lewpoints EDITOR BRITTANY LEE THE VOICE, TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 29, 2011 6 Canada fails to take lead in climate change plan eter Kent, the man supposedly Pp: charge of environmental policy in Canada, has done nothing to quell the rumor that his government is abandoning the Kyoto Protocol. His remark that the protocol is unfair and ineffective comes as world leaders open a conference in Durban, South Africa to discuss climate change. It does nothing to improve Canada’s international image around the environment. Environmental groups have already criticized Kent’s comments, dubbing Canada as the worst country at the conference before it even began. Is Kent genuine when he claims he recognizes the urgency of this problem? Will Canada actually take a leading role in the creation of a new climate change agreement to replace Kyoto? It’s hard to imagine the government is serious about climate change, especially when Kent says rather than needing a binding convention, we actually need “action and a mandate to work on an eventual binding convention.” Comments like this paint a picture of a government that is putting off any duty to the environ- ment for as long as it can before the rest of the world applies pressure. As Canadians, we are historically proud of our contributions in bettering the world. We led in the foundation of peacekeeping, we’re the birthplace of Greenpeace, and the home of Adbusters, the group which led the Occupy Wall Street movement. But now it feels as though our government would rather have Canada take a back seat and leave the role of leadership in climate change to someone else. No Cana- dian should be pleased with this development. There’s no question it’s the responsibility of the government to consider Canadian interests when coming to an agreement like this. Many have criticized Kyoto in this respect. But the fact of the matter is that all countries are going to have to give something up as they work together to solve the imminent threat of climate change. It’s easy to be a critic, but to bea leader takes something more than has been shown thus far. OPINION Matt Hyndman We want to hear from you Did we get a fact wrong? Tell us. Got a different point of view? Write to us. Problems with something we've said? Let us know. Journalism instructor Nicholas Read oversees The Voice. Email him at nread@langara.be.ca el Obtaining your January U-Pass may be difficult if you’re @® Collect your month! U-Pass BC card planning on leaving the city before Dec. 19. Students staying in Vancouver only have four days to get their January pass before the campus closes on Dec. 23 for break. HOW TO USE: Swipe Langara student ID card with mag- netic stripe 2) Follow the on-screen prompts 6) Collect your monthly U-PASS BC card Find out you’re either a day too early or a day too late © Leave Langara and stand in the rain © Call your mom and complain Realize you don’t have enough change in your pockets and beg the old woman sitting next to you for a dollar Watch three full buses pass by Crowd onto the bus and pay the regular adult fee of $2.50, even though as a student you pay for a discount pass If you’re coming back to the city after winter break, add the airport’s $5 surcharge NEED HELP? If you are denied your U-PASS BC, or require assistance with the machine: -Sorry, campus is closed until Jan. 4 -Guess youre stuck in Calgary By Brittany Lee Paying extra for transit unfair to student budget for a broke student. Not even a grande caramel machiatto from Starbucks costs $5, or a California roll from Samurai Sushi on Cambie. But that’s the cost students without a U-Pass will have to pay in order to board a bus or SkyTrain after coming back to the city from winter break. Langara students wanting to get their January U-Pass will only have four days to do so and those days don’t happen to coincide with the exam schedule. Students who are still in the city between Dec. 19 and Dec. 22 will have no problems obtaining their U-Pass. But students who are planning to flee the city immediately after exams are out of luck. U-Passes are usually available on the 17th of each month, or the next available business day. Unfortunately, this month many out-of-town students will be majorly F:: dollars? That’s a lot of money inconvenienced since dispensers won’t hold January passes until after exams are over. All full-time students pay $30 a month for their discounted student pass. It’s not fair that students will have to pay extra to get around if they simply forget to pick up their January pass or are not around when the pass is OPINION Brittany Lee available. Students boarding a ferry to get back to Vancouver will have to pay $5 to get on a bus at Tsawwassen. From the airport, students will have to pay $7.50. If TransLink and Langara College want to encourage students to use transit, making the U-Pass available to students at an earlier date would be greatly appreciated. Last year, before the new U-Pass system was introduced, Langara made life a little easier for students by directly mailing out passes to them. Not only is this more conve- nient for out-of-town students but it seems to make a lot more sense. Instead of having possible line-ups of disgruntled students waiting to swipe their student ID in order to receive their pass for next month, sending students their passes would save everybody time and effort. The last thing students want to do after spending numerous late nights preparing for exams and touching up final projects, is drag themselves back to school when they could be in bed. At least, that’s true for me. After all my final assignments are handed in, my last exam written and I’ve celebrated with my classmates, I know I won’t be sticking around until Dec. 19 just to get my U-Pass for January. Guess I'll be begging my grandma for a few extra dollars. Car companies tricking buyers yota Canada tells consumers ; that the gas mileage figures used in its advertising are provided by the government and are reliable. But the Automobile Protection Association, a consumer advocacy group based in Toronto, is telling us a different story. An APA report, published on Monday and co-investigated by the CBC, reveals that the figures supplied by government and used by carmak- ers like Toyota are inaccurate, making the real cost of running your car much higher than you thought. OPINION Patrick Johnston Few of us live a budget-less life; the amount and distance we can drive our car is determined by how much it costs to run it. Fuel efficiency plays a huge role in this cost. If the numbers on which we base our buying decisions aren’t correct, there are many among us who are going to be in for a big surprise, month-in and month-out. In an interview with the CBC, the APA’s George Iny said “the Cana- dian numbers are suspect numbers.” Representatives at Toyota Canada’s national customer service line tell callers that the gas mileage numbers are provided by the federal government’s Office of Energy Efficiency and are reliable. The CBC/APA report says this is incorrect; vehicles are tested by the manufacturers themselves and the results are then submitted to the federal government. This undermines what citizens expect from the government. We elect our government officials to regulate our suppliers and to assure consumers that information provided by businesses is accurate and reliable. Instead of setting a third-party standard that producers must follow and consumers can trust, the standard is being set by the produc- ers themselves. Consumers can’t be expected to trust rules that aren’t free of the interests of producers nor should consumers accept such a situation. It’s the government’s job to keep an eye on the industry and set clear rules which are transparent to producers and consumers alike. Not vice versa. Fil ay ce) 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 Brittany Lee PAGE EDITORS PAGE 1 Jesse Winter PAGE 2 Derek Bedry PAGE 3 Kyla Jonas PAGE 4 Leah Goebel PAGE 5 Khethiwe Rudd PAGE 7 Anne Watson PAGE 8 Carlisle Richards REPORTERS Moma Cassidy Lynda Chapple Emma Crawford Jennifer Fong Shawn Gill Alexandra Grant Alanna Hardinge-Rooney Matthew Hyndman Patrick Johnston Ruman Kang Devon MacKenzie Daniel Palmer Jen St. Denis Carly Wignes Martin Wissmath Contact us: Our blog at www.langara- voice. posterous. com Twitter at @langaraVoice Youtube at VoiceLangara flicker at Langara Voice