David Suzuki’s fear mongering

By Garth McLennan

efore the global economy went
B into the tank, environmental

issues were clearly the number
one topic of worry on the minds
of most of the public in not just
Vancouver but countless other places
as well. While massive job losses
have sidetracked those fears at least to
some extent, environmental crusader
David Suzuki has certainly made his
case that we all should still be terrified
of global warming at the World
Conference of Sport and Environment.

“The big image every youngster
has seen growing up is of Wayne
Gretzky learning to play hockey ina
backyard rink that his dad would make
for him every year. Believe me, that
kind of rink is not possible these days
in the area where Wayne grew up,”
Suzuki said as part of his report titled
“On Thin Ice.”

Are you serious, Dave? Not
hockey! Forget everything else that
global warming might harm, it’s
going to destroy all of those Norman
Rockwell-esque winters that we’ve
had for so long? Alright, which part

PBA WE te © bare €

of the David Suzuki Foundation do I
write my cheque to?

Let’s be real: this is a load of
crap. Wayne Gretzky grew up in
Brampton, Ontario, and as of this
writing, on April 4", it is -4°C degrees
in Brampton. The last I checked, that’s
perfectly suitable for outdoor ice
rinks if you have enough snow, which
Brampton clearly did this year. Also,
their coldest day was -25°C degrees
back in early February.

So really, Dave, where exactly
did you get this doomsday prediction
from? I noticed that you didn’t give
any facts to back this up, just another
dire forecast of our planet’s plight—
unless we do exactly what you say of
course.

After all, 40,000 people donated
money to David Suzuki’s foundation
last year, all in the name of preventing
climate change. Show enough polar
bears on floating blocks of ice and
proclaim that Canada’s national
pastime is in grave danger and people
will throw their money at just about
anything.

 

 

By Garth McLennan

s you may have noticed
when walking to Douglas
College, a Canadian

Military Recruiting Centre is
located less than a block from the
school on Royal Avenue. A few
weeks ago when I was coming
home from Douglas, I noticed a
rabble of approximately 30-40
protesters, one with a megaphone
and many with signs, angrily
demanding that Canada pull out of
Afghanistan immediately, and that
we were causing more harm than
good over there.

Now, as a firm believer in what
we’re doing in the Middle East,

I was pretty pissed off with these
people, a few of whom who were
clearly envisioning themselves

as valiant Vietnam-era protesters.
What really bothered me though
wasn’t the guy wearing the bandana
with a pot leaf symbol on it,
screaming to be taken seriously; it
was that these people were showing
such blatant disrespect to what is
obviously a good and honourable
mission.

Just a few months ago, a young
girl was blinded in Afghanistan by
several thugs who threw acid in her
face. The girl’s crime? Going to
school.

And just the other day, Afghan
President Hamid Karzai proposed
a change in law that would make
women sexually subservient to their
husbands and would prevent them
from leaving their home without
their husband’s express permission.

We’re talking about a country
so backwards that the head of their
government is backing a law that

 

would make it legal for men to rape
their wives. We’re talking about a
place where girls can be blinded
for nothing more than wanting to
attend school and get an education.
We’re talking about a deeply rooted
terrorist network, the Taliban, who
take boys at young ages and teach
them that by blowing themselves up
in a crowded public place that they
will be eternal heroes.

So I ask anyone reading this,
how can you reasonably say that
our presence over there, along with
the presence of 41 other nations, is
a bad thing? What should we do,
allow these atrocities to happen and
do nothing about it? What would
that say about us and what we stand
for? As Canadians, we, for the
most part, have a quality of life that
many people in the world can only
dream about. Why shouldn’t we be
spreading that way of life to those
that so desperately need it? Now,
some have said, “Who are we to
be enforcing our ways on others?
What gives us the right?”

The fact of the matter is that
we're over there because it is the
right thing to do. I refuse to believe
that we don’t have an obligation
to step into a place where the
head of state deems rape not only
acceptable, but legally encourages
It.

As a leading nation in the
world, Canada has a duty to
everything it can to protect those
that need help, as those fighting in
Afghanistan clearly do. That is why
we're fighting.