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EDITORIAL with Hartley Coles Amalgamation or Stay the course? Should Halton Hills merge with another municipality, probably Milton, so the new and larger Town (or city) could have a stronger voice in the Region, or possibly the Greater Toronto Area? Halton Hills councillors, with the exception of two or three, don't think so, citing loss of identity as one of the principal reasons to oppose any move to amalgamate. Ward 2 (Esquesing) Councillor Kevin Kuiack, however, doesn't think it's such a bad idea. He noted Halton Hills already shares a school (Bishop Reding SS) and fire service with Milton, as well as many residents who feel more ofa link with Milton than Halton Hills. "If we decided to set up a partnership we possibly could have a stronger voice...and could get more funding directed up to the north," he is quoted as saying when the mayor introduced the subject at council on Monday, June 15. He argued that Acton and Georgetown did not lose their separate identities when they were amalgamated into Halton Hills-in 1974. He might have also said Acton people have become even more protective of their identity since that date. Councillor Kuiack wasn't the only voice who thought there might be some advantages to amalgamating with Milton whose boundaries { HALTON ? HILLS. ' Soe vl A te tra) RO.LONT TA Ta HALTON REGION extend into the whole of old Nassagaweya, and south, almost to Hwy 5. Councillor Ron Chatten felt there would be some definite advantages dealing with Milton in a partnership manner. Acton councillors Rick Bonnette and Norm Elliott were definitely opposed, Bonnette because he felt no one was pushing and we should stay as Halton Hills so we don't lose any more of our identity. Ditto for Mr. Elliott who felt it was premature as well as the fact Milton and Halton Hills are "diverging" not growing closer. The picture of a large town in central and northern Halton as envisioned by Mr. Kuiack, wielding a far bigger stick, is attractive in this world where "bigger is better". It would be huge geographi- cally with about 75,000 people. However this writer doubts Milton would show any more interest in amalgamation than has been evinced by the majority of councillors in Halton Hills. They have grand plans of their own to grow using a large pipeline into Lake Ontario for a supply of water. Of course, the problem probably dates back to 1973 when the decision was made to break Halton into four regional parts instead of the original nine municipalities. The government of the day, pressured by the Reeve of Nassagaweya, kept the old township of Nassagaweya intact into the Town of Milton. Halton Hills, on the other hand, as recompense, received access to highway 401's north side just east of Milton and urban area but with no services to offer industry. Going further back, do you remember the North Halton Urban Board which was formed to foster a closer relationship between the then towns of Acton, Georgetown and Milton. Countless meetings never resolved anything but a decision to act like the proverbial dogs in the manger, acceding nothing and protecting all their assets, Times have changed as well as boundaries but we doubt people have. THE NEW TANNER i .. Waa oe ALL READY for the graduation dinner and ball Monday these Bishop Reding graduates and their dates enjoy the beautiful lawns and gardens of Mr. THURSDAY, JUNE 25, 1998 And Mrs. Max MacSween on Elmore Drive. Front are Julie Restivo, Elizabeth Coles, Lori McConomy and Melissa Wood. In back are Rueben Rivers, Stephen Orticello, Christopher Noronah and John Grisold. --Hartley Coles photo - You get what you pay for By MAGGIE PETRUSHEVSKY The New Tanner I have a habit of biting my tongue when people complain about Canada Post. Well, now I am about to join the ranks. We just got kicked again as rural customers. We are about to get service from Ottawa - literally. I grew up on Rural Route 2, Acton. My parents and grandparents have been getting mail delivered at that address for more than 70 years. Recently, when Mother's Alzhe- imer's got so bad we couldn't trust her not-to lose the mail, our postie put government-type documents in my box instead of Dad's so he'd be sure to get them. When I moved in with Dad my address didn't change so there was no sense informing Canada Post. All it took was a word to our postie. My mail goes in his box. It's right next to my old one so it's no problem. Or it wasn't. This month the government in its wisdom (7?) decided to let the tender for rural mail delivery on R.R. 2 to the lowest bidder. That sounds good but "you get what you pay for" and if the pay for a local postie wasn't exorbitant before, what suddenly changed the picture? The wonderful notion that everything should be sub- ject to "doing more with less". Now, as of July 1 we will begin to "get less for the same." An Ottawa firm picked up the contract for Ru- ral Routes 1 and 2 so we can expect someone from Ottawa to start mak- ing our deliveries. Obviously that person is not coming in daily just to deliver mail. Apparently she will train an assistant who is to train her assistants since he/she will have a territory to manage. In other words, we get service from a large private firm with routes all over Ontario. Now if this company plans to make a profit on a lower rate than a local person who already has the training and equipment, what train- ing, equipment or dependability can we expect from the company? More sobering still, what sort of | people can such a company hope to hire at the sort of wages it will offer? Only those desperate enough to work for minimum wage. You can be sure they won't be getting any benefits so how often will they be out there, too sick to work but too broke to hire a.replacement. Such people will be on the constant lookout for a better job and they'll be gone the moment they find one. And what about our mail? Oh well, when they find out in Ottawa they can send us another carrier. Am I being pessimistic? Maybe. But having seen how newspapers arrange for contract drivers to make PR a it's know summer, the tops are You down. Now if only they would do the same with the volume control. their deliveries - and these are local people - I'd bet I'm closer to the mark than I'd like to be. The fact postal "service" de- scribes right in its name what cus- tomers are supposed to get went out the door when Mulroney decided to revise "service" to mean "profit." The fact the Liberals have done noth- ing to repeal his "reforms" is what annoys the dickens out of me. When mail delivery has to make a profit residents of Moose's Arm- pit, Northwest Territories can kiss good-bye to service of any sort - even the slow kind. And a lot of places in Northern Ontario will be right be- side them. The demise of rural post offices like the one at Limehouse should have warned us locally. Most people ignored it. The community mailboxes in many new city subdi- visions instead of door-to-door de- livery is another symptom of that same reform mentality. What the reformers really want is to alienate so many customers that government has evidence for priva- tizing it. You know the theme. If people don't seem to use the thing, why keep it? Right. Watch the costs skyrocket then since Canada Post is the main carrier for Puralator and assorted other private couriers. Don't tell us that, do they? We pay extra to have the courier collect our letter or parcel and get it to our customer by next morning. Couriers don't pay premium rates to ship it across the country by plane over night. They let Canada Post do the work. Then they pick it up at the airport and make the delivery so the customers never know the difference. That way customers go right on sing- ing the couriers' praises and con- demning Canada Post. Sneaky, bu: it's working. Tanner 59 Willow Street North Acton, Ontario L7J 1Z8 (519) 853-0051 Fax: 853-0052 Editorial Frances Niblock Advertising Sales Circulation Composing Publisher Ted Tyler Hartley Coles | Ellen Piehl Mike O'Leary Angela Tyler Maggie Petrushevsky Bob Rutter Marie Shadbolt Christine O'Leary Karen Wetmore Distributed to every home in Acton and area as well as adjoining communities. - ADVERTISING POLICY Every effort will be made to see advertising copy, neatly presented, is correctly printed. The publisher assumes no financial responsibility for typographical errors or omissions in advertising, but will gladly reprint without charge that part of an advertisement in which an error may occur provided a claim is made within five days of publication.