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PilgL' 4 The Claringion/Courticc Independent. Bowmanvillc, Saturday, February 14, 1998 Region Honors Ice Storm Workers The Municipality of Claringlon sent live staff members to battle iec and snow in eastern Ontario last month, following the ice storms. On Wednesday, Feb. II, individuals from four Works Departments (Ajax, Claringlon, Oshawa and Durham) who went to help out were honoured by Roger Anderson, Chair of the Durham Regional Couneil. Clarington's members of the team were: Clint Peters, Don Patterson (not present in photo) Mike Bourkc, Ron Robinson, Leonard Alldread, Brian Allin, and Public Works Director Stephen Yokes, who co-ordinated co-ordinated the effort in Claringlon. Unity Forum February 1 Oth This past week, I was pleased to have Ontario Premier Mike Harris, visit Cullen Gardens in my riding. riding. Residents from all over Durham were invited to dialogue dialogue with the Premier. Any citizen with suggestions for the future is invited to forward forward their comments, I will ensure your input is heard. On Tuesday, February 10th, at 12:10 (noon) at Durham College (room 1- 110 Gordon Willey Building), there will he a forum on Canadian Unity. On February 18th, at 7:00 p.m., at St rat ha veil Nursing Home, (264 King St. Bowmanvillc), there will be another opportunity for you to make your views known on the Calgary Framework for national Unity. All Canadians arc equal and must have rights protected by law. Democracy is a participatory participatory process, please call my office at (905) 697- ISO 1 or 1-800-661-2433 for more information. In the next few weeks, 1 will have a couple of different different Ministers visiting my riding. There arc many issues and my intention is to let the Ministers see and hear about Durham first hand. Highway #401 is in need ; of attention. Over the past summer, I was pleased to have the concrete medium safety barrier completed cast of the Highway 35/115 intersection. I am pleased that the Ministry of .Transportation has begun repairing the pot holes cast of Bowmanvillc. I am ! assured that repairs will .continue west of 'Bowman ville very soon. I ! have had a number of calls ; and as I drive the 401 ; almost every day, I can assure you that I have con- ■ tactcd the Minister directly. ', In last week's column, I ; discussed health care and ; hospital services in I Durham. I have spoken 1 directly to each of the ; administrators at all three ; hospitals in my riding. You CSS ■F.: He V.HPfi ( Report from Queen's Par by John O Toole •k will hear reports using terms that need to be explained. Ambulance Redirects (RDC) are requests put in place by a hospital, when emergency beds arc full but technical resources to handle handle life-threatening eases arc still available at a particular particular hospital. Critical Care Bypass (CCB) is put in place when a hospital is full in emergency and technical resources are extremely limited. limited. To this point, Port Perry has not had to go on RDC or CCB. However, there is a doctor shortage in the Uxbridge, Port Perry and Bowmanvillc area. This area has 'already ' instituted an after hours clinic to relieve the congestion at emergency and also has worked with community agencies to ease congestion. Oshawa General Hospital has initialed (CCB) three times in January. I watched an information program this past week on CBC and learned that other provinces are experiencing similar problems. As our population is aging and living living longer, demand for services services is increasing. Dr. Gray, President of the OMA also agreed on Focus Ontario this week that restructuring of health care delivery is needed. We need doctors in remote communities, communities, education of people to use hospital emergency facilities only for an emergency emergency and see the doctor at the clinic or at the office as needed. The role of nurse practitioners must be expanded which should include access to the OHIP funding. It is important that our Minister of Health, the Hon. Elizabeth Winner has announced a GTA task force to examine these unusual demands for hospital emergencies. emergencies. I have again written written the Minister to support the expansion at Oshawa General Hospital Emergency/Critical Wing. My guest this week on my Rogers Community TV show was Mr. Merv Bowen, Provincial Assessment Commissioner for Durham. The topic was the new Actual Value Assessment system. You will receive your new assessment notice very soon. There will be public - meetings in March. The base value year will be June 1996. Residential, farms, commercial and industrial property assessment assessment will generally change. If you disagree with your new assessment, an appeal must be initiated before June 1998. For businesses, there are significant changes. The Business Occupancy Tax (BOT) will be eliminated. Landlords with gross leases will have to negotiate with their tenants tenants to ensure this tax is paid. The Minister of Finance announced that he will amend legislation to assist with the BOT and the BIA levy problem. Minister Eves also announced important concessions concessions to Durham and other communities around Toronto this past week. A friimd' gavé' 'nié' 'the following following piece of advice, "It is in the company of a good friend that the heart finds a home". Happy St.Valentine's Day to all. Pitch-in Week Projects Special "Civic Pride" garbage bags are available free of charge to any Bowmanvillc school, Scout, Guide or other volunteer group planning an environmental cleanup cleanup project during 1998 PITCH-IN CANADA Week which takes place in the Bowmanvillc area May 4-10, The free materials are donated by the Bowmanvillc Chapter of Canada Trust's Friends of the Environment Foundation. A PITCH-IN CANADA Week Information Kit, containing containing a Project Registration Form for the 1998 Campaign, was mailed to every school, Scout and Guide group as well as many other groups in the Bowmanvillc area at the end of January. "Groups arc urged to return their Project Registration as soon as they can and no later than March 31, 1998 to ensure that they receive a supply of the special bags and a Certificate of Participation," adds van Veen. In addition to receiving free bags, all participating groups also qualify for draws for free PITCH-IN CANADA Campaign T-Shirts. Scout and Guide groups who register also receive a free "Clean Up the World" crest. Knox Christian School in Bowmanvillc is a school which has served the Bowmanvillc area since 1957 and offers quality instruction and learning to students in grades JK-8. Expect to find the following in this exciting, growing school of over 300 students: • qualified, Christian teachers • Biblically-based, academic instruction .• much parental involvement • a large playground in a park-like setting • enthusiastic students • a caring atmosphere • computers, sports, music and more Kindergarten registration dates are: Wednesday, February 18 and Thursday, February 19 from 9:00 a.m. until 3:00 p.m. Junior kindergarten students must be 4 years old on or before December 31, 1998. Senior kindergarten students must he 5 years old on or before December 31, 1998. n! Registrations for all other grade levels (1-8) will be accepted as well. Call the school at 623-5871 to arrange your appointment. We look forward to serving you. 410 Scugog Street, Bowmanvillc L1C 3K2 ©j.p. £ Problems Seen in Dropping Dollar Parliamentary Report by Alex Shepherd • How low can the Canadian dollar go vis-à- vis its American counterpart? counterpart? As an exporting country country a low dollar makes our exports cheaper, which is generally seen as an economic economic booster. We see this right here in Durham with General Motors exporting most of its production southwards. Of course, foreign vacations and imports like citrus fruit suddenly become much more expensive. Some people will argue that since foreign foreign vacations arc discretionary discretionary it's better to have the economic stimulation here at home. But there arc some larger larger issues which surround the dollar's devaluation. In some ways the current current pressure on the dollar is more a desire by the international community to own U.S. dollars than a weakness of Canadian currency. currency. In other words the balancing balancing of the U.S. budget and the nervousness about world economies in general, general, and Southeast Asia in particular, has ignited a retreat to the U.S. dollar. Anyone who has recently travelled cannot help but notice that a preset preset amount of any world currency goes a lot further in Canada than just about any other country in the world. This is a testament to the Canadian dollar being undervalued. In spite of its ups-and- downs, however, one cannot cannot help but notice how the dollar has seen a steady decline over the last 20 years which points to some fundamental eco nomic problems here at home. The first fundamental is the issue of national unity. Mr. Bouchard, and his ilk, go to no end to punish Quebecers and Canadians as a whole. His, "We're victims and being picked on", logic is just so much nonsense. But it does contribute contribute to our dollar's longterm longterm downward trend. The second fundamental fundamental is Canada's inability to keep pace with productivity. productivity. This means that when the efficiency with which you make and market goods declines, gradually, it becomes reflected in your currency. As well, Canada's labour productivity has not kept pace with many of our competitors. This is largely to do with Canada's reticence to embrace technology, as well as, continuing to live with outmoded labour relations. Statements like, "We are the most connected nation in the world", referring referring to the information highway, are not reflected in our changing economy. For example, many computers will crash comes the year 2000 if they arc not programmed to account for that calendar calendar change. Too many businesses have failed, so far, to take the necessary corrective action. Imagine something as critical as losing your information systems in approximately 650 days, and not doing anything about it, while the public witnesses the ineptitude of your failure to deal with the pending crisis. Along with our reticence reticence to embrace technology technology is our very adversarial approach to management- employee relations. In the civil service alone there arc over 65 different agreements which govern the management-employee management-employee relationship. This adversarial nature will continue to act as an impediment to increased productivity. To say the system is almost inoperable inoperable is an understatement. Then there is the repositioning repositioning of the retail sector. sector. Canada's retail industries industries for years sat on their laurels as newer and better retailing methods were evolved. Their slowness to adapt has made them easy targets for much more competitive operations like Wal-Mart. While there will be bumps along the way Canada's dollar will continue continue to decline unless we address these very fundamental fundamental issues. A good start would be to ask your employer if lie or she is addressing the Year 2000 problem, if not maybe your job is in jeopardy. CROSSWORD - February 14 - 1 2 3 ' 4' 5 6 7 8 - 9 1 10 11 12 13 14 '= " 17 16 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 1 58 59 60 1 61 62 63 64 65 ACROSS 1. Having debts 6. The Mask 10. Unpleasant remark 14. Home of the brave? 15. Impressed 16. "Nothing can need " (George Herbert) 17. Scrumptious 18. Church house 20. Yoko 21. Overwhelm 23. Belted object 24. Actor dagger 25. Potter's need 27. Spinning sounds 30. Esteemed 34. Desert refuge 35. Receive 36. Motorists' org. 37. Swathe 38. Throws down the gauntlet 39. Add one's John Hancock to 40. Schedule abbr. 41. Labyrinths 42. Meditated 43. Hoodwinked 45. Showy wear 46. Toboggan 47. The Of Navarone 48. Michelangelo work 51. Sea eagle 52. Rio, Texas 55. Edge 58. Island 60. Hop I (2 wds.) 61. Hold upl 62. Nurses' helpers 63. Glossy fashion magazine 64. Hops drier 65. Jaworski and Trotsky DOWN 1. Songwriter Harbach 2. Encourage to break a habit 3. facto 4. Bottom line 5. Icelandic attractions 6. Victory Over (Ellen Gilchrist) 7. Off 8. Ulm article 9. Publishing house employees: abbr. 10. Before boat or split 11. Turkish regiment 12. Manipulates fraudulently 13. Root plant 19. Young nocturnal bird 22. Vegas 24. Stick-in-the-mud 25. Marriage proposers' sore spots 26. Roman date 27. Impressed 28. Truthful James author 29. Author Asimov 30. Strayed 31. Elevate 32. Zealous 33. Swell 35. Stared 38. The Chipmunks' pal 39. Bleaches 41. Visconti family's dominion 42. Collier's find 44. Tara or Monticello 45. Workaholic's lack 47. Like Pip's expectations 48. Head 49. Subject of blind adoration 50. Injurious 51. Ids'associates 52. Dull-witted person 53. Steinbeck's East Of 54. Devoid of: suffix 56. Twins number 57. Villain's cry 59. Make tracks For answers see your Canadian Statesman next Wednesday. This crossword brought to you by: Pam Tile Ltd. Ceramic Tiles - Marble - Vinyl Cushion and Hardwood Flooring ; Export Installation - Free Estimates Every Tuesday Is Seniors' Day - 10% Discount 84 King St, W. 623-8929 Bowmnnvillücjp.