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PAGE 4, WEDNESDAY, JULY 14, 1982, WHITBY FREE PRESS Y; whitby f~La~ Voice of the County Town Pub Michael lan Burgess, Publisher - Managing Editor The only Whitby newspaper independently owned and operated by Whitby residents for Whitby residents. lished every Wednesday by M.B.M. Publishing and Photography Inc. Phone 668-6111 The Free Press Building, 131 Brock Street North, P.O. Box 206, Whitby, Ont. MICHAEL J. KNELL Community Editor MARJORIE A. BURGESS Advertising Manager Second Class Mail Registration No. 5351 Why has the ministry of agriculture taken eight years to object to plans for Brooklin's growth? It has now been over a year since Durham Regional Council gave its approval to the plans for the development of Brooklln. Furthermore, It has been over eight months since-the necessary by- laws were passed to make the hamlet's expansion part of the regional officiai plan. However, the project has yet to see a shovel in the ground. The reason for this is quite simple - the provin- cial government, for whatever reason, is sitting on it. It seems that every month since January, an of- ficial of the Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing has said that a decision of whether or not to send the project to the Ontario Municipal Board for review will be made before the end of that month. Well, here it is July already and no decision has been made. According to Durham Regional Chairman Gary Herrema and Durham West MPP George Ashe the i read a graphic account of the plight of a suddenly ax- ed executive in the Globe and Mail recently which i am sure is typical. At the moment of truth, the executive stared at the boss in utter'disbelief. "You're not serious", he heard himself saying. "It can't be true". Getting fired must be a traumatic experience for anyone, but I have a feeling that for the)senior manager and administrator, its doubly destructive. The executive after all, is part of the management team, part of the decision-making pro- cess, in the. know about corporate direction, so secure that he joins the us-against-them syndrome, to some ex- tent. Then the earth shifts, life's foundations crumble, and he's out on the street, dazed, unable to believe that it's happened to him. i got a note recently from someone who has just gone through it, and she put it this way: "i have managed to put away my tears, plus a little bit of the hurt - and I have accepted the fact that a very important stage of my life is over". The language seems extreme, but it isn't really. Parting is a dirty business these days. One minute you're a company man or woman, proud of where you work and loving it, and the next minute you're a security risk. The nightmare began for the lady I'm talk- ing about when she came into work on an ordinary Mon- day morning, and found that the lock on her office had been changed. There are more than 30 thousand former executives in the same boat right now, and most of them will find it difficult ever to be loyal to a company again. It was while i was thinking of this that I read the immor- tal words of Senator H. A. Bud Olsen speaking in Calgary. Senator Olsen was a Social Credit MP who couldn't get re-elected in Western Canada after he switched to the Liberals for a cabinet portfolio. Now he's the Minister of Economic Development from the safety of the Senate. Senator Olsen delivered himself of this considered opi- nion on the economic situation of his fellow Canadians: "The 60 or 70 percent of the total who don't have debts probably never had it so good". This guy really believes that 60 or 70 percent of the country doesn't have debts, isn't into the finance companies, doesn't have mortgages? Where has he been, lately, you ask? Why in Wonderland of course, in Ottawa, in the Red Chamber. If Senator Olsen were in the real world, he might already have ex- perienced the golden handshake. That's not news, but that too is reality. current stumbling block is the Ministry of Agricul- ture and Food. Both gentlemen have said that It is that ministry's Intention to fight Brooklin on the grounds that it takes too much valuable farm land out of production. Herrema, himself a farmer, has dismissed this objection noting that the land in question is currently being cash-cropped and that no one would ever buy it in order to turn It into a family farm in the traditional sense. Ashe noted that the ministry voiced its concer- ns about the loss of farmland back in 1974 and 1976. What we'd like to know is why they have taken so long to turn their concerns into objec- tions that can be discussed and deait with? Sure- ly, six to elght years Is long enough to get problems resolved. Ashe pointed out that the Ministry of the En- vironment has yet to be asked for Its comments on the proposal. The problems that current Brooklin residents have suffered with well water and septic tanks has been well documented over the years and yet we find It amazing that the one gover- nment agency with responsibility for our pro- vince's environment has not been closely involved in 'the planning process. Perhaps somebody merely forgot to ask them for their expert, pro- fessional opinion. Quite frankly, It seems that somebody in the pr- ovincial government (maybe Agriculture Minister Dennis Timbrell and/or his advisors) have decided they want to play politics with this issue. Well, I the time to play politics has long since passed. Whitby needs the development of Brooklin as badly as the villagers themselves do. The Region of Durham is in dire need of both new assessment and water and sewer users. The development of Brooklin is probably the biggest opportunity for growth this municipality has seen for many, many years. The people in Brooklin need water and sewer pipes. If the developer does not put them ln at his cost as he promised, the regional taxpayer Is going to have to do it. Those pipes are needed and we are better off to have the developer install them and provide more users for the system. The Brooklin business community needs the development to bring in more customers. (This newspaper would like to have the new readers.) Both the town and region need the new taxes it will brIng In. We have the need and the plan offers a way to fill it and unless the Government of On- tarlo wants to foot the bill for the water and sewer pipes it should let the plan go. Another thing, if the Ministry of Agriculture and Food is of the opinion that there is not enough farmland available, they should take a look at a map of Canada and see how much land is avail- able in this country to grow food. Delaying the decision is hurting everybody, the developer, the town, the region, the business community, but most of all the residents of Brook- lin who have been waiting patiently all of these years for their water and sewer pipes.