OPINIONS

Ronald Shaking i in his
Big, Red Boots

For the first time since “Supersize Me’,
the fate of our good friends Ronald,
Grimace, and Hamburglar is once again
on the line.

Our provincial government recently
announced their pitch to implement a
tax on unhealthy foods in an effort to
combat obesity, If their effort is success-
ful, we may soon be paying — in more
ways than before — for that extra serving
of fries.

Although a number of people have
stepped forth in strong support of this
proposal, others have reacted with se-
vere rebuttal. To many, taxing food just
seems like another way (recall fuel, alco-
hol, and tobacco) for the government to
squeeze money out of its hard-working
citizens.

My opinion? Let them eat cake.

The revenue collected from this ex-
tra tariff could be used for a number
of purposes. The goal foremost in the
minds of Twinkie Tax advocates is that
this initiative will encourage individuals
to seek out more healthful alternatives
— both as a result of a heightened aware-
ness of foods nutritional value, and as an

effort to save money.

A number of clever proposals have
been set forth as to how earnings would
be utilized after collection, In my opin-
ion, the pick of the crop are increased
funding to bolster programs in elemen-
tary and secondary-level physical educa-
tion, comprehensive obesity prevention,
hospital-based obesity-related _ treat-
ment, and eating disorder awareness and
treatment.

As for the issue of defining junk food’?

Hire a panel of dieticians, nutritionists,

‘and other health care professionals to

create a series of benchmarks — based on
fat, calorie, and fiber content — to clas-
sify foods, Simple.

In sum, we all know that if you want ”

the brownie, you're gunna have the
brownie whether or not it costs you
an extra dime, And hey, knowing that
you're supporting a multitude of good
causes is just one mote reason to justify
that mid-afternoon pick-me-up. So why
not implement a tax and put the revenue

to good cause? Your health will thank

you for it.

-Laurel Van de Keere

Why We Fight

There are political reasons why our
armed forces are fighting in Afghanistan,
and every informed Canadian knows
what they are. Not all are in agreement
about their rightness, however - which
is OK - because we live in a democracy.
But, just for a moment, lét’s put those
arguments aside and look at one very
human reason why are troops ate there.

When the Taliban were in control of
Afghanistan, not only did they provide
safe haven for Al Qaeda, they imposed
a vicious brand of Muslim extremism
on the people that denied basic human
rights to 50% of the population. I'm
speaking of the women of Afghanistan.
Then, the cry went up from every civil-
ized nation: “Look at the horrors that
the Taliban are inflicting on the women
of Afghanistan! Why isn't anyone doing
anything about this?”

Well, now we are.

Because Canadian soldiers of both
sexes are fighting the Taliban, effect-
ively confining them to the southern
province of that country, women in the
rest of Afghanistan can now hold jobs.
Because Canadian soldiers of are put-

CONTROL THE MEDIA,

ting their lives on the line to hold back
the Taliban, Afghani girls can now go to
school, Because Canadian soldiers are
nobly willing to make the supreme sac-
rifice, Afghani women now have equal
rights under law.

Undoubtedly, Afghanistan still has a
long way to go in the development of a
truly egalitarian society. We in Canada
have not completed that journey our-
selves,

Now imagine that we turn our backs
on Afghanistan. Imagine that NATO
troops withdraw from that nation. Im-
agine the Taliban sweeping back over the

country, wreaking a bloody vengeance |

unequalled since the worst atrocities of
the Pohl Pot regime in Cambodia, Im-
agine who would be the primary targets
of their extremist retribution. ‘That's
right, the women of Afghanistan.

All wars are hell, but sometimes
people of good will have to march into
hell, not for their own’ selfish reasons,
but because we are our brothers’ - and
our sisters’ - keepers,

-Michael Wainwright

Volunteer for Over the Edge.

960.5633

In the October 27th issue of “Over the
Edge,’ Tyler Clarke once again enlight-
ened his readers with his thoughtful and
educated opinions, this one expressing

his views on unions and strikes. He.

called the strikers outside Superstore
“pathetic” and “useless.” He went on-to
say that labour strikes were a complete
waste of time and that anyone who par-
ticipates in them should be fired. Oh
wait, did I say these were thoughtful and
educated opinions? I meant ignorant and
brainless. His lack of knowledge on the
history of unions is sad and his views on
union members are worrisome. Clarke,
I am one of those “pathetic” people that
don't shop at Superstore anymore and
honk as I drive by to show support. Per-
haps if you had taken the time to talk to
these people and understand the issues,
rather than get distracted by their “cute
faces,’ you'd know why. ;
To start, they're not strikers. On Au-
gust 20th, 2006, Westfair (the corpora-
tion that owns both Superstore and Ex-
tra Foods in Prince George) locked out
their employees after they would not
accept a new, and substantially worse,
contract. The employees voted to reject
this contract, but instead of going back
to the tables or even getting a chance to
picket outside their own store, West-
fair shut down Extra Foods and threw
their employees out of work, They stand
in front of Superstore to encourage
Westfair to restart negotiations, which
has happened. They are also there to
give Superstore employees strength
when their contracts come up. And,
Mr. Clarke, their actions arent com-
pletely “useless.” Superstore’s business
has dropped by 30%, and Westfair is
back in negotiations with Vince Ready
facilitating talks. It is. fair to say that

the events and actions surrounding the

Fire Clar

OVER THE EDGE NEWSPAPER. NOVEMBER 8, 2006

serstereararees

ee

lock out are pretty confusing to most
of Prince George, mainly because other
than a few opinion pieces, not one article
in the Prince George Citizen has been
written about the facts. If only there was
an independent newspaper in town that
would take on this story,

In addition, Clarke expresses some
views that are hypocritical. He states
that the word “strike” should have never
been written in the dictionary and that
unions ate pointless, as workers have
labour laws to protect them. He reasons
that there is no need to rebel against
the employers who have worked hard
and therefore earned the right to treat
their employees however fairly or un-
fairly they wish. I can only assume that
Clarke's disrespect for teacher unions
(another apparently useless and selfish
cause) affects his ability to go to class
and actually learn something. It appears
he has never opened, let alone read, a
history book which discussed labour
issues. If he had he would know that
it wasnt the factory owners or polit-
ical leaders who discovered that work-
ets should have laws protecting them
from abuse. Laws forbidding 16 hour
work days and child labour were passed
because of political pressure from work-
ers and their unions. These laws were
the result of people forming unions and
striking against unfair treatment. These
actions changed the way people work in
Western countries for the better, Before
we remove the word “strike” from the
dictionary, we should look at the affect it
has had on our society. Or maybe Clarke
enjoys the idea children of working at
age six in a textiles factory from dawn
till dusk, making a few cents to support
their family.

Clarke might argue that even if unions
did mean something one hundred years

73 Not Unions

ago, now the laws are made labour ac-
tions ate pointless. Arent the -unions
going too far? Asking for too much?
After all, as Clarke points out, company
and corporation owners have worked
very hard for their money, and it's not
fair that workers should try to take it, I
mean, were not communists.

Many employers and_ stockhold-
ets really enjoy making money, as they
should in this capitalist country of ours,
but to what extent should they be al-
lowed to abuse their employees to gain
a greater income? It seems that Clarke
thinks that they should be allowed to
make money by any means necessary,
We don’ live in a communist state, we
did live in a democratic one. In a democ-
racy we supports the equality of people
and their right to fair treatment. If a
person doesn't like their job because of
poor treatment, they shouldn't have to
go find another job, because then that
job will never improve. Employers will
see what weak employees they have, and
continue to treat them unfairly because
they can. If, however, a person actually
believes in the freedoms their demo-
cratic country gives him or her, and has
the guts to stand up for themselves and
other people (something Clarke ob-
viously lacks when he states he would be
a proud scab worker), change can occur
and we'll have one less thing to worry
about when the we are looking for a way
to support ourselves.

PS- Clarke, you didn't have to go to
Superstore, you can get Cracked Maga-
zine at London Drugs.

Jean Chisolm

Tyler Clarke is "An Idiot"

First of all, I'd like to get this right out
of the way: You are an idiot.

I agree with you that the Extra Foods
(as in, not Superstore) strike does seem
somewhat pointless. If I had to get paid
$8 an hour at a crappy fast food place,
then I don't see why a cashier should get
benefits. However, that is not saying that
unions should be banished. I would also
go as far as saying that the Extra Foods
employees to have a right to strike.

Sure, lots of people go on strike for the
stupidest of reasons. Sometimes I enjoy
the fact that people aren't in a union
when making their demands, because
they seem ridiculous, but your claims
are outrageous (and uninformed). ‘The
reasons that unions exist is because
labour laws are not enough. Even if

most businesses followed labour laws,
people would still be getting ripped
‘off and mistreated by their employers,

-Often times, the reason why. people
} enjoy a union so much is because it
solves problems not 100% covered by -

labour laws (I'm not going to go into.
You work for a newspaper; try learn-
ing something for a change). Unions are
there to protect people.

The reality is that labour laws aren't
followed. I’ve worked 16 hour shifts
and been paid for 2 regular time shifts.

I've also been harassed by an employer,
only to be told that there wasn’t much I
could do about it (and before you start
spouting off about the labour/employee
relations boards, I'll tell you that there's
a lot of paperwork involved and it usu-
ally ends up being a waste of time).

T really, really don't want to hate you
here, but I'm having a hard time, espe-
cially with the next topic: the teacher
strike. I mean, come on. Really? You
think it was not a pile of crap when the
government just happened to change
the law regarding strikes just before the
teachers themselves went on strike. If
you were actually informed about the
strike, you know that it was for people
like you (the people who clearly need
an education), Yes, the teachers wanted.
a pay raise, but I bet you wouldn't say
no to getting more money for whatever
the hell it is you do (I'm going to guess
government lacky or lawyer). The strike
was really about how overworked the
teachers were getting, and how much
it was affecting the educations of their
students.

The class sizes were already over 30
in some districts, and the government
wanted it to be higher. The government
also lowered education moneys and then
later raised them (admittedly above the

original amount, but no where near what
was needed), claming that the raise had
almost doubled education money (think
of your wage going from 10-6 dollars,
then up to 12...would you consider that
a double?).

The strike with the teachers also be-
came a strike about human rights. If the
government can just pass whatever laws
they want, just to stop you doing what
you should have a right to do (demand
proper treatment from your employer).
If this were allowed to happen, then you
can kiss your sweet labour laws good-
bye.

Just a suggestion for you, Mr. Clarke:
Since you seem to agree with an un-
named political parties secret platform
of eliminating the middle class, make
sure you get a haircut and shave before
that happens, because you know that all
of the “hippies” are going to be forced
into the lower class. Find yourself a
good union job, too, because you'll need
good wages to get anywhere in the New
World Order.

-Brian Burleigh