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4 The Canadian Statesman, Bowmanville, Wednesday, July 6,1994 Section Two Questions Raised Concerning Courtice Community Complex Canada Day 1994, was the 37th my family and I have celebrated. Coming to Canada in June 1957 marked a turning-point in the lives of all of my family that we couldn't begin begin to comprehend at the time. As we left the Empress of Scotland in Montreal Montreal to start the journey to Toronto, I remember the temperature of the day - 95 fahrenheit! I remember it well because we all were wearing heavy clothing, as we were lead to believe that snow was on the ground all year long in Canada. Anytime during those first couple of years here we would have gone back home - that was if we had the fares! Like most who come to Canada from other lands, we weathered the ups and downs, and the last time my wife and I caught our flight back to Canada from England, we looked at each other other and said isn't it great to be going home. Canada Day has a special place in the hearts of those who have chosen Canada as their home. As we think of other lands, we should all be ever grateful for everything this land gives us. We all tend to grumble, to get fed up with things, and the government! government! but there isn't any place on earth I would rather be. Speaking of good things, I took part in the announcement on Monday morning last, on the spot the new Courtice Community Centre will be built. This announcement marks the time the residents can start counting from, until their community has the central focus every community needs, a Community Centre. Crimestoppers Crime Stoppers and the Durham Regional Police are asking for the Public's help in solving a break enter and theft which occurred in Oshawa , on Wednesday, June the 8th. At 10:35 p.m. police responded to an alarm call at T & C Small Engine Repair 133 Taunton Road West. When the officer arrived he noticed that the front door, which faces onto Sommerville Street, was insecure because because the lock cylinder had been removed. removed. Once inside the supect(s) removed removed five STIHL chainsaws, orange in colour, model numbers 009,029,026, and two 025. Two similar occurrences, one on Ritson Road South and the other at. Scugog and Highway 2 were also reported. reported. Crime Stoppers is asking the community community to call in any information on this crime or any other criminal offense offense to help combat crime in your area. The police service needs the community to become involved in crime prevention and by phoning. Crime Stoppers you can assist. As a caller you won't be asked to identify yourself or have to go to court. If an arrest is made as a result of your tip then you qualify for a cash reward of up to $1000. The Crime Stoppers phone num- 436-8477 that's 436-TIPS Sergeant Grant Arnold is the coordinator coordinator with the Durham Regional Crime Stoppers and writes this article to help combat crime. Equally as pleasing was the funding funding to turn the Bowmanville Fire Station Station on Church Street, into a centre for seniors. This, along with road and sewer improvements, will make our community that much better to live in. We have much to be thankful for. On Tuesday morning, I was at Oshawa General Hospital, along with my government colleagues, to announce announce $1.07 million to expand dialysis dialysis services at the hospital. The funding to OGH will allow them to provide peritoneal programs for 30 more patients this fiscal year. That means, 30 people from this area will not be required to travel to Toronto for treatment not available locally. More good things have happened in this ridmg over the last four years than I can remember. Yet there are still some who preach nothing but doom and gloom, and look to something something or everything, to go wrong. One local editorial last week even suggested that our efforts to get things moving in the province was "a bit of a gamble". How much more negative can you get? The provincial government's involvement in getting the economy moving isn't just confined confined to infrastructure funds for Clar- ington and area, it goes far beyond that. If you travel the Highway 401 at all, I'm sure you must have noticed the massive injection of provincial funds going to improve the daily travel for hundreds of people living in the riding, who go to work in Toronto. Toronto. The biggest bottle-neck is at the Rouge River. The cost of the widening widening at that point is $19.8 million alone. How about the $20 million to convert the Cadbury plant in to a Durham Skills Training Centre? Here, hundreds of local people are ' learning néw skills for the ever changing world we live in. How about die $3-million to expand Oshawa Airport in order to better provide service for local manufacturers? manufacturers? How about the $ 133-million to build a new Whitby Psychiatric Hospital? Hospital? How about the #3 2-million to pay for projects in all the Durham Region Municipalities, the Boards of Education Education and Durham College? Is that a gamble? Is it a gamble to give the folks in Brooklin tap water and sewers? sewers? Is it a gamble to improve our roads, to make them safer? Was it a gamble to provide tap water in the community of Janetville? Is it a gamble gamble to provide good affordable housing housing for those less fortunate than some? And the list goes on and on. How about the $22.4 million for Bowmanville Memorial Hospital expansion? expansion? How about the $6-million for the expansion to Port Perry Community Community Hospital? How about the $13.5 million for the new Catholic High School in Bowmanville? How about the nearly $5-million for the new Bowmanville Separate School? How about the over $ 10-million for a new Public School in Bowmanville and in the Village of Newcastle? Isn't all of this helping to improve the local economy, isn't it about getting getting people back to work, not roily in the actual construction but in the pro duction of all things needed? To all those who can't bear to see anything positive happen, because of a dislike of our government, I say, uncross your fingers, and accentuate the positive! Several times over the last few years, people who found themselves on hard times, came in to see me to see if there was any way to free-up their pension funds that were locked- in RRSPs. Up until now, nothing could be done. Effective 24 June 94, the Finance Minister has made amendments to the Pension Benefits Act which will allow retirement payments payments to be transferred to an individual's individual's RRSP and thereby be accessible. accessible. The Finance Minister promised changes and has now delivered on that commitment. Mike Harris has promised to repeal repeal Bill 40 (Labour Law Reform) should his party form the next government. government. During the Bill 40 process it was consistently argued that labour law reform would drive investments and jobs out of the province. Polls conducted for the All-Business Coalition Coalition and other groups predicted 480,000 jobs would be lost. There is no evidence that Bill 40 has had any impact on the economic situation of the province. Major investment since the introduction introduction of Bill 40 include, $600 million million by Chrysler, $210 million by Apotex (research and development), $190 million by CN Rail, $100 million million by Nestle (new production line) and $100 million by Bell Northern Research. Investments in machinery and equipment are expected to increase by 9.6 percent - which is more than double the national average - this long-range indicator is an excellent measurement of business confidence in the province. Since the introduction introduction of Bill 40, Ontario employment is up 79,000, accounting for 55 percent percent of the national job gain of 143,000. Add that to the decline in welfare payments, coupled with the lowest UIC claims for 21 months, and most, of course not all, will agree that things are looking up again. In the last few weeks, so many of you have called me or written to me, with words of encouragement. The letters I have answered. To the telephone telephone callers, let me say, "Thank You", I have appreciated hearing from you all. This week's column has been a kind of "Thank You" for the land we live in. Dear Editor: With regards to your stories about Community Centre for Courtice. The Province and the Federal Government have offered the Town some $700,000 towards a Community Community Centre which is just a small part of the real cost. Nevertheless it is appreciated. appreciated. (I must confess Gord Mills M.P.P. is beginning to grow on me. He seems to put the interest of his constituents ahead of party lines. Makes a nice change frôm the past). These announcements have been made featuring our Mayor as though the actual building of this centre is a new idea put forward by her, staff and council and that residents of Courtice should be grateful and raise another big piece of money towards the construction costs as though they owe this money. How short memories are. A large part of these lands were purchased back in 1987/88 for the cost of about $380,000. This was based on my urging of council of which I was then a member. The commitment to build a Community Centre at Courtice Road was made then and not last week. The Town has in the meantime collected about $5000.00 for every single new home built. This was done by taxing the building lots (lot levies) and that cost with many other hidden taxes added to the individual house prices. Many home owners are paying mortgages op these levies. Multiply $5000.00 by the number of new homes built in Courtice and it becomes many many millions of dollars. dollars. Where is this money? Has it been spent in other areas of Clarington rather than Courtice? If it has - Why? If not, why is there no Community Centre? Why do the Courtice people have to raise the money again? Have they not paid enough? There are no prepared definitive plans showing what the building will house? Why? Studies have been done. What are their recommendations? Many hard questions need to be asked. Please do not be trapped into taking the easy way out by swallowing swallowing die honey that the Mayor and Town staff spoon feed you in the way of political promises for this coming November election and slide over the past neglect of Courtice. Yours faithfully, Ann Cowman Former councillor Courtice Reader Objects to the Proposed Restriction of Ammunition Sales Letter To The Editor: This is in response to Mr. Gordon Mills' Queen's Park Report in the Wed., June 29th, 1994 edition of the Orono Weekly Times. I take great exception to Mr. Mills' report on the legislation to restrict restrict ammunition sales in the province province of Ontario,!. My reasons are manÿtv ■-/ . 1 ..... . 1) v Not 7 weeks prior, Mr. Mills addressed representatives of the local sporting organizations and assured us this legislation would never be passed. "Don't worry," he said! 2) I have difficulty accepting legislation legislation that gets introduced and becomes becomes law the same day. It doesn't allow for public input and/or questioning. questioning. Once it becomes law, it's too late! 3) This law will have zero impact on the criminal use of firearms. Absolutely Absolutely zero! "Project gun runner," a provincial study into the origins of firearms used in crime, found that between between 77 to 91% were smuggled in from the United States. The ammunition ammunition will come that way as well! Criminals don't need a lot of ammunition ammunition anyway. 4) Mr. Mills uses England as a shining example of gun control success. success. This couldn't be farther from the truth. Britain's violent crime rate has doubled every. ten years since 1946^ (this excludes I.R.A. activity); The sharp reduction in fireantis ownership ownership had been matched by equally sharp rises in violent crime. When will politicians realize that crime cannot be legislated out of existence. existence. It can only be reduced through full application of the criminal criminal justice system. We have sufficient sufficient laws how to deal with the criminal criminal use of firearms. What we lack is the political will to do it! We need to ask our politicians why most gun offences offences are plea bargained away and why the maximum sentence of 15 years, for criminal use of firearms, is hardly, if ever, levied? Peter A. Etmanskie Orono by Laura J* Richards From Page 3 lected parks and sometimes boule- aerify, thatch and manage the soil vards, but usually on sport fields. acidity (PH) is cost prohibitive when "Open spaces are not sprayed with dealing with large acreage and limited 2,4-D," the report states. "Their lower budgets." visibility, meadow like nature and While you're all probably scratch- sensitivity to the natural environment ing your heads as to what I am trying does not allow them to be consid- to point to, I'll give you a hand, ered." There is a solution to not putting The report also states the chemical the 2,4-D mixture in our parks, as is only applied where the turf is "worn Peggy mentioned and as the report and stressed in competing with states. weeds." However, let's face a cold hard It is stated, "turf which is not fact -- no one is willing to pay extra stressed, kept in an aggressive grow- money on their tax bills to have the ing condition and maintained regular- solution put into place, ly can to a degree compete successful- So, simply put, today's solution is ly with weeds. The cost however to not enivommcntally friendly but cco- irrigate, top dress, over seed, fertilize, nomically friendly instead. Let me ask you this. Why are we so uncertain about ourselves as a nation, when we are admired throughout the world? Just by way of example, I see people people gathering, meeting, holding ceremonies ceremonies and graduations without the Canadian flag. Are we embarrassed to celebrate all we have built in this country. What we should be is ashamed. I go to government meetings and out into the communities and never see the flag. These meetings are official official and there is not a hint of what country we are in. I've travelled to many countries throughout the world and I can assure you this is not normal. The Canadian flag symbolizes every province that contributes to this nation's strength, a strength that is bom in unity. And although Canada Day is over for another year the unity struggle will continue all year round. While many people say they tire of what they see as "the endless debate" debate" about separatism, history tells us the unity cause, symbolized by the maple leaf, must be everyone's cause. Since the country's formation countless lives have been lost - by both English and French Canadians, natives, and people of every colour under the rainbow - fighting wars to preserve what they thought was a great nation. These men and women were people people of conviction. They were committed committed to a cause. That cause was preserving à way of life nurtured by the strength of a united Canada. Our generation has no right to negotiate negotiate away what other generations fought to preserve. We are guilty of letting separatist forces, economic forces and regionalism regionalism wear down our resolve to maintain maintain Canada. Yes, there is a need to rethink the structure of this country. And I do not believe any one province should be more powerful than another. But we cannot let ourselves be swept away by the tides of regionalism. regionalism. No province in Canada is stronger than the nation as a whole. Disunity is the road to economic disaster and human suffering. It is a lowering of everyone's living stan dards, a throw-back to the 18th centu ry when the world was dotted wit! small countries. Canadians are now well aware th< United Nations - made up of most o the countries in the world - said Can ada is the best country in the world t< live. It is shameful Canadians remaii uncertain of their nation's future. Regardless of our skin colour, th< language we speak, our cultural back ground, who was here first, etc., wha is the contribution we want to mak< to the country now? Canada Day must be every day. Our maple leaf, and the province: and territories it symbolizes, must b< celebrated more than ever before. We must be certain of Canada's destiny and the future of its people. That's the challenge we now find ourselves ourselves faced with. If you have any comments phone my office at 721-7570. If you are calling from Uxbridge the number is 1-800-565-4105, You can write me (no postage necessary) at 1240 Sim- coe St., Unit 3, Oshawa, Ont. L1G 4X3.