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PAGE A6THE CANADIAN STATESMAN, JUNE 13.2001 4f Editorial&Opinions FOR 14 6 YEARS, OUR FIRST CONCERN HAS BEEN OUR COMMUNITY Publisher - Tim Whittaker Editor-in-Chicr - Joamie Burghardt Managing Editor - Judi Bobbitt Advertising Manager - Brian G. Purdy Advertising - Lavernc Morrison, Christian-Ann Goulet Office - Junia Hodge, Nancy Plcasancc-Sturman Editorial - Brad Kelly, Jennifer Stone, Jacquie Mclnnes Slje Cmtabiait Statesman Former Publishers and Partners Rev. John M. Climie 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 Metroland Printing, Publishing & Distributing Ltd. Also Publishers of CLAR1NGTON 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: newsroom@durhamrcgion.com Publications Mail Registration No. 07637 EDITORIAL e-mail Idlers lo newsmom@dttrhamrcghm.com New commuter trains a GO Clarington commuters to benefit from expanded service Meeting a need whose time has come - most would say it came years ago - the feds have instituted six new commuter trains to link riders to downtown Toronto from Oshawa, Kitchener and Hamilton. The measure will add 1,000 extra seals on the six trains and will help, at least to a small degree, decrease road congestion congestion on GTA highways. Federal Transport minister David Collenctte made the announcement announcement on the commuter-train increase Monday at the Toronto Smog Summit with one eye on reducing congestion, the other on reducing pollution. Mr. Collenette's plan will also see commuters given the unique option of using VIA trains instead of GO trains if they so choose. The upgrade to VIA would come with an extra payment, though the amount has not yet been determined. The VIA option may draw even more people off highways and onto the comfortable trains. Highway 401 congestion has long been a headache for commuters and especially trackers, who, pushed to get their freight to their destination, find themselves stuck in lengthy, costly traffic jams for hours each day. The only solutions for the overuse of the highway is to expand expand the 401 from six to 12 lanes from Ajax to Clarington and to extend the 407 to Clarington; and/or to increase the frequency frequency and amount of GO/VIA trains coming through Durham. The highway expansion option is incredibly expensive and though it will come in time, could easily take a decade or more to accomplish. On the other hand, adding train sendee is far less pricey and much easier to implement quickly and efficiently. What's more, it's much better for the environment, not a minor consideration to be sure. Mr. Collenette, who represents a downtown Toronto riding and who also acts as federal minister with special responsibility responsibility for the GTA, has indicated that if the new measure is self-supporting and successful, more trains could be on the way. The extra trains hit the rails this fall, with service that will also include an extra train per day to Peterborough. While this is a federal initiative, Mr. Collenette'fias said he expects more money to come from the Province to support transit use. The Province has already said it expects transit to be supported at the regional and municipal government level. However, for commuter transit to be all that it must be for Canada's largest and fastest-growing area, it will take a combined combined effort from all four levels of government. LOOKING BACK WITH THE STATESMAN 75 YEARS AGO June 10,1926 Pledge signing for the Ontario Temperance Act received received strong support with 100 cards signed in support of the act in the Hampton vicinity. Meanwhile, that community community was preparing for Canada Day celebrations in the Elliott Elliott Memorial Park where all lovers of good sport could come for an enjoyable day including a concert by the Ye Olde Tyme Village Quartette. 50 YEARS AGO June 14,1951 A strike continued at the Goodyear Rubber and Tire plant in Bowmanville following a work stoppage on June 6. Goodyear issued a statement to the paper indicating it would be willing to negotiate with workers once they returned returned to work. The first offer by the company was a six- cent-hourly raise, which was rejected by the union. It requested requested a 25-cent-houiiy increase. 25 YEARS AGO June 9,1970 A meeting held with Ontario Hydro indicated a wide gap in public acceptance of a nuclear generating station for the area. More than 100 residents attended a meeting at the Lions Centre and many anli-Hydro statements were made and loudly applauded. Six hydro experts attempted to field questions during the meeting. The meeting was part of an environmental assessment for a proposed hydro generating facility for Darlington. Information taken from llw archives of The Canadian Statesman LETTERS TO THE EDITOR e-mail Idlers la aewsnmm@tturhamregUm.eom Private school tax credit is the wrong measure To the editor: The recent announcement by Jim Flaherty to provide'tax credits to patrons of private schools comes as no surprise. Since elected, the Tory government government has spent much of its time berating teachers and school boards, changing laws to take complete control of every aspect of Ontario's public public education system and manipulating manipulating the media to try to convince people public education education is not worthy of investment. investment. It is now clear they had to do all this to get to their agenda: agenda: to decrease support for the public system and financially support private schools. It is disgraceful to hear MPPs and Mike Harris justify Bill 45 to provide 'equity' for religious groups, particularly after Mr. Harris's incessant denouncing of what he called "special interest groups." Like, suddenly, we are supposed supposed to believe he cares about a few?! Even the majority majority of the religious groups know the reality: segregation is not a model for fostering tolerance in society. It is more than ironic when the Tory MPPs attempt to justify justify this Bill for the reason of "giving parents choice." Not so long ago, these same Tory MPPs systematically had a hand in stripping-choice ^and 1 ' 1 innovation from the public system by enforcing a structured, structured, lock-step, rigorous curriculum curriculum to be followed by all public schools. All this was accomplished under the guise of "education quality and improvement." improvement." Teachers formerly had opportunities opportunities to foster and celebrate celebrate diversity and student interest interest by choosing occasional units of studies based on their students' needs and interests. Opportunities to do this now are extremely limited, due to the changes over the last four years. If Bill 45 gets pushed through, the private schools will be "open for Business." They are not required to follow follow Ontario's stringent curriculum, curriculum, nor arc they required to participate in the EQAO testing or the punitive standardized standardized testing that has been "promised" for each grade in the near future. Private school teachers will not be required to complete the "juicy" teacher test presently being designed. Gep Batman, could, 'someone here 1 possibly be rubbing rubbing his hand's together thinking thinking of all the money that will be saved when both students and teachers flee the public system to go to the more favourable and flexible private system? (Not to mention the money that will be made by publishing businesses to provide provide these annual tests.) Cha Chiiig! This is a rather alarming, alarming, yet very real scenario for the children left behind who have no "choice" but to attend schools with waning funding, students and teachers, inflexible inflexible standards and confining testing. D.A. Luyks It's the most wonderful day Father's Day is time to take stock Sunday is the single most important day of the year. It is a day to celebrate in deed and song, a day for revelry and rejoicing, rejoicing, for it is Father's Day. How can you show your undying love and affection for us? Well of course we happily expect the hand-drawn card, the school craft, the slightly burnt toast brought to us in bed. But,- if you, our spouses feel the need (and I know you do, you really do), fishing equipment and/or golf accessories accessories never go amiss. Nothing says love like a box from Canadian Tire or the pro shop. But not only can spouses participate in this, daughters who babysit and have their own cash flow are more then welcome. Teenagers are of course different from toddlers and even preteens. So here are the top 10 signs that you have a teenage daughter daughter living with you on Father's Day. 1 Instead of wearing 'Osh Kosh B'Goslf overalls they head to Lascnza Girl and try on something with 'spaghetti straps', at which point you as father say " Osh Kosh, oh my gosh" (or something similar) head over to the counter and explain to daughter and clerk that you require that garment to come with 'lasagna straps.' 2. Instead of 'Owl' and 'Chickadee' magazines arriving arriving at your door with articles on animals and cute crafts you can do at home, your daughter reads 'Twist' which contains articles that lead to discussions Christopher White Guest Column for which you as a father are not totally equipped to answer. So you do two things, you refer to mom and get her a subscription subscription to 'Teen Voices,' a mag written by girls, for girls and featuring articles about more then N'Sync. 3. Instead of driving over to get the babysitter, you drive your daughter over to be the babysitter. The big upside of this is that instead of having to get a babysitter to go to the movies you simply tell your kids when you expect to be back, the movie you're going to sec and walk out the door. This, I admit, is a big upside. 4. Instead of going to Sharon, Lois and Bram concerts concerts you wind up at the Sky- Dome watching N'Sync with your daughters next Tuesday. You plan on taking plenty of cotton ballon to plug your ears, in a attempt to save your hearing, hearing, which you damaged when going to Supertramp concerts in your youth. 5. You know that wonderful feeling of relief when you finally finally get the kids to bed? You collapse on the couch and say, "Alone at last." Instead now when you collapse on the couch your daughter shouts "Ouch, watch where you are sitting." She clutches the remote remote and asks, "What are we watching tonight?" And when the phrase 'time for bed' is uttered, uttered, she waves goodnight as you heads upstairs. You want to be alone? Go for a walk or wait a few more years when she is out every weekend. 6. You go to movies as a family but only as late as the 5 p.-m. show because any later and she might be seen in public public with her parents by her friends. Just in case she walks a couple of feet ahead of you to send the message 'I'm actually actually on my own, he's just the driver.' 7. You are just the driver. 8. Teenage daughters embarrass embarrass easily, or rather they are embarrassed easily by the simple fact their parents exist. You discover you are in fact not as cool as you have long believed. Nor are you as witty or charming, you get this teenage look directed at you. I can't describe it except to say it translates into "I cannot be from this same gene pool." 9 You are giving your spouse an enthusiastic kiss when your daughter walks in and says "Eww, that's just nasty." 10. You have a family picnic down at the lake, you walk to the end of the pier, behind the lighthouse your daughter looks around, kicks off her shoes and docs an amazing ballet dance for the birds and the boaters. You arc incredibly glad you're a dad. Happy Father's Day. •Jacquie Mclnnes Staff Writer's jmcinncsia (lurhanircnion.com t The sound ; of music 1 The normally quiet community of,- Orono will be alive this weekend with a, : cacophony of sounds from drams and .. bagpipes to horns and clarinets and even _. washboards and drain pipes for the fl Great Canadian Town Band Festival. This Friday, June 15 through Sun- ,< day, June 17, event organizers have ere- , ated an extraordinary line-up of events that will kick off with a Military Tattoo on Friday at the fairgrounds and end ^ with a children's concert featuring pop- ular entertainer Eric Nagler, whose instruments instruments include everything and any-,, thing, even the kitchen sink. , The Orono Great Canadian Town ,j Band Festival was created in celebration r; of 200 years of town bands in Canada, r according to its organizers. Throughout,, the 19th century and into the 20th cen-,, tuiy, town bands were an essential in- 0 gradient in each community's social life, performing at public functions, in r concerts, balls and dances. The Glaring- I ton Concert Band, the host musical |! group of the event, fulfils this role even j! today performing in Orono year round. ;) Last year, the band's directors were in- it stramental in construction of a band- j! shell in front of the Clarke branch of the j| Clarington Public Library where resi- jj dents can gather for musical entertain- ]■ ment not unlike their great-grandparents j! did in towns across the country a centu-1| ry ago. ;; , , To. celpbrate the vitality of small- q town music, organizers have brought to- ji ' gettiergrqups'Trom ti' number of heigh- |j homing towns and cities including con- ij cert bands from Cobourg, Pickering and ii Peterborough. As well, entertainment j! will range from small ensembles per- ;• forming throughout Orono like the Clai- " haidh Celtic Duet, Clarington Winds, I Niagara Brass and John Yates Ragtime I Piano to a big band concert Saturday night featuring Swing Shift and Rocket j 88. A parade Saturday morning will feature feature marching bands- including the y Kendal Fife and Dram and the unique \ musical talents of W.P. Cyclone's Mag- !, nificent High Wheel Band which will ; literally roll into town on big-wheel ; bikes. In short, the number of musicians : '"coming to Orono this weekend isprob- I ably greater than the population of the " town. It is a remarkable achievement for ; Orono and the Ontario music communi- ; . '• tv t ty. • , » - Coincidentally, tomorrow , night ; (Thursday, June 14) in neighbounng [ Bowmanville, a tradition of a similar J sort gets underway with the kick-off; of \ the 2001 Concerts in the Park series at : Rotary Park at Queen and Temperance ; streets. This wildly popular venue fea- . lures an eclectic mix of music on Thurs- J day evenings all summer long. This Thursday's concert features .the Classic Swing Orchestra, 14 musicians whose motto is "it don't mean a thing if it ain't got that swing." Concerts at Rotary Park ran from 7 to 9 p.m. , , For Great Canadian Band Festival ticket infoimation go to www.town-. bandfestival.com or the Clarington- Tourism Centre at 181 Liberty St. S. : ' THE CANADIAN STATESMAN is; ! one of the Metroland Printing, Publishing Publishing and Distributing group of '■ newspapers. The Statesman is a ' member of the Bowmanville Glaring-; ton Board of Trade, the Greater Os- • liawa Chamber of Commerce, On- \ tario Community Newspaper Assoc., î Canadian Community Newspaper j Assoc., Canadian Circulations Audit Board and the Ontario Press Council. The publisher reserves the right to classify or refuse any advertisement. Credit for advertisement limited to space price error occupies. Editorial and Advertising content of the Canadian Statesman is copyrighted. Unauthorized reproduction is prohibited. prohibited. The Canadian Statesman welcomes letters to the editor. All letters should be typed or neatly hand-written, 150 words. Each letter must 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. We regret regret that due to the volume of letters, not all will be printed, Fax letters to 623-616lor emailed to newsroom@durhamregion.com (+CNA ONI A NO ruaeuiuNtu A ocna !