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Ian Oliver Publisher Robert Glasbey Advertising Director Norman Alexander Editor Geoff Hill Circulanon Director Teri Casas Office Manager Tim Coles Production Manager And winning the riding is whet it's all about. But the question will be just how Oakville- Milton reacts to Mulvale and Brown. Will they be impressed with the mayor' s current stature or opt for the opposition Liberals? * entered the race to see who would represent the Progressive Conservatives in the Oakville-Milton federal riding, it looked like anyone's race. In the end it was no contest. Before Oakville Mayor Ann Mulvale But with the exit of political veterans Jackie Cutmore and Janet Mitchell, the battle was between the mayor and Halton Regional council- lor Stephen Sparling. With just two contenders for the job, any possible vote- -splitting would be avoided and the winner could claim outright vic- tory. 'The timing of tlie nomination meeting came just two days before new Tory leader Kim Campbell officially takes over as Prime Minister of Canada and names her cabinet. This will be a busy summer for both Mulvale and local Liberal candi- date Bonnie Brown, each trying to solidify their own support and reach out to a wider electorate in the hope of winning the riding. And that's just the way it went Wednesday night with Mulvale prevail- ing 949-556 over Sparling. It's one of those questions that may have been easier to predict in the past. But this is not the past and any attempt to gaze into a political crys- tal ball to find some answers, is doomed to failure. On the national scene, the latest poll indicates that 41% of those ques- tioned would vote for Jean Chretien‘s Liberals, while 36% would opt for the PCs and 10% would vote for the New Democratic Party. But statistics can be misleading. In the case of the Tories, they have gained five percentage points since May and the Liberals two points, both at the expense of the NDP whose popularity nationally, appears to be in free-fall. Unlike some other pre-l984 federal elections, this time the Tories seem to be following a text-book example of how to plan for an election. They have a new leader who will have almost none of the baggage of old politicians to drag her down. Political veterans such as Michael Wilson and just Wednesday, fisheries Minister John Crosbie said they wouldn't seek re-election. These retirements follow on the heels of others from the Cabinet benches. In the old-style politics, these posts would have been purged, resulting in poor relations among party members and leading to unity problems. Do you approve of the Town of Oakville using pesticides on the town' 5 parks? Yes: 6 No: 44 But' this time, the elimination of Cabinet ministers like Revenue Minister Otto Jelinek, means any argument by the opposition parties , that Campbell is just a new face on an old Cabinet, just won't hold water. There is still plenty of time left for Campbell to rise to the occasion or fall flat on her face before the election and she knows it. But for know it's time for Mulvale and Campbell to celebrate their vicâ€" tories and contemplate an election that looks too close to call even now. Even if it isn't a long hot summer, it sure will be an interesting one. EDITORIAL Ihterestingm summer CALL845-5585 RESULTS OF LAST WEEK'S | 467 Speers Road, pakville, Ont. L6K SS4 Classified Advertising: 845-2809 Circulation: 845-9742 or 845-9743 845-3824 'Fax: 845-3085 WEEKLY POLL Do you support the idea of paying tolls on new highways as a way to pay for their construction? ' Cast your ballot by calling 845-5585, box 5008 to vote. Callers have until 12 noon Thursday to register their vote. Results of the poll will be published in the next Friday edition of the Oakville Beaver. The Oakville Beaver. published every Sunday. Wadiesday and Frimy. a! £67 rs Rd.. Oakvile. is one 01 [he Mdrohnd Prlnl'ng. Pubishing DIstrbming Ltd. gmu oi subuman newspapets which includes frxâ€" Hmaring News Advert'su. Nuance. Brannon Guardian Bu ngon Poslg. Col'ngwood Connection Elobicoke Guanian. Geo own Indepaidenl/ Adan Free Press. Nngsxon This Week. L’ndsay is Week. Matkham Economist and Sun. SlomviIa/mbridge Tribune. Ml‘bn Camdian 0 ion. Mississauga News. Newmaflwt-Aurora Era-Banner, Nonh Yuk Mirror. 0 lie Beaver. OIiIia Toda. Oshawa/Whitby This Week. PeteroIough This Week. Ridimond HIVThorn iI/Veuginn Liberal. Samougw Mirror. AI material punished In me Oakvlb Beaver is proteaadby (1me reprodlchyq in MI in pan 0! INS mom is stridly lovbiddgnwn ognsem 0! I719 pmllsher. Dear Sir: I stopped writing letters to the editor years ago, but thanks to your recent editorial ('Crying Wolfâ€" June 18th) against doctors, I thought that I would respond. Doctors looking for some respect I happen to be one of those supposedly fabulously wealthy doctors that you mention. At the beginning of the social contract talks, there was a general feel- ing among the physicians and our negotiating body â€" the Ontario Medical Association (OMA) â€"- that cuts or freezes in physician payments were warranted in these tough economic times. In the past few years, there has been increasing cooperation between the OMA and the provincial government in regards to resource utilization and capping of physician’s incomes, already resulting in hundreds of millions of dollars in savings. Health Care reform is complex and requires input and goodwill from all partners. That goodwill has left for the vast majority of physi- cians because of recent unilateral government initia- tives. In the editorial, you call us the “highest paid gov- ernment employees”, but if we’re government employees â€" where is my pension plan, paid holi- days, educational, and car allowances... Why are we supposed to keep paying our ever increasing office and insurance expenses if we’re government employees? I guess the Beaver editorial board wants us to be employees on the income side but self- employed professionals on the expense side. That’s fair! The one expense the government previously agreed to help us with was in regards to increases in our malpractice premiums. This was given in return for our dropping our legal challenge against the 1986 ban on extra-billing. By the way, Premier Bob is now dropping this benefit unilaterally. The government is proposing cutting the maxi- mum billings per family doctor by approximately 37.5% to $250,000 per year. It still seems like an enormous amount of money except for two things. That is income from which all of our office expenses must come from (typically 40-50%). Secondly, about 14% of family physicians bill Over this proposed The Oakville Beaver welcomes your comments. All letters must be srgneo ano Incruoe u address and phone number. Letters should be typed. double-spaced and addressed to: Letters to the Editor, The Oakville Beaver, 467 Speers Rd., Oakville, Ont. L6K 384 cap, but they work enormous hours serving patients. I seem to work way too many hours (which is wearing out my health) and I don’t come close to this cap. At lot of physicians in Oakville will be severely restricting their office hours and certainly any after hours services. That is what this cap means. A-.nn .- The government now pays $24.80 for an averâ€" age patient visit with their family doctor. Seems not too bad except that both the chiropractor and the veterinarian I spoke with recently â€" bill more. The government proposes to cut this fee to $20.58. After office expenses, taxes, insurance etc... I will take home approximately $5.25 per patient seen in the office. Not too good for nine years of postâ€"sec- ondary education. I can only assume that some doctors will adjust to the new and improved billing schedule by spending even less time per patient. Some things that we are grossly underpaid for, we do in the best interest of patient care and to keep the system going. For instance, I’m paid $16.25 to actively supervise one of my hospital patients for one complete day. These patients tend to be the most ill and inevitably require family meetings, phone calls to the nurses station, medi- cation adjustments, and discussions with various involved specialists and other health professionals. The pressure and time commitments are large, but again it’s done to keep the system going. Instances like this one abound, but as long as physicians keep providing top notch health care, it’s very dif- ficult to get across in the media some of the inequities which physicians feel exist. Top specialists and recent and not-so-recent family medicine graduates are presently in demand in the United States and many will leave not for “cheque-book medicine”, but for simple respect as a skilled professional and to avoid being denigratâ€" ed as an overpaid government employee. I... .- .u Next time: I hope that the editorial staff of the Beaver will try to discuss issues with the affected parties before their next editorial on health care reform. J.F. Kovacs, M.D. All letters must be signed and include the writer's