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Ontario Senior Games offer fun and competition eople over 55 are growing in Pnumbers and power and they plan to prove that in the Ontario Senior Games this June in Cambridge. There are more than 100,000 seniors in the counties of Wellington and Waterloo. These two municipalities make up District #26 of the Ontario Senior : Games Association. â€" Every district â€" in Ontario, and there are 39 of them, holds senior games with the winâ€" ners advancing to the provincial games. These games began in 1982 and are growing year by year. Cambridge can expect nearly 1,000 competitors in 24 different sports and games, in the first week of June. Every senior in Waterlooâ€"Wellington is eligible to compete in a range of events includâ€" ing snooker, tennis, golf, badâ€" minton, cycling, swimming, bridge, darts and sloâ€"pitch. The Ontario Senior Games were initiated to expand the opportuniâ€" ties for the growing number of citiâ€" zens over 55, to set up physical activities for fun and competition, to promote mental development and wellâ€"being, and to provide chances to meet athers from across the province in enjoyable activities. The winners â€" from the June Cambridge games will compete again in the regional meet in July in Kincardine. Then, the provincial games, called Actifest, will welcome the top competitiors in Kingston in 2002. Emulating the Olympic Games, the _ Ontario _ Senior Games Association â€" has added winter games To The Winterfest competition will be held every two years beginning in the year 2003. _ The Waterlooâ€" Wellington District winter games will be run in the fall of 2002 to i‘evlecl winners to advance to interfest. The senior games welcome volâ€" unteers to help publicize, organize, and run the events. To volunteer your services, contact Joe Craddock at the David Durward Centre in Cambridge at telephone number You said it QUESTION IN LIGHT OF SUNDAY‘S MURDER IN WATERLOO, ARE YOU CONCERNED ABOUT INCREASED YOUTH VIOLENCE? d l PA 740â€"4630. Two local seniors were recognized for their volunteer efforts recently. William and Bertha Tschirhart of Kitchener were nomiâ€" nated for a provincial award, the Bob Secord Award of Excellence, for helping begin the local Games in 1982 and then working tirelessly to develop the Games over the years. Electricity price increases have nothing to do with clearing past debt ontrary to Conservative govâ€" ernment claims, the coming and future electricity price increases have nothing to do with clearing past debt. As energy minister Jim Wilson _ has _ said Talk repeatedly, and to a f television â€"audience dirt again just weeks ago, Afle‘ the cost of retiring hydros debt _ is _ fOr y already built into our ; monthly _ electricity privea bills. whou What‘s driving up the price of electricity is the Conservatives‘ plan to deregulate and privatize Ontario‘s public power supply. They are driving up the price now to make it lucrative and attracâ€" tive for the private sector to get involved. Talk about a dirty deal. After sayâ€" ing for years that privatization would bring consumer prices down, the energy minister faced a dilemma in the light of reality. He needed to find a way to bring in the electricity price hikes early so that his foolish sellâ€"off wouldn‘t be blamed for the skyâ€"high prices the Tories have invitâ€" ed to Ontario with power privatizaâ€" tion. "It‘s scary and it is on the rise. Going out at 10 p.m. could be kind of scary." "No I‘m not afraid and I‘m not really concerned with it." O THE CHRONICU] Richard Gardner Afeefa Khawaja COMMENT down, the energy minister faced a dilemma in the light of reality. Talk about a dirty deal. After saying for years that privatization would bring consumer prices The Ontario Senior Games will come to Cambridge, June 4â€"7. Seniors over 55 who are eager to participate in the Games can find registration forms at golf courses, bowling alleys, Legion branches and seniors centres and residences. Ian Dempsey, Cambridge Nor can the Tories honestly claim that these sudden meteoric increasâ€" es stem from environmental clean up costs. They are passing those costs on to the priâ€" vate sector. Or so hout a they said. ilemma Industry, homes, . offices, _ hospitals, j llght schools, citizensâ€"all â€" will feel the double lllty' digit increases in electricity that are about to come from the governâ€" ment‘s abandonment of our public power supply. California, here we come. In privatizing hydro, there‘s too high a price to pay. People can find out the facts about electricity deregulation and the alternative by visiting our website, wwwontarâ€" iondp.on.ca "I think it‘s always been there and there is a little more of it. But I‘m not afraid as I don‘t go out too much." "It‘s always been there. I don‘t think it‘s increasing. It was just an isolated thing." There is a way to achieve new, clean sources of energy supply without telinquishing pubâ€" lic control of our power supply, Ontario‘s most valuâ€" able resource. Saying that electricâ€" ity is just another commodity is like saying that oxygen is just another gas. Howard Hampton, Ontario NDP leader Ashleigh Jesson Krystle Ciokan '( ]’5 President George W. Bush‘s recent announcement that the United States has "no interest" in ratifying the Kyoto Protocol on global warming will rapidly hasten the destrucâ€" tion of our planet. Unless he knows of a workable project to move six billion humans to other habitable planets, this is the dumbest, most shortâ€"sighted policy of which I‘ve ever heard. Bush has said that he will not support the Kyoto treaty â€" under which developed nations agreed to cut greenhouse gas emissions to five per cent below 1990 levels by 2010 â€" because "it is not in the United States‘ economic best interest." He also complained that while over 100 countries had signed Kyoto, only 38 countries were bound to reduce emissions. The United States creates nearly 40 per cent of the world‘s greenhouse gas emissions and, per capita, Canada is right behind. How important can it be to get Botswana, Mongolia and Nepal to cut their emissions? Doesn‘t it make more sense to get the countries that are behind the problem to impleâ€" ment the solution? Besides Canada, the rest of the world seems to Since Bushs announcement, Canadas Environment Minister David Anderson has parroted the American line. Sure he said that he was "unhappy" over Bush‘s action (while Natural Resources Minister Ralph Goodale said he "did not agree" with the American decision and Prime Minister Jean Chretien said he "disagreed with" it). Fundamentally, however, Anderson has acted as an unofficial spokesperson ‘ ‘ for the Bush administration. "There are ANOTHER only 38 countries that are under the ‘ hhber a | Kyoto umbrella. The other countries of M IF\\ | the world have no responsibility to e s e reduce greenhouse gases. That is one of . [MRRA o. h â€" ‘ the problems." Anderson also stated that .. MR wA H "those who think that the problems ‘ % m t & ‘ started with President Bush are wrong". ‘ " se ;.; * ‘ Instead, he blamed Europe for what he glf“f *£*, called its "obstructionist" and "intransiâ€" ‘ we ..« é ! gent" approach to the issue. His colâ€" | &1 league Goodale also criticized the | S Europeans for being "inflexible". Estt So, what is so horrible about the oUUi l European position on global warming? PIATKOWSKI Europeans have rejected a scientifically dubious American proposal, supported by Canada, to give credit to countries with "carbon sinks" (forests and agricultural lands that absorb carbon dioxide) and another plan for "trading" carbon credits with other countries. Both of these proâ€" posals are thinly veiled attempts to avoid taking real responsibility for the problems caused by our huge appetite for energy. It‘s hardly "obstructionist" for the Europeans and others to say so. Meanwhile, it is the Europeans that seem intent on pushing ahead with the treaty, even in the face of the U.S. withdrawal. European Union President Romano Prodi has written that "Europe remains committed to making Kyoto work", and that "efforts will continue â€" if necessary without the United States. We cannot afford the new American position to cause a stalemate because in the cliâ€" mateâ€"change talks there has always been one partner with whom we. &fi;&ifiég'l;iéter: the climate itself." Canada, on the other hand, seems only too eager to declare the deal dead. "We cannot have an effective Kyoto accord without the U.S.," insisted Anderson. Canada should condemn U.S. on global warming Who will hold the Chretien Liberals to account for their weakâ€" kneed obedience to the Americans? New Democrat MP Joe Comartin has been vocal on the issue, but his efforts have been largely ignored by media. The Canadian Alliance, our official Opposition, is too preoccuâ€" pied with its own problems to raise the matterâ€" even if it had asenâ€" sible position on the issue. It doesn‘t. Former leader Preston Manning had an annoying habit of referring to "soâ€"called global warming", while Alliance MP Dave Chatters has chided the Liberals for "too quickly siding with environmental interests". When the Kyoto protocol was first signed, Alliance MP Deborah Grey asked the bizarre question: "Whose side are you on? Canada‘s or Kyoto‘s?" Likewise, Saskatoon MP Jim Pankiw has dismissed all the scientific work on global warming by saying that "you can‘t conclude anyâ€" thing unless you can have a doubleâ€"blind clinical experiment. In other words, in the case of global warming we would need two solar systems. We cannot lay our economic policies on the back of soâ€" called science when in fact there is no science." Global warming is real. It is happening. In January, the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Changes released a study that projected that "the Earth‘s temperature could increase up to 10.4 degrees Fahrenheit aver the next century", causing mass flooding, crop failures and an increase in severe weather around the globe. The 1990s were the warmest decade in the last 140 years. Strong, immediate action is needed to counteract this trend. Canada should be siding with those countries that are willing to take that action, not with the one rogue nation that is endangering the planet in order to protect its own opulent standard of living. \ ANOTHER ( | _ VIEW _ | | F m®n y C %&v @") â€" & ‘ SCOTT \ PIATKOWSKI