PAQFE BWMTB PJE M P "".W~ Ys Dg~ 1990~2 Published every Wednesdlay Maurice Plfher By 677209 Ontario Imc. Editor e Phone: 668-6111 loi Toronto Line Il 1 I. 42-183 Alxanr Martin I . Doug -18n 4eAlonaProd cton M anager Iyj 'eJn enliw e PublisherMa ge VOICEFTHEOUN1TOWN131 Brock Street North, *CA OIE F RECO Nt T WNP.O. Box 206, Whitby, Ont. 2ld Oin PosteJ SCTh nyWhitby esae npndtlowd and operated by LIN 5S1 eltain051 ___________________ Whitby residents for Whitby residents. Much work, and dialogue, remains if Whltby is to field a team ln the new semi -pro lacrosse league. The suddenness of the- announcement that Whftby wouid have a team, and the last-minute effort to use Iroquois Park as the home arena have macde planning and preparation difficuit as the season begins next month. Other organizations using the arena are justified ln their complainte about having probiemis flnding times to accommodate the new team, which wil, play fine home games out of the i 8-game sohedule. After ail,' the schedu les for those other organîzations are estabiished. Lacrosse is a popular sport ln Whitby at the minor level. The Ju nior Warriors have been a f ine team and the major level Redmen are champions. We wouid welcomne a semi-pro lacrosse team, but not at Iroquois Park if theme le a dIsruption of other sports' groupe using that facility. Uniess some agreement can be reached on use of Iroquols Park, the Steel Hawks may have to flnd another, te mporary home until next season -- pienty of time for proper organization to take place. SX~~LL..........X Fur: Your choice, na turally!? ByEdie Gomille '7 believe it to, be morally wmong for another being to suifer and <ie for the purpase of aur own beautifleation." - Jacqueline PiUon, Miss Mississauga 1990 'There is mo question that real fur is unfashionable and out-of-date. Fashion reflects the world around it and we are in new era of compassion and caring ..Furs belang ta a brutal past where people did not care how they got what they wanted and who or what suifered for it. It is an attitude that hS brought this planet to its enuironmental knees." - Valerie Gibson, Fashion Editor, Toronto Sun 'Fur ... My Choice, Naturallyl' - Message on pro-fur biilboards in Oshawa.. The fur industry is a dying industry. I Britain, the Hudson's Bay Auction House, trading in billions of skins for over 300 years, bas closed; the market for furs is down by 95 per cent in the Netherlands; ini Western Europa, once the major market for North Anierican wild furs, furs are looked upon with distaste; some major U.S. retailers have closed their doors, and Canadian fur production is down. Raw paît prices of both wild and "ranched" goods, as they are euphemistically called, have fMlen, and as a result costs of garments bave plunged, accor- ding te, Fur-Fish-Game columnist Gary Scbroeder (Sept. 1990). North Arnerican mink production is te, be less than haîf of last year's - L.e., about two million mink. Lynx, whose skins several years ago sold for about $600, are now $100; red fox $10-12; grey fox - "difficult te, seil," says Gary (robaly because the species is threateed) - will fetch $4-5; muskrats, "difficult te, market tbis season," will go for 50 cents te $1 tops, and our national symbol, the beaver, $12-25 tops. Yet local bilîboards (I've seen two in Oshawa) encourage us te wear fur. The local bilîboards are part of the Montreal-based Fur Council of Canadas national fur promotion campaign te boîster sagging consumer confidence. Considering the origins of fur items, the billboard's message is particularly offensive. The ad pictures an ordinary woman and child (fur isn't just for plastic people, see) te convey "softness, comfort, andwarmth," according te indusfÎy s-our'ces. -1leprinted message: Fur ... My Choice, Naturally! The double message, selected after a variety of- messages were first tested, is an attempt te, confront the animal rightis message. "An issue- oriented approach is necessary aL this point," according te, the North Ainerican representative of Saga Purs, a Nordic marketing company. Wbat's so "natural" about fur? It is unnatural, a deviation from. wbat is the best part of our buman nature, te deprive animaIs of their freedom, subject them te, great stress and physical suffering, and take their lives for - let's admit it - vanity. Whether they are trappod by a snare, the partially-banned leghold trap, the Cunibear trap (the so-called 'humane' trap, invented by trappor Frank Conibear, who was well aware of the horrendous suffering inflicted by thé leghold tp;but bis body-gripping trap bsits own problems), the end result remains the sanie: a life snuffed out, an inhabitant of this planet robbed of bis or ber most basic right. Their caged cousins - we say "ranched" or "farmed," but we employ euphemisms at our pil, peri1os botb to our picture of reality and thus to our spirit, the sustenance of which is closely linked to our view of reality - don't fare any better, porhaps worse. They spand their short lives imprisoned, these minks and foxes and, a relatively recent introduction, the lynx. Some go crazy, as proven' by their stereotypical pacing bebavior. Now, in December, it is "polting," i.e. illing time. Madam, bow would you like your fur - gassed? Broken-necked? (Cervical dislo- cation sound better?) Electro- cuted? Anal electrocution (you can purchase the device in * E-siuga) is a common method ksdtiIli caged foxes - fully and frighteningly conscious. To make a choice means te be aware of options, te, go tbrough a process of tbinking. Yes, wearing fur is your choice. But choices should be informned choices, made in full awareness of the facts - facts that the fur industry will neyer put on a biliboard. The facts are that furs are unneces- sary, that wearing sins is no longer fashionable, that their transformation from living animal te anachronistic garment involves incalculable suffering, and that choosing tbat suffering and death for vanity has become increasngly socially unaccept- able. The animaIs didn't have a choice. It's your clioice. Opinlons« expressed are those of the author. Retraction On Wedesday, Dec. 5, 1990 the WMtby Free Press published a Viewpin column by James A. Pis ntitled "Le ' ay'bail". The column purported to deal with the public record and positions of Councilor Joe E. Bugelli. The column contained a number of erroneous inferences and allegations about Mfr. Bugelli. Further, it attributed words to Mr. Bugelli which he neyer said. 'Se Wbitby Fme Press regrets the publication of the column and retracts tle inferences and allegations which were contained in it fully and without reservation. The Whitby Free Pres apologizes to Mr. Bugelli. CBC cutbacks misinterpreted By RB"é Scetns Ontario riding MP On Dec. 5, 1990, the Canada. Broadcasting Corporation announced that it would be making major reductions in its services, Since then, the Opposition bas repeatedly lashed out at the government, despite the fact that the government has not cut the CBC's ung The CBC isf;a nipendent Crown corporation that operates "at arm's length" from the government. Its management decisions are made without ovrment interference. Government funding ofthe CBC actually went up this year, as it bas every year since 1984.- an increase of 14 per cent over the asat six years The announced cuts are part of a restructuring p1a that the CBC board of governors bas developed to deal wi t roected corporat sortfall of $108 million for the fiscal year 1991-92. Oe o the principal reasons for their decision to restructure the CBC is tat the Crown corporation expects a $30-niillion drop in advertising revenues, which are necessar~ o h oprto to support itself. o tecrprto Recause of its budget shortfall, the CBC is doing what any private sector business would do, and is taldng steps to bring its expenditures down to match its revenues. Patrick Watson, who will become chairman of the CBC as soon as a new broad»sting bull is allowed to pass by the Senate, cails the board's restructuring plan "a fiair, elegant, symmetrical and manageable solution that will help us survive the recession." The greatest changes will be in the regional television services of the. CBC. Regional television operations will be reorganized, on the basis of not more than one English-language and one F'rench-language regional television station per province, plus the respective network television production centres ini Toronto and Montreal. lI network television, the English- and French-language networks will make a further two per cent cut for the comng year. 'The. CBC's cuts will have almost no effect on radio programming, wbich will be reduced by only one per cent. Despite the restructuring it bas implemented, the CBC remains commimtted to the task of refiecting, expressing and explormg Canada's regional and cultural diversity. et %W%"