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Dear Editor: The condition of the flag in front of the Terrace Bay post office is a disgrace. The Canadian flag in a symbol of our country and it should be treated with respect, not ignorance. Our coun- try's national colours are white and red, not pink and yellow as are the colours of the faded, dirty and ripped flag in front of the post office. We, as Canadian citizens, respect our national flag enough to be concerned about its appear- ance. Foreigners, such as Americans, who are very patriotic, would consider Canadians apa- thetic and unpatriotic. The post office is a federal facility and if the government cannot set a good example of patriotism for the citi- zens of Canada, then who can? I move to suggest that whoever has the authority to purchase a new flag for the post office should req- uisite one to halt the disrespect to the Canadian flag that the current flag is giving. Claude Hamilton (in co-operation)Dan Roy Dear Editor: ENGLISH, NOT FRENCH, ESSENTIAL FOR STUDENTS The single most important edu- cation goal for almost any student in Canada, if he/she is to have a chance of achieving his/her goals in life, should be to master the English language. English is now the number one language of the world. The French language (proper or Parisienne) is very much lower rated and, world- wide, it is declining in use; French, as spoken in Quebec, is a variant of proper French. It seems a crime against English-speaking students in Canada that they are being coerced or forced to learn French in school rather than being able to concentrate on mastering the English language and grammar -- a task sufficiently difficult that even few university graduates can claim to have totally mastered. Just one reason that learning English and French at the same time is particularly difficult for these students is that many words in French are similar yet different in spelling, pronunciation, and/or meaning to English words. The danger of not mastering English first is that the student may well end up being incompetent in both languages. My advise to English-speaking parents is: Think long and hard before putting your child into a French immersion program; soon enough to learn French after English has been mastered. To jeopardize your child's chance of mastering the number one lan- guage of the world in order to gain limited fluency in a much lower rated language makes no sense Donald F. Deeprose Nepean, Ontario Dear Editor: As Canadians prepare for this critical election we are faced with a fundamental 'choice in direction. Do we choose to restore our bal- ance with the natural world, or are we going to commit our future to the powerful stimulant of market economics. From the perspective of this writer, we cannot do both. The following analogy will explain why. In many respects, the growth of a society follows the patterns of growth of a single human individ- ual. And growing is very impor- tant to us as children since we cannot function effectively with- out a full sized body. However, somewhere in our late teens our physical growth stops. Any addi- tional muscle we grow or reserves of calories we might accumulate after the age of 20 is insignificant in comparison to the successive doublings of childhood. This is a good thing since we couldn't sur- vive many more doublings in our basic size. Similarly, a few hundred years ago we discovered that 'industrial production could be done by machines powered from inanimate energy sources. By re-investing the profits in more of the same, the effects could be multiplied and our material growth was stimu- lated dramatically. This procedure has produced a miracle of abun- dance and it is no wonder many people see it as the ultimate good for society. The size of our eco- nomic activity has doubled again ever since. This has always seemed for the better, until now as a new element enters the picture. Today our societies are so big and so powerful that we are over- whelming the life supporting pro- cesses of our plant. Our waters. are increasingly polluted, the atmo- sphere is changing with potential- ly disastrous results, forests and the fertility of agricultural land are disappearing at an alarming rate. Page 5, News, Wednesday, November 16, 1988 Letters to the Editor How many more doublings of economic activity can we survive. The complexity of the situation is further clarified with the analo- gy. When we achieve mature size as individuals, we don't stop growing, we just change the nature of our growth. We learn to use what we have in more and more effective ways, by develop- ing our understanding and skills. It can be the same with society. When you hear that we must con- trol growth, it doesn't mean stag- nation, just that our planet can only tolerate a certain amount of humanitys material activities. Further development must be sus- tainable with that capacity. How does this relate to the Canada-U.S. Trade Deal? Market economics is like the growth hormone produced. by children. The Deal is a major commitment, binding us to follow the United States in their faith that economic growth comes first and all else will follow. Unfortunately, even with supply lines to extract resources from much of the work, the US has lost its economic vital- ity. They are very much in favour -- of the Trade Deal because it will give their powerful industrial sys- tem access to another half conti- nent of resources with which to continue their material growth. For this reason alone we would do the U.S. and the world as a whole a favour by saying not to the Trade Deal. Otherwise they would not face up to the limits of the Earth for another decade or two, and by then it could well be too late to reverse the degradation of the world's environment. Canada is in a position to choose. Do we support the goal of sustaining the environment, or do we support growth for growths sake? The time to decide is November 21. It is important for us to take our voting seriously. Mike Nickerson Merrickville, Ontario Letters to the Editor P.O. Box 579 Terrace Bay, Ontario POT 2WO Ss The Royal Canadian Legton Branch 223, Terrace Bay A The next General Meeting of the Royal Canadian Legion Terrace Bay Branch 223 will be held at 8:00 p.m., NOVEMBER 20,1988. All members are urged to attend. 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