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‘The new sodium lights have a life of 24,000 hours; a good filament buib will last only 1,000 hours. Hats off to Waterioo council and their engineering department‘! M. Carl Kaufman Member of the City of Waterioo Energy Conservation Committee The meeting came at a time of several very troubling events in Central America, culminating in Sunday‘s discredited elecâ€" Waterioo‘s engineering departâ€" ment is very conscious of the electrical lighting load of the city. While the light provided has inâ€" creased by 22 per cent, the electriâ€" cal load to supply it has decreased by over 2 per cent. This is possible because Waterloo city council has authorized the use of highâ€"pressure sodium vapor lights instead of the oldâ€"style fluoreâ€" scent and filament lights. A 150â€"watt sodium lamp provides as much light as a 350â€"watt fluoreâ€" scent light or an 800â€"watt filament light. She has sent me on their behalf the communique released at the conclusion of the conference. I have conveyed the text to the Clerk of the Subâ€"Committee on Can ada‘s Relations with Latin America, who has in turn circulated it to my colleagues on the allâ€"party subâ€"committee so that its message is available while the final report is being drafted for Parkiament New subdivisions, shopping plazas, and large intersections have necessitated this additional lighting. The Conestoga Mall and some busy intersections in Waterloo have acâ€" counted for a good part of this inâ€" crease. Heart Month in Canada is now over for another year and on behalf of the Canadian Heart Fund, Ontar io Division, please accept our heart felt thanks for your promotional support during February 1982. The Medical Committee of the Ontario Heart Foundation met at the end of Janaury toreview research applications submitted to us for support. After deliberations, $8,650,000 has been committed to cardiovascular and cerebrovascuâ€" lar research projects in Ontario commencing July, 1982. Conference organizer) Patrice Reitzel was pleased that the meeting motivated participants to promote still wider in volvement in human rights issues within their groups and communities The number of street lights in the city of Waterloo has increased 22 per cent in the last seven years. Our objective for the 1982 Heart Fund campaign was $7.7 million and although all returns are not yvet in, we are quite hopeful that our objective will be attained. The financial support of many individuails and businesses in our province has made this commitâ€" ment possible. The recent conference on Central America, organized by the Kâ€"W Giobal Community Centre, was a timely reaffir mation of the broad concern in Waterioo region about human rights The leadership demonstrated by our area is just the sort of energetic and committed response for which Canadians have an international reputation This meeting, held at Conrad Grebel College. gathered concerned individua)s from the Mennonite Central Committee, the Latin America Support Group. and parish or congregational groups from the region Hats off to Metric city of Waterioo favored Heart Month was a success WALTER McLEAN Esther M. Richards Canadian Heart Foundation Ontario Division If our government had made metric the only measurement sysâ€" tem in 1907 when they signed the ‘"‘Treaty of the Metre" (it had been legal since 1873) we would have made the transition with very littie cost or inconvenience and today would be reaping all the benefits. The only country in the world who has not yet declared a policy to adopt metric is Yemen. If people can learn the Imperial system with all its odd and irratioâ€" nal relationship of units, then we can certainly learn the metric sysâ€" tem. It is true many of us have difficulty in forgetting the Imperial system which has become part of our lives, but are we so selfish and narrow in our outlook that we want to impose this archaic system of measurement of future generations, bearing in mind that conversion becomes more expensive and diffiâ€" cult with time? Many people have said that Canaâ€" dians have difficulty learning the metric system. To these people may I say that you are insulting your own and fellow Canadians‘ intelligence. Are these individuals saying that the people in India, South Africa and many other countries that have converted to metric are brighter than us? Many of his statements are of course true. However in the same way that he humanizes the Imperiali system we could say that metric has a relationship to man â€" we have 10 fingers and 10 toes, also a long stride is about a metre as is an outstretched finger tip to nose. I cannot see what is humanized in calling 500 g a pound (German pound) a term which is not Systeme Internationale and is in fact being phased out in Germany,. Also he refers to a cup as 250 mJ â€" this is so in Germany but in Canada it was 227 m} in the U.S. â€" 236 m) and in the U.K. â€" 284 ml. This is very confusing for the housewife who tries a recipe from an unknown source only to find it failed because she used the wrong measuring cup. 1 would like to take this opportuniâ€" ty to reply to Dr. Robert McCauley‘s comments in last week‘s Chronicle under the article ‘Going metric takes period of adjustment." In metric a millilitre is the same the world over. Two years ago to the week, a sniper assassinated Salvadorean Archbishop Oscar Romero as he was saying mass at the aitar of a hospital chapel. tions in El Salvador His sermon, delivered moments before, included the following message for the Salvadorean Junta: "Me you can kill, but the clamor for justice among the people you cannot silence ... In the name of God 1 implore you, I beg you. I order you to stop the repression .‘ There is overwhelming evidence that the elections will have little effect on the brutal suppression of human rights in E) Salvador. In a farcical attempt to clothe itself in political legitimacy, the Junta has only confirmed its refusal to allow legiti mate social change The stubborn refusal of the Canadian government to join with such countries as France and Mexico in seeking a nonâ€"mili tary negotiated settiement of the civil conflict in El Salvador was addressed by representatives of major Canadian churches and religious orders last week. The prime minister: has steadfastly refused to meet with them to discuss Canadian policy ib Central America As a last résoM, they called a news conference in Dttawa to release a state ment on "majfor issues relating to human Peter E. Stone 200 Glengrove PI. Waterloo Since last March 19, 1981, an estimated 31,000 people, many of them vibrant young people who are needed to rebuild our provinâ€" cial economy, left for western Canada. Given the grim realities of March 19, 1982, we can only wonder what that promise really was â€" a new jet for the premier? Our own oil company? All this, in exchange for fewer social services to help us combat the ever worsening economic situation and heavier taxes. Peterson has previously suggested four areas that the province could act on: job creation; increased support to health, social and education services; interest rate relief for homeowners, small businesses, and farmers; retraining for Ontario workers. The government still refuses to face any responsibility, blaming the federals for everyâ€" thing. There are 373,00 people unemployed in this province â€" 65,000 more than this time a year ago. 21,565 Ontario workers were permanently or indefinitely laid off in just the last three weeks." Since March 19, 1981 the working force of Ontario has falien by 21,000 persons to 4,034,000 jobs. Last year on March 19, 1981, the people of Ontario were asked to "Keep the Promise." ‘"The Ontario Economic Council predicts that if present trends continue, we will lose 44,000 permanent manufacturing jobs by the year 1990. The minister of agriculture and food esâ€" timates that about 6,500 farmers are in serious financial difficulty at this time. Since last March 19, personal bankruptcies have increased by 15 per cent to about 1,176. Business bankruptcies have jumped 23 per cent to 305. In his formal response to the Throne Speech, David Peterson, Leader of Opposition, chided the government by recallihg that one year ago after the election government members smugly referred to the realities of March 19." There are up to 10,000 families in danger of losing their homes, with their mortgage renewals in the 18 per cent range. Peterson described some of the realities of today: According to the Canadian Federation of Independent Business, 80,000 small businesses in the province are at risk today. Human rights rights, justice and peace in our hemi sphere .. Our dissatisfaction with current Canadian policy was symbolized by the Canadian abstention on the resolution condemning El Saivador at the meeting of the United Nations Human Rights Com mission in Geneva on March 12." Following the press conference 1 joined with Father Bob Ogle, MP_ (N.DP Saskatoon East) to press the prime minister in the House to meet the church leaders to hear their wellâ€"documented accounts ofrecent events in Central America Under questioningy in the House of Commons last week from my colleague, former Foreign Minister Fiora MacDon ald. Mark MacGuigan said: *"We ab stained (from the Geneva vote) because of the political portion of the resolution However, at the same time we did that. we also condemned the human rights viola tions in that country." We also urged the prime minster to follow up their request that Canada take a more active leadership role in seeking a negotiated settlement to the present con fict C This artificial contention by the Secre tary of State for External Affairs that there is a difference between political repression and the absence of human Today‘s realities WATERLOO CHRONICLE, WEDNESDAY, MARCH 31, 1982 â€" PAGE 7 If they have such little confidence in the federal government, it would seem that they should be doing what they can for the people of Ontario who elected them. Last month, total unemployment in Ontario was 373,000 and almost half of those were young people between the ages of 15 and 24. Statistical evidence also shows that thouâ€" sands of young people are leaving our province in search of work and many more are leaving our schools, colleges and universities illâ€" equipped or mismatched for those jobs which are available. Assisting John Sweeney in this task force study will be his colleagues MPP Remo Mancini (Essex South), and MPP Don Boudria (Prescottâ€"Russell). Last week Opposition Leader David Peterâ€" son and his colleague, MPP John Sweeney made the announcement of a Liberal Task Force established to study the factors affect ing jobs for young people in Ontario In an effort to find viable initiatives which will help curb not only the rising unemployâ€" ment levels but also the migration of young people to the west, David Peterson established this task force. Its mandate will be to address the following questions: 1) Who are the young people without jobs? Where do they live? What is their educationâ€" al/social background? What do they want for themselves? 2) What immediate projects can be proposed to create new employment? Specifically, it will examine the potential for job creation in areas such as small business assistance; energy conservation; â€" reforestation; waste resource management; tourism; alternative and renewable energy, water quality monitorâ€" ing; food production: high technology indusâ€" tries. 3) Why are the existing federal and provinâ€" cial employment creation and training proâ€" grams not working effectively? 4) What additional training programs, both shortâ€"term and longâ€"term, are needed to meet the demand for skilled workers in the next five vears? 5) Can local work education councils be expanded and strengthened? Because youth unemployment is most severe among the 15 to 19 year age group, should local school boards play a larger role on these councils? We can all be proud that our area remains in the vanguard of communities in Canada and across the world which provide leadership in the struggle for human rights It will now be more important than ever that such meetings as that organized by the Global Community Centre provide a focus for a show of solidarity with the victims of repression both in Central America, in Poland. or anywhere human rights are being systematically violated As the churches rightly pointed out, "It is time for Canada to play a creative role on the side of justice, and with a view to the future, on behalf of the people of Central America." Reports from Canadians in Central America have indicated that the same thing may occur in El Salvador following its election. Until a negotiated settlement has been achreved there, any pretense of democracy is both false and potentially explosive. rights has allowed our government to support the Salvadorean elections. The news media reported last week that a group of dissident army officers overthrew the Guatemalan president just two weeks after another so called "demo cratic election process