Chuck U. Farlie

I agree they would have to bring in more viable alternatives at the same time... but here is an idea: move closer to your work.

Yeah, thanks FTA for bringing us back to the original point of this posting, which I strayed away from. I do agree with the changes too, at least how you worded it. I was not aware that the age of consent was actually that young before.

Uh, your question provides the answer. You don't wake up one morning as an adult. It comes in stages (although I'll readily admit that in some cases, it doesn't appear to come at all). I'll bet you probably had phoney ID at one time or another, which belies your point. Still, isn't it ironic that you can legally reproduce before you can legally drive, both of which you can do before you have any say in any level of politics... and all of this before you are even deemed fit to decide to drink or not?! It seems a bit backwards to me... Sure you don't become an adult all at once, but are the stages of becoming an adult organized into: sex, drive, vote, drink? Or maybe it could be sex, drive, kill (17 years old, parent's permission granted into the army), vote, drink? I think at the very least that someone should be able to deal with alcohol before going off to fight - imagine what they will have to deal with on the field. I do, I served when I was 18 before I was legal to drink in Ontario. I see some problems with these levels.

Why don't they make it all simple and call an adult an adult... Set an age.. be it 18 or whatever else... and allow the new adults to consent to sex, drive a car, drink a beer, and vote if they want to.... what is the point in having 'adulthood' come in stages? Does it make it any easier or just more confusing? I know I was doing all of the above listed things (other than voting) before I was 18 and the legality about any of it was irrelevant to me.

A little bit aside, but the immigrants that we should be accepting are the ones who genuinely want to make a better life for themselves here, not just bring along their problems or intolerances that should be left behind. Myself, I am a first generation Canadian. My father left the Netherlands in 1953 and my Mom left Belgium in the same year. Both left because their land was destroyed and laced with military ordanance from the War, and there was little hope to get ahead. When they immigrated to Canada they left their past behind. The first thing they started to do was improve their English. Now both struggle to speak Dutch (or Flemish) since they have been here so long. They both reside in an area in Canada (not so far from Kitchener) with many Dutch and German people, but there are no existing problems between the groups despite what all happened at the time in the Netherlands at the hands of the Germans. I can't at all understand some of these Moslem youths both here and in England - born here - but feel that the problems abroad should also be fought here, by them. They should be happy to be here. I can understand the militants from abroad - they've been brainwashed. I lived for 3.5 years in Indonesia, and its a fact that certain Islamic schools, especially near Solo and Malang, Central Java, provide free education and boarding (so the extreme poor can go there), but are basically brainwashing and breeding terrorists. All of those implicated in the Bali bombings and the Marriot bombing in Jakarta came from or had dealings with such organizations. The question is, does it happen here and/or in Britain with our own 'homegrown' Moslem terrorists? By the way, I have no problem with certain groups retaining certain traditions at certain times... afterall, my Dad still wears wooden shoes (that I bought for him) when he is out bar-b-queing on the patio.

From my personal experiences, having taught English in South East Asia, many of those over there don't associate Canada with Britain at all. In fact often I had to argue that Canada was independent from the U.S.A.. They thought that since we are in North America we are therefore Americans, and if we are Americans, then we must belong to the U.S.A.. This usually led to a bit of a discussion about our Canadian history, the U.S.A's independance, the war of 1812, and our independance... but they didn't really care... to them we are not so much different than the yankees or the British - and with their untrained ears they can barely hear a difference in the accents, unless of course the Brit is a Cockney.

Just last night I flew into Toronto Pearson yet again... Lord knows how many times I have done so. I have been out of the country travelling and working for the past 1.5 years, and have visited possible upwards of 100 airports in the world, and for me Toronto rants as one of the worsts in terms of speediness and convienence. In fact, in the past 36 hours or so I have been in Jakarta's Soekarno International Airport, Hong Kong International Airport, Anchorage's International Airport, and Pearson... Pearson is by far the slowest and most inefficient and inconvienient. I arrived at 9:20pm... for some reason customs decided to check each passenger upon leaving the airplane. It took me over 1 hour to get my carry-on and get through this line... as they were already checking every Chinese person, Korean person, etc, before they go to the real customs desk only to be checked again! Why check them 2x? Customs was no issue, as I am Canadian, but then it was on to the bag check. First of all the trolleys. This is an international arrival section. Who, arriving internationally, is going to have coins to hire a trolley? No one. I was lucky, I thought of this and saved a toonie for nearly 2 years just for my return. The others had to hire porters, and were therefore forced to pay the horrible rates at the money changers in the airport ($1.03 to $1USD) in order to pay the porters. Finally I got my trolley and went to the baggage carousel. There are not enough carousells to service the amount of incoming flights. My caousel was double booked, and since my flight came first had bags laying all over the ground. It took me 1/2hour to find all of my bags, and it would have been extremely easy to steal a bag if one wanted to. After finally getting my bags I was more than ready to go. If you have someone waiting, the waiting area is too small for the number of arriving passengers and so you quickly get moved along. In this arrival area is next to nothing. 1 money changer, a bunch of bell phones, and thats about it. No place to sit for a beer and arrange to meet someone... Finally... after all this the transportation. If someone picks you up, great. Otherwise how do you get downtown? Very expensive taxi's? Bus to a subway station, and if the subway is running take it downtown? It's absolutely pathetic and a shame to Canadians. Its a terrible first impression of Canada for many international tourists, and its absolutely pathetic that 3rd world countries have better services than Toronto. Go to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia (one of the best), Singapore, Hong Kong, or even Narita (Tokyo) for an idea of how an airport should operate. I am disgusted and disgraced by our own here in Ontario. My rant for the day...

Maybe a bit off topic, but is anyone aware of a place that one could rat on potential offenders? I do not mean so much for in Canada, we have some law and order here. I mean for other places. I have travelled extensively through out South East Asia, and it always disgusts me to see filthy old sex tourists with young girls or boys. The police in these places are corrupt and turn a blind eye. If there were some way to rat on these people so that maybe their friends and family could find out just what they are, I think it might possibly be a deterant. I once witnessed in Phnom Phen, Cambodia, a horrible scene committed by an American surgeon from New York City. I had met him the night before in a pub and cannot remember his name. The following day I noticed him in the same area, but this time he had apparently 'purchased' 3 young girls for his month visit. Their ages were between 10 and 14 years old. I was absolutely disgusted, of course, but there was nothing I could do, short of physically attack him. I certainly did let him know how I felt regarding the scene, and he simply said mind your own business and returned to his hotel. If I had had my camera, perhaps I would have taken a picture and tried to send it to his wife or hospital... but I was unable to do so. Any suggestions about what to do if I were to see such a dispicable act again?