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by John B. McClelland I was very pleased to hear the announcement last week that Old Port Marketing is about to embark on a major expansion which will include the construction of a warehouse/office complex of about 20,000 square feet. '01d Port Marketing is a local company owned by the Mitchell family who also own the Settlement House shops on Queen Street in downtown Port Perry. One of the major reasons why Old Port Marketing is pushing ahead immediately with the new + warehouse is that the company has landed the exclusive world-wide distribution rights for Yankee Candles. - Old Port has had the Canadian rights for about a decade and has helped make Yankee Candles the number one selling product of its kind in this country. When Tom Mitchell made the announcement in front of Scugog council on September 18, he made it very clear that local trades and suppliers will be encouraged to bid. And if those local trades and suppliers are competitive in their bidding, they will get the work. Local businesses are not looking for any "free lunches." All they ask is the opportunity to put their bids in. Old Port's new building will be constructed in an industrial park on Line 6, just east of Highway 12. This land is already zoned for industrial use. Once the building is up it will be the cornerstone of Success Industrial Park, the "anchor," if you will, to attract other similar enterprises to that area. This project will create jobs in the construction phase and Old Port will be adding to its employment roles once the building is finished. If other firms follow suit and decide to build, more employment opportunities will become available for the people of Scugog and the surrounding area. We all know that full time jobs are few and far between in Scugog Township these days. Just ask anybody who's out there pounding the bricks in search of work. Old Port Marketing's bold new venture could very well be the catalyst Scugog needs to stimulate the kind of development that is perfectly compatible with this community. It is also nice to hear that the Canterbury Commons project is NOW, FOR SOME GOOD NEWS back on the rails again with a nine hole golf course in the plans. The golf course component of this important development has been turned over to a company that specializes in building and managing golf courses. Canterbury Commons, with the golf course and up-scale homes aimed at active seniors and retirees is a blue chip development that will do nothing but benefit the entire Township. To say that Scugog has been mired in the bog as far as: new devélopment is concerned is an under-statement. Like most people I don't want to see development run .un-checked. But any community must have orderly growth or it will stagnate and die. Projects like the one announced by Old Port Marketing last week and the Canterbury Commons golf course and houses will stimulate the local economy without the negative side effects. These projects will provide employment (short term and permanent) add to the Township's assessment base and more than likely generate spin-off development. THAT RE-ZONING Politicians for the most part do not like to back- track once they have made a decision. Scugog council, however, agreed last week to re-consider a contentious zoning application for Scugog Signs, a small company operating in a building on the north side of Highway 7A, east of Nestleton. Several jobs are hanging on this re-zoning. But the patience of the council is worn to a thread. This re- zoning application has been a major muck-up from the out-set, however, council, in my view did the right thing by at least agreeing to re- consider. Having said that I will also say that if the property owner had decided from the outset to retain the services of an expert (municipal lawyer or planner or both) I venture to say the re-zoning would have been approved months ago. IN CLOSING Since using this space last week to write about my diabetes, I can't count the number of people who have called, faxed and stopped me on the street to wish me well. The sincerity of the well wishers has been so very heartening and encouraging. Thanks so very much. And I am happy to say that since I started to tale treatment, I am feeling better each day. More on the parking ticket Banker answers M M.P ithe Editor; Mr. Alex Shepherd, M.P. Room 252, Confederation Building improve the banker-entrepreneur relationship. Hopefully, readers have been informed House of Commons Ottawa K1A 0A6 Dear Mr Shepherd; In your articles to the Port Perry Scugog Citizen (August 9) and Port Perry Weekend Star (August 11), you judged that the chartered banks' lending record to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) was insufficient. Unfortunately, readers of these community newspapers were not informed of the actual amount that banks do lend to SMEs. As at March 1995, authorized loans of less than $500,000 stood at $41.4 billion which is an increase from 39.1 billion over the previous quarter. (The banking industry is' now compiling more information on small business lending under this loan threshold.) A recent Conference Board of Canada report suggests that the total debt financing market available to SMEs may even be as high as#$88 billion if one included bank competitors, such as credit unions. The scope of this competitive marketplace is also set out in the C B ] iation's Small Business Annual oA which was sent to all Members of Parliament in the summer. While numerous new small business lending programs and services have been introduced recently by our member of the positive working relationship we have had with the Government, including the Industry Committee. Our liaison with this committee has led to the devel t of an i ive Code of Conduct which spells out our responsibilities in dealing with SME clients. Now individuals also have access to an independent Alternative Dispute Resolution process within each bank to resolve complaints in a balanced and confidential manper, There are other reasons to be positive. Recognizing that competition in the banking sector is only one contributor to the 'growth prospects of SMEs, Industry Canada's Quarterly Report on SMEs (September 1995) indi d that over 300,000 net new jobs were created by small and medjum-sized business from the second quarter 1994 to the second quarter 1995. Unfortunately, your articles in the Scugog Citizen and Weekend Star failed to leave readers with the view that small business is succeeding in Canada and that banks are responding to the many needs of this sector. We would be pleased to meet with you and representatives of the media to discuss these issues further. Yours Sincerely, Helen Sinclair President Ci dian Bank. A banks, the b industry recog that more can and must be done to Toronto. Should be ashamed' To the Editor; I'm writing in response to the letter written by Vona Mallory concerning French Immersion. 1 graduated from the French Immersion two years ago, after studying in the program for thirteen years in Port Perry. I have no regrets, my classmates have no regrets. As a matter-of-fact, I'm writing to you from Bishops University, Quebec. I would not have had this opportunity if my parents hadn't gone out on a limb and placed me in the french program. 1 think, Vona Mallory, that you should be ashamed of yourself for your short sightedness. I don't know where you got your information from, for it's only a small minority who drop out and it is a « larger number of people who succeed and graduate. There are only advantages Mrs Mallory. The only disadvantage I'd say we had, is the oppression which you've expressed against us. We come out on top for we're able to communicate with our French counterparts. Canada is a French/English country, in case you'd forgotten. Yours sincerely, Michelle Hiemstra Lennoxville, Quebec Roy says thanks a lot To the Editor: I appreciate the opporturity to use your space to thank all those who made my time as a crossing guard so enjoyable. 1 thank the staff and teachers at R.H. Cornish School, the staff in the, Finance Department at the Municipal Office, the mothers who crossed with their children, the guardians from the Stonemoor Day School who marched their tots to school every day and mostly to all the children who greeted me every morning, noon and afternoon. Thank you all for eight wonderful years. - Yours very sincerely Roy Grierson letter To the Editor; This is a letter to the editor that I did not want to write but I felt compelled to thank Mr Harrison for his letter on parking tickets at Port Perry Plaza. When I found out that the money grubbing by-law enforcement people of this township had the nerve to ticket someone who had a) blocked a fire and ambulance route that is meant to cut response time and save lives and assist fire fighters when seconds and feet count b) cut a two lane drive into one, annoying and inconveniencing everyone else in the Plaza 1 was shocked! Don't the enforcement officers know how much you make? Don't they know that you spend money in these stores and therefore have certain rights that don't apply to the rest of us? It's probably your own fault though. You should have hung your tax return in the' window in place of a handicap permit (who, by the way, can't park there either). 1 wonder though if you could y know how much I need rn and what portion of that I need to spend in local stores to qualify for the exclusive club Mr Harrison seems to think he belongs to. Then I guess I could park anyplace I damn well felt like. In closing, let me say that the officers ticket on weekends because that's ' when inconsiderate, although well-off persons like yourself are parking illegally. Here's a thought, if you don't want a ticket, don't park there. I hear that the By-law officers are targeting people like yourself, whe break the by-laws (what can they be thinking of?) R.W. Armstrong-Davie Scugog Township