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2 - Orono Weekly Times Wednesday, March 17, 2004 Weekly Times Subscriptions $29.91 + $2.09 GST = $32.00 per year. Publications Mail Registration No. 09301 • Agreement No. 40012366 Publishing 48 issues annually at the office of publication. 'We acknowledge the financial support of the Government of Canada through the Publications Assistance Program (PAP) toward our mailing costs." CanadS O! ORONO WEEKLY TIMES - 5310 Main St., P.O. Box 209, Orono, ON LOB 1M0 Email: oronotimes@speedline.ca or Phone/Fax 905-983-5301 Publisher/Editor Margaret Zwart Sports and Display Advertising - Lorraine Manfredo Front Office and Classified Advertising - Rosey Bateman . The Orono Weekly Times welcomes letters to the editor on subjects of interest to our readers. Opinions expressed to the editor and articles are those of the writers and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the Orono Weekly times. Letters must be signed and contain the address and phone number of the writer. Any letter considered unsuitable will not be acknowledged or returned. We reserve the.right to edit for length, libel and slander. If your retail or classified ad appears for the first time, please check carefully. Notice,of an error must be given before the next issue goes to print. The Orono Weekly Times will not be responsible for the loss or damage of such items. Energy Capital should include green power Yesterday's Toronto Star carried an article on the front page of their GTA section, expressing our Mayor John Mutton's wish to have Clarington become the energy capital of Ontario. According to Star staff reporter, Stan Josey's article, Mayor Mutton has been quietly meeting with the powers-that-be pushing pushing Clarington as a site for one or more of the new generation Candu reactors. That the Mayor wishes to have Clarington host additional nuclear reactors is no secret to those who regularly attend council council meetings. Even though the municipality mourns the loss of ITER, according to Mutton, the site has potential that should not be overlooked. Clarington's hopes to host the $12 billion international international nuclear fission energy research project dried up in December 2003, when the Federal Government did not come on board to finance the project. Property owned by Ontario Power Generation (OPG), northeast northeast of the existing Darlington Nuclear Power Plant was the site selected for the ITER facility (which Josey refers to in his article as a piece of science fiction.) Mayor Mutton told councillors at the December 8th meeting, he will be seeking meetings with representatives representatives of OPG to suggest that alternative uses for the site be investigated. It is a given that power needs will only increase. As Ontario is aiming to phase out their coal fired power generators by 2007, we will need much more than conservation measures to fill that void. The new advanced CANDU reactor might very well be the technology needed to meet our future power needs. But before any elected representative pushes this municipality as a host site for more nuclear reactors, there are some key questions that need to be asked. Do the residents of Clarington want their municipality municipality to become the nuclear power "Energy Capital of Ontario," keeping in mind that OPG is the largest employer in the municipality. municipality. Will the energy capital of today become the nuclear waste capital of tomorrow? Maybe we should be looking towards Germany and Belgium, who have recently legislated the planned phase-out of their nuclear reactors in favour of green energy options and energy efficiency. This is a highly controversial issue that should only be entertained in conjunction with alternate sources of energy and not without a great deal of public input. Letters to the Editor Novice Leafs a class act To Orono, sticks in an arch for our team to leave under. It gave me goosebumps. What your team did at the end of the game restored my faith that there are still players, coaches and parents out there that are playing for the enjoyment of the game and not out for the kill. It seems lately that all we hear about is violence and rivalry. You as players, coaches and parents should be proud. 1 salute you. I would just like to take a moment to commend your Orono Leafs novice hockey team. They recently played against my two sons' team in the Port Colborne Golden Puck House League Tournament. We met the Leafs in the semi-final match. It was a great game because the teams were evenly matched. We ended up the victors but it could have gone either way. When our team left the ice, your Leafs'raised their Rebecca Clark Welland Thunder Mom Respect for our tax dollars It is interesting to see what happens when people have control over their own budget and salary. Adrienne Clarkson, our Governor General, has significant significant command of her budget. The once moderate budget of the Queen's representative in Canada has blossomed to something like a significant budget under her watch. 41 million dollars is spent on her trips around the world, wining wining and dining foreign dignitaries dignitaries and plenipotentiaries. All in the name of spreading "Good luck," from a proud sponsor Dear Editor, As sponsor of the Russ Major Plumbing & I Icating Orono Novice OMI IA hockey hockey team, I would like to lake this opportunity to congratulate congratulate them on a very successful season so far and wish them "good luck" in the final scries agains Cold Water. As one who has been involved in minor sports in Orono for many years, it is very encouraging to see how well the team and their coaching staff have done, as well as the excellent impres sions they have left with the various teams they have played. ' Well done! Sincerely, Russ Major Orono Canadiana. She brings with her great Canadian icons. Like David Suzuki, for instance, who never tires of frightening children children and elderly ladies with his end-of-the-world doomsday doomsday predictions. It's amazing that he manages to be one of Canada's most significant exports. But that's another column. This one is about budgets. And million dollar trips to Russia. And Finland. You know, for important Canadian business. Speaking of pocket change, the federal Liberal party's 100 million dollar sponsorship scandal is just another instance of what I'm talking about. Not that you need reminding, reminding, but our governing party managed to somehow slip a lew million dollars here and there into the pockets of their communications agency buddies. buddies. For transferring money from one government depart ment to another, companies like Groupaction got to keep a few million here, and a few million there. A budget for sponsorship, managed by the Public Works Department. Hey, did you hear about the $3.3 million sent down to help the Bluenose II be preserved? preserved? The fellow responsible responsible for the Trust that preserves preserves the Bluenose says he never got anything remotely close to that amount. Maybe $300,000. "That's baloney," he said. All of this is pretty upsetting. upsetting. You get used to it after a while, 1 guess. But it's a little bit more unimpressive when it happens a little closer to home. How, exactly, can our mayor and councilors vote themselves a wage increase? I'm not very clear on how such a process is possible without significant public input? A $34,000 wage JAWORSKI see page 3