The following text may have been generated by Optical Character Recognition, with varying degrees of accuracy. Reader beware!

PAGE 6THE CANADIAN STATESMAN, MAY 2,2001 M Editorial&Opinions FIRST CONCERN HAS BEEN OUR COMMUNITY FOR 146 YEARS, OUR Publisher - Tim Whitlaker Editor-in-Chief - Joanne Burghardt Managing Editor - Judi Bobbitt Advertising Manager - Brian G. Purdy Advertising - Lavernc Morrison, Christian-Ann Goulet Office - Junia Hodge, Nancy Pleasanee-Sturman Editorial - Brad Kelly, Jennifer Stone, Jacquie Melnnes ®jje Canadian Statesman Former Publishers and Partners Rev. John M. Climic and W.R. Climie 1854-1878 M.A. James 1878-1935 • Norman S.B. James 1919-1929 G. Elena James, 1929-1947 • Dr. George W. James 1919-1957 John M. James, 1957-1999 Produced by Mctroland Printing, Publishing & Distributing Ltd. Also Publishers of CLARINGTON THIS WEEK " P.O. Box 190, 62 King St. W„ Bowmanville. Ontario L1C 3K9 TEL: 905-623-3303 FAX: 905-623-6161 HOURS: Monday to Friday 9:00 a.m. until 5:00 p.M. E-mail: jbobbilt@durhainrcgion.com Publications Mail Registration No. 07637 EDITORIAL e-mail letters to iiewsroom@tlitrluimreRion.com Budget blues give councillors pause What to cut, what to keep a conundrum at today's meeting May Day comes one day late for our regional politicians. politicians. Today, May 2, councillors will come to a final decision on just how much to spend on a wide variety of regional services for this coining year. Of greatest importance to taxpayers across the region will be just how much of an increase we'll be forced to swallow. Prognostications recently have pegged that number number at somewhere between five and 10 per cent depending on just how ruthless councillors want to be. After much prodding and bickering, the police services board was told to chop $2 million after earlier being granted granted a $10 million increase. You can't complain too much (though board chairman Bob Boychyn certainly did) when you get $8 million more - an 11 per cent one-year jump. Then, yesterday, the Region's finance and administration administration committee backed down and approved the $82.4 million million police budget without the requested cuts. Council should look at this expenditure long and hard today. Almost every other regional department has had to hold the line or make major cuts over the past decade and it's a situation that simply can't go on forever. While the eight per cent raise councillors voted themselves didn't look so good next to the prospect of higher taxes, other regional workers were entitled to reasonable raises. That doesn't begin to address deterioration in regional roads, the need to find new waste solutions and other regional regional problems and responsibilities. These cannot continually continually be ignored for the sake of maintaining the vaunted zero per cent tax increase. It would also serve council well to drop any plan to build a $40-million headquarters on Rossland Road in Whitby. Such an option, at a time when we're trying to stave off a double-digit annual tax increase, is simply not palatable. All these problems will probably take a backseat today in a debate, over Regional Chairman Roger Anderson's much-publicized, controversial hospital-levy- plan. Many councillors are already on the record as being opposed to any and all attempts to use regional property tax dollars to fund hospital expansion. Should Mr. Anderson's plan go down to defeat, it will rest on the shoulders of those voting against to come up with an alternative way of finding the funds to build much-needed new hospital facilities. Simply demanding many millions more from the Province or the feds is a plan doomed to failure. We need a sensible, workable, affordable hospital financing financing plan. If regional councillors won't deal with it now, they'll have to come back to it by next year. We can't afford to wait forever. \ LOOKING BACK WITH THE STATESMAN 75 YEARS AGO \ May 6,1926 Council passed daylight savings time, to run from Sunday, May 16 at midnight, until September 19 at midnight. 50 YEARS AGO May 3,1951 The hospital board was hoping to find six sponsors for wards at the new Bowmanville Memorial Hospital. Already, Already, 16 wards had been sponsored. 25 YEARS AGO May 6,1976 Ministry of Health cutbacks forced Bowmanville's Memorial Memorial Hospital to shut down the entire third floor for six weeks over the summer. The hospital was forced to come up with a way to save over $16,000, under Ministry cutbacks. cutbacks. Information taken from the Jtks of The Canadian Statesman. LETTERS TO THE EDITOR e-mail letters to newsroom@dnrhamregioii.com dents this year has been chosen of what our teachers and for the most prestigious and lu- schools have to offer, crative Chancellor's Scholar- We need to stop taking sides ship at Queen's University, and take collective responsibili- Bowmanville High School has ty for our most precious re- mlicli to be proud of. source, our youth. Is it not in- We do need to have more consistent to allow widespread Ontarians think about the qual- access to music, computer pro- ity of education. Schools, the grams, video and television that The now discredited Fraser school boards, teachers' unions, have profanity or violence or Institute report that. ranked, the Ministry of Education, and sexism, while at the same time schools.clearly deyalued^educa- •' ;!: 4the#,prpViQciaL:gqy^mment can .. applauding the new. provincial tipp aimed at .preparing.stu-:.,.all contribute to'improvement, standards for conduct in dents for university study out- but "we need to go far beyond schools? Are we happy , with side of math, science, and Eng- them. tax cuts, but upset with child lish. We have to look at issues of poverty? Do we value learning, It also devalued students poverty, quality affordable but provide more exposure to aiming for college or the trades, childcare, parenting skills, and videos than books? Do we Hopefully future reports and our cultural values including spend time, not just 'quality rankings will more accurately what we allow our children to time' with our children and vis- assess a wider concept of a spend time on and be exposed ibly demonstrate their worth? worthwhile education, such as to through the media, and how Are we prepared to make edu- the success of students at Bow- some of the traditional supports cation the issue that it deserves manville High School on the for children especially the most to be, or are we content with literacy test, in technology, the vulnerable, have been eroded, reading the headlines? arts and other areas. I have past Without changes in the latter W. R. Hick grads as my family doctor and areas, too many of our children Principal pharmacist, and one of our stu- are less able to take advantage Bowmanville High School People should get involved in education To the editor: NDP gets help from unusual source Biggest cheerleader these days is Mike Harris Not many people are supporting supporting the Ontario New Democratic Party these days, but among those who aie, count Premier Mike Hanis. The left-wing party has celebrated celebrated its 40lh anniversary under its current name having its toughest toughest time ever. It regularly had more than 20 per cent of the vote in elections, but in the last in 1999 fell to 12.6 per cent. The NDP is now given only between 10 and 15 per cent in polls and fell even lower to 6.8 per cent and 3.4 per cent in two recent byelections. The implications of this have not been lost on Mr. Harris, because because a decline in support for the NDP adds to his difficulties in dying to win another election, likely in 2003. Mr. Harris's Progressive Conservatives Conservatives have fallen like a stone in polls since winning in 1999 and the latest placed them at 31 per cent, far' behind tire 51 per cent of the Liberals led by Dalton McGuinly. A party has worries any lime it is 20 per cent behind an opponent, opponent, but the Tories normally would have a couple of big consolations. consolations. One is governments traditionally traditionally are least popular between elections, as they try to get unpalatable unpalatable decisions out of the way so resentment has faded by voting day and no-one doubts for a second second the Tories will regain some support. Parties also commonly have won Ontario elections with only about 42 per cent of the voles, and Occasionally even less, because the three parties divided them reasonably reasonably evenly between them, which normally would mean the Tories need to pick up another 10 points or so to be within sight of another victory. But if the NDP holds only a few votes, one of the oilier parties could need at least 46 per cent and possibly more to win, which is huge ground for Mr. Harris to make up particularly considering NDP votes are inore likely to move to the Liberals. This is not the first time Mr, Hanis has had to worry about the weakness of the New Democrats. In 1999 he recognized Mr. McGuinly posed the only threat to his government and the NDP was failing to hold many traditional traditional supporters, who were going to Mr. McGuinly. The premier then began a campaign of denigrating the Liberals Liberals and praising the NDP. He said "voters are looking for parties parties that take definitive positions. That is our party and it really is the NDP as well. People don't understand understand what the Liberals stand for." The NDP has been noted for having precise policies on every issue, mostly announced boldly by conventions, while the Liberals Liberals sometimes have been waiy of committing themselves, Mr. Harris Harris said lie may not agree with the New Democrats' policies, but at least they have them, while the Liberals policies could be printed on a bumper sticker. The premier said NDP leader Howard Hampton and his party "have credibility on the issues. They do not change priorities when the polls come out," a reference reference to some Liberal changes. The premier went to Mr. Hampton's riding during the election election and said the NDP leader "has a plan that makes some sense and he's not all negative." Mr. Harris said the NDP showed principle in protesting against Liberal federal government policies that hurt Ontario, Ontario, while the Ontario Liberals sat silent and ashamed. Mr. Harris even went so far as to say Mr. Hampton expresses a critical view of his government better than anyone - the NDP leader does not get that much credit even from his own party and must have blushed. More recently, the premier has complained the Liberals keep disrupting disrupting the legislature and prevent it getting on with its work, but absolved absolved the NDP. He recalled the Liberals in government exempted a now-criticized now-criticized dump-site from full environmental environmental assessment, while the NDP opposed it. In a byelection near Hamilton where he angered many residents by amalgamating municipalities, Mr. Harris said those opposing amalgamation should vote for the NDP, because it consistently opposed opposed amalgamation while the Liberals kept changing their minds. The Tory premier's praise of an opposition party has been unprecedented, unprecedented, but not done much so far to improve its standing with voters, who rightly suspect his real aim is to help himself. Jacquie Melnnes Staff Writer jmcinncsftldurluinuviiion.com Questions about your summer j ob That first summer job is a rite of passage few of us ever forget: New friends, independence and money to spend as wc please. It's a heady experience. experience. But, when young adults strike out to find that ideal summer job in the coming coming weeks, there arc a few things beyond beyond the pay scale and hours they need to ask their potential employers because because the answers could be a matter of life or death. Just ask Rob Ellis. He lives with the reality every parent hopes they'll never experience. He lost his 18-year-old son, David, two years ago when the young man died in a work-related accident. accident. Mr. Ellis shared his stoiy during a visit to Clarington recently. Just two days on the job, David became became entangled in an industrial mixer at an Oakville bakery where he had taken a temporary job to earn money for university. He was an A student, level-headed, a hard worker. In short, he had all the attributes that would pul a parent's mind at ease that their son would be OK out in the world. But another quality David brought to the job may have cost him his life. It was the innocence of youth that allowed allowed him to work, without question, on machinery he was never trained on, supervised with nor qualified to operate. operate. Had he only known to ask his employer employer the right questions, his father laments. Had his parents only known to ask them of their son, he adds. Last year, Mr. Ellis says 16,000 young people between the ages of 15 and 24 were injured in the workplace in Ontario. Across Canada, the number rises to 59,000. Many of those injuries may have been avoided if kids knew what to look for When they headed out bright-eyed and bushy tailed, eager to please in the work world. Some of the questions he suggests young people ask include: Has there been a high turnover on this job? If so, why? What type of experience did the operator have and will I receive training training to qualify me for this job? Is there a buddy system or other supervision if I need assistance or have questions? Will I be using chemicals or hazardous hazardous materials in my job? If so, what handling or tr aining is provided? What safety equipment do I need to wear (helmet, safety glasses, steel-toe boots)? Youths already in a job they feel is unsafe do have the right to slop and request request a health and safety inspection. They cannot be fired or have their pay docked. Parents, clip these questions and post them on the fridge. Talk to your kids about them and what they do on the job, because 10 bucks an hour is small compensation for a life lost. THE CANADIAN STATESMAN is one of the Metroland Printing, Publishing Publishing and Distributing group of . newspapers. The Statesman is a member of the Bowmanville Clarington Clarington Board of Trade, the Greater Osliawa Chamber of Commerce, Ontario Community Newspaper Assoc., Canadian Community Newspaper Newspaper Assoc., Canadian Circulations ; Audit Board and the Ontario Press Council. The publisher reserves the right to classify or refuse any adver- ! tisement. Credit for advertisement limited to space price error occupies. occupies. Editorial and Advertising content content of the Canadian Statesman is copyrighted. Unauthorized reproduction reproduction is prohibited. The Canadian Statesman welcomes • letters to the editor. All letters should be typed or neatly hand-written, hand-written, 150 words. Each letter must include include the name, mailing address and daytime telephone number of the writer. The editor reserves the right to edit copy for style, length and content. Wc regret that due to the volume of letters, not all will be printed. Fax letters to 623-6161 or emailed to ncwsroom@durhamre- gion.com IAWK1 A ocna cca