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OPINION Liberals choose to play it safe Stéphane Dion managed to pull a rabbit out of his hat with his somewhat surprising win in the race for the leadership of the federal Liberal party this past weekend. The question remains, can he pull off the same trick twice? To many observers Dion's victory was a shocking result when, in hindsight, it should have been easily predicted. If nothing else, the Liberal party likes to play it safe and Dion offered the safest choice. Michael Ignatieff? Too untested and too mistakeprone. Bob Rae? Too much bad history with Ontario voters. Gerard Kennedy? Too unpalatable to Quebec Liberals. That left Dion-- a firm believer in red Liberalism and green environmentalism-- the choice for both the Liberal old guard and its newer members. While Dion may have been the "right" choice for the Liberals, that doesn't necessarily mean he is the best choice to unseat Conservative Prime Minister Stephen Harper. Dion may be the new man at the helm of the Grit machine but he carries some old Liberal baggage-- baggage the Tories will undoubtedly bring out in an election race. Dion served in cabinet under former PMs Jean Chrétien and Paul Martin, who left their posts with the stench of scandals still hanging in the air. As Environment Minister, Dion tended to talk a better game than he delivered and the fact many senior Quebec Liberal party organizers threw their support behind Ignatieff-- and not Dion-- on the final ballot says something about Dion's appeal to Quebec voters. By most accounts Dion is considered a principled "nice guy", but despite his endearing qualities, western Canadians may have had their fill of Quebec prime ministers, especially another whose English often is something less than fluent. The Conservatives vow they will not underestimate Dion, but there are many who feel that Stephen Harper, and not Dion, was the biggest winner Saturday in Montreal. LETTERS TO THE EDITOR Purse thief stole a treasured rosary Dear editor, This letter is directed to the person or persons who picked up my black backpack purse at the eating area of the Georgetown Market Place about 2:15 p.m. Sunday, Dec. 3. Needless to say, I will survive without the approximately $150 which was in the purse, however, it is causing me much anxiety as I have to arrange replacements for my various cards (ie. driver's licence, social insurance etc.). Normally I don't carry much cash but that day I made a withdrawal because I planned on giving my granddaughter some cash for her birthday to use on a school trip to Boston. My purse also contained my cell phone and other personal things which cannot be replaced. The most important of these were my black rosary beads given to me by my father (they were his) 44 years ago on the day I left my home in Newfoundland to come to Ontario. This rosary has never been out of my purse for 44 years and although I have others, this is the one I used daily in memory of my dad, especially since he passed away 12 years ago. No doubt you needed the money badly in order to do such a thing but perhaps you could have turned the purse in to mall security or at least placed it where it might have been found by a more honest person. If, by chance, you still have my purse and its contents, I would be very happy if, at least, the rosary could be returned to me. I will be glad to pay the postage if you just address it to me (all the information is in the purse) and drop it in a mailbox. Mary C. Blackmore, Georgetown More complaints of Ninth Line traffic Dear editor, Thank you to Joe Caldarelli for writing his letter Nov. 8, "Town needs to accommodate traffic." There are many of us who make the reverse of his daily trip and it's a mess in both directions. I wouldn't consider taking Ninth Line to Steeles Ave. in the morning because of the eastbound congestion. There are other ways to travel east, none of them efficient. The worst however, is the return journey in the evening north on Ninth Line to Steeles. Only the uninitiated would consider making a left turn onto Steeles with more than a few cars in line ahead. You have a window of about three seconds coming over the bridge to check east and west Steeles to determine if you might make a left or have to resort to a right turn. It's common practice for commuters stuck in that line to take no notice of the stop sign if they are faced with a small opening that won't reappear any time soon. I have even witnessed one desperate motorist strike out westbound along the south shoulder. I have called the Region on several occasions over the years to ask what they are going to do about it. I was even told that there haven't been enough accidents to justify traffic lights there. False hope arose a year or so ago when I spotted a traffic survey company monitoring the intersection. Again I called the Region. They told me there weren't enough cars turning left at that intersection. Of course there aren't-- we all know we have to turn right and then turn left on Tenth Line. So, unless someone wants to take one for the team so we can say there have been enough accidents, the most we can hope for with this incredible lack of planning is that now they'll probably stick a cop nearby to ticket us for running the sign. Marilyn Brown, Georgetown Book sale raised $30K Dear editor, We are very proud that our community raised a record $30,441 at the Fraser Direct annual charity book sale on Nov. 18. All of this money is going to local charities and projects that help make our town a better place. We would like to thank our staff who volunteered their time to run the sale, the Collie and Watson families (community volunteers who joined in the fun), and the record number of shoppers who visited us this year. The spirit of giving was in the air and a good time was had by all! Lois Fraser, Georgetown