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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Citizen, 2005-01-20, Page 5Other Views THE CITIZEN, THURSDAY, JANUARY 20, 2005. PAGE 5. Monkey, see monkey skidoo A Superior Court judge in Quebec by the name of Helene Langlois has closed a 38-kilometre snowmobile trail through the Laurentians. She also awarded millions of dollars in damages to all citizens living within 100 metres of the trail. The decision leaves several thousand enthusiastic Quebecois skidoo-ers all dressed up in their snowsuits with no place to go. It also sets an ominous precedent for the free and unrestricted movement of snowmobilers throughout the country. It’s difficult to know what to say in the wake of such a groundbreaking (snowplowing?) decision. How about “Justice Langlois for Prime Minister”? I never met the woman, but on the strength of her ruling, I'm elevating her to a front row seat in my pantheon of Canadian heroes. Right up there with Laura Secord, Charlotte Whitton and Stompin’ Tom. Understand that the trail Justice Langlois has closed to snow machines is no back country idyll. It was basically a snowmobile thruway for Montrealers anxious to escape from the city. It passed through neighbourhoods and by the homes of people who had moved to the country for peace and solitude. Ask Normand Lacroix about peace and solitude. His house in Saint-Jovite is about 60 feet from the trail. “It was hell, said Lacroix. “There would be 600, 700 even 1,000 snowmobiles every day.” Well, no more. The route is closed. Monsieur Lacroix will now get the peace and quiet that every Canadian citizen should expect as a birthright, and if there’s a God in heaven and she isn’t wearing noise­ suppression earmuffs, this decision will Liberals create distractions with booze Ontario’s Liberals are making a big effort to create distractions to take residents’ minds off their real concerns and they have turned again to a tried and trusted one, booze. The Liberals under Premier Dalton McGuinty have announced they have appointed a panel to study all aspects of the sale and distribution of alcohol and this could result in allowing beer and wine to be sold in corner stores. The Liberals are anxious to divert attention from their actions that have annoyed many, including breaking promises not to increase taxes and balance their budget, reducing treatments available among many medicare problems and interventions that are treading on many toes. The public has not clamoured to buy booze in corner stores, MPPs have not pushed for it and the Liberals did not include it among the hundreds of promises they made in their 2003 election platform that covered slightly more ground than the Bible. Finance Minister Greg Sorbara tried to justify the new study by claiming there has been no major review of alcohol sales since the 1920s, but in fact a lot of reviews have transformed the system almost beyond recognition. There was a time, among many examples, when purchasers had to go in stores where bottles were hidden to avoid corrupting and fill in a form before being handed one concealed furtively in a brown paper bag, while they now are welcomed with open arms. The Liberals may find the review recommends some valid changes, but they also have remembered that a promise to allow small, independent food stores to sell Arthur inspire lawmakers from Joe Batt’s Arm to Bella Coola. I can remember the time 1 saw my first snowmobile, many moons ago. I was making my way through an untracked stretch of deep, snow-laden bush in southern Ontario (yes, Virginia, there was a time when ‘wilderness’ and ‘southern Ontario’ did not constitute an oxymoron). It was a sunny day and the snow was deep, but the woods were ominously quiet with only the soft whump of my snowshoes disturbing the silence. Where are the birds, 1 wondered. How come no ‘zing-zing’ of pine siskins or rat-a-tat of woodpecker? Then I heard why. The unmistakable snarl of snowmobiles labouring up a hill toward me. In a few minutes three machines appeared and wallowed past me belching and farting exhaust fumes and noise. Their riders looked at me as if I was a mildly curious rock formation. Nobody spoke. We couldn’t have heard each other over the machines anyway. It never seems to occur to snowmobilers that their pastime constitutes a gross invasion of everyone else’s’ privacy plus a monstrous kick in the privates to Mother Nature. Their machines desecrate the winter peace and destroy the very pristine wilderness experience they purport to make accessible. Sure, snowmobiles are important - even Eric Dowd From Queen’s Park Canadian wine and beer by then Liberal leader David Peterson drew immense publicity in 1985, obliterated other issues and helped win an election. Peterson was then only slightly better known than the legislature parking lot attendant, but news media focused on his promise, as they invariably do on booze, and some portrayed him as the standard-bearer of a new, modern era, and the Progressive Conservative government, already suffering from self-inflicted wounds, feli into a minority. The New Democrats helped install Peterson in government, but he became more cautious, having seen polls that showed many residents worried selling booze in corner stores would be difficult to police and increase availability to those below the drinking age and impaired driving, and lost his thirst for it. Reporters kept pushing him to say when he would bring in legislation, however, and he eventually did, unenthusiastically. The opposition parties defeated it. Peterson won a huge majority in 1987 and could easily have passed the legislation, but shied from reintroducing it, saying he had “more important things to do.” McGuinty at least has created his required diversion by reviving an issue that has critical — to naturalists, law enforcement personnel, search and rescue teams and citizens who really need them. Fair enough. But the other 99 per cent of snowmobilers? The parka’ed up couch potatoes who would otherwise be slouched in front of the boob tube snorkeling taco chips and watching American football? The Canadian Council of Snowmobiles claims that snowmobiling is “great exercise”. What exercise? Twisting a throttle? Zipping up a snowsuit? The council also claims that snowmobiling “brings people outdoors to interact with nature”. Well, yeah - and good luck, nature. Snowmobiles don’t ‘interact’ with nature - they gangbang it. On one Saturday afternoon recently scientists recorded higher carbon monoxide levels at the West Yellowstone park entrance than you’d find on an L.A. freeway. In a single winter (1997) at the same park, snowmobiles emitted the equivalent of 68 years' worth of auto pollution. That’s because snowmobiles are lousily designed. They use a highly-inefficient two- stroke engine that produces 100 times more carbon monoxide and 300 times more hydrocarbons than autos. And that’s without considering the noise pollution which drives me (and Normand Lacroix) nuts and does God knows what to wildlife. Listen: the greatest glory of this country’s defining season is the peacefulness that winter brings. The ineffable calm of a landscape wrapped in a blanket of snow. And you don’t need - in fact, you can’t have - a snowmobile to enjoy that. Get a dogsled. Get some snowshoes. Get a pair of cross country skis. Get a life. attracted attention, but it also should not be ruled out he may even discover residents now find it more palatable and put it among his election pledges in 2007. It would remind voters of another important promise Liberals broke, but McGuinty might feel they would quickly forget and his party is not embarrassed easily, anyway. McGuinty has tried diversions in other areas but his most notable also was on booze. This was when he announced again out of the blue he would allow restaurants to permit customers to bring their own wine to drink with meals, claiming this would enable them to sip wine of their choice and save them cash. This policy has many flaws including restaurants being legally responsible for problems caused by those who drink in them and handicapped in supervising when some bring their own bottles. Restaurants also mostly are struggling and fail more than any other business. MPPs had not asked for it and it was not among the Liberals’ many promises and an independent, non-partisan study had rejected it. But the Liberals needed an issue to divert attention and find booze helps, although — as many individuals have found — it will not make all their troubles disappear. Final Thought Many of us spend half our time wishing for things we could have if we didn't spend half our time wishing. ' - Alexander Woollcott Book smarts A week ago I said goodbye to the Birdseys. I had spent 'some rather enjoyable time in their company, but that time had passed and 1 needed to move on. The Birdseys, particularly twin brothers Domenico and Thomas, were the main characters of Wally Lamb’s, / Know This Much Is True. It’s a wonderful book, despite it’s Oprah status which is often attached to the sappy or maudlin, and I was engrossed in the story of these very real people. As usual when I’ve so enjoyed a book, I felt a little sad as I flipped the last page. I know by now, however, there’s only one way to feel better — to delve into another, hopefully equally absorbing, tale. I found it in Barbara Kingsolver’s The Prodigal Summer and I am once again lost in a fictional world. The Birdseys are a fond memory, and I am now admiring Deanna and Eddie, cheering for Lusa and pondering what’s in store for Garnett. Jan. 27 is Family Literacy Day, a national initiative promoting the importance of families reading and learning together. While its objective extends beyond reading: encouraging activities such as writing, planning, telling stories or even baking together; books are unquestionably a key component of literacy. A friend and 1 were talking recently about books and reflecting on what exactly had turned us into avid readers. She knew immediately that it had been a result of example; her childhood home was full of books and her parents read. My initial reaction was to say that this had not been the case at my house. My love of reading, I said, came from the fact that it was an escape for a shy, somewhat timid child. Books took me other places. But. later as I began to consider further, 1 remembered more about the relationship between my family members and reading. Initially when I think of my mom in her rare spare time I see her with knitting needles not a book in her hand. Yet, those patterns require reading. And, of course, there were always those trashy Harlequin romances that lulled ner to sleep at night. In stolen moments, usually around lunch and dinner that my dad had to relax, it was always with newspaper in hand — even if sometimes he was power-napping behind it. Though my strongest memories of my big sister were of boyfriends and work, not too far out of view there was generally a book. And my brother may have kept me as far away from him as possible so I really didn't know what he was up to most of the time, but he reads too much now for it to be a new hobby. As a parent, there was no conscious action taken to instill in my children a love of reading. A book was with me any time I had the opportunity to actually sit down and enjoy one. There were magazines in our home for young and old. And any newspaper their father got his hands on was read from front to back. Reading to them when they were young was a routine part of the day. When they were older in one form or another it was a practice, I was thrilled to see, that they continued on their own. In our family today, books are shared and given as much-appreciated gifts. Educators will tell you that promoting literacy is important for intellectual development, and as a family for improving communication skills. On Jan. 27 spend time as a family to celebrate the wonder of books and the part they play in life-long learning.