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WATERLOO CHRONICLE 75 King St. South, Suite 20I Walerloo. Ontario Mtl tP2 Publisher: (in! Bosveld 3862830 Fax: 386-9383 E-mall: wchrtmicle4Fsentex.net The Waterioo (hmmcle Is published every Wednesday by The Fairway Group, a dmslon of Southern Ontario Commumty Newspapers Inc . a dmsmn of Southam Pubhrauuns. a CanWest l Irmparty The News at our (alumnus are their awn and du not necessarily represent those of the newspaper Ken Busveld Deborah Crandall Assad-I: Publish" Ballot. Ext. 215 Dwayne Mia dendorf Gerry Mun-cc my salts Ttetl Sin Director Mun-an. an. 230 Andrea Halley Bob Vrbartac new", Ext. 227 Sport! mm. Eat. 229 Mun-pl. an. 225 [human Public-nuns Mall Sales Producl Agra-men! Number I 36379 Inlernanorml Standard anil Number lSSN 0832 e MI D - The Waterloo Chronicle welcomes lam-us In the Mum They would be slum-d wnh name. addreqs and phone numNer and Will he vermed for accuracy No unugned letters m]! be publnhcd Submissions mav In aim-d [at length. RO mease he hurl Unpvnghl m Irtters and other mate, nak satrmutted In the Puhhsher and accepted for puhlurannn remains mm the author hut "I? pul%shrr and us Ixrnm mm freely mpnr durr them In prim. oleumnu m rllhrr brtms Um mailing address n 71 king ht h Hum- 201. Waterloo NN IP.? mu r mall address n wrttron_entrm ner, and um fax numhn n in!" gun "ep' ' 'I-ttted r - .N v a: 'll.'",', u":-;' 5} Audned 'P., clrculanun 26.056 -a"r- Carnlyn Ansley Karen Darya Chm-lulu: anal-Ion Norma Cyca Letters Policy Cerm Banal Cal Bowen] manna Salts. 6234idFt 7 loam-c Diane um}: Itfoyr' n Feb. 6, students across Canada and at our three local universities will be demonstrat- mg for a freeze on their tuition fees, which have more than doubled in Ontario in the last 10 years. The escalation of fees results in decreased access to college and university for middle- and low-income students. Quite simply. if they and their parents can't afford the tuition and other fees, they don't pursue post-secondary education (PSE), they drop out, or they pontinue but anxiously watch their personal debt accelerate. In fact, the Canadian Federation of Students estimates that average student debt has skyrocketed nearly 300 per cent in the last 10 years to around $25,000 upon graduation. Up until the present Ontario government, provincial policy supported access to high-quality college or university edu- cation for every able and "’i‘*i“ “ motivated Ontario stu- i "tBtiil dent. This policy imposed 1 ‘ i an obligation on govern- iEt2llNlililillli ment to provide the 1 resources to maintain , . MEF L" quality and accessibility i _ ' in the PSE system. w.lw, .4: . a But the Conservatives dramatically reduced spending on public edu- cation, allowed tuition fees to rise, opened the door to deregulation of fees, and introduced for- profit PSE to Ontario. m short, the Conservatives have demonstrated a dis- tinct lack of commitment to non-profit PSE. So have the federal Liberals, who bear equal responsibility for the mess. The Liberals steadily have decreased PSE funding for the provinces, while pursu- ing a parallel agenda of cutting taxes primarily for those in the top tax bracket. Both levels of government do not seem to care about the heavy burden of stress on mid, dle- and low income sm- dents and their parents, The crisis in post-secondary education However, the vast majority of Ontarians regard PSE as essential to our quality of life. In fact, a recent poll shows that we want tuition fees not merely frozen but reduced. The best way to achieve equality and a higher standard of living for all Canadians is public, non-profit education. But we have to make PSE affordable. Furthermore. from my perspective as a local professor, we have to provide sumcient funding for the thousands of new faculty and support staff who must be hired to meet the growing student demand in the immediate future and for more classroom space, building maintenance. and libraries. From every conceivable angle, PSE in Ontario is in crisis. It looks like the only way concerned students. parents, and other citizens can achieve the goal of high quality public education is to vote in the next Ontario election for a political party that genuinely supports just and equitable access to nonprofit universities and colleges Our opportunity might occur as early as this May, after the Conservatives choose their new leader. r Wise voters who want to restore Ontario's PSE will scrutinize the opposition NDP and Liberal platforms and then vote intelligently. . Richard Walsh-Bowers is' president of the Waterloo-Wellington NDP. RICHARD WAISH-BOWERS The vast majority of Ontarians regard post- secondary education as essential to our quality of life. VIEWPOINT If this keeps up, I'll don my speedo Wnter is when the mean temperature usually is. But not this winter. It's been mostly as warm as an instant pancake. If the temperature warmed by only a couple of more degrees, I'd don my speedo swim suit. But [He fact is I haven't been able to go out much. That Figures. If it were raining duck soup. lid be wearing afork. _ .. _ Anyhow, so far it's been a super-splendid winter. Just contrast our weather with that of Buffalo. Residing there is a wonderful experi- ence for anyone who has wanted to live inside a Good Humor truck. A UFO has never landed in Buffalo in January-proving once and for all that there is ItteliientIfe l? edge; plaqets. - . oneNr The Road: Wonder of wonders. it looks as if the route is all but set for the new Kitchener-Guelph highway. This after years of wrangling argument and debate. The preferred route is, natch, a compromise. It balances the need to move traffic safely with the need to protect woodlots and wetlands, Nobody is appar- ently ga-giabout the new route, but it's the best that can be done under the circumstances. 'The new road is urgently needed because the traffic now runs bumper-to-bumper at rush hours. But-and get this-even if the project is approved soon, construction isn't expected to start for several years. All of which makes a mockery of a lot of the discussion which centered on such things as the need for more transit and esoteric topics like that, The concern for the damage to wetlands and woodlots is easy to understand. but it's something else to condemn a new road merely because it's a new road, Still-to repeat-itll take several years for the highway to become a reality, Several years, folks. several years. - - Gosh, that's apt lo take longer than the rebyildinaortY Blus lays. _ One For The Books: Depending on who you listen to, Waterloo has trimmed the size of its proposed new library. That's the result of dropping MFP Financial Services as a funding partner. And. yes, that name should be familiar to you as the opposition in a big-bucks lawsuit by the city It has to do with the financing of RIM Park, the city's new super-recreation area. Or have you forgotten so swiftly? -- Walerlon library has always seemed to 397' the short end of the municipal stick, but apparently the arrangement planned is Hat>(,lll{( SAN DY BAIRD A-OK with the book people: The new library would be part of a new facility that would be jointly operated by the library and the YMCA. And Joanne Tate. Waterloo's chief librarian, has described the partnership as "a match made in heaven." That sounds like a rousing acceptance, and, incidentally, there's no truth in the rumour that the new library is going to be a bearcat on overdue books. The word was that, if you owed more than 50 csnts. they‘d garnishte your salary. Chew Mecca: Kitchener is aflutter in fear that coal-tar deposits could halt part of a core-renewal plan to build downtown housing near the bus terminal. And I suppose that I'm not the only senior who doubles up with laughter every time they mention toxic, cancer-causing agents in the coal tar. We young sprouts used to - - - chew the coal tar often and I've " . 3 never heard of any of us who Bk, Ittti suffered ill effects. When going a One DampThing Waterloo Region has a two-year, $250,000 DY study under way to assess whether it can support its plans RD for growth. This must be the umpteenth water study undertaken, but this has signs it will be a model for such studies. That's why the province is covering a big chunk of the cost. Some of the numbers involved are a bit frightening. For example, about 800,000 people live in the watershed now and the population is expected to increase by 37 per cent in the next 20 years. And if we're pinched for water now, can you imagine what itll be like two decades from now, Oddly, there's not much of a mention of the oft-proposed Great Lakes pipeline as a remedy for a water pinch. Perhaps the intent ism have one huge pipeline rather than one, say, for Waterloo Region. 7 Say. the Grand Riier isn't the St. lawrence and there must be a limit to the amount of water you can take from it. You'll notice I'm not saying anything about the river being polluted. The waters around here aren't that tainted. You can hardly tell if you just add a little tenderizer, to and from Victoria Pant. we used to get a jawful of the black stuff and chew away. No, and just in case you're interested, the tar didn't let you spit black. If I recall correctly, it added no colour at all. What then was the purpose in chewing it? D_trped if I knpw.