The Cadre + 3 November 1998

York gets wild gift;

a

piece of Costa

Rican rainforest

By DEREK CHEZZI

TORONTO (CUP) -- Environmental studies students at York University will soon be able to study a rainforest firsthand following a gift of Costa Rican land to the uni- versity by a Canadian re- searcher.

Dr. Woody Fisher, a medical researcher and co- founder of the Canadian Liver Foundation, donated 133 hec- tares of rainforest land to York last week.

Located near the village of San Isidro, Costa Rica, the land -- called Las Nubes -- has been virtually untouched by humans.

The $i166,606-vaiued piece of rainforest will be used by York to study sustainable land development.

Nearly $26,000 in gifts and pledges have been raised fora fund supporting research at the site for the upcoming year. The money will be used to send students to the re- search site.

Nestled on the edge ofa

forest that sits above the Los Cusingos Bird Sanctuary, Las Nubes is part of the largest undisturbed raw forest in Cen- tral America.

An agreement with Costa Rica’s Tropical Science Centre will ensure the land and surrounding forest are pro- tected from being used for cash crops and cattle grazing.

While the Las Nubes site is small with respect to the forest in which it is found, its location near the perimeter is crucial in protecting the wooded land on the other side from further depletion.

The physician bought the farmland after learning about the deforestation taking place in Costa Rica. He says the government wasn’t moving fast enough to protect natural habitats.

“I wanted to see the land preserved. Now it’s go- ing to be used to promote edu- cation, research and interna- tional cooperation. It has ma- tured into something more sub- stantial than I ever dreamed.”

By CARLA TONELLI

TORONTO (CUP) _ Ever since Ontario Premier Mike Harris commented that student debt “might put offthe purchase of a BMW for a year,” education stakeholders have been asking what figures the premier is working from.

Speaking at the Ontario Jobs and Investment Confer- ence in St. Catharine’s, Ont., on Oct. 15, Harris said “the majority of (post-secondary) students do not have any debt at all.”

He cited figures that contradict those from a 1998 Statistics Canada report, which stated the average national debt for students in Canada will be $25,000 this year.

But Harris told more than 20 student groups that the average student debt in 1997 was $12,100, adding high school students needn’t be scared by reports of high stu- dent debt.

“j don’t want to belittle this but I think the debt might put off the BMW for one more year and I don’t think that should be an imperative for any young person that’s ac- cepted in any formal medical

National News 9

Harris says student loans delays beemer purchases

school here in Ontario,” Harris said.

A moment before he made that comment the pre- mier stated medical school graduates sometimes owe as much as $40,000 or $50,000 in student loans.

Last week, opposition politicians hammered the Pro-

ssive Conservative leader

or the remark, saying it shows

he’s out of touch with student reality.

“He has this bias that students are somehow high on the hog, but it’s not right,” said Liberal member of provincial parliament David Caplan.

“Setting off buying a BMW for one year -- that’s insensitive and unacceptable. What really bothers me is this is so mean spirited.”

The chairman of the Ontario componentof the Ca- nadian Federation of Students agrees.

“We know this govern- ment clearly hasn’t done a lot of their homework,” said Joel Harden, who says Ontario is the second most expensive province for tuition in Canada, after Nova Scotia.

The cost of many uni- versity programs in Ontario

Up to 16 000 Canadians die from air pollution each year Suzuki Foundation says

By JAMIE WOODS

VANCOUVER (CUP) Up to 16,000 Canadians die prematurely from air pollution every year, a recent report by the David Suzuki Foundation says. But Ottawa’s ety re- sponse so far has been a lot of hot air, the ——. _ _ Two weeks prior to the Joint Ministers’ of Energy and Environment meeting last week in Halifax, the environ- mental foundation released its 50-page report detailing the growing impact ofair pollution and climate change on Cana- dians’ health. Entitled Taking Our Breath Away, the report

projects a 50 per cent growth in

particulate emissions, one of

the most hazardous air pollut- ants, by 2020, and a rise of 20 r cent in greenhouse gases

y the same year.

The rt, which was co-authored by two epidemi- ologists and an air pollution expert, also indicated that Canada is the second highest

r capita emitter of ouse gases in the wor d, and that Canadians use as much coal, and oil per year as the 750 million people living in Africa.

Using federal govern- ment figures, the report esti- mates $10 billion a year could be saved if smog is reduced in

Canada’s major cities.

The study revealed a28 per cent increase in hospitali- zation for asthma ome boys between 1980 and 1990, and 18 percent among girls during the same pore While there’s no conclu- sive evidence that air pollution causes asthma, it’s beyond doubt that air pollution exacer-

Atlast week’s joint min- isters’ meeting, federal and

incial ministers signed the

Wide ometen Strat-

, an agreement com-

mts governments after the

year 2000 to establish targets

for the reduction of sulphur- dioxide emissions.

They also discussed re- ducing greenhouse gases through international emis-

sions trading, where low pol- luting nations would be re-

“edt cash from high fe But the problem, says the Suzuki Foundation, is that Ottawa hasn’t implemented any mechanisms to directly address the problem here in Canada.

International emissions trading are expected to top the agenda of the Conference of the Parties summit in Buenos Aires next month.

Canada is sending a del- egation to the summit, which will run from Nov. 2 to Nov. 11.

skyrocketed this year after the province deregulated tuition.

“To indicate that deregulating is only affecting students by delaying their pur- chase of a BMW indicates nothing more than this premier iscompletely out of touch with the way real students live,” Harden said.

Others were appalled by the premier’s apparent depar- ture from the common know}- edge that student debt in On- tario is a significant problem.

“I believe Statistics Canada,” said Howard Hamp- ton, leader of the provincial New Democratic Party.

“The Harris govern- ment is notorious for manipu- lating figures to try and hide the truth of what is really hap- pening,” he added.

The BMW remark is not the first time Harris has come under fire for what some considered outrageous state- ments about Ontarions.

Last spring, he publicly apologized for saying that mothers receiving social as- sistance could handle a $24 cut in funding because it was only “beer money.”

“It takes a lot of nerve to make those statements,” said Caplan. “I think he just doesn’t care, quite frankly,”

Following a week of mediacoverage and public criti- cism, however, Harris stands by his statement.

“The premier is not in- sensitive to the needs of post- secondary students and this government is certainly not in- sensitive forthe need for fund- ing to colleges and universi- ties,” said Wallace Pigeon, a spokesman for Harris.

“He was describing a very specific graduate (demo- graphic),” he added. He said the premier made the com- ment just after saying medical school graduates can expect a $300,000 salary within three years of study.

The average cost of a BMW is $50,000, according to one Toronto outlet.