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Help Generations, help kids Call (514) 933-8585 FEBRUARY 2008 VOL.XXIIN O 4 CELEBRATING 21 YEARS OF BRINGING YOU THE ISSUES! Mainline presents... Peace, p. 3 anyone? p. 16 PICK YOUR DATE FOR ALENTINES AY Butterfly V D ! Man Cuba Si! p. 16 p. 4 Annual Guaranteed Income With Growth Potential Minimum $25,000 Editorial Canada should phase out combat role in Afghanistan There used to be a cynical term in journalism called Canadian diplomat Harry Sterling reported that last The main problem with our combat role is that “Afghanistanism”– the notion you could say just about year 147 teachers and students were murdered and 590 NATO partners are not interested in sharing burden anything in an editorial about a far away country that schools closed. The warlords and drug kings continue and risking more casualties. And with good reason: has little impact on our lives. But in the global village, to rule with impunity. Poppy cultivation flourishes with today’s enemies are as vicious as they are determined. as our soldiers continue to die – 78, including a diplo- the connivance of corrupt officials. A student journalist, The Taliban is an evil organization allied with the most mat, we grapple with the deteriorating situation as we Pervaz Kambaksh, 23, faces the death penalty for saying regressive forces of militant Islam. While there are attempt to impart our liberal democratic values to a there is opposition to women getting an education. informal talks between them and the government of country living in sadly medieval social conditions. With Canada in a combat role in dangerous Kanda- Hamid Karzai, accommodation and compromise are a The challenge is huge: the average life expectancy for har province, are we doing the right thing in abandon- long way off. an Afghan is 42, and unemployment is 78%.Attempts to ing our traditional peace-building for the current Let’s not pretend that Afghanistan will soon have change the country’s backward ways are meeting with mission? Last month, John Manley’s report suggested parliamentary democracy, free elections, universal and fierce resistance, and not just from the Taliban. Former Canada’s military should remain in Afghanistan be- accessible education and gender equality. yond February 2009 on two conditions: that NATO According to the Manley report, Canada has allocated and/or other allies dispatch 1,000 soldiers to Kandahar $741 million in bilateral aid to Afghanistan from 2001- to bolster the Canadian presence there and that our 02 to 2006-07. The financial cost of the Canadian soldiers get new helicopters and unmanned aerial military mission has been estimated at $2.6 billion – a vehicles for intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance. cost expected to reach $4.3 billion by February next year. The report stated Canada should refocus on diplo- Sooner rather than later we must abandon our role as macy and reconstruction and train Afghans to provide an occupying force and turn over policing and military their own security. Bravo! We agree with the report’s functions to the Afghans. We should accelerate our conclusion that “immediate military withdrawal … plans to pull out— not abruptly but as a matter of would cause more harm than good.” But we also staged and planned re-definition of our role. And let’s recognize that Afghanistan is a Viet Nam-like quagmire put more energy into our traditional role as peace from which Canada has to extricate itself and return builders, even if that means accepting a shared to our traditional role of peace building. political role for those we are fighting. florist • Flowers • Plants le jardin • Weddings de • Balloons Publisher & Managing Editor: Barbara MoserCELEBRATING 21 YEARSProduction OF PUBLISHING & Design: Albert Cormier mélissa • Fruit Baskets Assistant Editor: Kristine Berey Production Coordinator: Emily Wilkinson Copy Editor: Gisele Rucker Systems Manager: Scott Philip Happy Journalists: Kristine Berey, Alex Matthews, Nancy Snipper Web Designer: Gabriel Tordjman Office Manager: Thelma Gearey Printing: Hebdo Litho St. Valentine’s Sales Manager: Jacquie Soloway-Cons Tel.: (514) 484-5033 Fax: (514) 484-8254 Advertising: Jodie Alter, Gloria Beigleman, Shirley Cohen, Email: [email protected] Day! Jacquie Soloway-Cons, Sandra Schachter Website: www.theseniortimes.com Delivery around the World Cover Photos: Clowns: David Babcock, Geordie Productions; Butterfly man: Michel Tremblay, Montréal Insectarium; Hedda Gabler: Mainline Theatre; Portrait de Mary by Jorge Arche, 1938, oil on canvas. Photo: Radolfo Martinez. Courtesy of Montreal Museum of Fine-Arts. (514) 488-1147 Published by Publications Newborn Inc. Contents copyright ©2008. All rights reserved. Legal Deposit: National Library of Canada No. D368087 Dépot légal Bibliothèque Nationale du Québec, 1993. Although every caution is taken by Publications Newborn Inc. to mon- 6206 Sherbrooke St. West i tor advertising in the THE SENIOR TIMES, claims made by advertisers are not necessarily endorsed by Publications Newborn Inc. 2 February 2008 THE SENIOR TIMES n Out With Your Valentine n Seniors in love take the stage Returning to Montreal, John Mighton’s play Half Life runs at Centaur till Feb. 24. The play focuses on Clara (Carolyn Hetherington) and Patrick (Eric Peterson), seniors who meet in a nursing home for veterans and their families. As Clara and Patrick’s middle-aged children watch on, the cou- ple rediscovers beauty and love. “Half Life is about memory, or more precisely forgetting,” says director Daniel Brooks. “The central idea is that we are defined as much by what we forget as we are by what we remember.” Half Life plays at the n Centaur, 453 St-François-Xavier. Info: 514-288-3161 or centaurtheatre.com Fulfilling Needs n Senior Residence Fulfilling Needs at Every Stage Joe Schwarcz on Houdini’s magic • Retirement lifestyle of distinction & quality • Round-the-clock Harry Houdini, escape artist extraordinaire, was a complex man, caregiving by full nursing staff • Quality service • Luxurious loved by the public and hated by the fake psychics he exposed. His accommodations • Recreational programs • At-home atmosphere death was as much a mystery as was his life. Love him or hate him, his story is fascinating. Visit us today! Dr. Joe Schwarcz shares his insight and passion about Houdini in the 4432 St. Catherine St. West, Westmount lecture Houdini: The Man and the Myth, Sun. Feb. 10 at 11 am before the first preview of the Segal’s new musical, Houdini. 5 1 4 9 3 5 - 1 2 1 2 ww w. p la cek ens ing ton .c om Followed by coffee and refreshments, this free lecture is at the Leanor A DIVISION OF FAIRWAY MANAGEMENT CORP. and Alvin Segal Theatre, 5170 Côte-Ste-Catherine Rd. (corner West- bury). Info: 514-739-2301 or www.segalcentre.org F F F F F F F F F F F F F F F F F F F F F F F F F F F F F F F F F F For tickets to Houdini the musical: 514-739-7944 F F F F F SUPER DEALS F F F Hedda mainlines — with a Canadian sensibility F Caribbean Cruise F F Feb 23 - March 1 F by Byron Toben Mainline regulars Catherine Berrube and Dan Jean- F 1 week from F Hedda Gabler, Hendrik hotte impress as the naïve ingenue and doomed bad F Transport. incl $1299 F F F Ibsen’s masterpiece of boy genius. This is a production well worth seeing. It F F yore (1890) still runs until Feb 16. Info: 514-849-3378 F Spain Costa Del Sol F moves audiences F Feb / March 2 weeks F n F from 2 meals/day F with issues of sex, F $1199 Air & taxes included F A fairytale for any age F F power and death F F bubbling beneath F F The Helvetia Seniors Club for Swiss men and women its proper formalities. F All Inclusive Sun Destination F presents Prof. Joseph Schmidt on Grimm’s Fairytales, F from F The latest incarnation at Varadero, Cuba Thurs. Feb. 21 at 11 am. A luncheon follows at Monk- F 1 week $699 F the Mainline Theatre, F F land Grill, 6151 Monkland Ave. Info: 514-481-2928 F F adapted by Canadian Judith F F Thompson, recasts the staid Vic- F Hawaii Islands Discover F F &enjoy them on a 10 night cruise F torian British translation into F from F more contemporary English to F only Air & 9 Excursions included F resonate with a modern audi- F $2399 April-2008 F F F ence. Director Jeremy Hechtman F F cleverly stages the piece in the F F * Complete DENTURE service F Plattsburg: Feb $29 F 1950s, and it works. F F BUS Burlington: Feb $35 There are no weak links in the * Hookless Partials F F F TRIPS Hull / Ottawa: Feb $29 F photo: Andrea Hausmann Andrea photo: cast. Portraying Hedda, Patricia * Emergency 1 hr repair Implant F F Summersett shows she is one of the best young ac- dentures F F tresses in town (as well as Mirror and QDF calendar F Tel (514) 485-6004 F cover girl). The ever-ebullient Patrick Goddard is nev- F www.heritagetravel.ca F F taxes incl. / OPC $3.50 per $1000 not incl. F ertheless believable as Hedda’s namby pamby husband, 2545 Cavendish 514 982-2517 F F F F F F F F F F F F F F F F F F F F F F F F F F F F F F F F F F as is veteran Jane Gilchrist as Patrick’s saintly aunt (spot her as an extra in the Bob Dylan biopic I’m Not There). Neil Napier impresses as the manipulative Judge Brock. Comic relief is deftly supplied by nnn Carolyn-Fe Trinidad.