Archive 1997-2016
I am writing to congratulate your paper on the wonderful series of articles that were written about homelessness in your Dec. 4 edition. I feel Andrea Myland, Chandra Price, Joe Boulé and Bonnie Van Toen reported the issue and the need for government support very factually.
Your coverage of our Y2K meeting was a gross misrepresentation of our message. At no time did we “forecast doom and gloom.” We deliberately steer away from extreme predictions, for the simple reason that no one knows what will happen in the year 2000. We do know there will be problems but no one can predict how severe they will be. Rather, we advise Centretown residents take precautions, just in case. A better heading would have been “Group urges preparedness for Y2K.”
Daniel Huot interviewed me in late November. While I agree with the general thrust of the resulting article (“Canadian trade hurt by Asian crisis,” Centretown News, Dec. 4, 1998) and applaud your paper’s effort to inform its reader on this important issue, there are some corrections I would like to make, for the record.
Are we all supposed to be stupid? The City of Ottawa wants to dump the prime location of the Centretown public library property by selling it to Cadillac Fairview Corp. and then lease it back?
According to Mayor Jim Watson, the city would then be off the hook for further building maintenance and renovation and only have to buy books and computers. The library is looking for $10 million to renovate and add more shelf and meeting space. Are we to believe that Cadillac Fairview Corp. will shell out $10 million to renovate the library building and upgrade it in future? I don’t think so, as it is not in the business of providing library services or any other public services.