6 THE VOICE, THURSDAY, MARCH 8, 2012 EDITOR LYNDA CHAPPLE Dog gone It- we've gone to the dogs here is a saying from someone unknown, “ If your dog is fat, yow’re not getting enough exercise.” However there are some people who get as much exercise as their dog and their neighbours dog and all the dogs up the street — dog walkers. We have seen them everywhere, in parks and at local beaches. We chuckle as they pass and they coordinate the leashes of up to a dozen dogs, small and large. It is a job that’s hard to imagine for those of us who find walking just one dog and (picking up their poop) a struggle. The committed dog walkers in this city have an entrepreneurial spirit, and have turned walking 12 dogs and picking up the poop of two or three of them into an art form of it own. But wait ... if you don’t have that entrepreneurial spirit or coordination, Langara now has a dog walker certificate program. What does this say about those that have for the past decade, built-up successful dog walking businesses? It would seem that if one has a love of animals, particu- larly dogs, and has the desire to get as many of their canine friends out for a walk rain or shine, then is certification really required? Could the future have by-law enforcers checking for certification if you dare walk more than three dogs at a time? Will certified dog walkers then be able to charge more than someone who has not taken the certification course? These things provoke change into something that seemed to be fine just as it was. Maybe this is just like any number of things that it all comes down to another way to make a buck. eC‘ LETTERS to the editor I was reading the February 23rd edition of The Voice, and was a bit irritated by how one-sided the article “B.C. benefits from foreign students” was. Just like Christy Clark herself, the writer seems to overlook the fact that additional students don’t just bring cash; they also literally fill seats and strain existing infrastructure, so that adding students is not just a magical way of getting money from Asia etc. Without building new facilities, and a plan for this, there could actually be real problems with adding so many new students as time goes by. Also, it’s important to note that Clark has a limited mandate, having never actually been elected, and this ambitious policy of hers may or may not be seriously followed by the next government, which polling suggests will be the NDP sooner rather than later. So, yeah. I found the article lacked real critical insight, and too closely followed the line being sold by the government. OPINION LYNDA CHAPPLE Franz Kurtzke The ‘veil of anonymity’ Is unbalanced in our courts t has been eight months since the June 15 Stanley Cup riots, when Canucks fans and other drunken hooligans trashed downtown. Currently, 57 suspected rioters are facing 153 charges, but the Vancou- ver Police Department says justice is not yet served. “We need your help to send a strong message to the victims of the riot and the outraged citizens of our community that we still care,” the VPD website states in anticipation of March 8, when a new wave of riot posters will be handed out. The posters will be distributed by volunteers around the lower mainland on Thursday. These new posters will mainly consist of pictures seized from six major local media outlets back in January. The names and pictures of all the charged rioters are currently posted for the public’s viewing pleasure on the VPD website. Shame on the rioters! Conducting mischief and being caught up ina frenzied crowd are certainly crimes so outrageous that the wrongdoers deserve to be publicly humiliated over, and over, and over again. In fact, these criminals are such horrible citizens that their privacy rights should be stripped and their trials should be publicly broad- cast from the courthouse. But do not fret. Those other criminals such as murderers, rapists, and child pornographers will continue to have their privacy rights. The Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, section 11(h) states “if finally found guilty and punished for the offence, not to be tried or MICHELLE GAMAGE punished for it again,” meaning citizens convicted of sexual assault and violent assault, after they serve their sentence, will be able to hide behind a veil of anonymity while they work to become first class citizens again. In Canada, while there is a national sex offender registry, the list is only accessible to RCMP officers and select government officials according to the Sex Offender Registration Act. Likewise, a committed violent crime, including a repeat violent crime, is not deemed necessary to report to the public. So high-ho, its back to the streets the VPD go, with more posters of these crazed criminals committing alleged mischief and participating in a riot. But those murderers and other various nasties? Not to fear, their rights to anonymity while they settle back into society are still here. N7ing) We Tasea 8 ew ie sates ine hans 1-Z oy Denence Lowill imag): Lunch time: 8 bi Ke (ao he a EEEEE RUN A ee mc 5/7 Twe 2 v7. on no 7 3 y MICHELE GAMAGE Expansions and over-crowding — who will pay in the long run? any students have noticed Mie rezoning boards that have popped up around campus. Plans for new buildings, community gardens and seismic upgrading are all in the works for Langara, but with the B.C. govern- ment calling for post-secondary institutions to reduce spending, where will the money come from? All over campus, the need for more space for students and faculty is clear. Increasingly, there are excessively long line-ups for washrooms. Every day students are seen eating their lunches on the floor, in a building that has not been seismically upgraded in 20 years. Across B.C. the same problems are growing at an alarming rate. The master plan advisory committee is overseeing the expansion. They are hoping to receive the funding for this project through government, college, individu- als and corpora- tions. The B.C. budget plan AGUSTINA released two COCCARO weeks ago included a $100 million cut to post-secondary funding, and a challenge for all institutes to cut their costs by one per cent. So the chances of getting OPINION. government funding anytime soon seem to be slim. Overcrowding and outdated buildings are issues that are plaguing the entire B.C. education system, including the advanced education system. With B.C.’s teachers on strike, marching to the Legislature to demand more resources, and a government trying to balance out a $968-million dollar deficit, there doesn’t seem to be an answer. Although the plans are in motion for improvements to Langara, the funding is not. And even when the money is available, which could take a few years; the project itself will take three to four years to complete. Write to us. Problems with something we've said? We want to hear from you Did we get a fact wrong? Tell us. Got a different point of view? Let us know. Journalism instructor Nicholas Read oversees The Voice. Email him at nread@langara.be.ca The Voice is published by Langara College's journalism department. Editorial opinions are those of the staff and are independent of views of the student government and administration. We welcome letters to the editor. All letters must be signed. They may be edited for brevity. Names may be withheld in special cases, but your letter must include your name and phone number. HOW TO REACH US PHONE 604-323-5396 FAX 604-323-5398 E-MAIL thevoice@langara.be.ca DROP-IN Room A226 Langara College There is a mailbox at the entrance to the journalism rooms. SNAIL MAIL The Voice 100 West 49th Ave. Vancouver, B.C. VSY 226 WEBSITE wwwlangara.bc.ca/voice EDITORIAL STAFF THIS ISSUE: MANAGING EDITOR/ PAGE 6 Lynda Chapple PAGE EDITORS PAGE 1 Shawn Gil PAGE 2 Alexandra Grant PAGE 3 Daniel Palmer PAGE 4 Alanna Hardinge-Rooney PAGE 5 Matthew Hyndman PAGE 7 Jen St. Denis PAGE 8 Emma Crawford WEB EDITORS Moma Cassidy Jennifer Fong Carly Wignes REPORTERS Ross Armour Dana Bowen Augustina Coccaro Hayley Doctor Michelle Gamage Lev Jackson Cara McKenna Audrey McKinnon Quinn Mell-Cobb Dennis Page Sascha Porteous Clayton Paterson Brandon Reid Jacqueline Richardson Jeremy Sally Omar Shariff Alexander Skerdzhev Carly Smith Stacy Lynne Thomas Carissa Thorpe Ashely Viens Contact us: Our blog at www.langara- voice.posterous. com Twitter at @langaraVoice Youtube at VoiceLangara flickr at Langara Voice