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6 Independent & Free Press,Thursday, January 27, 2011 OPINION Final plea Perhaps he has compromising photos of provincial Health Minister Deb Matthews. That might explain why Halton Hills Mayor Rick (Bunny) Bonnette was able to convince fellow Town councillors to defer a decision on a request by Halton Healthcare Services for the Town to contribute $4.5 million towards a $12.1 million renovation/expansion of Georgetown Hospital Monday night. Before a packed Civic Centre (a rare occurrence), councillors opted to allow the mayor to set up meetings with senior health ministry staff to plead Halton Hills's `special case' when it comes to hospital funding. With the Town facing public pressure to build new arenas a request for assistance to support the hospital expansion couldn't come at a worse time. Frankly, if it's a choice between a new ice surface and a refurbished hospital complete with new CT scanner, the public will be far more willing to throw its support (re: tax dollars) behind the hospital. It would be easy to point the finger at the provincial government and question its reluctance to fund hospital projects. After all, Georgetown is not in a unique situation here, many municipalities, including the other three that make up Halton, are being asked, or have, coughed up local money for hospital projects. But blaming Queen's Park won't get new wings for hospitals or a new emergency department here. Wellington-Halton Hills MPP Ted Arnott has talked himself blue (Tory, of course) trying to get the Province to commit dollars to local hospitals to no avail. Don't forget this is a provincial government that didn't want any part of our school busing issue two years ago and was content to pass the buck to the local school boards. Bonnette's effort, we fear, will fail and council will soon have to swallow hard and make a decision. Unless, of course, our Bunny can pull a rabbit out of his hat. 905-873-0301 Publisher: Ken Nugent General manager: Steve Foreman (sforeman@independentfreepress.com) Retail advertising manager: Cindi Campbell (ccampbell@independentfreepress.com) Managing editor: John McGhie (jmcghie@independentfreepress.com) Distribution manager: Nancy Geissler (ngeissler@independentfreepress.com) Classifieds Kristie Pells (classified@independentfreepress.com) Accounting Rose Marie Gauthier Editorial Cynthia Gamble: News editor (cgamble@independentfreepress.com) Ted Brown: Photography (tbrown@independentfreepress.com) Lisa Tallyn: Staff writer (ltallyn@independentfreepress.com) Eamonn Maher: Staff writer/sports (emaher@independentfreepress.com) WEB POLL RESULTS Should local municipalities be responsible for any funding when it comes to hospital building projects or expansions or should all the costs of such projects be paid for by provincial tax dollars? · Municipalities should pay some of the costs (44%) · The Province should pay all the costs (56%) Go to www.independentfreepress.com Steve Nease Letters to the editor Police budget story showed bad timing Dear editor, While I appreciate the good work The Independent & Free Press does and I understand that they are in general supportive of their police service, I must say I consider it bad timing and in bad taste that your front page story on Tuesday, January 18 would focus on police salaries. As you are and were undoubtedly aware, that date was reserved for the funeral of a fallen officer Sergeant Ryan Russell of the Toronto Police Service. While Sgt. Russell does not reside in this community, I believe you will find he has friends/family and ties to this community. To publish that article on that date, was in my opinion ill-conceived. The Independent should offer an apology to all members of the police service for their insensitivity. That said, perhaps you may wish to focus on the minimal numbers of police officers actually serving Halton. This may shed some light on why the police services budget is so tight. I'm not certain if you are aware but, the HRPS field only 125 officers/100,000 population and their cost per capita is one of the lowest within the Province of Ontario. The current budget remains one of the lowest per capita within the province, perhaps this is why there are so few officers to serve our community. Just how many officers cover Georgetown, Limehouse, Acton and the rural Halton Hills community? In terms of actual numbers, you know the old saying, "You get what you pay for" Rob Andrew, Acton CAShh `very happy' in its new space Dear editor, The new year brings changes to everyone's life, both personal and professional. I have to say it also brings good changes to our organization. Cancer Assistance Services of Halton Hills has a new home in the Mountainview Terrace, same address 222 Mountainview Road North. The move took one day, and we are happy to say without any interruption in service to our clients. We are very happy in our new space and thank the Summers family for their care. Cancer Assistance Services has endured many changes over its lifetime, and, as with each change, this organization has grown. With the increase of clients over the past 12 months, there has been an increase in drivers and an increase in services. We invite you to visit our new home and share our gratitude to the Summers family. Bill Lorriman, President CAShh She said yes...again Dear editor, There was a proposal made to me on page 11 in the Jan. 20 paper that was hard to miss. Since then, there have been a lot of inquires as to what I said to Darrell, so in case you are someone who is wondering...I said YES (again!). How could I not? How sweet and romantic was that? Here's to many more years of good times and happiness! Kelly Parsons, Georgetown Letters to the editor policy Letters must include an address and daytime telephone number. Anonymous letters will not be published. Letters should not exceed 150 words and may be edited for content and/or length. Publication is not guaranteed. E-mail: jmcghie@independentfreepress.com Mail or drop off: Independent & Free Press, 280 Guelph St., Unit 29, Georgetown, ON., L7G 4B1. 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