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Group Sales Director Retail S_duAM Dwayne Weidendorf WATERLOO CHRONICLE editorial@waterloochromicle.ca sales@waterloochronicle.ca composing@waterloochronicle.ca phone number and will be verified for accuracy No unsigned letters will be published Submissions may be edited for length. so please be hrief Copyright in letters and other mate rials submitted to the Publisher and accepted for publication remains with the author. but the publisher and its licensees may freely repro duce them in print, electronic or other forms Our mailing address is 75 King St 5.. Suite 201. Waterloo N2J IP2. our eâ€"mail address is editorial@waterloochronicle ca. and our fax number is 886â€"9383 The Waterloo Chronicle is published every Wednesday by the Fairway Group, owned by TDNG Inc., a subsidiary of Torstar Corp. The Waterle onicle welcomes letters to the Editor They should be signed with name, address and phone number and will be verified snn Rartol Laune Ridgwas Regional Classified Classified Manager Sales, 623â€"6617 Ken Bosveld Deborah Crandall Associate Publisher _ Editor, Ext. 215 Reporter, Ext. 227. Sports Editor, Ext. 229 The views of our columnists are their own and do not necessarily represent those of the newspaper 75 King St. South, Suite 201 Waterloo, Ontario N2J 1P2 Associate Publisher: Ken Bosveld 905â€"523â€"5800, Ext. 239 International Standard Serial Number Sales, Ext. 223 Sales, Ext. 222 Andrea Bailey Deb Duffield _ fean Van Volkenburg Letters Policy Norma ( vea Fabienne Vemmix 886â€"2830 Fax: 886â€"9383 inadin Publications Mail Nates Product Agreement Number Audited circulation: 27.538 ISSN 0832â€"3410 40050478 Bob Vrbanac Gerry Mattice There will be future newspaper guest columns starting in early September to address the roles and responsibilities of a mayor and of councillors; what qualities make up an ideal mayor and counâ€" cillor, what communication processes will be desirable and productive and many other relevant subjects. A new tool for citywide communication is a In truth, we owe our city election a much higher level of involvement, as an indication of our investment in the future prosperity and growth of Waterloo. To facilitate this, we will be organizing, with the involvement of the neighbourhood assoâ€" ciations, town hall meetings immediately after Sept. 26 when all candidates are registered and confirmed. The first meeting is planned to be a citywide meeting with all municipal candidates introduced. This will be followed with meetings in each ward to introduce the candidates for mayor and council in each ward. A very high profile modâ€" erator for the meetings will be chosen to ensure the meetings will be fruitful and educational and a significant learning experience for everyone. Voter apathy is also our concern. We as citizens must accept responsibility for being aware of the issues facing the city and our council and make informed decisions as to who we will support on Nov. 10. The ironic fact of political involvement of citizens nationâ€"wide is that municipal election turnâ€"out is generally about 30 per cent of eligible voters as compared to 60 per cent for provincial and federal elections â€" which in truth have little direct effect on our daily lives. Waterloo is now facing an additional debt load of $1 million each year for 30 years because of RIM Park. This translates, in terms of overall total debt per capita, to $2,118 for every citizen in Waterloo as compared to a relatively modest $317 in Kitchâ€" ener. These figures are from Deloitte and Touche as presented to Commissioner Ron Sills at the RIM inquiry. This will be a major challenge for council, as they will need to rethink many of the projects previously considered as vital, and this will no doubt be painful for them and us. A further challenge of <<lle the new council will be to | _ work as a team with full |f ' A respect for their fellow s > | councillors. This will be a 4 She key role of the mayor, to Ne o | bring out the best of all } 3 M | members of council. | s They must set priorities, 1 programs and budgets for BOB the city and monitor the WAGNER performance of staff in | implementing and administrating those policies, all on the basis of a coâ€"operating and respected team of elected and staff. ov. 10 2003 is one of the most critical Nmunu'ipul elections in the history of the City of Waterloo. This election is crucial because the new council will be inheriting a very serious debt load that will seriously limit the options it has for new projects or even, perhaps, to proceed with capital projects already tentatively scheduled. These financial conâ€" straints and the many other ongoing challenges in the governance of our city will require the most dedicated and knowledgeable citizens in our midst to answer the call to serve their fellow citizens. It is a priority for all of us to encourage the leadâ€" ers in our community, wherever they are found in service clubs, minor sports, senior groups and all the other community groups, to encourage crediâ€" ble people to consider offering their services as candidates. It is also equally important for us to look into our selves to consider serving as well, whether as a candidate, or for knocking on doors for the candidate you will GUEST be supporting. We cannot assume that "George will [@UAUAENISH do it" because the | Georges out there are us. y Aa Election 2003 â€"The challenge for Waterloo Continued on page 9 GUEST COLUMNIST Lo TT N AIDNTINTT The trouble was that half the population thought it should be red and half the population thought it should be green. Into the Abyss: Emie Eves has delayed on calling an election, but his government seems to be caroming from one crisis to the next. And folks who think that Waterioo hasn‘t had a similar flurry have never heard about the big fuss over installing the first traffic light. Ordinarily, it‘d be early for the I BA councillor candidates to be comâ€" menting, but this is the year of the RIM and the next election is probably deserving of special mention. Or it could be most of the councillors feel they have said too much already, and they‘re hoping that taxpayers will have skimpy memoâ€" Anyhow, anybody who said he understands Waterloo affairs is at least three weeks behind X Marks the Spot: It may sound laughingly premature, but taxpayers are talking about the next election, even if the councillors (who you‘d expect to be candiâ€" dates) aren‘t. The conversation concluded with a jolt "There‘s talk of a new library, but I wonder why. That looked big WeWR enough." They had visited it on a _ | ONC quiet weekday. I told them they .. |Mi@iB&r should try it on, say, a hectic Saturâ€" ll( By the way, I‘m reading a very unusual murder mystery. The vicâ€" tim was shot by a man from anothâ€" One for the Books: The other day a couâ€" ple, relative recent arrivals, paid their first visit to the Waterloo library and were lavish in their praise. They almost gushed with applause. They said things like "what a beautiful, orgaâ€" nized place," and "it‘s a treat to get books from a library like that." The staff? "They couldn‘t be more helpful." Unless maybe the bank chief is a great penalâ€" tyâ€"killer and is nifty at quarterbacking the power play. _ _ _ â€" Maybe the muchâ€"feared strike will come to pass, and we‘ll get a holiday from hockey. And perhaps some players will have to make do with a salary smaller (heavens, no!) than that of a bank president. And, in case you didn‘t recognize it, that‘s just a snide way of commenting on the length of the hockey season. Just about every team gets in the playoffs, and, by the time they‘re finished, who Aged in Ice: The Stanley Cup playoffs are kaput which means it‘s almost time for the bigâ€" league hockey teams to begin their training Hockey season‘s over and who cares? SOUTHERN ONTARIO‘S MOST UNWANTED 2 sA x | s _ ¢ <g n é@‘f:‘*; \\Kr”' , C ze : ,\'*"z“/f'”k%/‘m (= Shiniid; Shimiebiint 7 /lRe M SANDY BAIRD As a matter of fact, the truth and Dubyah mostly seem like souls and polls apart. Truth may be stranger than fiction, but in his mouth it‘s much scarcer. But the fact is, George Dubyah is doing the best he can. And that should scare the heck out of you! investigating how the intelligence sources could have been so wrong. There have also been alleâ€" gations that the truth wasn‘t always told about Iraq and weapons. (and women) killed. In addition to that delayed victory, there comes the absence of weapons of massive destruction. The problem can be put succinetly: Despite all the yacking, no weapons have been But the instant jams aren‘t the only mystery produced by the car. There are plenty of others. For example, why do auto mechanics carry rags when they have perfectly good seat covers to wipe their hands on? They said you can be wheeling up the street and all of a quick you are in a jam. It doesn‘t seem to have anything to do with the time of day or anything else that makes sense. There‘s no doubt that the Twin Cities have instant traffic jams, and that they‘re getting worse. The one group comes fairly early in the morning and other group after 4 p.m. Jam Session: Some friends of mine were holding forth the other day on the traffic jams that seem to develop almost in a twinkling. Still, maybe they‘ve become philosophical about it. As the proverb puts it, when we are flat on our backs, there is no way to look but up. Stockwell played fast and loose with the regulaâ€" But, the Stockwell case aside, the PCs seem to have a pack of problems into which they are falling one after another. Now his government has been forced to conâ€" sider the case of Chris Stockwell over his expensâ€" es on a European trip. Offhand, it appears that tions. Both the Americans and Brits are currently It means that the Excited States will have to keep a significant body of troops in Iraq for years to come. Dubyah can windbag on the subâ€" ject until the bovines come home, but he‘ll have to keep shooting as long as they keep shooting. Aside from the grim reality of a war‘s promise not won is the heartâ€" break of additional young men The Guns Still Bark: Presiâ€" dent George Dubyah can‘t win for losing. Just when he was taking the bows for a war quickly won, the familiar troubles erupted in spades. First of all, the shooting continâ€" ued and still takes a toll of U.S. serâ€" vicemen. The Iraq foes fight on in a guerrilla war that daily takes its toll.