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Committee must investigate options for system reform A lot of attention has been cast upon a reported 'trip around the world' by a group of MPPs, including Pic'kering-Ajax- Uxbridge's Wayne Arthurs. So much so, that ive're in danger danger of having the work, by the provincial committee on democratic democratic renewal overlooked. And that would be a shame, as discussions on examining our electoral system are well overdue. overdue. Talk that the committee of MPPs from all three parties would be travelling for 23 days, stopping in New Zealand, Australia, Australia, Germany and others drew cries of outrage over the cost. But, truth be told, catching a plane, anywhere outside Ontario ■ may not even be on the group's radar. Where they go has yet to be decided, but the committee assures it won't be an extensive tour. Rather, the main focus for MPPs is to determine whether our current first-past-the-post system is best serving Ontario voters. As it is, with each passing election election fewer and fewer people are ■ turning out to vote. • |l,VUu - " '.'Now, whethér that's ari indication indication of frustration with the system system or public frustration with the crop of candidates to vote for, is a debate for another day. But we do know our system isn't working. As a comparison, while our voter turnout in the 2003 pro- . vincial election was 57 per cent, in Australia it was more than 94 per cent in 2004. Australia, of course, employs a proportional representation model that endeavours endeavours to have the number of seats in the elected house more accurately represent the popular vote. It also requires citizens to vote, under threat of penalty. The Ontario committee will study a number of countries using proportional representation and other systems before delivering delivering a report by Nov. 3. From there, the findings will be turned over to a committee of citizens and eventually delivered to the electorate. While any changes are a while off, should we move forward with some form of proportional representation, it won't be simple. simple. Most of the systems in use around the world are complicated complicated to understand and administer. However, if extensive educa- ' tion can deliver a more equitable setup, then it's an important and . worthy price to pay for democracy. democracy. J ; ; ; . :■ For years now there have been calls for reforms, chiefly from the corners that our current current system penalizes the most -- the NDP and Green parties, both of which grab a small percentage percentage of the overall vote, but ' •' don't receive the corresponding . ' •' ' amount of seats. So, whether or not we're best served under our current setup, another country's system or a combination of several, now's the time to examine our options. It's a debate long overdue. Last week's , j question: Will the price of gas figuré into your next vehicle purchase? No 25% Yes 75% Votes cast: 208 HAVE YOUR SAY "to. pci What should Paul Martin do" with his $8 billion budget id surplus? LETTERS TO THE EDITOR e-mail letters to iicwsi oom@durhamregion.com BACKWARD GLANCE Taking a peek Photo supplied by Clarington Museums an Archives Three women peek around the corner of old Bownianville High School (today Bowmanville Senior Public School). Behind them is the old Bible Christian Church. This church merged with Trinity Methodist (now United) in the 1880s and became a music hall and an evaporator works to preserve fruit. Gas price changes 'amaze' To the editor: It never ceases to amaze me when I drive by the gas stations these days and see the prices 1 fluctuating. v ./ ■< > G" Vj •What -1 cannot understand is the gas that is in the drums in the ground was purchased at a lower price then what the gas stations are asking for, so why don't they clean out their pumps before they raise their prices. Maybe we should all stop driving driving our vehicles for a day (huh) and see how that affects them (this is pie in the sky). - The big gas companies made more in profits than the chartered banks in Canada (who by the way make their profits on the backs of the "little people.") . When is it all going to end, or is it a neverending river of gouging the people? Dianne Garcau ; Newcastle Gas price blues hit hard To the editor: It is with much frustration and aggravation that I play the game, "Beat the gas prices." We are finally over the dollar mark and being warned that all other commodities will have to be increased to cover the'rising gas prices. Food companies and every other product that has to be shipped to the stores will tag on the gas price increases to cover their costs. Air fares, taxi fares: just you watch how rapidly the prices go up. What about poof old Joe Soap who has to drive to work every day? He has to bite the bullet and pay all the increased prices no matter what. Flow can he cover his cost? Will he get an increase in salary? I don't think so. The gas companies have been leading us by the nose, for the past year. The four-digit signs were installed last year in many , gas stations. A; < , I suggest that we buy only gas or oil when we pull.jn and leave x them with their candies, pop, lottery tickets, etc. I'm sure the gas companies get their share of those profits also. June Duffy-Smith Whitby Phone manners of youth are appalling To the editor: , I work in the public sector and my job entails receiving many phone calls from the public for information on a daily basis. The problem I have is from young people calling on. their . cellphones. It is easier for teen- . agers to speed dial for information information rather than obtain the information themselves without racking up airtime. The information I am asked for is easily obtained. Obviously airtime is not a concern, because mom and dad will pay for it. Can you imagine how lost these . young people would be if their cellphones went dead? What would they do? What is more disturbing is the , way in which they speak on the phone. Most of the young callers callers arc so rude. They do not say hello, they immediately ask the question in a very loud voice as if they think the person on the other end is deaf. They do not use polite words like, 'please' or 'thank you' -- they simply hang up. The lack of manners is terrible. terrible. I ask all parents who. give their teenager a cellphone, to please remind them to: use their man-, o! ners when using the phone and that they speak in a normal tone of. voice as most people .who receive the call have good hearing. hearing. You might also want to mention mention to look up information rather than take the most expensive and lazy )vay of finding out. , So now you parents know why their phone bills are so high. Perhaps Perhaps showing them useful tools like the Internet, or free public pamphlets to obtain information would lower the costs of the ' phone bill and teach them how to be resourceful. Sandra Nielsen Ajax LETTERS V 1 Wewelcomelettersthatinclude name, city of residence and phone numbers for verification. Writers are generally limited to 200 words and one submis- . sion in 30 days. We decline announcements, poetry, open letters, consumer complaints, congratulations and thank you notes. The editor reserves the right to edit copy for length, style and clarity. The newspaper newspaper contacts only those people people whose submissions have been chosen for publication. FAX: 905-579-1809; E-MAIL: Newsroom ©durhamregion. com. Energy debate lacks future power Supply has been missing link in all the hot air In all the ranting, raving and rhetoric over Ontario energy from 1990-2005, one topic was sadly neglected: our increasing population versus a static supply- supply- • . While politicians of all stripes played the blame game over the massive debt piled up by Ontario Hydro and locked horns over the public versus private debate, they fiddled in llic legislature while wc continued to burn more and more energy every single year. Nothing really got done, Of course, the big publicity- getter over the past decade has been the debacle at Pickering Tim Kelly A, where four nuclear reactors were shut down in 1997 with the intention they would be brought back to full power again. After billions of dbilars were spent trying trying to fix the problem -- instead of the hundreds of millions projected projected wc now learn two of the four reactors will never come back online. We're about to be powerless unless big changes arc made. We have more people, more businesses, a need for more power and wc actually have less supply now than wc did when the Darlington reactors came online in the early 1990s. And it will only get worse. Consider that it lakes 12 to 15 years to bring a nuclear plant online from conception to reception. reception. Even if wc gave the green light to four reactors in say, Clarington Clarington today, the juice wouldn't flow until at least 2017. Even more chilling is that, by the time wc do get any new reactors reactors running, wc will just about have worn out all our current reactors, How did it get this bad? The Tories under Bill I?avis saw Pickering start firing in 1970 and, despite heavy protests, said vos to Darlinulon in the 1980s. By the time the NDP came to power in 1990, under Bob Rac, it had no stomach for more nuclear (indeed it had opposed Darlington) Darlington) and faced a huge deficit. The Harris Tories were in no mood for massive investment in nuclear cither -- it was their idea to refurbish Pickering A - - and spent most of their time and energy on trying to privatize what had been a public system. Cost-cutting was the name of the game. The notion of new supply wasn't up for debate. Fast forward to the great blackout blackout of August 2003. While it's clear lack of supply didn't cause the blackout (the blame rests with a screwed-up U.S. system interwoven with ours), wc all became aware of the need to nmiKiwfi oncriiv in the iluvs and weeks that followed or we'd face another blackout. It was as though it took the lights going out to turn on the bulbs in our heads that something something must be done. It's fine to push conservation and alternative forms of energy such as solar or wind power, but such thinking is not realistic considering the massive amounts, of power we will need in future. It would be nice if some wind- farms or solar panels'- on a massive massive scale -- could be combined yvitli new nuclear. What's clear is wc must act now to preserve the future. Otherwise, we'll all be in the. dark. Copy editor Tim Kelly's column appears every other Wednesday. E-mail lkelly@dtirhamregion. « com. Anita McMurray -w "He should give it back to us" by spending more on the el- v\ derly and public transit." "lO'j • ;OGl Shannon Gerryts "He should spend the moneys oh hiring more nurses and put more money into education."'^ Albert Lynch "He should spend it on child care. Many single parents jp who work need quality child S: care." $ 4 Garth Gilpin "Give it back to me. Reduce my taxes, send me a cheque.^ Anyway it works for him." it , ■« St The Canadian Statesman is>T one of the Metroland Printing,^ Publishing and Distributing jg* group of newspapers. The > Statesman is a member of w the Bowmanville Clarington *1 Board of Trade, the Greater ■{ Oshawa Chamber of Com- ,-•$ merce, Ontario Community J Newspaper Assoc., Cana- 'j dian Community Newspaper Assoc., Canadian Circulations Circulations Audit Board and the . Ontario Press Council. The publisher reserves the right to classify or refuse any advertisement. Credit for ad- I vertisement limited to space J price error occupies. Editorial J and Advertising content of < the Canadian Statesman is j copyrighted. Unauthorized re-ti production is prohibited. Ï A°cna[ page 6 ♦ THE CANADIAN STATESMAN ♦ August 24,2005 Tim Whittaker Publisher Joanne Burghardt Editor-In-Chief Chris Bovie Managing Editor Fred Eismont Director of Advertising Eddie Kolodziejcak Classified Advertising Manager Kirk Baifey Distribution Manager Lillian Hook Office Manager Janice O'Neil, Cheryl Haines Composing Managers Etjc Canatrimt Statesman ■ « AUGUST 24, 2005 Clarington's Award-Winning Newspaper Since 1854 durhamregion.coiw Phone 905-579-4400 Classifieds 905-576-9335 Distribution 905-579-4407 General Fax 905-579-2238 Newsroom Fax 905-579-1809 E-Mail newsroom@durhamregion.com 865 Farewell St., Oshawa ON L1H 7Ù5 Publications Mail Registration No. 07637 infodurhamregion.com CLICK AND SAY, ; N Today's question:* Are you cutting back on your spending with gas prices at an all-time high? Cast your vote online at infodurhamregion.com EDITORIAL e-mail letters to ncwsroom@durhamregion.com Electoral debate long overdue OU POP IT'S W PDB"