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WATERLOO CHRONICLE 75 King St. South, Suite 201 Waterloo, Ontario N2J 1P2 Publisher: Cal Bosveld Eâ€"mail: wchronicle@sentex.net The Waterloo Chronicle is published every Wednesday by The Fairway Group, a division of Southern Ontario Community Southam Publications, a CanWest Company. The views of our columists are their own and do not necessarily represent those of the newspaper. Dwayne Weidendorf . Gerry Mattice Group Sales __ Retail Sales . Andrea Bailey Bob Vrbanac Reporter, Ext. 227. Sports Editor, Ext. 229 The Waterloo Chronicle welcomes letters to the Editor. They should be signed with name, address and phone number and will be verified for accuracy. No unsigned letters will be published. Submissions may be edited for length, so please be brief. Copyright in letters and other mateâ€" rials submitted to the Publisher and accepted for publication remains with the author, but the publisher and its licensees may freely reproâ€" duce them in print, electronic or other forms. Our mailing address is 75 King St. S., Suite 201. Waterloo N2J 1P2, our eâ€"mail address is wchronicle@sentex.net, and our fax number is 886â€"9383. Regional Classified Manager, Ext. 225 International Standard Serial Number 1SSN 0832â€"3410 _ _ JE haskh * 5&." Audited . _ _ brd circulation: 26.056 «xrmmum Carolyn Anstey _ Karen Dwyer Canadian Publications Mail Sales Product Agreement Number 136379 Mlvtrlld’ng Sales, Ext. 223 Norma Cyca Letters Policy Lynn Bartol Director Manager, Ext. 230 Cal Bosveld. , a division of Laurie Ridgway Classified Sales, 623â€"6617 Joanne Dicaire q s usual, [ end the year with a stack of newspaper ippings and magazine articles about which I had been meaning to write a column. It is once again time to "clean out my in basket" â€" or, to use a seasonal metaphor, think of this as my stocking stuffer column. Telegdi on Bill Câ€"36: After he voted against closing debate on Bill Câ€"36 (antiâ€"terrorism legislation} and then the bill itself, 1 personally phoned Andrew Telegdi‘s office to thank him for taking a stand on the issue. Imagine my surâ€" prise when, barely a week later, I received the latest issue of Andrew‘s householder, Parliamentary Connections. The booklet, mailed at taxpayer expense to every address in the riding, contains page after page of "the government line" on the Bill. It quotes approvingly Justice Minister Anne McLellan, who stated "The measures we are introducing strike the right balance between civil liberties and national security." The most controversial thing that Andrew can muster is a statement that "we do not want to overreact." Having worked on Parliament Hill, I‘m aware that proâ€" duction schedules for householders make it difficult to ensure that content is "up to the minute". If a member has doubts about a piece of legislation, however, she or he clearâ€" ly has a responsibility to pass on those doubts, rather than reproducing sycophantic copy generated by the prime minâ€" ister‘s office. It was clear from the moment this bill was introduced that it was badly flawed, yet the contradiction R R R between the laudatory words of EAMEGIERIEN the householder and Telegdi‘s VIEW vote on the issue makes it M appear that he experienced a o bizarre last minute conversion on the eve of the vote. According to reports in The Toronto Star, Premier Harris has "intervened personally" to stop * a private bill that would have restored the City of Toronto‘s right to control demolition of SCOTT affordable rental housing in the city (the Star called it "an act PIATKOWSKI unworthy of a premier). While * ~ S the bill was limited in scope, it did pass in a Toryâ€"dominated committee, and was a decent start to tackling a huge probâ€" lem created when the government abolished NDP legislaâ€" tion that protected tenants. Harris killed that hope. Drawing less attention were the actions of Kitchener Centré MPP Wayne Wettlaufer, the only member of the committee to vote against the private bill. Wettlaufer told the media that he thought it was "morally wrong to be conâ€" stantly regulating business". It‘s curious what Mr. Wettlaufer considers "moral" (kicking tenants out of affordable apartâ€" ments so that luxury condos can be built) versus what he thinks is "immoral" (regulating business). I don‘t think that I‘m going out on a limb to suggest that his version of moralâ€" ity is wildly at odds with those of his constituents. Farm workers win a victory: The Supreme Court has ordered the Ontario government to reinstate farm workers‘ right to unionize. Then Labour Minister Elizabeth Witmer took that right away in 1995, but the Court ruled that she violated the constitutional rights of those workers. This issue was erroneously framed by the National Citizens Coalition as "unionizing the family farm", but it‘s really about an agriâ€" culture industry that is increasing, built around large factoâ€" ry farms. The workers immediately affected by the ruling work at a mushroom factory. Mushrooms are grown with large quantities of manure and constantly kept in the dark. It‘s a good analogy for how the Tories have treated voters. Ralph Klein‘s drinking problem: There are few people in Alberta who did not know that their premier had a fondness for alcohol. His admission that he "has a drinking problem. (which) has affected my work" was surprising only in that it Broke a longstanding media taboo against mentioning the subject. Alberta is a virtual oneâ€"party state, and actions that would bring down a premier anywhere else are seen as part of Klein‘s charm. There are even people willing to defend Klein‘s drunken midnight visit to a homeless shelter, where he reportedly berated the men to "get a job" and threw money at them. fronically, one of the men with whom he was arguing was returning from his lateâ€"night job at a gas station, but could not afford to rent an apartment. Now that the genie is out of the bottle (pun intended), perhaps Klein will seek treatment not only for his alcoâ€" holism, but for the kind of coldâ€"hearted attitude that puts tax cuts for the rich and business ahead of housing, health care and an adequate minimum wage. That attitude is far ment as well. more common among other premiers (including Ontario‘s) than is alcohol abuse. Let‘s hope all of them will get treatâ€" Yearâ€"end sound bites VIEWPOINT eeing those fluorescent yellow arms anxiously waving at me, 1 knew I was in trouble. "What? Why me? Oh God!" were only three of about 50 thoughts racing through my head in the eight seconds it took to bring my car to a complete stop at Thanks for the R.1.D.E. the side of the road. Putting the gearshift into park, I forced myself to breathe as I peered in my side mirâ€" ror to see the man in yellow stalking up behind me. Instinctively 1 rolled down my window. The next thing I knew the police officer‘s face was about a foot‘s length from my own, asking me if I‘d had anything â€" I assumed of the alcoholic variety â€" to drink. What seemed like the smartest response to me at the time couldn‘t have been more stupid, or obvious, to himr in With a knowing look, the officer told me that he in fact smelled alcohol on my breath, and asked me to turn off my car and agree to a breath test. A breath test? But that‘s only used on drunks who are sweryâ€" ing all over the road, or who are dumb enough drive through a fence. That‘s not for me. 1 had a huge dinner. But I could tell by the Iook on his face he was serious, and that there was no getting out of the check. "No, nothing," I said hopeâ€" fully. â€" â€" 1 slowly walked to the back of my car, where the officer proceeded to explain how the little beige machine in his hand works, and my part to make it work properly. With a pained look on my face, I put the narrow plastic tube in my mouth. There was no hiding my nervousness. My mouth was so dry the plastic stuck to my top lip. Hoping to impress the officer, 1 blew as much air as 1 could, until I heard a beeping sound. I don‘t think I‘ve prayed so hard in my life. â€" "I need a deep; deep breath, and blow into it like you would a straw," he said. He didn‘t even have to tell me the result. It was written all over his face. I failed the breath test, and he confirmed it with the undeniable reading that registered in the little beige machine. Failing the breath test meant I had in excess of 100 milligrams of alcohol in my system. A lower reading, registering between 50 and 99 milligrams, would GEEZ, WHAT TAE HECK DID THEY DO? have earned me a 12â€"hour license suspenâ€" sion â€" more or less a warning â€"â€" and a lot less to worry about. But I wasn‘t that lucky. I had just enough time to hand my car keys over to a second officer before being handcuffed and escorted into the back of a nearby police cruiser. Smart enough not to struggleâ€" I didn‘t feel like having both my hands and feet bound â€" I sat calmily in the cramped space, and watched through a plastic partition as the officer took his place in the front seat. He then read me my rights, asked me if I‘d like to exercise my one phone call at the police station to contact a lawyer, and gave me the chance to speak, warning me, howâ€" ever, that whatever 1 said could be used as evidence against me. REA Twenty minutes later, he : had everything, my breath and EY my dignity. Sure, the reading was a little lower than what was recorded on the side of the road, but not enough to get me out of the deep hole I‘d dug for myself. A few minutes later, 1 was handed a pile of papers, informing me my license had been suspended for 90 days, and that a court date had been arranged. It was then I realized if I‘m convicted, I will lose my license for one year, face a $600 fine, and have a criminal record. A hard lesson to learn over something that could have been easily prevented. I knew my life would never be the same again. This scarlet letter was permanent. After taking a moment to reflect on the last hour of my life, I extended my hand to the officer and said, "Thanks Dave, this has been very informative." "No problem Andrea, I‘m glad 1 could help," was his reply. Yes, Const. Dave Reibel of the Waterloo I wisely opted to keep my mouth shut. Soon after we arrived at the station, I was taken into a room with a second machine, much larger than the handâ€" held contraption the officer kept in his cruiser. It took the technician no less than five minutes to input all of my information, before asking me to provide my first of two more breath samples into the machine. Continued on page 9