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18 THE NEW TANNER THURSDAY, APRIL 1, 2004 ACE ATHLETES: Members of the Halton Hurricanes Major Peewee AAA hockey team, the Georgetown Eagles Minor Peewee baseball team and highland dancer Kylie de Chastelain were honoured by the Town at a Municipal Wards ceremony on Monday at the Civic Centre. -- Frances Niblock photo Town honours athletes, dancer By FRANCES NIBLOCK The New Tanner Athletes and a fleet- footed dancer were honoured by the Town at a Municipal Awards cer- emony at the Civic Centre on Monday. With proud parents, many armed with cameras, in the gallery, members of the Halton Hurricanes Major Peewee AAA Hockey team and coaching staff received medallions and applause for their Bronze medal finish in 2002-2003 Ontario Minor Hockey Association play. The team lost just two games in regular season play, won two tournaments FLEET FOOTED: Kylie de Chastelain of Georgetown received a Municipal Award from the Town on Monday night to recognize the Bronze medal she won at the 2003 Canadian Dancing Series In- termediate category. Kylie delighted the crowd at the ceremony with a highland dance demonstration. - Frances Niblock photo and- was. consolation champ in another. Players and coaches with the Georgetown Eagles Minor Peewee Baseball team were honoured for capturing the "A" Silver medal in the Ontario Base- ball Association finals. The team also won the , . Central Ontario Baseball Association championship with a last-inning victory over their archrivals from Burlington. With strains of The Scot- tish Lilt filling the Council Chambers, Kylie de Chastelain showed the crowd why she was named the 2002 Canadian Danc- ing Series Gold and Silver medallist, and winner of the Overall Highland Nov- ice trophy, and the 2003 Canadian Dancing Series Intermediate category Bronze medallist. De Chastelain trains with the Georgetown School of Highland Dancing. Mayor Rick Bonnette told the award recipients that they should be ex- tremely proud of their accomplishments and dedication. For 28 years, individuals and groups that brought honour to the Town through their achieve- ments in the academics, arts, culture, sports or rec- reational pursuits, have been recognized with Mu- nicipal Awards. Volunteerism is the heart and soul of any community. Here in Halton Hills, we have no shortage of volun- teers to help make our community a special place to live. On behalf of Coun- cil, congratulations are in order to Max MacSween, the Acton Rotary Club's 2004 Citizen of the Year, and to Jenny Tuffin, chosen the Georgetown Lions Club, 2003 Citizen of the Year, As well, congratulations to two recently retired Town employees of the Public Works Department, Keith Smiley and Ron McKnight, as recipients of the Ontario Good Roads Association Long Service Awards. Be- tween them, they have over 60 years of service with the Town. At the March 2 Council Meeting, a Motion was brought forward by Ward 2 Councillors Joan Robson, Bryan Lewis and Clark Somerville for the Town to establish a Steering Com- mittee of staff, Ward 2 Councillors, and Glen Williams residents to com- ment on the reconstruction of Wildwood Road after a Safety Audit has been com- pleted. This will allow for -- public input. from residents of the Glen, right from the beginning of the process. Milayor's Corner By Rick Bonnette On behalf of Council, I have corresponded with the Bergermeester of the Town of Holten in the Netherlands to investigate the possibil- ity of twinning our communities. Several local community organizations have organized cultural ex- change trips to the Netherlands in recent years, and this unique opportunity will further our efforts in "Keeping the Memory Alive." Situated in the Town of Holten are 1,900 graves of soldiers who fought for our freedom, among which is the grave of a soldier from Glen Williams, and from Acton. Stay tuned for an update. Halton Hills has joined forces with 12 other rural and semi-rural municipali- ties in the Greater Toronto Area to form the Greater Toronto Mayors Country- side Alliance. Our goal is to have a united voice at Queen's Park on special is- sues concerning the protection of greenspace, preservation of agriculture, roads, and aging infrastruc- ture, with little or no fund- ing being received from the Province of Ontario. In ad- dition to Halton Hills, municipalities of the newly formed Alliance include, Brock, Clarington, Georgina, East Gwillimbury, Milton, Newmarket, Scugog, Whitchurch-Stouffville, and Aurora. Halton Hills is proud to welcome the following new business in March -- The Power Zone Fitness Club, Georgetown. I was pleased to be joined by Wards | and 2 Councillors for the offi- cial opening of the new expansion to Sobeys, in Acton. In the welcome back category, Halton Hills Council welcomes Acton Precision Millwrights Ltd. This company had previ- ously moved away, but now has relocated back to Acton. In conjunction with Halton's Physician Recruit- ment Program, I had the opportunity to welcome Dr. Joy Schuurman to Halton Hills on Friday, March 12 as a potential new physician to our municipality. We toured the William Osler Health Centre (Georgetown Campus), and the Acton Medical Centre. Dr. Schuurman, who will be available for placement this June, expressed genuine in- terest in establishing her practice in Halton Hills. Let's keep our fingers crossed. Plans are presently underway by our two local " Legions, Acton Branch 197, and Georgetown Branch 120, for the Candlelight Tribute walks in Halton Hills on May 7. Along with students from all our schools, this is an opportu- nity for us to show our gratitude, and to honour all those who served in the cause of peace and freedom for our country. Watch for more details on this event. The Town of Halton Hills will be hosting its annual Earth Day festivities at the Central Works Yard, 11620 Trafalgar Road, on Satur- day, April 24 from 8:30 a.m. to3:00p.m. Residents can purchase small trees for $5.00, pick up free wood chips or compost, and en- joy a breakfast or lunch. A colouring contest will be held for children, and a free draw for a tree for adults. See you there! OPINION Liberal nomination raises questions BY MAGGIE PETRUSHEVSKY The New Tanner I believe it's Shakespeare we quote when we comment on there being "something rot- ten in Denmark". Unfortunately, I'm coming to question whether the same can be said about Canada. The latest redefining of fed- eral electoral boundaries has joined. Halton Hills with a chunk of Wellington County and resulted in the need for new federal riding associations to serve what is being called Wellington-Halton Hills. Bruce Hood's nomination victory raises faded memories ofa controversial Progressive Conservative nomination in 1977 when our newspaper was sued fora cartoon portraying the winning candidate as standing on what we mistak- enly thought was trash. Closer examination showed the "de- bris" to be the trampled bodies of party members over which he had walked in order to win his nomination. The manner of his winning split his support base and Lib- eral Julian Reed earned an easy victory. Hood's nomina- tion may well do the same for the Liberals this time judging from the "off-the-record" comments my diverse contacts insisted on offering as sooras © Hood's nomination was de- clared. In January I was greatly im- pressed as I watched the new Conservative Party take the time and make the effort to smoothly integrate PC and Alliance memberships from four previous ridings into one cohesive association with fair representation from each of its forerunners. This is good, I decided. The "long knives" atmos- phere pervading the Liberal association's founding meet- ing on Feb. 27 was totally foreign and unnatural in my experience with the party. Longtime Halton Hills con- tacts were stunned at the preference meeting organizers were showing for Hood. The association's proposed slate called for 16 directors and five executive members. The slate was unbalanced - in favour of Wellington - even*though Halton Hills has the bulk of the riding's population. Still more suspicious was the absence from the slate of a longtime, high profile Halton Hills direc- tor who was not supporting Hood. Adding her name didn't erase the tension. Liberal Party of Canada (Ontario) chairman Carl Lit- tler told me Hood's campaign chair Deborah Sutherland had considered becoming a candi- date, then threw her support to Hood instead. As a former Wellington County councillor representing Erin, her involve- ment in plans to locate a waste transfer station at Ospringe probably gave her reason to question her local popularity. But why choose Hood and why such heavy support? Atthe March 10 nomination meeting, Julian Reed nomi- nated Gary Zemlak. Under normal circumstances nomi- nation by a sitting member is tantamount to a coronation. Not this time. Upwards of a quarter of those attending the nomination meeting were denied the right to vote because the member- ship applications were signed after the deadline. When I questioned Littler about how anyone knew the deadline if the meeting hadn't yet been called, he said he gives candi- dates a "heads up" that he's about to call the meeting. He didn't bother to warn Zemlak because he had not yet filed his papers. : Somehow I don't question Zemlak's decision not to chal- lenge the nomination vote when Littler is the final arbi- trator of any challenges. After 28 years in the business, gut instinct tells me when I run into power. Even staffers in the same office as Littler refused to go on record about some of my questions. Probably the most disturb- ing questions surround the lack of communication be- tween Wellington and Halton Hills riding association mem- berships. If the C anette. can get eight groups together, why couldn't the Liberals 'in south Wellington pick up a tel- ephone and find out who is involved with the party in Halton Hills? Were they scared they might run into a better organized or more pow- erful. group? Wouldn't co-operation have been a more sensible approach to getting their own way? Better yet, Hood is a former Milton man. Doesn't it stand to reason that he'd get lots of support from his old riding association if they considered him worthy of support? And after 30 years in Lib- eral politics, half of those in Ottawa, wouldn't the sitting Liberal MP know Hood well if he was a dedicated party worker? Why should Reed support Zemlak? Did no one stop to think there might be a good reason for his choice? And Brenda Chamberlain is the sitting MP for the Welling- ton half of the new riding. She too, is a Liberal. If he's been involved up there since leav- ing Halton, why was she not on hand to support Hood's bid for the nomination? The really ugly questions have to do with why the Lib- eral party would seem to have favoured Hood. Shouldn't it occur to the party that a former patronage appointee is not a wise choice when patronage scandals are making headlines across the nation? Maybe they should have considered the fact his oppo- nent is a young, well-spoken, people-oriented man from the PC rather than the Alliance side of the Conservative party. Shades of the Conservative loss in 1977.