1 vadmretnel .vekesuT - IAT? YARIS YROAG - 8 -- PORT PERRY STAR -- Tuesday, September 12, 1989 Letters io the caitor Ontario Bill discriminates against English speaking people To the Editor: NEVER was there a more damaging Bill legislated against the people of Ontario. (Millions spent and true extent of designated areas NOT revealed). NEVER was a Bill passed in Ontario with such secrecy and deceit! NEVER was there a greater need for information to be made available to the public! NEVER has an Ontario Bill been more discriminating against English-speaking people. NEVER did the people of On- tario give Mr. Peterson a man- date to proceed with this legisla- tion. He has forgotten that "the right to govern is derived from the governed." NEVER was there a greater need for a legislated Bill to be rescinded! Bill 8, The French Language Services Act was: - passed on November 18, 1986 with 70 per cent of 125 members ab- sent! WHY? - Passed in French in the Legislature. - Recorded in French in the Hansard Report (the public record) - for the 95 per cent English-speaking residents of Ontario? WHY THE SECRECY? - Miniscule media coverage. If this Bill is such fair and equitable legislation, why were the details not made public? At least 93 per cent of the popula- tion of Ontario is already includ- ed in designated areas, ex. Toron- to, with a 1.2 per cent Fran- cophone population, is a designated area. To quote Bob Runciman, MPP Leeds- Grenville, "there was no mean- ingful debate, no reference to a Standing Committee to take a look at what the implications of Life's Like That by Julia Ashton Growing old(er) Where have all the years gone? Wasn't it just yesterday that | was a student at Port Perry High School? : | remember those years so clearly. We were a bunch of naive kids entering high school. We felt so old, but at the same time, SO young. Oh, how we looked up to the Grade 12 and 13 students. They were our idols. Heck, they could drive, 90 to restricted movies and get into licenced bars. We had to settle for school dances, school buses and Kool-Aid. And even though the seniors got to ridicule and embarass us during initiation, we looked up to them all the same. You know what they made us dress up as for initiation -- babies. How humiliating. There | was, standing at the end of the driveway waiting for the bus in a pair of silly pyjamas with a diaper over the bottoms. Finishin touches included having my hair pulled ba into two pig-tails and a pacifier hanging on a string around my neck. I'm sure everyone on the road drove oy that morning. It's like they all called each other. | can imagine the conversation. "Oh you should see the Ashton girl. She's wearing pyjamas to school. Can you believe it? Fashions sure have changed since when we were young.' And then there was Grandad. Good old shutterbug Grandad. Packed the camera in the truck that morning and insisted on snap- ping a picture of me in my PJs. Probably made copies of the darn thing and passed them around to all the relatives. Gads! Now, nine years later, instead of dressing up like babies, all my friends are having one. it doesn't seem possible. How did this hap- n? Well, | think | know how it happened. hey taught us that in health class. Just how could it happen so soon. Most of my friends aren't even a quarter century old yet. We're just babes ourselves. Regardless, it has happened. And to be quite honest my friends have never looked better. There must be something about an ex- pectant mother. They all look so healthy, so radiant. Gone is the 27-inch waist, but in its Jace is a beautiful rounded tummy, so full of ife. Ultra-sounds and baby names fill the con- versations. 'What do you think of this name or that name' and 'When the doctor showed me the ultra-sound | could see its little feet.' ('m glad none of my friends want to know the sex of their child. It's sort of like knowing what the present is before you open it.) Funny how the topic of conversation has changed since we went to high school togeth- er. Before, we talked about boys, boys and more boys: What boys were cool, what boys were cute and what boys were jerks. If we weren't talking boys, then we were talking about our diets. The diets we started every morning and broke every lunch hour. All it took was one person to say 'fries and gravy' . and that was it. Forget the tossed salad, throw the piece of fruit that we brought from home into the garbage, can the yogurt. As soon as one person strayed from the diet, five others went down just like a line of dominos. Yet everyday we would complain about how fat we were, and how we couldn't get our jeans done up unless we lay down on the ed. Eventually, we became seniors. Boy, how we walked the halls with our heads held high. We don't stop for nobody. We don't stop for nobody. We were so cocky. The roles had re- versed. We were the seniors and now all the junior students looked up to us. We were old enough to drive, old enough to go to restricted movies and old enough to get into licenced bars. We were so mature, or so we thought. So when do you really get old? One of my more mature friends told me it is when your children reach puberty. I'll ask my friends how they feel in 13 years. For Better or For Worse®. by Lynn Johnston FAIR! WEVE ONL JUST GONE BACK TC SCHoOL- AN' LOOKIT THE WORK WE I'M GONNA BE SITTING- FOR HOURS, WRITING BORING, STOOPID STUFF; DOING MATH ~WHICH the legislation' meant to Ontario and no recorded vote." "'I think there has been too much effort and attempt by this Government to cover up this issue, to have meaningful public discussion about what is happening in terms of language serviced in this Pro- vince, the cost implications, social implications, etc.. This is another effort to further that pro- gram of concealment." To again quote Mr. Runciman, - the wholesale extension of 'French language services in On- tario represents a "horrendous waste of tax dollars," whose passage in 1986 marked one of "the blackest days" in the history of the Legislature." Send for particulars of Bill 8. Our future is at stake! Contact Box 22109, Barrie, Ontario L4M 5R3. Yours truly Ruth Wood Barrie, Ont. Child is disappointed with new equipment To the Editor: Last week I took my two year old daughter down to Palmer Park to play on the equipment. To my surprise the playground equipment had been moved as well as replaced with a new "'styl- ed" activity area. I was aware that this would be happening but was not impressed with what I saw. From over hearing other parents that night, they were not impressed either. My daughter has enjoyed going to the park this summer and her favorite thing was the slide. I couldn't even drive by the park without her expressing her feel- ings for the slide. The new equipment looked very nice, very colourful and full of dif- ferent activities. When my daughter saw the new slide, she got very excited and ran Taxfigures To the Editor: Hon. Ross Stephenson, M.P. Durham Dear Sir: I Have just read the 2 page ad the Federal Government took out in the Port Perry Star dated Sept. 6, 1989. I must say that the figures shown, pre 9 per cent and post 9 per cent are quite funny. My calculation is as follows: $15,000.00 less 13.5 per cent tax of $2,025.00 = $12,975.00, add on new G.S.T. of $1,167.75 comes to 14,142.75, not the $14,700.00 shown. Similarly the air conditioner pric- ed at $780.00, comes in at $735.42, not $770.00 as shown. Now I know, all levels of government figure the average Canadian as being a bit thick headed as far as taxes are con- cerned, but a few of us are getting smarter and maybe I am just one of them. Yours and my figures just don't seem to be the same! Now I suppose that I will be told that there are some adjustments straight for it. To her surprise there was no way for her to get up. This new equipment was ob- viously not designed for young children as there is no proper lad- der to the slide. Just monkey bar and chain ladders. Did the park planners take into account the age of the children us- ing this equipment? Also did they take into account the new location of this equipment? Why did they place the equip- ment in the middle of the very busy and congested public beach. It is unfortunate that my daughter be denied the use of the Palmer Park playground equip- ment due to Council's ideals of beautification. Karen Taylor Port Perry P.S. Where is the old slide??? don'tjibe to these figures, to even all the prices out. I don't buy this! Most people I have spoken to teel the same as I do. This has gone far enough. When your new tax takes over it will be the same as when the Liberals put in the wage and price controls; the wages first, then the prices - everything backwards! What is there in the new tax to stop the manufacturing end of our country from leaving the 13.5 per cent tax in place, and saying they need to catch up on their prices. When your government shows the Canadian people that we will pay less for all manufactured goods produced in this country by the new G.S.T.; Then I will go along with the government and the new tax. Until that time I am against it, and will fight it! Yours truly, Frank Harris Nestleton Ont. P.S. A copy of this letter is be- ing sent to the Port Perry Star. HOMEWORK! | WISH WE. NEVER HAD, 'RE. LUCKY. YoU * EMMERSON INSURANCE BROKERS LIMITED 193 QUEEN ST., PORT PERRY, ONT. LOB 1NO (416) 985-7308 ALL LINES OF GENERAL INSURANCE HOMEOWNERS - FARM - AUTO COMMERCIAL * *