feheHERALD Home of Hills Paget Wednesday June A Division of Canadian Newspapers Company Limited 103MainSL8oulh George low L7G Ontario Publisher Editor PHONE Second ctait Mail Raglittrrt Number Ice fee changes are too little and too late Halton Hills arena users can be blamed for being angry with town council s plans to raise arena rates by 33 per cent thiB year It a startling Increase And the increase was made all the more startling by the secretive way council brought It in However Monday night council tried to moke amends at their committee meeting when a revised proposal three months in the making was passed The motion came after much debate and two closed meetings with local sports groups In the end council didn t give very much The only real con cession council made to the sports groups was to drop a plan to collect per cent of the gate receipts from teams that charged ad mission to their events Certainly it was a proposal welldropped Although not always winners teams like Acton Junior B Sabres and Georgetown Raiders and help provide local residents especially families with an inexpensive and enjoyable night out It was a safe bet that the less than wealthy teams would have passed on the town 10 per cent surcharge to the local sports consumer Committee also proposed to seek additional arena revenue by selling advertising space in the rinks which sounds like a reasonable idea And in a belated move they will likely avoid a repeat of this year fiasco after passing a policy which will see them consult with sports groups before future rate hikes But the hardest part of the policy for local arena users to swallow appears likely to remain on the books and thats the 33 per cent rate hike Its difficult to believe that while the dreaded has only been out of business for a matter of months we are already seeing such highprice increases Town council s actions are more akin to those of oil company executives than a municipal government pledged to en couragmg minor sport There has been a major break down in the town Budgetary planning if they are now forced to slap arena users with such a colossal hike to come close to covering expenses It s hard to believe that with an inflation rate of around per cent the town arena costs have increased over 30 percent It seems more likely that council has simply decided on a malor switch and will no longer allow the arenas to be a break even or deficit operation If that council wish they at least owe local arena users the courtesy and fiscal sanity of easing in the new policy rather than bringing it in with one fell swoop And council should have in vestigated alternate means of increasing revenue like the advertising sales before he huge rate increases were brought in Kate increases should have been a last resort It will no doubt take quite a while before the rift opened up by council between them and Hills arena users Compromise likely in LAC AC debate Since council is adamant that a local architectural conservation advisory committee will not be created in this town it s nice to see that they re at least willing for a compromise committee To the surprise of many in eluding the Herald last Tuesday night council endorsed a com mlttee recommendation quashing the creation of a Marilyn Serjeantson basically abstained from the issue by leaving the meeting before its completion while George cancelled out John McDonald vote in favor of the proposal with his nay ballot While we do not support the reasons given for opposing the plan it encouraging to see of preserving Hills heritage wont be completely thrown to the wind Councillor Roy Booth a determined opponent of has suggested that a watered down version of the committee would likely win council support This modified committee would carry out the initial duties of a LACAC creating an inventory of local buildings that are chltecturally and historically significant The council would then use this list as a guide to help them which buildings to have designated significant by the Ontario Heritage Foundation Coun Booth does not mention whether or not he would like to see this modified committee operate on a permanent basis We would like to see this committee main tamed on some on going basis so they could function in a consulting role with council While the modified committee would not have the admittedly limited teeth of a the committee members expertise would be useful for council to assess local buildings We hope that Coun Booths comments to the Herald ding this modified committee are not simply meant to appease disappointed supporters of Coun Booth or some other council member should bring a proposal for a modified to council at the earliest possible moment so the committee can immediately begin preparing an inventory of town historically and significant buildings And we hope the people ap pointed to the modified committee will speak out strongly and determinedly when they think a building should be preserved despite the fact that the new committee would not have the clout of a LACAC It sat least a step towards preserving local heritage The Herald welcomes letters to the editor Tories learn very quickly view is different from inside Ottawa Report By Stewart MacLeod Ottawa Bureau Of The Herald After just few weeks In office there Is every indication thai the new Conserva tive government is learning hat the view from trie inside Is vastly different and far more complex than the view from the outside from tosny that a Tory government would demon Israel right lo exist by moving the Canadian embassy from Tel Aviv Jerusalem And it was easy to promise the validation of Canada or the end of Lolo Canada It also seemed a relatively simple matter to chop personal taxes by K billion a ycir The boil rocking list Is a long one And it remains there as a total party commitment but Joe Clark new minis tcrs not to mention Clark himself are quickly realizing that some things are easier said than done The Liberals in power for the last had unexcelled experience in the complexities of implementing new policies For the new Tory government It a crash course And already some Conservative mini are beginning to display an uncanny likeness the Liberals hey replaced Remember how the Tories used to poke fun at Liberal cabinet ministers when Ihey went into seclusion at a Hills cottage for their think sessions Well guess where the Tory cabinet held the second meeting Thats The same cottage At the first meeting the top Hem on the agenda was the West Coast longshoreman sir And if this were a year ago there would be opposition demands for immediate government so the groin industry would not be ihrealened This time Labor Minister Lincoln Alexander emerged from the cab net meeting sounding the world like his predecessor The government he an nounccd was keeping an eye on the And Defence Minister Allan Me Kin emerged from he same mooting to question he proposed move of the affairs department which he also heads to Charlottctown But a short time lalcr probably after conferring with his bureaucracy the announced hat the Liberal conceived move would go ahead as scheduled The Liberals could have said that just as well NO ACTION Earl had asked for a review of the investigation Into alleged kickbacks by the Boeing Co of Seattle in relation o sales in Canada This first emerged last winter when he found no grounds for laying charges Th s didn satisfy the Conservative MPs who wondered about a cover up So when the government changed McKinnon had Solicitor General Allan Lawrence go into he matter again Once more Lawrence came out sound like a predecessor I am as a result of a pretty intensive pol investigation thai here Is no action hat requires any sort of prosecution he have put It any better Meanwhile Finance Minister John Crosbie has been busy wrestling with the country finances and his party pledge to eut taxes by billion while introducing bus incentives and abolishing some capital gains taxes When the new minis ler got through describing some or the d being faced he only commit meat for the first Tory budget Is that morlgige deductibility plan And so far as that Israeli embassy move is concerned we can quietly forget that What seemed like such a simple vole petting proposition from the outside of government turned out to have dous complications when viewed from within On this issue he Tories are read ng water in the fines Liberal And how about those persistent reports many from the inside of the Tory party lhat many senior bureaucratic heads would roll under the new administration Former cab minister CM he National Capital Co mm is was considered a prime candidate for the axe He reports to Public Works Minister Erik Nielsen who now says Bud and I hive known each other for a good years and there no reason why we get along As someone once said the more things change the more remain the Taxpayers pick up the bill but Tories keep polls secret Queens Park Queen Park Bureau Of The Herald TORONTO Everyone real res that secrccj seems to be a way of life for governments but probably the n outrageous example is the Conservative hiding of public opinion polls paid for by tax money Tor ministers and sen or civil for example what the people of Ontario think about the government censorship gambling and liquor policies But the opposition parlies dan Nor do the taxpayers whose paid for he study Yet thai kind of information is not only useful for formulating government policies it is also the kind of background mater every politician likes lo have handy for partisan use What better way lo frame policy so it fits with public preconccpl ions By any principle of fairness the polls should cither be charged to coffers or else be available to all It no minor matter a few thousand ha ml pull or two MPP Pat LRainy River ta a list from the government of all public opinion pos taken In the oneyear span prior to April 1979 There were done for 12 ministers costing Management Board chairman George IPC Duffcrln told Held polls In question working who pay for it documents for the development of policy and it Is not ihe practice of the govern lo release material of this nature Which doesn I mean it be One of ihe priorities of the Conservatives on taking will be passage of a freedom of information in an to loosen the bonds of secrecy lhat federal bureaucracy In Ontario by contrast we have a commission of inquiry into freedom of information individual privacy which his been going for more than two years and expect to report for another Thai means public opinion poll will last at least that long One can disagree are grey areas involving government where there is a need for secrecy and hopefully the commission will delineate Bui by def 1 useful public ion polls are neutral TOm PROGRAM Policy documents and recommenda is up by mm sines based on the polls might be another matter of course but not is at stake here A for ihe health mini for example covered the of a ministry media campaign whose topic was of health care costs One might suspect since control is integral part of the Torj political program of restraint and opposed by he opposition that we re denting here with what is in essence a political poll And that kind of information should be available both to the opposition who can it but more Importantly the public MICHAEL Ed lor LARRY MARTIN sing Manager Phone 877 NEWSPAPER Haltons History From our files PERSIAN ACCIDENT THIRTY YEARS AGO Word has been received by his parents Mr and Mrs Martin Cummins that their son Bill who was seriously burned in an ether plosion a few weeks ago Is now out of danger Bill was injured while at work with an oil company at Bahrein Arabia on the Persian Guir In the greatest political triumph in Canada history Ihe Liberal party led by Prime Minister Louis SI Laurent swept back into power and will have a resound ing majority when Canada Hit ment convenes this fall in Ottawa In veteran Liberal member Hughe Cleaver will return office for a fourth term A grass fire on the farm of John Mcdonald Ontario Streel threatened to get out of control late last Wednesday afternoon and the fire brigade was lo extinguish It The fire was headed for barn and the arrival of the brigade averted what could have been a serious ire HEROIC EXPLOITS TWENTY YEARS AGO Richard died suddenly on Friday June 28 as the result of an accident near Bramp ton He was killed instantly and three others hospitalized as the result or a threevehicle crash on Highway five miles east of Brampton Li chouse Guide Leader Mrs Jean made Buffalo dally papers last week with a heroic exploit that was credited with saving Ihe life of a Buffalo after a car in which he was riding struck a light pole in Bertie Township on the Canadian side Mrs rushed Injured youth to Columbus Hospital In Buffalo where hospital said the youth might have bled lo death had It not been for her quick action He received an immediate blood transfusion in the hospital and doctors used over 100 lo close deep head Local TCA King Street was host to eight grade students from Harrison Public School the principal Harold Henry and Rex H estop who supplied Ira when Ihey journeyed to Mai ton on June 13 to tour the airport facilities The party toured the main hangars and the pilot training section north slur and super constella Ion the flight control centre and the control lower Country Calendar a TV program avidly watched by rural areas and town residents as well was of particular inter csl last Sunday when it showed the Ken Ella family Hornby In the various aspects llfeonthefarm also showed Billy Wilson son Mr and Mrs Clare Wilson in swimming hole and going Into ihe hay mow An employee Lou Hams was also in the picture Eight taggers were so successful in canvassing the town during the two days of selling tags for the Hospital Association on Friday and Saturday June 19 and that the amount grossed surpassed pro ceeds received from the well attended Gala Day staged by the association in May A second tag day has been proposed for Fair Day S EUROPEAN JAUNT TEN AGO A young George town father was instantly killed early Sunday in a single car crash which piled wreckage into two trees 10 feet apart on west of Line of Gary Thomas was pronounced dead at ihe scene by coroner J Chamberlain The driver was alone at the wheel of his cast bound car when it left the road and slammed into the trees The force of the impact cut Ihe car in half Construction has begun on a addition to Ha Hon County Separate School Board buildings The pro ject was approved a month In of objections by the finance committee Space in the present building formerly offices of the old Burlington Separate School board is too cramped Tor the larger county wide staff MP Whiting received a vole or dencc from the executive of ihe and East Liberal Association earlier Whiting this week celebrates the first anniversary of his election to parliament Mrs Barbara Br other Ion of Lime house II for Mrs Ruth Bliss when she p lots TAR No in the Alt Women Transcontinental Air Race set for takeoff July from Lindbergh Field California The congregation and friends of the Georgetown Alliance will wcl come their new pastor David J Phillips and his wife this coming Sunday June Pastor and Mrs Phillips recently dilated from the Canadian Bible College in Saskatchewan ICE REPORT ONE YEAR AGO Regional Police Association present the Ballon police commission Thursday with a 70i page report almost every aspect or the force operation and making I Ions aimed at Improving the existing poor morale on the force The commission was unhappy to learn that by a unanimous vote of 125 members of the association who had met to discuss the report the night before the press were lo receive copies of ihe report after the meeting The commission want o have lime to study the report before It was made public Hills council should buy the vacant 109yejrold Chapel Street school and into a youth recreation centre trials the suggestion Iwo Georgetown District High school students who are anxious to save the building from destruction Linda 14 Drive and Hunt of Metcalfe Court have been circulating a petition since early May Hills works committee Is still embroiled in the on again issue of truck traffic on Monday v11 deferred a discussion of the guidelines for Issuing permit to trucks applying to use the road for further weeks The ilem was deferred at the last com mil tee meeting lo allow councillors to submit In writing the town engineer their comment on what guldel ncs should be used as the basis for issuing the permits