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li - - - - "rjriirr-iFfir/Errh%'rii?ruii Canada’s national game suffered another blow last week with Vancouver Canucks' Todd Benuzzi's shot to the back of the head of the Colorado Avalanche's Steve Moore. If you missed it, and it was hard to miss, it involved the hulking Bertuzzi hitting the unsuspecting Moore with a cheap shot that knocked the Avalanche rookie unconscious to the ice. Whether it was the result of the punch, or the pile-on that ensued. Moore left the ice battered and bleeding with two broken vertebrae in his neck, Two wrongs never make a right But which of Canada's national pastimes are we talking about when we say it brought the game in disre- pute? It put all the worst aspects uf our national pastime on display with the violence and vengeance of the game taking centre adage. Are we talking about the game itself, or that shadowy form of the game which exists separate from societal norms and rears its ugly It's naive to lynch Paul Martin for the sins of his predecessor when the villain isn't a party or a person but the whole political process. The long-standing suspicion surrounding lawyers and politicians stems from the fact that they are entrusted with our hard-earned money and perform tasks we do not and cannot understand. When the sponsorship scandal raised its ugly head. We jumped up and down screaming 'l told you so.' when in our hearts we knew that an overwhelming majority of the afore, mentioned are in fact not crooked but straight as a laser. Who of us wouldn't have to be constantly alert if we had vast sums of money and the ability to sum- man more? With no call to show a profit. we wouldn't have to tighten our belts until it hurt, as those Council should consider citizen's proposal Political process is to blame for scandal The ijrotriem isn't bad apples. but the system. which has potential for abuse built in. Continued from page 8 to a normal budgvl with an accept- able increase in taxe Eliminating the extra RIM Park debt and RIM Park's operating loss might remove it from the puhlic's concern. Thus. the wrench will lw gnm- from the A few years back, when Waterloo ad public meetings discussing the feasibility of either building a new library on Father Bauer Drive or making additions and renova- lions to the existing facility, I sent a letter to then-mayor Lynne Wools- tencroft outlining the very scenario Local citizens are shaking off apathy CHE head from time In time The incident has r1rmly divided hockey fans into two camps â€" those that say it's part of the game and the majority who find this behaviour abhorrent. There is noth- ing in Canada's national character that makes us susceptible to these types of tantrums. Or is there? There must he some- thing about being Canadian and being a "goon" because most of the NHL's enforcers are from the Great White North. And of all of the longest suspen- sions, and of all the most bizarre acts recorded in hockey history. most have been perpetrated by Canadian-born players. watching our every step aren't strong enough to burst our deci- sion-making bubble. Yes, the stockholders could send us packing, but we have five years to fill their wallets to keep their blessing. which means we must cre- ate jabs. build bridges, and move government offices into their back- yards. that Steve Limit proposed in his let- ter to the Chronicle (p. 8, March 10, 2004]. Politics is the an of convincing people that you can give them more" than the other guy. whether or not you can. I never did receive an ackrunvl- edgement from the mayor's office. So much for taxpayers input! _ How foolish of Ontarians to swallow the platform of Dalton McGuinty. when we should've known that, barring a major gold or diamond find in the Ottawa Valley. his promises of reforms were, at best. long- term. The cynicism surrounding our elected. whereby much less than half of the population votes for the winner, is a national tragedy and a breeding ground for the hysteria I hope the pieesent chuncil has the sense to consider Lindl's pro- It was certainly heartening to am so many citizens participate in Waterlon's community budget sew sions. No doubt many will also be involved in the issue of student housing. thy"; operations RONICLE EDIT( COMMENT ORIA] And it's best to use the word per- petrated because in what passes for the rest of Canadian society. these despicable acts would get these players put on police blotters for crimes like assault and assault with a weapon. In fact police have laid charges in the past, and threaten Ity do so again in the Bertuzzi case. And who could blame them? If the NHL can't police itself. it is up to the law of the land to step in. And for all those apologists. like Don Cherry. who are trying to say that it's part of the game. and that we just don't understand the cul» ture these players operate in, it's time tO tum the other cheek. Or maybe it's time to turn a deaf ear. If the players turned the other cheek more often. perhaps they would see that the world isn't all about an eye for an eye. And all that would be left for the true fans is watching a good hockey game instead of a bad morality play: fermented by the media, I still think the location is ideal for a community centre. It even has the benefit of being on the main busline. What right have we to be shocked by misspending when lens of millions went to government cor- porate jets, while those charged with defending us, our Armed Forces. fly coffins for helicopters. Why were we outraged hy the spon- sorship matter when patronage appointments warm senate hench- es, with many more benches than bodies turning out for votes. Why were we not cheering Mar- tin when he reigned in our governor general and canceled another over- seas iunker, the last one cost $5 mil- lion. It would hehoove us all to take the blinders off and face the fact that, unless we're willing to estatr lish Canada Company LId.. abuse is a given, no matter what the party. Not only do we now have a mayor and council willing to listen. but it is very encouraging that ritir zen; appear to have shaken off their apathy, Maureen Cassels Waterloo Jim Newton New I In mire Dirk Mae“ Waterloo ast week I wrote about the tremendous benefits of having I two universities and a community college located in the ity of Waterloo. The benefits are so clear that our neigh- bouring municipalities in Kitchener and Cambridge are entic- ing the universities with cash incentives to locate satellite cam- puses in their cities. While the benefits of post-secondary institutions to a com- munity are clear, it's also important to note the challenges that accompany a city when it tries to accommodate approximately 32,000 students every year. When it comes to challenges of density. student housing, parking. student services. bylaw enforcement and planning. Waterloo can look to other municipalities to see how they deal with these issues. But when it comes to making decisions on how to run a city with such a large proportion of students. no other university city in Ontario has challenges on the same scale of magnitude as Waterloo. In fact. Waterloo has the highest concentration of students as a percentage of population for a mid-sized city [30.000- 300.000) in all of Ontario. A full 27 per cent of our population is students. The next closest is Kingston. and that pales by com- parison at t5 per cent. Thankfully, with the help of a vol- er LR A ‘ unteer advisory committee. the city embarked on a'comprehensive "stu- ‘ SPEAKING ‘ dent accommodation study" (SAS) a g few years ago. According to the city's , Web site, the study has three goals: "to I . ensure that there is a sumcient supply ce ’ of safe, affordable hosing available to ‘ r, ' students now and in the future; to . reduce the negative impacts of lodg- 4 IE ing houses and other forms of hour L) ' . ing targeted at the student housing B) g... market in neighbourhoods; and to increase knowledge of the issues relat- l SEAN ed to student housing and lodging STRICKLAND houses and develop methods to improve relationships and communication among students. residents, municipalities, universities and colleges." Discussion paper has a let pf idgas Recently the group released a discussion paper that outlines six options to meet the needs of providing suitable student housing for the future. The options include: keeping things the way they are; spreading student housing throughout the city; modifying and strengthening current bylaws (the neighbour- hood preservation model); accommodating all students on university campuses; increasing student housing density's in downtown Kitchener and Waterloo and creating a special neighbourhood close to the universities called the "student precinct" model. Some change is required Based on the increase of student lodging houses spreading into residential neighbourhoods. maintaining the status quo andlor spreading student housing throughout the city is not an option. Neighbours get quite upset when traditional single family homes in their community are converted to student lodging houses. Accommodating all the students on the campuses seems ideal. Neighbourhood tensions would he eliminated. bylaw infractions reduced. and the universities could ensure the housing was clean. safe and affordable The problem is that if the students were all on the campus, so would he the services, Merchants across the city would feel the pinch as the universi- ty would partner with new retailers to sell goods and services on campus. A mine innovative approach would be to work with the uni, versities In spread their academic years over three full terms. As it stands now student housing demands peak in the fall term, decline in the winter term. and virtually disappear in the summer, We have enough adequate housing In accommodate all the students if the demand was spread over the whole year. Many jurisdictions figured out a long time ago that it would save money at all levels if academic years were staggered over the full calendar year, rather than the eight months at post-sec- ondary and In months at vlementary and secondary. Fewer schools would have In he built as our existing schools roultl handle more students, The prohlem is. PVPn though it makes economic Servit. to adjust our school years. Canadians love our summrm h is too much to expert our local universities to lead this cultural change and “SP our existing rostrum-cs more wisely. or is it? Please rmail your questions/comments to sean6.seanstrickundxom . Student housing is always a challenge