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Home Newspaper of Halton Hills Established A Division of Canadian Newspapers Company Limited Guelph StreetGeorgetown L7G 3Z6 Ontario DAVID A BEATTIE Publisher and General Manager MPPs chuckle at survey BRIAN Editor Phone 8772201 DAN TAYLOR Advertising Manager Mill iMflH Brian MacLeod Editor s Notebook A Those of you whove strolled down the winding streets of Georgetowns subdivisions must have noticed the reams of Christmas lights adorning the win dows and doors But inevitably some of those lights burn out or short out the whole set One step further and the next telephone call will be to the fire department So the Canadian Standards Association has set out several safety tips to help those of you with electricity surrounding your home Page THE HERALD Wednesday December 13 Town fires back The town fired its own salvo in the everincreasing push for development on Monday Councillors gave draft plan approval for lots on the Eighth Line and 945 lots east of the Ninth Line for one month Monday Halton Hills Village Homes had asked for an extention of one year Earlier this year Halton Hills Village Homes sent a let ter to Region threatening to take any water alloca tion in the town to the Ontario Municipal Board The firm said it had paid a substantial amount of money for ser vices and the expansion of Georgetowns sewage treat- mer and it wanted to be put at the front of the line when comes to water allocation Currently developers are lined up with proposals for building homes in town while water exists for only 1350 units Now Halton Hills Mayor Russ Miller says he wants Halton Hills Village Homes project manager Toby Bar- wick to rescind that letter to the Region I dont want to appear to be holding a gun to their head but I also dont want them to hold a gun to our heads the mayor said Monday The idea of allowing a onemonth extension instead of the year the developer requested is a good way to send a message to developers that they should take a softer ap proach with the town Yes Halton Hills Village Homes did put up a lot of money for services and sewage plant expansion but theyve admitted that the months even years of delays have primarily been their own fault Now after floundering around themselves they cant expect to just dump everything on the mayors desk and say sign here The town has waited for them now they can wait for the town while the problem of water allocation gets resolved Coun Joe Hewitt said it doesnt seem right to deny draft approval to Halton Hills Village Homes The towns not denying draft approval Its merely sen ding a notsosubtle message that it wont be by developers Said Coun Hewitt I dont think you can say theyre out tl getting draft approvals and just sitting on them We are the drivers seat The town has waited a long time for development in Georgetown South It needs the extra tax base And all its been able to do in the drivers seat of a stalled car is honk its horn Be safe at Christmas in the way of colorful lights make your house a bit safer Always use only lights intended for indoor use indoors Outdoor lights burn hotter and are a fire hazard when used indoors When you replace a bulb on a light string check the voltage of wattage marked on the light set or on the packaging Beware of octopus outlets especially during the holiday season when additional demands are placed on electricity When working on installing out door lighting be sure to turn off the electricity Dont use metallic fasteners such- as nails and tacks to hold str ings of outdoor lights in place In stead use insulated tape to attach the electrical cords to buildings being careful not to tape the cords over or along metal Run all outdoor cords above ground keeping them out of pud dles and snow Tape all plug connections with plastic electrical tape to make them as watertight as possible- Last week was yuk time at the legislature as the health status survey came under skeptical scrutiny Thats the multimilliondollar survey that will ask 50000 On- tartans about their six eating and exercise habits as well as about a bunch of other lifestyle stuff from drinkingdriving to their relation ships with parents and spouses Reporters being human sex drew more interest than eating habits Using the survey questions they tried to elicit answers from the politicians Health Minister Elinor Caplans reply was classic Ive got a headache Premier David Petersons Im told I wasnt there illustrated once again that he really doesnt have much of a sense of humor His jesting with female reporters in particular was considered offen sive by some observers Conservative Bob asked in the legislature whether it was ap propriate to ask females and only females how old they were when they lost their virginity He was incensed at the surveys price tag at a time when raw sewage is entering On tario waterways endangering the health of all around them But wasnt daunted All the questions were designed by health planners and health policy experts- she replied The reason For knowing when female virginity ends is that the risk of cervical cancer increases with ear ly sexual intercourse she added In short what the province wants to do through its indepth survey is to build a health profile of a representative sample of On- tarians With that as a guide it would then become easier to plan for future healthcare needs Thats assuming everyone answers honestly of course or that those who decline to answer are as representative of the whole as those who do But one was to wonder DIFFERENCE Someone once noted there is a considerable difference between public opinion and popular sen timent Popular sentiment is what a person believes Public opi nion is what the person says he believes when asked by pollsters knowing full well what answer is expected of him That applies to almost any type of survey and a wide variety of opinions In such circumstances people wili reflect what they are required to believe One suspects the margin of error increases when the topic en compasses personal habits whether sex food or whatever Isnt it reasonable to assume that how the broader society views an activity say the current per missiveness in regard to premarital sex will influence the answers people will give about their own life Or take eating as another in dicator in our weightconscious era many people feel guilt about tubbiness and will lie even to themselves about what they eat and how much Will they necessarily tell the truth Admittedly pollsters try to pre vent people cheating on surveys by using a variety of techniques to spot liars And maybe theyll succeed But the incredible range of con clusions already drawn from polls of youth about whether kids are promiscuous or restrained in their sexual activity doesnt give one grounds for optimism There is a last point to be made The results of this survey will as Caplan indicates help construct provincial policy Politicians are often criticized for formulating policy on the basis of public opinion polls This is a example of why the critics have a point NEIGHBORHOOD UNWED STREET KIDS mm WEE WANT THOSE neighborhood Broadbent highlights poverty Vic Parsons Ottawa Bureau In his last months as leader of the New Democratic Party Ed often spoke with pas sion and simple eloquence of the million children who live in pover ty in Canada His final speech in the Commons as leader was entirely about the suffering of many children in this country At the Winnipeg con vention he spent a good deal of time on the same subject in his last formal address to the party faithful What with all the concentration in Winnipeg on leadership the Lake constitutional accord goods and services tax and free trade Broadbents pet issue of late got minimal attention It was the same when he made his Commons on Nov motion on child pover ty was given unanimous approval by MPs but it received sparse coverage from newshounds who thrive on conflict Some reports dwelt on how few of his parliamentary colleagues at tended Broadbents final speech as leader Others focused on a news story that he is about to be ap pointed head of a new federal cen tre for human rights and democratic development adding only a couple of throwaway paragraphs on his speech Few went into any depth on the content of his address One must ask if Canadians especially politicians and media are callous Or are they so com fortable withthe idea that an estimated 112million children are inadequately housed and fed that the issue doesnt need to be treated as the scandal it is ONE IN FOUR POOR Think about it Thats one in every four children in the country Broadbent admitted that even he as head of a party that sees itself as the social conscience of Canada hadnt thought too much about the subject until last June when a fact book on poverty was put out by the Canadian Council for Social Development I frankly say that on that par ticular morning I was totally sur prised by how serious the problem of child poverty in Canada has become he told MPs Its astonishing that the extent of child poverty should come as such a surprise to Broadbent After all several social agencies have been using estimates the range of a million for some time But give Broadbent credit He spoke often on the issue in the last six months of his leadership and his Commons motion called for ac tion to end child poverty by the year Specifically Broadbent propos ed a national conference to in clude the provinces municipalities volunteer agen cies service clubs labor business and representatives of the poor to talk about how the problem can be addressed He called for action to increase lowcost housing higher minimum wages indexed to inflation and larger child tax credits and family allowances also fully indexed Among Western industrial coun tries said Canada has the secondhighest rate of children living in severe poverty The United States is No 1 Continued on Page 20