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6 THE NEW TANNER EDITORIAL with Hartley Coles Confused about Hydro? Join the club! Confused about the deregulation of Ontario Hydro and our local utility Halton Hills Hydro? So was this writer un- til a meeting with Hydro Commissioner Dobbie Frizzell, general manager Dan Guatto and finance and administration manager David Smelsky of Halton hills Hydro, helped clear things up. The former Ontario Hydro has been reorganized into five companies: Ontario Power Generation Inc. (OPC) which | will generate electricity and complete with other, new gen- } erating companies in the marketplace, and Ontario Hydro Services Company (OHSC) not-for-profit companies: the Independent Electricity Market Operator (IMO) which will ensure fair market access and the Electrical Safety Author- THURSDAY, APRIL 13,2000 ity which is responsible for safety standards. The fifth and final company is a crown agency responsible for determin- ing how customers will pay down Ontario Hydro's $30 bil- lion debt. Why the change? During the last 20 years electricity rates have climbed by more than 30 per cent. The government hopes that by opening up the market to competition costs will move down and result in better job opportunities. It means Ontario is going from a monopoly - based system to a competitive market for power in November of 2000, where anyone with a licence can sell you electricity. It also means that local governments had to decide whether they would continue to operate and own their electric util- ity, which Halton Hills did - and as a commercial company - or sell-it. From now on people in Halton Hills can choose where they'Il buy the power. Will it work or will it be another schmozzle like educa- tion changes or the 407 boondoggle? Halton Hills Hydro is no longer in retailing or marketing of energy but they'1l dis- tribute all the electricity in Halton Hills (like a trucking company). There are now three companies under the one umbrella of Halton Hills Hydro. It's all being doné so consumers will eventually get the best price possible for electrical power. But it is so com- plicated and unwieldy, in spite of the fact it sounds feasible, that its success or failure won't likely be recognized until a lot more water flows over the generating plant at Niagara Falls. . According to Queens Park, other countries have success- fully moved to competition and customer choice for elec- tricity. Competition, the government says, introduces price and cost discipline on providers, encourages savings, new ideas and technological innovations. In fact, electricity can be better provided through multiple suppliers, as opposed to a monopoly. This jury is still out on that one. REEF? Put it in a letter to the Editor! Deadline is Tuesday at noon. NAN HURST is going through her stock of old photos and discovered this one with four well known Actonians who posed for Kennedy Studios of Guelph in their best bib and tucker. Nan . doesn't know the occasion and can only identify three of the four. Left to right, Rudolph . Spielvogel, unknown, Vic Rumley and Ray Agnew. Can you identify the missing name? Tories to blame for MSB Dear editor, Mr. O'Leary's column last week was another doozie. He suggests that the proposal to see a section of the McKenzie-Smith Bennett play, is an example of why the provincial government should get rid of big school boards. Now, I can only imag- ine that he believes that if Mike Harris was in charge of school board prop- erty, Mr. Harris would listen to the concerns of this community and the land would not be sold. Well, let's take a look how the Conservative government has re- cently dealt with the sale of govern- ment land. The Ontario Government currently is under police investiga- tion into land sales by the Ontario Realty Corporation. In this case, gov- ernment land was sold at prices be- low market value, resulting in the tax- payers of Ontario being ripped off. This government will sell any prop- erty or land if a buyer can be found. Highway 407 is another example. The sale of this highway has helped the Ontario government pay for many of its recent tax cuts. Unlike Mr. O' Leary, my hunch is if the Ontario govern- ment directly controlled this school property and a developer was inter- ested it not only would have been sold but also would contain 25 homes by now. We should keep in mind that this issue is not about the sale of prop- erty but really is about closing schools. Obviously, we are con- cerned if the children in Acton can- not play sports in their neighbour- hood. But many parents in other com- munities not only in Halton but also across Ontario are fighting to save schools in their local neighbour- hoods. This government has an arbi- trary formula that is being used to tell whether or not a school board has too many spaces for children. The anger that many local parents are feel- ing about the possible loss of the soccer fields on Churchill Road, is also felt by parents in other parts of Halton over the possible closure of a local school. The Ontario government has placed our school board trustees in a difficult situation. They must con- sider selling excess land or closing schools with small enrolments, thereby displacing children from their neighbourhoods before new schools can be built. Tt would be unfortunate. to'see the soccer fields sold. However, it is not the responsibility of school boards to provide a place for children to play in July and August. Schools are in the business of education and towns and cities handle the business of parks and recreation. Mr. O' Leary's criticism of our local school board shows his lack of awareness of this and his blind trust in our provincial government. Mr. O'Leary also suggests that the Ontario government break up the large school boards and create smaller units. What province is he living in? Mr. O'Leary you should get out of your 1950's, "Leave It to Beaver' world and join us in the 21" century. Mike Harris' favourite 4-letter work is "Mega'. We have mega-hospital boards, mega-cities and mega-school boards. To think that this government Cont. on Pg. 7 THREE BOGS WERE LOST LAST WEEK -- Pouce ARE SSS loo @ C2 aN LOOKING FoR =. LEADS 2000 ev Cc Jacy c. ft ie 59 Willow Street North Acton, Ontario L7J 1Z8 (519) 853-0051 Fax 853-0052 Tanner Publisher Ted Tyler Editorial Hartley Coles Frances Niblock Mike O'Leary _ Ellen Piehl Maggie Petrushevsky Angela Tyler Advertising and Circulation Marie Shadbolt Composing KarenColeman 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. 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